This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 494 - 455: The Location of the Heart-stealing Demon

Chapter 494: Chapter 455: The Location of the Heart-stealing Demon

The origin of the Koutao Murloc Goddess has always been subject to various theories.

Some believe that this Koutao Murloc Goddess is indeed one of the primordial deities born in the depths of the sea at the beginning of chaos, and she belongs to one of the most ancient deities.

The greatness of the Koutao Murloc Goddess cannot be overstated, for She possesses ancient magic unknown even to the Magic Goddess, and should be among the most powerful of all gods.

This theory once circulated widely, and Amberser had seen several versions of it.

After all, these were the "self-proclaimed" statements of the Koutao Murloc Goddess, and the speech of deities is something mortals generally cannot disprove but instead take seriously and record as truth.

However, the author of the "Deep Sea Creature Atlas" spent a great deal of time studying various marine lifeforms and reached a completely opposite conclusion. The Kuotuo Murloc race appeared even later than mermaids, and in the myths passed down by other marine races, the great deeds boasted by the Koutao Murloc Goddess simply do not align.

Praising one’s own deity is quite normal, and occasional contradictions are not surprising.

But the contradictions among other deities are different. Most disputes in mythologies revolve around whose stance is wrong, who contributed more or less, and who won and lost.

For example, it’s widely varied in the Mortal Realm how the Orc Main God Gush was blinded in one eye by Elven God-King Corellon. Orcs say it was a sneaky elf attack—Corellon struck with a hidden arrow while they were still chatting and hadn’t even started the fight; Elves say Gush was shot in the face without even seeing Corellon coming.

But no matter how they argue, both Corellon and Gush exist, and no one would claim Gush was never there, nor would anyone think Corellon was hiding at home being an elf.

However, the Koutao Murloc Goddess is different. The grand events She boasts of cannot be corroborated by the deeds of other gods.

This goddess once bragged about suppressing the Demon Prince Dimogorgen who invaded the Prime Material Plane with ancient magic, and Dimogorgen’s response was, "Koutao Murloc Goddess? Who?"

There are many similar examples. In short, the Koutao Murloc Goddess appears to be absent from all major events. Furthermore, the image of the Koutao Murloc Goddess seems to continually change within these false narratives. More interestingly, these shifts in portrayal have a strong correlation with the regular fits of madness that afflict the Kuotuo Murlocs.

This race was once enslaved by the Heart-stealing Demons, beings innately endowed with powerful spiritual powers, commonly known as Soul Suckers or disparagingly called "octopus heads." Through mental manipulation and larval parasitism, these monsters enslaved and propagated using other races.

The preferred diet of the Heart-stealing Demons is the brains of various intelligent races. The Kuotuo Murlocs were not originally mad and chaotic; it was the prolonged enslavement by the Heart-stealing Demons that caused severe mental distortion, leading to serious hereditary mental illness in the entire race.

Many records about the Koutao Murloc Goddess emerged after the Kuotuo Murlocs regained their freedom.

Not in terms of when the stories describe, but when they were put to tablet or book.

After the Kuotuo Murlocs achieved liberty, these chaotic mythologies began to emerge, and the oldest surviving record, the so-called Ancient Meteorite Engravings, was later found to be a product from the later period of the Heart-stealing Demon Empire.

In the end, the author had to come to a conclusion that could be seen as blasphemous against deities—the Koutao Murloc Goddess doesn’t seem to be a genuine goddess but rather a figment of the chaotic Kuotuo Murlocs’ imagination.

After being enslaved for so long, the Kuotuo Murlocs desperately needed a spiritual pillar, and even after regaining their freedom, they needed a deity to worship, and thus they concocted one.

The most significant evidence is that the earliest depiction of the Koutao Murloc Goddess resembled a Heart-stealing Demon. At that time, the Koutao Murloc Goddess’s head was not a lobster’s but an octopus’s.

Though the creation of gods by mortals may seem odd, it is still within the rules.

Belief can create gods, and with Aeo’s nod of approval, even a gob of snot could become a God of Slimes.

Given the vast numbers of the Kuotao Murlocs, it wouldn’t be strange to conjure a deity out of thin air if the Koutao Murloc Goddess became their unifying ideal.

This also explains why the Koutao Murloc Goddess possesses the deity position associated with mental derangement since the Kuotao Murlocs as a whole suffer from it, a condition so severe it becomes a permanent heritage.

Having delved so deeply into this story, Amberser obtained a piece of intelligence: the biggest enemy of the Kuotao Murlocs isn’t any seabound race, but the Heart-stealing Demons.

The Heart-stealing Demons, who enslaved the Kuotao Murlocs for a long time, must have methods specifically effective against them, and it’s highly probable these techniques could impact the Koutao Murloc Goddess as well.

Be it human or deity, every intelligent race is profoundly influenced by their origin, which some call family of origin and others refer to as an unfortunate childhood. Whatever the term, its significance remains the same.

There are scars that can never be healed in a lifetime, and mentioning them can drive one mad.

Whether it’s mental control, intimidation, or some special form of painful memory implantation, Amberser doesn’t yet know, but finding the Heart-stealing Demons might just provide a way to deal with the Koutao Murloc Goddess.

This is a good direction.

However, the history of the Heart-stealing Demon Empire is even more ancient than the Demon Dragon Empire; while the Demon Dragon Empire goes back only 1,700 years, the Heart-stealing Demon Empire has at least 7,000 years, if not 10,000. Heart-stealing Demons have long become monsters of legend, and in his few hundred meters of life, Amberser had never seen a single one, not even on the Laine People’s wanted list, which likely means their kind had been extinct for quite a while.

Then it was necessary to find someone who knows their stuff to offer some guidance, such as his beloved friend and the most learned historian, Mr. Hake Stone.

Amberser didn’t stand on ceremony and directly took out the Necromancy Codex to message Hake Stone, and he did so in the chat group.

[Diga Ultraman: Mr. Hake Stone, the learned vampire historian, I have a historical question for you. Do you know about Heart-stealing Demons?]

Hake Stone seemed to always be watching the chat group. No sooner had Amberser sent the message than Hake Stone replied: [Why the sudden interest in this?]

[Diga Ultraman: Just want to learn a bit more about this race. If possible, capturing one for research would be even better. Do you know where to find a Heart-stealing Demon?]

[Dislikes Humans: No need to search, they’re extinct, at least in our plane. Perhaps Heart-stealing Demons still exist in other planes beyond our domain, but around here, you can forget about finding any.]

Amberser’s face was full of disappointment. Could it be that the faint clue he had just found had come to an absolute dead end?

[Dislikes Humans: What’s the sudden interest in finding Heart-stealing Demons for?]

[Diga Ultraman: I planned to kidnap the Koutao Mermaid Goddess, but then I realized this deity wasn’t easy to deal with. So I looked up some information and found out that Heart-stealing Demons once enslaved Koutao Murlocs. I figured I’d capture one to ask if there are any methods specifically for handling Koutao Murlocs.]

[Dislikes Humans: To deal with Koutao Murlocs, why not just kill them? Why go through all this trouble?]

[Dislikes Humans: Wait a second, disregard the last message! Did you make a mistake in typing? Did you just write ’Koutao Mermaid Goddess’?]

Amberser was somewhat reluctant to reply since the Heart-stealing Demons were extinct. What would be the use in chatting with this shorty any further? Unfortunately, the group members were already getting excited.

Gareth jumped out and said: [Brother, have you lost your mind? Do you realize what you’re talking about?]

[Withered Rose: I also say he’s lost his mind, but he won’t admit it.]

[Pale Little Skeleton: Hold on, what is this enigma you all are talking about? Rose, you already knew about this?]

[Poet: I think I’ve just witnessed something extraordinary!]

...

Even the venerable "Poet" appeared, leaving Amberser no choice but to break his silence and explain everything that had happened in the chat group, summarizing with: [I didn’t want to, but Talos was pressing me too hard, and the Koutao Mermaid Goddess is just a crazy deity who simply can’t be negotiated with. What else could I have done?]

[Poet: Mortals are like ants, that’s just how it is, and you’ll get used to it eventually. However, the thought of using a Heart-stealing Demon against that lobster head is indeed a good idea.]

[Diga Ultraman: Too bad the Heart-stealing Demons are all gone.]

[Poet: Of course, they’re extinct in this plane, but there must be plenty in other planes. The Heart-stealing Demon Empire was once a radiant civilization, spanning multiple planes, with their nautilus warships able to freely traverse time and space, subjugating intelligent races for control. If you want to find them, it shouldn’t be difficult.]

Amberser was at a loss for words. To the Poet, a being nearly akin to a deity, it would obviously seem easy; he could probably traverse planes at will. But Amberser certainly couldn’t, even opening a portal to the Star Realm would be a strenuous task for him, and whether the Star Realm even possessed Heart-stealing Demons was unknown to him. Plus, locating the Heart-stealing Demons would be incredibly tough, and the time and other costs too high to address this pressing emergency.

[Poet: Though I don’t know which plane the Heart-stealing Demons have nestled in, I can give you a hint. Heart-stealing Demons can transform any intelligent race into their own kind by infesting them with larval parasites, so nearly all gods dislike this race. Nobody wants their followers snatched away and turned into octopus heads, right?]

At first, Amberser didn’t understand what the Poet was getting at, but after pondering a bit, he quickly grasped the implication.

[Diga Ultraman: The detested demons by all gods are exiled to the Land of Chaos. Are you suggesting that there might be Heart-stealing Demons in the Land of Chaos?]

The Land of Chaos is the dumping ground of the gods; whatever malicious thing disrupts world balance gets tossed there.

If following this rule, the likelihood of Heart-stealing Demons being exiled was significant!

Now the benefits of having many friends were clear. Fortuitously, Amberser had a dear friend who was doing rather well in this world of exile.