Chapter 874
Arriving in Daffodil Duchy
April 6th, Afternoon.
Port Baset, Protagonus Territory, Daffodil Duchy.
Eivass, clad in a magnificent black and red Pope’s Robes, descended from the Elf Warship, holding the Corona Scepter.
His golden long hair had grown back to shoulder length, and his emerald green eyes were exceptionally bright. A large emerald gem was visible on the chest of his robes. The Pope’s Robes were predominantly black, adorned with deep red and bright golden thorns.
As for the Corona Scepter Eivass held in his hand… it was originally an ornamental scepter that “looked very cool but wasn’t that powerful.” Now, it perfectly complemented Eivass’s black and red robes—at least stylistically.
The moment Eivass disembarked, people immediately recognized him as a person of great importance.
—The warship behind him also served as proof.
“So this is Daffodil Duchy…”
Eivass mused, “It’s actually my first time here.”
This time, Eivass did not take a passenger ship—the Church surely wouldn’t dare let their Pope travel by boat.
That would be somewhat dangerous. In this world where “forbidden things” existed in the depths of the sea, even for a Fifth Tier Extraordinary, the sea was still a perilous place. Not only was it an boundless expanse with no cover or hiding places, but one could also be attacked at any moment by sea monsters slumbering at the bottom of the ocean.
Those were monsters starting from the Fifth Tier!
The ship Eivass was on was the same model as the warship Helchin had taken to Avalon Island. It was constructed from a beautiful deep red material sourced from giant trees. The hull was inlaid with a large amount of gold and rubies, each ruby nearly one square meter in size, and there were nearly two hundred of them—these were, of course, not naturally occurring rubies, but large artificial rubies synthesized through classical alchemy.
These rubies, which resembled solar panels, served as the Church’s warships’ “cannons.” They functioned as an energy shield and could also emit energy in any direction.
This ship was named “Cruel Preacher,” an ancient technology predating the Heavenly Candlemaster Envoy and the establishment of the Church.
Helchin’s ship back then had its weapons removed. After all, the Church was in a state of permanent neutrality and peace at the time, and it was certainly not permissible to let a warship enter the territory of the Giant Kingdom, Arctos—that would have been disrespectful to the Arctos.
—The Arctos were the scientific name for giants. This was new knowledge Eivass had learned from the Church… historical truths that could never be learned in Avalon.
Just as dwarves couldn’t call themselves dwarves because they couldn’t see how short they were; giants also couldn’t call themselves giants. In the Giant language, they referred to themselves as “Arctos.” This name translated into Elven Language meant “Children of Earth” or “Sons of Earth,” and the Giant King was actually the “King of Earth”—this was why they had a “Royal Family” but no other “Nobles” or “Fiefdoms.”
On one hand, it was because giants did not yet have a feudal system, but more importantly… in giant culture, the Giant King was not the “King of the Giant Country,” but the “Master of this Land,” and the one who granted him this status was naturally the “Supreme Heaven” which had conquered the land. The other giants were “born from the Earth.”
In the giant creation myth, the birth of giants was due to the Supreme Heaven’s insatiable thirst. However, due to its immense power, no offspring of any race could withstand its strength, so it had intercourse with the incredibly solid Earth. Its essence permeated the Earth’s interior, and thus the world saw the Earth swell and bulge—volcanoes.
The first giants were born from volcanoes, thus they were perpetually angry and dangerous like volcanoes. Therefore, giants were inherently endowed with the powers of flame and earth.
This was why the Sacred Statue of the Supreme Heaven in the Giant Royal Court was depicted in a revealing posture.
The royal bloodline were the first to open their eyes and communicate with the Supreme Heaven. Thus, they were the eldest of all giants. According to the giant tradition of respecting elders, the royal family were the oldest giants. Therefore, they naturally possessed the greatest power and authority.
Although to humans, giants appeared barbaric, mad, and bloodthirsty… to elves, giants were an equally equal race among all races. They had their own culture and language, their own self-awareness, and their own political system…
The Church’s eventual complete antagonism towards giants was on one hand because giants actively prepared for war, viewing elves as hypothetical enemies, and on the other hand, because Karstenning was killed by giants.
The catalyst for this incident, in turn, was because the elves residing on Avalon Island were massacred by giants.
Avalon Island was not an island inhabited solely by giants. Before the Supreme Heaven created these giants, it was originally a paradise for snake people, elves, and a few winged ones, with witches and fairies also living there. Later, because giants would frequently steal eggs from snake people and harpies, and would capture and eat snake people and harpies, they couldn’t defeat these giants, so after several battles, they moved away.
Elves respected the traditions of giants—as there was a distinction between herbivores and carnivores in this world, harpies and snake people naturally preyed on each other. “Not eating talking animals” was part of the Nine Pillar Gods’ doctrine, but not all races were obliged to abide by it. Natural selection and the survival of the fittest were also part of the wild order, and elves merely needed to observe and regulate.
For instance, if snake people and harpies were still on Avalon Island, elves would strive to prevent their extinction.
But since they had left, the elves no longer concerned themselves with giants. They merely warned them not to go too far.
However, it might be related to the Supreme Heaven defeating the Sky-Devouring Giant Beast Nibiru and consuming its divine body. Giants also possessed an extremely strong appetite, which repeatedly provoked the elves.
Ultimately, these elves chose complete opposition to the giants and began a long war—before this confrontation, they first severed ties with the Church, signaling that their actions were unrelated to the Church.
That group of elves, unwilling to live in the Church, did so because compared to their own gentler and quieter kin, they were more warlike, cruel, and radical.
They originally believed their technology was far superior to that of the giants, but they underestimated the giants’ bravery and might. “Nation Destroyers” and “City Breakers” were born from the final battle between giants and these isolated overseas elves.
The Candlemaster’s Eternal Vanguard, “Karstenning,” was summoned to the Material Realm—he was also a giant, yet he devoutly believed in the Candlemaster. He stepped in and killed the giants who instigated the slaughter, then lived in the Karstenning Shrine for a long time, watching over his violent kin.
The People of Power could only be persuaded by greater power. After witnessing the incredibly powerful “Karstenning,” the Arctos gradually became more compliant.
They established a nation and gradually formed settlements. Although giants still consumed other races, they began to use “civilized” means such as trade or farming, no longer launching wars against other nations, and gradually became more intelligent. And when the Church warned and punished them, they became obedient… Thus, the matter of how to deal with giants became a subject of discussion and dispute among elves.
After all, the Path of Devotion was neither good nor evil.
And because Karstenning had not yet been backstabbed and killed, Helchin needed to personally collect evidence of the giants’ transgressions. The fact that he came to collect evidence indicated that the mainstream voice within the Church was against war—similarly, the fact that he dared to collect evidence at the risk of his life indicated that there were still many forces within the Church who harbored animosity towards giants!
Now, Eivass could be certain that if Helchin had directly sailed the fully armed Church warship “Cruel Preacher” to Avalon… he might not have died at all.
This ship even gave him a slight sense of dread, implying its firepower was absolutely fatal to Extraordinary individuals of Fourth Tier and below. It could even inflict fatal damage on Fifth Tier Extraordinary individuals.
Its range was very long. Its direct beam coverage distance could exceed twenty kilometers. Enemies within this range would be targeted and tracked by the enhanced Fourth Tier spell “Scorching Ray.” The maximum number of simultaneously targeted individuals depended on the number of divine art casters controlling this casting unit, and tracking also depended on manual skill… If focused, nearly a hundred ruby lenses could attack the same static target simultaneously.
And it was itself an extremely powerful altar of divine art. Its long-range casting enhancement could cover an area of over fifty kilometers in diameter—this could cover almost half a city already.
With it, Helchin’s retinue would have had a role to play, rather than having to go ashore and fight.
If that group of people hadn’t gone ashore, Helchin wouldn’t have had to stay in the human settlement for a long time waiting for supplies.
Traveling alone, he had the Pegasus, making his movements incredibly swift. Just like what Eivass did during that ritual—giants simply couldn’t catch up to him.
Although the Wing Heavenly Envoy back then had wings and could fly. However, the giants created by the Supreme Heaven also couldn’t fly. This was their fatal flaw… any humanoid individual without interdimensional teleportation ability or flight capability would not have very strong mobility, a fact dictated by the laws of nature. Unless smashing through all obstacles counted as a form of displacement.
And with artillery cover, Helchin could retreat and regroup at any time.
This was, after all, the most powerful warship of the Church, the firepower the elves once used in wars against ancient monsters like M.O.U.s, sea monsters, and dragons.
After the era of war ended, only three “Cruel Preacher” ships remained. One of them was the one Helchin had damaged, and this was another one. It was a escort ship deployed when two or more Cardinal Galateas traveled.
As for the more powerful “Oathbreaker Annihilator” class ships, due to their high maintenance costs, they had all been dismantled long before humanity was born… Many of their technologies were now lost, though fortunately, copies were preserved. But even with Eivass’s command, reconstructing them would be quite difficult.
Currently, this ship had no “sailors” in the true sense of the word; the eighty crew members were at least Third Tier Priests. And six Pope’s Guards accompanied them.
They all remained on the warship, ready at any moment.
Eivass finally realized how terrifying the “virtuous” elves truly were…
And accompanying Eivass on this trip was another Cardinal.
“I visited this place six hundred and forty-one years ago,”
Cardinal Galatea’s clear, cold voice was heard. “Do you require me to be your guide?”
The girl with pure white hair, like snow, had no expression on her face, like a puppet.
She was the proxy of the Twin Mirror, the Church’s only Artificial Cardinal. As the leader of the Ancient Ruins Restoration Society, upon hearing that Eivass intended to visit an Amber Era ruin, she expressed a strong desire to come along.
“…That won’t be necessary.”
Eivass said with a hint of helplessness.
Six hundred years had passed; the terrain here had likely changed.
(End of Chapter)
