Northern Fir Forest.
Thorns and poisonous grass grew with unusual luxuriance. After taking only a few steps, one would tread upon pale animal and human bones beneath the dead branches and fallen leaves. Dried blood had nourished this land.
The thick stands of fir trees pierced the clouds, their tangled, slanting branches and leaves blocking most of the celestial light, leaving only heavy darkness and the stench of blood.
Following the rivers of Mesopotamia upstream to the heart of the Fir Forest at their source, a magnificent temple embedded within ochre mountains stood there.
The monster nest, the Temple of Blood!
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
For some unknown reason, enormous impacts echoed from within, and the violent tremors spread through the surrounding area.
Under that immense force, loose stones on both sides of the temple's exterior fell in showers, and even the mountain began to shake.
At the same time, the thousands of various monsters dwelling nearby crawled anxiously upon the ground. As they looked toward the temple's interior, they trembled uncontrollably.
"Kingu! Kingu! Kingu, where are you?!"
Amid the resounding collisions of some gigantic creature, a monster hundreds of meters tall let out a shrill, frenzied roar. Her purple hair streamed loose around her, her lower body was a savage serpent's form, and her upper body was that of a mature, beautiful woman.
"I'm here, Mother. You're awake?"
A gentle whisper in an androgynous voice carried soothing magic. The figure emerging from the dark passageway was none other than the green-haired elf who had gone after Merlin and the other two.
Within the Temple of Blood, countless interconnected passageways twisted through one another like distorted blood vessels growing from the depths of the earth.
After the thick bloodstains around them dried, they formed purplish-red patterns. Purplish-red, tumor-like egg-shaped embryos covered both sides of the passageways.
As the Green-Haired Beauty moved, faint sounds arose, causing the monster eggs nearby that were nearing maturity to tremble slightly.
The monsters curled within the purplish-red membranes thrashed left and right, desperate to break through that thin barrier and descend into the world.
"Kingu, come to my side. Come quickly..."
"I seem to have dreamed that I lived on an island. There were two shadows beside me. They felt familiar, yet unfamiliar..."
"They were speaking to me. What were they saying? I seem to have forgotten."
The goddess who birthed these monsters raised her two terrifying claws covered in purplish-red scales, clutched her head, and slammed it against the nearby mountainside. Her brow knotted tightly as she groaned in pain.
"We... were driven from the land by humans and cast onto that empty island."
"Even so, we never resented them. We only hoped to continue living here with nothing at all..."
"We treasured very little, so no matter what happened, we wanted to protect this final place to live."
"Even if we had to sacrifice everything!"
"I curse humanity! I curse everything about them!"
"Ah! My head... it hurts..."
As the Beast Goddess murmured in pain, the yellow wings spread behind her and the hundreds of savage serpents formed from her transformed purple hair opened their vertical pupils. Flicking their tongues, they prowled through the surroundings, spreading a murderous chill that nearly froze the soul.
"It'll be all right, Mother..."
"Sleep a little longer..."
The Green-Haired Beauty, whose true name was Kingu, stepped forward and whispered. She raised her hand, aiming it from afar at the Beast Goddess's abdomen as golden ripples spread outward.
When the ripples touched the Beast Goddess's purplish-red serpent body, an ancient-looking golden cup trembled slightly in resonance.
Gradually, the Beast Goddess's unstable emotions settled, and her sharp Serpent Eyes slowly closed.
The hundreds of giant serpents extending from her back lost their ferocity one after another, coiling on the ground and falling asleep.
Seeing that the Beast Goddess had been soothed into slumber, Kingu frowned and approached the crimson-black abyssal sea of blood in which that enormous body was submerged.
The fissure running through the mountain's interior was filled with scarlet.
The purplish-red blood tide that had once nearly overflowed poured and steamed from a gap in the pool wall, its level having fallen to less than one-third.
This was vital nourishment for supplying the Temple of Blood with magic and breeding monsters. It was also one of Mother's sources of divine support and power.
Yet through a single oversight, more than half a year's accumulation had been wasted!
The plan to besiege Uruk would also have to be delayed.
Merlin! That damned incubus!
Kingu gritted her silver teeth, murderous intent surging through her eyes.
After calming herself slightly, the Green-Haired Beauty leaped into the abyss. Passing through the thin blood mist, she landed atop a protruding rock and looked downward.
The blood tide, lowered by two-thirds, revealed the jagged stone walls on either side of the valley. Countless crimson-black blood vessels emerged in rough outline, densely piercing the soil, the mountain's interior, and the abyss, extending to unknown places.
They resembled the sprawling root system of a banyan tree standing alone as a forest.
Only by tracing those veins back to their source and focusing one's senses to the utmost could one vaguely see, through the blood tide, a purplish-red heart between illusion and reality, wrapped in countless blood vessels, root nodules, and water veins.
As the blood tide surged, that heart rose and fell with it. A vast Magic Tide spread in every direction through the dense network of blood vessels.
Kingu let out a long breath, and the tight furrow between her brows relaxed slightly.
Fortunately, that incubus had only evaporated part of the blood tide. He had not discovered the true secret hidden beneath the abyss.
At that moment, a strange palpitation rose within her heart. The water in her body went out of control, and her blood seemed ready to flow backward. Kingu's expression changed, and she immediately withdrew from the abyss.
The Green-Haired Beauty glanced at the sleeping Beast Goddess, her expression turning somewhat gloomy.
After Demon God King Goetia revived her, his plan to awaken the great calamity Tiamat and destroy the foundations of human civilization had gone awry.
Tiamat, hidden within the Sea of Imaginary Numbers, had rejected his summons. Suppressing her instincts of "return" and "destruction," she had instead sealed the Hole of Heaven.
There was no other choice. As Demon God King Goetia's collaborator, she could only settle for the next best option.
Afterward, at the critical moment, the two sides used the Sea of Imaginary Numbers' interconnected nature to divert the conceptual information of another deity from a different World Bubble here.
Then, through the fusion of spiritual foundations, this Beast Goddess from another time and space took the title of Mother of Origin and obtained part of Tiamat's divine authority.
But a counterfeit was still a counterfeit, and her spiritual foundation could hardly compare with that of the true Origin Goddess.
Thus, merely the weakened authority of the Hundred Beast Womb, which created monsters in batches, had already pushed her divine vessel to its limit.
Simply relying on Mother to destroy Uruk was likely an almost impossible task.
Then only one final method remained.
Using Tiamat's authorities over creation and life, she would awaken the true terror buried within this land!
Gods, I will bring you a surprise!
Kingu gazed darkly at the abyss glowing with bloody light, a sinister curve lifting the corner of her lips.
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