Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 802 The Most Loyal Believer

The world of lucidity had now escaped the shadow of the blood moon. After Geherus left, the sun seemed unwilling to cast its gaze upon this sinful land, and darkness became the dominant color of the world of lucidity.

Hastings had been to this world before, but he couldn't remember which era it was; it certainly wasn't as desolate as it was now.

……

The guidance provided by the Eye of Thinking is very vague; it says:

"The entrance to the abyss lies in the world of sanity..."

"That place has become the domain of evil and chaos..."

"You will be far from the golden light, you will no longer hear the hymns, and all that lies ahead is death and malice."

...

But the world of the conscious isn't actually as terrifying as it's described. Or rather, in a time of darkness, one might not even be able to see their own finger, so how could they possibly see what is called evil and chaos?

Perhaps by coincidence, Hastings arrived on the old battlefield where the dramatic events had taken place.

The land here still reeks of the blood of clansmen, superiors, the old order, and even demigods and gods.

A crumbling city, a river cut off from its course, towering scarlet mountains…

There are very few traces of civilization left.

There are no living people left to remember or pray for the deceased.

Those blood moon worshippers, resembling living corpses, wandering the distant Gobi Desert, are perhaps in a worse state than the dead lying beneath the cold earth.

...

"Sin and chaos..."

Hastings crouched down and picked up a handful of cold sand.

In the long river of his life, he witnessed the rise and fall of many civilizations, and even the changes in the world of consciousness, but none of those things were as real as the feeling of touching them with his own hands.

Like most other dreamers, Hastings had no idea what was happening in the waking world.

He thought this was the gods' new round of "purification" of the conscious world, but who would have thought that the gods would never return.

It wasn't until he personally experienced the darkness and coldness of the conscious world that Hastings gradually realized just how terrifying the so-called weak "sinner" who had crawled from the conscious world into the dream world truly was.

...

"Oh, what a coincidence?"

A strange male voice suddenly came from the broken bridge platform in the distance.

Hastings' nerves tightened instantly.

Sparks rose from his palm as he tried to ignite them to illuminate the people on the bridge platform in the distance, but the sparks flickered twice and then went out completely, offering no further response.

Even flames fear this world?
...

As a result, it was actually the conspicuous guy on the bridge platform who first released the light source.

An eerie green light emanated from his fingertips; it wasn't flame, but rather some kind of green crystalline substance radiating light from within.

Hastings immediately recognized the source of the strange light source; it resembled something from the Emerald Temple in the Eastern Forbidden Zone. However, he did not ask any questions but silently climbed onto the broken bridge platform until he could clearly see the human face behind the green light source.

The other party was neither a beast from chaos nor a worshipper of the Blood Moon.

He was an elderly human male who appeared somewhat disheveled, at least that's how he looked.

...

"This appearance of the awakened world didn't frighten you, did it, Elder?"

The other person said it jokingly.

On either side of the eerie emerald light source are two aged faces with different styles.

Hastings possessed a profound sense of age, or rather, he looked like someone who had lived a long life, rather than someone who was old.

On the other side of the emerald light source, the wrinkles, spots, and bloated figure on the other person's face all exuded the aging and decay typical of "ordinary people," making them appear very ordinary in their old age.

However, in this godless age where blessings have failed, that seemingly ordinary old man is actually the true immortal.

"Why doesn't the king guard that forbidden area in the east? Why does he have time to come to this barren land? Isn't he afraid of being blamed by Mount Kadas?" Hastings said, revealing the truth.

The old, ordinary, and godless man before them was none other than King Kurans, the king of the eternal kingdom of Os-Nargai in the east.

...

"Do you blame me?"

Kurans seemed like a completely different person compared to the pot-bellied old man Milo had met in the Eternal Kingdom; his mediocre and slovenly appearance was perhaps just a disguise.

"You're joking, Elder. We both know in our hearts that Kadas is now an empty mountain. There are more rats living there than gods."

Kurans "rudely" mocked the supreme order established by the gods.

……

...

"Then King Kurans, you crossed the barrier to come to the world of the conscious, surely not just to chat with this old man?" Hastings asked.

"of course not."

Kurans shook his head, then flicked his fingers, the emerald light at his fingertips swaying back and forth.

"We met here because we share the same purpose, didn't we?"

"Not necessarily," Hastings disagreed.

“No, no, no, I see, I see.” Kurans suddenly smiled strangely. He rudely put his arm around Hastings’ shoulder and began to stroll on the broken bridge platform, as if the two were old friends.

In the Dreamland, it's hard to say who has a higher status between the king and the temple elder, but they are both serving the gods and can be considered to be on the same path.

Don't forget that Kurans was a famous dream weaver in history. He created the eternal kingdom on the ruins of Os-Nargai, and this fertile land naturally provided the gods with a huge amount of faith. His contribution to Mount Kadas was no less than that of any temple elder, including Hastings.

...

"Listen to me, those who have reached this point in this era, I would call the most faithful believers of the gods, like you and me, there is no one else." Kurans spread his left hand, and the green light reached only the desolate scorched earth of the conscious world, and indeed there was no one else in sight.

“You have left the land of the Golden Blessed, and I have left the Eternal Kingdom. You are searching for the Golden Tree, and I am here seeking the traces of Horuss. Is there anyone in this world more loyal and braver than us? No one, is there?”

...

Hastings did not respond to Kurans' self-aggrandizing remarks, but at least he made his purpose clear.

Horuss, the god of emeralds, did indeed disappear; he vanished before the other gods returned...

This matter only came to light after the fraudster Imnar was exposed, by which time Selphis had been worshipping the imposter Horthus for a long time.

...

“I dare say there won’t be a third person risking their life to leave the Blessed Land and come here, so let’s go, Elder, please?” Kurans snapped his fingers.

He seemed to have crushed the green gemstone light source of his fingernail, turning it into countless tiny green specks of light, maximizing the range of this mottled, faint light.

And in the direction his "please" gesture pointed was a huge, pitch-black crack that stretched across the Crimson Mountain Range like a cleavage by a knife or axe.

That is a fissure in the abyss.

It was much larger than any that Milo had ever seen before, countless times larger.

It lay there, cleaved across the crimson mountain range, as if some colossal creature had just squeezed out from within, the jagged cracks extending and swaying through the air…

...

“You’re not the only one who has come here guided by the Eye of Thinking.” Kurans gave Hastings a calm look, then said, “I think that should dispel any remaining doubts in your mind.”

that's the truth.

If both sides are guided by the Eye of Thinking, then Hastings really doesn't need to think about anything further.

Moreover, the enormous crack was right in front of them.

As the Eye of Thinking stated—"The entrance to the abyss lies in the world of waking..."

...

Here are traces of the golden tree.

Above that cold mountain fault line.

Hastings has been found.

He could no longer contain his excitement.

...

That was a message left by the Golden Tree for its people. In that message, he saw the conspiracy of the Blood Moon Cataclysm, the chaotic shadow behind that conspiracy, the source of all chaos...

He learned the truth.

Unlike the gods, the Golden Tree was not tempted by Azati's power. It did not participate in the bloody storm of the Blood Moon, but at the last moment it chose to maintain the existing order. It tried to pull the gods, who were already on the edge of the abyss, back to safety.

...

"He had no choice. The name of gold was accumulated in the Age of Stars, from wars against external gods. The order of the gods was the same. He saw the lifelong suffering of the chaotic era after the gods lost their way, and he also saw the manipulator behind this so-called catastrophe who claimed to be destiny. So the golden tree was here, tearing open a gap leading to the abyss."

...

He was once very close to succeeding.

He was just a hair's breadth away from being able to bring salvation to the gods of the dream world all by himself.

But that was an abyss, below which lay the most terrifying hell, and behind Him, the treacherous Thousand-Faced God attacked Him.

This is a land soaked in the blood of the golden tree...

……

"Are the gods... dead?" Hastings was unable to recover from the emotional shock for a long time.

However, Kurans raised his hand, patted him on the shoulder, and pointed ahead, saying:

"look by youself."

It turned out that they were already in the abyss.

...

Hastings, however, did not feel fear.

Or rather, compared to the scene before one's eyes, being in the abyss itself is no longer something to fear...

He saw the golden tree burning in the flames, and he also saw the corpses of the gods.

They heard the sound of a death knell coming from a great distance.

...

The era of gods is gone forever.

Hastings witnessed the golden tree being consumed by flames. He wanted to beg for forgiveness, but didn't know to whom to turn. He wanted to pray for Him, but discovered that what was being burned by the flames was the very god he served...

...

……

Hastings' heart was broken.

For him, everything collapsed.

With his power, it was impossible for him to retrieve the gods from the abyss; they were already dead, and even the Golden Tree had died right before his eyes.

There is no more hope, salvation will never come again, the age of the gods has come to an end, and the current dream world is nothing but a last vestige of the end times, its fate already sealed.

...

……

Really?

Hastings, known for his wisdom within the Golden Family, overlooked one thing from the very beginning.

That's Kurans.

This one is rumored to have been to the ultimate void beyond the stars, and is the only king who returned with intact sanity.

Beyond the stars, there is a place that even the gods cannot reach.

Rumors and the truth are different; he did not wander in the void, but rather ventured into the abyss.

...

As Hastings' mind collapsed, Kurans calmly watched the scene from a distance behind him, his eyes devoid of any emotion, only the slowly floating green light of the dead Horsas.

Just like the green shimmering light he first created with his fingertips.

That was the power of the gods, but it had no divinity whatsoever.

...

He was never a follower of Holsas, nor did he ever think of reclaiming everything He had.

In fact, Horuss was the only god who truly died in the abyss.

Now, the light of the emerald is in the hands of King Cullen.

(End of this chapter)