CHAPTER 145: THE HAND OF THE EXILED DEITY

Author’s Note:

Thanks so much for your patience. I’m feeling better now and the real updates are back. I’ve also fixed the last two dummy Chapters, so if you unlocked them before you can read the proper versions now. If you’ve been enjoying the story up to this point, please take a moment to rate the book, it really helps a lot. Appreciate you sticking with me through that.

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Stepping into the Gilded Spire, Ryan immediately spotted Agu, the Nyman Shaman who was supposed to be the leader of the entire Nyman people. His condition was dire. Thick ropes bound his body, and each strand glowed faintly with a sickly green light.

"Oh, my friend, you’ve come!" Agu exclaimed the instant Ryan entered. His voice cracked with desperation. "Quickly, save me! I’ve uncovered the secret behind the Nyman!"

Ryan moved without hesitation, loosening the bindings as Agu began to speak.

"I can hardly believe it myself," Agu said, his hands trembling once free. "When I returned, I found countless shamans twisted and corrupted. Their elemental powers had grown chaotic, warped into something violent and unnatural, and they were consumed by rage—especially the King of the Nyman. He is no longer our revered leader."

"I searched and discovered that some peculiar force from the Elemental Plane was influencing them. The King and his followers imprisoned me here for learning too much. But because I am a true shaman, they dared not kill me outright. They could only bind me and wait."

He glanced toward the Spire’s walls, his expression grim. "Not long ago, they received instructions from their hidden master. They’ve all marched off to mobilize the Nyman armies. I don’t know their exact destination, but I overheard them speak of the one behind it all—a monarch from the Elemental Citadel, the exiled Elemental Deity, Cinder."

Agu’s voice lowered, heavy with dread. "Adanaya, the Elemental Deity of Light, once warned me that Cinder seeks to seize this world. Now it seems he has chosen us, the Nyman, to be his expendable soldiers."

Ryan listened silently, his thoughts falling into place piece by piece. Agu had survived only because the King feared the consequences of killing a true shaman. Now, thanks to that arrogance, the instigator’s identity had slipped into the open. With the King away, this was the moment to escape and warn the other races before Cinder’s invasion spread unchecked.

"Come, my friend," Agu urged. "Only you can help me now. My powers are sealed. I’ll regain them once we reach the surface."

That restriction was no surprise. Ryan had seen such system-imposed limitations before, and this particular quest line was manageable if one avoided reckless mistakes. He nodded, tightened his grip on his weapon, and checked his stock of potions. Satisfied, he took the lead while Agu followed close behind.

But the moment they stepped out of the Gilded Spire, a piercing cry rang out across the valley: "Agu has betrayed us by colluding with a human! Guards, kill them both!"

Ryan’s stomach sank. Something on Agu must have been marked to track him, and the instant he left the Spire, word reached the King. Already, Nyman guards were surging in from every direction, ordered to hold them until the King arrived.

The Nyman warriors, once neutral, now turned on him with fury in their eyes. Ryan drew steel, charging straight at the nearest fighters to draw their attention. Their strength was not overwhelming—Level 37, four levels above him but still far from the despair of a Skull-ranked enemy, which would have meant a ten-level gap. With no crushing level suppression in play, he cut them down quickly, clearing space for Agu.

Ryan judged that a Level 37 monster fought about the same as a Level 30 elite. As long as the numbers stayed reasonable, they posed no real threat. And not every Nyman warrior here had reached thirty-seven—most hovered closer to thirty-five, only two levels higher than him.

With his array of area attacks, Ryan swept through wave after wave of enemies. The level gap was small enough that suppression didn’t weigh him down, and progress came quickly. Guided by Agu, he fought his way steadily toward the surface. When he noticed opponents as low as Level 31 mixed in among them, he realized they were nearly through. At most, one final intercepting force would stand in their way before the quest wrapped up.

But as they neared the mouth of the Nyman Cave, no such force appeared. They pushed into open air, yet the system still refused to mark the quest complete. Ryan’s instincts prickled. The real fight was still ahead.

His suspicion proved right. Following Agu’s directions, they headed toward the shaman’s home tribe—a settlement considered neutral ground, too well-protected for even the King of the Nyman to attack openly. If Agu reached his people and spread the truth, the King would be cornered by public scrutiny. The quest’s wording made it clear: only when Agu was safely with his tribe would it count as complete.

The ambush came exactly as expected. Before the tribe’s boundary could be reached, the King of the Nyman himself appeared, flanked by four elite guards. All five radiated power, each one an elite monster.

Steel clashed. Ryan met their charge, Agu now at full strength at his side. Together, they pressed the fight hard and fast. The four guards fell first, their vitality less than their King’s, and with them gone, the two focused all their power on the monarch himself. Blow by blow, they drove him down until the King’s health dipped into its final sliver.

Then the world split. A scorching hand the size of a house tore through space itself, clamping around the immobilized King. Ryan staggered back at the sheer weight of the power bleeding from it.

"It’s him," Agu whispered, his face pale. "The exiled Elemental Deity, Cinder. I know this power."

The colossal hand dragged the King away, vanishing into the rift. At that exact moment, Ryan’s quest banner flashed across his vision: Quest Complete.

A beat later, the system broadcast thundered through the world.

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Congratulations to player Featherlight for completing the unique quest [King of the Nyman], unlocking the neutral faction Nyman Revivalists, and earning the Glorious Achievement [Swamp Ally]!

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The message rang three times in succession, echoing across every player’s interface. The bustling game world froze for a heartbeat, stunned by the announcement. Then, like a dam bursting, cheers and excitement flooded back tenfold.

"Guild Master, you’re incredible! Another Glorious Achievement!" voices shouted in Ryan’s guild chat.

"Damn it, there was a Glorious Achievement tied to this too? How could I forget!" someone else cursed, half in awe, half in regret.

Ryan laughed to himself, a little foolishly. He remembered now. In his past life, when the Demonbane Expeditionary Force had been activated, another Glorious Achievement had gone out with a similar triple broadcast. But compared to the shock of unlocking an entirely new faction, the Achievement alone was nothing. That must have been why he’d nearly forgotten.

Even so, another Glorious Achievement was his—and no one could take that away.