Only God

"Thank you, beautiful Scatty."

In the temple, chilled to the bone, the God of Lies and Deceit sincerely bowed deeply,

"I can assure you, no women in this world are half as captivating as you.

They often have only their appearances, never learning the noble virtues as you, Goddess."

Scatty coldly observed Slaier, who continuously heaped praises upon her.

What, indeed, would make the God of Lies and Deceit humble themself like a servant, courting Scatty?

The answer was quite simple.

After consulting with her faction of gods, Scatty agreed to allow Slaier to relocate the afterlife town here.

Moreover, the collective of Gods would provide necessary assistance to Slaier.

This delighted the God of Lies and Deceit.

Though they knew well, the help from Scatty and other gods was far from free.

Scatty and her faction of gods, different from the Wine God Sibos and others, approached the Divine Path by guiding mortals to contact it, acting as mediators between mortals and the Divine Path.

For this reason, numerous grateful mortals had intensified their worship of the gods after contact with the Divine Path, sending offerings to temple far exceeding those of the past hundreds of years.

All seemed so prosperous, developing in exactly the direction the gods had hoped.

Yet, the gods' actions brewed unrest.

Under the guidance of the gods, mortals touching the Divine Path felt as if they were fledglings with fully feathered wings.

They were far more arrogant, self-aggrandizing, and held a heightened opinion of themselves, despising the ancient traditions, misbehaving, and committing evils; most importantly, they gradually lost their reverence for the gods.

Even for enlightened deities, such mortals were intolerable.

Through the enduring ages of this world, divine right had been the most traditional and profound notion; even the high and mighty kings of the mortal world had to bow to the gods and claim they ruled on behalf of the divine, not by their own intrinsic right to govern.

If even kings did so, how could the gods sit idly by while divinely led, favored mortals committed acts of insubordination?

For that very reason, they needed Slaier's afterlife town.

"Lies, as we discussed,

we will send those disobedient mortals to 'death,' until they learn humility, and then we shall allow them to return to the mortal world," spoke Water God Angel in a gentle voice, her white dress billowing like waves with the wind.

Facing those rebels, the gods' method was simple.

Make them suffer the consequences of their defiance—death.

However, the gods wouldn't truly let all of them die since among these disobedient souls, there were many exceptionally gifted; it would be a waste if their spirits permanently dwelled in the underworld.

Thus, the gods would make them believe they had died but actually send them to Slaier's afterlife town, waiting for their repentance. As soon as they learned to humbly respect the gods, the deities would mercifully allow them to return from death.

For this faction of gods, Slaier's afterlife town was an indispensable means of punishment.

"I naturally obey all your commands.

See how humble I am,

If I were a mortal, surely, I would be the High Priest in your temple, singing praises of your virtues day and night."

Slaier smoothly lavished flattery on the deities present, some displaying scorn, some remaining wary, while some secretly enjoyed it.

Nevertheless, the collaboration was agreed upon.

"By the way, have you heard any news from Yikabe and Lenaor?"

Looking at Slaier, Water God Angel suddenly asked.

The God of Lies and Deception wore a playful smile as he leisurely said,

"I know you are concerned about the affairs of those divine beings.

And my sources have always been well-informed.

I heard that on their side, everything is proceeding smoothly, and their method of dividing mortals is very successful.

Ultimately, mortals themselves like division, existing in an environment of division.

In a country, there are nobles and slaves, in a tribe, there are priests and warriors… you see, mortals have divided themselves; such is their nature."

The assembly of Gods bowed their heads in unison, their brows furrowed, not uttering a word.

Slaier continued to smile, saying,

"I don't mean to undermine your confidence, but I think they are closer to success than you.

The lifespan of mortals is limited, mostly just a mere hundred years, and even for elves, it does not exceed a thousand years.

Limited time creates limited joy, limited wealth, limited emotions... which ultimately leads to division. How can they compare to us divine beings?

If you ask me, if they had tens of thousands of eternal years like us, they would have achieved equality long ago."

Water God Angel spoke up,

"But they can never achieve eternal life."

Slaier spread his hands,

"That's it."

After all the divine beings had reached an agreement, Slaier slowly walked out of the meeting place, turning his gaze back to the group of "deceased" who were migrating.

"The stairway to Heaven… it's almost shaped into a rudimentary form.

As long as it is rudimentary, that's enough; it wouldn't be good if it wasn't rudimentary."

Slaier scanned the many "deceased" on the ground and his own priests, counting each person individually.

As a divine being, he clearly remembered how many people were in the afterlife town and every individual's name, appearance; for some, Slaier even knew their life experiences.

"Eight thousand two hundred and thirty-six… tsk, seems like one is missing…"

Slaier slightly furrowed his brow.

Who could be missing?

The God of Lies and Deception knew the afterlife town would eventually be exposed, and even if no one uncovered it, he would do it himself.

But, Slaier did not want it to be exposed so soon.

He wanted to truly enjoy the expressions of those "deceased" when they learned they were still alive.

Slaier even had in mind how he would compensate them when they discovered the truth.

Naturally, it would be large amounts of wealth, land, status, and more life, to make up for the time those people lost.

All these compensations were things that the mortals could never enjoy in their lifetime.

Regarding this, Slaier had already made a prophecy, showing that almost each one of the "deceased" would be willing to accept his compensation; some would even feel fortunate that they had been deceived, otherwise they wouldn't receive so much compensation.

However...

These matters would be discussed later,

for now, the most pressing issue is…

to figure out who took the opportunity to escape.