CHAPTER 646

【 SECRET OF THE WITHERING HEART 】

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After voicing his complaints, Azazel ultimately yielded.

In the end, he was successfully promoted from being merely the manager of the Labyrinth Dungeon to overseeing both the Labyrinth Dungeon and the Titan Ruins.

Watching the Seventh Demon Lord reluctantly accept his new duties, Evé could not help but feel amused.

“Although he complains a little, he agreed rather quickly. Seems there’s still some potential in him to be exploited,” she thought to herself with a faintly mischievous smile.

After a brief pause, Evé once again utilized the network of faith within the game system. She selected several diligent and trustworthy priest players and issued two hidden quests to them.

Just like the hidden quest she had previously assigned to the first Silver-ranked priest player, Dōngdōng, the new missions pointed to two newly designated Titan Ruins, one situated to the west of the Elven Forest and the other buried beneath the scorching sands of the Desert of Death.

Both ruins had already been excavated by adventurers and explorers long ago, leaving behind little that could be considered valuable.

However, that judgment only applied from Evé’s divine perspective. For the players, even the remnants dismissed by gods as useless debris could be priceless discoveries. Hence, these sites still held considerable potential for player-driven development.

Once the players completed their exploration, Evé planned to have the Fairy King Feynir visit the two ruins personally. Afterward, Azazel would be tasked with managing the logistics, supervising the monster respawns and ultimately turning both sites into sustainable, player-accessible dungeons.

Perfect.

Of course, Evé harbored no illusions about uncovering any great artifacts from these two places.

At best, they might become new dungeons for the players—just like the first Titan Ruins—serving to both divert the player base and provide Evé with a steady stream of divine power while offering entertainment to players.

Still, the unexcavated Titan Ruins on the Fertile Plains remained something to look forward to.

An unexcavated site meant that there could still be a genuine divine artifact there or perhaps something even greater waiting to be discovered.

As she had previously planned, Evé opened the system’s list of players, searching through it for experienced veterans that could be trusted and holds some reputation. She intended to assign them the task of exploring the Titan Ruins in the Fertile Plains as a preliminary expedition team.

However, just as she selected a few usernames, she suddenly felt a familiar pull of a divine summons from the God of Dwarves, Dorft.

It was the signal they had agreed upon in advance, indicating that he wished to meet her once more in the Pantheon.

“Dorft? Has the Withering Heart already been repaired?”

Evé was momentarily stunned, then delighted.

It had been less than a month since their last meeting. Such repair speed for a divine artifact was remarkably fast.

Filled with anticipation, she temporarily set aside the task of issuing the new exploration quests and answered the summons, projecting her consciousness into the Pantheon.

A flash of light flickered. Evé’s divine consciousness flowed and condensed into a radiant projection that appeared upon the Throne of Life and Nature within the Pantheon.

When she arrived, Dorft was already there waiting for her.

Yet as Evé turned her gaze toward him, she noticed that his expression was unusually grim and wary.

…Hm?

What happened?

Seeing the dwarven god so tense, Evé instinctively grew alert as well.

“Your Majesty Dorft, what’s wrong? Did something go awry with the Withering Heart?” she asked in a calm yet serious tone.

Hearing her question, Dorft did not answer immediately.

Instead, he hesitated, his brows furrowing deeply. After a moment of silence, he gave a slight nod, then slowly shook his head, as though struggling to find the right words.

When he finally met Evé’s gaze, his eyes carried a weight that felt almost accusatory—or perhaps fearful.

“Your Grace Evé,” he began, his voice low and solemn, “there are a few questions I would like to ask you.”

Questions?

Evé’s heart stirred. A faint sense of unease rippled through her mind, but her expression remained composed.

“Please, go ahead,” she replied, her tone measured and steady.

Dorft took in a deep breath, his divine projection fluctuating ever so slightly before he spoke again. What he asked next left Evé momentarily at a loss.

“Your Grace Evé,” he said with grave seriousness, “what is your opinion regarding the Abyss?”

“My opinion of the Abyss?” Evé repeated softly, taken aback.

For a brief moment, she simply stared at him, trying to decipher his intent. Why would he bring up such a question now? His tone, his posture—It felt as though he were probing, testing her.

Testing her allegiance…

Her gaze drifted toward the vast marble pillars of the Pantheon, upon which the reliefs of the gods stood tall and dignified, radiating solemn authority. As her eyes traced the divine engravings, an idea took shape in her mind.

After a pause, she composed herself and gave the most proper, orthodox response.

“The Abyss is the enemy of us True Gods,” she said clearly. “It spreads corruption through the realms within the Crystal Sphere of our Planetary System and brings ruin to all creation. As deities, it is our sacred duty to resist its influence to the very end.”

Her words echoed through the great hall, resonant and unwavering.

Dorft listened intently, his gaze flickering toward the sacred reliefs as if ensuring that none of them had changed.

Only after a long, tense silence did he finally exhale, though the caution in his eyes remained.

“The truth-sensing mechanism of the Pantheon did not change… Excellent. Your Grace Evé, it seems you have not been tainted by the Abyss after all.”

Contaminated?

Evé’s heart skipped a beat.

Setting aside whether the World Tree, which is capable of absorbing the power of the Abyss could even be “contaminated,” how could such power possibly infiltrate her divine soul in the first place?

“What happened?” she asked, frowning. “What could make you resort to verifying my allegiance through the Pantheon’s Truth Mechanism? Does this concern the Withering Heart?”

Dorft sighed softly and nodded.

“Yes. It does indeed concern the Withering Heart.”

Then, after a moment’s pause, he looked at her again and asked, “Lady Evé, my second question… did you ever use your divine power to purify the Withering Heart?”

“To purify the Withering Heart?”

Evé was momentarily taken aback.

When did I ever purify the Withering Heart?

She was about to deny it when suddenly, a faint vision surfaced deep within her divine consciousness.

A memory of when she had just acquired the artifact and examined it for the first time.

Recalling that moment, her expression turned solemn.

No… I really did once purified it.

Indeed, she had. When she first obtained the divine artifact, she had effortlessly and completely expelled the Abyssal corruption within it.

But then… how could she have forgotten such a thing?

And more importantly, why did she later hand the artifact over to Dorft while assuming it still contained traces of Abyssal corruption?

No, not assuming—there had definitely been traces of corruption. Otherwise, Dorft would never have remarked earlier that the Abyssal power within it was difficult to remove.

In other words, she had not fully eradicated the corruption back then.

Yet during all her discussions with Dorft, she had noticed nothing amiss. She had even overlooked the fact that she had once “purified” the artifact at all.

As this realization dawned, Evé’s expression darkened.

She began to sense that she might have been unknowingly influenced by some mysterious power—one that had interfered with her memory and judgment.

When did it happen?

At the moment she obtained the Withering Heart?

Or when she purified it?

“It seems you have noticed,” Dorft said softly, observing the faint change in her expression.

“What have you discovered?” Evé asked gravely.

Dorft slowly raised his hand, a glimmer of light flashing as a necklace of skulls materialized in his palm.

The Withering Heart.

He gazed at the artifact and spoke solemnly:

“Your Grace Evé, if my assessment is correct, this artifact is not a sealing-type divine item at all. It is, in fact, a corrupted artifact of mental domination.”

“A corrupted artifact of mental domination?” Evé repeated, her brows knitting.

“Exactly,” Dorft confirmed.

He then continued, “This began after I brought it back to my divine kingdom. I commenced repairs, and before doing so, I planned to suppress and eliminate as much of the Abyssal power within it as I could.”

“My plan was to spend three full days cleansing the corruption. However… after completing the first day, I completely forgot about the process the next morning. Somehow, I simply believed the task had already been completed.”

“If not for my old ingrained habit of keeping a detailed record of my smithing work each day, then I might never have realized it, not even after fully restoring this artifact.”

“Fortunately, I have the habit of reviewing my previous day’s records every morning. That was when I noticed the inconsistency.”

“Without realizing it, my memory and judgment had been influenced by the Withering Heart itself.”

“Moreover, when I confronted the assistants who were helping me with the repairs, I discovered that they too had completely forgotten the matter. Two of them even showed slight signs of Abyssal corruption.”

Evé’s expression grew tense.

“The Withering Heart?” she asked.

“Indeed,” Dorft replied with a bitter smile. “The corruption originated from the Withering Heart. None of us could sense it at all. Were it not for the Mindlock I always wear, I might have been contaminated as well.”

There was a trace of lingering fear on his face.

“Thankfully, the two were not severely affected. Only their personalities became somewhat erratic, but I managed to purify them after considerable effort.”

“So,” Evé said calmly, “you feared that because I have used and even temporarily bound this artifact to myself, there’s a chance I too might have been corrupted by it?”

“Precisely,” Dorft confirmed with a nod.

Then he exhaled in relief.

“But it seems you remain unaffected. Your resistance to Abyssal power is far stronger than I anticipated.”

Of course, Evé thought quietly. As the World Tree, her resistance is exceptional. Otherwise… she might already have been corrupted long ago.

Evé fell silent for a moment, her thoughts swirling.

After a brief reflection, she frowned slightly.

“But it seems my memory has been affected as well. I only remembered it now that I did purify it once, and completely at that…”

“That,” Dorft replied gravely, “is precisely the other issue I discovered. After noticing the peculiar nature of the Withering Heart’s power, I expended considerable divine energy to examine it carefully, all while maintaining strict spiritual defenses. Through that inspection, I found that this artifact is not a sealing-type divine artifact at all, but rather a rare artifact that influences the mind.”

Dorft spoke with growing intensity.

He stroked the skull-shaped necklace in his hand and sighed.

“It appears to have been disguised to look like a sealing artifact, but in truth, its power does not suppress energy at all, but rather, it imposes a subtle psychic suggestion. It makes its target believe their power has been completely sealed, leading them to subconsciously and willingly suppress their own strength.”

“That,” he continued solemnly, “is the Withering Hearts true power.”

“Of course, its ability to distort our perception also comes from that same mechanism. Yet because it has been eroded by Abyssal energy, this influence now leans toward the Abyss—thus explaining all the strange effects we experienced earlier.”

So that’s how it is…

Evé finally understood.

She could not help but look again at the Withering Heart, astonished.

What kind of divine artifact is this, to deceive even one who has already bound with it?

But that realization also explained why she had experienced such distortions in her own memory.

An artifact capable of affecting the cognitive judgment of a true god was indeed terrifying.

“Then… have you repaired it?” Evé asked.

Dorft shook his head.

“That,” he said gravely, “brings me to the final question I wish to ask.”

He straightened, his tone turning serious.

“Your Grace Evé, do you truly intend to use it? You must understand the danger. A divine artifact tainted by the Abyss and capable of influencing the will of gods is an exceedingly perilous thing.”

His gaze darkened as ancient memories seemed to surface in his mind.

“This artifact reminds me of a secret long buried in the annals of history,” he said slowly. “It is said that near the end of the Titan Era, the great war between the Titans and the Dragons was not a balanced struggle as many believed. The later generations of Titans were actually overwhelming the Dragons. Their true advantage lay not in their colossal might or their unmatched physique, but in a mysterious, devastating power of sealing that could suppress even the overwhelming might of a Dragon.”

“What?” Evé’s heart stirred in shock.

Could it be that the Titans fought the Dragons using the Withering Heart?

Even with her inherited memories as the World Tree, she knew nothing of this. Many critical fragments of knowledge within her divine inheritance had been lost to time.

“Then why,” she asked with a frown, “did the war between the Titans and Dragons end with the extinction of the Titans?”

Though she voiced the question, Evé already had a faint suspicion in her heart.

Dorft cast a somber glance at the Withering Heart in his hand, his expression filled with melancholy.

He sighed deeply.

“That war brought calamity to the entire planetary system especially the crystal sphere…”

“But in the end, the destruction of the Titans was not caused by the Dragons.”

“In the final battle, many of the Mythical Titans including their very own king, Anos went mad.”

“Their madness turned them against one another. Within the Divine Titan Court erupted a cataclysmic civil war, which utterly shattered the Realm they ruled upon. The entire Titan race was annihilated afterwards.”

At this point, Dorft raised his head and looked solemnly at Evé.

“Your Grace Evé, the Withering Heart was subsequently found within the ruins of that very Titan Court.”

Evé’s eyes narrowed slightly, understanding what he meant.

Dorft suspected that the Titans had been corrupted by the Abyssal power within the Withering Heart during their use of it and that this corruption had ultimately driven them to their own ruination.

In other words, the fully restored Withering Heart was far more powerful than she had imagined. Moreover, the trace of Abyssal power that could not be purged—being an inherent part of the artifact’s nature—made it extraordinarily dangerous.

It was a double-edged sword so powerful that even gods might lose control of themselves.

“Your Grace Evé,” Dorft asked solemnly, “do you still wish for me to repair this divine artifact?”

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