The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1199

Chapter 1196
Completely Mad?
If Eivass had remained unaware of all this, he would have continued to promote various welfare policies through the Harpies, attracting people to Dawn City.
Just as Eivass had done before: providing unlimited water sources, offering citizenship, teaching slaves to stand up, eliminating slavery, thereby eliminating the slave system itself, and becoming the greatest and most righteous Lord of Good… everything would have progressed in a bright direction.
Then, under the “sudden” descent of the Abyss Heavenly Envoy, doomsday would arrive—
The Abyss Heavenly Envoy would swallow everything, including the warring Heaven City and the Red, and kill tens of millions of innocents.
And Eivass would descend like a Savior, defeat the Abyss Heavenly Envoy, and gain control of the Power of the Great Sea, creating an inland sea and rivers in the center of the desert, bringing a true oasis to this dead land, thus causing people to worship Eivass like a god…
“…But what would He gain from that?”
Eivass frowned.
The more he deduced, the more lost he felt.
No matter how he looked at it, Eivass would only gain benefits from this. This great act of saving the world and slaying a god would directly max out the resonance of his Path of Devotion and Transcendent Path. While Eivass’s power in the Material Realm would rise to a higher level, he would also ascend faster.
It was an arrangement and plan that was extremely advantageous to Eivass and extremely disadvantageous to the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
—If Eivass completed the first Ouroboros Ring before the Father Snake’s departure on August 8th, he might be able to pull down and kill the Ring Heavenly Envoy through the second Ouroboros Ring!
And what the Ring Heavenly Envoy would gain… would only be the souls of millions, tens of millions of the dead who would flood into the Dream Realm together.
Could they block the Origin River?
That was impossible.
The Origin River was not a real river; how could it be blocked?
But what would these souls do flowing into the Dream Realm? Or was the Ring Heavenly Envoy planning to create some Phantom Demon like a “Death Entity” through such a scale of death… This was something Eivass could predict. But was it worth it?
Eivass thought for a full eight hours but could not find a coherent thought.
He did not want to follow the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s arrangement; however, Eivass didn’t even know how to escape the predicament—if he left now, the Abyss Heavenly Envoy would only kill more people. If he followed this plan, the most people would be saved because of it.
This seemed to have no flaws, but Eivass could not comprehend the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s true scheme… making him extremely uneasy.
Was he simply planning for himself?
Late at night on June 23rd, Isabel invited Sherlock, who had spent a day creating water in the city.
Though somewhat tired, he immediately perked up upon hearing Eivass had encountered a problem and rushed over.
After listening in detail to Eivass’s account, Sherlock fell into deep thought as well.
In the dimly lit hall late at night.
Only Eivass, Sherlock, and Isabel were present; everyone else had been sent outside.
“I have a somewhat… unreliable conjecture, Fox.”
Sherlock, after serious consideration, frowned deeply. “I dare not be sure if this is correct… but you can take it as a reference. Because I feel this is your blind spot in thinking.
“—Is there a possibility that the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s target is actually the position of the Crown Lord?”
Eivass instinctively wanted to say impossible.
Not to mention that the Ring Heavenly Envoy clearly lacked adaptability for the Path of Authority…
And if things truly developed this way, with the descent of the Abyss Heavenly Envoy… it would become impossible for the Red to completely defeat the Lord of Good. This would mean that the Silver Crown Dragon and the Calamity Demon Dragon in the Dream Realm would once again become an endless mess, and both sides would be weakened.
The fundamental principle of this World was that the state and will of the great existences in the Dream Realm would change the human heart in the Material Realm, and what happened in the Material Realm would, in turn, affect the Dream Realm.
Therefore, the way to fight against “Fate” was to fight against desire and the human heart; and to slay the gods in the Dream Realm, it was best to weaken them by changing the situation and concepts in the Material Realm.
“He can’t possibly want Morgan to ascend, can he?”
Eivass frowned deeply. “Is Morgan on the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s side? That’s also unlikely… and I always feel Morgan isn’t quite worthy. I believe the Calamity Demon Dragon’s plan is very likely to be to kill the Silver Crown Dragon through Morgan, thereby transforming the concept of ‘Authority’ into ‘Clan’, and then in turn devouring Morgan to restore it to logic more in line with the bottom layer of the Violence Origin River, such as ‘Barbaric’ or ‘Slaughter’.”
“Yes,” Sherlock nodded earnestly. “What I mean is—do you think the Ring Heavenly Envoy is happy to see all this happen?”
“…Not necessarily, Sherlock.”
Eivass thought for a while before slowly replying. “If he were me… I wouldn’t think it was a good thing. It would mean the World’s corruption, the era’s regression.”
“So I think He shouldn’t agree with that either. Not to mention, the Crown Heavenly Envoy is His Apostle.”
“…But the problem is, I don’t know if the Silver Crown Dragon is His Apostle or if the Calamity Demon Dragon is His Apostle.”
Eivass sighed. “Logically speaking, the Silver Crown Dragon severed all His powers except for strength and was reborn in the Material Realm under the name ‘Arthur’. Then the Calamity Demon Dragon is the remnant carrying the power of the Transcendent Path… but the claims of the Calamity Demon Dragon or Morgan clearly do not align with the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s Path of ‘Metamorphosis’.”
“Metamorphosis means the upper becomes lower, and the lower becomes upper. All things flow eternally… and sufficiently strong ‘violence’ will solidify this hierarchy. Whether this violence is based on the food chain, pure violence, Royal power and law, clan rules, or the fear of slaughter, it will prevent this ‘flow’.”
“You are correct, Eivass. Whoever sits on the Pillar God of the Seventh Origin River will make the Ring Heavenly Envoy, who plans for the Eighth Origin River, uncomfortable… especially since He is about to abandon the ‘Transcendent’ Path and move towards the ‘Metamorphosis’ Path. Therefore, this already existing hierarchy will no longer be a pillar of the grapevine for him, but an obstacle.”
Sherlock gazed intently at Eivass. “So, could there be another possibility?
“What I mean is… He is targeting not the Silver Crown Dragon, nor the Calamity Demon Dragon. Not even Morgan. But the entire Path of Authority.”
Upon hearing this, Eivass froze.
He had indeed never considered this possibility.
—Because this possibility was too terrifying.
But looking back now, it all seemed so real…
“I remember you saying… before the Great Philosopher opened the Gate of Truth, there was no Pillar God for the Fourth Origin River. This means that the Origin River itself could potentially not have a Pillar God.”
Sherlock gazed at Eivass’s violently trembling pupils and said in a low voice, “Eivass, I’ve always believed in one saying: When you eliminate all impossible situations, whatever remains… no matter how unbelievable, that is the truth.”
“…You mean.”
Eivass realized the terrifying truth. “The Ring Heavenly Envoy is neither on the side of the Silver Crown Dragon nor on the side of the Calamity Demon Dragon. He wants to kill—all Heavenly Envoys of the ‘entire Path of Authority’—”
“Morgan will likely die too. Even the Silver Crown Dragon’s Knight Order… and our Respected Old Queen will likely be killed by him as well, ensuring no one can ascend to the position of Pillar God of the Seventh Origin River.”
Sherlock’s eyes held a hint of gloom.
He had a loyalty to Old Queen Sophia that would not end even with death, which was also why Sherlock could immediately think of such a dangerous possibility.
And now to learn… that someone wanted to murder her even after her death truly angered Sherlock.
Isabel, who was beside them, also opened her eyes.
She had remained silent, but at this moment, her lips tightened.
“…A Path without a Pillar God means the entire World will fall into chaos. Pure ‘violence’ will be uncontrolled and likely permeate the entire Material Realm… just like the power of truth spreading freely in the past, where anyone picked up off the street could be a master mage unimaginable to modern people.”
Eivass spoke slowly, deducing in his mind. “At that time, the power of everyone will likely increase randomly. All order formed based on ‘violence’ in the past will collapse—the essence of a nation is violence, the symbol of the army is also violence, and they will all disintegrate because of this.”
“Exactly.”
Sherlock nodded and continued, “Pure chaos, uncontrollable violence, isn’t that the cornerstone of the principle of ‘Metamorphosis’?”
“That’s why he designed such a situation. He let the Red Dragon choose the Red as his spokesperson at this moment, launching a righteous war against the sleeping Lord of Good… The Red Dragon mistakenly believed that by doing so, he could gain the tilt of external forces and ensure the Crown of Authority could be taken by himself.”
Eivass clarified the cause and effect. “But in reality, he was used by the Ring Heavenly Envoy—the Ring Heavenly Envoy intends to let both sides perish together, thereby causing the Crown Lord to fall into unprecedented weakness! Morgan will betray the Crown Lord at this time, and he will kill Morgan at this moment—”
“—and then kill all the Crown Lord’s followers, ensuring the Seventh Path becomes completely depopulated.”
Sherlock continued, “Thereby ensuring the neutralization and nullification of the concept of ‘Transcendence’, ensuring the ‘Metamorphosis’ Path can take its place.”
“Is he mad!”
Eivass blurted out. “Has he already been completely eroded by the Void?”
The instantaneous death of tens of millions of mortals, the terrifying Phantom Demons formed by resentment entwining the Material Realm, slaying the Crown Lord and eradicating all Phantom Demons of a Path, plunging the Material Realm into absolute chaotic times…
This made the Ring Heavenly Envoy seem far crazier than the Lord of Good and the Red!
Eivass could not accept that “another self” would do something so insane.
It was like live streaming the destruction of an account when deciding to quit a game.
He never did such things… Not only would he not destroy his account, but he wouldn’t even sell it. Because even for games he no longer played, there were unforgettable joys. Even if pain and anger momentarily outweighed joy, after a long time, only love would be remembered. Because love had a more enduring vitality than hate.
He didn’t want to regret it, so he would only cherish these things.
Even if it was just to preserve his past memories.
Eivass was a very nostalgic person. To him, memories were treasures surpassing all things.
And to do something like tipping over the table would be no different than desecrating his past memories.
To Eivass, no matter how much the Ring Heavenly Envoy wanted to kill him before, he was just his nemesis—he even felt pity and tenderness towards the Ring Heavenly Envoy. Because he must have endured suffering that he himself had not endured to walk this path. His tenderness towards the Ring Heavenly Envoy was also tenderness towards himself.
But only this matter—
Eivass could not forgive him.
“…To stop the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s conspiracy, I may have to use some underhanded methods from now on.”
Eivass said earnestly. “This is for me…”
With that, he glanced at the serious and silent Isabel and Sherlock and slowly added, “And for Her Majesty the Queen.”
Even for the Ring Heavenly Envoy himself.
Eivass added in his heart.
He did not want the Ring Heavenly Envoy to regret his choice one day.
Even if it was an enemy who wanted to devour him.
He was, after all, another “Eivass”.