Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Verthandi was fervently praying, begging for answers…
“Why did this happen?”
“Are you punishing me?”
“It was all my fault, right? Otherwise, why would so many people die? Why?”
“Answer me, please!”
Suddenly, the statue of God brightened up, illuminating everything around Verthandi. As the whole world turned white, she was transported to another kingdom.
Verthandi opened her eyes and looked around. She realized she was standing on a giant stage that was surrounded by four sets of stairs. Looking down the stairs, she saw that there were all kinds of temples everywhere.
On top of the clouds in the sky, many mythical creatures were running around. There were even legendary pegasuses and unicorns!
( .c om ) There was also a giant gate, which led to the Divine Kingdom, that stood far away in the sky. As she looked down and saw clouds passing beneath her feet, she felt as if the whole Divine Kingdom was surrounded by heavenly marshmallows!
Verthandi suddenly looked up, and above her head, dozens of divine thrones were floating in the air. They were also surrounded by clouds, which seemed very surreal.
The divine thrones were arranged in a circle, the largest of which had a giant illuminated figure seated upon it. As the figure’s fingers moved slightly, Verthandi started to float up through the clouds, then came to rest right in front of the giant blurry shape.
“Former level one authorizer, Verthandi Eranbell, requested to connect to the Divine Kingdom!” The shape looked at Verthandi, his emotionless voice sounding almost robotic.
Verthandi was shocked, “God? Who are you?”
The shape was still staring at Verthandi. “I am the admin of the Divine Kingdom. My name is Gaia!”
As Verthandi looked around, she realized that all of the other thrones were empty, which made her a bit confused. “Why are they all empty? Where are the other gods? What about the goddess of Sun Maria and Faross?”
Gaia sat still on the Divine Throne, while a light scanned across Verthandi. He then said, “Access authorized. You can listen to the answer… All the Divine Thrones are currently empty, as no one has reached the Divine Throne yet.”
This made Verthandi even more confused. “What does that mean?”
Gaia replied, “In other words, aside from our creator, there are no other gods!”
Verthandi looked around the whole Divine Kingdom, then looked at the empty Divine Thrones. She then turned back to stare at Gaia. She felt like her faith was crumbling at this moment.
“No God?” Verthandi asked blankly.
“No God!” Gaia answered definitively.
Verthandi was so angry, her voice started to crack. “How could that be… How?”
“Are you telling me that everything I have believed in this world…It was all a lie?” Verthandi was beside herself with grief and confusion.
As tears began to roll down her cheeks, Verthandi pointed at Gaia and asked, “Tell me, what is all of this really about?”
( .c om ) Before Gaia had a chance to answer, Verthandi suddenly noticed something and demanded, “Where is the creator that you were talking about? Who is this creator? I demand that you let me see him!”
Verthandi was constantly wiping her tears away, while frantically looking around. “It is you, isn’t it? Only you, and all you?”
“Randhir Eranbell or Faross? No matter who the h*ll you are, I want to see you! Show yourself!” Her voice echoed throughout the deathly quiet space, yet no one responded.
Then, Gaia responded mechanically, “The creator is not in this world… Request to connect has failed!”
“You don’t want to see me? Is it because of Saintess Kelly’s death? It was all my fault, old man, please come see me and save the orcs!” No matter how loud and desperate her shouts were, she received no response.
She was devastated. However, as if Verthandi had a sudden idea, she said excitedly to Gaia, “Upon my authority, I request for the power of the Divine Kingdom, so that I may drive out the King of the Dead and his ghost army!”
Gaia scanned Verthandi once again, then said, “Access denied. Target no longer possesses level one authority. Request denied!”
Verthandi was so frustrated, she began to shake. The light of the Divine Kingdom was shining upon her, but Verthandi could only feel the coldness of this place!
“How could this be?” she kept murmuring to herself, clearly in denial that she seemed to be failing in her mission.
All the while, Gaia was still repeating the same phrase, “Access denied! Target no longer possesses level one authority! Request denied!”
He then added, “The requested for connection to the Divine Kingdom has ended! Connected has ended!”
Boom!
Verthandi felt like the Divine Kingdom was suddenly starting to crumble around her. She instantly fell down from the Divine Kingdom to the ground. By the time she opened her eyes again, she realized that she was once again in the church of Cory.
“Where am I?” Verthandi stood up, murmuring a bit incoherently. She was clearly feeling lost.
She walked outside the palace. As she looked around, she saw Saga City slowly becoming more empty, while the groups of people were tearfully with their loved ones.
“I will defeat them, even without you! I will protect my own empire!” she yelled, raising her fists to the sky in defiance.
———————–
As it was located to the north, Primonius was much colder than Saga City. At this time, the orcs from the empire had either fled or died at the hands of the ghost army.
As the army of ghosts kept expanding, many elites were produced. In fact, the size of the army had increased to two hundred thousand!
Without the song of the dead, the size of the army was increasing at a fairly slower rate than usual, but only in the perspective of the ghosts. In the eyes of the orcs and the humans, this rate of expansion was still fearsomely fast!
Moreover, vast varieties of higher class ranks of the undead were constantly being added. These include the special undead like king class ghouls, skeleton magi, and headless knights. They were leading the army of ghosts, chasing their enemies towards the north.
As the ghosts army marched onward, the whole northern part of the Alen Continent was covered by a black cloud. This made all of the orcs shiver, even from afar.
Even though the army of ghosts hadn’t arrived yet, the population had already started moving further away. As a result, the once lively Holy Seville Empire now had not a single trace of the living left within its southwest region.
“The ghosts invade the cities, while the dead come out from hell, devouring everyone!”
“No one can go to heaven or hell! Everyone will be trapped in the King of the Dead’s control, not living or dying, only doomed to this eternal suffering!”
In rural pubs and in human cities far away from the empire, the bards were singing about the darkness in the faraway lands. Even though no one had seen it for themselves, this fearsome description was still enough to chill their hearts as they drank their ale in awestruck horror.
As for the northern orc cities, the screams and cries became the background music to the devilish scene. As the orc refugees moved from the south, they brought fear and darkness with them to the north.
As the numerous orc refugees stood in line to get their daily rations, there were many other refugees and children scattered throughout the streets, huddling up together to protect themselves from the chilling weather. They were trying to stay hopeful, but it was a struggle within their minds to do so…
The king will stop those da*n skeletons. We must stay strong.
We will be victorious at last.
The armies of Schinlas, Misea, and Beira are coming, so we might still stand a chance.
We have not lost yet, If we win the next battle, we can return to our homes.
Many orcs began to head to the north of the old ruins of the Engido Kingdom. This was where the Holy Seville Empire would be having their final battle against the ghost army.
All of the forces from many different areas gathered at this spot in Primonius. As they realized that they were on the brink of extinction, the orcs were filled with fervor and bloodlust.
The whole of Primonius, as well as many other surrounding cities converged to form a frontier. Many soldiers rushed in, each of them holding shields and swords, while they climbed up to the top of the city! Even the orc wizards had all gathered here, as they were now on the brink of extinction as well.
Meanwhile, the message of the ghost army’s arrival came, as some of the ghost army leaders had been spotted in Blanc City. Thus, the black cloud had officially reached the north. The pursuing ghost army was ready to annihilate the Holy Seville Empire and turn the whole northern Alen Continent into their Kingdom of the Dead!