Chapter 261
Page 261
As everyone imagined that scene, their mood gradually became heavy.
As expected of the Mother Goddess of Creation, she caused such a commotion as soon as she awoke.
“There should be more to it than that.” Yanan’s eyes narrowed slightly. “One of Tiamat’s powers is [Mother of Beasts]. Instinctively, she would definitely create some life to protect herself as soon as possible.”
“You’re right.” Gilgamesh looked up toward the Persian Gulf, his face showing undisguised disgust. “I have indeed seen quite a few things born from that black mud. Their appearance is utterly repulsive. Even sea monsters are better looking than them.”
“Tiamat is inherently very random when creating life,” Ananon shrugged. “And the quantity?”
“There are many, roughly estimated to be hundreds of thousands.” Gilgamesh’s expression was rather grim. “And they are still being born continuously from that black mud.”
“The Black Mud is the manifestation of the [Mother of Beasts] power. As long as the Black Mud exists, these monsters will never be eradicated.” Yanan shook his head. “We must take the initiative and not allow the Black Mud to spread across the land of Uruk.”
"Do you have any ideas?" Gilgamesh asked.
Just as Anahn was about to speak, a loud bang came from the temple entrance, as if something had fallen from the sky to the ground.
"What's that noise? Has the enemy invaded?" Everyone was slightly startled.
“No.” Yanan looked towards the door, a smile appearing on his face. “Our helpers have arrived.”
"Oh dear~ it seems something very serious has happened." Quetzalcoatl walked in with a bright smile, followed by a reluctant leopard-man. "Just kidding, I already know, Tiamat has awakened, right?"
“You’ve come at the right time, Quetzalcoatl.” Anan nodded. “With you here, our chances of killing Tiamat are much higher.”
"Oh? So you're not planning to be trapped in this isolated city, but instead to launch a preemptive strike? Little brother, you're becoming more and more to my liking," Quetzalcoatl said with a grin.
“There’s no difference between the two. Choosing the latter at least keeps the initiative in our own hands.” Yanan looked at the blond man. “Gilgamesh, you don’t have any objections, do you?”
"Of course, after enduring this frustrating wait for more than half a year, my patience has reached its limit." Gilgamesh laughed, seemingly returning to his former unrestrained and arrogant demeanor.
“There’s one more thing,” Yanan said, glancing at the listless Ishtar. “Ereshkigal, are you there?”
"What are you talking about? I am clearly..." Ishtar paused slightly, but before she could finish speaking, her body suddenly stiffened, her pure black hair instantly turned into a dazzling gold, and her temperament became icy. "I am here."
“If I remember correctly, you can change the location of the Underworld, right?” Anahn narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Sure, but the Underworld is too vast, so moving around might be a bit slow.” Ereshkigal looked at him questioningly. “Why are you asking this?”
“Tiamat is the mother goddess of creation. One of her characteristics is that as long as there are her descendants on this land, she is immortal.” Anan looked at everyone. “Only in the underworld can we disable this characteristic of hers.”
"It seems you know quite a bit about Tiamat." Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes slightly.
Yanan smiled but did not answer the question, turning to look at Ereshkigal:
"How long would it take to move the underworld to Ur?"
"Do you intend to fight Tiamat in Ur?" Ereshkigal asked in surprise.
“Ur isn’t too far from Kusa, and it’s also the only way from Tiamat to Uruk. Plus, the temple of Quetzalcoatl is there. Geographically speaking, there’s no better place.” Anahn nodded slightly.
Ereshkigal pondered for a moment, then nodded: "I understand. I will move the Underworld there as soon as possible, which should take about a day."
“There’s enough time.” Yanan nodded.
"Then I'll go ahead and get to work." With that, Ereshkigal left Ishtar's body, and when he opened his eyes again, he was a different person.
"What just happened?" The Venus goddess, who had returned, looked completely bewildered.
However, no one paid any attention to her.
"What about this guy?" Morgan pointed to the golden core in the magic circle. "Are we just going to leave it here and ignore it?"
Yanan glanced at Kingu: "His magic core has been taken away. Even if he is forcibly extended with a magic circle, it will not change his inevitable fate of death... But, it is not entirely hopeless."
"Please, save Lord Enkidu!" Siduri pleaded hastily. Although they were not the same person internally, in her heart, this was Enkidu.
“It’s no use begging me.” Yanan looked at Gilgamesh. “Only one of us can save him.”
Siduri paused slightly, then turned to look at Gilgamesh: "Your Majesty..."
Gilgamesh gazed silently at the familiar face, and after a moment, he reached out and took a golden cup from the Babylonian treasury.
He crouched down and placed the cup on Jingu's chest. After a soft glow, the cup merged into Jingu's body, and the wound that had been opened up quickly healed.
"Wait a while, this guy should wake up soon." Gilgamesh stood up and said calmly.
As he said, a few minutes later, Jingu's vital signs stabilized and his eyes gradually opened.
When he saw the room full of people, he immediately realized what had happened, and his expression became complicated: "Why did you save me? I am clearly your enemy."
“You’ll have to ask him that,” Anahn said, pointing to Gilgamesh.
Kingu paused slightly, looked at Gilgamesh, and felt a strange mix of emotions.
“Answer my question first, Kingu.” Yanan crouched down, his deep black eyes fixed on the other man. “Who is the one who stole the Holy Grail?”
Jin Gu lowered his head and remained silent.
Yanan did not urge him, but instead said, "Do you know, Kingu, Tiamat has awakened."
"Mother has woken up!?" Jin Gu's eyes widened slightly. "But why am I..."
"Why didn't you hear her voice?" Yanan's tone remained calm. "It's simple, because Tiamat already has a child she can be closer to, and she doesn't need you anymore."
"So that's how it is..." Jingu smiled bitterly. Although he had already realized this possibility, he was still heartbroken when Yanan told him the truth.
After a long silence, he finally spoke again:
"The one who took the Holy Grail is the same one who gave it to me."
His name is Goetia.
%The blank key of the twenty-third camphor tree in the land of 23 got its debut*
"It's so ugly it's disgusting."
On the radiant ship sculpted from gold and emeralds, Gilgamesh gazed at the distant sea covered in black mud and the monsters born from it, his face revealing undisguised disgust and loathing.
“Speaking of which, are you really sure you’re okay leaving Uruk like this?” Yanan stood to his right. “Actually, you didn’t need to come along. Having me here is enough.”
"Stop joking. This is Uruk's moment. How could I possibly be a coward at a time like this?" Gilgamesh sneered. "Besides, isn't Siduri still in the capital? I trust her abilities."
“Fine, this is your territory anyway, you call the shots.” Anan shrugged, turning to the green-haired man standing to Gilgamesh’s left. “So, what about you, Kingu? Are you really determined to be Tiamat’s enemy?”
Jingu clenched his fists, his face flashing with a variety of emotions including hesitation, doubt, panic, and unease.
He is Tiamat's child, yet he must fight for humanity, his heart still filled with turmoil even though Tiamat has abandoned him.
“There’s nothing to hesitate about.” Gilgamesh looked ahead and said calmly, “Do what you want to do. No one is in a position to tell you what to do anymore.”
After a moment of silence, Jingu took a deep breath, his eyes gradually sharpening: "Let me make this clear beforehand, I am not fighting for humanity, but for an abandoned child who wants to demand an explanation from his mother."
Yanan smiled, not caring whether Jingu was telling the truth or not: "Then I will repeat our mission: because of Tiamat's characteristics, the three of us alone cannot defeat her. So what we need to do is slow her down and, incidentally, prevent the Rahmu from reaching the land, to buy time for the people of Uruk to seek refuge in the royal city and for Ereshkigal to move the underworld."
The word Rahmu has two meanings in the Mesopotamian civilization: hairy and muddy. It is also the name of the first son of the first gods Abzu and Tiamat, making it a fitting description of these monsters born from black mud.
The Rahmu's actions are not restricted by the black mud, which means they can freely travel to Uruk to kill.
Now, under Morgan's control, the entire city of Uruk is covered by a massive magical array, making it the only place that can provide shelter for the people of Uruk.
Ishtar, Quetzalcoatl, and the leopard people are currently busy rescuing people, while Siduri is in charge of maintaining order in the royal city. Everyone is extremely busy.
The purpose of Yanan and the others' visit was to alleviate the pressure at the rear and buy more time for everyone.
The three stood on the Radiant Ship, below which lay the once magnificent Persian Gulf. However, under Tiamat's influence, the entire bay was now covered in eerie and ominous black mud.
The ugly creature named Rahmu opened its mouth, which made up most of its body, in the water, and swayed in the black mud with its multiple barbed legs and long tail, moving towards the land.
The countless monsters rode the waves, forming an even more terrifying wave. At a glance, it looked as if countless hideous demons were rushing out of hell, bringing terror and evil to the earth.
Kingu gazed at the creatures below, created by Tiamat herself, his brow furrowed, and remained silent.
These monsters clearly possessed the ability to speak, in a language that only Tiamat's creations could understand. With each second that Kingu listened, his expression grew darker.
"If the world is full of monsters like this in the future, then it's better for this world to be destroyed sooner rather than later." Gilgamesh sneered sarcastically, raising his hand, and countless golden ripples appeared in mid-air, illuminating a corner of the dark sky.
Hundreds upon hundreds of Noble Phantasms emerged from the ripples, their cold blades shooting down in a burst.
"Boom—Boom—Boom—!!!"
The roar resounded through the heavens and the intense light from the continuous explosions blinded people. One after another, legendary weapons that had left their mark on history fell like a torrential rain, stirring up waves several meters high that swallowed up the ugly, deformed monsters below.
At the same time, Vimana unleashed its full power, sending wave after wave of magical missiles hurtling downwards.
Muscles torn, bones shattered, Gilgamesh unleashed his firepower indiscriminately. He didn't aim, nor did he need to; Rahmu were everywhere, so he could just shoot at whoever he wanted.
“I’ve suddenly realized that these monsters aren’t entirely useless,” Gilgamesh laughed. “At least they’re good for relieving stress.”
Although he never said it, Gilgamesh had indeed been under tremendous pressure during this period of time. Now, seeing these ugly monsters sinking into the sea, his mood suddenly became much better.
"@#$#*&%^$^" A beast-like howl echoed from the ocean. Although it was impossible to understand what the Rahmu were saying, their tone suggested they were a little agitated.
"Rip—" Part of Rahmu's back suddenly arched up, and brand-new organs tore through his skin—they were wings that were extremely ugly.
These monsters had never touched the sky before, but the moment they flapped their wings, they burst forth with a speed faster than an eagle, flying towards Vimana like locusts.
"Clang—" Countless chains ripped through the sky, their sharp points easily slicing through Rahmu's body, then coiling around him like pythons, forcefully contracting inward.
"Pfft—" The sound of bones being crushed by immense force rang out, and filthy blood slid from between the chains. As the chains loosened, one corpse after another fell into the Sea of Origin, splashing up a small ripple.
"Is this the new human beings created by Mother?" Jingu stared coldly at the monsters swallowed by the black mud. The thought that he had been replaced by such things made him feel extremely bad. "It's absolutely terrible."
Those who only know destruction and killing, and who place desire above reason, are not worthy of being called intelligent life; at best, they are nothing more than a bunch of uncivilized beasts.
The idea that they should manage the world is simply a pipe dream.
Jingu gazed at the tall figure in the distance and sighed silently in his heart.
Perhaps their plan was impossible to achieve from the very beginning...
"Jingu, traitor!"
"Old model, enemy!"
The Rahmu clearly possess a learning ability beyond what most people can imagine; in such a short time, they have already been able to speak human language fluently.
"You guys are too noisy."
Yanan raised his hand, and countless ripples spread out in mid-air. Countless replicas of the Divine Keys flew out from them, riddling the Rahmu with holes, and countless corpses fell from the sky like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
However, although it seemed that they had the advantage, there were simply too many Rahmu, and more Rahmu were being born from the black mud every moment. Even if they worked themselves to death, they would not be able to kill all of these monsters.
“We must stop the expansion of the Black Mud.” Yanan glanced at the dark sea below. “The Black Mud is the foundation of the Tiamat operation and the source of Rahmu’s birth. We must start with that.”
"Leave this to me." Gilgamesh stretched out his hand into the void, and a crimson cone-shaped weapon appeared.