Soul of Searing Steel

There were quite a number of deities in the realm of Mycroft.

They differ greatly from legends, however. Most of their time was spent in the Infinite Horizon, watching and protecting their Children, never really venturing into the mortal realm on purpose to perform miracles or acquire more followers. That was why other than the Seven, God of the Orcs, King of the Elves, Guardian of the Mermaids and the Deep Sea and several other deities, their names were not known to many, and only the true believers could come into contact with the influence of those deities.

Mycroft deities did not really need to be worshiped, which in turn spared them of the need to spread their own name. That being said, according to some data collected by the players the truth was not so.

The Gods did not need worship, but the reason that they did not interfere with the mundane seems to be the compliance with a pledge—a pledge to allow the continent’s civilization to develop naturally.

If it wasn’t for the Mana Tide or the invasion of the Dark Abyss they would not have interfered much with the choices of the common folk. Obviously, if the situation developed into an impending race extinction the pledge would not have mattered—which in turn was why there were quite a few battles between the gods in history. Additionally, with the aggressive expansion of men and orcs, the fact that other races were forced to either to submit or be vanquished as well as the Dark Abyssal threat, those deities could not stand idly by and watch as the daemons consume their children.

There was a rather fascinating tidbit too. Amongst the Seven Gods worshipped by men, not all of the deities were of human form—the God of Love and Freedom was an elf, the God of Protection was a dwarf. This was one reason as to why elves and dwarves tend to have equal civil rights as humans.

On the other hand, the patron deity of the mermaids was not a mermaid either; it takes the form of a huge, compassionate jellyfish in the mortal realm. The mermaids had been worshiping it since ancient times and in turn, the jellyfish was very protective towards their species.

Regardless, the name God of Fortune and Despair was one that Joshua never came across in his preexistence.

Naturally, there were many possible explanations—some of them were simple, too.

The likeliest of them was that this deity had descended even before Starfall but did not leave much of a legacy. There might have been races that worshipped it but they were wiped out as well, and that was how it was lost in the dust of history.

“Despair, Fortune.”

Joshua found that those two words were quite easy to comprehend; he could easily guess the meaning behind the deity’s name from Moore’s dream alone. “The fortune concealed within despair—the luck of escaping from desperate situations? Quite an odd label.”

Another fact about deities in Mycroft was that their designations tend to come in compound terms. The ones most common were one combining race and a praiseful verb as its core such as ‘The God of War and the Orcs’ along with Father Nature’s full name ‘The God of Nature and the Elves.’

The Seven stood out in this matter. For example, they were named ‘God of Power and Justice’ and ‘God of Love and Hate’ after the fashion of their own logic while also unexpectedly avoiding the title ‘God of men’. That, in turn, made them rather similar to the ‘God of Fortune and Despair’.

––Maybe they are somehow related in prehistoric times?

Who knows.

All those ideas had flashed across Joshua’s mind but were also quickly dismissed. The warrior never knew much about the gods. Even in his preexistence, the players did not touch upon it while he himself focused on challenging the toughest Bosses of each domain, never caring about such trivia in the game’s settings. After all, there were textual researchers who examine such matters or he could simply read the product booklets later, so there was not much need for him to pay more attention to such matters.

“Allowing people to remember their most desperate and luckiest moments, and turn them around?” Joshua uttered softly as he put together a hypothesis of the Divine Dungeon Shroud according to what he knows, furrowing his brow. “If it’s successful it’s fortune; if it’s a failure it’s further despair. Well, that does match the style of Divine Calamity Dungeons and the title of this deity.”

Judging by his performance Moore must have failed—the orc cavalry still pummeled the human troops. Still, it was not an utter failure, just like decades before he was one of the lucky ones to have escaped the massacre. He would soon return to that moment like a loop too, to that time when his fortune and despair intertwined, relieving it over and over again and attempting to change it on each turn. This would go on until he succeeds or when he gets completely trapped into the dream.

Or until the warrior handled the Chest of Erebus.

Joshua became slightly curious when he turned to find Robzek not far off. He wanted to know what test this great knight faced.

Without hesitation, he walked towards the holy knight.

On approach, the warrior could feel a scorching heat wafting towards him from all directions. Holy light with powers of purification was blazing, keeping the body and soul untainted.

It was Robzek’s Sacred Light protection. As a Supreme tier holy knight his protection could easily exorcise gold-tier negative statuses, and even Great Rift counter-spells would not be able to penetrate such level of protection. On the other hand, individuals who possessed the same Sacred Light would not be suppressed and gain extreme status benefits instead. This was the special abilities that [Blessed Knights]—the advanced occupation of holy knights would possess, to gain power from the sacred light, protect comrades, and deal severe damage to the enemy.

Nevertheless, the holy knight still fell under the spell of the Divine Dungeon Shroud for there was no way he could shield himself against a deity’s power.

Underneath the illumination of the Sacred Light Joshua felt a tinge of heat and not much else. Though his charm was negative two-hundred and nine he was menacing but not evil. Furthermore, the Azurite he wore channeled Order power and gave him heightened resistance against the Sacred Light. Along with the two rows of gained status from Saya, Joshua was essentially vaccinated against the Sacred Light in this very moment.

The warrior went before Robzek as silvery flashes orbited the holy knight’s body and boiled the black shroud around him. Like Moore, he stood upright though he was in a dreamland—a hearty middle-aged man who stood solemnly with a posture of vigilance before being caught.

It appeared that the dreamland did not trouble him as his expression was more relaxed than Moore’s—he might even be able to finish the shroud’s challenge if he had more time. But even if Joshua intended to let him do so the people waiting outside would not agree, which was why the warrior simply walked up and grabbed his belt and collar.

In the process, Robzek’s body was fighting back. The sparks began to seep into the back of Joshua’s hand as if ready to incinerate it. Still, it was nothing to Joshua who used the same move and threw Robzek out of the shroud.

It was as if a little silver sun suddenly appeared on the air above the Avenue of Truth.

The pure and holy illumination shrouded a few streets and caught the attention of evacuating residents and city guards. But it vanished as soon as it appeared, and within seconds it dropped towards the clergies.

After seeing how the old mage had been tossed out and learning their lesson forthwith, the clergymen were prepared and waiting. Under Great Nun Saya’s instructions, several Church knights caught Robzek’s falling body and quickly took him away from the hostile environment. The holy knight’s Sacred Light protection soon dissipated too, allowing the knights to examine his condition.

They made the same diagnosis as with the old mage’s.

“Sister, our commander seemed to have been entrapped into a dream world by that mysterious force!”

Saya was silent for a while after hearing the knight’s response. She had already learned from Moore’s condition that it was not a problem she could handle— there was no effect whatsoever whether she used blessing or exorcism or protective Holy Spells against the power.

Only pure Sacred Light could suppress it a little, but it was not a solution either.

What power was this that was both resistant against magic and holy spells? Saya could guess a few, but did not voice it out amidst the worried faces of the knights so as to not panic them even further.

“… We can only wait.”

Turning towards the flowing shroud and sighing lightly, the Great Nun’s voice seemed to carry a hint of helplessness. “We can only wait for Count Radcliffe to handle this problem… He is protected against the power of this shroud, so he could find the cause of this problem and awaken Commander Robzek.”

She delved into her own thoughts after those words.

When they had met before in the Morlaix Palace, the nun had checked out the background of the warrior and soon found him laden with legendary accomplishments and accolades.

—Facing the Dark Tide alone, closing the dimensional door and destroying the white dragons’ lair all by himself… This noble from the north has so much mystery surrounding him that even the Church has learned of Joshua’s name, and always expressed curiosity towards the source of his power.

And now, the warrior was even resistant against divine power.

The Great Nun sigh once more.

––How curious.