The Demon King's Unexpected Encounter

"Just going to kill a monkey. If things go well, maybe I can kill a few more old, useless bastards," Miss Surtr said calmly, and the next moment, her figure turned into a cloud of dissipating fire mist.

Chapter 125: The Unexpected Encounter with the Lord of Fiends

In Japan, there is a famous shrine called Toshogu Shrine, which enshrines Tokugawa Ieyasu, the deified founder of the shogunate. For a long time, it was the mainstream religion in Japan.

In ancient times, it was common and widespread to deify deceased rulers. This was beneficial to governance, and in this worldview of God Slayer, deification truly meant resurrection.

Of course, it was a false resurrection.

After all, the gods in the world of God Slayer aren't actually gods who ever truly roamed the earth—they are essentially spirits of nature, residing in mythology, and thus naturally taking the place of a certain deity in mythology. In other words, the gods' power comes from themselves. But their manifestations come from legends and myths.

The ancient sages noticed this long ago and attempted to utilize this natural law. They initially intended to control the gods, thus creating the era of gods and heroes before Pandora's birth. This is also the source of the supernatural powers—magic, rituals, and curses—possessed by the Great Knight of the present. However, ultimately, humanity's limits were only reached to the Great Knight. The sages were forced to abandon their ambitions, changing their vision from dominating the gods to imprisoning them.

They were initially very successful, purging polytheism and annihilating heretics to establish a unified, absolute faith. Because for a god to become disobedient, it must first contradict its own mythology. In other words, if a god is omnipotent in mythology, then it cannot descend as a disobedient being because nothing it does can contradict their omnipotence. But if all the gods in the world are degraded, and only this one omnipotent god achieves exclusivity, then there will be no more Unwilling God capable of descending.

Thus, the Papacy was born and grew in power. An omnipotent God, devised by mortals, continuously devoured the myths and legends of various nations and peoples, advancing towards becoming the one true God. During that period, the descent of Unwilling God visibly decreased. For decades, mortals even believed they had triumphed over the gods.

However, they were wrong. They overestimated the myth and the sacredness of the myth itself.

Ultimately, so-called myths and legends are nothing more than stories created and widely circulated by people. Since the spirits of nature can reside in myths, it is only natural that folk tales circulating in the streets and alleys, casual conversations at drinking parties, and even well-written popular novels can all become the dwelling places of Unfallen Gods.

Then disaster struck.

Countless strange and mysterious demons and monsters appeared on the earth. With their arrival, countless legends of gods and monsters were born from word of mouth. The papacy's seal of the One God became a mere facade, useless. And those buried myths once again flowed through the streets and alleys.

Humanity has failed. From the age of heroes to the age of God, and now to the age of gods and Lord of Fiends, the mortals of this planet have never been able to escape the control of the gods, even if the gods don't care. Rather, humanity's insignificant resistance has only spurred the proliferation of mythological narratives and progress.

"Take the 'Journey to the West' in this world, for example..."

Standing before the Toshogu Shrine, Miss Surtr murmured to herself. After arriving in this world and staying for a day and a night, she had gained a certain understanding of its history and hidden secrets. This information, combined with the content of the light novel and anime about the God Slayer that she remembered, formed the picture she saw.

She knew about Journey to the West ... though it was a memory from long ago, she remembered it very clearly. She knew very well that the Journey to the West, so popular in Arknights previous life, was essentially just a collection of strange tales. It was a fictional reinterpretation of the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions by Wu Cheng'en, a Ming Dynasty writer. In any case, it could not be categorized as traditional mythology.

It is not a myth, but it descended as Unwilling God hundreds of years ago.

After descending, it was defeated by the island nation's God Slayer, or forces equivalent to God Slayer. It was then sealed within the Tosho Shrine, becoming a guardian monkey that is released whenever a new Unwilling God descends upon the island nation, defeats it, and then returns to its seal.

"How shameful. To be defeated is one thing. After Unwilling God must be defeated. But to be made a servant and bound for hundreds of years is simply too despicable." Miss Surtr stepped toward the upper levels of the shrine. She had made no attempt to conceal her presence since leaving the palace. Without changing clothes or disguising herself, Laevateinn floated quietly beside her.

Local residents and tourists noticed her, exclaimed in amazement, and then, before they could point and gesture at her, they were overwhelmed by a nameless fear welling up from the bottom of their hearts, and hurriedly retreated without daring to stop.

This is quite normal, because Miss Surtr doesn't like indiscriminate killing. Although she doesn't hesitate to take action, she will at least give the innocent time to escape if the situation allows.

Another point is quite normal, because Japan, as an island nation, has been isolated for many years, and is guarded by the confined stone monkey enshrined in the Saiden Palace next to the Toshogu Shrine. Therefore, the Japanese people differ from people of other countries. They lack considerable knowledge and understanding of both Unwilling God and those who possess supernatural powers.

A bunch of fools—fools kept in captivity. According to Miss Surtr's memories, this island nation was secretly ruled by the Unwilling God Susanoo, who hid in the spatial rift, the Kakuriyo, over a thousand years ago. The fact that this nation has developed into its current closed, conservative, and short-sighted state is likely precisely what this Unwilling God needed.

—Perhaps it sees this island nation as its own garden or granary?

The girl thought casually, extending her senses. Within a radius of nearly a hundred miles, she couldn't detect the aura or trace of another Unwilling God. Clearly, this old immortal who had been hiding for over a thousand years had no intention of encountering her at all, and had even hidden himself deeper than usual.

But it doesn't matter; after dealing with the monkey, it'll be next. And if time permits, Miss Surtr even plans to sweep through the entire Kakuriyo.

She suddenly turned her head to the side.

There was no one at the edge of her field of vision. But in the instant she turned her gaze, she vaguely saw a parasol.

No, it's not a parasol. It's just the shade of trees hanging down in the woods. In the gentle breeze, it forms the shape of a parasol.

"..." Miss Surtr paused for half a second.

When she turned around and reached the top of the steps, she saw a young man dressed in traditional Japanese clothing appear in front of the torii gate of Tosho Shrine with a group of attendants.

The young man bowed his head deeply to her.

"I am extremely sorry, Seventh King who rules the earth. I am Kuhōzuka Mikihiko, the guardian of this shrine. I am unable to greet you from afar due to my duties. I hope you will forgive me."

Miss Surtr didn't really want to pay him any attention—what's the point of bothering with a nobody like him?

So Miss Surtr stated her purpose directly.

"You have half an hour to evacuate the nearby civilians," the girl said calmly. "After half an hour, I will release Sun Wukong, who is imprisoned here... the one you call the Monkey God Lord. You can take this as mercy, but after half an hour, I will not care about the lives of any living beings on the battlefield."

"But, but—Your Majesty!" A look of fear appeared on the young man's face. "The consequences of releasing the Monkey God Lord are no small matter! Your Majesty, I beg you for mercy!"

"Yes, that makes sense." Miss Surtr glanced at the city in the distance. This place was only a hundred kilometers away from Tokyo. "You'll have to evacuate the people from the surrounding cities and counties as well. I remember that some of your Japanese families formed an organization called the Official History Compilation Committee. Since you can even fabricate history, evacuating a city shouldn't be a problem for you."

"But! I beg you—" The young scoundrel suddenly collapsed at her feet. And his many followers behind him also knelt down in unison, bowing down.

They prostrate themselves on the ground. Regardless of their worldview, the Japanese people are quite adept at this skill.

Miss Surtr, who didn't really want to waste time, didn't care about such formalities, nor did she feel the need to use her eloquence to come up with a suitable reason or position.

She simply waved her hand casually. The beaded bracelet on her wrist gleamed slightly.

"Go quickly," she said, her voice accompanied by the power of the Wind Avatar.

The next moment, the mediocre youth and his entourage were teleported to the foot of the mountain. Also teleported were all the idle people in the Tosho Shrine who had not fled immediately.

The air quieted down; sometimes, being unreasonable can be quite effective.

The girl then turned her head and looked at the side shrine not far away.

Saiden Palace.

She could sense the flow of underground energy.

The caster who orchestrated this sealing ritual gathered, purified, and used the accumulated faith of Toshogu Daigongen Tokugawa Ieyasu —the deity worshipped here—as the driving force for the ritual, thus propelling the seal to operate. In other words, as long as Toshogu Daigongen does not descend or the incense at this shrine does not cease, the seal will be incredibly stable during its operation.

She remembered the book's contents: if done normally, breaking the seal required three conditions. First, a god with dragon-snake attributes had to intrude; second, a cursed sword capable of breaking the seal was needed; and third, a priestess with the aptitude for exorcism was required to preside over the ritual.

It wasn't difficult, after all, Athena was of the dragon-snake element, and she knew that powerful spell swords and top-tier priestesses were plentiful on this island. As long as she gave the order, she could definitely fulfill the requirements in a short time.

But she just doesn't like to follow other people's routines.

She reached out and pressed on Laevateinn, which was floating beside her—at worst, she could treat the seal as a living thing and cut it down. No matter how strong it was, it was just an inanimate object of the level of Unwilling God, and she wasn't an illiterate like Luo Hao who could only dismantle floors but didn't know how to read array diagrams. Dealing with it would be a piece of cake.

So she continued on her way.

Entering the deserted palace, all she could see were dilapidated fragments and scattered dust. Clearly, this Saiden Palace, which imprisoned the Unwilling God, was not open to outsiders, nor were servants allowed to clean it. Following her senses of the spatial structure, she quickly found a dark spot sealed off by the shimenawa rope.

There's a... weird feeling.

She tilted her head, suppressing the inexplicable emotion in her heart.

Laevateinn made a nimble slash, and even without the priestess and the forbidden sword, the solidified darkness severed before her, revealing a path. The old shimenawa rope turned to ash in the fire, and she stepped into the ash.