Myths Reawakened

Land of Seal.

It was what had been the Land of Seal, anyway.

The four returned along the path they had come through. Seeing the dramatically different landscapes, the three chosen knights were shocked. After asking about it, they realized that they had fallen for Thoggua’s tricks and nearly allowed Thoggua to hit their base from a backdoor. Moreover, with a pincer movement from the front and the back, Thoggua would surely succeed in descending.

Moula, who had formulated the strategy, was drenched in sweat. He had nearly doomed the entire world unintentionally. Lowering his gloomy face, he stood firm while Darienne berated him.

“Wayne, why did Thoggua leave?”

“I don’t know. It was clearly about to succeed when it suddenly went crazy...” Wayne gestured as he described what had happened, but with his limited verbal skills, his explanation was ambiguous and failed to paint a clear picture. “Anyway, they seemed to have received some kind of summons and just disappeared on their own.”

The dark elves had left before the great battle, and the only witnesses to the Death energy and the Pale Nest were Wayne’s people, leaving him with a lot of room to manipulate the story. Based on his current abilities, he gave the correct answer: ‘I don’t know anything.’

Don’t ask. We just won mysteriously. That’s all.

The three knights didn’t suspect anything. In the projected space, they had seen Thoggua giving up on attacking all of a sudden, retreating and even nearly taking them to the Vassal Realm. Come to think of it, perhaps Thoggua had received a summons from the ancient god upon their awakening.

“Such a shame. It was a good chance, but because of me, we didn’t completely sever the projected space,” Darienne said, blaming herself.

Her two companions offered her words of comfort. They had completed their objective, which was filling the crack in the projected space. Thoggua could no longer descend at will, and the other hidden threats across the Chosen Land had been eliminated. The fact that Thoggua couldn’t attack from within was in itself a major victory.

Speaking of which, Moula looked at Anastasia with puzzlement.

When he saw Wayne holding the three magic stones, he had assumed that Anastasia had perished, yet here she was, alive and well. Not only was she not dead, but she had even recovered her body.

Her body should’ve been corrupted. This didn’t make sense!

“Anastasia, how are you not dead?” Darienne asked bluntly. “What’s with your body? Did Thoggua bring it over, too?”

“When Thoggua’s head descended, my faith reclaimed my physical form for me and dispelled Thoggua’s corruption,” Anastasia spoke nothing but the truth.

“Ah, the Goddess of Darkness.”

The three knights came to a realization, filling in the blanks and justifying Thoggua’s departure. The Goddess of Darkness had to have intervened.

What an important piece of information. With this great victory, I must report to the goddess immediately. x3

Also, having someone be three chosen knights at once is cruel. Please have more faith in your own knights, Goddess. x3

Aside from their failure to sever the projected space, the battle had met a perfect ending. The three chosen knights planned to rebuild the Land of Seal upon the ruins and take turns guarding it in the future.

“Wayne, our tasks won’t be as heavy going forward, so I’ll have more downtime,” Moula said first. “Remember to familiarize yourself with Elemental Mantra further. You will become the Nature Knight.”

That prompted Leo and Darienne to express their objection. Unable to reach an agreement, they chose to sit down and play cards.

Best two out of three. Darienne won and, in a fit of joy, flipped the table.

The knights had recovered some of their strength. They created a defense that took the shape of an aurora on the Land of Seal. The Darkness Knight, Auston, joined in, and the four-colored bands of light floated down, dispelling the heavy curtain of blackness.

Auston had completed his mission on the Land of Seal and didn’t plan to stay for long. Worried that the three chosen knights would dispose of him once he’d outlived his usefulness, he hopped onto his black dragon and left immediately.

Watching the pair fly away, Wayne gave Silvia a meaningful look. Master, they’re running away so fast. I bet they’re heading to a seaside villa to make babies!

Silvia rolled her eyes. She couldn’t take such provocation lately, so he should keep his mouth shut.

The Land of Seal needed to be rebuilt from scratch. The Darkness mages returned; the construction projects were in full swing. The pixies darted around, planting trees and cultivating flowers. In only two days, they had rebuilt a paradise.

Moonlight’s seal site.

“Eat this!”

Boom!

Wayne shot an arrow with White Night Creed, quick and accurate. Lowering the bow, he complained, “Darienne, I’ve played cards with you for two days straight. I can’t play anymore. Let me go. I’m leaving tonight.”

“What’s the rush? If you don’t want to play cards, isn’t practicing archery good, too?” Darienne advised him earnestly. “If you leave the Frozen Land, you’ll only let the life of a noble corrupt you. Think about the fame and fortune that will tarnish a knight’s virtue, think about those women who willingly throw themselves at you, and think about those labors you’ve enslaved...”

“Um, what I mean is that you should stay and learn archery from me rather than wasting your time on your girlfriends.”

Bullshit, you just want to play cards!

Wayne refused. He had wanted to leave, and hearing Darienne’s advice, he wanted that even more. He had made up his mind to depart from the Frozen Land tonight, returning to Londan to enjoy the corrupt noble life and take on the challenges of money, beauties, and power.

Knowing that there was no keeping him, Darienne sighed and said, “Fine. You go first. Once I finish my work here, I’ll find you in Londan.”

“For what?” Wayne was terrified. They were just card buddies. Why would she chase him to Londan when Moula and Leo were good card players?

“I won the card games, so Moula and Leo are out. You’re my successor now. Of course I’m going to find and train you.” Darienne seriously made the claim, swearing by the goddess.

Her icy beauty made her words convincing. Wayne would’ve bought it if he didn’t know her so well.

That night, he bade farewell to the three chosen knights and left the Land of Seal with Senna, Silvia, and Veronica.

He didn’t say goodbye to Anastasia. Though Holy Maidens were wonderful, he had no interest in her in particular. He had returned her body so that she would live. His intention was always to save her. As for what happened later, Wayne hadn’t considered it. He hoped that Anastasia could persevere.

Meanwhile, Anastasia wasn’t in the Land of Seal. She had gone through a teleportation circle and reached a secret stronghold in the Frozen Land.

After leaving the Land of Seal, she contacted the Goddess of Darkness as the Holy Maiden, hoping that the goddess would help her part from this world. In the pitch-black hall, she stayed in her dark elf form and heard the goddess speak to her.

“Anastasia, what happened to your body?”

A cold ethereal voice came from an unknown origin that couldn’t be pinned down, yet the voice reached Anastasia without fail.

The Holy Maiden who had betrayed her faith prostrated herself on the ground, quietly waiting for the Goddess of Darkness’s judgment.

“Speak. What happened? Who took you from me?”

Anastasia remained silent. Since Wayne hadn’t imposed a constraint on her, she was able to communicate with the goddess through her strong will. That, though, was the limit. She could not speak Wayne’s name or confess the truth.

“You’re as devout as before...”

The goddess’s voice spoke into her ear. Anastasia felt intense pain sweep through her as a magnificent will descended and occupied her body. ‘Anastasia’ stood up and stared at her hands, her lips curling into a smile.

“Chosen by Darkness, Death, Sun, Moonlight, and Nature...”

“I don’t recall ever choosing him...”

“However, he has stolen the power of Darkness and thus grasped the truth of life.”

She murmured. A thread of thoughts sank into the body before she pulled it back with a frown.

The Goddess of Darkness sensed infinite vitality within Anastasia’s body, as well as infinite possibilities. Influenced by Wayne, the body was filled with light, so much so that it illuminated a clear path for the Goddess of Darkness.

Given the Goddess of Darkness’s life essence, it should be impossible for her to develop any interest in Anastasia’s physical shell, but an intriguing miracle had occurred during that brief contact.

Her thoughts were influenced by Anastasia’s body!

Although the influence was negligible, it was there. The goddess wasn’t going to deny that.

“Only a higher lifeform influences a lower lifeform...”

“His existence is above mine...”

“The evolution of an ancient god... Is he a descended ancient god, or a vassal of one?”

“You’re truly exceptional, child!”

“Whether you’ve stolen the power of Twilight Despair, you’ve become my knight. That is an indisputable fact...”

The smile on Anastasia’s face widened. Sensing that the body was beginning to attack Her consciousness, the Goddess of Darkness rationally chose to retreat since she didn’t yet know the truth.

Anastasia awoke in confusion, listening to the goddess’s divine oracle while prostrating on the ground.

“Anastasia, you need not ask for punishment. You have done nothing wrong. On the contrary, you did very well. You’ll remain as the Holy Maiden of the Church of Darkness.” The goddess approved of her betrayal.

That shocked Anastasia. “Goddess, my faith is no more. I have my own master. Can someone like me truly serve you as the Holy Maiden?”

This isn’t me trying to scare you, Goddess, but I may lose my purity at any moment.

“You can,” the Goddess of Darkness said with certainty. Whatever she said was law. Even if Anastasia lost her purity, her faith, herself, she would still be the Holy Maiden of the Church of Darkness.

Anastasia smiled bitterly. She was too smart not to figure out what the goddess intended. She said self-deprecatingly, “Goddess, I cannot betray my faith. If you have other plans for me, all I can say is that I won’t be able to complete the mission!”

“That will be fine. Do as you think best and accept your faith wholeheartedly,” the goddess said slowly. “Anastasia, I have a mission for you: go to Londan and establish a base for the Church of Darkness. From now on, you’ll stay there and serve your faith.”

(눈_눈)

Goddess, after all these years of service, are you really going to watch me fall?

Fine, fine. Since you’re so heartless, don’t blame me for returning the favor!

Her former faith was so ruthless that Anastasia subconsciously compared her two faiths. Her new one would certainly not treat her this way. Master would feel sorry for her.

Wait, no!

She shook her head repeatedly to dispel the strange thoughts. She said bluntly, “Goddess, I’ll tell Master everything. I cannot keep secrets from him.”

“I’ll erase this memory. You won’t know what happened. At the same time, I’ll leave something in your body to make sure that I can contact you and descend through you.”

Anastasia’s scalp tingled. She smiled bitterly, “What is it that you want, Goddess of Darkness?”

“Get close to Wayne and extract his information. Then I’ll get what I want...”

“What is it exactly?”

“Life! Evolution!”