Chapter 193 — Realization

"I’m quite curious... Are you the remnant will of those sacrificed beasts or a completely new individual with their own consciousness and free will?", Liora asked.

Her question caught the illusory silhouette off guard. It was left stunned.

This person had expected many things.

It had predicted that Liora would show disbelief and question whether the images on the murals had been tampered with, why it had decided to present them to her, or even why she should trust its words.

But it had never expected that she would ask such a question.

It took a few seconds for this person to recover. Once it did, it lightly shook its head.

"It doesn’t matter who or what I am. All I know is that I have my own mission. I’m willing to do everything in my power as long as this world and the beast race are saved.", it replied, its voice indifferent and devoid of any emotion.

For this, Liora didn’t comment, instead choosing to remain silent.

She merely nodded her head as if she truly believed these words, though it remained to be known if that was true.

"You mentioned the term ’Outsiders’ before. I understand that the woman on the mural is one of them. Has there been any other being that attempted to invade this world?", she decided to change the subject.

"I was about to tell you this. It’s just that this part of history has not been engraved on the murals yet.", the illusory being responded.

"After my birth, I was briefly able to overwhelm the humans. With my own strength, I could suppress the Founding Emperor and the other powerful individuals among the human race."

"However, just then, another being arrived in this world..."

Following its later explanation, Liora understood.

She knew that the being that this person was referring to was actually the True Devil that she had encountered several times before.

Perhaps he had sensed the weakness of this world, or perhaps it was an unfortunate coincidence, but the True Devil targeted this world and chose to descend into it.

Due to the Will of the World’s need to keep the Zerg at bay and prevent her from escaping, the True Devil faced little suppression and quickly regained most of his strength.

At that time, this person—the amalgamation of the powerful beasts—personally stepped forward and fought against him.

In the end, the two were seriously injured and fell into a slumber.

This person didn’t know what happened to the True Devil afterwards.

All it knew was that it had awakened a couple of decades ago, only to find that the human race had completely overpowered the beasts and pushed the Ancient Beast Wilderness further back.

The only reason they had not destroyed the wilderness was that they didn’t know of its actual situation and were afraid to confront it.

"But by now, the Founding Emperor should have guessed something. Of course, we wouldn’t have a long time even if he hadn’t.", the illusory being stated.

"Not long ago, I sensed a rapidly rising aura from the territory of the humans. I’m afraid that the Founding Emperor is extremely close to advancing further."

"When he does, and cooperating with that woman, he will be able to break her seal and allow for her return to reality."

The creature’s explanation fell on Liora’s ears.

Coupled with the murals she had just seen, an outline of what had occurred formed in her mind.

The world of Knights was originally populated by beasts, who, like the human stories mentioned, kept other races in captivity. That was until the appearance of the Zerg Hive, a being that wished to invade this world and devour it.

During the struggle between the Zerg and the Will of the World, the former was sealed away in a secret place, while the latter was severely weakened.

But the seal was unable to truly contain the Zerg Hive.

The Founding Emperor somehow managed to establish contact with her, and using her power, he rose to fight against the beasts.

"The rest is history. The beasts were unable to fight back and had to create this amalgamation of beasts. But due to an accident, the True Devil arrived and forced it into a slumber, allowing humans to regain their original advantage."

Then came the present, with a delicate balance existing between humans and beasts, which, if this creature’s words were to be trusted, would soon be broken.

Liora had no way of truly confirming these things.

She could only cross-check everything with the information that she had previously gathered and see if there were any obvious loopholes.

In the end, though she still had doubts, she felt that most of it made sense. At the same time, this story gave an answer to one of her first and most important questions.

"If I’m not wrong, Eleanor should possess the favor of this world. Most likely, the Will of the World sensed the impeding danger and wanted to make a last struggle.", Liora thought.

"This is the reason why Eleanor possesses such strange abilities. At the same time, it is most likely the reason behind my arrival in this world..."

Otherwise, how could Eleanor succeed in summoning her?

"Does this world wish to use me, an outsider, to break the delicate balance and seek a ray of hope?"

"Inviting a Devil into one’s home sounds stupid, but it makes sense considering the dire situation of this world..."

Countless thoughts raced through Liora’s mind, but less than a mere moment had passed in reality.

The illusory being did not know that she had considered so many things, nor did it realize that its words had made her gain a deeper understanding of everything.

It gave Liora a few seconds to digest this information before it pointed to the darkness hidden within the stone gate.

"This is the center of this world and the place where its World Origin is most concentrated."

"Hehe.", it chuckled:

"When the Zerg breaks free, it will surely take advantage of the world’s weakness and rush here to devour it."