Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 231: Chapter 230: The Hidden Masquerade Ball

The thought briefly crossed Fang Zheng’s mind before he packed it away.

Indeed, the Followers of the Crimson Realm were formidable, and the Fire Mist Warriors were strong, but they were powerless in front of the Zerg. However, Fang Zheng would not resort to this method unless absolutely necessary. Once he summoned the Swarm to this world, it would signify an invasion of this world, and by then, except for Tilia, everyone else would likely become his enemy.

Fang Zheng certainly had no intentions of becoming the target of a collective attack. Besides, turning Earth into a Zerg colony was not beneficial, was it? This was not the world of Ironblood Warriors, and its aesthetics were still acceptable; after all, aesthetics are righteousness.

What other methods then were there to achieve his goal… Wait a moment!

At this, Fang Zheng suddenly remembered something.

The old woman and those Fire Mist Warriors had only one reason to trouble him, and that was the Zero Hour Resurgence. According to them, the Followers of the Crimson Realm needed the Zero Hour Resurgence, a Noble Phantasm, to complete their plan. What was their plan exactly?

“What do you know about the Masquerade Ball?”

“This…”

When faced with Fang Zheng’s question, Hill was clearly surprised. He initially thought Fang Zheng would inquire about something about his conjectures, but he did not expect such an unrelated question. Nevertheless, Hill dutifully recounted the origins of the Masquerade Ball.

All of this goes back three thousand years.

Three thousand years ago, the Followers of the Crimson Realm discovered Earth, which was connected to their world, and they, yearning for a new world, arrived here. Immediately, the completely different, new world caught the attention of the Followers of the Crimson Realm. In the new world, they needed the Power of Existence to form and sustain their physical bodies, and so these Followers began to gather the Power of Existence everywhere.

But problems arose.

Three thousand years ago, the number of humans on Earth was far too less compared to the Followers of the Crimson Realm, and aside from a few places, humans hadn’t even developed into sizeable civilizations. In the eyes of the Followers, humans were almost the same as food like cattle or sheep, but what troubled them was that more and more Followers kept arriving in the new world, leading to more and more people competing for food.

This was like having a hundred sheep; ten people could each take ten, but with a thousand people… there wouldn’t even be one for each.

If too many Followers of the Crimson Realm arrived, it wouldn’t be long before the entire Power of Existence on Earth had been consumed by them.

In this situation, the Followers of the Crimson Realm began to pray for a place where they could have enough Power of Existence. It was due to these prayers that one of the three Gods of the Crimson Realm—the God of Creation, Ritual Snake, appeared.

In the Crimson Realm, there are three Deities, each with different responsibilities—the Guiding God, the God of Creation, and the Punishment Deity.

While the Guiding God is responsible for giving directions, the God of Creation is responsible for fulfilling wishes, and the Punishment Deity maintains order and the balance of the world.

And it was because of the wishes of the Followers that the God of Creation, Ritual Snake, came to Earth with his Enchanted, and to fulfill the Followers’ dream of “having an infinite paradise,” he created the “Great Shackles.”

The so-called “Great Shackles” essentially meant creating a vast, enduring Seal on Earth, within which, the Followers of the Crimson Realm could maintain their existence with sufficient Power of Existence without devouring humans. Moreover, within the Great Shackles, the distortion caused by consuming the Power of Existence was kept at a fixed amount, without fluctuations.

For the Followers of the Crimson Realm, this was their Paradise. Moreover, at the completion of the “Great Shackles,” not only did the God of Creation invite the Followers of the Crimson Realm, but he also invited the Fire Mist Warriors to attend the ceremony, hoping to receive the blessings of the Fire Mist Warriors.

Whether out of naivety or genuinely not foreseeing much, at the time, the Ritual Snake didn’t seem to see any issue inviting the Fire Mist Warriors to the event. However, for the Fire Mist Warriors, the actions of the Ritual Snake were akin to the enemy attempting to build a fortress on their territory that could invade at will, which they could not tolerate.

Not to mention, a large number of humans were needed as sacrifices to complete the ceremony. For this reason, the Fire Mist Warriors couldn’t possibly accept the deeds of the Followers of the Crimson Realm.

Hence, they pretended to accept the invitation of the God of Creation, and when the ceremony started, and everyone was off guard, these Fire Mist Warriors suddenly attacked. They first targeted the central Shrine Maiden, disrupting the entire “Great Shackles” ritual, and then, at the cost of their own lives, used the “Secret Technique of Ancient Traps” to exile the God of Creation to the rift between the Crimson Realm and Earth, forever sealing him away.

This action naturally angered the Three Pillars, the Enchanted of the God of Creation. In the eyes of the Fire Mist Warriors, it was an extremely wicked act for the Followers of the Crimson Realm to create their paradise on Earth. To the Followers, they had kindly invited the Fire Mist Warriors to join the ceremony and hoped to receive their blessing, only to be betrayed by them.

This act was nothing short of betrayal!

Enraged, the Three Pillars after that devastated the Fire Mist Warriors, forcing them to flee in utter defeat. Even so, they successfully thwarted the nefarious deeds of the God of Creation.

It must be acknowledged, the actions of these original Fire Mist Warriors, although dishonorable, indeed bought time for humanity. Because they lost their bridgehead, it became significantly harder for the Followers of the Crimson Realm to enter Earth. Otherwise, if the “Great Shackles” had been established by the God of Creation, whether or not humans would still have the capability to build their own civilization in the face of the swarming Followers of the Crimson Realm, remains unknown.

After that, the three Enchanted of the God of Creation established the organization known as the Masquerade Ball. No one knew what they were thinking, but many speculated that the ultimate goal of the organization was most likely to rescue their sealed God of Creation—the Ritual Snake—from the rift between the two realms.

In fact, information about the Masquerade Ball was extremely scarce. Aside from knowing that this force was established by the three Enchanted known as the Three Pillars, almost nobody knew anything else, not even Hill, who only knew that the three leaders of the Masquerade Ball were “The Shapeshifter” Xiu Denan, “Arbiter of Paradoxes” Berupeoru, and “Seat of Apex” Black Katie.

Beyond that, what these three looked like, what roles they each played within the Masquerade Ball, or what Noble Phantasms they possessed, was almost unknown. Moreover, in these three thousand years, the Masquerade Ball had almost never actively instigated any conflicts and rarely even appeared.

“Then why are you all so tense?”

Fang Zheng expressed complete incomprehension. According to Hill, the Masquerade Ball was essentially a covert dark organization, not even amounting to terrorists. Seeing those Fire Mist Warriors fighting desperately…he had thought that those targeting him were some kind of evil demons planning to destroy the world. And yet…you don’t even know what they want to do, and you’re causing chaos here?

“It’s mainly because those elders are very nervous. Many of them had participated in the original battle against the ‘God of Creation’ and are very clear about the strength of the Three Pillars. Therefore, whatever the Three Pillars do, it keeps those elders on edge. Since Zero Hour Resurgence became their target, those Fire Mist Warriors naturally wouldn’t ignore it.”

“I see.”

Hearing this, Fang Zheng finally understood the whole story. He ate the last piece of steak and drank a sip of red wine from his glass, then stood up and nodded at Hill with a smile.

“Thank you, Mr. Hill, I have obtained the information I wanted… Well, for now, I still need to think about your suggestion.”

“Of course, I can understand.”

Hill naturally hadn’t imagined that he possessed any abilities like the Aura of Kingship Face Fruit that might make the other party agree with just a word. Not to mention, this matter sounded serious, and Fang Zheng’s willingness to consider it carefully was already the best outcome.

“I won’t do anything before you reply.”

Hill also did not forget to give Fang Zheng assurance; otherwise, if Fang Zheng did not agree and he unilaterally took action, pushing Fang Zheng into the spotlight, it would definitely have a huge impact on their relationship. Hill was no fool to commit such a foolish act.

“By the way.”

Just as Fang Zheng was about to leave with Tilia and Nanoka, he seemed to remember something and turned his head to look at Hill.

“What would you do if all the Followers of the Crimson Realm and the Fire Mist Warriors left this world?”

“Me?”

Surprised by this unexpected question, Hill paused before revealing a smile.

“I think… I might open a flower shop. That was my girlfriend’s wish before she passed away; she even saved quite a bit of money for it and had bought a shop… but…”

“She was eaten by the Followers of the Crimson Realm?”

“No.”

Hill shook his head.

“She was caught in the battle between the Fire Mist Warriors and the Followers of the Crimson Realm, and because the damage was too severe to recover, that Fire Mist Warrior used her Power of Existence to repair the world.”

At this point, Hill gave a wry smile of resignation.

“Sometimes, I really wish I had never entered this world. If I, like an ordinary person, could forget her existence, perhaps it would be better.”

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Upon hearing Hill’s response, Fang Zheng fell silent for a moment, then turned and waved his hand.

“Well, goodbye then.”

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