CHAPTER 1508: CHAPTER 208: THE GREAT POET FROM AVALON

Under the description of the Elo Chief, Aiwass seemed to fall into a hallucination.

There were raging flames that could not be extinguished.

The habitable oases were destroyed, food was burned, residences were torched.

People, with nowhere to settle, were constantly driven by these demonic flames to new regions. And in those new settlements, a fresh blaze would erupt... People were burned and died, trampled and crushed in panicked flight.

At its core, it was because the easiest resource to extinguish fires—water—was a regulated resource unattainable by ordinary people in any city of Parthia. It is "liquid life" more precious than wealth.

No one would be willing to use their own water to put out fires, not to mention a person’s water is far from enough to douse the flames.

As for the Transcendents...

The Priests of the Serpent Celestial Marshal lacked abilities to control or extinguish fires, as did the Cursing Sorcerers. Hunters, thieves, warriors, pharmacists, and witches... none of them had such abilities. This land was neither civilized nor wise, nor did it embody order... Hence there were no Candle Master Priests to control the flames, and there were barely any Mages or Alchemists.

Relying solely on Ritualists to extinguish fires proved extremely difficult. Even the Benevolent Lords under contract with the Abyssal Celestial Envoy didn’t possess infinite water, whereas the fire could ignite at any moment.

They coincidentally chose the path that could most deeply pierce the Benevolent Lords’ hearts.

Even if water was available, an oasis does not form in a day. Once burned, those plants die, and who knows how long it would take for barren lands to transform back into green oases; the grass that grazing cattle, sheep, and camels feed on would be scorched, and even the penned livestock and poultry would be burned to death.

Even if Ritualists could place anti-fire barriers in certain areas, there’d always be gaps and flaws.

How can there ever exist the perfect guard against theft?

Patch after patch of flames would continue to burn. These avengers who vowed to forsake everything would take innocent lives if it meant exacting the greatest price from the Benevolent Lords.

Until people completely collapsed and fled the city, the Red Hand Gang would neither give up nor stop.

"They use the lives of free people and slaves as bait, forcing the Slave Knights and the armies of the Benevolent Lords to fight the fires, only to ambush and kill them... or to incite the greatest of their fury, leading them into unfamiliar territories, where they would be trapped by pre-arranged ritual pit traps.

"This cycle goes on and on, causing the Oasis City States that fall into their sights to be engulfed by an inexhaustible, unpredictable fear of fire. Until they are slowly worn to death, bitten to death by these mad dogs."

"..."

Hearing this, Aiwass pressed his lips tightly together.

He fell silent.

Even Aiwass himself didn’t know how to comment on the situation.

Without a doubt, this was not an act of justice. These free people were innocent.

Rebelling by harming innocents... in no way should such actions be recognized, let alone praised.

—But from another perspective, this was their only way to resist the Benevolent Lords.

For Ritualists, Cursing Sorcerers, and the scouts and assassins hiding in the dark... attempting to assassinate the Benevolent Lords was nearly impossible. Furthermore, killing them held no meaning; only capturing them alive was useful. Yet how many lives would it take to subdue the Benevolent Lords amidst such a sea of people?

That amount of lives would likely surpass what was lost here!

And what Aiwass was even less willing to admit was...

"... Most likely, they are all Contributors."

Aiwass slowly replied, "Hassan was an exception. If he hadn’t been sent to the Mage Tower, he likely would have become a Contributor too."

Their behavioral patterns were aligned with the ideals of the Path of Devotion.

"The world suffers... I slay the world, but for the benefit of all... is that it?"

Aiwass murmured softly.

Nevertheless, Aiwass realized clearly... Thus far, the Path of Devotion did not include purely offensive professions.

If they did, he never would have ventured down the illegal road of the Demon Scholar initially.

It was owing to the lack of combat power in the Priest profession that he opted to oppose the Celestial Realm through the Demon Scholar’s profession... otherwise, he would have pursued a purely divine vocation.

Though now he understood that a balanced development was essential to possibly assimilate into the Path of Hope. But at the time, Aiwass was unaware of this. In Avalon, where the "Illegal Path" existed, studying Demonic Magic was quite a risky endeavor. To Aiwass’s knowledge, such a profession did not exist.

Could it be they forcibly developed new offensive professions within the Path of Devotion?

That was even less likely. The essence of developing a new profession involved designing a full set of systems through esoteric knowledge for a corresponding Celestial Marshal or Pillar God, only needing their signature and stamp to confer the power... It necessitated immense knowledge and design capabilities, talent and merit within the corresponding path, and a respectable demeanor before God.

A group of slaves having lost everything clearly would possess none of these.

Yet, with the Red Hand Gang’s commotion, the city would surely conduct thorough checks for incendiary materials and guard against ignition points. In the sparsely populated Oasis City States, fires wouldn’t spread so easily.

Wanting to ignite a supernatural fire at a moment’s notice would be nearly impossible without some Transcendents in their ranks.

Even if not official professionals...

... they should be heirs.

—In that instant, Aiwass thought of Cardinal Belisarius.

He realized approximately whose power these individuals had received.

Cardinal Belisarius himself was extremely radical and bellicose by nature. Known to the Parthians as the "Iceheart King," he was regarded as the mysterious guardian deity of the desert depths.

He claimed that, as long as the other party sought wisdom from him, he would grant it. Whether it concerned mystical knowledge or knowledge beyond the desert, or even if they wished to escape it, he would extend a helping hand.

This legacy of radiance, it seemed, was granted by him.

"Oh, right!"

The chief suddenly recalled something and spoke up: "This time, Hassan brought back a song, apparently composed by a great poet of Avalon."

"... Song?"

Aiwass was somewhat startled.

"In the desert, a song is stronger than words, my king."

Elo said.

... That made sense.

After all, songs themselves are extraordinary abilities of the Path of Beauty, capable of communicating with the heart. They even belonged to the domain of the Song Celestial Marshal—who himself was a merry person delighted by chaos. Granting them these ’miracles’ was only natural.

"How does the song go? Do you remember the lyrics?"

Aiwass himself was an Avalonian, having read too many poems to promptly recall who the "great poet of Avalon" was.

"Of course, my king."

The Avianfolk chief confidently replied: "To say the least, we Avianfolk are pretty good at singing."

She then began to sing a loud and melodious song.

She indeed did not boast... it was a voice filled with wild charm.

But as soon as Aiwass heard those lyrics, he almost couldn’t hold back—

"Let the scorching sun hammer my spine, I will not cry out.

"I will not reveal how much I yearn for dew.

"Let each grain of sand recite, this verse in unison:

"The day will come when I’ll break free of these leaden shackles;

"I shall rise with the smoke, break free I must;

"God said, ’You cannot have both the dew and the thirst for dew’,

"Then let me taste my own arrogance."

Ah?

...Ah?

Was this the great poet?

Prince Lohar??

Aiwass remembered clearly, this was a poem that Prince Lohar composed years ago, and to avoid censorship... his excuse was that "this is a poem meant for the Parthian slaves."

—And now it’s actually being used exactly as intended!