"So, our next target is to take down the Giant King, Aurmir?"
At a banquet in the Second Epoch, Lynn took a sip of grape juice, thoughtfully asking this question. By the way, Lynn had already grown into a young man at this point.
For Lynn, who had mastered some of the Sage Pathway's abilities, changing his human form and growing up was not difficult. Previously, he had maintained a child's form only for ceremonial reasons. Now, 100 years had passed, and even little Red had grown up, so Lynn naturally had to grow as well.
"Yes, that is indeed the plan," Sasrir nodded with a smile.
Unlike Medici, who had undergone significant changes, the Dark Angel didn't look much different from when Lynn had fallen asleep. The only difference seemed to be that the dark circles under his eyes had faded a bit.
'Perhaps the Ancient Sun God had finally grown a conscience?' Lynn thought uncertainly, casually remarking, "I thought we would target the dragon first. The Uniqueness of the White Tower and the Visionary should both be in Ankewelt's hands, right? Hmm, now that I think about it, I do have a grudge against that Dragon of Nightmares..."
Lynn couldn't help but smile at this point.
It really was a grudge. The Dragon of Nightmares, who was nominally the son of the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, but was actually a split-off of his being, had died at Lynn's hands, and Lynn had even turned its Characteristic into a quill for his daily psychological treatment.
Sasrir evidently also thought of the Dragon of Nightmares that Lynn had made into a quill, and a subtle smile appeared on his face as he sipped his wine, hinting, "Others will think the same way, and as for Aurmir, we've already made some arrangements."
Lynn paused for a moment, then immediately understood.
In simple terms, this was a strategy that exploited others' thought patterns. Although the gods might not be aware of the existence of the Outer Gods, they would still be drawn to devouring beings of similar sequences due to the laws of Beyonder Characteristics' Convergence to one another. This was demonstrated in the original work by the actions of the Elf King.
Given this premise, just as Lynn instinctively believed that the Ancient Sun God's next target should be the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, others would naturally think the same. Thus, Ankewelt would be more vigilant, guarding against an attack from the Ancient Sun God, while the Giant King Aurmir might be comparatively lax.
This presented a perfect opportunity for the Ancient Sun God's camp.
At the same time, Lynn could roughly guess what Sasrir meant by "arrangements." If taking down the Dragon of Imagination Ankewelt was purely the responsibility of the Ancient Sun God's camp, then dealing with the Giant King Aurmir clearly involved natural allies, such as the Evernight Goddess and the Blood Ancestor Lilith, who was currently in a state of feigned death and would eventually take over the role of the Goddess of Harvest.
These two also had cooperative relationships with the Ancient Sun God's camp and had always maintained good relations. In this matter, they naturally opposed the Giant King Aurmir and would undoubtedly contribute significantly once the Ancient Sun God initiated the attack.
With this, their side would effectively have the combined combat power of a half-Outer God and two Sequence 0 Beyonders, making the task of killing the Giant King Aurmir much easier.
Lynn also thought of the future God of Combat, Badheil, the son of the Giant King, who was known to have maintained good relations with the Ancient Sun God's camp during the collaboration between the Giants and the Ancient Sun God's camp. Furthermore, Badheil was later confirmed to have joined the Rose Redemption in the original work. The most critical point was that Lynn had always been curious about where Badheil's God of Combat Uniqueness had come from.
After all, the Giant King Aurmir was said to have died at the hands of the Ancient Sun God in the original story, so how could his son Badheil inherit his father's Uniqueness and then join the Rose Redemption?
The most likely scenario that Lynn could think of was that Badheil, this seemingly trustworthy "filial son," had played a major role in betraying his father.
Considering the madness characteristic of the Ancient Gods, this was not surprising. While normal deities might have some familial warmth between them and their offspring, the Ancient Gods certainly did not. Many Ancient Gods had killed their own offspring without hesitation, so it was hard to say that the Giant King Aurmir was a good father.
Even if the Giant King Aurmir was indeed a good father, it didn't necessarily mean he was a good father to Badheil. After all, the Giant King Aurmir didn't have just one child. It was mentioned in the original story that the Giant King Aurmir had another younger son named Bladel, who was also Sequence 2. With both an elder son and a younger son, it was hard to tell which child was favored more.
In such a situation, Badheil's decision to join forces with the Ancient Sun God to backstab his father made perfect sense.
Especially since Lynn remembered that in the original story, it was mentioned that Badheil didn't seem to be very popular among the Giants, his own people.
Once the Giant King Aurmir was dead, the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, would be isolated and would easily fall to the Ancient Sun God's camp. Especially considering that Ankewelt had a natural traitor by his side—the future God of Knowledge and Wisdom, currently the Dragon of Wisdom, Herabergen.
Lynn didn't believe that Herabergen only defected to the Ancient Sun God after the death of the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt. Many beings had defected to the Ancient Sun God; why else would Herabergen have become one of the eight Kings of Angels? There must have been some contribution!
Lynn even suspected that Herabergen had already secretly pledged loyalty to the Ancient Sun God and was merely lying low within the Dragon of Imagination's camp. While the Dragon of Imagination possessed the Uniqueness of the Visionary Pathway, its insane state likely meant it couldn't fully utilize it, making it unclear whether it could detect that Herabergen was already preparing to betray.
"In that case, it does make sense to target the Giants first," Lynn nodded, took another sip of grape juice, and then, as if remembering something, asked, "By the way, before I fell asleep, Sun God had us go to the Giant King's Court partly to search for the Uniqueness of the Hermit Pathway, right? Did you manage to find it later?"
Lynn was genuinely curious about this matter since it concerned his promotion.
"The Uniqueness of the Hermit Pathway is indeed in the Giant King's Court," Sasrir nodded, then showed an apologetic smile and said, "I'm sorry, but that Uniqueness is in the hands of the Giant King Aurmir, and I couldn't bring it back for you."
"No worries, that's not your fault," Lynn waved his hand dismissively. He wouldn't blame Sasrir for not bringing back the Hermit Uniqueness for him, but he did stroke his chin thoughtfully, "The Hermit Uniqueness is with Aurmir? I didn't notice that when I last saw him..."
"He hasn't assimilated the Hermit Uniqueness," Sasrir shook his head, explaining, "Probably to avoid becoming even more insane, Aurmir is only using the Hermit Uniqueness as a tool, without assimilating it."
Though Ancient Gods were insane, they weren't entirely devoid of reason. Otherwise, they wouldn't have removed non-adjacent Characteristics through childbirth. So, even though Aurmir had the Hermit Uniqueness, he hadn't chosen to assimilate it.
After all, forcibly assimilating non-adjacent Uniqueness, while it could enhance Aurmir's combat power, would also drive him further into madness. Moreover, the increased combat power wouldn't reach a transformative level, making it not worth the risk.
(End of Chapter)
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