Secret: The undead do not die in the fire

Chapter 157 Is there a possibility, I mean possibility, that it is your God?
December 12th, another Monday.

At 2:50 p.m., Klein headed to the gray fog on time and summoned the members of the Tarot Club.

Audrey Justice, who was sitting on the other side of the bronze table, originally wanted to greet Mr. Fool and everyone else cheerfully and happily as usual.

But she glanced around and immediately noticed that the little "sun" was in a bad mood, so she immediately asked:
"Mr. Sun, what happened? The operation to explore the true, um, temple of the fallen Creator did not go smoothly?"

As if grasping hope, Derrick the Sun quickly described in detail how he explored the temple, met a little boy named Jack, and fell into a loop:
“After the little boy was eliminated by the Chief, we all closed our eyes and woke up in the camp outside the city, ready to start a new exploration without any memory of the past.

This process was repeated five times, with only slight differences in details. If Mr. Fool hadn't reminded me, I wouldn't even know that I had been living a repetitive life all this time."

He naturally believed that the extra memories after arriving above the gray fog came from Mr. Fool’s reminder, so he stood up and bowed solemnly to the blurry figure sitting at the head of the long bronze table.

I had to listen to your description before I understood what happened... Klein the Fool was confused.

He turned to look at the others and asked sincerely:

"Do you know the root cause of the problem? How to solve it?"

"Mr. Sun."

Alger, the Hanged Man, pondered for a moment and said hesitantly, "That little boy Jack is probably the key to this cycle."

He paused, first analyzing the situation of the Sun, and then said in a deep voice, "In addition, I was once ordered to hunt down a listener of the Aurora Society at sea. His goal at sea was to find the sanctuary of the true Creator. That listener also brought his child with him, and his age was very close to Jack described by the Sun."

Audrey, the first to react, blurted out in astonishment:
"Mr. 'The Hanged Man,' do you suspect that these two are the same person?"

"Yes."

Alger nodded slightly and said without hesitation, "I was just a little skeptical at first, but Mr. Lover has confirmed my guess. The end of the Sonia Sea is the legendary God-forsaken Land, which is completely consistent with the route of the listener."

When Sun Derrick heard this, he was suddenly delighted. Although he did not doubt the Lover's statement, there was no real example after all. The only Lover who came to the God-Forsaken Land also relied on Mr. Fool. The appearance of Jack now really meant that the two worlds were connected!
As if seeing through Sun's thoughts, Alger glanced at him and poured cold water on him:
"Of course, if one can reach the God-Forsaken Land simply by crossing the Sonia Sea, then the God-Forsaken Land would have been discovered long ago. I suspect that this requires certain conditions to be met, and these conditions are very harsh. So it is a bit too early to consider these things now. For now, we should focus on solving the problems you have encountered."

"My suggestion is that you can find an opportunity to mention the Sonia Sea, the Kingdom of Loen, and the port city in front of the little boy Jack. Maybe you will get a different reaction. Of course, try to avoid the chief of your Silver City."

"Also, the key point may not be the little boy Jack. We need to consider other possibilities. If you tell us the specific situation, such as the details of the mural, maybe we can find something useful."

Sun silently noted this down, nodded seriously, then turned to look at Ember and said apologetically:

"Mr. Lover, I originally planned to return to Silver City to read the tome after exploring the temple, but now we are trapped here. I'm sorry, I may not be able to give you the information you want in a short time."

The same thought came to the minds of The Hanged Man and Justice at the same time:
"What an honest child."

Even though he was in danger, he was still thinking about this matter.

"It's ok."

Ember waved his hand to indicate that he was not in a hurry, and said, "The temple itself is also part of the commission. You can first tell me about your exploration experience. Perhaps this will also help you get out of your current predicament."

"it is good."

The Sun no longer hesitated, and with the help of Mr. Fool, he materialized the pictures he could recall, showing the exploration process and what he thought were the key points to others in an intermittent manner, and then supplemented them with some explanations.

Among those murals, there is one that the Sun considers to be the most important one:

The white cross stood in the center, surrounded by the black sea, drowning many people struggling to stretch out their arms. On the cross was the "Fallen Creator" hanging upside down, with rusty nails and bloody stains that were no different from the idols in the outside world.

But in this mural, the "fallen creator" is being eroded by black, so that the whiteness of the cross has become dark in some places. In addition, the cross supports a hazy land, and countless people are kneeling and praying to the "fallen creator".

Around the screen, in the deepest darkness, there are six evil god-like figures hidden.

The Sun explained earnestly:

"This mural means that when the great catastrophe came, the evil gods climbed out of the abyss. In order to save the world, the fallen creator took on most of the guilt and pain, and as a result, the symbol was eroded and the image changed."

Alger, the Hanged Man, listened quietly. He looked at the octopus-headed monster with lightning wrapped around its body, black waves under its feet, a bird-feather cloak on its back, and a trident in its hand. He had some inexplicable associations in his mind. He immediately pointed at the figure and asked curiously:

"Which evil god is this recorded in your Silver City's books?"

'Sun' Derrick shook his head honestly:

"I don't know, I thought you guys would know each other."

Justice looked at the figure in the mural and frowned:

"Among the several evil gods circulating in the Northern Continent, there is no similar image."

"This……"

Klein was somewhat surprised. This was very similar to the six statues of gods he had seen in the underground ruins of the Tudor family! However, that one was the normal version, while this one was the blackened, twisted, and corrupted plus version. Especially the Mother Earth, the Lord of Storms, and the Eternal Blazing Sun, they were not only blackened into evil gods, but also closer to ugly monsters!

Klein thought for a moment and wanted to reveal this information to others, but he felt that it was not appropriate for The Fool to speak. But just as he was about to control the world and speak, he heard someone else's voice, the Hanged Man.

The Hanged Man felt that this was somehow familiar, but he just couldn't relate it to anything. He couldn't help but ask hesitantly:

"Mr. Lover, do you have any idea?"

Ember pointed at the octopus-headed monster that the Hanged Man was paying attention to and said, "Is there a possibility, I mean possibility, that this is the Lord of Storms?"

The pupils of the Hanged Man suddenly shrank, and he turned his head to look at the mural. Looking at the image of a man with lightning wrapped around his body, black waves under his feet, a bird feather cloak on his back, and a trident in his hand, if the octopus-headed monster was removed, wouldn't this represent the authority of the Lord of Storms? !

The Hanged Man murmured in a low voice:

"They are so similar, but I didn't immediately associate the two together."

He is clearly a member of the Church of Storms, but he just pointed at the image of the Lord of Storms and called him an evil god?
Alger's heart trembled. Even though his faith was not very devout, it was still enough to make him feel scared!
"No, it's strange that you can make the connection, okay?"

Audrey complained in her heart, what kind of blasphemous thoughts must one have to connect a twisted monster with the god one believes in? ! The fact that the Hanged Man could not combine the two images, didn't it just prove that he was devout enough in his belief in the Lord of Storms?
Well, that's not right. After all, Mr. 'The Hanged Man''s' belief in the Lord of Storms doesn't seem to be that 'devout'.

The World suddenly spoke hoarsely:

"I've seen similar statues."

After attracting everyone's attention, he paused and added:

"On an adventure to explore the ruins of the Quaternary Age."

He pretended to make a request to Mr. Fool, and after getting permission, he materialized the six statues of gods and their corresponding holy emblems. Unlike the crazy and distorted images in the murals, the images of the six statues he materialized were quite noble. It can be seen that the sculptors of these statues carved them with reverence for the gods.

Among the six statues, the image of the Lord of Storms is a majestic middle-aged man wearing black armor, standing on the waves, surrounded by storms, with lightning on his back, and holding a trident. The statues and the images in the murals are roughly similar in symbolism, except that their appearance is distorted into a monster with an octopus head.

However, if this monster... is the Lord of Storms, then what about the others? Audrey subconsciously looked at the upper left corner of the mural -

In the upper left corner is a girl wearing a black classical long dress. Her clothes are layered but not complicated, and are inlaid with many star-like brilliance. Her body is relatively vague, with signs of ripples spreading outward. Her face is blurred, as if she is wearing a mask without facial features. Around her, darkness is surging, and strange eyes are looming!
Blasphemy! This is blasphemy against the goddess! Audrey was suddenly a little angry. Although her belief in the goddess was also affected by the embers, it did not prevent her from expressing anger at this behavior that distorted the image of the goddess.

But she soon calmed down, because this was a mural of the Fallen Creator after all, and it would be strange if He did not distort the images of the six gods.

Fors couldn't help but ask:

"So these six evil ones... are the six gods?"

The Hanged Man has regained his composure and nodded slightly:
"If nothing unexpected happens, it should be like this. But this is the temple of the Fallen Creator after all. The Fallen Creator has always been hostile to the Church of the Seven Gods. It is not surprising that he would distort the image of the Six Gods into an evil god."

"Then why is there no God of Steam and Machinery?"

Yu Jin glanced at Fors and explained:
"The God of Steam and Machinery was not born until the Fourth Age, and this mural should depict the scene in the early Third Age."

I see... Fors felt a little guilty for some reason, because she had never read the Holy Book of Steam and Machinery seriously, and her faith was more of a lifestyle habit.

Audrey asked hesitantly:

"Then the content of this mural should be completely unreliable, right?"

Yu Jin thought for a moment and said:

"The images of the six gods are distorted in the murals, but it is a fact that the six gods are hostile to the Fallen Creator. Moreover, judging by the degree of distortion of the images of the six gods, the Fallen Creator's hostility towards the six gods is also different. The images of the Lord of Storms and the Eternal Sun are the most severely distorted, followed by the Goddess of Night, the Goddess of Harvest, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, while the image of the God of War is hardly distorted at all."

Everyone was attracted by Yu Jin's words, and once again looked at the mural of the 'sun' and the statue of the 'world' -

The Eternal Sun in the statue is a young man wearing a pure white robe, holding the Book of Contract in one hand and a golden ball like the sun in the other. He is handsome and vigorous; but in the mural, he is a young man wearing a pure white robe, his face is painted pure gold, and he has tentacles like light. His hands hold a rotten green book and a spear formed by light, and his chest and vest are reversed.

Just as Ember said, the images of the Eternal Sun and the Lord of Storms are the most distorted.

The next highest is the god of knowledge and wisdom. In the statue, he is an old man holding a book and an all-seeing eye, wearing a hood, with only his mouth, wrinkles and long white beard showing. His image in the mural is similar to this. At first glance, he seems normal, but the smile at the corner of his mouth is indescribably evil.

Another example is the goddess of harvest, who is depicted as a plump and graceful lady with wheat ears growing under her feet, surrounded by springs, and her flowing dress with various herbs and flowers and depictions of different animals. The lady's chest is bulging high, and she is holding a cute baby in her arms, looking holy and dignified.

In the mural, Her figure is still plump and graceful, but Her chest is bulging and She is naked outside Her clothes. In Her arms is a baby with a rotten face. Under Her feet are black ears of wheat, springs wriggling with pieces of meat, herbs oozing with pus, and animals mating wildly.

As for the God of War, his image in the two pictures is the closest, with almost no distortion.

In the statue, he is a warrior sitting high on a throne with a long sword in front of him. His face is hidden behind the visor, and the armor on his body has an indescribable sense of tatteredness. In the mural, he is a giant warrior wearing tattered armor, holding a long sword and sitting on a throne, with a desolate dusk in the background.

But when the Tarot Club members compared the two pictures, they still had deep doubts -

The image of the God of War is indeed the most normal, there is no doubt about that.

There is no doubt that the Lord of Storms and the Eternal Sun are the most distorted. But why does Ember think that the 'Goddess of Night', the 'Goddess of Harvest' and the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom' are second-rate?

The Goddess of Night and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom were fine, but the degree of distortion of the image of the Goddess of Harvest was on the same level as the Lord of Storms and the Eternal Sun, no matter how you looked at it? In fact, to some extent, her image was even more distorted than the Lord of Storms and the Eternal Sun.

"and many more!"

Audrey suddenly exclaimed, "Mr. 'Lover', you just said 'Harvest Goddess'? Isn't this the Mother Goddess of the Earth?!"

Fors, Xio, Alger, and even Klein all woke up from their dreams!
They were all misled by the embers just now! They subconsciously replaced the image of that lady with the harvest goddess, almost forgetting that there was no harvest goddess among the six gods, it should be the mother goddess of the earth!
Yu Jin was stunned for a moment before realizing that he had mixed it up. He said casually:

"it's the same."

Little Sun didn't understand the situation yet, so he raised his hand and asked:
"The goddess of harvest, isn't she the Queen of Giants?"

(End of this chapter)