Chapter 16 A God's Creation?

The passage walls were quite smooth, with no seams, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to climb.

Fortunately, the players present each had their own methods. Li Ang stepped on invisible stairs to climb upwards, Ding Zhensi activated the Kui Cow mecha's jet propulsion device, and David leaped back and forth on the walls.

Everyone used their skills, traversing the passage as if it were flat ground.

Carrying a large package, Ding Zhensi coughed slightly. "Ahem, that, Brother Li, did you figure out the plot of this mission?"

Li Ang glanced down at the Kui Cow mecha in flight and said casually, "I wouldn't say I know, but I have a guess that may not be accurate."

"A guess?"

Ding Zhensi's heart stirred upon hearing this. He had heard Xing Hechou say that many of Li Risheng's words should be taken in reverse.

When he said "I know a little," it meant "I know a lot."

When he said "I'm not sure," it meant "I'm ninety-nine percent sure."

When he said "I have a guess, a hypothesis, an idea," it meant "Seriously? I've already guessed the correct answer, and you haven't figured it out yet?"

Ding Zhensi took a breath. "Please explain in detail."

The others didn't say anything, but their gazes were all on Li Ang.

"This has to start from the underground palace."

Li Ang cleared his throat and said, "Remember what we encountered after entering the underground palace? We saw murals, smelled the bloody odor, advanced all the way, encountered shadow beasts, and the group was scattered.

You, me, and Miss Liu killed it, then reunited with the others and left the underground palace.

During this process, there was one particularly obvious problem."

Ding Zhensi subconsciously asked, "What problem?"

"The identity of the shadow beast."

Li Ang said calmly, "According to the village chief of the guardian village, the shadow beasts appeared suddenly fifty years ago, without any warning.

And the underground labyrinth, as one of the links in the Holy Mountain trial, has its own rules—the monsters inside usually stay in the underground palace, waiting for brave adventurers to come and fight them.

They wouldn't run to the ground for no reason, causing interference and destruction.

Moreover, the types of monsters that the underground palace refreshes are also limited and regular.

Among the mountain of corpses the shadow beast was sitting on at the time, the most numerous remains came from common monster types in fantasy works, such as two-headed ogres, gnolls, giants, and so on.

This raises a key question—who is the shadow beast?

It is likely not a native species of the underground palace.

There are three reasons:

It can run to the ground uncontrollably;

It doesn't belong to the common species list;

And it is not bound by the underground palace's refresh rules."

Li Ang paused for a moment and said, "Theresa's diary mentions that on July 12, 1035 of the Goddess Calendar, they stayed in the village and planned to explore the underground palace the next day.

By July 16, they had been in the village for three days.

In other words, they conquered three underground palaces in one day.

As for the reason for working so hard, it was because the necromancer in the brave team, a man named Finn, was bitten in the chest by a strangely shaped monster and poisoned.

The brave team wanted to find that monster, kill it, and bring it back to the village for the villagers to identify.

As a result, before they reached the village, the monster's corpse dissipated on its own—this is because native species in the underground palace cannot leave the underground palace too far, otherwise they will be refreshed by the refresh mechanism."

Ding Zhensi reacted. At this moment, the Kui Cow mecha still carried the compressed remains of the shadow beast on its back, with no sign of dissipating.

Li Ang said calmly, "If the shadow beast were a native species of the underground palace, its corpse should have disappeared long ago."

Ding Zhensi's eyes lit up. "The shadow beast is pieced together from corpses and limbs. It's not a native species of the underground palace. Instead, it belongs to… In other words, it was created by someone and deliberately placed in the guardian village?

Destroying the guardian village and stealing the Holy Mountain gate bricks

is not based on the shadow beast's own will,

but on the plan of the person who created it."

"Yes, and no."

Li Ang chuckled and said, "Let's put aside the specific identity of the shadow beast for now.

Another question lies in the statues you saw after you teleported to the interior of the Holy Mountain through the light circle portal.

In your description, the statues of Theresa and others appeared twice.

Once in the middle of all the statues, with everyone in the team.

The other time in front of all the statues, but with one person missing from the team, namely Ken, the melee warrior wearing blue armor."

"Those statues should be commemorating the brave adventurers who completed the trial, right?"

Hohenheim interjected, "I saw in the photo that the statues in that room were consistent in style with the statues commemorating brave adventurers with outstanding achievements that we saw in the village before."

"Most likely."

Li Ang nodded and said, "It's a pity that Theresa's diary and Solomon's experimental log did not describe the specific personnel in the two trials.

They only said that they wanted to leave the seriously injured Ken at the foot of the mountain, but the latter objected.

And that in the end, it was Finn who left the sanctuary, closed the Holy Mountain trial, and left the others inside the Holy Mountain."

"Wait a minute,"

Amberley said in confusion, "If it was Finn, the necromancer from the brave team, who closed the Holy Mountain trial,

then the shadow beast is him?

Or a creature he created?

After all, necromancers are good at manipulating corpses, and that shadow beast is made up of the remains of corpses."

"Heh,"

Li Ang smiled and continued, "This leads to the third question.

The reason why Theresa and others are here."

"Eh? Isn't it to carry out the Holy Mountain trial, get a wish opportunity, and answer Theresa's questions about the goddess?"

Ding Zhensi was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted. Obviously, Li Ang's question was not so simple. "Wait, are you talking about the reason why they returned to the Holy Mountain a second time?"

"That's right."

Li Ang nodded and said, "If it was just to answer questions, then they should have realized their wish after completing the Holy Mountain trial for the first time.

There is no need to return a second time—even with their strength, completing all the challenges would result in casualties."

Upon hearing this, Hohenheim narrowed his eyes slightly. "Their return to the Holy Mountain means that their request was not completely satisfied..."

"Correct."

Li Ang said calmly, "Considering that these people are willing to offend a powerful church to save a mere nun, and are willing to be wanted all over the world,

they probably don't care about worldly wealth.

We can rule out the possibility that they were hired by someone to explore the dangerous place again.

In that case, there are only a few possibilities left.

They made a major mistake in the first Holy Mountain trial and wasted a wish opportunity.

For example, in front of the wishing machine, they accidentally said something like 'I want the little sister's panties' out of their innermost thoughts."

???

Who would accidentally say such a thing in a place where they can freely make wishes? Do you think this is *Dragon Ball*?

Ding Zhensi almost blurted out his complaints.

As if sensing his intention, Li Ang smiled and said, "Considering that Theresa and others have been wanted by the church for many years and nothing happened, they shouldn't make such a low-level mistake.

The second possibility is that the wish they made in the first Holy Mountain trial did not meet their expected requirements.

Theresa's description in the diary shows that her wish was to learn the truth about the goddess's dream, and the others were all willing to help her realize this wish.

If Theresa and others realized their wish after the first trial and obtained the truth,

then they should have returned to the mainland world where the church was located, announced the truth, and cleared Theresa's name.

But you have all seen that they returned to the Holy Mountain again after a year.

Either they only got half of the answer at the time,

or the answer they got was too shocking, and even if they told the church or publicized it, it would not be recognized and would instead cause panic—so they had to return to the Holy Mountain to find a solution."

David frowned and said slowly, "Getting only half of the answer, this guess should not be very accurate.

If it's just a simple wish, then you only need to say to the wishing machine, 'Tell me the truth about that dream' or 'Let me know the essence of that dream.'

Whether it's making a wish or fulfilling a wish, the channels are single.

It's difficult for the situation where only half of the answer is given to occur."

"That's right, so there is a third possibility."

Li Ang said calmly, "In the first trial, they did not make the wishes that Theresa had planned, but made other wishes."

"Hmm?"

Ding Zhensi widened his eyes. "How is that possible?

We have no information on that at all.

Could it be that they had internal strife?"

"There probably wasn't any internal strife,

but there were many hints."

Li Ang smiled and said, "Actually, when I saw that experimental log in the mage tower before, I found it very strange.

When writing the experimental log, Solomon and Theresa had already been stranded in the inner area of ​​the Holy Mountain and had no hope of escape.

So why continue the experiment? And why is the content of the experiment so strange?"

Corpse mutation.

The word popped into Ding Zhensi's mind.

The word appeared repeatedly in Solomon's experimental log, and it also mentioned that he used the last experimental materials to create two corpse mutation creatures—judging from the previous encounters, it was probably those two arm aggregates.

"The strength of the arm aggregates is relatively low compared to the players and brave adventurers. They can't destroy the heavens and earth, nor can they help them escape from their predicament.

The only advantage is probably that because their strength is too weak, there is no magic power in their bodies, so they will not trigger the Holy Mountain's unique mechanism of absorbing magic power."

Li Ang stepped on the invisible steps and said casually, "If the corpse mutation creatures looked human, pure and cute, or capable of being a comforting presence, that would be one thing. They could act as a companion in a lonely environment.

But judging from their appearance, Solomon and Theresa had no intention of making them look better at all.

No matter from which perspective, they had no reason to waste time and energy to create trash.

Unless, their original purpose was not to create arm aggregates, but to gain experience in corpse mutation."

Ding Zhensi was stunned. The vague thought in his mind suddenly became clear at this moment. "Shadow beast?!"

"Correct."

Li Ang smiled and said, "The shadow beast and the arm aggregates have similar manufacturing principles, but the latter's production process is obviously much cruder than the former's.

In the experimental log, Solomon claimed to be the man in the world closest to the forbidden realm of creating creatures, and he was already trapped inside the Holy Mountain at the time.

This means that the shadow beast was not his work, nor was it the work of the necromancer Finn.

Then, what would be above the person closest to the realm of gods?"

Amberley belatedly drew out his voice, "Are you saying..."

"Above the closeness to gods, I'm afraid there are only gods."

Li Ang said calmly, "The shadow beast is a creation of the gods."

Gods...

The other players were silent for a moment.

They were all advanced players, and they were not so unfamiliar with gods.

But even gods are divided into levels.

There are fake gods who have eaten a devil fruit, rule over a few villages, and dare to call themselves gods just by casting lightning from time to time,

and there are also true gods who can really move mountains and fill seas, create worlds, and have countless believers.

The difference between the upper and lower limits

is even greater than that between newbies and the top tier players in the killing game.

Judging from the worldview of this script mission,

a god who can fulfill wishes at will and set up a low-magic area of ​​unparalleled width will not be weak even at his weakest...

"Wait a minute, if the shadow beast is a creation of the gods, then what's the reason?"

Amberley reacted and asked, "This shadow beast sits on a mountain of corpses and blood, looking evil and bloodthirsty. No matter how you look at it, it has nothing to do with the gods.

What god would be full and go to create it?

And judging from the background of the worldview, it seems that the gods haven't been active in their true form for a long time, otherwise Theresa, as a high-ranking member of the church, wouldn't have been forced to defect and run all the way to the Holy Mountain to make a wish.

Unless..."

"Unless, the shadow beast was created under the condition of someone making a wish."

Li Ang grinned and said, "Only in this way can it be explained why Theresa and others returned to the Holy Mountain for the second time, and why they were still diligently researching the content of corpse mutation when they were trapped—

After completing the first Holy Mountain trial, they did not ask for an answer to their questions, but asked for something else, which led to the creation of the shadow beast.

In the following year, the mage tower entered a long-term scientific research state, without much combat.

It was not until the second Holy Mountain trial that they asked about the content of Theresa's dream, and because of that late answer, they chose to stay inside the Holy Mountain."

"This..."

Ding Zhensi chewed on Li Ang's statement. Li Risheng said that "the brave adventurer team asked for something else, which led to the creation of the shadow beast,"

instead of "the brave adventurer team asked to create the shadow beast."

These two descriptions seem similar, but there is actually a fundamental difference—the shadow beast is not the essential purpose. The brave adventurer team has no reason to ask for a demonic pet.

Li Risheng meant that the shadow beast was an accidental product of wishing.

The real wishing content of the brave adventurer team should be...

"What they originally wanted was to resurrect someone from the team..."

Li Ang stepped on the invisible steps, and his figure lightly jumped out of the narrow tunnel, arriving in a hall.

This was a sacred and magnificent hall, shaped like an ancient Roman amphitheater. Everywhere you looked, you could see imposing and vast arches, and long-burning candles piled together, swaying uncertainly.

The stone ground in the middle was slightly recessed, forming one circular ring after another nested inside each other. In the middle of all the circular rings, a long sword burning with flames was inserted.

Next to the long sword, a knight wearing full red armor sat there. He sat quietly on the stone steps, his face covered by the armor, and his body was covered in thick dust.

And in the arch behind the knight, a gray mist gate was filled.

"...For example, this buddy we see now, the leader of the brave adventurer team—Lamont's brother."

Li Ang landed on the ground, patted the non-existent dust off his body, and faintly added the second half of the sentence.