“Glory shall bow down to me.”
"Huh? What is this?"
"Originally, it was used to praise Nimrod, the legendary ruler of the world and the chief hero in human history. It was also the reason why the man in the Clock Tower and the Wandering Sea searched for the Anchor of Mist on the British Isles. The Tower of Babel that reached the sky was destroyed by the god believed in by the church, so mankind lost its 'unified language'."
In the world of magic, some magicians call the era before the confusion of language the "Age of Gods", which is the era when humans began to understand the existence of Gods. The language common to the world before the confusion of language by Gods is called the "unified language".
A unified language is not only a common language for all human beings, but also a common explanation of meaning for all things. Therefore, it not only allows people to communicate with each other, but also allows people to communicate with the world and determine meaning.
In the magic world, the only God passed on the visible language to humans as a replacement because the invisible language was too terrifying.
Since this language can communicate with the "world", from the perspective of the ontological class system, no one can deny what is said in this language, because this is tantamount to denying one's own existence in the world.
This phenomenon is called "Absolute Speech". Words spoken in this language will become real. It is still unknown whether "Absolute Speech" is as capable as "Imagination Manifestation". However, it does not require magic power to activate it, and anything that exists in the world can be controlled, unlike "Imagination Manifestation" which cannot affect things that are not natural.
"The magus' idea is probably that since the church will not give them any chance to survive, they will go against the will of the planet and the subconscious of mankind and disintegrate all the Mist Anchors in various places, so that the existing laws will be separated from the world formed by them and corrupted, and the things that have already left the human world and gone to the inside and a large number of fantasy laws will reappear, starting from the navel of the planet."
A playful smile appeared on Van Phim's lips. Occasionally, this oldest of the Dead Apostles would indeed show such a smile.
"Come to think of it, a few hundred years ago, the Mist Anchor was indeed torn apart by an unimaginable force, and there was a scene that seemed like the coming of destruction..."
Then, Van Phimm drank up the water in front of him and closed his eyelids.
"It seems that I have no choice but to put aside my hatred. It doesn't matter whether it's the old-fashioned White Winged Duke Tefanm Ottenroche or the White Knight Fena Brad Sfeilding who destroyed my beloved daughter."
The blue handkerchief on his chest swayed like a rose, and shook his ten fingers in a creepy way.
"Mrs. Ji has been away for so many years, it's time for us to go and welcome her. After all, at least at the moment, she is our only Ji. Since there is no future, why not let her become the 'strongest' at the moment?"
121: City of God
In the year 423 AD, on a certain day of a certain month, late at night, on the Scandinavian island, in the capital of Kitland.
The people living here have already fallen asleep with their own thoughts in their minds, but at this time in the palace, Avia is in a newly dug garden and has not yet gone to bed.
It will be dawn soon, and the dawn light will color the night sky. The silver-haired young man now just sits quietly in the chair, letting the cold and humid air blow on his face.
"Hey, Avia, you're already up."
This shout instantly interrupted the momentary peace.
Beowulf, who had just woken up, was still the same as before, with his upper body naked in the cold temperature.
"Well, since we have to deal with Grendel, we have to prepare early."
In fact, the reason why Avia didn't sleep all night was because of Typhon. When he was planning to rest last night, he happened to pass by here. As a result, Typhon, who had turned into armor, didn't want to leave all of a sudden, so he turned back into human form and stepped down to take a look.
A pair of golden pupils sparkled with joy, like a kitten seeing a little mouse in front of it.
Perhaps it was because this garden was filled with countless new buds, some breaking through the soft soil, some pushing through the hard treetops, as if they couldn't wait to see the outside world. The grass, which appeared faster than the flowers, seemed to want to attract more attention, and it raised its head vigorously, stretching upwards.
Although he was curious about why the talkative Typhon was like this, Avia did not disturb her too much. So under his gaze, the red-haired girl began to dig in the dark and damp place, digging holes around the flowers and plants. The holes became deeper and bigger, and the moist soil beside her piled higher and higher.
"Well done, well done, it's all right, it's all right."
The red-haired girl made such a happy sound like a child that she even started to frighten herself, but then she continued to dig the soil seriously. She moved the poor flowers and plants that had not even sprouted in the shade to a warm place during the day.
Avia, who was standing by, saw her shaking her head with joy, and probably understood why Typhon did this.
Winter is less colorful than spring, but it is still beautiful. However, winter brings not only beautiful scenery to the world, it is also the undisputed season of death, with less sunlight and biting cold.
Taizu Dragon Typhon was a dragon who wanted freedom and did not want to die, so when he saw these weak flowers and plants trying to survive, he also had a slight desire to help... just like a child.
So, the girl who dug the hole and buried it, and the silver-haired young man who watched silently at the side, just like that, the night passed by very simply.
However, the unconditional tenderness that the night bestows on people and the silence of the long night also slightly reduced the girl's anxiety about tomorrow and gave her hope.
"Anyway, I'm sorry to bother you and Siegfried, Avia." Beowulf stared at the pair of quiet blue eyes that were still slightly lowered and looking at him, and then said, "To be honest, I am no match for Grendel. If it weren't for you when I faced the Kraken before, I might have died."
"But you're the type of person who won't regret anything, right?"
"Hahaha, of course!" Beowulf laughed heartily, as if he was happy from the bottom of his heart, and raised his chest proudly, "After all, I have to do something like a king. Anyway, it doesn't matter if I'm in pain or not, as long as everyone can be safe."
A person always fights to protect something.
Live on the battlefield, fight until the last moment of life, and die on the battlefield.
This is probably not the life a normal person should have, but even so, the blond man at that time still rushed towards the Kraken with his fists clenched from the bottom of his heart.
Beowulf had an unfortunate childhood. His parents died early. He was adopted by his grandfather at the age of seven and lived with his uncle. Then, due to a tragedy between his eldest uncle and his second uncle, both of them died. Not long after, his grandfather also passed away due to excessive grief.
Beowulf records:
'The smile has been replaced by the bleak wind: the knight has fallen asleep, the hero has been buried in the dust, there are no more harp songs, court feasts, or the excitement of the past.'
In fact, in Avia's memory, Beowulf should have become king after killing Grendel. After all, he was looked down upon because of his father when he was young, and he became a loser in the competition. It might be due to some kind of butterfly effect that he became king early.
As a descendant of Cain, Grendel is theoretically ineffective against any blade, and in a sense, he is also a high-level fantasy species, but Typhon's magma and Odin's runes should be effective...
As Avia pondered, Beowulf continued:
"But to be honest, now that I think about it, I'm still a little scared. After all, I almost died. I was just trying to save face."
However, the silver-haired young man shook his head and said firmly:
"It's normal to be afraid of death. No one is not afraid of death. Everyone is the same when facing death. But you have taken the most critical step, which is worthy of people's praise. After all, you have done the best you can."
"Hahaha, although what you said was very good, Avia." Beowulf smiled, "but why do I feel that you are actually like a missionary? You are very eloquent in speaking, oh, and you are also good at fighting."
"Oh? Are there any missionaries from the church here?"
Avia asked curiously.
After all, the church in the Western Roman Empire did not regard pagans as human beings, and the Eastern Roman Empire did not have enough personnel. Perhaps they were the kind of wandering missionaries, he thought.
"Yeah, but there are only a few of them. I'm actually quite annoyed by them, but having them around does make everyone's life a little better, so I don't mind."
The blond man seemed to have thought of something and continued,
"Their leader seems to be from Constantinople. He is currently staying in Geat. His name is O'something..."
'Augustine?'
"Yes, yes, that's the name. Do you know it?"
"It's just that we know each other."
Avia certainly didn't expect that Dr. Grace would come to the Scandinavian island to preach.
But it was just right. After dealing with Grendel, the descendant of Cain, and then the lurking Nordic fire dragon, I would go and have a conversation with Augustine.
After all, after dealing with the corrupt church leaders in Western Rome, he hoped that Augustine would be able to write the "City of God" smoothly.
122: Leviathan's Skin
The setting sun fell on the horizon, and in a hall that had become ruins, there was a huge figure.
This hall, which had once hosted grand celebrations, had long been invaded by a completely different atmosphere.
Initially, the door was broken down, nearby windows were smashed, and sacrificial vessels used to worship the Norse gods were hit with blunt objects and thrown to the ground without exception.
All man-made things in this facility were destroyed, and it looked like a return to a barbaric era. On the throne that was barely intact, stood a giant covered in blood.
"......Ah, this smell, is it just like this?"
A moment later, the giant swallowed the mother's body in his mouth in one breath, and a hoarse voice sounded, and he gently raised his blood-stained hand to stroke his cheek.
Although Grendel's mother is an alien creature, she is regarded as a god and admired by the local fantasy species in Northern Europe. She can also be said to be the de facto leader of the fantasy species in Northern Europe.
"The smell of sin, the smell of unrighteousness, the smell of darkness, my father Cain, please bless your child who has fulfilled all your responsibilities."
Grendel smiled cheerfully and nodded, his whole body dripping with stinking red puddles.
As for why he wanted to eat his own mother?
The answer is simple: anger.
The giant's rage is uncontrollable. As to why, it is because he is not adapted to this era. Theoretically, Grendel and his mother are both remnants of the Age of Gods.
He was a creature born in the past mythological era, but for some unknown reason he crossed the end of the Age of Gods and even the beginning of the Western calendar. After four hundred years, he woke up on the island of Scandinavia in the present.
As time went by, this anger gradually turned into appetite, and he ate the mother who awakened him.
Grendel didn't care. After all, all the descendants of Cain were unrighteous. Next, he would eat everything on the Scandinavian island, and then all the creatures on the distant continent. In his opinion, the inferior guys just existed as food.
"Oh? A human is here? It's dinner."
The last ray of sunset is slowly disappearing from the horizon. A crescent moon hangs high in the navy blue sky in the east. The silhouette of the ruins can be vaguely seen under the blue sky where the sunset and moonlight meet.
Grendel, who was sitting on the throne, stood up directly and walked straight over the collapsed door of the hall and the broken walls. The sound of rubble rolling down echoed on the empty land.
The giant is thirty meters tall, with two legs that can crush the earth and two arms that can easily crush mysterious life.
After the end of the Age of Gods, Grendel, who had his own independent mythological system, was unable to maintain his own existence. Therefore, with the help of his mother, he merged and integrated with the spiritual veins of the descendants of large-scale giants in the North Sea pantheon who were also in a state of extinction, thus surviving in the human history that was parasitic on Northern Europe.
Grendel did not know this, but even if he knew, he would take it for granted.
His anger can actually be traced. Because of the fusion of his spiritual veins with the descendants of Nordic giants and because he is the descendant of sinners, he contains traces of the "angry residue" of Surtur, the Nordic doomsday device, in his body.
In other words, Grendel is now a creature that is a mixture of the evil sides of two myths, with both the sin of Cain and the wrath of the fire giant.
Cain's descendants included Enoch, whose son was Methuselah, whose son was Lamech, whose son was Noah, and whose great-grandson was the rebel Nimrod.
In the dark night, Grendel squinted his eyes and slowly searched for food.
And there were three humans running at full speed.
At this moment, the air seemed to have changed instantly.
".....oh."
Grendel whispered with interest. Apart from the blond food and the silver food, there was some indescribable smell on the youngest silver human. The giant felt his heart making a sound.
An exceptionally large and loud beating sound.
With every beating sound, there was a strange sound far louder than appetite and anger——
"It doesn't matter, everyone is the same! Let me eat them all!"
The moonlight pouring in from the other side dyed the giant's hands with a blood-red tide that seemed to materialize.
But the giant soon realized that he had made a mistake and could not simply ravage or kill these humans.
The two humans on the left and right lowered their bodies to avoid the blow from the swinging giant arm without reducing their running speed.
After watching the blow sideways as it streaked across the sky and pierced deeply into the earth, both Siegfried and Beowulf began to run sideways.
Their speed was faster than the giant's arms swinging, and they dodged it skillfully, demonstrating the skills of both of them without any harm.
The dragon-slaying hero swung Balmung and delivered several heavy blows to the giant's right foot in one breath.
The unarmed king bulged his biceps, and the thick blood vessels protruding from his muscles gripped the giant's left hand like a vice, leaving no room for maneuver, in an attempt to break it.
Avia climbed lightly onto the giant's instep, knees, and chest, then quickly climbed to the head and stood on it.
Just this alone concentrated the horrifying magic power. The hands that condensed the power of Typhon absorbed the magic power and sprayed out a fierce low-temperature air blizzard, instantly freezing the whole body of the giant Grendel, and then the scarlet magma slowly flowed down his head.
But in an instant, flames suddenly appeared on the giant's body to protect him, and he was able to break free from the three people's restraints.
And then, Avia stretched out his hand, and the Rune of Rune appeared immediately -
The terrible thunder seemed to tear the earth apart, and like the fingers of the silver-haired young man, countless dazzling lightning accompanied by flames hit the giant and formed shackles... But for some reason, the tricks that were originally used to fight against the North Sea monster Kraken had no effect on the giant.
Perhaps for this reason, Grendel sneered.
That bloody joy was mocking the power of human beings. Human beings, who were just lowly beings, were only capable of dedicating their blood, bones, internal organs and brains to him.
"I'm starting!"
Grendel bit Avia fiercely from a height of more than several meters.
Although the silver-haired young man could have dodged, he chose to use his arms at explosive speed to punch directly at the giant's head. Then there was a crunching sound and the sound of bones breaking.
"How is it possible, how is it possible, how could you hurt me..."
In the face of Grendel's incredulous eyes, Avia smiled and walked up to him step by step and said.
"So you're so confident because you're wearing the skin of Leviathan now."
