Chapter 74: The Truth Emerges
A super-large teleportation array had only appeared once in history, during the fall of the Dwarf Kingdom.
But now, it appeared again.
And the users became the Skywing Clan, which made it hard not to draw connections. The parallels were too precise to be a coincidence.
"It's hard to say, there's too little information right now," Norn shook his head, though his voice carried unease.
This suggestion was too frightening; he didn't know how to answer. The implications gnawed at his thoughts.
Kurtz didn't immediately agree with Serie's conjecture, but instead used levitation magic to fly into the air. The spell felt sluggish after their magical exhaustion, requiring twice the effort for half the result.
The entire Dwarf Ruins had now been reduced to ashes, leaving only an incredibly giant deep pit, and all the remaining monsters, as well as numerous treasures, were gone. The crater still radiated heat waves that distorted the air above it.
"This is the strongest magic technique on the entire continent, the Skywing Clan's God Strike."
Serie had arrived beside him at some point, looking at everything before them as she spoke. Her golden hair whipped around her face in the superheated wind rising from the devastation below.
Kurtz and Serie landed in the centre of the ruins, and the others followed. Their footsteps crunched on glass formed from sand melted by divine fire.
Eric kicked a piece of rubble at his feet and said dejectedly, "It's over, everything's gone now..."
The fragment crumbled to ash at his touch, still warm from the attack.
Aside from the few magic books everyone carried with them, everything in the treasury was gone. Although these weren't his, Eric still felt a sense of heartache as he watched centuries of accumulated knowledge reduced to nothing.
These were the most precious treasures on the entire continent, and now they were all gone.
These people from the Skywing Clan must be crazy bastards!
"These bastards, how dare they treat our ancestral land like this!"
Somo trembled with anger, his hands clenched so tightly around his battle-axe that his knuckles had gone white.
For all Dwarves, the First Dwarf Kingdom was the ancestral land of all Dwarves. This wasn't just destruction; it was desecration of everything his people held sacred.
Every Dwarf dreamed of reclaiming their ancestral land and restoring the former glory of the Dwarf Kingdom, even if countless monster armies occupied the ancestral land.
But now, that hope was completely gone!
"No, there's still something!" Kurtz's gaze locked onto a particular spot in the ruins, hope flickering in his chest, "The power of the Orger, Sword of Divine Authority, can withstand God Strike, so the stone slab it was placed on very likely survived as well."
In fact, his and Serie's power alone could not resist God Strike, even with the stored magic power from el's light.
Just as the two of them were about to be unable to resist, the Orger, Sword of Divine Authority, also unleashed its magic power, reinforcing their magic barrier.
With the power of the twin holy swords, everyone barely survived the God Strike.
Moreover, in Kurtz's opinion, the Holy Relic Stone Slab should theoretically not be so easily destroyed; it must still exist within these ruins.
It should be buried under layers of rubble.
So, everyone began to search carefully through the ruins. The work was painstaking, their hands growing raw from moving superheated debris.
Serie quickly discovered the unique magic fluctuations of the Holy Relic Stone Slab: "It's here."
The relief she felt even surprised her.
Everyone gathered around, pushing aside the thick rubble, and finally found the stone slab beneath. Steam rose from the rocks as they worked, the residual heat making their skin flush.
Although its surface was covered in cracks, its overall structure remained intact.
Even more surprisingly, under the attack of God Strike, a crack appeared in the centre of the stone slab, revealing a faintly glowing object inside.
"This is..." Norn carefully pushed aside the rubble and took out a palm-sized, bright red Holy Relic Stone Slab from within.
The artefact felt warm to the touch, almost alive in his hands.
Ancient runes covered the Holy Relic Stone Slab, and it was very light to hold, forming a stark contrast with the previously heavy stone slab. The symbols seemed to shift and dance in his peripheral vision.
"So that's it!" Serie finally understood, her eyes widening with recognition, "Sure enough, this is the true Holy Relic Stone Slab, the outer stone slab was just a disguise!"
She and Kurtz had originally considered whether to cut open the stone slab to see if the Holy Relic Stone Slab was hidden inside.
But they were afraid that cutting it open would cause magic leakage, so they had been hesitant.
Finally, just when they had made up their minds to cut open this stone slab, the Skywing Clan's God Strike arrived.
But the result was good.
By chance, they discovered the true Holy Relic Stone Slab.
Kurtz took the Holy Relic Stone Slab and felt the immense magic power it contained: "The Dwarves should have carefully crafted this stone slab to guide out the Holy Relic Stone Slab's magic power to the greatest extent, which is why it misled us into thinking the previous stone slab was the Holy Relic Stone Slab itself."
The magic pulsed against his palms like contained energy.
Just then, the stone slab, which had lost the magical support of the Holy Relic Stone Slab, completely shattered into countless small stones, and a special animal hide paper caught everyone's attention.
The parchment was yellowed with age but had somehow survived both time and divine fire.
"What is this?" Norn picked up the paper, which was covered in Dwarf script he couldn't understand, his fingers trembling slightly as he handled what felt like a relic from another world, "How could something like this be inside?"
"It should have been hidden in a secret compartment of the stone slab," Serie took the paper, frowning slightly at the complex characters on it. "It's the same type of ancient script as on the stone slab, but also slightly different."
The writing seemed urgent, almost frantic in places.
"Can you decipher it?"
"Yes." This time, Serie's tone was somewhat confident, though her hands shook almost imperceptibly, "This ancient script must have been written in an emergency, so it's not as complex as the one on that stone slab, and not difficult to decipher."
After Serie spent some time understanding the information on it, she slowly began to speak, her voice growing quieter with each word: "Gods turn into true and false due to differences in belief.
The true God is not seen; the false God prevails.
The Dwarves who touched upon a taboo brought forth divine punishment, and everything will be submerged beneath the most loyal Family of those gods.
May future generations who see this transmit it to all Dwarves, and raise the sword of rebellion against the false gods..."
The handwriting became increasingly messy towards the end, and then abruptly stopped.
After Serie finished speaking, everyone remained silent for a long time. The only sound was the wind whistling through the crater, carrying the scent of ash and melted stone.
The information terrified them all.
"This... I'm afraid no one will believe us if we tell them this news!" Norn felt cold sweat despite the lingering heat around them.
The true God has disappeared, and the gods that the Elves and Skywing Clan worship now are actually false!
And this false god even brought down divine punishment because the Dwarves touched a taboo, destroying the First Dwarf Kingdom.
This news was truly too sensational. It would shatter the foundations of civilization itself.
"Aren't the most loyal Family of the gods the Skywing Clan? Could it be that the Skywing Clan destroyed the First Dwarf Kingdom?" Eric found it hard to believe, his voice barely above a whisper.
"No!" Somo denied his statement with fierce intensity, "My old man was one of the survivors of that disaster; it was the monster army that destroyed the Dwarf Kingdom at that time, that's an undeniable fact."
His voice carried the weight of inherited trauma, stories passed down through generations of pain.
"Is there a possibility?" Kurtz offered his conjecture, dread settling in his stomach, "This so-called false god, its Family are monsters, or rather, demons?"
Everyone was startled by Kurtz's conjecture. Eric's face went pale, Norn stepped back instinctively, and even Serie cast an incredulous look, her golden eyes wide with horror.
If this were true, then what about the war in the Elf Forest now?
The Skywing Clan and the Elf army, who worship the false god, are fighting to the death with the false god's Family.
What was the meaning of such a war?
"Impossible! If that were truly the case, then why would the gods have allowed the three races to unite and purge the monsters from this world back then?" Serie shook her head vigorously, denial sharp in her voice.
Serie wanted to kill a god, that was true, but she absolutely could not accept being manipulated by a god! The thought made her stomach turn with revulsion.
"No! She did this on purpose." Kurtz's expression was bleak, his face draining of colour as understanding struck him.
Now he understood. That bad premonition lingered in his heart.
Maybe this was the truth about the future extinction of the Elves.
__________________
Check out more than 30+ chapters right now! 🔥
👉 patreon.com/Mr UmU
https://www.patreon.com/Mr_UmU
__________________