The temple at the top of the pyramid looks much larger from the inside than from the outside.
Victor could have housed two of his estates within these golden halls, although the building has significantly deteriorated over time. One of the pillars supporting the roof had collapsed, the mosaics on the walls had eroded into an incomprehensible mess, and the ground was covered in a thick layer of dust. It seemed like no one had been to this place for a long time.
However, the evil of the sealed El Dorado has nested there, waiting on the other side of the hall.
The beast lurking in the halls looked terrifying. It's an incredibly long crimson worm covered in an armor-like exoskeleton, supported by six clawed insect legs, and has a scorpion's tail. Six blue eyes circled its mouth, an abyss of gold teeth like a lamprey.
Although it was already an unnatural hodgepodge, what frightened Victor the most was its size. It was even bigger than Wankel, eighty feet long from the tip of its tail to its mouth.
However, the team discovered that it was reading a book.
Victor saw a behemoth bigger than Winkle, using telekinesis to pick up a book and turn the pages, paying no attention to the visitor. The sight in front of him made him blink. The Prime Minister recognized the cover as "The Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker, and with a quick glance he saw a stack of books, folios, and treaties on the right side of the book, and a pile of small toys on the left. They look a lot like...
"Wait, is that a Super Nintendo?" Allison recognized one of the items in the pile.
Her words echoed off the walls, causing him to peek out of his book at the diverse group of people crossing the threshold of the temple. "Really? The creature sounded like a swarm of locusts painfully imitating human speech. "What do you want, mortals?"
"Are you the source of the glow, bug?" Winkle asked haughtily.
"Yes," replied the animal, not minding the silly name at all. It looks a lot like...
…
Victor activated [Monster Insight] and began to pray.
Sabra, God of Destruction
God(Insect/God)
There is absolutely nothing you can do to me. Go home.
I am a bug that eats the world and I am too lazy to say more.
holy sh -
"Sabla
!" Victor had never seen Allison angry, but it seemed that a demonic spirit had possessed the priestess of Sibeli. Her face twisted into a furious snarl, and she immediately cast a spell with her fingertips. "Blackthorn!"
"Allison, this is a terrible idea-" Victor protested, but she had already launched a barrage of sharp thorns at the god. Fankle instinctively imitated her and unleashed a powerful fireball, only Malfi did nothing, knowing it was useless.
Even Fu
ibo
He also began to cast spells in fear because the projectiles might hit the giant insect. "We're
u——"
As the group crossed the threshold, Sabra peeked from his book. "Yeah?"
Victor blinked and looked at his surprised companions. The shell disappeared as if it had never been fired. While Fuliben quickly understood the situation and Ellison remained confused, Winkel immediately went on the offensive again.
"Magical purification!" The dragon used his favorite defensive skill. "Ah! There's nothing you can do now—"
"[Spell—" Winkle paused, realizing that just before he cast the spell, time had flown backwards. This time, he just glared at the bugs of the world. "How did you do it, Chongchong?"
"I erased time," God replied flatly.
"That doesn't make sense—" Victor protested.
Before he could answer, time went back again.
"You can't turn back time at any time, as long as someone refutes -"
He did it.
"What did you just say?" God asked, sounding a little smug.
"That makes perfect sense when you think about it," Victor complained.
"Yes, indeed." Sabra closed his book, which became the top of the pile. "Why are you here, mortals?" I don't want to see rough violence, especially when I'm on vacation. "
"Your vacation?" Victor blinked at the surreal answer. Is he dreaming?
“This is my vacation spot,” says God. "I can't destroy the world seven days a week. I've been overworking myself for the past few centuries, so in this millennium I'm going to relax. I prefer it when my opponents are hanging out on planes playing games together Out alone
emo
in the ruins of de. "
"But..." Fu
ibo
Struggling to say anything, completely at a loss. "What about the seals outside? Who can seal the gods?"
"That weak barrier?" I held it up to keep wandering explorers out of my room. I can come and go as I please. "
Yes, it seems that Solot's information is a bit unreliable. "You read and play games at home all day?" Victor frowned. "Are not you at home?"
'Social Alienist', God Justifies His Lifestyle. "I'm playing Final Fantasy VI right now because a friend of mine brought it from Earth."
"Really?!" Victor has always wanted to play this game!
"Vic, this is Sabra, the god of destruction and plunder of the environment!" Allison seethed, her hatred for this despicable god overriding her better judgment. "Don't please him!"
"Sybele's suitor." Sabra let out a heavy, condescending sigh. "I don't understand you people. We all love nature, can't we all live in harmony?"
"People who love nature? What about you?" Victor had to admit that even when facing the enemies of his own gods, the tree demon showed complete fearlessness. "You turned forests into sand and people into gold!"
"I wish to return Overmond to its original surroundings, a perfect sphere of earth and metal." The bug replied calmly. "I don't understand what beauty you find in trees. They are ugly and full of noisy creatures. Can't you see the beauty of silent, still mountains? Lifeless gems and gold?"
"There is nothing more beautiful than a shining treasure," Winkle said, defending her lifestyle. "If they had some taste, they would agree with us."
"Yes, Vanquil." "Dragon and I both believe that minerals and metals are more important than life itself."
"You know us?" Victor could have sworn that the worm's words swayed his dragon friend, if only a little.
"Of course he knows," Winkle replied, baring his chest. "Who wouldn't?"
"The dragon built a disgusting city where my followers left a beautiful desert landscape, and you, Earthling, created a landmass of nothing but water. Yes, I know both of you."
"What are you talking about, little insect?" The evil dragon's mood immediately turned bad.
"Island?" the minister repeated, more confused than insulted. As a god of destruction, Sabra is so lazy. Seeing the god in the flesh shattered Victor's mind about him. All myths.
"Didn't you roll dice yesterday?" asked the insect god. "You built a new island on the west side of this continent."
Victor tried to ignore the looks from Malfoy and Allison. "I do not know what you're talking about."
"This is a waste of time." Fuli said at his wits' end.
"What the lich says is true, no matter how impossible it may sound." "Release my servants immediately, fairy."
"Wait a minute, that Soul Crown, Wotan has been upgraded..." Victor glared at the god. "Did you do it?"
"No," the god replied, "Mel created me, perhaps to fight against humanity, but I have no sympathy for the orcs. I support those who set out on the path of destruction, and I will not free anyone. Your servant We have become children of the earth, and they will remain so until the end of the world.”
Malfoy, who had been silent just now, cleared his throat. “If I understand divine law—because I went to hell’s law school—you shouldn’t interfere directly with the lives of people who don’t worship you.”
"Our God has a 'gentleman's agreement' with looser rules," God corrected. "We can influence Overmund to perform miracles within our purview. The dice rained destruction, Camilla unleashed the undead plague, and Shesha fulfilled requests paid for with money."
"The price is too high!" Winkle complained, still fretting over a refund.
“Price is a meaningless abstract value,” Sabra added in a nihilistic tone. "The citizens of this city petitioned me to turn everything they touched into gold. I granted their request, and those foolish enough to let greed conquer their hearts deserved their fate. That's all."
"This is not satisfactory." Winkle exhaled the smoke from his nostrils.
"Your Majesty, this is a god." Victor protested. "He could kill us all without blinking an eye, and I don't even know why he hasn't done it yet!"
“I have found that patience and perseverance are the keys to a peaceful, fulfilling life,” Sabra replies calmly. "Time will eventually take its toll. You will all die eventually."
Yes, Victor suspected that God was just lazy. No wonder the world still exists.
"If you are granted a wish, it means you have entered into a pact with the inhabitants of Eldorado." "I can't imagine any mortal being foolish enough to ask a higher power for blessing without asking Strong legal action. If we could check the wording..."
Good idea, if they could find a loophole in the curse there might be a chance to free their allies without violence.
"They did make a long wish." Sabra blinked, and a long floating scroll appeared in front of everyone. "I gave it to the letter."
Malfoy immediately grabbed the scroll and began to read it. Freeborn peeked over his shoulder to find a line of words. "There," the demon found a weakness. "Disputes concerning the wording of a will or modifications to its nature should be resolved by a trial of wit and skill"
"The city's citizens seemed smart enough to leave a backdoor," Fu
ibo
pointed out.
"Yes!" Allison pointed at the destructive god. "If we win, you can lift the curse!"
"I'm not forced to agree, I'm starting to wonder if I should turn you all into sand," Sabra replied, starting to get angry.
Allison replied: "I have been blessed by the goddess Cybele."
"I swear on the name of the five gods," Victor boasted, and his fairy friend glanced at him in shock and jealousy, "do you really want to piss off half the gods over such a small thing? Not that you're already very good. It’s popular…”
Worm silently surveyed the group, weighing his options. "You won't leave me alone unless you get what you want..." he continued, not yet coming to a conclusion. "I have neither the time nor the inclination to play games with mortals. If you only seek the freedom of a few, then I can offer you a compromise."
"Are you afraid you'll lose, little insect?" Fankel mocked him. "You should be afraid."
"I was once a mortal," the god replied. "Only a fool would underestimate others, no matter how great the difference in our respective powers. So I give you a suggestion: I will remove your friends and allies of the lich from me." freed from the [Curse of Greed]. You will be allowed to leave El Dorado alive and free."
"But the city, the curse, and its other victims will live on." Victor sees this huge trap.
"And it will continue to take more people away," added Alison, who is strongly opposed to the practice.
"My golden city will stand and continue to expand into this forest," Sabra promised. "But by the time you suffer the consequences, you'll be dead."
"Like global warming?" the prime minister joked, and Alison glared at him.
In theory, this isn't a bad deal. To them. They avoided a very risky endeavor and pissed off the gods, and they came away unscathed. There is no winning and no losing.
The rest of the New World will be drowned in beeps. Even with advance warning, people still come to the city and Eldorado continues to claim victims. The curse will infect more people, who may spread it beyond its reach.
"We can't accept that," Alison said, and Victor largely agreed. It is simply wrong to abandon thousands of human beings to become eternal golden statues.
"I believe this is a fair deal." "His Majesty came for the Lich, and we found it. Once we free the Chocolate Lady, we will gain nothing else from this adventure."
To Victor's surprise, Fuliben also seemed hesitant. "You said you were going to save the world from a curse," the minister reminded him.
"Before I knew the God of Destruction was behind it," the Lich replied, probably out of fear. The creature before them was one of the entities capable of permanently killing the undead. "It's an all-or-nothing strategy to go up against him and even if we win, he's definitely going to hold a grudge."
"I reject your compromise."
Victor looked up at Winkle in surprise, and Sabra looked up at him in surprise. "Why?" asked the insect, expressing the minister's own thoughts. He had thought that the dragon would at least consider his proposal.
"I am the liberator of the minions," Winkle replied arrogantly. "You turn a potential Minion into lifeless furniture, no matter how shiny. Like a slave."
"They are more valuable than meat." The insect god replied coldly and disdainfully.
"They are more valuable if they are alive, and I have proof." "Your plan is a cruel mockery of everything dragons stand for; turning gold into something shameful instead of something to be praised. Now I'm looking at a Golden statue, how can you not doubt whether it was created by your evil magic?"
"If I lift the curse, the city will return to its original state." Sabra attacked Winkle's weakness. "Do you really want to see this gold disappear forever?"
The dragon was furious, but still stood by his decision. "A true dragon has a standard of quality. Your wealth is like lead to real gold."
At this point, Victor felt like he had never respected Winkle as much as he did now.
Sabra observed Winkle for a moment, then turned to Furibang. Although he hates dragons, his arrogant determination makes even the lich stand firm.
With his ultimatum rejected, God finally lost patience. "Well," he said, "this is your funeral, as they say. If you beat me in a fair fight, I will lift the curse and restore the city to its original state. But if I win, you swear My rival gods will not complain..."
The god moved until his head touched the ceiling of the Golden Hall.
"you die."
…
"Don't you have any other requirements for us?" Victor asked innocently.
"You are dead forever."
He walked right into that.
"I agree," Winkle replied proudly. "Prepare to fail, Bug Man! I'm going to beat you in the only game worth betting on the fate of this city!"
The dragon breathed fire from his nostrils, preparing to make his grand proclamation.
"Card!"
Victor facepalm refers.
"This will be the ultimate test of my dragon skills," Vai
queue
declared confidently as if he had played it a thousand times.
"Sound strategy will always prevail." To Victor's surprise, Fuliben seemed to support the decision. "Vai
queue
!This time, I want to fight side by side with you!"
"Your poverty will only drag me down!" Long refused. "Never!"
"Are you two seriously considering putting our lives on the line?" Alliso
Panicked.
"There will be no cards," Sabra whispered menacingly. "My form of social entertainment is... crude. I think more of an ancient tradition practiced by both dragonkind and my own creator."
"Battle of Minions." Fankle glared at him.
"So be it," Sabra replied, "You and your four servants will fight to the death with my favorite warrior."
"I cannot be treated like that maggot!" Fuliben protested, but the god ignored him.
In an instant, a golden collar appeared around the mortal's neck, gripping it irritatingly. "If you leave the city's borders until the winner is decided, you will die," Sabra announced, and a summoning circle appeared in front of him. "Come now, O my Prophet. Release sweet destruction. This is the command of your God."
A familiar creature appears, casting an overwhelming, suffocating aura.
An evil mummy, black with bones and scroll bandages, clad in dusty green robes that resonates with pure arcane power. The funeral mask covering his face revealed only two bright lights at his eyes.
"My minister." Aknapeppe, the master of the monster Mot and the destroyer of the southern continent, glanced at his former student Victor. "haven't seen you for a long time."
