Chapter 1156: 143. Grace

“Goddess of Light!”

Muen narrowed his eyes, chewing over that familiar title.

In Annabawei, the first time he had heard that title had been from the mouth of the old woman before him.

She had said that the Goddess of Light was the Goddess believed in by the majority, a merciful and kind Goddess.

Muen had originally thought such a deity did indeed exist. But as he went deeper afterward, he gradually began to understand that, as it turned out, in Annabawei, there was only one “Goddess of Night.”

The so-called Goddess of Light was nothing more than a spiritual pillar erected by the residents here after enduring far too long through the endless Long Night. Just like the religions from his previous life, a deity was nothing more than a symbol, nothing more than a sign that gave people spiritual comfort, and did not actually exist.

In this regard, whether it was Marcie’s records or the information he had obtained from Rabuya, all of it could prove that.

Therefore, later, as events progressed, Muen also gradually forgot about this deity who did not exist at all.

But he had not expected...

The so-called Goddess of Light had now truly appeared?

Could it be that the people of Annabawei had chanted about her too much and actually chanted the real Goddess of Light into existence?

That was not right either... The current direction did not resemble some fairy tale where suffering residents prayed day and night, finally moved the deity in the heavens, and obtained a happy life.

“You’ve gone mad too?”

Muen looked Grandma Meg up and down in confusion, suddenly feeling that perhaps this thing was simply mentally abnormal and had run over here to go crazy?

After all, what normal person would run up in front of Miss Dragon and jump around blindly? Hadn’t she finally managed to escape eight hundred years ago?

Did she think she had lived too long and specially ran back to get chopped down again?

...Still not right.

Muen shook his head and tossed this naive idea to the back of his mind.

If she wanted to kill herself, there were far too many methods. There was no need to make it this complicated.

And that earlier chilling feeling of having been guided in secret had not been his imagination. Although verbally, she claimed she was saving Annabawei... this Grandma Meg seemed to very much hope for Miss Dragon’s descent.

Did she want Miss Dragon to descend, then come to “save” Annabawei, thereby displaying the Goddess of Light’s power?

If put that way... did the Goddess of Light truly exist?

“What are you thinking about?”

Grandma Meg seemed to have seen through Muen’s thoughts, and she smiled meaningfully. “Of course the Goddess of Light exists. And unlike this false god, She is a true deity! A deity who dwells high beyond this world and looks down upon the mortal realm!”

Beyond the world?

Looks down upon the mortal realm?

Ha!

“So it really is this result.”

Muen sneered. “I knew it. How could this kind of thing not have those disgusting bastards sticking a hand in it?”

In the end, it was still the direction he least wanted to face.

The newcomer was yet another Evil God believer.

So... which one was it? An old friend, or a new friend?

Those disgusting bastards all liked to put on vests and cause trouble. Just by aura alone, he could not distinguish them...

Pfft.

Muen’s pupils shrank. Before he could continue thinking deeply... a sword edge suddenly stabbed over. In a flash of lightning, it pierced through Grandma Meg’s body.

Pitch-black blood spurted out again.

This sudden change startled Muen. His gaze swept over, and the knight’s figure stood awe-inspiringly there, having appeared behind Grandma Meg at some unknown point.

Muen was hesitating. He was watching.

But someone else clearly could no longer endure it and had charged straight up with fierce force.

The longsword was covered in rust, but it remained sharp, brimming with killing intent.

“Grandma!”

Marcie cried out instinctively and immediately tried to rush out, only for Muen to grab her by the back of the collar and pull her back again.

“Stay put!”

“But...”

“I already said that isn’t your grandma. She’s fake!”

“But!” Marcie bit her lip. Muen sighed and directly knocked her unconscious.

Since another Evil God was involved, and had even taken the appearance of her grandma, it was best not to let too many cracks appear in her heart.

Otherwise, she would become like the one currently before them.

“Liar! You’re the liar!”

Beneath the visor, his eyes were blood-red. The former hero Alan stared fixedly at the old woman, appearing almost insane as he drove the longsword straight into her body, then abruptly twisted it.

“You lied to me!”

“Ah... it’s you.”

Even with her heart crushed to pieces, Grandma Meg’s expression still did not change. She turned her head slightly, the corners of her mouth tugging into a mocking smile.

“After all these years, you are actually still alive?”

“Liar! I remembered everything! Although your appearance is different, I still recognize your aura! Back then, in the Fog Wall, it was you who pointed me in a direction again, and it was you who told me that as long as I killed the great Goddess of Night, Annabawei would welcome light!”

Alan angrily denounced her. “The sacred artifact was given to me by you as well. That was why I turned back that time and chose to raise the banner of rebellion against the great Goddess of Night... But the truth was completely different from what you said. You’re nothing but a liar!”

“I did not lie to you. You only fell a little short back then, did you not? Look, your Goddess of Night is still staying here perfectly well... Ah, she is about to die, but she is dying too late. If she had died a little earlier...”

Grandma Meg said, word by word, “Wouldn’t the great Goddess of Light have been able to descend with Her grace even sooner? All of this is your fault...”

“Shut up!”

Sword radiance blazed.

The furious Alan completely disregarded everything else and chopped again and again at the frail old woman.

Under his fierce offensive, more and more wounds appeared on Grandma Meg’s body... but no matter how many wounds there were, this old woman showed no sign of falling.

Attacks did not work on her.

Or rather, relying solely on the current Alan, there was simply no way to kill her completely.

Unlike those fake tricks from Annabawei before, this one was at least an evil believer on the level of a cult leader. Genuine goods at fair prices, honest to children and elders alike. Forget being killed easily—even if her head fell off, it could probably be kicked around like a ball along the way. A proper monster.

“I remember Marcie saying before that the faith in the Goddess of Light was first spread from Mr. Alan. That was why it spread through the entire Annabawei so quickly.”

Muen temporarily did not intervene. He let Alan wildly hack at Grandma Meg while merely rubbing his chin, suddenly recalling this matter.

Alan was a hero. He was the brave man who saved Annabawei four hundred years ago, and also the First Pioneer.

The deity he believed in would naturally be believed in by many people as well.

Therefore, even in a place like Annabawei, where the circulation of information was extremely poor, the faith in the Goddess of Light had also obtained tremendous spread.

Now, from the words coming from Alan’s mouth, he learned that the Goddess of Light had not been something he had fabricated at the time to establish a spiritual support. Instead, someone had passed this faith on to him.

That person was the current Grandma Meg.

This also explained why Alan would be so furious at this moment.

In other words.

If the “Goddess of Light” truly existed, then She had been coveting Annabawei four hundred years ago?

A full four hundred years. Lurking for four hundred years. Putting aside the purpose for now, just how deep did the tentacles of this “Goddess of Light” reach?

Muen suddenly realized something, and his chest abruptly tightened.

“Not good! The real trouble is on the other side!”

...

...

“You mean... the Black Sun is the existence that can save Annabawei?”

“That’s right! The great Black Sun is the savior. Long live the great Black Sun!”

In a remote village, even though it was nighttime, it was extraordinarily lively.

The villagers took out the fuel they used to survive the endless Long Night and extravagantly lit fires at night. That firelight illuminated a small half of the sky, making even the night they had once feared seem no longer quite so cold.

There were no taboos. No danger. This was only an ordinary night. When the first ray of firelight rose, who knew how many villagers shed tears.

And at this very moment, the Pioneer Hawthorne was standing on a temporarily built platform, speaking eloquently to the villagers below.

“We have always been mistaken about one thing. The great Goddess of Night, in truth, was not deliberately trying to harm us, but was protecting us in another sense. For a certain reason, we could not go to the outside world, and there was even a terrifying existence hunting us.”

“She had always been protecting us, even at the cost of sacrificing her life for us. Unfortunately, in this world that is incomparably cruel to us, sacrificing one’s life alone is of no use. We were still found by that terrifying existence. She is now inside Annabawei, ready at any time to harvest our lives.”

“And at this critical moment, it was the great Black Sun who brought us the hope of survival. He has already made a promise that He will help us stand openly and properly beneath the sunlight. And afterward, we may even leave the Fog Wall and go to an even broader world!”

Hawthorne was also a veteran Pioneer. His title of Steel Wrist was something even a three-year-old child had heard of. Therefore, even though what he was saying now was somewhat hard to believe, the villagers who had been tormented by the long night for their entire lives were still unwilling to give up the hope before their eyes.

After all, not long ago, that warm daylight had indeed arrived.

“In other words, as long as we believe in the great Black Sun, that will be enough?” someone asked.

“It is not belief. It is sacrificial prayer. As long as you pray sincerely to the great Black Sun, the great Black Sun will guide us toward true light.”

“It’s that simple?”

“Yes.”

Hawthorne smiled. “It is that simple. The great Black Sun is a very merciful existence. It is because of His compassion that we possess this chance to live freely under the sunlight.”

“That’s wonderful. Let’s hurry and prepare!”

The villagers appeared very excited. Pioneers were existences they trusted. They would not doubt them. On top of that, prayer was not some difficult matter. If they could obtain light merely by praying, then what was there for them to hesitate about?

Thus, one after another, they followed Hawthorne’s arrangements and began preparing to pray.

Seeing this, Hawthorne also let out a long breath of relief. When he had first started tricking... no, preaching, he had also been uncertain in his heart. After all, suddenly asking people to pray to a strange existence—whoever it was, they would inevitably develop wariness.

Fortunately, the fighting and pioneering from a hundred years ago had not been entirely useless.

“Then please quiet your minds and concentrate. In a moment, recite after me.”

Hawthorne made the gesture of prayer. As his consciousness connected, he had already felt the night tremble.

Next, as long as they completed the prayer, they could...

“Wait!”

Unfortunately, in the end, an untimely voice rang out.

Hawthorne opened his eyes and looked over with a frown. He discovered it was a woman standing at the very front of the crowd, glaring angrily at him.

“May I ask who you...”

“Liar!”

“Hm? What did you say?”

“You’re nothing but a liar!”

The woman shouted loudly, “What great Black Sun? How can you make everyone believe in that kind of evil thing?”

“...Please take back your words.”

Hawthorne’s expression grew stern. “The great Black Sun is absolutely not...”

“He is a liar! You are deceiving us! The so-called Black Sun is completely an evil thing!”

The woman turned around and faced the crowd. “Everyone, have you forgotten? Who is the deity we truly believe in? Is it that Goddess of Night who brought us suffering? No! Is it this strange Black Sun who suddenly appeared out of nowhere? Also no!

“The one we truly believe in... is the Goddess of Light!

“That’s right. The merciful and kind Goddess of Light is the existence we should believe in! Not this so-called great Black Sun!”

“Nonsense!”

Hawthorne was furious beyond endurance. “The Goddess of Light is false. She does not exist at all!”

“Who says She doesn’t exist? She exists! Not long ago, when light descended upon Annabawei, I felt Her!” The woman’s face carried fanaticism as she raised her head and looked up at the empty sky.

“I have already sensed the existence of the Goddess of Light. She told me that the night is evil, and the Black Sun is also evil. They are birds of a feather. Only light... only light can bring us salvation!”

“Wild ravings. Complete nonsense! You... you!”

Hawthorne was already so angry smoke might as well have been coming out of all seven apertures. What bullshit Goddess of Light? When they were experiencing the endless Long Night, the Goddess of Light was nowhere to be seen. When they were fighting bloody battles against the Goddess of Night, the Goddess of Light was nowhere to be seen.

When they discovered the truth of their own existence, and that monster lady from the outside was going to destroy them, the Goddess of Light was still nowhere to be seen.

And now? Now that they had found a way toward the light, now that they could finally break free of a curse that had lasted several hundred years, and for this, the great Black Sun... Mr. Muen had paid so much, this so-called Goddess of Light just happened to pop out at this moment to pick the peaches?

Shameless bitch!

Hawthorne wished he could directly draw his sword and stab this stupid woman to death.

But... before he had time to make a move, he saw true light suddenly surge out from the woman’s body!

“What... what is going on?” He was startled. The Goddess of Light was actually fucking real?

“See? Did you see?”

Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, the woman laughed loudly, allowing herself to be swallowed by the light. “The great Goddess of Light exists! This is the grace from the great Goddess of Light!”