Bogomir was finally stunned.
He hadn't actually considered this question. After all, the entire Sofia Order was more concerned with the soul than the body. The other Order experts in the sanctuary were equally astonished upon hearing this.
As for the working class in the shelter, they couldn't understand what Hayden was saying, but they could at least tell that the atmosphere of the conversation was changing. They could vaguely sense that Hayden was gradually taking control of the situation. This feeling slowly brought them a sense of security.
Bogomir quickly realized what was happening and hurriedly said, "Prophet, please give us guidance."
We don't need to create a new ritual. We only need to use the resources we have to achieve the intended effect of this ritual and to revisit history.
Hayden's deep yet powerful voice echoed through the shelter.
I cannot do this alone. Every effort, from academics to workers, must be put to good use. Some may lose their lives, but many more, and those you love, will survive.
I ask the men of this world:
Life and death are predetermined.
Rather than die in fear,
What death is more noble?
226: Supreme Wisdom
The battle continues atop the tower of Fallen City.
However, Astaroth was already showing signs of losing ground.
The material earth of the fallen angels of life
Sea of Souls of the Dead Infant God
The immense power from two different realms was poured into the two gods and demons, catalyzing the dazzling brilliance of stars and the profound darkness that devours all things.
Without magic or complicated techniques, the aftershocks of the two opposing, magnificent forces attacking each other shattered roads, destroyed buildings, and burned the corpses scattered throughout the city.
However, this battle could not last forever. The clash of their strongest forces lasted for less than an hour before Astaroth was utterly routed by the Death Child.
Because Astaroth started to run out of money.
She's currently just a bankrupt devil with severely limited resources. A short fight is fine, but if a fierce battle continues at high intensity, she'll quickly explode like a small or medium-sized enterprise running out of cash.
It has been said that the old gods, in essence, only knew how to use their own money, and their ways of doing things had not truly broken free from the mindset of feudal landlords; the new gods, however, knew how to use other people's money, which inevitably made them stronger than the old gods. There is indeed some truth to this.
Although Astaroth had learned some capitalist tricks, she was now just a bankrupt devil and would soon be unable to cope.
In contrast, each strike from the stillborn goddess contained far greater and fiercer power, relentlessly bombarding and pressing forward; the [Heavenly Punishment Sword]'s offensive was impenetrable. The greatsword of death tore through Astaroth's beautiful clothes, leaving crack after crack on them. Each time the blade sliced through Astaroth's body, her exquisite jewelry would shatter, and she would emit a heart-wrenching scream in the air.
Astaroth swung her golden sword fiercely in retaliation, trying to break free from the terrifying killing power of the stillborn goddess, but she was clearly struggling—her speed in reassembling her clothes and jewelry with funds was beginning to fall behind. These artifacts were symbols of her divine power, indicating that her injuries had become serious.
Die! ...
At that moment, she had no choice but to scream in humiliation, "Hecate! Help me!"
Abigail Hecate, of course, had to find a way to save her, since they were all now in the same boat. But how could she possibly save her? Her current power was even weaker than Aiastaro's!
Fortunately, at that moment, Hayden's voice finally rang in Abigail's mind: "Abigail, how are things going on your end?"
This time he used private messaging.
【Not good at all!】
Abigail quickly replied using telepathy as well.
I doubt Astaroth can last more than ten minutes!
"Not even ten minutes?" Hayden replied immediately. "That's not enough. You need to make sure she can last at least another half hour."
This request nearly made Abigail faint: [What the hell?! How can I possibly make her last another half hour?!]
As she spoke, a sudden thought struck her. She knew Hayden was always quick-witted and resourceful; could it be that he had once again discovered the stillborn fetus's weakness in a moment of crisis and found a way to subdue it? But even if he had subdued it, it wouldn't be enough to turn the tide against overwhelming power. What wisdom did Hayden possess that could overcome it?
Hayden's next sentence completely baffled her:
Of course, it's done by sending money.
……ah?
what? !
Even the goddess of demons couldn't have predicted that Hayden's wisdom lay in making money!
[Astaroth is a type of Earth Mother in terms of attributes, which actually gives her a slight advantage against this stillborn child. The reason she can't win now is simply because she's bankrupt and lacks power. If we lend her 100 million, interest-free, she could at least fight this stillborn child for another half an hour, right?]
Hayden shrugged.
"You're in a similar situation. You're Hecate now, the ancient goddess of the underworld. I'll give you a hundred million; even if you can't subdue it, at least you won't be killed for now, right?"
Abigail was shocked.
Of course, if I only give you cash, there will be losses in converting it into actual combat power, and it will take time. So I'll transfer all the money in my account to you first, and you can decide what to do with it.
You decide what to do!
Transfer all your money to me and then let me do what I want?
Abigail was at a loss for words.
However, Hayden now saw this as a perfectly reasonable approach. A truly wise person doesn't try to do everything themselves. Since Hayden had given her all the money, he trusted Abigail would find a good way to use it.
Besides, Astaroth is actually a very powerful female warrior. Although she's a bit foolish, her combat prowess, if carefully considered, ranks among the top of the fallen angels. Hayden has absolutely no need to command her.
I will then convert other resources into energy that you can immediately digest and utilize. Combined, this will give you some time. Of course, if you really can't hold on any longer, then retreat. I will handle the final part.
Abigail wasn't stupid; she immediately sensed something was off about those words: "What are you up to now? And where are you anyway?"
[Good question]
Hayden finally smiled at this point.
Could you please suppress those lush branches at the top? I need to cut the roots underground.
After saying that, he ended his telepathic communication with Abigail and then quickly transferred all his cash to her on the StarNet.
Astaroth is merely bankrupt; once Abigail lends her the money, her fighting strength can be replenished immediately. That said, although Hayden has earned a considerable amount of money in the past two years, he cannot possibly redeem an entire god's fortune. His current amount is insufficient to defeat the stillborn god.
So as soon as he finished transferring the money online, Hayden immediately turned around and looked back at the environment where his physical store was located.
As he said, Hayden was now beneath the Dead Sea. Not the Dead Sea bottom ruins they had already explored and which had been destroyed by the stillborn child god, but rather a subterranean cave on the seabed.
It was called a cave, but once inside, it was clear it was more like a fissure in the earth—narrow, rugged, and fraught with danger. Hayden led Angela forward, groping their way through the dim, narrow crevice, carefully avoiding the clusters of sharp crystal shards. Strange flames danced within the crystal walls. In the firelight, their shadows shifted and flickered on the rock face, appearing exceptionally eerie.
This place is at the very bottom of the Dead Sea crater. After Hayden was resurrected, he and Angela searched the seabed from east to west and finally discovered this location, finding a crack at the deepest part of the seabed.
The air here was thick with a putrid stench and a pungent, sulfurous smell that no normal person would want to enter. Hayden quickly noticed that the surrounding crystal walls were also covered with tubes pulsating with a thick, black liquid. These tubes, like the veins of the rock face, trembled slightly, filled with putrid pus and mixed with diseased, foul blood.
Clearly, this might not be a natural cave fissure, but it also didn't seem to have been carved out by human hands. Hayden poked the rock wall, feeling that the fissure was more like... the trace left behind by something crawling out from underground and forcing its way out of the fissure.
"Since ancient times, the earth, or rather the underground, has been inextricably linked to the underworld in mythology. To enter the underworld, one must go down; to leave the underworld, one must go up."
So Hayden tapped on these marks and began to speak.
"If we follow this crack down, can we really reach the underworld?"
Angela shook her head: "Of course not. But what you are looking for now is not the real Netherworld. The stillborn child of that fallen angel is not a real ghost either."
"Well said, but if that's the case, then what are these things?"
Hayden closed his eyes, consciously focused his attention, stripped himself of his thoughts, and entered a dreamlike, trance-like state.
The next instant, something in the depths of his consciousness switched over like a switch.
When Hayden reopened his eyes, his gaze was as bright as a star.
This is not a metaphor. His eyes now truly shone with the light of a sky full of stars, allowing him to see a hellish scene in the deepest part of the fissure in the earth.
Deep within that crack, there was someone.
Thousands upon thousands of humanoid figures were firmly bound to the rock walls and ceiling of the fissure cave by black pus. Their bodies were covered with the marks of scorching and aging, their skin riddled with pustules and burns. Their eyes were covered by a white film, staring blankly ahead. Their teeth were long since rotten, their mouths blackened and ulcerated, their outstretched fingers like withered twigs. They opened their mouths as if to howl, but could only utter weak moans.
They looked like living people, but Hayden could tell they were actually dead. These were a group of dead things that still existed and were still in a state of suffering.
As Hayden and Angela walked over, the cursed beings trapped underground turned their withered faces and uttered cries of pleas.
"Ouch...it hurts..."
"No, I don't want to die... Save me!"
"Help... I want to live... I want to live..."
Some of the dead even reached out and waved at Hayden and Angela, as if trying to grab them. The rest could only desperately wave their severed limbs.
If this isn't the underworld, then what on earth are these things?
What do you think is going on with these people?
Hayden kept his distance, watching the poor, trapped dead, and frowned as he asked.
“I don’t think they are real souls.” Angela shook her head, her eyes filled with pity as she looked at the pitiful shadows. “They are just shadows left here from long ago.”
This answer is similar to Hayden's.
These are memories, and not memories etched into a person's brain.
Angela once said that nothing that has ever existed truly disappears. On the level of space and time, things from the past will always exist. To put it more romantically, one could say that the universe itself remembers everything that has ever existed.
Time and space will never forget. Even if the body or even the soul is obliterated, the universe will leave its mark.
Hayden couldn't see these shadows before, but now he understands the principle. Just as different people have different perspectives, the same world can appear differently. With his newfound wisdom, Hayden can see things differently than before.
He can now see life as recorded by the universe, even the causal relationships between lives, and the essence of the world that connects people—at least a part of it.
If the high-ranking Bodhisattvas and wrathful deities of the Mithra Group knew of Hayden's current abilities, they would likely be astonished. To know the past karma of all beings and the origins of their present or future karmic retribution—even if only at a half-baked level—is already akin to having one foot in the realm of divinity.
"These shadows of the dead must be those who were destroyed from body to soul when Sodom was destroyed by the Fallen Angel of Light using the [Divine Punishment Sword] five thousand years ago. For five thousand years, their continuous wails and suffering, as well as the blood and power shed in the battle between the two fallen angels, have been intertwined and mixed here. It is hard to say whether it is fermentation, decay, or brewing."
That being said, if it were only the shadow of the dead and the blood of fallen angels, even if it were to decay and ferment, it wouldn't produce such a terrifying demon. If it only had these two elements, this stillborn child of the fallen angel would ultimately remain a stillborn child, just as its name suggests, merely an invisible, unborn being, something that never existed.
What became its physical form? What force ignited the spark of its dark life, allowing it to appear in this world?
Hayden looked at the black "vessels" on the cave wall, seeing through the filthy stuff inside, like pus being squeezed out, and couldn't help but sigh.
It's the same kind of pollution, just not as intensely foul. It used to float in the skies and on the rooftops of New Jersey all the time. Hayden had seen the same thing in storms when he went to the wilderness to find dragons. This black pus is all pollutants produced by industrial arcane magic. The Dead Sea, as a closed inland lake, is prone to accumulating external pollution.
Just as resources can be found in garbage, these highly toxic pollutants are actually quite powerful. Previously in the wilderness, the great demon Pazuzu could have absorbed the power of these pollutants, but in its normal state, it didn't dare.
This is the danger of the industrial arcane pollution accumulated over centuries. And it, along with the dead land and sea, ultimately gave birth to that stillborn, unborn body. The shadow of the dead is its soul, and the blood shed by the two fallen angels is its blood.
This stillborn deity, upon closer examination, should probably be considered a monstrous, corrupted natural spirit born from the Dead Sea environment. More than a fallen angel, it is more like a corrupted earth god, and a very powerful one at that.
It is a torment mixed with the pain of the dead, born from the land of the Dead Sea, a god of the earth that brings destruction and death.
Such an evil god, if it were never born and remained forever dormant underground, never to wreak havoc, would be fine. However, two coincidences became the catalyst for its awakening. On one hand, the nameless Dark Moon tampered with things when she died; but the other reason lay in the grand engineering ritual that reversed time at the bottom of the Dead Sea.
Do you remember what incantation Hayden chanted during the ceremony?
He was chanting: "The ancient spirit of the land, the sky, and the sea."
"I call to you now, for the full moon has risen."
“Traverse to the distant past, awaken before the birth of time!”
...He never expected that the natural spirit of this land and sea would be a stitched monster of fallen angel blood polluted by industry, nor did he expect that the effect of reversing time would ignite an explosive spark like a flint.
Now that the connections between these causes and effects are visible, Hayden feels a heavy weight on his heart. The manifestation of the stillborn god was due to a variety of reasons and a series of coincidences. But Hayden undoubtedly bears some responsibility. He failed to consider the consequences when wielding the power of great engineering. Just like other capitalist gods who, when using such immense power, did not pay attention to issues such as environmental pollution.
Although the possibility is slim, if such industrially polluted natural monsters were to emerge all over the world, the ordinary people living on Earth would probably perish, and only the superior beings who migrated to the universe would be able to survive.
But there are priorities; let's solve the immediate problem first.
Hayden must first replenish Abigail and Astaroth's energy so they can suppress the stillborn goddess, allowing the workers and experts to proceed with the ritual, and then Hayden can end this karmic burden.
What would be the best way to enhance Astaroth's power? Cash would be nice, but it's not the best option; it's only for emergencies. Hayden doesn't have that much cash to fully upgrade Astaroth's power either.
"The most suitable thing to replenish the Earth Mother Goddess is the energy of the ley lines. The only property left of Astaroth is this Dead Sea beneath our feet, but the energy of the ley lines here has been polluted."
Hayden stroked his chin and said,
"Angela, what do you think we can do?"
Ange tilted her head: "You want me to heal the ley lines here with a breath?"
She's done this kind of thing several times before.
But Hayden shook his head: "Not this time. The Dead Sea is too conspicuous. If you bring this whole place back to life, all the capitalists in the world will realize that something is wrong with you. We can't handle that."
"Fortunately, although you are the only one who can instantly heal the ley lines, we have another way to purify the ley line energy, and it is not afraid of being seen by the world."