Chapter 34: The Disappearance of Five Hundred Years

'So, the current situation is that a parasite monster, similar to the demonic race, was born from the belly of a mage of the Radiant Church?'

Reji was somewhat overwhelmed.

'How come before the demonic invasion of the world could take place, humans have managed to pull off such a stunt?'

Now, Reji wanted to clarify two points.

First, why the creature inside the egg is highly similar to the demonic race.

Second, why such an egg was inside Bru.

Starting with the first point.

As a savior who has fought against the demonic race in the game for a hundred years, Reji's understanding of the demonic race is no less than the demons themselves.

So, he was certain, there is no such thing as a "Demon Egg" within the demonic race.

If there had to be something similar, it might be the "Breeding Room" of the Breeding Apostle Ulala.

The mission of breeding is to cultivate new members of the demonic race.

When the demon race faces a significant crisis, or the war effort is strained, and there is a high demand for demons on the front lines, Ulala would activate the "Breeding Room."

The Breeding Room can absorb the corpses of other races, turning the corpses into nutrients, thereby greatly catalyzing the growth speed of the new demons inside, achieving the effect of "rapid troop reinforcement" for the demonic race in a short time.

A thousand years ago, in the war between humans and demons, the demonic race had used the "Breeding Room" ability several times.

At that time, a large number of humans who died on the front lines were collected by the demons and transported to the Breeding Rooms, continuously producing more demonic soldiers.

At first glance, it seems somewhat similar to the current Demon Eggs.

But in fact, they are fundamentally different.

First, the Breeding Room requires constant care and supervision by the breeder, which is related to the breeder's "domain skill" and requires a great deal of mental energy from the breeder. Thus, this "rapid troop reinforcement" cannot be conducted indefinitely.

And the demons have been sealed in the Chaos Rift for a thousand years, so where would Bru get any breeder from?

Second, and most importantly, the Breeding Room uses corpses, and it must only use corpses, which cannot contain too much poison.

Therefore, in the first cycle, once humans discovered the "Breeding Room" ability of the breeding apostles, commanders would prepare a squad in every war, win or lose, specifically to cremate the corpses of their fallen comrades on the battlefield, so as not to leave them for the demons.

At the same time, humans vigorously developed the Radiant Church, encouraging soldiers, civilians, and even young children to learn the principles of radiance, so that a fraction of the power of radiance could be nurtured within their bodies.

And for the demonic race, the power of radiance is the most detestable and disgusting toxin.

The rise of the Radiant Church, even becoming the foremost mainstream religion, actually started from this. In a way, it was thanks to the demonic race.

As a mage of the Radiant Church, Bru, by this fact alone, directly violates the principles of the "Breeding Room."

Moreover, the egg inside Bru has obviously been with him for a while, parasitizing within a living body.

When Bru died and became a corpse, the egg seemed to want to escape, seeking a new living host, which is even more contrary to the "Breeding Room."

So, Reji could almost confirm that this "egg" is something humans themselves concocted a thousand years later, and it absolutely has nothing to do with the demonic race.

'Wait a minute!'

A terrifying thought suddenly flashed through Reji's mind.

'Could it be...'

'Not just Bru. But all of humanity in this era...Has such a bizarre demon egg inside their bodies? Like the dantian in cultivation stories!?'

Reji was startled by his own thought.

This was like transforming the world from its original swords and magic into some twisted, horrific style in an instant.

Reji immediately cast a detection spell on the bodies of the other thugs, tossing out checks one after another.

Fortunately, the results relieved Reji.

These seemed to be ordinary thugs belonging to the Lunari Trade Group, with no status of [Demon Egg Parasitism].

Just to be safe.

Reji had Sherman carefully dissect these bodies as well, and indeed, they found no purple-black eggs like the one inside Bru.

'So, Does this type of "egg" only exist within members of the "Radiant Church"?'

'Or is this egg merely Bru's individual anomaly, and he just happens to be a member of the "Radiant Church"?'

Reji turned his gaze to Azno.

The trade group boss he had kept.

"Tell me everything about this Radiant Church mage."

Asked by Reji, Azno finally snapped back to reality.

The events that occurred in less than half an hour had completely overturned all his understanding, leaving him from panic to terror, to now being utterly dumbfounded.

"Sir...no, no, my lord, Bru is a newly appointed deacon of the Radiant Holy Church. He, he came from the lower class before, and I had helped him, so I got involved in this matter, and then, then...I really don't know anything else, I'm not close to him at all, since he became a deacon, we, our contact has been very limited, I don't know, really don't know"

Azno was almost crying, but Sherman showed no intention of letting him go. The hand of shadow gripped his neck as if to twist it off the next moment if he didn't say something more.

Under the threat of death, the boss of the Lunari Trade Group, spurred by desperation, racked his brains, and suddenly seemed to remember something, hurriedly started to speak:

"My lord! I remember now, Bru once fell ill and asked me if I had any recovery potions, because it's very rare for a powerful mage like him to get sick, so I remember it very clearly. Moreover, it was right after the day of his deacon promotion ceremony!"

'Finally, some useful information'

Reji quickly asked, "What did he do on the day of the promotion ceremony?"

"Nothing much, it wasn't just Bru, there were three or four other believers who were promoted. They were just granted honors by the bishop, received the baptism of holy light, and then drank from the holy chalice, no different from a normal promotion ceremony."

It was evident that Azno was trying very hard to recall everything in order to save his life.

"Did any of the other deacons feel unwell the next day?" Reji asked.

"My lord, I really don't know about that. The deacons of the Radiant Church are of noble status and powerful. If it weren't for my past association with Bru, I wouldn't have been able to interact with such people!"

After saying this, Azno realized that the deacons of the Radiant Church, whom he considered unapproachable and powerful, didn't last even a moment against the man in the cloak opposite him.

How strong were they??? Azno dared not ask, nor did he want to know the answer.

"When did the Radiant Church start this kind of promotion ceremony?"

In the first cycle of Reji's game the Radiant Church didn't have a tradition of conducting a ceremony for promotions, which is why he asked.

But to Azno, this question was a bit baffling.

"Ah? My lord, hasn't the Radiant Church always done it this way since its establishment? At least, it's been like this for five or six hundred years, right?"

"What about more than five or six hundred years ago?"

"Before that...? My lord, you're not referring to ancient history, those myths and legends, are you? I'm just a businessman, how would I know about that! But, but my lord! I know there's a professor of ancient history at the Royal Academy, he should know more! About the origins of magic, the development of church, and also"

"Ah! Right! And the legendary demonic race! The wars between humans and demons! That professor is most familiar with these mythological stories! My lord, I can help you contact him!"

Azno had no reason to lie to himself.

Moreover, such information could easily be verified outside.

Reji fell into a deep thought.

'It seems that the discontinuity in human heritage that the Demon of Wisdom speculated about might indeed exist'

Looking at Azno now, it seems his understanding of history stops at five hundred years ago, and anything older, especially from a thousand years ago, is completely unknown to him.

Even the fierce battles of a thousand years ago, victories won with the blood and lives of countless humans and other races, which should have been forever remembered in human history, have now become myths and legends according to Azno? Has it become something that seems nonexistent, a... Disappeared Five Hundred Years?