infodatos Chapter 132 A Gift for the Gods
Chapter 132 A Gift for the Gods
Chapter 132 A Gift for the Gods
The group of non-human beings remained silent, giving Dove a scathing look of contempt with their silence.
"—Back to the topic, so, do you know what's going on with this disc?" Dulin said.
"The short version is that each disc corresponds to a forgotten god," and we need to offer gifts on the discs. "If the gift is suitable, I don't know what will happen next, but will it open the door?" Geb explained to everyone. "The meaning of this first riddle is that this god is the Devourer," representing the wrath of nature. Think carefully about what gift we should offer Him.
"Our dwarven legend says that to appease Altom's wrath, the clan chief must offer up his firstborn child," Dulin said, stroking his beard.
Gebu glanced at the woman with the sword, who glared back fiercely: "What are you thinking? Believe me or not, I'll cut it off for you."
"However, that's a legend from long ago. Nobody would do something so barbaric these days," Dulin added.
"I think we shouldn't overthink it," Geb said. "The Devourer represents the wrath of nature, an irresistible force. Do we possess any objects related to nature?"
Everyone started searching its pockets at the same time. Apart from the dog-headed man, it was completely clean except for its loincloth; there was nothing there.
After a while, the half-deer man, Soton, suddenly stopped moving.
He grabbed his magnificent antlers, took out a dagger from his waist, made a cut around the forked part of the antlers, and then twisted it off with both hands!
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear—"
'
Soton didn't cry out in pain, but Gebu was in excruciating agony. The edges of his antlers had hardened, but the center was still red and tender, bleeding as the deer-man moved. The beastman merely frowned and tossed the antlers to the ground.
"We Ansar people have a close connection with nature, and even our bodies change with the seasons—these antlers are my natural weapons, used to kill with the power of nature. This thing may satisfy the Devourer."
Seeing that Thorton had made a sacrifice, Geb didn't say anything. He carefully placed the antler on the disc with his wizard's hand.
Nothing happened.
"Have you made a mistake?" Geb said. "Why don't we just kill the kobold?"
"Goblins are bad! Goblins are so bad!" Tutu immediately protested.
Just then, the disc suddenly trembled slightly, and blood seeped from the red core of the deer antler, flowing into the engraved characters on the stone and turning the runes red.
The antlers seemed to have been sucked dry, instantly losing all moisture and becoming a dry, empty shell.
call----
Geb noticed the slight flow of ether, and the antlers instantly vanished.
The symbols on the disc emitted a red light, and the massive stone gate trembled slightly before falling still again.
Uh—can we interpret this as, we've finished 1/6?
The weasel saw that the half-deer man's antlers were bleeding, so it took out a young branch of deer vine and applied it to his antlers, but Soton refused.
"Don't waste your time on this wound."
"Hmph." The weasel, feeling it had made a fool of itself, turned its mouth away.
Having completed the Devourer's offering, Geb, the dwarf, and Thorton, now adept at solving the puzzles on the remaining five discs one by one, chattered amongst themselves.
"The fruit of evil does not grow in the soil, but is born in the human soul. Nourished by fear and anxiety, it produces a scarlet flower—the most deadly poison in the world, capable of blinding the wise and robbing the sane."
"Jealousy?" the dwarf said.
"Revenge?" Thornton said.
Geb thought for a moment and concluded, "—Both of these are expressions of hatred, but if we're going to categorize them, they should fall under the domain of the 'resentful one.' So the question is, what gift should be offered to the resentful one?"
"That shouldn't be difficult. The six people in this room have no shortage of hatred," Thorton said coldly.
“You hurt my friends, but thankfully they’re still alive.” Geb looked at the swordswoman, then at Dulin. “You haven’t done anything I can’t forgive, Thorton. I don’t hate you. You were an obstacle in my path, and now, an ally I must unite with, nothing more.” Geb said, then turned to the dwarf and asked, “Dulin, do you hate him?”
"—He's a ruthless man, but not entirely unreasonable—No, I don't hate him. If the situation were different, not so tense, we might have a drink together," the dwarf said.
"This dwarf is so magnanimous. If my ear were cut off, I would absolutely hate the person who did it and would never forgive them," Geb thought.
Just a moment ago they were mortal enemies, but now that they have a common adversary, they can temporarily unite.
Of course, only temporarily. Gebu hasn't forgotten what this guy did to Dulin and the Swordswoman. He'll definitely get his revenge when he gets the chance.
But not now.
"————" Thornton closed his lips and remained silent. He seemed unprepared for the two of them to say such things and didn't know how to react.
The weasel glanced at the half-deer man, frowning slightly in displeasure, but her expression vanished in an instant. She retreated to a corner of the room, secretly observing Geb and Soton, and stealthily baring her fangs.
"Let's just kill the kobold!" Geb quickly concluded. "It must hate everyone here."
"Damn kobolds."
After speaking with Gebu's side, the half-deer people seemed to have lessened their hostility and were no longer as protective of the kobolds.
After some discussion, the group decided to pull out the kobold's teeth as a gift for the haters. Lacking suitable tools, Soton pinned the kobold to the ground and pried them out with his hands—he pried Tutu's mouth full of blood, and Tutu was almost out of breath before spitting out two sharp teeth mixed with blood—the scene was extremely tragic.
"Ugh—afsahg#%@*%——————" the kobold cursed indistinctly, rolling on the ground in pain.
[The Resentful One] accepted the dog's tooth as a sacrifice, and the stone gate moved again, 2/6.
The following puzzles were also solved smoothly: "Born in the light, yet going against it—I am the night dancing in the corner, your silent twin."
This clearly refers to a shadow.
"This is a Shadowwalker!"
Where there is light, there is shadow. Gebu searched for an old torch near the ruins, lit it with fire magic, and offered the flame as a gift to the Shadow One.
3/6.
"I am a perpetually burning flame, leaving only emptiness and cold in my wake—I am bloated, yet starving. Gold, knowledge, and soul. The more I acquire, the more I crave."
"An insatiable miser—this must be the Hoarder," Geb said. This deity has appeared several times in the Old Gospels, and it is said that the Hoarder stores all the world's precious secrets and knowledge, a treasure trove that former wizard lords had gone to great lengths to covet—their fanaticism dragged the Arken Orphan Empire into a quagmire.
This existence sounds familiar... doesn't it? It's like the promise of the Book of Sand: infinite knowledge, infinite mystery.
Perhaps I can't completely trust this precious book of mine—Gebu thought to himself.
"Since you enjoy collecting things, I'll give you a special gift: this is our secret recipe, guaranteed to be one of a kind in the world."
Gebu copied the recipe for the "wine for the gods" and offered it to the hoarders. The gods gladly accepted it.
4/6.
"A nimble silver tongue, yet sharp as a needle, speaks the truth, but is a lie—an empty echo, a distorted reflection, and a shattered mirror."
Therefore, it seems to refer to the "mocker".
Gebu thought for a long time and realized that using the Thousand Faces Mask here would definitely be a way to get through the challenge—it was a perfect disguise and a form of deception. The mask's effect was just right.
But I can't bear to part with it!
After much deliberation, the goblin finally placed a minor phantom on the disc—a perfect tribute to a mocker who deceives through imitation.
This time, the disc didn't react for a long time. Gebu thought he hadn't fooled him, but upon closer inspection, he noticed that the runes on the disc had lit up at some point. "Heh, no wonder he's the mocker, playing me for a fool?"
However, as long as it's activated, that's fine. Just don't give me any "I'll take your spell" kind of tricks.
After several attempts, Gebu realized that the magic of this mechanism was not strong; it was just a token effort to test whether the visitor knew anything about the Six Evil Gods, not to actually sacrifice anything.
So, only one puzzle remains.
Geb opened his notebook and read the last paragraph —
Eh?
Gebu was startled and frowned.
"Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos! Long live Chaos!"
When did my notes change? The entire page was covered with the four characters "Long Live Chaos"—densely packed and dazzling!
I don't know if it's because I've seen those four characters too many times, but by the end of this page, the text was distorted and I couldn't recognize it anymore.
Suddenly, the stone door in front of everyone shook violently—no, the entire room shook!
White mist leaked out from the crack in the door, quickly obscuring his vision. Gebu quickly covered his mouth and nose!
"What's going on?!" the dwarf's voice rang out from the side.
"You cast that spell, Gebu!" the swordswoman shouted.
"What kind of hellish magic is this!" someone shouted, their voice distorted and drawn out in the white mist, making it impossible to tell who was speaking.
Soon, Gebu could see nothing at all—was this the effect of the Cloud Mist spell?
At this moment, Gebu didn't panic. He first shouted, "Don't move! Don't make a sound!"
Then I found a wall to lean against to make sure my back was safe, and then I calmed down and listened to the sounds in the fog.
Everyone seemed to have heard Gebu's words, and for a moment, there was indeed no sound in the fog.
A footstep sounded in front of Gebu, and after a moment, a short, stout figure appeared and disappeared in the mist.
Gebu didn't say anything and slowly crept over.
"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle?" the figure mumbled in a strange way, the sound bubbly, as if a fish out of water was talking.
Enemies! Gebu's heart sank. Something had emerged from that door! He quietly crept behind the person, raised his palm, and prepared to cast a spell!
The man seemed to hear the sound of the flame being lit and suddenly turned around!
An ugly fish-man stared intently at Geb with its large, bubble-like eyes!