Chapter 748: Secrets of the Old Gods

After learning Vorry's origins, Henwell asks another question. "You were absorbing the knowledge left by the Lord of Calamity just now, weren't you?"

"I want to know what the last war of the gods was truly about. What happened?"

"Why was our continent sealed off, and why is this place called the Abandoned Continent?"

The Lady of Calamity rubs her forehead. "Even the smallest amount of knowledge left by a god is an immense burden for a mortal."

"That is why I did not accept all of it. I worked with Steve and had him share part of the burden."

"As a result, the information I received may be incomplete. Some fragments may even be missing vital details, distorting the entire outline of an event."

In truth, the Lady of Calamity has yet to sort through the knowledge she gained. Its sheer volume could crush her soul outright.

She has sealed most of it away and will digest it gradually as her strength grows.

After a moment, the Lady of Calamity answers Henwell. "The era we live in should be called the Brilliant Era."

"The previous era was fairly short, lasting only about ten thousand years. It was called the Era of Divine Calamity, and its final three thousand years became known as the Divine War Era."

"A brutal war erupted among the gods. It involved several planes and swept across the entire world."

"The old gods were defeated and fell one after another. The new gods also suffered grievous wounds, and many withdrew to recuperate for a long time."

"During the Era of Divine Calamity, human power was exceptionally strong. Both mortal dynasties and the factions of the gods far surpassed those of every other race."

"In the Arcane Era before it, the mighty Arcane Empire even ruled several planes."

"Every race other than humanity served as human slaves and lived under the rule of different Arcane Empires."

Henwell sighs. "It must have been an age of extraordinary prosperity."

Seeing the longing on his face, the Lady of Calamity warns him, "You must never say that in public."

"Other races now occupy the richest planes through the advantages of their innate bloodlines. Humanity has been reduced to a minor race on the fringes of the world."

Henwell smiles but says nothing. That may not remain true forever.

After pondering the matter for so long, Henwell has formed a rough idea of what the powers above intend.

He has come here to unleash the mighty power of human civilization once more.

His task is not to unite every race in the world. It is to lead humanity back to its peak.

Henwell once thought his bosses might be the defeated old gods.

After his assignment in another world, however, he knows his bosses stand far above the gods of this place.

Henwell therefore respects these gods, but not excessively. What he feels is mostly rational caution.

He is a business manager for a conglomerate spanning countless worlds. Why should a few petty godlings in some backwater frighten him?

This is not blind arrogance, but confidence born of his position.

It resembles the instinctive superiority a citizen of a great nation feels toward a minor country.

The Lady of Calamity continues her account of ancient history.

Henwell draws several important conclusions from her account.

First, most gods are recuperating.

That means they will rarely interfere in mortal affairs.

Second, human new gods joined forces with gods of other races to defeat the old gods.

That reveals two things: today's human new gods were once traitors, and they have since lost their dominance over the world.

If necessary, Henwell may be able to contact Veil. In some respects, those terrorists share his interests.

The third important piece of intelligence concerns this continent and the Hundred-Year Calamity.

The Hundred-Year Calamity recurs under the influence of the old gods.

Put simply, the monsters' territories do not lie entirely on this continent. They occupy something like an interplanar rift, similar to the interplanar pocket Henwell entered earlier.

Those regions hold the extraordinary monsters that emerge during the Hundred-Year Calamity, along with traces left by the fall of a god.

That is right.

Every Hundred-Year Calamity lair is a site where an old god fell.

In other words, at least six gods fell on this continent at the end of the previous era.

Even in death, the gods' hatred and resentment can stir the laws of the world and create such strange regions.

For that reason, neither the continent's nations nor the Western Federation dares eliminate the calamity lairs.

They lack the power to do so, and they are afraid to try.

The Lady of Calamity's information points to one conclusion: the Hundred-Year Calamity must continue.

It wears away the old gods' lingering obsessions. Without it, something even more terrible could emerge.

That also allows Veil to use those places as lairs, since its members are remnants of the old gods.

On the Abundant Continent, Veil is known as the Veil of the Old Gods, a name for the remnants left behind after the old gods' final curtain fell.

Henwell begins to wonder how many members of Veil are genuine rebels.

Perhaps the new gods have planted assets among them to preserve a delicate balance.

The final piece of intelligence concerns the many powerful professionals on the Abandoned Continent.

The war of the gods reshaped the entire continent at the level of the world's laws.

More than six gods fell here. The fact that the continent survived without shattering speaks to its resilience.

The calamity lairs, the sites where those gods fell, still obey their lingering wills and constantly seek to reclaim the continent.

To build their strength, they drain extraordinary properties from across the continent.

As a result, the Abandoned Continent possesses a far lower concentration of extraordinary properties than the Abundant Continent.

The sites of divine fall also prevent powerful professionals who survived the previous era from moving freely.

They can only hide and cling to life, never daring to act openly anywhere on the continent.

Upon reaching Glory Rank, a professional can sense the influence of the gods' lingering resentment.

A god's lingering will may seize an ancient powerhouse, drag that person into a site of divine fall, and turn the captive into a vessel for that will.

The Lady of Calamity's teacher is one example. He was once a divine disciple of the Lord of Calamity.

Near the end of the Defense of Fendicasa, he fled instead of carrying out the Lord of Calamity's orders.

He was meant to guard the third level, detonate all of Fendicasa, and widen the Well of the Abyss.

That would have allowed hordes of Abyssal demons to descend and halt the new gods' advance.

At the decisive moment, however, he ran. To avoid being purged by the new gods, he temporarily joined their faction.

Together with the followers of the new gods, he resisted the assault of the Abyssal creatures.

When the situation deteriorated and he was ordered to sacrifice himself to seal the place, he fled again.

In the end, the new gods had to intervene and seal the entire city.