Chapter 776 Who Killed Them?

“The design of this instance dungeon is truly… cunning.”

After reading the prompt, Chen Xiaolian smiled.

It turned out, there was actually no need for the participants to try and snatch the mitama.

The prompt had mentioned about the Gods of the Land’s faction. Clearly, there must be a corresponding Gods of Heaven’s faction.

In other words, the participants who failed to snatch the mitama would not be punished by the system. Instead, they would be assigned to the Gods of Heaven’s faction.

Looking at it this way, the less competition there was for the mitama earlier, the better it would have been for the participants.

Naturally, if nobody had chosen to go after the Gods of the Land’s mitama, the instance dungeon likely would still be able to go on. However, as Qiao Qiao was not here with him, Chen Xiaolian did not know all the possible questlines for this instance dungeon.

He did not know how many participants were left in this instance dungeon. However, Heavenly Attacker had managed to obtain four of the mitama while his side had obtained the mitama enshrined in the Izumo-taisha. Due to that, Chen Xiaolian’s group were the only ones in the Gods of the Land’s faction.

“Teacher Sawakita, let’s go.”

Chen Xiaolian nudged with his head and performed an invitation gesture towards the entrance of the shrine.

Before the priests in the Izumo-taisha’s shrine were all killed, they had spread the news.

At that moment, Sawakita Mitsuo had been labelled as a traitor. Naturally, he could no longer take the helicopter of the Imperial Household Agency that they had used to come here. Thus, the five of them boarded the jeep that Chen Xiaolian and Miao Yan rode. Only this time, Nagase Komi was the one driving.

Deciding by the distance between them and their targets, they would first head to Ise Shrine in Mie Prefecture, then Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya before finally heading to the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Having seen Chen Xiaolian’s strength just now, Sawakita Mitsuo and his team members were completely at ease about this instance dungeon.

No matter what opponent they encountered next, it was impossible for them to be in danger again.

With Chen Xiaolian here, the next phases of this instance dungeon were but the equivalent of going through the motions for them.

Both Ise Shrine and Atsuta Shrine were also guarded by a good number of priests. Unlike the Izumo-taisha, however, the Divine Masters had performed the God-summoning ritual before Chen Xiaolian’s group arrived, allowing the Gods of Heaven to take over their bodies.

But it made no difference to Chen Xiaolian. He easily defeated Kagutsuchi and Yamato Takeru, the two Gods of Heaven that took over the bodies of the Divine Masters. Then, they effortlessly obtained the Yata-no-Kagami and the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.

As for the final Yasakani-no-Magatama, it was hidden in the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

The Tokyo Imperial Palace was originally the place of residence for the Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo Period, the Edo Castle. After the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, also making the Edo Castle his place of residence.

During World War II, the Imperial Palace was damaged by bombing and it was not until 1968 that it was reconstructed while maintaining its original look.

Although there were no priest characters in the Tokyo Imperial Palace, the Imperial Household Agency – after receiving news that two of the Three Sacred Treasures kept in Ise Shrine and Atsuta Shrine had been robbed and Sawakita Mitsuo’s betrayal – mobilized a high number of soldiers from the Self-Defence Forces around the Imperial Palace.

Only, these soldiers were even less capable of stopping Chen Xiaolian’s group.

It was as though they were simply taking a leisurely stroll before entering the Imperial Palace. Corpses were strewn on the ground behind them.

“The Yasakani-no-Magatama is kept in the core area of the West Garden. Chen-san, just follow me.” Sawakita Mitsuo moved forward while explaining to Chen Xiaolian, who was behind him.

As the Vice-Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Agency, Sawakita Mitsuo knew the structure of the entire Imperial Palace like the back of his palm.

“To be able to group up with Teacher Sawakita in this instance dungeon, it’s really convenient.” Chen Xiaolian, who was following Sawakita Mitsuo, said with a smile, “Only… Teacher, do you not feel uncomfortable?”

In addition to the soldiers from the Self-Defence Forces that were temporarily mobilized to guard the Imperial Palace, there was also a good number of guard soldiers under the Imperial Palace from the Imperial Household Agency.

In other words, they were all Sawakita Mitsuo’s subordinates.

Chen Xiaolian had been the one who defeated the two Divine Masters – possessed by the Gods of Heaven – of Ise Shrine and Atsuta Shrine that had been taken over by the Gods of Heaven. However, he had not taken any other action.

After arriving at the Imperial Palace, Sawakita Mitsuo had taken the lives of many of his former subordinates.

Moreover, he was presently leading enemies to invade the Imperial Palace that he had once managed and protected.

“Chen-san, you jest. This is just an instance dungeon. It cannot be considered real. Even if they are to die by my hands now, once this instance dungeon ends, all will be reset. After all these years, having participated in so many instance dungeons, what psychological burden could I have from this?” Sawakita Mitsuo advanced slowly while shaking his head.

“Besides… Chen-san, you don’t actually think I venerate the Imperial Family, do you?”

As Sawakita Mitsuo spoke, a silvery beam of light suddenly emerged from the ground before flying straight ahead.

A man in black suit had just smashed open a door in the corridor ahead. This man was holding a submachine gun and had wanted to shoot with it, but the silvery beam of light pierced his chest before he could even take aim. Crying miserably, he then fell to the ground.

“When you put it that way… that’s true.” Chen Xiaolian nodded and laughed. “I almost forgot your nickname.”

Throughout Japanese history, there were three Shogunates, the Kamakura Shogunate, Ashikaga Shogunate and Tokugawa Shogunate. Every one of them had seized the power of rule and turned the Emperor into a figurehead. During the reign of Shogunates, an Emperor was but a puppet that they can push around.

Sawakita Mitsuo was someone who gave his guild the name ‘the Fourth Shogunate’. His nickname was ‘the Shogun’. It would be weird for someone like this to hold the Emperor in veneration.

“It’s here.”

After advancing for another five minutes, the five of them finally arrived before two heavy Nanmu wooden doors.

Sawakita Mitsuo pushed open the door and gestured, inviting Chen Xiaolian into the huge exhibition hall inside.

This was the Imperial Collection Hall located in the core area. Precious treasures from Japan’s past were stored here.

There were swords and paintings hung all over the walls around them. There at the end of the hall was a glass cabinet.

A wooden box lay quietly within the glass cabinet.

“So… with this, we’ve collected them all.”

Chen Xiaolian tapped lightly with a finger and the thick bulletproof glass shattered.

Reaching out with his hand, he opened the wooden box and saw a comma-like, green-coloured magatama lying on purple-coloured velvet.

The five of them then received a new prompt from the system at the same time.

[Prompt: You have obtained the quest item for the third phase: The Yasakani-no-Magatama.]

[Prompt: You have collected all the quest items for the third phase: The Yata-no-Kagami, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and the Yasakani-no-Magatama.]

[After combining the Three Sacred Treasures, you can perform the Gods of the Land’s Mitama Revival Ritual.

[When at least one God of the Land is revived, the fourth phase will commence.]

“Combine, eh?”

Chen Xiaolian brought out the Yata-no-Kagami and the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi that they obtained earlier from his storage space and placed them in front, together with the Yasakani-no-Magatama.

The Three Sacred Treasures automatically floated up. When they were at half the height of a normal person, they formed a triangle-shaped array and shone with three different colours: red, yellow and blue. A halo of light – rotating without respite – was formed in the middle.

“Next is… the mitama.”

Like the one they obtained from the Izumo-taisha, the mitama that they obtained from Heavenly Attacker also had the appearance of the magatama.

Clipping a mitama between his fingers, Chen Xiaolian then gently threw it into the halo of light.

The triangular array began rotating while the halo of light in the middle rotated at an even faster speed and the three-coloured streams of light there turned white.

Next, a furious roar emerged from the halo of light.

A hand reached out from the halo of light, pressed the ground and slowly propped its body before emerging from the halo.

It was a male, half a body taller than ordinary humans. He wore an ancient Japanese armour and his hand held onto a tachi sword. His face was as pale as a corpse while his eyes were as red as blood.

This person emanated an atmosphere of might, far greater than that of the Divine Masters that were possessed by the Gods of Heaven earlier.

“You fellows… have freed me… of the Gods of Heaven’s seal… you will be rewarded! Once you defeat the Gods of Heaven, you will reign forever as the King of the Central Land of Reed Plains!”

At the same time, Chen Xiaolian also received another prompt from the system.

[Prompt: You have reformed the body of Okuninushi, the Master of the Great Land, and completed the third phase of this instance dungeon. The fourth phase shall now commence.

[Quest for the fourth phase: Assist the Gods of the Land in killing off all the Gods of Heaven.

[Optional quest: Liberate all five Gods of the Land’s mitama and awaken the King of the Gods of the Land, Susanoo

[Remaining Gods of the Land’s mitama: 4/5.]

“Master of the Great Land, right? Fine, fine, I get it.” Chen Xiaolian raised his hand and casually waved at Okuninushi before bringing out a second mitama.

“Wait a bit. There are still your four friends. Once they are revived, we can slowly talk.”

The four remaining mitama were quickly released. The Gods of the Land who emerged appeared similar to Okuninushi. Only, the colour of their armour was different.

After all the five mitama had been released, the five Gods of the Land looked at each other before moving to stand around the triangular array.

Next, beam after beam of light shone up from the ground where the five Gods of the Land were standing upon to form a pentagram that enclosed the triangular array.

[Prompt: You have reformed the bodies of all five Gods of the Land. Now reviving Susanoo. Defend the revival ritual from interruptions until Susanoo is revived.]

A deep and loud roar rang out from the centre of the halo of light.

This time, the hand reaching out from the halo was different from that of the Gods of the Land before. Not only was it several times bigger, it did not appear like a human hand at all. Instead, it had sharp claws and was covered in black carapace.

“Looks like this will take some time. Let’s wait first. From the looks of it, there shouldn’t be any danger.” Chen Xiaolian looked at the faces of Okuninushi and the others. They appeared quite taxed by the effort. It seemed that reviving Susanoo would take quite some time and power.

Chen Xiaolian then turned around and gestured towards Sawakita Mitsuo and the others. Finding a box that contained some unknown treasures, he sat down on it and said, “Teacher Sawakita, even though it said to assist them, I think there should be no need for us to expend our strength here, right?”

“If the power levels of the characters in this instance dungeon is set according to Japan’s myths, that should be the case.” Naturally, Sawakita Mitsuo’s understanding of his own country’s culture was many times greater than Chen Xiaolian’s. He nodded and continued, “Among the Three Precious Children, Susanoo is the strongest. Even if Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi join forces, they would be no match for him.”

“From what I can understand of this instance dungeon, the greatest difficulty for the participants here is the first and second phases, how many of the Gods of the Land’s mitama could they obtain. The more Gods of the Land we can revive, the easier the fight in the fourth phase becomes. If we can revive all five Gods of the Land and the revival of Susanoo proceeds smoothly, there should be no need for any more fights.”

“How can it not proceed smoothly?” Nagase Komi appeared excited. “The other participants must have already lost their balls from fear long ago. Not a single one of them dares to show up in the third phase! Now that it’s come to this, it’s impossible for any more problems to pop up. Besides, even if there are, senior will surely be able to deal with it for us!”

Although she had obtained the same abilities as Tian Lie, there was a world of difference between Nagase Komi’s level of strength and Tian Lie’s. More, she could only transform into metal. She did not possess the Data Stream ability. On top of that, her regenerative ability was also not as strong as Tian Lie’s. In the past instance dungeons, she had nearly died many times.

This time, though, it was practically the equivalent of walking down the street with both hands in her pockets. Completing an instance dungeon so easily was something that she had never encountered before.

“But hearing you say that… it does sound a little strange. I still feel something strange.” Miao Yan was not affected by Nagase Komi’s joyful mood. Instead, she frowned slightly and said to Chen Xiaolian.

“Since the third phase began, we have not encountered any other participants.”

“What’s strange about it?” Chen Xiaolian smiled.

“We were able to quickly obtain one of the mitama. Excluding Heavenly Attacker’s team, we repelled four other teams. Additionally, given Heavenly Attacker’s nature, for him to obtain four mitama, he must have killed a good number of participants along the way. Maybe, all that’s left in the Gods of Heaven’s faction now are some little kitties. Do not forget, I spared almost all the guys that attacked us back then. Naturally, those who retreated would spread the news. With that, the Gods of Heaven’s faction should already know how strong we are. They are unwilling to die for nothing. So, they decided to wait for this instance dungeon to end and accept the system’s punishment. It’s very logical.”

“But don’t forget, the participants in this instance dungeon are divided into two factions. Since we can use the mitama to reform the bodies of the Gods of the Land, the other faction should also possess the combat power of the corresponding Gods of Heaven.”

Miao Yan shook her head.

“Moreover, according to the prompt, unless we successfully revive Susanoo, the comprehensive strength of the Gods of Heaven should by default be far stronger than that of the Gods of the Land. It is precisely because of this that the participants on the Gods of Heaven’s side should do everything they can to disrupt us before we can reform the bodies of all five Gods of the Land. Even taking one down is good.”

“What you said… makes sense.”

Chen Xiaolian rubbed his chin as he pondered Miao Yan’s words. Slowly, he nodded.

It was as she said. Although he did not know the specifics of the other faction’s quest, the Gods of Heaven’s faction should – before all the Gods of the Land were revived – have a stronger helper that they can rely on.

Another way to look at this…

Even if the Players and Awakened ones in the other faction were so scared that they decided to just wait until the instance dungeon ended, the Gods of Heaven – as the monsters within this instance dungeon – would not simply stand idle.

But now, apart from the Gods of Heaven who possessed the Divine Masters in the shrines back then, Chen Xiaolian’s group had not encountered the attack of any other Gods of Heaven.

This did not conform to the conventional structure of the instance dungeon.

“However… I think there is no need to worry about this.” Nagase Komi thought about it for a moment before gingerly interjecting, “With Senior Xiaolian here, no matter what is going on in the other faction, it would not affect our ability to complete the quest.”

“That is true.” Miao Yan nodded. She simply thought that the situation was a little unusual. She did not feel particularly worried.

It was true. The current Chen Xiaolian was practically a monster in terms of strength. With him here, what was there to worry about?

After around half an hour’s time, Susanoo finally emerged from the halo of light.

This strongest God of Destruction from Japanese mythology did not look like a human at all here.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

His whole body was covered in black carapace. Two sharp horns jutted out from the top of his head and fangs extended out from his mouth. He looked more like the fused form of a beetle and a wicked ghost.

There was no way to compare the power and aura that he exuded with the ones that the other five Gods of the Land were exuding.

Basically, Sawakita Mitsuo’s deduction was correct. The greatest difficulty for the Gods of the Land’s faction was obtaining and protecting as many mitama as possible and reviving all the Gods of the Land. Once Susanoo was revived, there was no longer any need to assist.

Susanoo alone was enough to kill off all the Gods of Heaven in the other party.

However, the very moment Susanoo appeared, the expression on everyone’s faces turned unusually peculiar.

Every one of them had received the same system prompt.

[Prompt: You have protected the five Gods of the Land and awakened Susanoo.

[After Susanoo’s revival, all 12 major Gods of Heaven would head towards Susanoo’s location and attack.

[Current quest: Accompany Susanoo and the Gods of the Land to kill the 12 major Gods of Heaven. The quest will be completed when all the major Gods of Heaven are killed and this instance dungeon will end.

[Current number of major Gods of Heaven still alive: 2/12

[Current list of survivors for the major Gods of Heaven: Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi.]

With the exception of the two from the Three Precious Children, the other Gods of Heaven… have been killed?

Who killed them?

The Three Precious Children are Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo. Their parents are the deities Izanagi and Izanami.