Chapter 80: The Land Abandoned by the Gods

  "...!"

  Seeing the massive figure in front of him, Alex couldn't help but whistle. Fina, oher hand, was so surprised she stood there with her mouth agape, uo speak.

  Before them stood a giant bck bear. pared to the bears Alex had seen in the animal kingdom, this one was much rger. Just lying on all fours, it was already over two meters tall. The bear stood before Alex and Fina, quietly the two humans. A moment ter, Alex saw Ikaros, the blue-haired angel, walking around from behind the bear.

  "How is it, Master? I found this just now. I've already made an agreement with it, and it's willing to temporarily serve as your mount to carry both of you down the mountain."

  "Very impressive."

  Alex patted Ikaros's head, and the little angel smiled happily. She then pced her hand on the bear's head, seemingly unig with it. The bear obediently crouched down, signaling for them to climb onto its back. With such a ve mode of transportation, Alex didn't hesitate to get on. As for Fina, the priestess hesitated for a moment before cautiously sitting behind Alex.

  The giahen stood up and swiftly began carrying them down the mountain.

  Despite its massive size, the bear ran incredibly smoothly. Sitting on its back, Alex and Fi even more stable than they would on horseback. Alex couldn't help but wonder where Ikaros had found this bear and how she had mao "vi to serve as a mount.

  heless, with the help of the bear, their journey became much easier. As one of the top predators in the forest, this bear was clearly the king of the mountains—no other animals dared approach them. And trary to its size, the bear moved with surprising speed. Alex even mused that if it were outfitted with battle armor, it could be a mount worthy of raiding Zul'Aman...

  But of course, this was just a passing thought of Alex's to kill time. The bear seemed tent living in the forest and had no i in visiting such a dangerous pce. In fact, within an hour, the bear had carried Alex and Fina out of the forest and to the edge of the dark s.

  This was a dark s.

  Although Alex had heard from Garrison and Sir about the s, and Fina had expis history, seeing it with his own eyes left him momentarily speechless.

  The snow tio fall, bing the ground in white. However, this snow only covered the mountainous and forested areas where Alex stood. In front of him, where the mountaihe s, there was a stark trast between bd white. The snow seemed to leave no tra the s's surfaly dark soil and distant, crumbling ruins could be seen.

  The dark s was truly shrouded in darkness.

  "Roar… roar…"

  Standing at the foot of the mountain, the giant bear came to a halt. It opes mouth a out a low growl, as if fag some terrible foe. Ikaros flew to its side, pg a hand on the bear's head. After a moment, she turo Alex and shook her head.

  "This creature only bring you this far, Master. It refuses to ehe s..."

  "That's fine."

  Hearing Ikaros's uneasy and apologetie, Alex waved his hand and then jumped down from the bear. He approached the creature and patted it gently. A moment ter, a salmon appeared in his hand.

  "I don't have much to offer, but this will do as a fare."

  "Grumble…"

  The bear hesitated as it she fish in Alex's hand. After firming it was safe, it took a cautious bite. Oisfied, the bear gave a low growl, o Alex, and then turned and disappeared into the forest.

  "Having a mount sure feels great."

  Watg the bear's figure fade into the distance, Alex shrugged and turo the girls beside him.

  "Let's go."

  The path through the dark s was treacherous. In fact, if Alex had to describe it, the sensation of walking through the s was simir to walking on Zerg creep. The ground wasn't solid but soft and spongy, and even through his boots, he could feel a strange warmth beh, as though he wasn't walking on nd but on the body of a giant, foul-smelling monster.

  The snow had also stopped falling. In fact, as soon as Alex ehe s, it felt as though he had stepped into another world. The thick clouds overhead blocked out all light, making it dark and gloomy even in broad daylight. The wind howling through the s sounded like the wails of ghosts, as though the souls of those who had perished here turies ago still lingered.

  "This used to be a prosperous nation..."

  Fina gazed at a nearby ruin with a plicated expression. The remains of what once appeared to be a grae could still be faintly seen. But now, it had been reduced to charred bck wreckage. The ns had colpsed, and only a few walls still stood, bearing silent wito the past glory.

  "But it wasn't demons that destroyed it—it was humans."

  Alex gnced around before pulling out a map to check their position, casually responding as he did so. Fina's expression grew even more flicted at his words. After a moment of hesitation, she asked softly.

  "Mr. Alex… do you think war will ever disappear?"

  "War… war never ges."

  After paring dires, Alex tinued forward without looking back, answering in a matter-of-fact tone.

  "To be ho, from my perspective, of course, I'd love for there to be pead stability forever. I could ze around at home, eating and doing nothing, enjoying a carefree life. But unfortunately, that's not how the world works. flict is everywhere, and sometimes you have to fight for something. Frankly, I uand why that nation did what it did—their only mistake was uimating their enemy's resolve to resist to the bitter end."

  "And what about the battle between order and chaos?"

  "Chaos... To be ho, it still feels quite distant to me, though I did enter a Child of Chaos once..."

  At this point, Alex suddenly paused and turo look at Fina with an amused smile.

  "By the way, Miss Fina, have you ever sidered something?"

  "What is it?"

  Perhaps due to Alex's somewhat "mischievous" gaze, Fina instinctively tensed up and asked nervously.

  "That maybe... Chaos is also a part of Order?"

  "Wha... hat?!!!"

  This time, Fina was utterly shocked, her eyes widening in disbelief as she screamed before Alex had even finished speaking.

  "That's impossible! Order and Chaos are mortal ehey're pletely different!"

  "Oh? Then tell me, based on your uanding, what is Order? And what is Chaos?"

  "Well, because Order is..."

  Perhaps the question was too ued, as Fina stood there with her mouth agape, unsure of how to answer. After a long pause, she suddenly cpped her hands as if she had remembered something.

  "Order has identifiable characteristid follows rules aions, while Chaos is disordered, without ws or patterns... How could the two possibly be the same?"

  "If that's how you defi, then Chaos is indeed part of Order."

  "How is that possible? Chaos has no rules or..."

  "Didn't you just describe Chaos's characteristics?"

  At this point, Alex pyfully wi Fina.

  "You said Chaos is disordered and wless... Isn't that aifiable characteristic?"

  "That ts?"

  Fina was pletely fbbergasted at this point. She stood there, mouth open, staring at Alex as if he had just said something utterly bsphemous.

  "Why wouldn't it?"

  Seeing Fina's bewildered expression, Alex found it rather amusing. He poio the grouh their feet, then to the snow-covered mountains in the distance.

  "It's like bd white. Despite their vast differences, aren't they still just parts of the spectrum of color?"

  "That..."

  This time, Fina didn't offer aal. She lowered her head, her expression uain. Alex, meanwhile, turned and tinued walking forward... Fortunately, Ikaros was keeping watch from the sky; otherwise, Fina's earlier scream might have drawn the cultists straight to them.

  Watg Alex's back, Fina bit her lip before quickly following after him.

  "Then, Mr. Alex... Do you think our war with Chaos is wrong?"

  "I never said that."

  "But you just said that Chaos is part of Order..."

  "And I also said they're like bd white."

  Alex wasn't a cultist and had no iion of brainwashing the pirl behind him. He had merely brought up the paradox on a whim to tease her. If he ended up leading her astray, that would be troublesome.

  "If we're to pare it to nations, we are citizens of the White Kingdom, and Chaos represents the Bck Kingdom. They want to turn us bck, but of course, we won't let them... I'm sure you wouldn't want to be turned bck either, right? It wouldn't suit you."

  "Of course not... Haha, Mr. Alex, your analogy is quite amusing."

  At this, Fina finally mao smile, though her gaze toward Alex had grown more plex.

  "Then, Mr. Alex, if we are citizens of the White Kingdom, who is the painter?"

  "That, I don't know. Perhaps the goddess would know."

  "......"

  This time, Fina didn't say anything further. She lowered her head, staring at her feet, and softly murmured to herself.

  "Maybe... not even the goddess..."

  However, before she could finish her thought, Alex's expression suddenly ged. He swiftly pulled Fina into the shadows of a nearby ruin.

  "Mr. Alex?"

  "Shh..."

  Fag Fina's startled look, Alex gestured for her to be quiet and gnced up toward the sky.

  Soon, uheir watchful gazes, a dark silhouette fpped its wings as it flew overhead.

  It had a head resembling a wolf's, the wings of a bat, and a humanoid body with a long, thin bck tail. In fact, the moment Alex saw this creature, he didn't need Fina to expin—he kly what it was.

  It was a demon.

  (End of Chapter)

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