【 THE BLASPHEMERS 】

—

After hearing Robel’s words, Li Mu could not help but glance at the shadow elf in the distance who was arguing with others.

Robel, meanwhile, continued to grumble:

“In my opinion, the Church should have confined infidels like him in advance. Otherwise… sooner or later, they will be deceived by those evil cultist and end up becoming detestable blasphemers themselves!”

“Blasphemers?”

Li Mu frowned slightly.

This time, it was Robel’s turn to be surprised.

“You have never heard of blasphemers?”

Li Mu shook his head.

“I grew up in the countryside, you see. So this is my first time coming to a city like this.”

Robel nodded.

“I see.”

He then said enthusiastically:

“In that case, you must take some time to explore New Rivendell. It’s the largest city on the continent, and a true holy city in every sense!”

New Rivendell…

At last, Li Mu learned the name of this city.

Among the seven great elven cities of the Elven Forest, each corresponded to one of the seven major elven clans and the city where the Shadowshade Clan primarily operates was Rivendell.

Undoubtedly, this city—New Rivendell—was built by the ancestors of these local elves to commemorate the past.

Robel continued his explanation:

“Blasphemers are those who betrayed Her Majesty during the All-Divine Mother’s revival. It is said that after the war of schism eight hundred years ago, they went into hiding and have been seeking opportunities to undermine Her Majesty’s recovery ever since.”

“Sir, if you ever discover any blasphemers, you must report them to the Church immediately. They are highly persuasive and especially fond of recruiting outsiders like you, spreading blasphemous doctrines and doomsday rhetoric!”

As he spoke, Robel seemed to recall something and slapped his forehead.

“Oh, right! We have been talking for so long, and I still do not know your name!”

Li Mu nodded and replied:

“Li Mu. My name is Li Mu.”

“Li Mu…? What an unique name!”

The two chatted for a while longer, and Li Mu specifically inquired about these so-called blasphemers. However, Robel merely shook his head vaguely and refrained from elaborating further, as though the subject were taboo and not to be spoken of openly.

Even so, Li Mu managed to glean some information indirectly.

Based on what he had gathered so far, these “blasphemers” appeared to be a force on the continent that secretly opposed the Church of the All-Divine Mother. They were composed of elves, half-elves, and a small number of other races. Their leaders were said to be former high-ranking clergy who had defected from the Church.

At that time, the Church of the All-Divine Mother had not yet changed its name and was known as the Church of Nature.

These blasphemers who betrayed the Church refused to acknowledge the newly revived “World Tree” as the All-Divine Mother. Instead, they proclaimed it to be an awakened evil entity that would ultimately bring about the destruction of all.

When Robel spoke of this, he dismissed the blasphemers’ claims with scorn.

Since the All-Divine Mother’s revival, a great number of Guardian Knights had emerged under her blessings, significantly reducing the Church’s burden in resisting the followers of the evil gods.

Without the aid of the All-Divine Mother, the war between land and sea inhabitants of this world would likely have already been decided.

Of course, Li Mu also came to understand what the selection of Guardian Knights entailed.

It is said that on the continent of Mindel, there existed an ancient ruin that opened once every three years.

Unlike the outside, where mana had grown increasingly scarce, the insides of this ruin possessed a high concentration of mana. Elemental forces were highly active, and many rare magical plants also thrived there. Numerous species long extinct outside could also be found within it.

Therefore, whenever the ruins opened, the Church would always organize expeditions to explore them and gather useful resources for the war against the oceanic evil forces.

After the All-Divine Mother’s revival, this exploration was further imbued with a sacred significance.

All believers who entered the ruins would undergo trials set by the patron deity. Those who passed would gain immense power and ascend directly to the Gold-rank as Guardian Knights.

The two chatted intermittently until a disturbance arose from the outside.

Li Mu turned his head and saw several elves and half-elves dressed in priestly robes entering the hall, surrounded by several powerful silver-armored warriors. They surveyed the area, exchanged a few words with the receptionist at the bar, then hurriedly left with furrowed brows.

Li Mu noticed that the uniforms worn by these priests closely resembled those of the clerics from the Church of Life. However, the tree-shaped emblem that originally belonged to the Goddess of Life had changed, now matching the symbol he had seen earlier in the village.

Seeing Li Mu’s gaze, Robel explained.

“Those were Guardian Knights just now.”

After speaking, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Even the Guardian Knights have been mobilized… could it be that another blasphemer has appeared?”

Upon hearing this, Li Mu instinctively glanced at their group chat interface. His first thought was whether one of his teammates had caused trouble. However, seeing the calm and orderly chat channel, he quickly dismissed the idea.

If anyone had truly encountered trouble, they would have already asked for help in the chat.

At that moment, Robel suddenly stood up.

“I will go ask what happened.”

His face was full of curiosity, even more so than Li Mu’s.

“I will come as well.”

Slightly intrigued, Li Mu followed him.

“Hey Elvia, what just happened?”

Standing at the bar, Robel asked the human female attendant responsible for reception. The woman paused her work, glanced at him, and replied respectfully:

“Sir Robel, it seems a blasphemer has just intruded into the forbidden area. Many Guardian Knights were killed, and the incident has alarmed the Church’s central authority. A full-scale pursuit operation is now underway.”

“A blasphemer? What kind of blasphemer could warrant such a large mobilization?”

Robel’s expression turned grave.

“I heard it was a very good-looking elf,”

the female attendant said in a low voice.

“W-What? Good-looking?”

Robel was slightly taken aback.

“Yes.”

The attendant nodded.

As she spoke, the receptionist took out a scroll and unrolled it.

“Here, take a look. They even provided a magical portrait. I was just about to hang it up.”

The two of them turned their gaze toward the image.

Upon seeing the magical projection on the scroll, a trace of amazement flashed across Robel’s eyes.

Li Mu, on the other hand, slightly opened his mouth in shock.

Silver hair.

Violet eyes.

Li Mu: “…”

T-This…

—Isn’t that the Goddess herself?!

The Goddess had actually been declared a wanted criminal?

What exactly had she done after they parted ways?

Hadn’t they agreed to conduct a low-profile investigation?

So how did the Goddess ended up being exposed first…

After a short while, Li Mu noticed string of new messages appearing in the group chat.

Dōngdōng: “Hey, hey! Guys! What’s going on? How did the Goddess suddenly become a wanted criminal?”

Optimist: “I saw it too. Good grief… the entire city is now hunting the Goddess down.”

Demacia: “Hahahahaha… this is sooo hilarious. xDD These elves are treating their own patron deity as a wanted criminal. Lmao, man these shadow elves sure are something else.”

Dōngdōng: “What exactly happened?”

Calabash: “It seems the Goddess just eliminated several hundred Guardian Knights near the Tree of Life in an instant and they were all high-ranking experts…”

IAmInvincible: “Lol”

Little Salty Cat: “The Goddess is still incredible… even with her power suppressed, she’s still this strong.”

Demacia: “Well, she is a true god after all. Even an incarnation would be at the peak of combat rankings. I am more curious about how their fight even started. Given her benevolent nature, the Goddess shouldn’t have initiated it right…?”

The group chat quickly became lively.

Li Mu glanced at the rapidly scrolling messages, thought for a moment, then typed:

“How is everyone’s information gathering going so far?”

Little Salty Cat: “Not bad. I found a library here and discovered some useful materials. I am reading them now.”

Cypher: “I went to a tavern and spoke with an elderly elf and learned quite a lot from him. It would be too lengthy to type it here in the chat so I will just go into detail when we meet.”

Demacia: “Ahem… I think I found some heretics. Heard some interesting things from them.”

Li Mu paused.

“Heretics?”

He sent a question mark.

“Yeah, I think they are those so-called blasphemers,”

Demacia replied.

Li Mu fell silent again.

Little Salty Cat quickly joined in.

“Blasphemers? Where did you find them?”

“Uh… in the sewers,”

Demacia answered.

All the players: “…”

“Lol, as expected of you.”

Li Mu typed: “Are you still with them now?”

Demacia: “No. Church knights suddenly came into the sewers to investigate, so they all ran away. I almost got caught too, but… I managed to obtain one of their tokens.”

Li Mu was speechless.

There was no denying it.

Although Demacia had terrible luck in lottery draws, his luck during missions was truly exceptional.

If his guess was correct, the breakthrough point for this mission likely lay with these so-called “blasphemers.”

With that thought, Li Mu glanced at the sky outside the window and typed:

“It is getting late. Let us regroup and share the information we have gathered, then organize everything.”

“I see that Demacia’s location on the minimap is roughly central to everyone. So let us meet up in his location.”

“No problem,”

the players replied one after another.

However, Demacia suddenly became agitated:

“W-wait… guys do not actually come here! Let us change the meeting point instead! Uh… Cypher isn’t far either from where I am, so let us gather at his location instead!”

Li Mu: “…”

“Where are you exactly anyway?”

he typed.

“Nowhere in particular, just wandering around the city, you know…?”

Demacia replied.

Li Mu said nothing but he could almost picture Demacia’s awkward expression and evasive gaze.

After glancing at Demacia’s position on the minimap, as well as the route traced by his movements, Li Mu turned to Robel beside him.

“Mr. Robel, may I ask you something? If one walks north along this street, turns left at the third intersection, then proceeds to the next intersection and stops, what is located on the right?”

Robel was momentarily taken aback.

He frowned and thought for a moment. Then, as he looked at Li Mu, his expression gradually became somewhat peculiar.

Soon after, he chuckled, patted Li Mu on the shoulder, and said meaningfully:

“Sir Li Mu… I’m guessing you’re still not married, are you?”

Li Mu: “…”

“….Why do you say that?”

he asked.

“Heh, well, why would a married man ask me about such a ‘place’ like that? The Church’s blessings upon marriage are quite sacred after all.”

Robel waggled his eyebrows.

However, his expression quickly turned serious.

“Sir Li Mu, although this is our first meeting, I have found our conversation quite enjoyable.”

“I would like to remind you that, even though the Church has become somewhat more lenient regarding such matters, as noble elves, we should still avoid places like that whenever possible…”

Li Mu: “…”

Based on Robel’s behavior, Li Mu felt that he could more or less already guess the place where Demacia had gone to.

༺⟐༻

The sun gradually sank toward the horizon, and the golden runes upon it slowly dimmed.

The azure sky became tinged with a captivating crimson glow.

As night gradually fell, Li Mu arrived at their group’s meeting point.

It was an exquisite small tavern, the very place where Cypher had been conducting his investigation.

He had already become acquainted with the tavern owner and had reserved a private room. Once all ten players entered, they were able to sit down comfortably.

Everyone appeared eager and excited, clearly having made their own discoveries.

Li Mu took a seat at the innermost position. As he looked at Demacia entering the room with a mischievous grin, he pointed to his face.

“Demacia, look man, you still have not wiped that lipstick mark off your face.”

Demacia’s expression stiffened as he immediately rolled up his sleeves and began wiping his face.

The other players raised their heads and looked at him with strange expressions.

However, after wiping his face, Demacia glanced at his sleeve and found nothing on it.

Demacia: “…”

“Dammit bro, you tricked me!”

Li Mu laughed.

“I was just testing you. I did not expect you to actually visit the red-light district.”

As he spoke, Li Mu shook his head.

“I am not sure whether to complain about the existence of such places here, or about your lack of restraint.”

“Well… I was just curious, you know. I could not actually do anything, so I just took a look around…”

Demacia said awkwardly.

Little Salty Cat and Dōngdōng curled their lips, casting disdainful glances at him.

Demacia: “…”

He sighed and began absentmindedly drawing circles on the table.

Li Mu smiled and shook his head. Then his expression turned serious.

“Alright, enough small talk. Let us exchange what we have seen and learned so far.”

Hearing this, the players also became serious.

Li Mu straightened his posture and said:

“In that case… I will begin first.”

With that, he recounted everything he had seen and heard during the day.

After listening, the rest of the players fell into thoughtful silence.

“So… I suspect that the Tree of Life may have been a method used by the Shadowshade Clan to revive the Goddess. However, looks like something went wrong and the revival ritual failed. In the end, the Tree of Life instead seized the faith that originally belonged to the Goddess. The ultimate objective of our mission is likely to help the Goddess reclaim that faith.”

Li Mu voiced his conclusion.

As he spoke, he looked at the others.

“This is my hypothesis. Does anyone else have additional information?”

His gaze swept across his teammates. When he noticed Demacia’s uncertain expression, his thoughts stirred.

“Demacia, did you obtain any information from your conversation with those blasphemers?”

Demacia nodded, his expression gradually becoming serious.

“Brother Mu…”

“I also asked those blasphemers about the Tree of Life.”

“What you just said seems to align completely with what they told me…”

“That is exactly what they claimed as well.”

“Additionally, I learned about the origin of the Tree of Life from them.”

“They said that a thousand years ago, the shadow elves used a fragment of a branch from the original World Tree that they had brought along with them. Their original goal was to revive the Goddess and cultivate a new World Tree.”

“However, in the end, it seemed they have ultimately failed.”

“And not only that but, apparently not only did they fail to revive the Goddess, they inadvertently awakened a monster instead…”

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