The inner wall of the passage was quite smooth, with no seams, making it extrely difficult for ordinary people to climb.
Fortunately, each player present had their own thod. Li Ang climbed up using invisible stairs, Ding Zhensi activated the jet propulsion system of the Kui Ox cha, and David jumped back and forth on the wall,
as everyone made their way as smoothly as if they were walking on flat ground.
Carrying large bags of Ding Zhensi coughed, "Cough cough, um, Brother Li, do you happen to know the plot of this mission?"
Li Ang glanced down at the flying Kui Ox cha and said casually, "I wouldn't say I know, just that I have an uncertain speculation."
"Speculation?"
Ding Zhensi's heart was moved upon hearing this, as he recalled Xing Hechou saying that many of Li Rising's words should be heard in reverse.
When he said "I know a little," it ant "I understand very well,"
when he said "I'm not sure," it ant "I'm ninety-nine percent certain,"
when he said "I have a guess/assumption/idea," it ant "No way, I've already guessed the correct answer and you guys haven't figured it out yet?"
Ding Zhensi took a breath, "Please explain in detail."
The others didn't make a sound, but all eyes were on Li Ang.
"This has to be talked about from the ti at the Underground Palace."
Li Ang cleared his throat and said, "Rember what we encountered after entering the Underground Palace? We saw murals, slled blood, continued forward, encountered the Shadow Monster, and everyone got separated,
then you, , plus Miss Liu, killed it and then reunited with the others to leave the Underground Palace.
During this process, there was a particularly obvious problem.
Ding Zhensi subconsciously asked, "What problem?"
"The identity of the Shadow Monster."
Li Ang said flatly, "According to the Guardian Village chief's narrative, the Shadow Monster appeared suddenly fifty years ago, without any warning.
And the underground labyrinth, as part of the Sacred Mountain trials, follows a pattern - the monsters inside usually stay in the Underground Palace, waiting for heroes to co and fight,
and won't randomly run to the surface causing disturbances.
Moreover, the types of monsters refreshed by the Underground Palace are also limited and follow a pattern.
The corpse mountain that the Shadow Monster sat on at that ti, the most nurous remains ca from common monster types in fantasy works, such as the two-headed Ogre, Jackalman, Giant Creature and so on.
This raises a key question - who is the Shadow Monster.
It's most likely not an indigenous species of the Underground Palace,
for three reasons,
it can run to the surface uncontrollably;
it doesn't belong to the common species list;
and it's not bound by the refresh rules of the Underground Palace;
Li Ang paused and said, "Theresa's diary ntions that on July 12th, 1035 of the Goddess Calendar, they settled in the village, planning to explore the Underground Palace the next day.
By July 16th, they had already stayed in the village for three days,
which ans they conquered three Underground Palaces in one day.
The reason for working so hard was because the Necromancer in the Hero Team, a being nad Finn, had been bitten on the chest by a grotesquely shaped Magical Beast, poisoning him.
The Hero Team wanted to track that Magical Beast, kill it, and bring it back to the village for the villagers to identify,
but before reaching the village, the corpse of that Magical Beast disappeared on its own - that's because indigenous species of the Underground Palace can't wander too far from it, otherwise they are refreshed by the chanism."
Ding Zhensi realized, at this mont, the Kui Ox cha still carried the compressed remains of the Shadow Monster, showing no sign of dispersing.
Li Ang said flatly, "If the Shadow Monster was an indigenous species of the Underground Palace, its body would have long disappeared."
Ding Zhensi's eyes lit up. He said, "The Shadow Monster is made from pieced-together corpses and severed limbs, not an indigenous species of the Underground Palace, which ans it was man-made and deliberately placed in the Guardian Village?
Damaging the Guardian Village and taking the Sacred Mountain Gate Stone Brick
is not based on the will of the Shadow Monster itself,
but the plans of the person who created it."
"Yes, and no."
Li Ang chuckled, saying, "Let's temporarily put aside the specific identity of the Shadow Monster.
Another issue is, after you were transported through the Aperture Portal to inside the Sacred Mountain, those statues you saw.
In your description, the statues of Theresa and others appeared twice,
once in the middle of all the statues, where the whole team was present,
and another ti in front of all the statues, but soone was missing from the team, that is, the Close Combat Warrior in Blue Armor, Ken."
"Those statues ought to commorate the heroes who completed the trials, right?"
Hoenhem interjected, "I saw in the photos that the statues in that room matched the style of the hero statues we saw in the village, commorating outstanding achievents."
"Most likely."
Li Ang nodded, "Unfortunately, Theresa's diary and Solomon's experintal log do not describe the specific personnel during the two trials,
except to say that they wanted to leave the severely wounded Ken at the foot of the mountain but he objected,
and eventually, Finn left the Holy Area, closed the Sacred Mountain trial, leaving the others inside the Sacred Mountain."
"Wait,"
Amber questioned, "If Finn, the Dead Forest Mage of the Hero Team, closed the Sacred Mountain trial,
then is the Shadow Monster him? Or a creature he created?
After all, Necromancers specialize in controlling corpses, and the Shadow Monster is made up of severed body parts."
"Haha,"
Li Ang chuckled and continued, "This brings us to the third issue.
The reason Theresa and others are here."
"Eh? Isn't it to undergo the Sacred Mountain trial, gain a wish opportunity, and answer Theresa's questions about the Deity?"
Ding Zhensi paused, quickly realizing, apparently Li Ang was asking about more than surface-level reasons, "Wait, are you saying their reason for returning to the Sacred Mountain a second ti?"
"Exactly."
Li Ang nodded, "If it was just to resolve doubts, then they should have achieved that wish right after completing the Sacred Mountain trial the first ti.
There's no need to return a second ti — even with their strength, completing all the challenges would lead to casualties."
Hoenhem squinted at these words, "Their return to the Sacred Mountain ans their demands were not fully t..."
"Correct."
Li Ang said calmly, "Considering these people were willing to offend a powerful force like The Church to save a re Nun, and happily beca globally wanted,
they're likely not interested in worldly wealth either.
We can rule out possibilities like being hired by soone to brave danger again.
In that case, only a few possibilities remain.
They made a major mistake during the first Sacred Mountain trial, wasting a wish opportunity.
Such as, in front of the Wishing Machine, accidentally voicing thoughts like 'I want Miss Sister's panties'."
???
Who would accidentally say that in a scenario where you can make any wish you want? Do you think this is Dragon Ball?
Ding Zhensi almost voiced his thoughts,
as if sensing his intent, Li Ang smiled, "Considering that Theresa and others have been wanted by The Church for years without consequences, they shouldn't be making such a rookie mistake.
The second possibility is that the wish they made during the first Sacred Mountain trial didn't et their expectations.
Theresa's diary indicates her wish was to uncover the truth behind the goddess's dream, and everyone else wanted to help her achieve it.
If Theresa and her group had fulfilled their wish and discovered the truth after the first trial,
they should have returned to the world governed by The Church to announce the truth and clear Theresa's unjust charges.
Yet, as you all saw, they returned to the Sacred Mountain a year later,
either they only got half the answer back then,
or the answer they received was so shocking that even revealing it to The Church wouldn't gain acceptance and would instead cause panic—that's why they had to return to the Sacred Mountain to find a solution."
David frowned and slowly said, "Getting only half the answer seems quite inaccurate.
If it was simply wishing, then they could just tell the Wishing Machine 'reveal the truth of that dream' or 'let
know the essence of that dream',
The channel for wishing and fulfilling a wish is singular.
It's unlikely to only half-answer the situation."
"Exactly, which leads to the third possibility."
Li Ang said mildly, "They didn't make the planned wish from Theresa during the first trial but opted for sothing else."
"Hm?"
Ding Zhensi widened his eyes, "How is that possible.
The information we've collected doesn't indicate this at all.
Did they have an internal conflict?"
"Probably not an internal conflict,
but there were many hints that existed."
Li Ang laughed, "Actually, when I read that experint log in the Mage Tower, I found it quite odd.
While writing the log, Solomon and Theresa were already trapped inside the Sacred Mountain, without hope of escape.
So why conduct experints? And why such peculiar experints?"
Corpse Mutant.
The term sprang into Ding Zhensi's mind,
Solomon's experint logs repeatedly ntioned this term, stating he had created two corpse mutant creatures using the last of his experintal materials—from their prior encounter, it was probably those two Arm Aggregations.
"The Arm Aggregation's strength is relatively weak compared to players and the Hero Team; they can't crush the heavens or the earth and can't help them escape the predicant.
The only advantage is probably due to their weakness, they lack Magic Power inside, thus unaffected by the Sacred Mountain's unique Magic Power absorption chanism."
Li Ang casually said while stepping on invisible stairs, "If the corpse mutants looked humanlike, pure and cute, capable of being striking or composed, that would be different, capable of providing comfort in lonely environnts.
However, from their appearance, Solomon and Theresa had no intention of making them attractive.
No matter how you look at it, they had no reason to waste ti and energy creating junk.
Unless their original intention wasn't to create Arm Aggregations but to gain experience in corpse mutants."
Ding Zhensi paused, a fuzzy thought suddenly beca clear in his mind, "Shadow Monster?!"
"Correct."
Li Ang smiled and said, "The creation principle of the Shadow Monster is similar to that of the Arm Aggregation, but the latter's craftsmanship is clearly much cruder than the forr.
In his experint logs, Solomon called himself the world's closest man to forging creatures in the Forbidden God Realm, and he was already trapped inside the Sacred Mountain.
aning, the Shadow Monster wasn't his doing, nor was it Dead Forest Mage Finn's work.
Then, what could be above the closest to God Realm."
Amber drew out his voice in realization, "You're saying...."
"Above the near God realm, there can only be Deity."
Li Ang indifferently said, "The Shadow Monster is a creation of Deity."
Deity....
The other players were silent for a mont,
They were all advanced players, not unfamiliar with deities.
But even deities are ranked.
There are pseudo-gods who ate a Devil Fruit, ruling a few villages, casually casting Thunderbolts, self-proclaiming as gods,
and there are true gods capable of moving mountains, creating worlds, worshipped by many believers,
The disparity is greater,
than the difference between newbies and top-tier players in the battleground gas.
From the worldview of this scenario task,
A Deity capable of granting wishes at whim and setting up a vast low-magic area would be weak nowhere...
"Wait, if the Shadow Monster is a creation by Deity, then why?"
Amber reacted, asking, "The Shadow Monster, sitting amidst a sea of blood and corpses, looked sinister and bloodthirsty, seemingly unrelated to Deities,
Why would a Deity bother creating it?
Moreover, from the worldview background, Deities haven't been active in their true form for a long ti; otherwise, high-level Church figure Theresa wouldn't be forced to defect and travel a long way to the Sacred Mountain to make a wish.
Unless..."
"Unless, the Shadow Monster was created through a human wish."
Li Ang grinned, saying, "Only this way can we explain why Theresa and others returned to the Sacred Mountain for a second ti and why they continued to research corpse mutants despite being trapped—
After the first Sacred Mountain trial, instead of asking for clarity, they wished for sothing different, resulting in the Shadow Monster's creation,
During the following year, the Mage Tower entered a long-term research phase, rarely engaging in combat.
Only the second Sacred Mountain trial did they ask about Theresa's dream and chose to stay inside the Sacred Mountain because of the delayed answer."
"This..."
Ding Zhensi chewed on Li Ang's statent, Li Rising says "The Hero Team wished for different content, resulting in the Shadow Monster,"
rather than "The Hero Team wished to create the Shadow Monster."
These two descriptions look similar but are fundantally different—the Shadow Monster wasn't the primary aim; the Hero Team had no reason to wish for gaining a Demon Pet.
Li Rising ant the Shadow Monster was an unintended result of the wish,
The Hero Team's actual wish was...
"They originally wanted to revive soone within the team..."
Li Ang stepped on invisible stairs, lightly exited the narrow tunnel, arriving in a grand hall.
This was a sacred and magnificent hall, shaped like an ancient Roman coliseum, showcasing grand arches and arranged flickering eternal flas everywhere.
The stone floor in the middle was slightly sunken, forming one nested ring after another, and in the center of all rings stood a Longsword ablaze.
Next to the Longsword, sat a Knight in full Red Armor quietly on the stone steps, covered in thick dust.
Behind the Knight, the arches were filled with a gray Fog Door.
"...For instance, our current acquaintance, the Hero Team's Leader—Lamont's brother."
Li Ang landed on the floor, patted the non-existent dust off himself, and casually completed the last half of his sentence.
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