The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 967

Chapter 966
Mere meteorites…
Eivass gazed at Old Moriarty, his blood-stained face seemingly smiling yet not smiling.
He suddenly understood the old man’s words.
—This is a rehearsal for the end of the world.
For the residents living under this sky, an asteroid impact of this scale is equivalent to “doomsday.”
Without the intervention of a “Savior,” any power they use, any attempt they make, is meaningless—no matter what they do, their world will be destroyed.
It is heavenly will that humans cannot defy, a certainty of [death].
And Eivass holds their [life].
He could calmly leave this place—just like a Ring Heavenly Envoy, leaving before the doomsday destroys him, thus preserving himself. He could, of course, curse Moriarty, even kill him directly, or even blame all the “sin” on Moriarty in his heart, because he was the one who demanded the trolley problem… and Eivass has no obligation to save everyone.
Conversely, Eivass could also use “doomsday” as a weapon, find a way to change the meteorite’s trajectory, and throw it towards the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
This is an attack that can deter a Grey Heavenly Envoy. In other words, it would be an irresistible heavy blow to a Heavenly Envoy who has gained a physical form in the Material Realm.
Because this is a pure physical impact, bombarding with high-density, high-mass matter, it is not considered spell damage, nor does it involve Extraordinary Power. Therefore, even the resistance of high-level Phantom Demons would be fully consumed. Even for a Fallen Heavenly Envoy, taking this blow would be unbearable—provided he directly takes the full impact.
Even if it cannot be completely destroyed, it can at least be heavily injured. This would clearly be advantageous for the subsequent difficult offensive.
…The price, however, is the destruction of the entire Star Antinomy Royal Capital.
The attack range is a radius of fifty kilometers—the area directly impacted and completely destroyed by the meteorite would not be that large. More than half of the surrounding area would be affected. But the affected area alone is equivalent to ten Lionheart Cities; if the direct impact range is only twenty-five kilometers, it would still be the area of three Lionheart Cities.
—Is it worth using so many innocent lives to safely defeat the Fallen Heavenly Envoy?
And this thought is “Necessary Evil.”
If this idea surfaces in Eivass’s mind, even just contemplating “is it worth it”—it means he has already been manipulated by Old Moriarty.
Just as Old Moriarty has always interpreted the concept that “knowledge is poison.” When a person knows a piece of knowledge, they are inevitably infected by it. Even if they deny it, or have already forgotten it, the impact that has already occurred will continue to exist, even changing a person’s life.
—Just as Old Moriarty was corrupted by the memories of the apocalypse.
“…So that’s how it is.”
Eivass’s lips curved slightly upwards.
He looked at the meteorite in the sky.
Its descent speed was very, very slow—or perhaps very fast. But at least from Eivass’s perspective, he could only see it faintly growing larger. Its speed was even slower than the setting sun.
Eivass opened the Book of Law, stopping at a card he rarely used.
[Enchantment Card: Treant Anya]
[Effect: Transforms a tree into a Treant Anya. The Treant is considered a summoned creature. While the Treant is on the field, it continuously heals all allied units within range, and controls plants to periodically control enemies within range.]
[Effect: Used again, while Treant Anya is on the field, summon Moon Spirit Anya. Moon Spirit is considered a summoned creature and can exist for ten minutes. While Moon Spirit is on the field, the Treant’s effect changes to “gain a continuously existing protective barrier centered on the Treant.” The barrier is considered a Force Field, Ritual, and Shield, with resistance to all damage types except “divinity,” “flame,” and “evil.”]
The card depicts a man in green clothing with bull horns on his head, foolishly ignorant. A transparent rope like a snake is coiled around his neck.
“Ignorant and fearless, revering the future, pursuing dreams, moving forward freely. Even if it’s meaningless, still stubbornly persisting…”
Eivass said calmly, “I like this meaning.”
The old Moriarty, cut in half, still had the strength to speak.
He looked at the card Eivass drew.
He did not recognize this Tarot card modified by Eivass, but as an astrologer, he certainly understood Tarot. Listening to Eivass’s description, Old Moriarty guessed which card it was.
“The Fool…”
His mouth twitched almost imperceptibly, and he let out a low, hoarse voice, “The beginning of all Tarot, the end of all Tarot… living in dreams, unable to adapt, acting strangely. Just like you…”
“Perhaps.”
Eivass replied casually.
He now needed to find a tree.
A giant tree large enough to shelter people from wind and rain—the larger the tree, the larger the barrier it could support.
A small tree by the roadside might be able to protect himself… but it can’t shield all sentient beings from disaster.
“I’ve understood.”
Eivass spoke, looking down at Old Moriarty, “This is the last test you’ve left me… and the last lesson.
“Saving the world is by no means easy; it requires overturning the extreme of the impossible. And the most important thing is not to invert the means and ends along the way…
“…Just like you.”
Hearing this, the old man remained silent.
Only his lips curved upwards slightly.
—If Old Moriarty wanted to escape, he could have easily escaped from Eivass with his ability to manipulate illusions and lies. His combat experience was far richer than Eivass’s. If he wanted to kill Eivass, he had plenty of ways to sneak attack and kill him; that gravity manipulation spell was proof of that.
But he did not do so.
Because when Old Moriarty witnessed the Ouroboros Ring ritual, and saw Eivass appear before him, bypassing his astrology… he knew he had failed.
Some villains are defeated in the third episode, but buried in the three hundredth—but Old Moriarty was not like that. When he realized he could no longer fulfill his long-cherished wish, he decisively chose to give up.
…Of course, perhaps it was because he saw hope.
A faint hope from another possibility!
It could even be said that he was not killed by the King of the Wild Hunt, but willingly died by Eivass’s hand.
In this way, Eivass would have to bear the burden of killing him.
“…This kind of expectation that doesn’t speak human words is truly a bit like a father’s.”
Eivass murmured softly, animating a plain little oak tree.
Then, he raised his neck, and in the radiance, transformed into a deer.
Old Moriarty’s pupils widened slightly.
“Deer… Candlemaster…”
He muttered softly, as if thinking of something, then denied it himself and slowly closed his eyes, “Hmm, no…”
Eivass, transformed into a deer, walked elegantly beside Old Moriarty.
As he advanced, his skin gradually cracked, and blood flowed. Black Sin Thorns emerged menacingly like tentacles, and from afar, it looked as if black wings had grown on the sacred white deer.
“Ask a question, old man.”
Eivass walked up to Old Moriarty and asked unceremoniously, “Did you leave me anything? I’ll use whatever you left me as I please.”
He had changed his address at some point.
Hearing this, Old Moriarty’s old and mottled face revealed a sincere smile.
“Naturally.”
The old man said calmly, “Everything I left behind is yours. My accumulated wealth and knowledge are in the family vault—Oswald will take you to the specific location.
“As for this broken body, this broken soul… if there’s anything you want to use, take it.
“I have no intention of entering the Dream Realm. When people die, they die. There’s no need to pursue eternal life after death, nor to care about the next life. Even this world is not eternal; how dare a mere lingering soul call itself a god…”
The old man sneered, and the radiance in his pupils gradually faded.
“—Then you can’t die yet.”
Eivass suddenly spoke.
Treant Anya swayed its branches slightly, and a ball of radiance suddenly bloomed on the old man.
“Ugh…!”
Old Moriarty grunted, and his body quickly recovered its vitality and vigor. His face first showed confusion, then gradually turned to anger.
But at this moment.
Only then was there a *chi chi* piercing sound, and several Sin Thorns behind Eivass actually impaled him, pinning him beneath the oak tree!
“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—”
The intense pain made Old Moriarty tremble uncontrollably.
His consciousness became scattered, and his entire body’s muscles vibrated rapidly as if receiving an electric shock.
—After the Sin Thorns penetrated Old Moriarty’s body, they suddenly began to expand wildly!
The spreading Sin Thorns, with Old Moriarty held high by them, grew outwards in all directions like a tidal wave!
The surrounding stone slabs, buildings, and walls were covered in black Sin Thorns, but they deliberately avoided the oak tree in the center, which shone with golden radiance.
Oswald outside retreated in terror—those were Sin Thorns! The natural enemy of all Extraordinary beings, even Sapient Creatures!
“The criminal consultant of the Lloyd Society, the master of sin who manipulates human hearts, the creator of the ‘Necessary Evil’ philosophy… you must have accumulated quite a lot of ‘sin,’ old man.”
Eivass, whose pupils were not cross-shaped like a deer’s, but vertical like a dragon’s, gazed at Moriarty.
“—Then hand them all over to me.”
Saying so, Eivass began to chew on those Sin Thorns.
As Eivass chewed, blood constantly flowed from the corners of his mouth—flames gradually spread from his lips—
And immense Mana was continuously generated from the furnace within his body.
This generated Mana was poured into a plain oak tree beside him.
—This was the divine art that the Church’s Elves usually used to repair giant trees!
A common divine art that regenerates trees.
And now, with the authority of the Child of the Candlemaster, it grew continuously!
Ten meters, twenty meters, fifty meters… even one hundred meters, or even higher!
Those Sin Thorns were not exhausted at all; they continued to spread wildly.
Eivass’s chewing speed couldn’t keep up with its new growth speed. The golden oak tree grew like a golden meteor flying retrograde, growing wildly at an unbelievable speed!
Looking at this scene, Old Moriarty’s temples trembled from the intense pain, but he became more and more vigorous from the oak light that continuously fell upon him.
The old man burst into hearty laughter, his laughter half mocking, half enlightened, “So… this is what you wanted… Hahahaha… Then take it! Take it all!
“How can mortals surpass the evil I have done!
“That is the sin of a Savior!
“If one does not bear this necessary evil—”
At this point, even Old Moriarty’s body was completely swallowed by the Sin Thorns constantly spreading and growing within him.
He lost his shape and form, turning into a human-shaped mass of Sin Thorns.
“—I will never walk the same path as you, Father.”
Eivass whispered softly.
The deer antlers on his head grew wildly—they gradually grew from young antlers that were half white and half red to large antlers like a moose’s. Their color gradually turned into the color of alabaster, with a faint dark golden radiance floating within.
Even the body of the Sin Eater Beast itself was expanding and growing because of this!
And at this moment.
The mass of intertwined black Sin Thorns, which had completely lost its form, suddenly opened its “mouth.” Or rather, the mass of Sin Thorns that was originally its mouth.
It did not make any sound.
But its mouth opened and closed, forming a shape. Then it completely disintegrated, turning into countless Sin Thorns.
Eivass looked at the mouth shape and actually understood Old Moriarty’s words.
[Then remember this sentence.]
“—I will remember.”
Eivass mumbled, “I won’t run anymore.”
In the radiant light, beneath the towering oak tree.
The young deer grew up from then on.
The Sin Thorns wrapped around him were so massive that the undigested Sin Thorns could even lift the deer-shaped Eivass into the sky, placing him directly on top of the oak tree.
These undigested Sin Thorns would become nourishment for Eivass. No one knew how long Old Moriarty’s plan would last, nor how many people he had killed directly or indirectly. But these sins still accumulated in his soul.
Eivass suddenly had a thought:
If too many “Old Moriarty” souls simultaneously entered the Origin River… as the souls disintegrated and these Sin Thorns expanded, they might even block the Origin River.
He then had another thought.
“Heh… Where’s my experience, System? If the soul is completely decomposed, there’s no experience?”
Eivass sneered, “It’s not like it’s all been converted into Sin Thorns, right.”
But even so, his system panel did not pop up a window for receiving free experience.
But it was fine.
He no longer needed such things now.
But at this moment, another window popped up in front of Eivass:
[Current Conversion Rate 55%: Sin Eater Beast is immune to physical damage, like a spirit; you can use Sin Thorns to drain the opponent’s Mana; you can disable a super-being’s Extraordinary Power by driving Sin Thorns as nails; your Sin Thorns can capture souls, thereby apprehending souls in the Material Realm or salvaging souls in the Origin River; your Sin Thorns are now indestructible, considered Holy Weapons, considered innate weapons, and have the traits of toughness, sharpness, and piercing.]
…A 55% conversion rate.
Only 15% away from the irreversible 70%?
At this time, as the meteorite on the horizon gradually “grew larger,” the volume of the giant tree had already surpassed the sky.
Eivass felt a scorching, severe pain in his heart. Sacred white flames began to burn from his four limbs, but they did not burn the oak tree.
“It’s coming at the right time.”
He said sincerely, “More reliable than trying to catch it with a barrier as I originally planned…”
The fire of devotion burned in his pupils.
The oak tree beneath him seemed to gradually gain sentience—or rather, the new sentience gradually merged with Anya.
—That was a volume approaching that of a “giant tree”!
The power of the Sin Eater Beast alone seemed insufficient to achieve such a miracle…
As the golden oak tree rose high into the sky like a morning star.
The Sin Eater Beast, now in its adult form, also raised its black wings.
These were two pairs of wings woven from countless Sin Thorns.
Starting from Eivass’s body, these Sin Thorns ignited with golden-red flames.
Like two hands of flames, they were raised to the sky, grasping towards the meteorite!
“Mere meteorites…”
Eivass ground his teeth and said, “Watch me push it back!”
The sky-covering, sun-blocking Sin Thorns penetrated the meteorite like countless borers, gnawing through the stone shell and drilling into it. Flames poured into it, burning the already red-hot meteorite, which was being frictioned by the air, even redder!
Those Sin Thorns were like barbs.
They were also like fists, constantly chiseling at the stone shell!
“Anya!”
Eivass called out loudly.
“Coming!”
Anya appeared next to Eivass without hesitation, raising her right hand.
A golden barrier emerged from the outer shell of the giant oak tree, steadily catching the shattered meteorite!
Dust and smoke billowed.
—The shockwave wrapped in flames formed a ring, expanding with a roar in the night sky!
(End of Chapter)