Chapter 661: Prelude to Chaos: Echidna’s Authority

The Oni King Harjahar said and stopped in his tracks before looking around him. He then focused on a particular Orc leader whose mana signature fluctuated after he had completed his speech.

Harjahar walked to the orc leader and narrowed his eyes at him before asking.

"Borul, you got something to say?"

The Orc Leader who had been asked the question gulped before answering his king.

"No my king. Your speech has stirred my emotions. Forgive me for losing control."

Borul replied, keeping his head down. The other Orc leaders who were beside him also got nervous because of their king's focus on them.

Harjahar looked carefully at Borul before nodding.

"Very well." He said casually and walked away, enabling the Orc leaders to breathe a sigh of relief including Borul.

Harjahar knew that there would be some resistance to the Oni festival among monsters who had received their clarity a bit too much.

This is because the Oni festival demanded not only the sacrifices of the Anfang's real residents but also the sacrifices of monsters born here. In fact, the festival was nothing more than a sacrifice event for their god, where the defeated were killed. In exchange, the vestige of god that had been summoned would bless a few children of Echidna.

The sacrifice also served another purpose. When enough sacrifice energy was accumulated, it would open a warp gate between the two continents– two different worlds. Children of Echidna, as Harjahar liked to call them, could use this warp gate to get into the continent of Anfang.

The warp gate was unstable. And it only allowed one-way entry. That meant the monsters from the continent of Echidna who had gotten inside the sealed world known as the Anfang couldn't get back to where they came from. At least not most monsters.

Only the Oni kind could use the warp gates two ways. Meaning only the Oni race had the power to go back to the Echidna after visiting Anfang. Of course, the Oni's ability to travel to and fro had its restrictions. Yet, it was what made Oni special in more ways than one in front of a regular monster audience.

The Oni festival was just a convenient name for an event that made these two unthinkable things possible. It did this at the cost of sacrifices by the monsters and native denizens of Anfang alike.

Some monsters like Borul were already against the idea of sacrificing their kind just to please a higher existence who would then offer them peanuts in the form of a blessing. One had to say that monsters who were born in Anfang were starting to get affected by the land's laws. They had started seeing things from a different perspective that wasn't influenced by faith.

Harjahar was no pushover though. He also didn't get angry that the monsters like Borul would play catch and release with what could be considered mutiny. Every king had resistance in his royal court. It doesn't mean he should squash the resistance with brute force. It would only make matters more complicated and allow for even more rebellion.

Harjahar knew how to keep this resistance in check. He just needed to increase the pressure on the resistance group and offer more rewards for those tribes and monsters who were committed to the cause.

Harjahar walked up to his throne and climbed the stairs halfway before turning to his audience once again.

"If the blessed children of Echidna die outside this poor excuse of an abode of ours, it doesn't matter. Basically, it means they were only worth that much.

If the denizens of Anfang kill one Kilaba, we will create even more powerful, stronger warriors than him. Don't run away from the festival. Embrace it. And we would see that some of you become strong enough to step outside this space and conquer the world that's outside."

Harjahar then imbued his mana into the crown he was wearing, empowering it. In the next moment, all the monsters who were present inside the hall felt like their hearts would burst from within. This was because of the strong vibes they received from the crown.

When the crown cast its powers on the tribe leaders, their minds were overwhelmed by them. They had thought that they were already fearful enough. But the use of the crown made all the tribe leaders realize that there was always some space for more fear.

This crown was the same artifact that was said to be used by Tumko in the previous timeline. The artifact that had attracted hordes of adventurers into the Oni dungeon at that time.

***

Echidna's Authority!

The children of Echidna inside the subspace were familiar with this crown artifact. The artifact was responsible for so many monsters in the subspace receiving clarity despite not undergoing much evolution.

The artifact was not fabricated by Tumko Darata's team member who was presented as the whistleblower. It really held the power to control the monsters. He had just lied that it was in Tumko's control.

In the previous timeline, when Tumko had entered the Oni dungeon, he had started robbing the monster tribes of their resources by slaughtering them using their army-grade artifacts. But they couldn't do much when Harjahar learned about the incident and sent his force to capture Tumko.

Harjahar wanted more human sacrifices so he could make his loyal confidants receive more blessings from their god. So instead of killing Tumko the right way, he gave him a choice. All he had to do was to attract the denizens of Anfang into the Oni dungeon without raising suspicion.

In exchange, he would get to live and be offered a blessing from their god. He also held a chance to travel to Echidna if he stayed long enough for Harjahar to employ some unconventional methods to pull it off. It depended on sacrifices and the quality of sacrifices after all.

Harjahar knew that his plan to use Tumko had an expiration date. And that sooner or later, the in-flow of low-ranked denizens of Anfang would stop. But he was fine with it and all the other risks that came with the plan. Because by that time, he would have achieved his goal on the continent of Anfang.

Harjahar considered the land of the faithless to be a backwater place. He wanted to finish his assignment here and go back to Echidna as soon as he could. Hence the haste.

The other choice for Tumko was to get constantly tortured by the monsters until his will broke. Harjahar wasn't merciful enough to grant the intruders a quick and painless death.

Things became clear for Tumko once he understood what choices he had. He and his team agreed to help. Who would choose to get tortured when they could get more powerful and travel to a different world and see its riches?

Tumko immediately came up with a plan to attract adventurers of all kinds into the Oni dungeon. He also wanted to take revenge on people who had wronged him while at it. Kill two birds with one stone.

Harjahar approved of Tumko's plans when he pitched them to him. He first made sure that Tumko and his teammates were loyal to the cause by placing curse marks on them. Then he offered them a monster army they could control so they could attack the kingdom of Edinburgh.

Things progressed as Tumko and Harjahar had planned in Eren's previous timeline. At that time, Tumko and his team had managed to travel outside Anfang.

What happened to them afterward was lost in the sands of time that didn't exist anymore.

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AN: Borul was first mentioned in chapter 447. Tumko Darata's history and incident related to the monster-controlling artifact were explained in chapter 442.

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