Chapter 794 - 291: Fellow Travelers

Chapter 794: Chapter 291: Fellow Travelers

“You’ve come?”

Without stopping his hand movements, Ande called out to the distant figure.

At this moment, for some reason, his thoughts seemed a bit wandering.

Ever since he stumbled and arrived at this point, this place became another home for him.

But ultimately, he knew he would leave; he couldn’t stay here forever.

...

Just before leaving, Ande recalled the story Mr. Laine once told him about the prototype of this city, Aurora City of the Bronze Age.

“Hmm…”

“You’ve come.”

“I have come.”

“You shouldn’t have come.”

“But I still came.”

“What a pity, what a pity.”

“What are you pitying?”

“I pity that you will die here today.”

“…”

“Hahahaha…”

Suddenly he laughed, even though it was a story from long ago, this strange literary style still amused Ande.

Those past days were better… Ande then fell silent again, his expression somewhat wistful.

At that time, Ande was still an innocent child; he even remembered what he was thinking back then. But now, he was no longer that.

Not only because he experienced betrayal but also because the blood sacrifice and faith truly affected the soul of life.

Although divinity could somewhat shield against them, it still required the user to reach a basic lower bound.

For instance, “Legendary,” was the minimum threshold for mortals to reach the power offered by divinity.

But unfortunately, until the day Ande died, he never reached this domain.

“Swoosh—”

A sound broke through the air, and a shadow instantly shattered Ande’s memories.

Without looking up, Ande knew it was a pitch-black iron rod.

Clearly, the young hero was displeased with his actions and showed his anger through his actions.

“Crack—”

“—Bang!”

Without resisting, the iron rod struck soundly.

In Heracles’s eyes, the suspected embodiment of the evil god was pulverized by his angry blow, turned into a cloud of splinters.

However, the young hero did not relax because his intuition told him that the other had not really died.

“Don’t be so violent, young hero, you have already passed my test.”

From a small house beside the alley, another “Ande” emerged.

Heracles squinted slightly, then punched out.

Boom—!

Including “Ande,” the entire long street was destroyed by pure strength.

Yet almost simultaneously, another door-opening sound occurred behind Heracles.

Turning around, the young hero refrained from acting rashly this time.

Looking at the third “Ande,” he had to admit that some things couldn’t be solved by brute force.

“Who are you, the rumored Northern Evil God?”

“Did you control the Nomas Lion because I killed it, so now you want to avenge it?”

Hidden anger lay in his voice, Heracles asked coldly.

His anger was not without reason, not just because of those bizarre puppets.

What truly enraged Heracles was the feeling of being manipulated like a pawn.

The other must have targeted him from the moment he entered the forest, and seemingly fierce demons were mere puppets.

Even this evil presence dared to control him—using those “threads” not visible to the naked eye but capable of affecting the soul.

“Revenge? Are you mistaken—young hero, wasn’t it you who first sought trouble with me?”

“What exactly brought you here to my domain, making such a choice?”

“Just because I am the ‘Evil God,’ and the Nomas Lion is a ‘Demon’?”

Shaking his head, Ande retorted,

“Yet I have never left the Northern Lands, and since I controlled it, the giant lion hasn’t either.”

“Everyone who died here stepped onto my territory of their own accord; I didn’t go looking for them. So, young hero, why have you come?”

“… This is a trial given to me by the gods, and I also seek answers to some questions.”

Stunned for a moment, after hearing Ande’s retort, Heracles’s anger subsided a bit.

It seemed the other had a point; he indeed never heard the other’s name in the famous evil god cults on the continent; otherwise, he wouldn’t be unaware of it.

Having no presence naturally meant he never committed any notorious evildoings… But since this was a trial arranged by the gods, his actions should be justified.

“The gods’ trial… So you came here at the gods’ behest, and you are their follower?”

Tilting his head slightly, Ande asked.

“No.”

He denied it outright; although he wasn’t faithless, Heracles only held basic respect for most gods.

To say he was a believer of any particular god was utterly absurd.

“Not a follower… But since you aren’t their follower, it’s only because they are ‘Gods’ that you accepted their ‘trial.'”

“Then I, too, am a god, so I arranged a test for you; what’s wrong with that?”

“You—”

Momentarily stumped by the question, Heracles quickly recovered from Ande’s sophistry.

Different identities and situations couldn’t be equated.

Moreover, if it weren’t for his mistake, why would he have accepted Cepherus’s request to complete the so-called mission?

For Heracles, the only one who could punish him was himself, not any other rules.

“Stop your sophistry; the west wind god is a legitimate god of Olympus, and he also promised to help me bring the dead back to life. How can you be compared to him?”

“Evil God, if you cannot give me a reasonable explanation today, I swear in the name of Heracles, I will make you pay!”

Heracles declared resolutely and unceremoniously.

However, he didn’t entirely reject Ande because of Cepherus’s so-called promise, but more so because of the traditional belief.

Like how the continent’s various nations generally did not recognize the Silvermoon City as the same race and saw maritime nations as somewhat different, they likewise did not regard the Northern barbarians as the same.

Therefore, in their eyes, the so-called “Evil God” partly felt like how they viewed foreign deities, so Heracles didn’t think his actions were inappropriate.

Moreover, whether they were the gods of Olympus or the evil gods, they seemed to value mortal faith.

Though the young hero didn’t believe he could kill a god, he was unafraid if it only meant destroying everything they had in the mortal world.

No one could control his fate, not even the gods!

“… Bringing the dead back to life.”

“So this is what you want.”

Quietly uttering these words, at this moment, Ande found it somewhat coincidental.