The Five Gods

When their leader was slaughtered and the elements in the air suddenly exploded, causing widespread casualties, nearly a hundred barbarians began their frenzied counterattack, and the Wolf Cavalry retreated.

Among the Behemoth Orcs, the Wolf Cavalry were the only troops who knew when to assess the situation. Unlike the other Behemoth forces, once they entered the battlefield and their eyes turned red with bloodlust, they would charge down one path to the bitter end—either you killed them, or they killed you.

Countless battles had taught the Wolf Cavalry that this mission had failed. Before long, the Earth Dragon Legion and the border troops of the Kingdom of Locke would arrive as reinforcements.

So after the elemental explosion, they retreated without hesitation.

After many years, the Behemoth Orcs had believed the Holy See's nonsense and dispatched the first legion to set foot on human territory. They had arrived brimming with confidence and left in disgrace. With a wave of their hands, they left curved blades scattered across the ground, yet failed to take so much as a corner of Dina's skirt. They had humiliated themselves beyond all measure.

Centered on Allen, the countless magical elements detonated, creating a magical vacuum. The bodies of countless Wolf Cavalry soldiers were blasted apart by the magical elements.

Outside Outpost County's northern gate, the nauseating stench of blood rushed up to meet them. This time was different from Allen's previous two magical explosions. Though the surrounding elements had not harmed him, he still collapsed limply, as if all his strength had been drained away in an instant.

Because Sakre had been closer to Allen this time, even with Battle Aura protecting his body, he had been badly injured by the violent magical elements.

Dragging his exhausted body forward, Sakre walked to the unconscious Allen, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and struggled back toward the northern gate.

Watching Dina's departing figure as she went to receive them, Wood sighed and muttered in a voice only he could hear, "The power of a heretic... sigh, poor fellow. Looks like he won't live to see the end of that high-level magical beast, the Vajra Scarlet Ape."

"Where are the curved blades?" Those were Allen's first words after waking from a night of unconsciousness.

Everyone looked at one another.

Yorkshire was closest to the bed. After Allen sat up, he grabbed Yorkshire by the collar and asked again, "Where are the curved blades?"

"What curved blades?" Yorkshire looked at the pale-faced Allen in confusion, privately wondering whether the guy had been beaten stupid.

"The Wolf Cavalry's curved blades! Hundreds of Wolf Cavalry died. Where are all those curved blades?"

The Old Butler walked to the bedside with a grin, patted Allen on the shoulder, and said, "Don't worry. Heh heh, I had Dina bring them all back to the Old Castle. They're all good stuff and worth quite a bit of money. If Dina hadn't guarded them, that old bastard Wood almost would have snatched them away."

As expected, having an elder in the family was like having a treasure. Terrified of being poor, Allen shot the Old Butler a look that said, You understand me after all.

Dina walked in while supporting the limping Sakre, then gave her Second Young Master her signature simple-minded grin.

The Old Butler's smile vanished. With an exceptionally grave expression, he asked Allen, "Is there something you need to tell us?"

Allen scratched the back of his head and pretended not to understand.

The Old Butler swept his gaze across Dina, Sakre, and Yorkshire before saying, "Go ahead. No one here will betray you."

Sakre, finally feeling that he had been accepted into this circle, revealed a gratified smile.

He felt it was time to make his presence known. Putting on a serious face, he said, "How did you become stronger than a Bearman without Battle Aura?"

Allen gave a bitter smile. "Chaos. Do you all know about him?"

Sakre staggered, suddenly feeling that his mouth was truly too damn cheap.

Everyone was shocked out of their wits. Even the dazed Dina cried out in alarm.

The Old Butler's expression changed dramatically. His aged face was filled with disbelief, though he seemed more excited than afraid.

"You've heard of him?" Allen could no longer smile. From their expressions, he could tell that whatever had happened to him was probably not a good thing.

"What exactly happened?" The Old Butler's expression was extremely serious.

Allen recounted everything that had happened during his battle with Viri in full detail, including time stopping and the short figure wrapped in thick black mist.

Recalling the scene, Sakre nodded and said that he too had seen many strange phenomena appear around Allen, including that dragon-or-python-like totem.

The Old Butler fell silent for a long while, sighing repeatedly.

"What are those expressions supposed to mean? What exactly is going on?" Allen was getting annoyed. It looked as though everyone in the room knew, more or less, what Chaos represented—everyone except him.

The Old Butler looked deeply conflicted, as if choosing his words. The others did not look much better.

Seeing Allen grow increasingly anxious, the Old Butler finally let out a heavy sigh. "Do you know Chaos God Chaos?"

"Aha, the God of Wontons?" Allen laughed. "Is there a God of Dumpling Wrappers too?"

"Ignorant fool!" The Old Butler rapped Allen hard on the head with his cane, then continued, "You've read the Ice Goddess Cult's Heretical Cult text, haven't you?"

"I have." Allen recalled that there was a copied edition on the bookshelf.

Heretical Cult was merely the name given to it by followers of the Supreme God. Its original title was "The Beginning."

It did not record events from the Saint Cassis Continent. It told of the very beginning of everything: the world had been nothing but an endless void of chaos, which, after hundreds of millions of years, transformed into five gods. They were, in order, Supreme God Holy Father Gaia, Abyss God Tartarus, God of Darkness Erebus, Night Goddess Nyx, and Elf Goddess Eros.

The eldest, the Supreme God, had the greatest reputation. It was not only because he had appeared first, but because he had perhaps been lonely for too long and had time to burn. So he created the world and numerous living races.

The second brother had not been born as early as the Supreme God. Seeing that there was nothing left for him in the mortal world, he burrowed deep underground and established himself as king. Many people also called it hell or the underworld—anyway, it was the world where sinful people went after death.

When the third brother emerged, he saw that both heaven and earth had already been claimed. What was he supposed to do without a place to establish himself? Fortunately, his second brother was an honest man and directly invited him to start a business in hell together. He was mainly responsible for security inspections. After living beings died, the third brother had to inspect them first. Only if he approved could they enter hell. He was still a god, after all. Perhaps he had liked swimming since childhood, so he created the Styx. All living beings had to cross the Styx after death.

But the second and third brothers had little business, because the living beings created by the Supreme God had no diseases and no slaughter. Over an entire year, only a handful died by accident. This forced the second and third brothers through a long and difficult startup period.

The fourth was a girl, and she did not think much of the eldest either. Damn it, as the eldest, he ate all the meat himself and would not even let them have a sip of soup.

The fourth sister was full of schemes. Since she could not defeat her eldest brother, she decided to ruin the world and living beings he had created. Then all the odds and ends created by the Supreme God suffered terrible misfortune. The world gained night and day, while living beings gained pain, disease, aging, revenge, and death.

The second and third brothers were delighted. Their fourth sister was indeed clever and full of wicked ideas. Hell was finally open for business, bustling with customers. People began forming groups to fight over territory, then lined up to die.

The last was the fifth, another girl. But she had a kind heart. Seeing that the living beings created by her eldest brother were nearly wiped out by their fourth sister's torment, she transformed into the God of Desire and scattered aphrodisiacs across the world. Living beings and races began to reproduce, so that the second and third brothers would have business, while the fourth sister could continue making trouble a little longer.

Countless ages passed, and the names of the five gods changed again and again. By the time of the Saint Cassis Continent, the eldest had become the Supreme God.

The second, Tartarus, grew grander and grander in reputation. But perhaps because his work mainly involved tormenting the dead, everyone could tell he was no good, so they called him the Abyss God.

The third brother also transformed from a security inspector into the God of Darkness. He was also called the God of the Underworld or God of the Styx. He had little presence, and few heretics worshipped him. But that made sense. He only managed a river, so ordinary people had little reason to pray to him.

Because the fourth sister was full of wickedness, she was called the Night Goddess. Just from the name, she did not sound like a proper young lady. Seventy or eighty percent of the heretics on the Saint Cassis Continent worshipped her.

The fifth sister was kind-hearted, a typical innocent fool. Heretics called her the Elf Goddess or Forest Goddess and so on. Her followers were not as diverse, consisting only of the equally troublesome elves and Druids.

"The Beginning," which was called a Heretical Cult text, was about these five siblings tearing each other apart.

This "The Beginning" had been listed as a forbidden book by the Holy See, much like an illustrated edition of The Plum in the Golden Vase from Allen's previous life. Anyone caught secretly keeping one would be condemned. But the Holy See did not have the time for that sort of thing. Once they caught someone, they sent them straight to the stake and roasted them until they were eighty percent done.

Yet most heretics who worshipped the second, third, fourth, or fifth god regarded "The Beginning" as a Divine Canon.

Allen usually read this book for entertainment. He had never taken it seriously, much less paid attention to it.

Seeing Allen's utterly unconcerned expression, the Old Butler said lightly, "The five gods were created by the Chaos you mentioned. That is, the beginning of chaos, the origin of the boundless."

Allen felt a chill drift past him, and his body grew a little cold. Yet he still stubbornly said, "Impossible, right? Isn't the Supreme God supposed to be the boss of the divine realm who created all things?"

"You believe the Holy See's bullshit too?" The Old Butler said disdainfully. "I don't know whether what 'The Beginning' describes is true, but among the documents recorded on the continent over the past several thousand years, three people all claimed to be Chaos's earthly walkers."

"Who were they?" It was Allen's first time hearing this.

"The Dark Demon God of the otherworldly Green Demons. Three thousand years ago, he led the Green Demon Tribe in an invasion of the Saint Cassis Continent. He died."

Sakre continued, "The second was a Hell Black Dragon Knight, the first human Battle Aura warrior to reach the Sword Saint realm. He was besieged by all the Extreme Dao Experts on the continent at the time and died as well. That was two thousand years ago. Anyway, that's what the records say. Oh, and supposedly he was from another world too, though he merely looked more like a human."

Yorkshire shook his head and continued, "The third happened a thousand years ago. The Lich King of the demon realm led the demon race to conquer over half of the Saint Cassis Continent, but was later killed by the Behemoth Heavenly King Priest, who was hailed as the strongest under the stars at the time."

Allen's heart skipped a beat, because he keenly caught the common trait shared by those three unlucky bastards: none of them were locals. They were all migrant workers from other worlds, not a single one a native of the Saint Cassis Continent. Wasn't that exactly like him? Someone like him trying to make a living on the Saint Cassis Continent would probably not even be able to get a temporary residence permit if he had not transmigrated through his soul.

Dina did not notice her Second Young Master's expression. Instead, she said in confusion, "What a coincidence. They all appeared a thousand years apart, and they all died."

Allen grabbed a pillow and hurled it at her.

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