As the saying went, fun times were always short.
After playing happily for a day and enjoying a sumptuous meal in the ruins of Casabianca, everyone felt rejuvenated. The next morning, they wasted no time and searched readily for the Book of Life for Rhode. According to Lillian, the Book of Life was enshrined in the temple near the Light Palace, so Rhode and the rest searched for it within the vicinity of the ruins. But unfortunately, it seemed to be harder than Rhode imagined.
“Say, how much longer are we going to search for it, Leader?”
Mini Bubble Gum, who was as though on drugs the day before, looked really restless now. She turned over the pile of rocks and ridiculed in a boring tone.
“As of now, I found a lot of skeletons, but I don’t even see a single living person, not to mention a Book of Life… Ah, here’s another one. Seems like this one got its neck shattered. How unlucky. This sucks. It’s as though we’re picking up litter after our field trip. How boring.”
“Picking up litter is necessary. We need to protect the environment. Teacher taught us that we can’t just throw our litter everywhere.”
Upon hearing Mini Bubble Gum’s complaints, Icy Snow on the other side couldn’t help but knit her brows and reply. After hearing her response, Mini Bubble Gum curled her lips lazily, apparently disregarding her words.
“Yea, yea, yea. That’s a model student right there. Anyway, I’m low on awareness and the worst of mankind… Tsk, you think everyone is like you? If it weren’t for Leader needing your help, would you even try so hard? If you were given an order by a balding old man with a military belly, perhaps you wouldn’t wait to hide.”
“I won’t do that!”
Icy Snow jumped like a cat with its tail stepped on.
“Be it a task given by Big Brother or someone else, I will still accomplish it seriously!”
“Look at your dumb self. I think you would even count money for your kidnapper after you’re sold. After Leader brings the Dragon Soul Continent to the solar system, you’d better find time and see if your original self has been sold to some valley as a child bride. Really. So what if your results are good? You will still get tricked after you go out into society and don’t understand the ways of the world. Just look at those college girls who store all that book-knowledge in their pig brains and end up not knowing that they were abducted. I wonder what in the world their brains are made of. Seems like you’ll certainly be one of them after you grow up… Well, forget it. Sooner or later, you will be kidnapped and sold. I shall let you off the hook since I’m not like you. I am a very ‘mature’ adult already.”
Mini Bubble Gum said, puffed out her almost pitiful and unworthy chest, and turned around to continue with her business, leaving Icy Snow gnashing her teeth and glaring at her from behind. The undaunted Mini Bubble Gum enraged her. Icy Snow stared at Mini Bubble Gum’s back and after a few moments, she let out a grunt, stomped her foot, and turned around to go about her business.
“Sigh…”
Gazing at the two rivals who reentered their daily bickering again, Rhode couldn’t help but shake his head. He wasn’t that foolish to find trouble for himself, which was why he acted as though he didn’t witness their quarrel and continued to look for clues about the Book of Life’s existence in his personal fief.
According to Lilian, the temple where the Book of Life was enshrined wasn’t a property of the church, but was always within the jurisdiction of the Light Parliament. Rumor had it that the Light Parliament used this temple as a warehouse, where they stored quite a number of precious magical devices and equipment. And as a matter of fact, Rhode did find some valuable items. But… They were all in fragments.
It wasn’t surprising since it didn’t matter how powerful magical equipment was. As long as it wasn’t in the caliber of godlike equipment, it would definitely shatter in the magical cannon blasts. And quite unfortunately, the area of this temple was located right next to the Light Parliament. And as a result, it was also the place where Rhode bombarded the most when he attacked Casabianca. It could also be said that after the place was trampled on and blasted by the undead army and cannon blasts, there was almost nothing left except for broken walls and steps that emerged from time to time, showcasing the past glories and secrets of this place.
“Seems like this isn’t working…”
Rhode put his arm down and along with this action, the summoning ritual enveloping his surroundings vanished. He initially decided to summon the holy sword spirits to search for the spirit hidden within the Book of Life. But he didn’t expect Karin’s seal to be so powerful that even his senses and the holy sword spirits couldn’t come into contact with the Book of Life’s spiritual presence. Without a choice, Rhode could only take this manual approach and take his time to find it. Although he summoned the holy sword spirits to continue his search, he didn’t gain any result… This looked like a really tall order.
“How’s the situation on your side, Little Icy?”
“Sorry, Big Brother, I didn’t find any clues…”
Facing Rhode’s question, Icy Snow revealed a difficult expression. Even though she used her space searching ability to scan the vast ruins, she didn’t discover any presence similar to the Book of Life. This result left Rhode concerned. It didn’t matter even if they couldn’t find it now. At the very most, they could spend more time looking for it. But if it were as he expected, where undead creatures took it with them or it was blasted to bits by his magical cannons, things would get real troublesome… But Rhode didn’t believe that he was that unlucky. Back then, Karin swore in confidence that the Book of Life wouldn’t be the slightest bit damaged even if the magical cannons were to fire directly at it.
In that case…
“Ah, Leader, come and take a look. Anne found a strange thing.”
While Rhode pondered, Anne’s voice suddenly sounded and interrupted his thoughts. Upon hearing her voice, Rhode perked up immediately, lifted his head, and turned toward her. At that moment, Anne stood above a pile of debris in the distance, waving her arm excitedly at him. Upon witnessing her action, Rhode strode toward her quickly.
After arriving beside her, Rhode saw the ‘strange thing’ that Anne mentioned. It was a statue. Judging from its appearance, it should have been buried in the mud before Anne dug it out. It was around two meters in height and at its bottom was a base that was more than three meters tall. It should have been erected on the ground, but perhaps due to the magical cannon blasts, it fell headfirst toward the ground and was buried deep in the mud and debris of the ruins. If it weren’t for Anne who cleared the place, perhaps Rhode wouldn’t have realized its existence.
“Interesting.”
Rhode couldn’t help but twitch his brow at the sight of this statue in ‘perfect condition’. It felt really odd because Casabianca was flattened and razed to the ground by the magical cannons. Not only that, but the broken columns and walls next to it also showed what kind of harsh treatment they suffered from. What shocked Rhode was that even so, the statue was still in perfect condition. Even after Anne wiped the white stone statue, he couldn’t find a single trace of damage. Judging from this point, this statue was considered really bizarre.
The statue piqued Rhode’s curiosity. He gestured for Anne to step back, extended his arm, and along with this action, a faint magical brilliance emanated on his right hand. He stretched his arm before him, clenched his fist in front of the statue, and lifted his arm skyward.
Boom!
Along with this action, the white stone statue laying in the mud and debris stood upright abruptly on its own. Shortly after, Rhode used his spiritual power to blow away the dust, mud, and fragments on it. In just a few seconds, the buried white stone statue revealed its true form.
“This is…”
After witnessing the statue, Rhode couldn’t help but be taken aback. The back of the statue was facing him earlier, which was why he didn’t know what was strange about it. But when he set it upright, he instantly discovered just how odd it was.
It was a statue of a really beautiful woman. Her head was raised, and she gazed at the sky and held her hands on her chest as though she were saying her prayer. It wouldn’t raise many questions if that were the only case. On the other hand, what was bizarre was the woman herself.
The woman had a pretty face, and there was nothing ugly about her. But the problem was that there wasn’t just one face.
That’s right, the statue of this woman had three faces in total. The first face had her eyes opened, looking up to the sky with a certain longing, as if seeking some kind of protection and blessing. The second face was on her chest. But unlike the first, her head was lowered and eyes were tightly-shut as though she were praying and chanting. As for the third face, it was at the midriff and unlike the first and second, she frowned and stared straight ahead with an expression that left one feeling unsettled. It was as though she were glaring at her father’s murderer. Not only that, but this woman’s body was also really unusual. She wasn’t any different from ordinary humans from above her abdomen, but lacked a pair of legs on her lower body. On the contrary, her lower body was as though the shape of burning flames, wave currents, violent hurricane, or crumbling earth. All in all, it just didn’t look like the lower body of an ordinary person.
“What is this?”
Rhode was dumbfounded. He tried recalling the scene when he led Starlight and slaughtered his way into Casabianca. But back then, this temple didn’t leave a significant impression on him. Despite that, he was certain that he didn’t notice this statue. If not, just this bizarre design alone wouldn’t have made him forget about it.
“Woah, what in the world is that, Leader? Don’t let Christie see that or she can’t fall asleep tonight.”
At that moment, the group that was searching the surroundings was also attracted by the extraordinary statue. They gathered over and upon seeing the statue, Mini Bubble Gum curled her lips and spoke. But without the need for her reminder, this statue definitely felt weird to them after scanning it for some time.
“What exactly is that? Why do I feel like she’s somewhat familiar, but I just can’t remember?”
“She is the Light Goddess.”
And just after Bubble raised the question that was hovering in everyone’s mind, a gentle voice answered. Then, Rhode’s younger sister strolled out from the side with a smile and stood beside the statue. After taking a closer look, she nodded.
“That’s right, this is undoubtedly the Light Goddess. This is the statue of the ruler of the light elemental plane. I suppose you’ve heard rumors about the Light Goddess in the game, right, Big Brother?”
“I… did hear something about her.”
Upon hearing the younger sister’s question, Rhode thought for a while and answered. The Light Goddess was the ruler of the light elemental plane. Rumor had it that she was benevolent, but merciless against evil. She spent her days watching over creatures under the brilliance of light, silently praying for their protection while striking ruthless blows at enemies that encroached on the realm of light.
Weren’t the rumors about these three faces of the Light Goddess?
At this thought, Rhode couldn’t help but lift his head and look at the statue again.
“Ah…! I remember now!”
All of a sudden, Mini Bubble Gum smacked her head and yelled.
“When I advanced in my class to become a ‘holy maiden’, I think I did come across such a thing!”
Such a thing—alright then, we can only hope Madam Light Goddess is magnanimous enough to disregard this rude little rascal.
“You are also a dominator of the light element. Didn’t you meet her when you underwent training?”
Upon seeing Mini Bubble Gum’s expression, Canary who stood beside her couldn’t help but ask in curiosity. During the training for players to awaken their individual ‘supreme privileges’, they would meet lords of their respective domains and complete challenges or missions to gain ‘supreme privileges’. Since Mini Bubble Gum was a ‘holy maiden’, she had definitely passed the job advancement, so she couldn’t have possibly missed the Light Goddess. Facing Canary’s question, Mini Bubble Gum lowered her head awkwardly, extended her arm, and scratched her head.
“Oops… The dazzling light realm hurt my eyes. Back then I was determined to finish the mission and didn’t notice much. Besides, this fella has three faces and was so ugly that I wasn’t interested in looking at her for much longer. That was why I took a while to recall her…”
Okay, let’s hope Madam Light Goddess is magnanimous enough to not find trouble with her.
“I think this should be what we’re supposed to find, right?”
At that moment, Rhode sensed the powerful energy contained in the statue, which definitely surpassed an level of ordinary power. Even though the Book of Life wasn’t inside the statue, this statue might offer some other benefits. After all, this statue could be considered a miracle to not have a single trace of damage on its surface after being blown up by the magical cannons. But the problem was that… How should they go about opening it?
“Do you need me to blast it up?”
At that moment, Lapis who remained silent all this way spoke up cautiously. Rhode wasn’t sure if it was his delusion, but he felt like she was eager to do it. Come to think of it, ever since that explosion in the Darkness Capital, she seemed particularly interested in blowing things up…
“This statue has fused entirely with the light elemental plane. Normal explosions won’t break it.”
But shortly after, Rhode’s younger sister shook her head and denied Lapis’s suggestion.
“Unless we use the Plane Destruction Bomb again. But I don’t think you want to do it again, right, Big Brother?”
“Of course.”
If Rhode used that thing in his own territory, it would definitely be a real pain in the butt. Meanwhile, Lapis seemed rather disappointed.
Let’s hope she isn’t disappointed because she can’t use the Plane Destruction Bomb…
“But… is there really no other way to open it up?”
Rhode felt a little hopeless. Earlier on, he tried using his spiritual powers to create a connection, attempting to find some secrets that could activate the statue. But what left him depressed was that even though his spiritual powers entered the statue effortlessly, the inside of the statue was like an endless ocean. He searched repeatedly and couldn’t find anything related. It seemed like he couldn’t count on this stature anymore.
“Actually, there is.”
But to his surprise, the younger sister shook her head and turned to the little girl beside her.
“Lilian, it’s your turn to shine. This is your duty as the Light Dragon.”
