They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 373 His Purpose
"I think I just heard a noise."

"And we saw firelight."

At the foot of the mountain, Erfen, carrying a backpack, cleared a path with his trekking poles, his arms covered in bony protrusions that almost encased one hand.

"He looks pretty handsome from this angle."

Elfin examined his hand; the arm, covered in stark white bones, looked like it was wearing armor, even though countless tiny tentacles had sprouted from within the armor and connected to his flesh.

Plague Source Bone seemed pleased: "Of course."

With the intimidation I exude, those extraordinary beings will not approach you, and you can successfully uncover the truth.

"What is the truth?"

There is an ancient city in the Gekkoso Mountains, the birthplace of the First Cursed Seal, but ordinary people can't find such a place, and only I know its approximate location.

I've buried many good things there; I'm sure you'll like them.

As it spoke, Erfen had already parted the bushes and found the source of the fire.

He saw a small figure, and upon closer inspection, he realized it was a child, about six or seven years old, squatting by the fire.

The appearance of a child in a mountain teeming with extraordinary creatures is hardly a normal occurrence.

Yuan Gu became alert almost immediately.

Something's wrong with this thing, kill it now.

"Let's observe further."

Elfin wasn't in a hurry to make a move. He couldn't sense any hostility from the other party, and instead wanted to see what the child was doing.

The child remained in a squatting position, wrapped in a black cloak, with jet-black hair and golden eyes. It was impossible to tell his gender from his appearance alone, and in terms of appearance, he was truly beautiful, like a rare angel.

While Elfen was observing him, he was just busy gnawing on the black, coal-like things by the fire.

"You're all here alone, where are your parents?"

Erfen couldn't help but ask a question.

"..."

The child blinked and stared at him blankly.

But what I was really thinking was, why hasn't this person left yet?

When Swarth realized he couldn't escape, he suddenly had an idea: he swallowed Ria and then transformed into Ria's appearance.

However, it was in such a hurry that it transformed directly into the host's juvenile form, without having time to grow up.

The host is currently asleep and cannot speak, so Schwarz remains silent.

What are those people over there chattering about?
I don't quite understand, but I can barely grasp it.

As for being recognized by the Source Bone? Shwar dares to say that no one could recognize it; if someone did, it would devour them.

Now it regrets becoming human; it should have just turned into an ant and run away.

Human arms are so short, I really want to flap my wings and fly.

Seeing that Schwarz remained silent and made no move, Elfin boldly approached and carefully observed him for a long time before finally concluding that he seemed to be just an ordinary person.

“He may have been abandoned here by someone; we need to get him out of here.”

Yuan Gu held an opposing view.

Are you crazy? Putting aside whether this child is normal or not, bringing an ordinary person here is just bringing a burden.

"You must understand that I am an investigator, and I have an obligation to save lives."

[He's hopeless!]

"Just consider me hopeless."

As Elfin was speaking, he suddenly saw the child stand up, the hem of his cloak slipping down to just his knees.

"Look, he's not hostile. Maybe he can help us?"

Elfin and Source Bone suddenly saw Swarth turn around and kill a supernatural creature that was attacking them.

Yuan Gu fell silent, even questioning his own memories.

[What species is this guy? Is he a contamination patient? I don't remember contaminating him with my clone, and his eyes don't look human either.]

Little Swarth didn't make a sound, just stood behind Elfin, seemingly determined to follow him wherever he went.

If Ria were awake, she would definitely support its decision, so Little Swarth just needs to patiently wait for the host to wake up, and hopefully he will stop having nightmares.

Are you sure you want to come with me?

"..."

Little Swarth nodded.

"So what's your name?"

"..."

Little Swaal reached out his hand, holding a very ordinary Swaal coin.

"Your name is Coin?"

Little Swarth turned his head.

"Swarth?"

Little Swarth nodded.

Elfin was amazed. He never expected that someone would name their pet after money. Normally, Enderers only give their pets strange names, but he never expected that someone would actually have such a name in real life.

But Erfen didn't say anything, only remarking, "Your name is very special."

Little Swarth nodded.

And so, Elfin, with the newly found child in tow, followed the guidance of the source bone and set off towards the ancient city hidden in the mountains.

The so-called ancient city was located a little higher up on the mountainside. To see the massive structure, the group needed to climb the mountain.

Yuan Gu was dissatisfied with Elfin's climbing speed, and at the same time, he was surprised that Schwarz could easily keep up with Elfin's speed.

It felt that Shwael looked very familiar, but couldn't remember where it had seen him before, probably because its current memory was incomplete.

However, Yuan Gu still did not believe that Shiwaal posed a threat to him.

They walked for a long time and climbed mountains for a long time. They were so tired that Erfen found a relatively flat place halfway through and sat down directly on the ground.

"I'm about to collapse, I need to rest."

Erfin took a few sips of water from his backpack and handed it to Schwarz, who shook his head. Erfin then got up, squatted down, and looked up at the misty sky, seemingly lost in thought.

"What a withdrawn child. If he grows up, he'll probably be the kind of person who's hard to get along with." Elfen took out some jerky to eat and found that the child didn't react at all even when he smelled the food.

He was a little puzzled. Wasn't that child hungry?
After resting for a while, the group continued towards the summit. Little Swarth maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far from the people in front of him, his eyes half-open and his face expressionless.

Then another day passed, and just as the sun was about to rise, Erfen suddenly exclaimed with delight, "I can see the shadow of the building now!"

Little Swarth also looked in that direction and, unsurprisingly, saw the architectural structure of a city, but speaking of an ancient city, it was more like the ruins of a long-established castle.

It's hard to imagine how anyone could build a castle in such a place, or who once lived in it.

In the popular legends of Endlers, dragons would abduct princesses and imprison them in castles.

At this point, a brave warrior will volunteer to the king to rescue the princess. After overcoming numerous hardships to slay the dragon and rescue the princess, the warrior will obtain the dragon's treasure, and the king will marry the beautiful princess to the warrior.

When Ria told this story to Little Swarth when she had nothing else to do, Little Swarth couldn't help but tremble. It covered half of its face with its wings, leaving only its eyes showing, and thought it was a really scary story.

Why kill the dragon and steal all its treasure?

The hero is really bad.

Will it be killed by some random person someday?

In response, Ria comforted it, saying, "No one can touch your treasure. If they do, I will kill that person."

Little Swarth was finally relieved. It lay on the blanket, feeling that its host was truly the best of parents.

Everything it has accumulated is for Ria. If anyone dares to touch it, Little Swarth will show them what the terror of a mythical creature is.

As it drew closer to the castle, it couldn't help but recall that story.

But reality is often more terrifying than stories. At least for Erfin, the closer he got to that building, the more he felt a chill emanating from the depths of his soul.

Even when standing in front of it, Erfen didn't react; he just subconsciously felt a sense of resistance.

But at that moment, the castle gates were opened from the inside.

With a loud "squeak," countless dust particles fell from the height, and what met everyone's eyes was an empty darkness.

In other words, the door opened automatically, and no one touched it at all.

Is there some special mechanism here?

"I wonder," Elfin said.

"How could there be such a thing? Come with me, I'll show you something interesting."

As he spoke, the source bone suddenly detached itself and fell to the ground, and the source bone on the ground quickly formed the shape of a skeleton, with two white light spots in the eye sockets shining brightly.

Elfin stared silently at his arm, which had been parasitized and was now a gruesome sight, with countless tiny tentacles wriggling on it.

He suppressed his discomfort and followed the Source Bone into the castle, with Little Swarth following closely behind, still appearing emotionless. If Elfin didn't know he was a living being, he would probably mistake him for a puppet.

Plague Source Bone walked at the forefront of the two, and the candles on the surrounding walls lit up one by one as they moved forward, illuminating the thick stone walls on both sides and the dusty red carpet beneath their feet.

The source bone's voice echoed in layers in this environment.

People revered the gods, and in order to seal the curse, they created a miracle of life in the most unlikely place.

[In the past, countless devout believers selflessly dedicated themselves to building the ancient city in the Gekkoso Mountains, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. The extraordinary creatures we encountered on our journey here were mostly the transformed forms of those who perished at that time.]

They proved their faith; their souls have ascended to heaven.

Elfin: "..."

Yuan Gu paused for a moment, then continued leading them forward. After a short while, its voice rang out again, as if reciting a poem.

When I saw the Lamb open the first of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”

I looked and saw a white horse, and the rider on it was holding a bow, and a crown was given to him.

He then went out, wanting to win again after already winning.

As the last syllable faded, they moved forward to a door, which opened automatically, but what lay behind it truly shocked Elfin.

Behind the door, a group of unusually sticky, disgusting lumps were wriggling there. They had teeth growing on them, and Elfen could clearly hear the grating sound of those teeth rubbing against each other as they wriggled.

But those things don't attack people on their own; they just stay quietly in place, slowly consuming the dust in the air.

Its body was so large that it completely blocked the road behind the door, and at this moment, the voice of the Plague Source Bone revealed a hint of laughter.

Thank you for all these years, Bennett.

“＆Η叽*#%■■■＆咕噜～”

The tumors emitted meaningless syllables, while Elfin stared at the source bone in astonishment.

What did you just call it?

【Benjani, haven't I introduced you to him yet? Well, maybe I really haven't.】

It's not too late to introduce it now, hehehe.

[My retinue, this is His Holiness the Pope of the Church of the Radiant Sun, the one whom the Keepers of the Secrets are driven mad with the urge to kill.]

But they probably never imagined, until their deaths, that all those people outside were decoys trained from childhood, while the real Pope had always been stationed there.

"I don't understand, this is too...absurd."

[There's nothing I don't understand. Benjamin was an absolutely devout man. He was the one who personally broke the first seal. He made countless efforts to welcome the Lord's coming, and this devotion moved me.]

I've decided to grant him this qualification, the qualification to touch the cursed seal.

The trials of the Apocalypse symbolize plague, war, famine, death, and perhaps more, but you are not qualified to know.

In contrast, as "knights," their horses represent spirit, morality, humanity, and vanity.

We believe that when a person's spirit reaches a certain level, the Lord will acknowledge his power as the Lamb and grant him the opportunity to approach the first seal.

This might sound a bit abstract, so I think it would be better if you could have a conversation with him about it.

Alfin was already too shocked to speak, but what shocked him even more was what was behind him, because he suddenly discovered that the supernatural creature with extremely polluting properties was actually making human voices.

"Help, help me... I am the Pope of the Rising Sun, I deserve His blessing, you cannot treat me like this..."

Elfin clenched his fist: "Your Holiness, what exactly happened? This wasn't your intention, was it?"

"No, no! We've all been deceived by Him!"
His so-called blessing is a curse. I thought that by using the plague, I could explore the shackles of life, and perhaps by continuing to study it, I could use the extraordinary abilities brought by the plague to obtain immortality.

He promised me, He promised me, but He didn't say He would turn me into this grotesque state. Extraordinary beings are all human, all human!!!

As it spoke, its voice disappeared, and it reverted to its previous state of being mindless and only capable of devouring dust. Elfin couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. At this moment, his back was covered in sweat, almost soaking his clothes.

"So what is your real purpose in bringing me here?"

Elfin watched the Source Bone warily, while it waved its hand dismissively, causing the lumps to automatically disperse towards the surrounding walls, revealing the path leading to the end of darkness.

Isn't it obvious?

(End of this chapter)