Chapter 618: The Haruki Squad’s Decision

While waiting to regain his strength, hidden in the darkest and filthiest regions at the bottom of the lower realms, Oscar unexpectedly discovered this source of evil as a pleasant surprise.
Yet even someone as evil as him could not directly absorb its power; he could only use it as an auxiliary tool to avoid being corrupted by its evil will and ultimately going completely mad.
By comprehending this existence that gathered the most evil and corrupting forces from multiple universes, and combining them with his own chaotic, evil, and destructive domain powers, the King of the Undead realized and created an unprecedented force—the Doomsday Mantra.
This was a power that even higher gods feared; each release of the Doomsday Mantra equaled the power of a strike from a high-tier divine artifact!
Yet even Oscar, who created the Doomsday Mantra, could not fully control this dangerous and powerful destructive force. He needed to regain his original strength to master both the source of evil and the power of the Doomsday Mantra.
Not even his soul could retain all of its memories—he could only remember one mantra rune at a time. After using it, he would forget that particular Doomsday Mantra and had to recall it from the rune again to use it once more. Thus, he engraved the Doomsday Mantras on his own skin as a higher god, so that he could quickly recall them after each use.
To prevent accidents during battles that might lead to forgetting, Oscar decided to record the Doomsday Mantras completely and hide them in a place only he knew about.
Due to the immense power of these mantra runes, they could not be recorded on ordinary materials or even typical immortal objects. Only the powerful remains of higher gods or rare high-tier divine materials could bear the Doomsday runes.
So, Oscar stripped off his skin, which was equivalent to that of a higher god, and used it to craft a divine artifact called the Book of Doomsday, in which all the Doomsday Mantras were recorded. This way, even if the runes on his original body were lost accidentally, they could be retrieved. But plans often go awry—now, this supposedly foolproof record had fallen into Donald’s hands!
“If I can master this power, I’ll have another major trump card in addition to those two high-tier divine artifacts. After all, it’s better not to reveal the existence of high-tier divine artifacts!” Donald’s avatar analyzed.

The main body smiled and said, “I already have an idea for this. It’s better to create a new avatar now—this one has no value left for repair!” With that, it drew out a thread of its own will from the avatar. Although it was still engaging in self-conversation, which it found interesting, the avatar’s vessel could no longer hold up. After extracting its true divine will, the saintly avatar collapsed completely. Donald immediately created another vessel using the summoning altar and infused it with will again. “Maintaining a body on the verge of collapse isn’t exactly an interesting experience. I remember there are still some matters in the main world that need my attention!” With that, Donald’s avatar left the divine realm in an instant. Outside the Ash Forest in the main world, the Hakli Adventure Team had been camping there for hours. “Captain! I think that mage won’t be able to return! The depths of the Ash Forest are a forbidden area even immortal demigods avoid. As powerful as he may be, he’s just a Grand Golden Mage—at best, he’ll perish along with those terrifying undead!” Scarred Jason clearly wasn’t optimistic about the mysterious mage and tried to persuade Hakli. The young thief Nick also said, “The mage has been in the Withering Gorge for so long. Aside from the meteor shower earlier, we haven’t seen any other activity. Captain, do you think the mage is in danger?” As for the cold-faced female hunter Moses, she, as usual, remained silent—she had no opinion on the matter and would support whatever the others decided. Hakli was also hesitant, but then thought of it as a rare opportunity. Given their backgrounds, they had little hope of encountering a powerful and amiable mage. Even if they did, it would likely be some lowly bronze-tier figures they wouldn’t even get to meet. “This is a rare chance. What if that mage returns and we leave out of impatience? We’d regret it forever. Besides, there’s no danger here, and we’ve already completed our mission. It doesn’t matter if we wait another day. If he still hasn’t returned by tomorrow, we’ll go to the town guild to hand in our task!” Hearing the captain’s words, the others had no objections. At that moment, a clear voice rang out. “Are you waiting here for me to come out?” There, once again, was the figure in the gray robe, silently appearing outside their temporary camp. “Mage sir?”

“Great, you’re back…”
Apart from the female hunter, whose expression relaxed slightly, the other three all looked surprised. They truly were happy about the return of this mysterious mage!
Feeling the sincere thoughts of these adventurers, Donald’s avatar, who had returned to the Ash Forest in the main world, was quite satisfied.
So he spoke up, “You waited for me here. Clearly, you have some request. Go ahead and tell me. If it’s not too much trouble, I might just agree!”
“This…”
Seeing that this powerful mage had figured out their intentions, the adventurers hesitated.
In the end, Harkley overcame his reservations and stepped forward with utmost sincerity, performing a knightly salute.
“We hope to become your followers and offer our loyalty. As long as you don’t abandon us, we will stay by your side for life!”
Donald nodded.
“I see!”
After Harkley spoke, they all looked at Donald with hope, even the cold-faced female hunter.
But Donald said, “Becoming my followers isn’t that simple. Not only loyalty is required, but also faith! Apart from those who already worship Ciri, you all probably need to change your faith. Can you do that?”
This was because Donald appreciated this adventure party, though not very strong in combat, for their admirable spirit and overall competence, which was why he set such conditions.
After all, under his leadership, no unstable factors were allowed.
Sometimes, a person’s faith can change many things. Some fanatics would even kill their own parents and relatives without hesitation for the sake of their faith.
So even if they didn’t believe in his true god or that of his allies and subordinates, it was better if they were atheists, so as to avoid future problems.
Upon hearing Donald’s conditions, the team members all hesitated.
Indeed, some nobles would have requirements regarding their followers’ faith—such as converting to their own true god or being atheists with free belief.
But it was rare for mages to make such demands, as most mages were atheists, or rather, they believed in magic and truth rather than any specific deity!
Such conditions were hard to accept. Especially for the thief Nick, who already had a faith—though not very devout, his beliefs hadn’t been easily changed over a decade.

Their captain, Harkley, and the team’s only female member, the hunter Moses, were both descendants of the traditional Banai Empire—meaning they were both unbelievers. Though thousands of years had passed, they still had little resistance to believing in a true god, but it depended on which god it was!
Scarred Jason didn’t need to change his beliefs, but he considered his companions’ situation, so he didn’t answer right away.
The silence lasted for a while before Harkley spoke up first, “I wonder which great lord you believe in, sir?”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Donald’s mouth beneath his hood.
“Me? No matter how powerful the gods are, they still can’t force me to believe! There’s still some business in the Ash Forest that needs my attention. Think it over here, and give me an answer when I return!”
With that, he vanished on the spot.
The members of the adventuring party, though they had seen this mysterious mage come and go several times, were still amazed, which only proved how powerful and enigmatic he was.
“What does the mage mean?”
Thief Nick, confused by Donald’s words, looked at his idolized captain in bewilderment.
Harkley and Scarred Jason also didn’t understand his meaning, but Moses, who usually stayed silent, suddenly thought of a shocking possibility.
“Do you think what the mage said—that no gods can force him to believe—means he might be one of them?”
“How is that possible?”
The lively Nick exclaimed in shock.
But after initial surprise, Harkley and Scarred Jason grew more convinced of this possibility.
“Maybe…”
“It’s indeed possible. You know, the immortal true gods can descend and take incarnations in the main world. Though it’s rare, you’ve all heard the stories told by bards—when a saint comes to the world, mortals who meet them may become powerful!”
After hearing Scarred Jason’s words, though they weren’t sure, their thoughts increasingly leaned toward this possibility.
“If that’s really the case, believing in this lord might be a good choice. At least he doesn’t seem like one of those evil gods!”
As the captain, Harkley was the first to express his thoughts.
Nick said worriedly, “But if I change my beliefs, Old Habi will probably be very sad!”

The others all knew Nick was referring to his teacher, a retired adventurer who had trained him to become a thief. However, given the situation, it was not appropriate to say anything; instead, they looked at his sister Moses. It was only right for her to speak up in this case.
“The old man just imposed his beliefs on you, hoping you would achieve greatness in the future. If he knew you could get such a good opportunity, even if he didn’t want to, he would still be proud of you!”
Sure enough, as soon as Moses spoke to advise him, Nick, who wasn’t originally a devout believer in the god of thieves, immediately felt relieved, already leaning toward the new faith he didn’t know much about.