Chapter 572: Heading Out

“The 16th level and the 372nd level?”

There was a saying that having an elder in the family was like having a treasure… Cough, cough, the older one was, the more that individual would know. Astrya’s advice would indeed help to save me a significant amount of time and effort. At the very least, I now had two potential sources of top-quality Light resources.

“Should I go up or go down? This is truly a difficult question to answer.”

The level of the Chaos Abyss didn’t have anything to do with the threat level. However, other than the first three levels, it was still mostly true that the earlier levels before 100 were much safer than the ones after 100.

Why were the first three levels an exception? That was because the first level was directly connected to all other dimensions as well as the devils’ version of their Hell. Teleportation portals were literally everywhere down there. That place was also the main battlefield between the upper and lower planes. Many powerful existences could be found there. High-level devils and Demon Lords would be truly difficult to deal with. The average person would instantly die if they were unlucky enough to meet a patrolling devil general or Demon Lord.

And even if you instead met an existence from the upper planes, if a high-level angel didn’t like you, or if you had any inferno, demonized, or dark parts on you at all, you would instantly be “cleansed”. This battlefield had extended so far that it affected all three of the first levels of the Chaos Abyss. This was also why the first three levels were known as an eternal bloody battlefield.

Although it was very easy to go to the first level of the Chaos Abyss due to the countless teleportation portals leading there, only the dumbest of novices and the most insane or arrogant individuals would directly go there.

As for the 16th level, that wouldn’t be very far from the first three levels. If the first three levels were the bloodiest battlefield, then the 16th level counted as a fortress level for buffering the lower levels. It would be quite easy for powerful existences to teleport behind the frontlines, so it was still common to see the forces of Chaos fighting against existences from the upper planes there.

It would be fine if I was lucky, but things could be terrible if I was unlucky. In my current state, I wasn’t the most afraid of meeting Demon Lords, but rather powerful existences from the Order Faction. Demon Lords would simply attack you if they wanted you dead. But if I met high-ranked existences from the Holy Light faction, it was likely that they would spread the news to the point where several Order Main Gods would come down to the Chaos Abyss to hunt me down. The Chaos Abyss was different from the mortal plane, where only incarnations could be used. With such an excellent chance for Main Gods to kill me here, even I would be moved by the opportunity if I were them…

Now that I thought of this, the 16th level seemed even more dangerous. There would be so many spies for all factions in the first twentyish levels of the Chaos Abyss. I had already antagonized so many powerful existences that I couldn’t remember them all. The ones I antagonized came from the Order Faction, Chaos Faction, and even among those who were neutral. It was truly quite possible that several Main Gods would bring a group of powerful Follower Gods all the way down here just to kill me.

As for the 372nd level, that wasn’t a well-known level. In the countless levels of the Chaos Abyss, that either meant it was a relatively safer level, or it was dangerous to the point where very few would leave it alive. I would have to gather more information on this level first. But if I went so far down into the Chaos Abyss, I would only need to be on guard against those from the Chaos Faction.

Sun God Aloyo had previously been a Main God, meaning he’d been a major personage in the past. Even if he lost some of his power, he would still definitely have some good resources. And, any God who lost his position would be incredibly weakened…

[Aloyo didn’t lose his position due to brute force. He was also a War God who was an incredibly capable fighter back in the day. You’d better not try forceful means against him. It’s likely that he’ll teach you a vicious lesson.]

“Is he a God who ascended through the power of belief or through his own merit?”

[Both.]

Alright then, I unhesitatingly abandoned my thoughts of using force if negotiations proved impossible.

I had never heard of Sun God Aloyo before. But since his Divine Concepts included “Sun” and “Light”, it was natural that all memories of him had been erased from the mortal plane now that the God of Holy Light was in charge.

Humans would naturally worship light, the sun, and fire. This worship would be transformed into actual belief. It was easily imaginable just how powerful Aloyo had been back in the day. But now that the God of Holy Light was the only incarnation of light, he would never allow there to be a second God with the Divine Concept of Light.

From a certain standpoint, the internal conflicts within the Order Faction were even crueler than those among the Chaos Evil Gods. Nobody managed or controlled the Chaos Evil Gods. If they did a good job, the Chaos Abyss would even reward them. If they didn’t perform well, they would naturally die out on their own. However, every God in the Order Faction was intricately connected.

The Order Faction was just like a highly disciplined corporation. There would be a CEO, secretaries, ordinary workers, and so on. There would be only one position available for each role. If you had a position, you would receive numerous benefits such as a Divine Concept(s), power through belief, a Divine Kingdom, a personal army of angels, and so on. But if you lost your position, you would naturally lose everything.

As for why I said it was incredibly cruel? That was because it was impossible for anyone to forever stand at the peak. Since Gods would be promoted, there were naturally other Gods that would fall in status.

The Holy War, the weakening of the species a God represented, the change in belief, war between Gods, and so on all contributed to various Gods losing their positions. The Gods of the Order Faction had changed countless times already. And for Gods who had ascended purely through the power of belief in them, they would be unable to maintain their own existences anymore if they lost their position. The more powerful the belief in the God was, the more powerful the backlash would be if they lost their believers.

Either the God would have to be willing to sacrifice everything and start all over from the very beginning, or they would have to be willing to sink into an eternal hibernation that very few Gods would ever be able to wake up from. But if the God chose to start over again from the very beginning, it was likely that they would have to be reincarnated as a newborn first.

As for the older-generation Gods that had ascended through their own power, they would still be seriously weakened if they lost their divine position. However, they had stronger foundational strength, so they could still survive as long as they made some sacrifices. These Gods would also still possess the knowledge and foundation necessary to return to the peak. But, naturally, the new Gods who stepped on them wouldn’t give them any easy chances to recover. So, perhaps escaping to the Chaos Abyss and becoming a hermit there was indeed the best choice.

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That was because this was the place where the Order Faction was weakest, meaning that the old Gods who lost their positions would be safest here.

“Is Aloyo easy to talk to?”

[He was formerly a War God.]

Such a classical and brief response. Since Aloyo already had a Divine Concept of being a War God, this meant that those who loved war would worship him. Since when had a War God ever had a good temper?

However, this was within expectations. This would still be far preferable to searching around aimlessly. Astrya’s guidance would save me the most precious resource of all—my time.

Indeed, time. Ever since that day when Karwenz took Cynthia away from Hell and stepped out into the endless void, I kept feeling like something was off. If he had truly wanted to kill Cynthia back then, he could have done it right there in front of me. Why would he take her with him instead?

Astrya had basically confirmed by now that Cynthia wasn’t actually dead yet. There was also something wrong with the Chaos Abyss itself. I didn’t know what Karwenz was doing out there, but it definitely wouldn’t be anything good.

Although our Hell Faction was the winner of the battle of Hell, Karwenz probably won even more as he obtained his freedom from Cynthia due to our plan to establish Hell.

Well, I wasn’t the type to cry over spilled milk. It had also been impossible for me to stop Karwenz back then.

No matter what I met with in the future, speedily becoming stronger was definitely the best choice back then.

For me, rather than sighing about how insufficiently strong I was or how ridiculously powerful the enemy was, I far preferred to prepare as much as I possibly could for any catastrophe I knew about beforehand. As long as I strengthened myself to the maximum extent possible, I would be able to confidently face any opponent out there.

Another use of Astrya’s information was that I decided to speed up my original plan of when to leave here. Since I now had a goal, wasting time here was now meaningless.

“I need to quickly deal with the lizardmen…”

Although the strong preyed on the weak on a daily basis in the Chaos Abyss, with countless tribes like the Blackrock dark dwarves being eliminated every day, I couldn’t just leave them alone. I had directly come across them, and also accepted their friendly intentions. I felt it would be far too cruel to simply ignore their plight.

“Come here, young dwarf. You seem to have excellent potential and an amazing constitution. You’ll surely become a rare martial arts genius. I have here a Rulai Divine Palm manual (easy to understand edition) that I’ll sell to you cheaply.”

I was saying something that sounded like it would be right out of a cultivation novel. However, this time I was giving the dwarves something they could actually understand rather than a far too esoteric manual.

Basic swordsmanship, personal cultivation advice, some common dwarf combat tactics used in the mortal plane, the teachings of Law, and commonly used Law Incantations. These were all personally written by me with my own understandings. I suppose you could call them my personal technique manuals. At the very least, they would really be useful to the dark dwarves.

Since I liked them enough, I would naturally help them out. As for the lizardmen…

“Rather than trying to convince Little Red to give up on the treasure and leave immediately, it will be far easier to help her obtain the treasure she wants first. At any rate, after taking care of the lizardmen, these dark dwarves won’t be able to run, nor will they dare to not pay me… We’re going out now. You three, don’t even think about running away. I just happen to need some cannon fodder. It will also be troublesome to leave you here.”

Those three black dragons were playing dead, but I decided to take all of them along with me.

“We shall set out to fight against evil! We won’t return unless we eliminate this evil!”

Of course we wouldn’t return unless we eliminated the “evil” lizardmen. Why would we return if we couldn’t win? There would be no payment to receive. If we won, we would return to collect our payment. If we lost, we would simply run away.

I summoned Holy Light and made a heroic pose. This alone made the dark dwarves incredibly grateful.

“Right, first help me prepare three days’ worth of food that I can take with me on the road. I’ve had enough of the demonized creatures’ stinky meat. What are you looking at? Heroes of justice don’t need to eat?”

I told this to that heroic dwarf cook from earlier. He actually intended to follow me to the battlefield with his pot and ladle.