It turns out that in the vast majority of cases, hell is not unrecognizable: it's just that by the time you become aware of its existence, you're often already in the pit of hell.

And for Conrad and Bayard now, this is the case: the gates of hell have long been opened to them in reality, and they have even walked a long distance in them, only to realize that those hovering around them are real nightmares.

And there is nothing they can do: they can only face it.

After arriving at a Terra standard at the top of the mountain, Morgan and Alpharis never sent back the latest news, but the various reconnaissance teams sent out faithfully reported back what they had seen, and the champion swordsman listened to these words of fear and trembling, and weaved an abominable mural in his mind.

Corpses, Residues, Experimental ...... The products that transcend any of the moral bottom lines and cognitive dimensions of human beings are mentioned one by one in the report, and those blasphemous atrocities that are enough to be personally noticed by the Lord of mankind and excommunicated are actually a bit gentle and drizzly in Bayar's eyes at this moment.

He even understood the fearful look in the report.

In fact, according to common sense, Astarte would not feel fear, or rather, there are very few things in the galaxy that can cause them to fear, but this time, the situation is obviously exceptional, and as the reports of the various teams flow into the ears of Bayar, the first Dawnbreaker, who has been serving in the legion for at least two hundred and sixty years, finally recalls the word that is too old for him.

Fear.

Really, fear.

"Bayar, it's me, can you hear me?"

The first to send back a message was Orlando the Evangelist, an old partner of champion swordsmen who had been fighting side by side for at least two hundred years, leading the way in exploring the most remote and dangerous caverns.

"Okay, Orlando, did you find anything there?"

"I'd rather not have it."

The preacher muttered and grumbled.

"But, how can I tell you: I did find a lot of things here, and this place is a very strange place, and although its entrance may not look big, it is an astonishingly complex underground network, I suspect that it may have been a transportation hub or a warehouse or something, and ...... The stench is tangy. ”

"And then, what did you find: don't tell me you're patronizing the geological survey."

The Champion Swordsman gripped his blade as he held the communicator as he surveyed the warriors who remained beside him, calculating the minimum amount of time he could support each squad.

"I did make some discoveries, but I'm not sure if you wanted to hear what I had to say...... Stuff. ”

"It's actually a modern grave, or corpse disposal plant: behind every door we opened, there were piles of corpses, preserved by some unknown method, so I couldn't be sure when they died."

"These corpses are aliens, every alien you can imagine: Eldar, Greenskin, Kluth, Lady Kra, Osiris Psionics, Herud, Randan, Wormmen, Honkrit, Beastmen, Ogli and Letherin, as well as Skull, Talupus, and Basmemanik: damn it, I remember that these guys should have been completely wiped out!"

"Also: these guys are basically missing arms and legs, and a lot of their limbs have been removed, and some have been amputated to other xenomorph corpses: but the number is seriously not right, I don't know why."

"Are you sure you're right?"

"I'm willing I'm mistaken, but in the last fifteen minutes, I've recognized no less than two hundred xenomorphs, about a tenth of which were completely wiped out at the beginning of the Great Expedition: I think you know what that means, Bayar?

“…… Of course. ”

The champion swordsman blinked, he didn't immediately muster up the courage to answer this sentence, but Conrad on the side interjected, and there was a hint of clarity in his tone.

"I remember that brother of mine was one of the first Genoplasms to return to the Empire, second only to Horus and Riemanrus, and was in charge of the early days of the Great Expedition?"

Bayard nodded.

"Yes, my lord, that man is the third returning Genotype, and he and his legion have lived through the fifty standard years of the most rapid expansion of the Great Expedition in the early days of the Great Expedition: if he wanted to, his footsteps would span the galaxy and handle every opponent we've ever faced."

"And the appearance of these things also shows that he has a different heart......"

"It's terrible early."

Midnight Ghost recharged.

"That's not good."

Conrad grinned, but there was not the slightest hint of a smile in his pitch-black pupils.

On the other side, the Orlando team's exploration continued, shivering, cold breathing coming from the communicator, and the elites of the Dawnbreakers boldly went deeper and deeper along the dark passage, whispering their new discoveries from time to time.

Conrad, on the other hand, was keenly aware of the changes in these discoveries: as the team went deeper, the more they found things that seemed to tend to be those of the Enslavers or creatures of the Mind Control.

It wasn't until they had groped their way to what resembled the end of the road, or the final storage place, that Oran's voice suddenly stopped, and he fell into a long silence on the other side of the communicator, until Bayard called out uneasily. The preacher swallowed his saliva in hindsight: by the time he opened his mouth again, his voice had become a kind of uncertain confusion.

"What's going on over there, Orlando?"

"No, nothing, I just found a new enslaver. A creature far greater than I had ever imagined: tell me, Bayar, how big is the largest of the enslavers we have met before...... How big are these bastards in general? ”

The Champion Swordsman furrowed his eyebrows, he didn't think that his old fellow, who had served faithfully for 200 years, would forget the appearance of such an impressive opponent. But he replied to him anyway.

"In general, enslavers are subspace creatures that are two to four meters tall. Their tentacles will be about 1.5 meters, but there is no shortage of larger individuals, and their psionic power will often increase exponentially. ”

At this point, Bayard was sluggish, and he wanted to give an example, but found that he couldn't think of any good examples for a while, until Conrad on the side reminded him.

"In the Battle of the Akupilin Abyss 23 years ago, the Shadow Moon Wolf Legion once encountered an interstellar civilization controlled by the enslaved, and the leader of the group of enslavers was a giant monster about 23~25 meters tall, Horus had to call his other brothers, and finally a number of genetic primitives, including Magnus, joined forces to kill this monster."

The Midnight Ghost recounted this history in a smooth manner, answering even the smallest numbers and details, which made the commander of the second company look at him in surprise: before that, Bayar's impression of Conrad was always that of the one who liked to wander around the battleship. There are not many genetic-level protogens at the level of education.

"23 meters to 25 meters."

Before the champion swordsman could be surprised, Orlando whispered from there, and the sound of him swallowing saliva and wiping beads of sweat was heard clearly.

“…… Answer me, Bayar. ”

"A 60-meter-tall enslaver. What does that mean? ”

“……”

——————

"I don't think I can answer your question: I can't do it at all."

Alfaris faced those cold and ruthless blue pupils, and tried his best to squeeze out an [honest] expression on his face, which was not a simple matter for him, after all, he was used to dealing with anything with mystery and code words, so that from the beginning, he didn't know what sincerity meant.

"I've said it before, and I can say it again now: as you think, I'm a genetic agent who hides the news of my return, but that's not what I think, the emperor and Machado are the ones who give this order directly."

"Second, Morgan, please believe me: at least this time, I did come with the sincerity of cooperation and fighting side by side, that fellow's emergency has overridden my other tasks, and solving him is the primary problem now."

"In the end, I really can't answer your answer: yes, I know more than you do, but believe me in any matter concerning subspace or divinity, no one knows more than you except the Emperor and Machado, not even Magnus."

"Your level of understanding and mastery of gods, psionic energy and subspace is amazing, maybe you don't realize it yourself, but this is indeed a fact, and it is precisely because of this that the emperor will take the initiative to talk to you about more truths: the reason why you feel that you still know nothing is that you overestimate the understanding of the Supreme Heaven in the real universe, except for those madmen, worshippers and ignorant people, any race that is aware of the truth of the subspace will not take the initiative to explore it, so the understanding of the Supreme Heaven in the real universe, It's pitifully thin. ”

"And there is even less understanding of the so-called gods, divinity, and the authority of the gods."

"Even if I know as much as I know, I can't explain what is in front of us."

As he spoke, Hydra stretched out one of his hands and shook it in the empty coldness in front of him: from the perspective of the real universe, he didn't catch anything, but in the perception of the subspace, both genetic prototypes could clearly feel that Alpharis was holding some unknown detritus, a kind of glittering creation.

They didn't know what the debris was, but they could feel the breath of the gods from it: there was no reason or clue, and the concept of a god popped into their minds when the two progenitors first observed the debris in the subspace.

"A god."

[A god who does not exist in our cognition, he is not the four.] 】

Not Vashtor, not me, not what I see in the emperor.

Morgan mentally added that she wasn't going to reveal something like this to Alphares, or rather, to anyone: not even Johnson or Conrad.

Neither of the two genogens doubted their judgment, and they immediately took a step forward, moving forward with all their might, almost ignoring everything around them, and as they pushed open another door, rows of experimental equipment and petri dishes stood side by side on both sides of the road, containing something that could shock the stars, but neither Morgan nor Alfaris had time to pay attention to these former priorities.

They broke through room after room, ignoring the monsters that were wriggling, wheezing, and even alive around them, smashing through one door after another with the most violent means, and with the deepening of an hour, a change was clearly visible in their hearts: although they could not be sure that they were in a position in the mountain, they could feel that around them, the essence of reality was trembling, whether it was material or immaterial existence, In front of the thinner and thinner curtain between the physical universe and the subspace, they all became fragile, and hallucinations began to grow from the corners of the primordial eyes, and continued to expand towards the center of the pupils, and their calm mood was shaken, like a towering giant tree whose roots were gradually decaying.

They were all aware of this: as they made their way through the thirty-third grand hall, the Primitives smashed the iron doors and stopped at the same time, morgan and Alfaris staring at each other in silence and a slightly rapid breathing, and they saw the same emotion in each other's pupils.

That's hatred.

It is a hatred for each other, unprovoked, born from the most fundamental selfishness of living beings: although there is only a trace that cannot affect them, it is extremely pure.

……

The two genoplasms looked at each other like this, and the silence lasted for about a minute. Until Alfaris let out a sharp wry smile: he first shifted his gaze to show that he had no ill intentions.

"I thought we were going to encounter a crazy army of undead, but now it looks like things may be even worse than I thought: where we can't see, Johnson and Riemannrus may actually face a god."

[Not so fast.] 】

The Spider Queen also turned her head, suppressing the anger in her pupils and continuing to walk side by side with Alfaris, only this time, their footsteps slowed and began to pay attention to the unknown danger that would emerge from nowhere.

[The ritual of a god is far more glorious and cruel than you think: even the apocalypse like the Randan War is not enough to provide for the birth of a god, and it is not even qualified to summon it. 】

“…… Are you sure? ”

[Please do not doubt me on this issue, I have the most authoritative right to speak. 】

"Okay then."

Alfaris nodded, he really didn't continue to provoke Morgan's authority, but deeply remembered the Spider Queen's words in the depths of his pupils, after all, the hidden content of this sentence was too deep.

[I'm actually more curious about another point. 】

Morgan was half a position ahead.

[Judging from the influence we have suffered, if that person really touches the periphery of the so-called gods, then it is very likely that he has usurped the power called [Hatred]: why this, and does he have anything to do with it?] 】

"If it's hatred in the broadest sense, it is."

For the first time, Hydra's gaze shifted as he looked into the oversized genetic petri dish next to him, and in the titan-like pillar of glass was a mass of flesh piled up, not like the flesh of any kind of creature, and showing a sickly grayish-black color, but other than that, it could even be called pure in form, and there was nothing strange about it: even if it was strange enough in itself.

There are many more flesh balls like this, they are piled up in three or four halls, all of which show a gray and dead appearance caused by the failure of the experiment, but the deeper they go, the rarer this dead silence becomes, and when they find the primordials into a deeper hall, the meat balls inside look like they are alive.

"Amazing progress in the experiment."

Alpharis' face was serious.

"If this is not his final base, then I have to worry more about the situation on Johnson's side, the unknown is always the most terrible opponent, especially the unknown that is crazy enough."

[More than that, I'm more curious about what that man found and what he took from him at the edge of the gods: if he really has that power, then we'd better retreat at once, and even if Johnson doesn't want to, we'll kidnap everyone.] 】

Morgan's gaze was always looking in the direction farther ahead, and her third eye was in the re-animated subspace, constantly capturing these strange fragments, which had little power or value in their own right, but they still gave the Spider Empress a kind of thing. A feeling of familiarity, and as they get deeper, the crumbs grow more and more.

If the detritus they encountered at the beginning were just bits and pieces drifting in the wind, now they are. They seemed to be approaching the epicenter of the explosion.

Upon entering the next room, the debris had filled almost the entire subspace area of the room, and Morgan even wondered if she would see a dying demigod if she pushed open another door.

But the reality is not quite what she imagined.

As soon as she approached the last iron door, a shrill cry in subspace caught all of Morgan's attention: with her third eye. The genoplasma observed the situation behind the door.

It was a dazzling white light, so pure that it was impossible to exist in the world, so dazzling that the genogen could not open her pupils, it was irregular, it was fixed, it was warm, it was cold, it seemed to be constantly absorbing the chaos, distortions, and changes around it, and then spitting out pieces of square products, like a king with a sword and a code, conquering patches of chaotic lands, turning them into docile servants at the feet of his empire.

【……】

It doesn't seem to have much to do with hatred.

Morgan couldn't help but be confused.

In her ear, Alpharis was just in time to add his own opinion.

"Listen, I have reason to believe that the man has something to do with hatred,

"He may not resent anyone, he may not contradict others because of anything, but this does not mean that he is speechless with the word hatred: on the contrary, our brother hates almost every being in the real universe and subspace in equal equality, he despises the incompetence of every individual except himself, accuses humanity of being inefficient and hopelessly as a race, and he even declares on a public occasion that if there is no emperor, human civilization will be completely doomed in a thousand years, And the galaxy will not have another ruler, because everything will come to an end in disorder, stupidity, and madness. ”

"We had always thought that this was nothing more than his angry words after repeated setbacks, but now it seems that this is really what he thinks in his heart: if he thinks so, then he has reason to hate anything in this world, and human beings are only one of them."

[Hatred from contempt? 】

"Yes, since he is strong, he has good reason and subjectivity to bully other weakling: hatred is just a more unique reason."

[But a single hatred can't support the realm of a god: the throne of every god is incomparably complex, Alpharis, a pillar can't support those twists and madness, and look at his current actions, hatred can only be the driving force, and there must be other factors that support him to do this. 】

"But we don't know."

Hydra replied briefly, in front of the thickest iron door where they were standing, silent, a fear of the immense power briefly occupied the hearts of the two genetic protogens, and were quickly banished away.

Whether it is Morgan or Alpharis, perhaps their nature is vile, vicious, and selfish, but deep down in their hearts, they do not lack the courage to fight for their lives: whatever the reason for these courages, courage is courage.

So, in the next moment, the two genetic prototypes took a step forward at the same time, pushing open the damn door: just pushing open a crack, and countless rays of light completely drowned them out. It's like the newborn sun engulfing a vampire who doesn't have time to hide in the shadows.

But the rays are harmless, or rather, they are incapable of doing their own damage, they are a swarm of headless flies, a legion without a marshal, their masters gone, and no one to direct them against the newcomers.

The Genogens didn't go any further into the room, they just watched from the doorway: it didn't matter what was inside the room, because the endless light had obscured everything, and just standing in the doorway, they could instinctively perceive the truth from the subspace waves created by these lights.

And this truth made them silent for a long time, they didn't know how to face it, or how to explain it, the new knowledge in their minds, and in the end, they could only answer each other's questions with dry questions and answers.

Alphares spoke first: he was a little more anxious than Morgan.

"There was once a god born here."

[It's not a birth, because the god didn't really appear.] He was only briefly awakened, squinting his eyes half-asleep, casting a glimpse into the real universe and shaping what we see before us. 】

"You mean, He fell asleep again?"

[Yes: A god who will be awakened in the future, it is possible that he would have awakened in this place, or cast his shadow to pave the way for his official awakening, but he did not do so, and the one who awakened him, intentionally or unintentionally, was so close to that throne that he chose to leave. 】

[Or: give up.] 】

Morgan raised a hand, and in the third eye, she saw the glittering fragments belonging to the gods: there were so many of them in this hall that they could be put together. It would be a powerful being that could easily wipe out any of the genetic protogens.

But now, He is dead. Or rather.

He was abandoned. 】

“…… Abandon? ”

[Yes.] 】

Morgan nodded, although she still hadn't done everything, but the situation in front of her had been cracked by him.

[What I'm saying next may be dreamy: but you'd better believe it.] 】

[That man, our brother, came here at some unknown time, and through some means that we do not know now, he went deep into the depths of the subspace, consciously or unintentionally touched the temple that belonged to the gods, and was extremely close to one of the thrones. 】

And these detritus before our eyes are the great body that he inadvertently formed when he touched this throne: once he sits on it, this body will become his new power, helping him to spend a long time, with the greatest war, to awaken all his power and become a true god. 】

[This is how it should ......]

[But for some reason, he finally left that throne, that temple, and this great body, because it did not have enough support and sacrifice, was completely shattered, and turned into this innumerable detritum before our eyes: after that, that man may have left this place and gone deep into the deepest depths of the dead stars. 】

“……”

“……”

"What do you mean......"

[Yes, Alpharis: Just as you imagine.] 】

He had the opportunity to become a god, or set foot on the path to becoming a god, and had an incomparably convenient treatment on this path, and was almost destined to reach the final point, destined to sit on that throne. 】

But he didn't. 】

He gave it all up. 】

He gave up being a god: for reasons we don't know. 】

[And this reason ......]

At this, Morgan's tone paused, and she felt extremely ridiculous about what she wanted to say next.

[This reason, the reason that supported him to give up the power of the gods, should be ......]

[Loyalty to the Emperor.] 】

(End of chapter)