Path of Spirit (Disgardium Book #6): LitRPG Series, Dan Sugralinov [the reader ebook .TXT] 📗

principle did they use to divide them? Why were Fortune of Ancient Rome and Zeus of Ancient Greece considered Old Gods, while the Sumerian Nergal and Marduk were New? And how was it that Nergal was a god of light? For the Sumerians, he had been the ruler of the underworld and god of death and war. Sure, he was supposed to also be the incarnation of the devastating power of the burning sun, but that wasn’t his main feature.

While pondering this, I headed to Kharinza.

The fort upgrade was in full swing, the dwarfs working together skilfully and smoothly. All the buildings and Trixie’s gardens were gone, but Raidohelm the dwarf foreman assured me that nothing had been lost, this was a temporary measure.

The Sleeping God wasn’t in the temple, around which the walls of the future castle were already forming.

“Behemoth! We need to talk!” I shouted.

No answer. I waited at the altar, then decided not to waste any more time and turned to the exit, but then the Sleeping God appeared. His avatar flickered and his voice resounded only in my head:

“Speak quickly, Herald. It takes all my energy to keep the Plague Vector in the cave on Kharinza at bay. You should have cleared it! The Nucleus probes the block unceasingly, aiming to restore its connection.”

I should have, huh..? I thought. You could have given me a quest! Behemoth heard my thoughts and his voice turned mocking:

“Liken yourself not to that mass of the undying who will not lift a finger but for reward and by direction. Think for yourself! And now, tell me, why did you come here?”

“How can I survive on Holdest? The frost kills me. Even with Concentrated Life Essence, I won’t reach the Nucleus.”

“You have some idea…” The Sleeping God’s avatar fully appeared and his furious roar echoed through the temple: “You place your hopes in your balancing artifact, fool? Some Herald the universe has sent me! Little boy!”

“The hell with you!” I snapped. “Some God you are, always just making demands! What do I get in exchange?”

“Do not anger your god…” Behemoth sighed tiredly. “And enough wasting my time and energy. I do not know how to help you on Holdest. But I can tell you who to ask: your friend, the one who loves to play with lines of probability. She knew blind Hodr, Old God of Winter. She may know something. But first, go and destroy the Plague Vector in the cave!”

Without another word, the Sleeping God disappeared.

Fortune, then. I couldn’t go visit the goddess of luck empty-handed, and that meant I had to gather Serendipity. But where..? Blowing up defenseless casuals with Sleeping Vindication in the center of Darant was against my principles, so it was time to visit a castle belonging to someone in the Alliance. Modus, for example. Their main castle, if Crawler’s intel could be believed, was near the Lake District, which I could reach with Depths Teleportation. It would be a short flight from there.

But first I needed to clear the dungeon with the Plague Vector. Good thing it wouldn’t take much time.

Hey folks, anyone want a First Kill in the instance on Kharinza? I wrote to the officer chat. I’ll be waiting at the Sleepers’ temple.

Next I messaged the Yoruba leader: Yemi, how’s it going? Dealt with those ‘hyena cubs’? I’m going to capture Modus’s main castle. You coming?

Pecheneg got a similar message: We’re attacking Hinterleaf’s main castle tonight. You in? I wrote to him directly, without going through Piper.

My ‘people’ gathered almost right away. Trixie joined us in place of busy Gyula.

“He made us bring him,” Irita whispered to me guiltily.

In our usual party, with the addition of Trixie, we saddled our mounts and headed for the Klondike mine, in the bowels of which was the instance we sought. Infect took the lead, cutting a gallant figure on the red bear he got for his birthday.

“Trixie kill!” the level 1 midget shouted, sitting behind Bomber and shaking his fist.

By the time we’d almost reached the portal to the dungeon, Yemi and Pecheneg had both answered me.

The mage told me that he would sooner feed himself to Apophis than turn down a chance to teach a lesson to ‘those arrogant elitists’.

Pecheneg’s answer, on the other hand, was strange: Don’t even think about it! We have to meet right away! At once!

I read his answer out to my friends. Crawler shrugged:

“Well, go see him, find out what’s so urgent. We’ll clear the trash in the meantime.”

Nodding, I activated Depths Teleportation to the Taipan castle, which my status as ‘clan friend’ allowed me to do.

Pecheneg was waiting for me. We greeted each other, then I heard the unmistakable clap of a teleport nearby. I turned, looked, prepared to fight: it was Hinterleaf, making a personal appearance.

“Hello, Scyth,” he said. “I think it’s time you heard the truth.”

 

 

Chapter 9. The Secret of Otto Hinterleaf

IT WAS FINE to be disappointed in people, Uncle Nick used to say. It was worse when you kept talking to them afterwards. With twenty billion people in the world, it made no sense to stick with someone who betrayed you — better to just drop them.

I decided to do exactly that with Pecheneg as soon as I saw Hinterleaf, but the situation was an odd one — I wanted to figure it out. Especially since the Modus leader looked peaceful enough — he wasn’t even trying to approach, just standing where he’d appeared, studying me curiously.

“Wow, Scyth. You’re human again!” he exclaimed. “This isn’t an illusion?”

I wasn’t about to answer. I just cast a measuring glance at him and looked a question at Pecheneg. The huge barbarian in full gear raised his hands in a gesture of calm and said quickly:

“Alex, this isn’t what you think!