Why must the devil be Defeated?
Chapter 359: The Origin of the 358 Girl

Chapter 359: The Origin of the 358 Girl

At that time, Cosmos had not yet emerged.

Because, a thousand years ago, just after the war had ended, the hero who had vanquished the Demon King had not yet established the Mitra Kingdom.

Since the Mitra Kingdom had not appeared at that time, Cosmos, a fortress city belonging to the kingdom, naturally had not been built either.

Therefore, at that time, the region where Cosmos was located was actually the habitat of a Beastman tribe.

"The Dark Temple that sealed the Evil God fell directly into our Beastman ancestors’ tribe, alarming the Holy Daughter of the tribe at that time."

"The Beastman Holy Daughter then sought guidance from the Life Goddess through prayer, and after some time, the Divine Race seemed to decide that the Life Goddess would take over guardianship of the Temple and re-seal it."

"Originally, the Divine Race seemed to plan on exiling the Temple back into the crevices of the world, but after the world was reinforced and stabilized by Supreme God Ominis, it had become much more solid and stable than before. There were no longer any gaps in the world, only ’walls’ between the Three Realms of gods, humans, and demons."

"In such a scenario, exiling the Temple would at best mean casting it into the Divine World or the Demon Realm, which would not solve the problem."

"Thus, the Life Goddess responsible for guarding the Temple cast it into an independent small space and had our Beastman Priests guard around the spatial node."

Iris revealed this ancient secret unknown to anyone, making Shane somewhat astonished.

"I think I understand now," Shane nodded while speaking, "Later on, Hero Mithra established the kingdom and claimed this territory for his nation, building the fortress city of Cosmos here, which is why the Temple appeared inside Cosmos, right?"

"Exactly," Iris nodded continuously in affirmation, "Originally, due to the presence of the Evil God’s seal, the Divine Race did not wish to see humans establishing a kingdom or a city here."

"But since it was the hero who had successfully vanquished the Demon King, the Divine Race still didn’t want to create conflicts with them, did they?" Shane curled his lips skeptically as he surmised, "Plus, if this place became the hero’s domain, should any issues arise, the hero would step forward to resolve them, so the Divine Race chose to turn a blind eye, right?"

"That’s exactly it," Iris said as she picked up a cup of tea beside her and took a sip to moisten her throat before continuing, "Of course, the Divine Race also communicated with the hero, hoping that he would leave the land around the spatial node for the Beastman tribe. We also discussed with the Empire not to interfere with the politics or war between the two nations and received the Empire’s promise not to invade the Beastman’s territories. Therefore, for a thousand years, even though this place has become an important fortress, we Beastmen have always dwelt here undisturbed by the world at large."

Perhaps this was why Cosmos had become a melting pot of different races.

Because this was originally Beastman territory, and humans only became involved here later, establishing the multi-racial nature of the place.

Moreover, the fortress attracted dwarves, famous for their weapon forging, leading to various races living together here.

And the Beastman Priests, including Iris, had always dwelt here, never leaving.

Which is to say...

"This is your ancestral homeland?"

Shane hadn’t anticipated this point.

"Yes," Iris replied with her head held high and chest puffed out, "We are not some suspicious group; we are natives of Cosmos, born and raised."

It was for this reason that Iris had become friends with the Empire’s Valkyrie.

Since Cosmos was the city closest to the Empire, and the Empire had always considered the Kingdom a formidable rival, eyeing the Kingdom warily, it was not surprising that people from the Empire would appear in Cosmos and form connections with the Beastman Priests who had dwelt here for a millennium.

Many Beastmen were also living in Cosmos; Shane had seen quite a few since his arrival, and had even been robbed once by a Beastman criminal, which sufficed to show the deep connection between Cosmos and the Beastmen.

"If the spatial node hadn’t been destroyed, and the Temple hadn’t reappeared in the Human Realm, causing the magic power flowing out from inside to expel all buildings and living beings, leading to an enforced translocation phenomenon, you would have seen the Beastman tribe here."

At this point, Iris’s tone carried a tinge of sorrow.

On the other hand, Shane once again had a moment of realization.

"So the reason why that area turned into bare ground with no buildings is not only because the buildings were all relocated, but also because it was the Beastman tribe’s habitat, with no real buildings to speak of, right?"

Shane had heard that Beastman tribes lived in tents or yurts like campgrounds rather than in houses like humans.

Some Beastman tribes even used caves as dwellings, and in their habits, they were quite similar to wild men.

Now, the Beastman tribe’s habitat had been expelled entirely due to the emergence of the Dark Temple, leaving only desolate flatlands behind.

"If we were not Divine Practitioners, messengers of the Life Goddess, and could not rely on the power bestowed by the goddess to protect ourselves, we probably wouldn’t be able to approach that Temple."

Iris’s tone shifted from loss to relief.

Clearly, being able to guard around the Temple now was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune for Iris and her people.

Then, the question arose.

"Why was the spatial node sealing the Temple destroyed, and why did the Temple that sealed the Evil God appear here?"

Shane finally asked the most critical question.

And this question made Iris grit her teeth with apparent anger.

No choice.

"The spatial node was deliberately sabotaged."

And Iris voiced her outrage.

"Deliberate sabotage?" Shane furrowed his brows and looked at Iris, asking, "Was it the Old Demon Clan Faction?"

This was undoubtedly the first suspect.

Who else but the Old Demon Clan Faction, coincidentally appearing in the Duke Sterling’s domain during this period, even within the Cosmos itself?

Shane remembered that, according to the intelligence, the first place the Old Demon Clan Faction showed up was this very Cosmos, not anywhere else.

Therefore, suspecting the Old Demon Clan Faction was not considered a mistake.

However...

"It wasn’t the Old Demon Clan Faction that destroyed the space nodes, but humans."

Iris made this statement.

"Humans?"

Shane was momentarily stunned.

Not just Shane, but Lasha by his side also couldn’t help but lift her eyelids, and Jade’s eyes rippled slightly, seemingly also taken aback.

Yet, this was the truth.

"On the night of the incident, the Old Demon Clan Faction indeed suddenly appeared in the Cosmos and launched a major attack on our Beastman tribe, slaughtering ruthlessly amongst our people." Iris said angrily, "Fortunately, Beastmen are a valiant and skilled warring race. Besides being caught off guard at the beginning, we quickly responded and organized a resistance, successfully repelling the Old Demon Clan Faction."

They actually repelled them?

That was indeed remarkable.

However, Shane could accept this outcome.

After all, the Beastman Priest Group was stationed here. Every one of the Beastman priests was at least Level Sixty, Oz was Level 91, and along with Mafi and other high-level Beastman priests of Level 89, it didn’t seem surprising that they could repel an attack by the Old Demon Clan Faction.

But...

"After we successfully repelled the Old Demon Clan Faction, the Temple suddenly manifested and released an extremely terrifying magic power, causing the Beastman tribe to be directly repelled by that force. Everyone except for the priests vanished, Cosmos was affected and began to show signs of repulsion-induced displacement; eventually, even the Empire’s territory up to Duke Sterling’s domain was affected."

Iris then informed Shane of the so-called strange occurrences that appeared here and what the reasons behind them were.

"In light of this, our Beastman priest contingent has been guarding the vicinity of the Temple to prevent another attack from the Old Demon Clan Faction. I have also been leading a part of the priests in pursuit of the mastermind behind the sabotage of the space nodes, but we haven’t been able to catch the perpetrator."

At this point in her story, there was nothing in Iris’s tone but frustration and indignation.

Shane, however, finally understood the entirety of the incident.

"Are you sure humans are responsible for sabotaging the space nodes?"

Shane asked with a tight frown.

"I’m sure," Iris nodded emphatically, expressing firmly, "Our Beastman race has natural keen senses. Although we failed to respond in time to capture the mastermind’s scent, the aura left at the scene is definitely human."

On this point alone, Iris could not be mistaken.

They were Beastmen, but also envoys of the Life Goddess. Even if they couldn’t understand the essence of all life forms in the world, distinguishing which race a particular aura belonged to was still quite simple for them.

"That mastermind has also been using magic life forms to interfere with our actions, treating those magic life forms as disposable tools. Whenever we grab onto a clue, we end up finding only trails left by magic life forms, or even just a group of self-destructed magic life forms. It’s infuriating."

Iris was visibly angered by this.

However, her words made both Shane and Lasha narrow their eyes.

"Self-destructed magic life forms...?"

Shane and Lasha glanced at each other, both instantly understanding each other’s thoughts and falling silent.

Shane also looked at Jade and saw that she too was watching him.

Shane fell silent for a while before turning his gaze back to Iris.

"Tell me," Shane said in a composed tone, "Is Jade connected to the Evil God Lilith?"

This question was quite apparent.

"...Yes."

Iris hesitated for a brief moment before letting out a resigning sigh.

"Miss Jade has always stayed within the Dark Temple, sealed away with the Evil God Lilith."

Why would that be?

The reason was equally simple.

"Because Miss Jade is the half-entity of the Evil God Lilith – the Reason that was once stripped away."