The Guardian gods-Chapter 248

Ikenga smiled as he returned to his realm, a gentle hum spreading throughout, welcoming him back. As he surveyed his domain, he sensed how much it had expanded. Ikenga noticed that when he began receiving worship, it not only increased his strength but also expanded his realm. However, recently, this growth had slowed down, and his strength had also plateaued.

Faith brought him immense power, a level that would have taken hundreds of years to achieve otherwise. Yet, this influx of power had diminished, seemingly reverting to the levels from before he began receiving worship. It wasn’t that he was no longer receiving worship or faith energy; he was still receiving a substantial amount every second. However, the faith energy had shifted from quality to quantity.

Initially, Ikenga thought the issue might be that his followers weren’t pious enough. But he soon dismissed this idea because his realm contained an altar that refined faith energy. Regardless of whether the faith came from an ordinary believer or a devout one, once the faith energy reached the altar, it was refined into divine energy before being transferred to him.

After meeting with Murmur, Ikenga’s perspective changed. He realized the limitation was due to the level of his world. The faith provided by the believers in his world had reached its maximum quality. For the faith energy to improve further, the world’s origin would need to be elevated, pushing every race to a higher level. Only then could the nature of the faith energy change.

Ikenga knew it was the same for the other gods. The excessive amount of faith energy they have now just acts like a battery to quickly replenish the divine energy spent. The long journey he is about to undertake with Keles will change everything for everyone. Ikenga was ready to find out the limit of his power. He could only instinctively guess that he was now planetary, as he had this feeling at the back of his neck that all he needed to do was plant a seed on this world and watch it go boom.

Of course, when the thought appears, Nana always cautions him to hold off on that thought, as all he will gain is momentary satisfaction of his strength before feeling the impact of what he has done.

Sending a quick message to Keles to meet up with him, Ikenga once again sensed Murmur calling, which he dove into, appearing in the cage of golden light.

Keles, in her realm, received Ikenga’s message. A quick sweep of her realm’s condition brought a smile to her face. It was slow, but the underworld was beginning to shape into a world of its own, as souls who had regained their intelligence were beginning to develop the underworld in their own way.

Keles stood up from her throne and stepped into her realm, marveling at the changes taking place. Souls that once wandered aimlessly were now building structures and forming communities. The underworld was transforming from a barren wasteland into a thriving, dynamic world.

Near the River of Reflection—a name made up by the souls after they regained their senses—souls had constructed a series of bridges and walkways, allowing easy passage across its ethereal waters. These structures, though simple, were elegant and sturdy, a testament to the ingenuity of the souls who built them. Some souls were even setting up marketplaces, trading memories and experiences as if they were tangible goods. freēnovelkiss.com

Further along, in the Fields of Remembrance, souls had begun to cultivate gardens. Flowers of forgotten dreams and trees of lost hopes grew here, their spectral forms shimmering in the perpetual twilight of the underworld. Keles noticed a group of souls working together to tend these gardens, their faces serene and content. The plants they nurtured thrived on the essence of memories, each one a symbol of growth and renewal.

Keles was hoping the next time she returned, they would surprise her. Looking beyond her realm, she saw Roth and Xerosis overlooking a small village of humans. It seemed that their experiment had gone well, as the first vampire was able to get a human female pregnant. The success made her son make a radical move as he ordered Ethan to go on a rampaging feast in the village.

In one night, all the males in the village were turned into vampires. With a slight memory manipulation from her son, nothing was noticed. Only strange thing was that men were no longer seen during the day in this village. Things were mostly being handled by the women during the day, while night was a time for the turned men.

Keles squinted her eyes. Things were good for now, but she worried that if things continued going her son’s way, he might get carried away. Now that she would be gone with Ikenga for a while, her presence wouldn’t be protecting her child for much longer.

Looking away, her eyes penetrated the spirit realm where Wardenwild was sleeping under a glowing tree. She whispered, "Take care of my children," before walking through the dark portal in front of her.

Ikenga looked to his side where Keles appeared. He nodded to her but noticed she didn’t respond back. Instead, she was looking at the well-dressed skeleton beyond the golden cage holding both of them.

Murmur noticed her looking intently at him. A look of anger flashed in his eyes but was quickly hidden as he stood up from the floating throne he was on and bowed towards Keles. "We meet again, Lady of Death."

Keles scoffed as she responded, "I like your new look better. You looked distasteful before with flesh on."

Murmur’s bony hands clenched as he remembered the pain caused by the one in front of him. The feeling of his flesh being eaten away slowly was a pain he had never felt before. When it was happening, he wished he was one of those demons he used to look down on—those that enjoy torture not only of others but also of themselves. These demon types are known to have a huge nail piercing through their skull to feel pain and have their skin inside out.

The aesthetics of these demons used to be unsightly to Murmur, but at that moment when he was losing his flesh slowly, he wished he was born as that type so that he could at least experience joy from the pain being dealt to him.

Murmur’s skull cackled as he sat back down on his throne, which brought him close to the golden cage. Looking at Ikenga, Murmur said, "I take it you have decided to accept my proposal."

Ikenga nodded to Murmur, who began laughing out loud. "Good, and since you are both here, I am guessing you are both ready to go."

Murmur got no response back, which he didn’t mind as he looked at Keles before looking back at Ikenga. For some reason, Ikenga frowned at that as he felt nothing good was going to happen next.

True to that, Murmur began speaking. "Before I send you both off on your journey, I believe it is best if I inform you of the cons of traveling to the Abyss the way I plan on sending you off."

"This being the only option is because we all don’t want the position of this world leaked or being noticed. So for this reverse summoning, you both will be taken to the Abyss, and in the worst-case scenario, you will find yourselves in a very unfavorable Abyss layer."

Ikenga frowned upon hearing that. "Elaborate," he said to Murmur, whose shoulders at this point were shaking not in fear but in an attempt to hold back his laughter and glee.

"The Abyss layers are uncountable. In some Abyss layers, there are beings called ’Abyss Lords’ who have mastered the layers they are in. These mastered layers are the same as the realms/domains of the gods."

Ikenga and Keles both frowned. Murmur caught that and began laughing. "It seems you both already understand," he said, his glowing purple eyes staring at both of them.

Ikenga began pacing around. If what Murmur said was true, finding themselves in such a layer would mean possible doom. As a realm owner himself, Ikenga understood what it implied if someone unfriendly was stupid enough to enter his realm. Such a situation is the same as the opponent giving up their life to the realm owner, who at that point is omnipotent in their realm. For example, when Mahu enters Ikenga’s realm, he has to mentally keep his realm’s consciousness from suppressing her; the same can be said when he goes to her realm.

Ikenga looked at Keles, who was also staring at him. Keles seemed to know what he was thinking as she said, "I really don’t like him."

"That is obvious, but you could have kept yourself from antagonizing him until we leave," Ikenga said with clear exasperation. He was now about to get thrown into a situation where things were no longer in his control.