Chapter 597: A Tale of the Past. The Old Testament - 4
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 597: A Tale of the Past. The Old Testament - 4
A passing traveler brought peace to the snowy mountains. The long winter ended, and spring would soon arrive even in those distant, remote peaks.
Countless women who had been captured by the giants wept with gratitude. Freed from the giantkin, the people of the snowy mountains lit a great fire for the first time, dancing and singing.
Though she had cleansed the land of its layered sins and promised a future, 'the Sister' paid it little mind. In fact, the King's warriors were more joyous than she was.
Amid everyone's cheers, 'the Sister' departed from the snowy mountains, leaving behind the great achievement of having annihilated the wicked giantkin.
The next destination was the jungle. A treasure trove of countless lives, the jungle held immense dormant potential, but it did not belong to humans alone. In the land of the World Tree, all manner of beasts lived in fierce competition.
Competition meant eating and being eaten. The jungle, filled with fruits, roots, insects, and small animals, was also home to so many humans that one encountered them frequently. Even those of the same species—no, because they were the same species—were the most dangerous competitors. In the jungle, it was only natural for humans to kill and eat one another.
The victor decided after countless people had eaten and been eaten was Ankra of the Anka tribe, the Devourer of a Thousand.
Ankra eliminated competitors by eating them. After eating for some time, he developed a knack for it and learned how to make the life force of his victims his own. Thanks to Ankra's recipes, the Anka tribe prospered day by day.
However, despite their growing numbers, the Anka tribe habitually tried to maintain the number of humans they consumed. To eat a thousand meant that more than a thousand were born, but even that number was not enough to satisfy the Anka tribe's demand.
The powerful, beautiful, wise, and merciful King of Humans visited the jungle. Humans fleeing from Ankra ran to the one who came from beyond the plains and pleaded. Please, kill Ankra. Please, defeat that wicked cannibal. 'The Sister' went straight to meet Ankra.
Having heard rumors of the King of Humans, Ankra decided to strike first. He dared to deceive and lure the King of Humans, intending to surround and devour her.
But such gluttony was far from enough. Ankra was shamefully defeated by 'the Sister'. Though 'the Sister' had shown mercy and spared his life, he vanished from the jungle for reasons unknown to her.
The legend of the one from beyond the plains spread far and wide throughout the jungle. Now, a blessing would settle upon this land, watched over by a great ginkgo tree.
In the desert where the demonic beast Baphomet resided, black water containing the life force of the beginning sprang forth.
The primeval behemoths. Primordial beasts that had ruled the land in a past so distant humans could not even dare to imagine it.
The essence of life born from the primeval behemoths that slumbered in the bosom of Mother Earth, crushed and melted by the passage of time, was the 'black water'.
Drinking the black water granted immense life force, but in return, the rampaging power would consume the body, causing mutations. A poison and a medicine, a curse and a blessing, the black water was a fearsome resource whether used by oneself or by others.
And it was humans who were best at using such a resource.
Baphomet, the Mother of Demonic Beasts. A human who had luckily discovered a hidden black pond in a cave and monopolized it. After curing her chronic illness with the black water, she agonized over how to keep this resource from being taken by other beasts or humans. Weak and with no one to rely on, she used her wisdom to create traps.
Beasts, drawn as if enchanted by the scent of the black water, were caught in her traps and dismantled for materials. Their flesh became food, their sinews became cord, and their bones were finely ground.
Processing the beasts one by one, Baphomet stepped into the world of dark and black magic. It was a primitive sorcery that targeted life itself, later to be called black magic.
Using the black water as a medium, Baphomet learned black magic and grafted beasts together to create demonic beasts. The black pond became a spawning pool that birthed monsters. The demonic beasts would hunt other animals, drag them back, tear them limb from limb, and throw them into the black spawning pool to create more of their kind.
Regrettably, the best material for humans to work with is other humans. The demonic beasts actively targeted humans, and to survive, people had to hold their breath and hide as if they were dead.
As powerful and fearsome as the demonic beasts were, even they were no match for the King of Humans.
The King of Humans and her warriors, upon arriving in the desert, hunted the demonic beasts with ease. The beasts were not human, and 'the Sister' showed no mercy to those that dared to attack her first without knowing their place. The demonic beasts, designed with a stronger instinct for battle than for survival, were shattered like eggs against a rock.
Freed from the demonic beasts, the people of the desert left praises for 'the Sister' on stone and sand. They treated the noble visitor from the east with utmost hospitality, singing tales of her heroism and carving her story into the constellations.
Having lost most of her demonic beasts, Baphomet knelt before 'the Sister'. Unlike Jötun or Ankra, she surrendered sincerely and presented the black water to 'the Sister' as a sign of submission and a tribute to the King.
Instead of drinking the mysterious black water, 'the Sister' learned how to refine and handle it. She left Baphomet as she was and departed the desert.
…Of course, a Mother of Demonic Beasts who had lost her beasts... she disappeared soon enough.
It was a journey that lasted nearly ten years. Throughout the arduous trek, the King's warriors underwent changes; some died or left, and new warriors joined their ranks.
The great mountain that seemed to prop up the sky, Mount Unfallen.
The ginkgo tree blessed by earth and sky, the World Tree.
The legacy left by the primeval behemoths and cradled by Mother Earth, the black water.
Having seen and experienced much, the King's warriors grew immensely. The lorekeepers who handled knowledge wrote hundreds of new scrolls, and the warriors gained the power to wield life force through repeated battles. A technique that would later be called Qi Art spread among them.
It was around that time that the Great Druid Nevida also attained some form of enlightenment.
When 'the Sister', having accomplished these great deeds, returned, she and her warriors were greeted by a form of 'nation' they had never seen before.
In ten years, the 'nation' had prospered immensely.
The King's warriors who had not followed 'the Sister' had returned to their respective homelands and built foundations. Strong and wise, the King's warriors became lords and ruled over the people.
The lords who seized power first strove to develop their villages. They settled wanderers, cultivated land, and established order by enacting laws. Villages became cities, and in their desire to grow larger, they swallowed surrounding villages, expanding endlessly until... they collided with other territories.
The other party was also one of the King's warriors, just like them. Since warriors could not fight each other, the cities halted their expansion and turned their eyes in other directions. By then, however, there was no more land left to take. Everywhere one looked, there were only cities claiming the land as their own.
The pressure to expand outward, unable to achieve its goal, began to cause friction with other cities. The warriors who had once pledged loyalty to the same king now regarded each other as enemies.
And so, the 'nation' became a vast empire ruled by several hundred lords.
The King's warriors, who had expected a warm welcome, were bewildered by the utterly unfamiliar reaction. It was different from the past, when they had been welcomed everywhere. When they tried to pass through a large fence, armed men swarmed out and aimed their spears at them.
How dare they point their spears at the King of Humans? The dumbfounded warriors grabbed a lorekeeper and asked.
“What happened while the King was away?”
“...It has become a Leviathan washed ashore.”
As always, the lorekeeper gave a fitting answer, whether the other party understood it or not.
A Leviathan can only live in the sea. If a Leviathan were to come ashore, it would be unable to support its own immense body and would exhaust itself to death.
The new 'nation' was a Leviathan washed ashore. It was an order too large for the humans of that time to handle, but thanks to an excess of knowledge and power, it could barely maintain its size.
“The reason they have not yet been crushed to death by their own bodies is because of you, my King. Your boundless grace still remains, supporting them so that they do not have to kill one another.”
There was only one reason why war had not broken out between the rival cities.
The King of Humans.
Though they called themselves lords, loyalty to the King of Humans remained in their hearts. They restrained their actions because they were conscious of the existence of 'the Sister', who was clearly superior and wiser than they.
Even as they feuded and fought over territory, they were waiting for the King's return, believing that if 'the Sister' came back, she would resolve all their conflicts. That she would judge rightly.
It was a situation that was utterly incomprehensible. The lorekeeper, El, knelt before 'the Sister'.
“My King. Please, hear my final plea.”
The lorekeeper grabbed the hem of 'the Sister's' trousers. She kissed her instep, clutched her ankle. Casting aside even her usual transcendent demeanor, the lorekeeper implored the King of Humans.
“My King. This is the last chance. You must re-establish order. Now, at the end of this first year when civilization has reached a singularity. Humanity's only enemy is now humanity itself. Just as it was with the giants, the cannibals, and the demonic beasts. Now, humans will use their strength and wisdom to kill other humans.”
What the lorekeeper feared was not the giants, the cannibals, or the demonic beasts. It was the way they treated humans.
'The Sister', too, had come to a faint realization of what she wanted through her successive journeys.
“My King. I, El, as your warrior, beseech you. Please, give me a command. Allow me to end all this strife in the King's name and re-establish order. If I have your command, I can do it.”
A warrior of the King could not dare to try and handle the King. For the King of Humans was perfect. An imperfect being could not presume to dictate to a perfect one.
However, the King could give a command to a warrior.
The right to ask the King to command something of them. The lorekeeper exercised this precious right, one that the King's warriors had earned through painstaking effort.
To let her eliminate the conflict that would soon arise. To establish order and rule the empire in the King's name.
To El's sorrowful plea, 'the Sister', while fully understanding her heart, replied.
“Do it yourself.”