Chapter 124: A Thirty-Year-Old Story
It was a thirty-year-old story.
Back then, the Godfall Land had not yet become a place of certain death. A powerful warrior or mage could still enter, though their chances of ever leaving were slim. Throughout history, many a hero had ventured into that dark land, seeking the name and the story of the fallen god, but none had ever returned.
"The mana here is very chaotic. It's best not to leave the barrier," Rhodes said, holding Org aloft.
They had finally reached the Godfall Land and had entered it with the protection of Athos's barrier. The legendary god-slaying sword was now acting as a giant lantern, illuminating their path, while the 'Light of Ersten' hung at his waist, its light muted and contained.
The black mist blotted out all other light, and it was difficult to see where they were going. But with the power of Org, he could faintly sense the general direction of the goddess, and they were drawing ever closer.
The black mist swirled around them, swallowing all light. Only Org's holy brilliance remained. The barrier of Athos repelled the chaotic mana currents that churned around them. And though they constantly battered against it, it held firm, not even a ripple on its surface.
The black mist of today was nothing compared to the black mud that had appeared after the goddess's death. It wasn't enough to break Athos's barrier. But perhaps the mist was just a weaker form of the mud, a divine power that had once been as thick as slurry, now thinned by the passage of time.
At the front of the group, a small magic circle was in operation in Rhodes's hand, unseen by the others. A stream of imperceptible power flowed from the outside and into the 'Light of Ersten'. The holy sword, which had been broken and then reforged, its blade now plain and unadorned, was slowly, but surely, filling with a new power.
"Rhodes," Serie's cool voice said, "you've been doing that since we entered the Great Elven Forest."
Her elven senses, sharper than anyone's, had seen through the darkness and had noticed the small, secret spell in his hand. "You've been infusing the 'Light of Ersten' with some kind of power. Is it the power of faith? And before we left, you specifically told the Elven King to offer a 'pious prayer' to the goddess at a critical moment. What are you planning?"
Her perception was, as always, astute.
Norne, Eirik, and the others all turned to look at him, the same question in their eyes.
"Rhodes," Olivia said, unable to contain herself, "are you trying to use the power of faith to defeat the Goddess of Procreation? But that should be impossible, right?"
She couldn't imagine where he would get enough of it. It would take an entire race, thousands of years of accumulated faith. Besides the elves, she couldn't think of any other race that could have such a vast reservoir of belief. But in theory, the elves couldn't have either. Like the Sky-Winged, their faith had been constantly flowing to the goddess.
No, that's not right, she suddenly remembered. The elves... it was possible. Hundreds of years ago, after their connection to the goddess had been severed, they had only been able to transmit their faith through their original bond, a much slower and less efficient process. As a result, they had accumulated a great deal of un-transmitted faith, which they had then stored using a special method. As for the elves... she remembered that they had always used the default connection, that is, simple prayer.
Which meant that if, in the past thousand, even ten thousand years, something had been absorbing and storing the elves' excess faith, it would have been more than enough to defeat a god.
He did not stop his work. He continued to pour the threads of faith into the 'Light of Ersten'. Only when he was finished did he turn to her, a mysterious smile on his face.
"Nothing is impossible, Olivia," he said, his voice clear in the silence. "Serie, do you remember our time in the Elven Kingdom?"
"You were studying the 'false Divine Strike' spell to deal with the demon army, weren't you?" It was something they all knew. They had all been there. He had not only succeeded, but had used it to defeat the demon army and secure a decisive victory for the allied forces. After that battle, his name had begun to spread across the continent.
"That's right," he nodded, his smile widening. "The 'false Divine Strike' was not difficult to decipher. I didn't need to spend so much time on it. My true purpose... well, I had other plans."
"Now that you mention it," she said, "you were always disappearing for short periods of time. Was that why?" When she had been learning the spell from him, there had been a few times when she had come to a sticking point, and when she had gone to ask him about it, he had been nowhere to be found. She had just assumed he had been with the other mages. It seemed she had been wrong.
"Yes. I set up... hmm, thirty-seven small magic circles at the key nodes of the Elven Kingdom, and even in some of their temples."
"Thirty-seven!?" Eirik exclaimed.
"Their purpose is simple," he explained. "They're like an invisible web, covering the core of the Elven Kingdom, the places where their faith is the strongest. And they don't block their prayers to the goddess. They just... intercept them."
Serie was stunned. "Intercept the power of faith? You can do that!?"
Even Olivia's eyes were wide with disbelief. "That's... insane."
It was a blasphemy of the highest order.
(End of chapter)
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