Chapter 132
This Is Not His Home
The Shadow Demon’s slaughter left the giant with no corpses that could be resurrected.
Or rather, it had devoured all of them itself.
Aside from the antlers, the monks and red figures resurrected by the antlers were also torn apart and devoured by the Shadow Demon.
The Shadow Demon seemed particularly adept at dealing with these resurrected undead; it always struck their hearts and heads simultaneously with precision. With a single finessed thrust, it could kill them directly, as skillfully and elegantly as a seasoned diner shucking a crab shell.
Watching the Shadow Demon liquefy again, dripping from the hole to flow back into the shadowed pool beneath it, Eivass asked with some curiosity, “Is the killing and devouring you do in dreams also a ‘nourishment’ that is effectively real for you?”
“Of course,” the Shadow Demon replied, its voice a low, hoarse growl like a lion’s, “or rather, it’s more easily digestible fare.
These lives are mere phantoms condensed by the power of a Pillar God. Humans serve as sacrifices and food for demons because they are a race directly influenced by the Father of Snakes and Hengwo. Just as Supreme Heaven influences giants, Candlemaster influences elves, and Twilight influences the undead… humans are naturally adaptable to the Paths of Transcendence and Love, though the strength varies from person to person.
Humanity’s desire for transcendence becomes fuel and sustenance for demons. However, this process requires digestion.
But these beings in the Dream Realm, these illusory bodies you use, and other lives including giants, though they appear human, are in essence genuine Phantom Demons… they are our kin, too weak to have self-awareness.
Although I regret that this ritual was not personally constructed by the Father of Snakes, and devouring them won’t make me stronger… in terms of taste, they can be considered quite like excellent little biscuits.”
Eivass understood.
It was akin to taking a Beast of Sin to grind in a dungeon and gain experience for corresponding attributes. Phantom Demons could devour Phantom Demons of the same attribute to grow. All living beings constructed in the Dream Realm rituals, possessing intelligence and acting according to certain rules, were because these “intelligent individuals” were actually Phantom Demons mimicking corresponding entities.
Their power was illusory, temporarily bestowed by the Pillar Gods.
Much like a ghost unaware of its own death.
No wonder the Nine Pillar Gods could so easily construct various “dungeons.” This world wasn’t created by them bit by bit, but rather imported wholesale from history.
All they had to do was extract a fragment from history: a limited area with a duration of about a few hours, and then grant specific individuals within it temporary life and intellect.
Because those individuals were merely “AI constructs of Phantom Demons,” and the scenes could be adjusted. Under the interference of the Nine Pillar Gods, the final development could deviate from real history.
This was why it was “another possibility of history.”
The NPCs in the rituals couldn’t perceive that they were in a ritual because they were truly NPCs! Or rather, they actually knew their NPC status and were just playing dumb.
Rather than a game or a script, this was more like a ritual, an experiment, a sandbox—constructing a simulated environment and then introducing nine variables to observe how events would ultimately unfold.
For this reason, they had “imported identities” and various missions for earning points. This was a reward mechanism to encourage action, preventing them from doing nothing and wasting a simulation opportunity.
It was also possible that they constructed a simulated environment… and then introduced people from the Nine Paths into it for selection.
Both possibilities existed, with the latter being more likely.
Based on the two rituals Eivass had participated in so far, the historical prototypes were clearly not stories in which all Nine Paths could participate.
In the first ritual, at least the “Newsboy” played by Sherlock obviously shouldn’t have appeared in real history. The Supervisor played by that Knight was the same. They might have had brief appearances in history, but at most, they were fleeting extras, unrelated to the murder of the Alexanders.
This second ritual was even more obvious.
The bodies they nine used, in real history, should all have belonged to warriors of the Path of Power.
If nothing else, at least there absolutely couldn’t have been a Knight of the Path of Authority, because in the era when Supreme Heaven still existed, the Path of Authority didn’t exist at all. This meant that if they truly appeared in a simulated environment, the Knight’s Extraordinary Power should be completely unusable.
Things were rather strange.
The Nine Pillar Gods seemed to want to do something, yet they also seemed unconcerned. At least for low-level Ascension Rituals, they delegated the hosting to their Apostles, indicating they were at least not overly concerned with the outcomes of those lower-level ascensions. Yet, they went to great lengths to create dungeons and write missions…
Perhaps Eivass would only get the correct answer when he ascended to a higher level and participated in an Ascension Ritual personally hosted by a Pillar God.
“Do we go look for the Holy Lance now?” Lily’s voice sounded from behind Eivass, who had been lost in thought, “We’ve successfully advanced, haven’t we?”
“Of course,” Eivass temporarily set aside his unfocused thoughts and looked up with a light chuckle, “I have no idea about the full picture of this ritual.
If I win so vaguely, I’ll feel somewhat dissatisfied. Opportunities for ascension are limited, this is a chance to personally experience a piece of history…”
“But where is the Holy Lance? We don’t have much time, and a carpet search might be too late.”
“No need, I know where the Holy Lance is,” Eivass replied. “You’ve run through three storage rooms already… If I’m not mistaken, these three storage rooms should be at the corners, correct?”
“Yes,” Lily responded, “one in the southeast, one in the west. We are currently on the west side. The area where the Knight and the others were arguing is on the south side, and where the antlers and I appeared was on the east side.”
Eivass analyzed, “This is a shrine, so its construction must follow a certain rule. Its east and west sides can form a line, and there’s no passage further north. So, this building is roughly a triangle with its apex pointing south. And the three storage rooms are at the ends of the building.
The mission mentioned that the giant’s chances of going to the three storage rooms were random. If their bedroom was in the far north, then their probability of going to the three storage rooms would be different. Giants have bearish habits and hibernate. In such a case, they would tend to take the shortest route… which means the south would be the safer direction.
But in reality, only the area near the south has lights. Giants have no night vision, and the fact that lights were lit at that height indicates the giants have been here recently. We were brought here the day before yesterday, and someone was likely eaten yesterday too. So, the person eaten yesterday might have come from the southern storage room.”
“Therefore, I assume the distance from the giants’ bedroom to the three storage rooms is the same. In that case, the location of the giant couple should be in the center of this triangle.”
However, Eivass felt something was strange here.
The Sacred Number of Supreme Heaven should be seven.
But whether it was the triangular architectural structure, the three storage rooms, or the occasional candlelight… it looked more like the shrine of a Candlemaster. The Great Cathedral of Avalon, a Candlemaster’s shrine, had this triangular structure pointing south.
Giants have no night vision, but this hallway is unusually dark.
So, is it possible that the giants deliberately removed the excess lights, making the shrine less bright?
If it were a Candlemaster’s shrine, it should be brightly lit. Conversely, if it wasn’t bright enough, it would be destroyed as a shrine.
Adding to that, the “giant couple” had once killed an Apostle of the Path of Devotion. This meant they were definitely Apostles too.
Apostles of the Path of Devotion had personalities similar to Candlemaster’s, generally kind to others. They rarely attacked Apostles of other Pillar Gods, not even those under the Father of Snakes or Amber.
Let alone entering the shrine of another Apostle to attack them.
“If this couple were quite warlike and powerful, their collected Sacred Relics should be more than just this one Holy Lance. Similarly, they should have been rewarded with more than just a Demonic Cauldron, and we shouldn’t have received a mission to ‘kill a giant with the Holy Lance.’
So, after I noticed the similarity between this building’s layout and the Great Cathedral of Avalon, I had a guess… Could this have been a Candlemaster’s shrine, and they violently seized it by virtue of their numbers and sneak attacks?
Because of this, they killed an Apostle of the Path of Devotion and collected their weapon.”
Eivass surmised, “If this shrine was seized, then placing the Demonic Cauldron here makes sense—killing other Apostles, such an act of extreme violence, would merit a reward from Supreme Heaven. A Demonic Cauldron that can only be shattered by a Holy Lance, that’s essentially a Sacred Relic as well.”
“But these are all speculations, aren’t they?” Lily said softly.
“Precisely, but it’s simple to verify,” Eivass replied. “After I heard Thunder’s scream, I made a plan.
The mission specifically mentioned that loud noises would awaken the giants. That sound was very loud, and I was nearby at the time, following the rule of ‘sticking to the left wall’ in the maze, when I heard Thunder’s voice.
That scream was enough to attract the giants. But from the moment the scream sounded until we left… about ten minutes passed, and we didn’t hear giant footsteps.
So at that time, I deduced that the giants were very likely asleep. They would need time to wake up.
Thus, I had to consider the worst-case scenario—the giant who went to check the situation at that time might not have been two people, but one. If only one came out, the other giant would wake up and guard the bedroom, making it even more dangerous for us to pass by. According to the conditions presumed by the Pillar Gods, we were supposed to sneak in and find the Holy Lance.
The original plan was disrupted by Thunder’s scream. That’s why I intentionally banged on the door here just now, making a loud noise. The volume was slightly less than Thunder’s scream earlier.
The west and south sides are quite far apart. If a giant had gone to the south earlier, and now there was another noise from the direction of the west storage room… the remaining giant should also come to investigate.
This way, both giants could be drawn away from the bedroom.
As Eivass and Lily whispered, they heard rumbling footsteps.
They immediately hid.
Soon, with a turn of the handle, a door was opened.
—From within emerged a male giant with a beard like a waterfall of reddish-brown hair, his entire body covered in red fur like an upright brown bear.
He looked like an ape with a human face, or a human-shaped bear.
His physique was like a small mountain, his entire body of dark red muscle as hard as rock.
The giant’s back was somewhat stooped, and his hands were long enough to touch his knees. One hand held a huge lantern, while the other was held high, supporting the doorknob. His eyes were very large, but his eyelids drooped with age. The drooping eyelids were like heavy curtain doors, likely requiring someone to stand on his shoulder and use a long fork to prop them open.
Eivass’s guess was confirmed the moment the giant appeared—
Because the giant was only thirteen to fourteen meters tall. The doorknob was at the height of his throat, an awkward position.
In other words, this was not his home.
Eivass even recognized the identity of this red-haired giant—
His BOSS name was [Yaspavaton, the Giant Chieftain], one of the final BOSSes of the subsequent 4th version of the Shadow of Avalon dungeon.
He had another identity— he would become an Apostle of the Domain of Love in the future.
Because this old giant was actually the Shadow Heavenly Envoy of the Domain of Love, and the brother of Scathach, the Valkyrie from the Ouroboros Ring ritual.
