Arcane Journey

Chapter 397
The Serpent of the Universe...

Hearing this address, Brian ignored the exclamation from the golden dragon Paralandax in his mind, but frowned unconsciously.

As he expected, in this shaman spire, he could indeed find information about the Cosmos Snake.

According to some legends and myths handed down by the Sarukh witch, he learned that in the dawn era of the Chaos War, that is, after the "God God" Io created the world of Toril, the snake of the universe Leading many ancient gods to fight against the wild gods.

He even killed two evil gods representing frost and darkness one after another.

It is also recorded in ancient legends that when the Sarukh witches were still a barbaric race that drank blood, the snake of the universe approached them and taught them the secrets of how to quickly enter a civilized society, as well as power and magic, like a manipulator behind the scenes. the art of.

In return for these divine gifts, the Cosmic Serpent asked the Sarukh to worship and sacrifice himself, that is, to believe in Him.

During the heyday of the Sarukh Empire, the Snake of the Universe became the main god and spiritual pillar of Wu Na's belief.

Even if the Sarukh Empire gradually declines, so that the worship of the Cosmos Serpent completely disappears, this god still tries to save them and grant them power through its own ability, such as Oko who turned into a kind feathered serpent Si Wuzhen is very likely to be the masterpiece of the snake of the universe.

But how the cosmic snake split into the orderly twin snakes representing evil and good respectively is beyond Brian's knowledge, and even Candlekeep's collection does not record it in detail.

It was just roughly mentioned that the Sarukh witches were an evil race, and their faith reached its peak. Among the Sarukh witches dominated by the Okos Empire, a small number of good camp witches gradually appeared.

It seems that under the influence of this group of kind witches, the snake of the universe split, so as to better adapt to the changes in its worship doctrine.

Although on the stone wall of the hall, Brian saw many lifelike sculptures of Feathered Serpents, full of holy aura representing the good camp, but the reason and keen intuition of a legendary spellcaster naturally prevented him from being blinded by it .

After all, from challenging Felin Mokui to hunting for treasure in the treasure house of the witch, he clearly felt the sinister style of the evil camp, so he began to doubt the voice of this self-proclaimed 'snake of the universe'.

"Snake of the universe?" Brian resisted the palpitations caused by staring at him like a cold-blooded reptile, raised his head, met the sculpture's triangular vertical eyes without fear, and denied:

"It's nothing more than an avatar of the snake of the universe. It's too embarrassing to pretend that you are with Toril. I feel a little ashamed for you."

"Besides, your avatar may have lost contact with the main body a long time ago." He said in a meaningful and indifferent tone, "Am I right? Your Excellency the evil snake Seth, the patron saint of the witch clan?"

Although Seth the Evil Snake belongs to the evil side of the Snake of the Universe, he has now seen that the other party is just a clone of the evil side, which gives him enough confidence to refute Seth.

"So that's the case." Jin Long, who was almost startled by Brian's provocative words in his mind, finally showed a look of surprise after hearing his last words, heaved a sigh of relief, and praised:
"I didn't expect your kid to have such a good memory, and you noticed such inconspicuous details. No wonder you dare to say this to this clone. When did you find out?"

"Since I was going to Chuertan Peninsula to search for the ruins of this minaret, I have considered this question and secretly kept it in my heart." Brian answered Jinlong's question through his mind.

The so-called details in the other party's mouth were a travel diary they had seen in Candlekeep.

It records that Seth, the evil snake of the witch, turned into countless shadow snakes, and then passed through a portal on the 74th floor of the abyss, ruled by the demon lord Morshok.

In the final passage, it is recorded that Seth's shadow snake finally devoured the demon lord Morshok, and fell into a deep sleep.

That's why Brian suspected that the speaker of the spire was probably a clone that Seth deliberately left behind when he entered the Abyss.

After all, the other party is also an ancient god who rises with the witch, and then fades with the witch.

There are many legends about Seth, but in fact, the main reason why this ancient god wanted to enter the bottomless abyss was that with the demise of the Sarukh witch, he also lost his power due to the great loss of power. Do not fall into hibernation.

It's just that during the catastrophe of the saints in the turbulent age, his chosen people unexpectedly turned back and betrayed, attracting the evil god Seth of Mulhorand, conspiring to steal part of his divine power, and replacing him in the Okos witchcraft. faith in.

Seth, who had been robbed of his divine power, was in dire straits, so he had to seek help from the night serpent Dandar, and finally found a soft persimmon in the bottomless abyss, and only then was he able to survive.

What worries Brian a little is that, in the game world, it will be at least a few years after the witch spiers are discovered and explored.

And what he is doing now has obviously activated the beginning of this big event in advance, and he also knows whether it will affect his future plans for the Harua Kingdom and the Chult Forest.

In the hall, there was a long silence, as if to prove that Brian's conjecture was true.

After a long time, the old voice asked angrily: "Who the hell are you? How did you find me? What is the purpose of coming here?"

Faced with Seth's avatar's lack of confidence and three repeated questions, Brian immediately understood the reason why the other party was so excited.

Obviously, Seth, who once stole his divine power, is still looking for this guy, trying to completely replace him. No wonder the other party would rather be eroded by the will of the abyss than devour the demon lord.

As long as he fell asleep in the Abyss, Seth could not find him, and the double he left in the physical world was like an insurance policy for his plan.

However, what he did not expect was that the will of the abyss was so powerful that even the gods could not compete with it. As Seth gradually merged with the demon lord, he completely lost contact with the clone.

Without this connection, He couldn't do anything, and he didn't even have the control of this witch spier.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be pretending to talk to him here.

Thinking of this, Brian pondered for a moment, and with a thought, the Olympic Fire shining with blue luster appeared in front of him.

He just summoned Ao Huo and didn't answer Seth's question, but let him use his rich imagination to guess his identity.

"What is this?" Seth's old voice exclaimed, "You are a voter of Mystra? No! This is not Silver Fire, but why do you have her mark?"

"So that's it." As if thinking of something, Seth's avatar was obviously relieved, and said in a slow tone:

"I understand. You came here under Mystra's instruction. Otherwise, with your ability, it would be impossible to find the location where the minaret is hidden by divine power."

"No, no one instructed me." Brian put away the Austrian fire, and said in ambiguous words:

"I'm just giving full play to my ability, and now I have what I want, goodbye, after all, for me, I don't want to be too deep with a god clone who has lost contact with the main body and is about to perish completely. intersection..."

At this moment, Brian has cracked the space lock here with the help of the golden dragon Paralandax, and he can leave at any time through teleportation as long as he wants.

That's why he dared to speak so confidently to an evil god clone.

However, he didn't really intend to leave.

After all, the traces of the "Prophet of the Earth" Axinduo still depended on the former God of Sarukh to tell him that this was just a means for him to try to catch him.

"and many more!"

Sure enough, the moment Brian pretended to open a portal, Seth's avatar stopped him with an old voice.

I saw the triangular vertical eyes on the sculpture like cold-blooded reptiles, which completely dispelled the chill and hostility inside, and became much gentler.

"I think we should be able to talk, Emissary of Mystra," He said.

"Talk?" Brian said, pretending to be uninterested, "Is it necessary to talk to a god clone that is about to fall?"

"Is about to fall? This is impossible!"

"I am immortal!"

Speaking of the fall, the old voice suddenly became excited and echoed in the spacious and quiet hall for a long time, "I repeat, I am the snake of the universe! The snake of creation in the eyes of the Saluke witch, I am immortal, and I will be immortal with you. Riel is with you!"

If you look into it seriously, Seth who entered the Abyss is indeed not as pure as the cosmic snake in front of him. After all, this avatar is the last insurance that Seth left for himself before going to the Abyss.

It's a pity that things backfired. He misjudged the strong consciousness of the abyss.

Brian ignored the excited Seth clone, but looked at him calmly, remained silent, and said nothing.

He knew that the other party was just venting his emotions because he had been touched to a weakness, and when he recognized the reality, he would slowly calm down.

after awhile.

Seeming to have finished venting, or to have recognized the reality, Seth's clone sighed, and said in an old voice:

"It seems that you understand my situation very well, and you obviously came prepared."

"Indeed, my body has already hibernated in the era of the fall of the gods. In the turbulent era, part of my divine power was divided by my chosen people and Seth who became a saint, and the other part of my divine power was lost by the will of the abyss because of my wrong judgment. Corroded, becoming a separate entity fused with the demon lord."

"Now I can only rely on the remaining divine power to maintain my life."

Facing the confession of Seth's avatar, Brian was silent for a long time, then raised his head and asked:
"It stands to reason that your strength should not have declined to this point after the demise of the Sarukh witch. Even with the help of the voters, the evil god Seth of Mulhorand would not be your opponent. Why would you... "

He accepted it as soon as it was good, and didn't continue to talk, and if he said it, he would expose the other party's scars.

As far as he knows, the snake of the universe is also called the snake of creation, and its strength is at least the beginning of a powerful divine power. It's a bit unreasonable to be able to be taken advantage of by an evil god who is two levels lower than himself while keeping around the middle level of divine power.

"This starts with the turbulent years." The desolate voice recounted a story to Brian as if accepting his fate:
"At that time, I turned into a saint and briefly appeared on the water surface of the Inner Sea of ​​Rapar. Then, in order to compete for the belief in the Chuertan Peninsula, I fought with the saint of Utao, the god of dinosaurs, on the eastern edge of the Chultan jungle. There was a great battle. The Sarukh of the Okoth Empire approached the servant of Seth and promised to give us a chance while Uo and I would give him spells and help them defeat their ancient enemy, the Casta Basilisk. During the Tower War, sneaked into this steeple, bound me to eternal sleep, and took the opportunity to steal my power."

"So that's what happened. As the clone of the Creator Snake, it's really unlucky to get mixed up to this extent." Brian nodded thoughtfully.

"Then what do you want to talk to me about?" After understanding the ins and outs of the matter, he stopped chatting with the other party and said straight to the point:
"I declare in advance that if you ask me to help you deal with defected voters and the evil god Set, then forget it. In addition to the Okos witch who voluntarily turned into a feathered snake, there are also some evil witches, which are your former believers. , gathered in Mulhorand, I don't think I have the ability to help you clear the door."

"No..." the desolate voice said slowly:

"Actually, in the year of turmoil, I was only deprived of the beliefs of the Okosi clan of witches. In fact, in the material world, there are two other tribes of witches, Mershok and Easto Sefifer, who are still There are a few believers who are still following me firmly, otherwise my avatar would not be able to survive until now without the power of the main body."

The main event finally came.

Hearing the words of Seth's avatar, Brian knew that this meant that he was looking for the traces of the "Prophet of the Earth" Acindor, and he finally saw the bright moon through the clouds and mists.

Just like human beings, the huge shaman group in the past was not monolithic.

The relationship between these three empires is also full of introversion and hatred, and they can't see each other's good.

In ancient times, the Okos Empire was the first to perish in internal struggles due to the emergence of two camps of good and evil. The other two empires naturally acted as melon-eaters and fanned the flames there.

Immediately afterwards, the Istosyfefe Empire, which is located in the current Ennook Desert, committed its own death and fought an all-out war with the Felin Mokui, diverting the Narrow Sea and flooding the Underdark.

Then a familiar scene appeared. Their plan directly led to drastic changes in the climate. In the end, Felin Mokui's vitality was seriously injured, but Yisto Saifeifu's country was subjugated and the people were displaced.

On the contrary, the Mershak Empire, which perished at last, seemed to be due to the exhaustion of all the luck of the witch clan, and gradually disappeared in peace.

"And then?" Brian asked, he had probably guessed what the other party asked him to do to help him, but he was not sure yet, and wanted to confirm again.

"You have seen that my main body has been corrupted by the will of the abyss, and there is no possibility of saving it. Now there is only this clone left. Even the ruins of the guarded spire are not under my control. If I leave this place, I will Seth will be aware of my location through the same divine power as the source, and send followers to destroy my last clone."

Seth cloned the old voice, full of hatred and helplessness:

"I don't dare to leave this tower, so I can only guide you to the lost ancient city of Olem, to wake up the sleeping witches of the former Yisto Sefifer Empire."

The task this time was finally completed, Brian heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Because the "Prophet of the Earth" Axindor he was looking for belonged to the Sarukh shaman of the Yisto Sefifer Empire, and hid in the lost ancient city of Olem.

"I can help you." Brian thought for a moment, and bargained without rejecting Seth's clone request, "but what can you give me?"

The so-called emaciated camels are bigger than horses. As the gods of the former Sarukh witches, there must be many mouth-watering treasures.

(End of this chapter)