Enlil's response

  Karl witnessed the scene where Nietzsche rushed into the sky to challenge the divine Enlil, and he had a strong feeling that Nietzsche seemed to have known he would come, deliberately waiting for him to appear at that moment, just wanting to let him see it, as if through this scene to tell him something.

  Nietzsche may have wanted to prove something important, seek some kind of answer, but this madman had no way of uttering the proven result with his own mouth, so he needed a bystander to discover the wonder from it. Why did Nietzsche choose Zarathustra? Because there was no one more suitable than Zarathustra, he was the only great magician who would appear there.

  Was it truly Enlil who created this great flood? Why did the god do such a thing? Galzu came to the empty main hall of the temple of Syria with an unshakeable doubt, and knelt down in front of the tall statue of Enlil: "Great god, great Enlil, please tell your believer, why did the flood that surrounded the city come? Why would Duji Town disappear?"

  As he prayed, Song Lie suddenly had a strange feeling, as if there was a pressure on his shoulders. The statue in the center of the great hall seemed to have come alive and was staring at him with its head bowed. If it were before today, under the gaze of the statue, Song Lie would only feel peace and good fortune, filled with a sense of glory. But now it was completely different, he felt a chilling fear, still gripping his staff tightly as he prayed, secretly mobilizing all his strength to prepare for a strike.

  Kale's staff was made of the finest hundred-year-old walnut core, with neat and beautiful grain, and had a layer of luster after being held in his hand for many years. The front end of the staff was inlaid with an Earth Eye, but it was cleverly wrapped in wood grain without any trace, making it look like an old man's cane, but exceptionally noble and exquisite.

  "My temple priest, my devout follower, why do you wield power during prayer, do you harbor hostility towards me?"

  A thunderous voice suddenly echoed in Galen's mind, it was Enlil speaking! Galen bowed his head, kneeling on the ground with an unusually respectful demeanor, but his hands did not loosen their grip on the staff. In his soul, he spoke to the voice: "Enlil, my god of gods, was it you who destroyed Duc Town? Was it you who surrounded Syria City with floodwaters? I just want to know the answer."

  "It was the flood that destroyed the town of Duk, it was the heavy rain that brought the flood, it was the warm and moist wind from the ocean meeting with the air current circling over the Assyrian plateau that caused the heavy rain, it was my power that made the air current circle over the plateau, it was my anger that guided the thunder at the edge of the clouds." The god replied to his question in a stern but flat tone, almost devoid of emotion.

  The answer seemed to have a deeper meaning, and Ge Lie fell silent for a moment, as if thinking deeply about something. Finally, he let out a sigh and said: "The flood has already arrived at the foot of Xuya City, oh god, I took out all the divine stones in the city and laid down a large array. If you can protect this city and make the disaster that swept through Xuya State retreat, I will offer them all as sacrifices to you."

  "Enlil's voice was tinged with mockery: 'Offerings? This is the temple where I am worshipped, and have I ever taken any wealth from the temple? It is you priests and ministers who accept the offerings made in my name. How ridiculous! And now you bring up offerings - do you think that divine spirits can be bought off with human riches?"

  "Gloriously and reverently, I answer: Great Enlil, this is not bribery but a plea. If the flood is inevitable to destroy Utnapishtim's city, then this divine array will be the last defense of the city wall. This is not in defiance of the gods, but in protection of those who offer sacrifices to the gods here, the faith of tens of thousands of people, no matter where this flood comes from."

  In the city of Xuya, no one understood the meaning of Ge Lie's arrangement of all the divine stone rings on the city wall to form a divine array. In theory, the power of such a large array was beyond anyone's control, even if all the divine masters in the city were concentrated together. But Ge Lie only required that the divine array be arranged, just enough to activate all the divine stones and merge with the divine array.

  He's gambling, betting that even Enriel can't forcibly take away the Divine Stone!

  Above the flooded Duckburg, Ge Lei saw many divine stones being lifted into the clouds by a strange force, guessing that the gods might be using the divine stones to cast powerful spells. The power of this spell was so great that it may have required many divine stones to assist or make up for it.

  The city-state of Syria was the most important source of divine stones for the Hittite Kingdom, and many divine stones had been stored in the temple over the years. The treasury of the Ministry of Finance also had tax revenue belonging to the kingdom, which Song Lie took out. He attempted to negotiate with the gods, if the power of the gods could make the flood recede immediately, then these divine stones would be given to the gods.

  If not, the divine array can protect the city wall, and the divine stone in the activated state cannot be taken away by others' magic power, even if it is a god. The divine stone can be inlaid on the staff, defeating a divine technique master can take away his staff, but when two people are fighting with divine techniques, one divine technique master cannot directly take away the divine stone on another divine technique master's staff, it is integrated with the power of the divine technique master.

  Enril suddenly fell silent, and Ge Lie crawled on the ground quietly waiting. After a long time, he heard the voice of the gods ringing again, echoing with laughter in the void: "Poor priest, I don't know how you will face your faith in your heart? You don't understand the gods. The people here revere and worship me. I won't take away those divine stones on the city wall. That's the wealth accumulated by the entire city-state over many years. If I do that, everyone will resent and alienate me. Do you want me to destroy the dignity of the temple myself?"

  "But what about Du Ke Town? No one survived in the flood!" Ge Lie shouted in his soul.

  "The flood is my blessing to the city of Syria! I will hear the cheers of the masses, and my temple will be flooded with waves of grateful believers. You will soon understand all this... As for the town of Duk, are you asking me why I didn't save them from the flood? Why should I have saved them? ... How ridiculous that I would explain such a trivial matter to a mere mortal like you!"

  Enril's voice said a few words, and at the same time, a piece of information suddenly appeared in Gure's mind, containing all kinds of sounds and images, which was a series of tragedies that occurred in Douke Town.

  "Enlil, have you seen? They have abandoned the divine decrees of the guardian gods. Muul has no reason to preserve it anymore, so I will bless that land anew. The flood is my blessing, but people cannot only ask for the blessings of the gods; I do not need to save the wicked from the flood." Enlil's voice rose again, like an irresistible verdict.

  The song suddenly woke up after a long time, struggling and asking another sentence: "But the entire town of Deke was destroyed, there must be innocent people."

  Enlil's voice became scornful: "When wickedness spreads to every corner, the flood will not distinguish who is innocent. I have no need to save the wicked from the flood, nor do I need to rescue what you call the innocent. In my eyes, they all belong to the tribe of Uruk and have abandoned the protection of the divine decree."

  "Mortals' short lives will all end in death, the only difference is in what way. Don't forget that they are all members of Du Ke Town, each with their own responsibilities to bear. They should blame themselves for the disasters brought by their own kind, and also ask themselves what they have done to make amends. If ultimately unable to make amends, then the entire ship will be destroyed."

  The words of the gods were not easy to understand, and Enlil astonishingly said that the flood was his blessing, and Utnapishtim's town was not worth saving from the disaster. Gilgamesh finally raised his head and asked: "Great god, did you bring this flood?"

  "Enril said coldly: 'I won't answer such a foolish and ignorant question again!'"

  "So what will become of the fate of Syria City?"

  "Ask yourself!" he said, and with that, he fell silent. Galen felt the oppressive gaze of the idol lift - the god was gone.

  Kalel remained silent for a long time in the temple, carefully savoring the words of the divine spirit. He also meticulously recalled the scene where Nietzsche rushed towards the sky and pondered every detail he saw in the flood. What did Nietzsche want to tell him? And what did Enlil mean? He meditated alone for one night, and when a faint light appeared on the horizon, he suddenly understood some things.

  Enlil merely initiated a heavy rain, and what Gilgamesh saw with his own eyes was probably just the simplest air magic, yet it contained almost boundless divine power. Enlil used his divine power to change the direction of the airflow swirling over the Assyrian plateau, causing it to collide with the warm, moist winds blowing in from the ocean, thereby triggering continuous torrential rains.

  The divine being on the cloud only manipulated the storm and lightning, when the high-altitude air flow collided to form a natural whirlpool, it was no longer necessary for him to use his divine power, this rainstorm would directly fall until the end. To stop the heavy rain, it would take even greater divine power than to start it. Enlil only started it, and did not intend to spend more power to stop it.

  In the quiet temple, Galen's body was trembling as if he were ill. He looked pale and cold, but his face was flushed bright red. As the chief priest of the Enlil Temple in the city-state of Syria, who had sworn an oath before the gods and was a great magician, he only had three choices to make in this situation -

  One is to sincerely proclaim the miracle of Enlil, believing without hesitation what the divine spirit says, this is a blessing for the city-state of Syria, washing away the sins of Duk Town. What Enlil describes as a disaster being a blessing refers to something that Goro has already guessed some clues about. If so, Goro is still the same Goro as before, and nothing has changed. But he can't forget the scene where the old madman rushed into the sky, that scene has been deeply imprinted on his soul.

  Secondly, he would be betraying Enriel. This would go against his vows and beliefs, and when his faith wavers, his magical abilities might also suffer a severe blow, or even lose their power.

  Three is the most difficult to achieve, he must calmly and rationally look at all this, review his life and various experiences with others, and reach a higher state of transcendence without disturbing his mind. Song Lie thought of the records in the divine technique book, and the final ninth-level achievement that the divine technique master had to face was the last test that he could not understand. Is it just this meaning? This is too difficult, it will almost swallow the soul!

  No one knows how Ge Lie spent that night in the temple, or how he prayed to the gods. When he walked out of the temple at dawn, people found that this noble and great god's technique master was carrying an indescribable fatigue, with a deep sense of helplessness still hidden in his eyes.

  "The gods have already given their oracle, this is the trial that our city faces. After the flood, there will be blessings. But whether we can welcome those blessings depends on ourselves. Don't ask what the gods have bestowed upon us, come with me to the city wall to defend against this flood, this is our resistance!" Ge Lie said this to everyone, then holding his staff, he climbed up onto the city tower.

  When the tide came to the city wall again, the water had already flooded the city wall for more than two people, and it was still slowly rising. Looking out, there was a vast expanse of exceptionally clean water, and the city of Syria was like a huge isolated boat protected by the city wall in the floodwaters. The city wall looked very solid, but the water outside the city was higher than the ground inside the city, and it would withstand increasingly enormous lateral pressure, after all, the city wall built in this arid region was not a dam.

  The weak parts of the wall may not be able to withstand this pressure, and as the time of water immersion gets longer and the pressure difference caused by the water level gets bigger, some sections of the city wall will become soft and collapse or leak. At this time, the magic array played a role, connecting the entire circle of the city wall into one body, either collapsing completely or persisting intact until the end.

  Ge Lei slowly walked around the city-state, the Earth's Pupil in his staff unleashing divine power, using the simplest yet most useful earth-element divine technique to reinforce every section of the city wall. For now, he couldn't think about anything else, nor was it possible for him to think about anything else, and could only consider two things: whether the final height of the flood would overflow the lowest part of the city wall, and whether the floodwaters could recede before his strength was exhausted?

  The great magician had not rested for several days and nights, his slow footsteps circling the city never stopped, with a solemn and devout expression on his face, but his eyes seemed to have a sparkling light flashing in them from time to time, occasionally looking up at the eastern sky.

  ……

  In the distant east, in the depths of the mountains and plateaus of the Youdu River Valley, a tribe of cave-dwelling savages was also wailing in grief. This "divine being" was not an actual god like Enlil, but was regarded by the tribe as a "messenger of the gods", with some even reverently referring to him as "Amon".

  Wails echoed from the large cave with a burning fire, and Lin Ke, the tribe's leader, and his people exchanged glances, none of them daring to go over and disturb. Only Xue Dingyuan crouched at the entrance, gazing at Ah Meng with an unusual gaze filled with pity.

  **