As Ke Su gradually approached, he heard a sound like a thin membrane tearing beside his ear. Suddenly, the singing became clear. In the next moment, all the ants beneath the clouds raised their heads, their expressions a mix of shock and near-madness.
Ke Su sensed something strange and looked around.
Unlike his previous normal perspective, Ke Su now found himself in a unique vantage point, similar to the panoramic view of an insect's compound eye, gazing down at the altar below from the clouds.
This peculiar viewpoint should have been disorienting, but Ke Su quickly adapted, even enjoying this almost holographic, immersive experience.
Moreover, his senses had been enhanced. The barrier separating him from the dreamlike reality had vanished, and everything felt tangible. He could even sense the softness of the clouds around him and the gentle breeze brushing against his face.
Ke Su squinted his eyes in comfort, the light breeze caressing his cheeks, making him feel quite at ease.
However, it was at this moment that Ke Su realized his hands and feet were missing, a sensation he found rather uncomfortable.
It would be nice to have hands and feet, Ke Su thought instinctively.
The thought barely passed through his mind before something strange happened.
As if by magic, his limbs appeared in his field of vision. Ke Su lowered his gaze, seeing himself draped in a gray robe resembling a nightgown. Everything seemed normal, except that, compared to the ants below, his hands and feet were disproportionately large.
Ke Su curiously examined his hands and feet. They didn’t feel solid, confirming his suspicion that he was indeed dreaming.
But in the brief moment Ke Su took to adjust to his new limbs, the ant tribe believers below perceived it as a divine miracle unfolding before their eyes. Tears of joy streamed down their faces, their very souls trembling with awe.
At some point, perhaps while they were engrossed in singing hymns or during the sacrificial rites, the once-blue sky had turned ominous, and the clear, mirror-like heavens had been pierced by a massive rift.
Through the deep, chaotic darkness of the rift, specks of distant celestial light appeared, revealing a glimpse of the world’s true nature.
A bone-chilling wind howled through the air, and the ant tribe citizens, who had been looking up, involuntarily shed tears as their eyes stung from the sight of a colossal figure emerging from the black hole.
The figure was as large as a mountain, draped in a veil of unnamed mist. Chaotic darkness roiled within the mist, and the figure’s soft, unarmored limbs resembled a formless mass of flesh, occasionally pulsing as if following some insect-like breathing pattern. Only two arm-like appendages extended from the mass, oddly shaped and supported in the sky, possessing a round, soft texture that the ant tribe could not comprehend.
Looking up further, the god’s smooth, antennae-less face, shrouded in chaos, appeared alien to the ant tribe believers yet was so sacred as to be beyond desecration.
Staring unblinkingly at the god, every believer simultaneously felt that this must be the true visage of their god.
The supreme deity was meant to be different from the humble worshippers and the man-made idols they revered.
In an instant, faced with this unprecedented miracle, the devout ant tribe believers burst into tears, falling to their knees and shouting with the utmost enthusiasm to welcome their god's first descent.
After all, for the fanatical believers, receiving a response from the god they worshipped with all their hearts and souls was the greatest honor and blessing.
On the altar, the high priest, closest to the god, was trembling with excitement, his voice hoarse as he proclaimed his devout faith.
"Oh, God! You have finally answered us! O mighty God! You are eternal with your followers! We thank you for your mercy and gaze!!!"
The high priest choked up, believing that it was the devotion of the empire's believers that had moved the god, finally drawing the god's gaze upon them.
The believers’ piety had always been watched by their benevolent god! The god had not abandoned His people! This realization was the highest honor and greatest happiness for the high priest, who had believed in the god for most of his life. If not for the fact that he still remembered his mission to complete this unprecedented great sacrifice, he would have fainted from excitement.
To witness the god's descent in his lifetime, he had no regrets! Even if he were to die now, he would have no complaints.
Thinking this, the high priest wept tears of joy, but he did not forget to perform the sacrificial dance with feverish madness, hoping to please the god before him.
Below the altar, the believers of the Curtis Empire cheered as well, shouting the god’s name with all their might, unwilling to take their eyes off the god for even a moment.
The devout cries echoed in the air, and everyone’s expressions were sacred and beautiful, making the magnificent capital city under the god’s descent appear incredibly holy, filled with the fervent faith of the believers.
Everyone firmly believed that, being watched by the god, their souls would be cleansed and they would become supremely happy under the god’s benevolent gaze.
Meanwhile, Ke Su, who still thought he was asleep, found the noise disturbing. He didn’t understand what the ants below were doing, suddenly becoming noisy and interrupting his original desire to listen to the song. He frowned in annoyance.
Seeing the ants buzzing like they were scalded, their noise irritating him, Ke Su couldn’t hold back anymore and slapped down, covering the most clamorous group of ants, finally gaining a moment of peace.
"So noisy," Ke Su muttered, crushing the ants beneath his hand like grains of sand.
This dream was enjoyable, but it was too noisy. He wanted to sleep a bit longer and didn’t want to be woken up like this.
The devout ant tribe believers stared blankly at the scene before them, their movements frozen in the act of offering sacrifices to the god. The already bizarre prayer posture made the nearly still scene appear even more eerie.
To the ant tribe believers, everything that happened was without warning.
The god, who had descended due to their piety, suddenly grew furious. The god's face, obscured by chaos and mist, exuded an aura of terror, and incomprehensible murmurs echoed in the ears of every believer.
No one could understand the meaning of these murmurs, but the sound was so corrupting that it nearly drove them mad. Blood poured from their seven orifices, and they wailed in agony.
Countless believers instantly exploded into a shower of blood, leaving only pieces of flesh scattered on the ground. As the whispers spread, many of the surviving believers began to mutate, sprouting pustules that wriggled like living creatures and grotesque, misshapen lumps of flesh, turning them into hideous and terrifying monsters.
Terrified screams filled the air, drowning out the sacred hymns from moments before.
The god's incomprehensible whispers still echoed in the air.
"So noisy, so... noisy..."
But the god's wrath did not end there.
The great god leaned down, and everyone saw the god slowly extend its soft, fleshly limb from beneath the veil of mist. A mass of bloody flesh covered the sky, pulsing gently.
Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the mass was filled with numerous blood vessels, through which a blue liquid flowed, the gurgling sound of which was the primordial melody of life, confusing the perception of the ant tribe believers.
In the next moment, the five tentacles extending from the mass began to move, instantly claiming the lives of countless believers, leaving behind only a twisted mass of flesh, the wails of the dead lingering in the air.
As the god retracted its limb, blood and flesh rained down, marking the beginning of a terrifying spectacle at this once holy festival.
The smell of blood became the only scent in the air, the antennae of the ants trembling as they were overwhelmed by the oppressive presence of the god, suffering unbearable pain.
All the ants were so terrified by the scene before them that their fervent faith immediately turned into fear of the god. Never before had they so deeply realized the god's unpredictable temper.
The god was angry.
But why?
They had been so devout in their worship, willing to offer everything to the god!
Why would the god punish them so harshly?
What had they done wrong? How could they atone for their sins?
The high priest standing on the tall altar was the first to recover from the god's bloody rampage. His face, still flushed with fervor, was full of wrinkles, and upon seeing the believers' plight, he quickly prayed to the god, begging for mercy.
"God, please calm your anger! God, please calm your anger!!!"
Although the high priest didn’t know the exact reason for the god's anger, he knew that their sacrifice must have offended the god, leading to this divine punishment!
Now, the only course of action was to do everything possible to make amends and appease the god's wrath!
With this in mind, the high priest looked up at the god whose face was obscured by mist and chaos, and frantically ordered the still-conscious guards around the altar to quickly present the prepared sacrificial heads before the god, so that the god could witness their devotion and recognize the purity of their faith.
As long as the god could see their devotion, the god would surely forgive His most loyal and pure lambs!
"Hurry! Offer the sacrifices!!!"
"Oh, mighty God, all-powerful God! Please quell your anger! Your humble and devout followers offer these sacrifices to you!"
Seeing that the sacrifices were ready, the high priest immediately fell to his knees in the direction of the god, his eyes bloodshot, trembling in fear and awe as he looked up at the massive figure draped in a thin veil of unnamed mist, lying overhead. He prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to make any move that might provoke the god's wrath.
This was the first time in the high priest's life that he had encountered the god's descent and fury. The emotional whiplash between ecstasy and terror in such a short span of time left his spirit on the brink of collapse. The fact that he could still speak without fainting on the spot was a testament to his unyielding will.
In truth, Ke Su was getting a bit sleepy. Just a moment ago, he had been keen on observing the ants that had summoned him, but now he just wanted to return to his warm bed and rest. The ants, however, kept chattering incessantly in his ears, irritating and noisy.
At that moment, Ke Su heard the ants mention offering him food, and as he was about to leave and go back to sleep, he paused.
Being somewhat of a foodie, Ke Su considered for a moment and realized he was indeed a bit hungry, so he decided to stay a little longer and wait for the ants to bring him food.
Although this was his first time experiencing such a summoning, something in the absurdity of the dream, perhaps some distant and vague memory, made Ke Su instinctively feel that such a festival would offer something to satisfy his hunger.
It was as if, long ago, there had been a similar festival, and he had been quite pleased with the meal. Naturally, he expected the same delicious offering to appear this time.
From the perspective of the tiny ant tribe below, every move of Ke Su, who was so large that his full size couldn't be seen at once, was incredibly noticeable.
The moment Ke Su paused, the ant tribe believers noticed and were overwhelmed with joy, nearly moved to tears.
In their eyes, their faith had finally moved the god, bringing him peace.
Under the dark sky, everyone could clearly see that their great and merciful god had finally heard the prayers and pleas of his followers, retracting his divine punishment, calming his anger, and now approaching the altar, seemingly to receive the sacrifices placed upon it.
The high priest, seeing this, was so overjoyed that he cried. He immediately ordered the guards to offer more ant heads as sacrifices—however many they had, and if that wasn't enough, they would cut more.
If there weren't enough prisoners of war, they would kill the slaves. If there weren't enough slaves, even the citizens of the Curtis Empire would be sacrificed. As long as the god was pleased, he was willing to offer everything.
However, it was clear that in the earlier divine punishment, all the prisoners and slaves had already perished. Only the believers who were still praying in despair remained.
Following orders, the guards raised their blades once again, and the believers who hadn't died in the divine punishment found themselves in another slaughter. Blood flowed like rivers, but the terrifying thing was that none of the believers resisted. Many even willingly offered their heads, their faces showing smiles that were almost eerie in their joy.
Because everyone longed to see their god satisfied, to see him no longer angry—that would be the highest honor and the greatest wish of these fanatical believers.
Soon, fresh ant heads were raised high, and in the midst of this frenzy and ignorance, they were offered to the great god above the clouds.
And Ke Su, who had been waiting for the sacrifices, didn’t have to wait long before his devout ant followers presented him with a feast he would never forget.
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