Only God
Chapter 322 - 279: Did I Really Achieve Eternal Life?

Chapter 322: Chapter 279: Did I Really Achieve Eternal Life?

Several days later,

Solamus saw from afar the dispirited Mona walking into the secret forest.

The young girl, dressed in a black robe, appeared disheveled and looked utterly exhausted.

Her heart within her chest was covered in deathly ash.

Solamus knew what had befallen her and also knew that he was the one who had won in this wager.

Beside him, Sam smelled Mona’s scent and happily coiled its body, raising its head high and letting out excited hisses.

It didn’t understand what had happened to Mona, only that the girl was finally home after a long separation.

In a moment, Mona’s figure appeared in front of the cabin in the woods.

She lifted her face and saw Solamus, who had been waiting there for her.

"Master... everything has gone as you wished."

Mona said with a trembling voice, her slender legs failing to support her, and she soon collapsed to the ground.

It was only then that she began to cry out loud.

Beside her, the giant python Sam became helpless and emitted anxious hisses, then looked towards Solamus.

Solamus walked over unhurriedly.

Mona felt a wave of panic, her tears still falling incessantly.

"Mona, it seems I have won."

The girl heard this, deeply nodding her head.

She looked in extreme pain.

Then, Mona suddenly felt a wave of warmth.

Solamus knelt down and embraced the weeping girl.

"I know, your mother has disappointed you greatly."

Hearing this, Mona’s voice was softer than ever before.

It hardly sounded like a witch’s voice.

"Master, my mother, she wants to sacrifice the other children, she wants to sacrifice my siblings!"

Mona’s emotions were incredibly agitated, all the grievances she had borne now poured out.

She had seen her mother’s true nature and thus recognized her own deluded fantasies of the past.

Solamus held her, gently stroking the child’s head.

"Mona, I know what you saw, and I know why you are so heartbroken."

Only at this moment, the girl who had always played the role of a witch, revealed her angelic nature.

"You always know... you always know..."

Mona sobbed in her embrace, tears smearing her cheeks, her voice incoherent as she just cried, hardly able to speak clearly.

She was exhausted, very exhausted.

Her mother’s greed was nauseating, Carlo had betrayed not only her expectations but also her love.

"Is there no love in this world... that never betrays?"

At the end of her crying, Mona murmured.

Solamus heard this, lowered his head, wanting to say something but saw the girl’s eyelids fluttering tiredly; she was too worn out.

Seeing this, Solamus smiled softly, picked up Mona, who was so thin she could sit on a broomstick.

He brought Mona back to bed, where she closed her eyes, and without even wiping away her tears, she fell into a deep sleep.

The girl had accepted her fate as a witch.

Or rather,

now, she had no other choice but to become a witch.

Solamus stood up, slowly left the treehouse, and went outside.

Today, besides Mona, there was another guest to visit his home in the forest.

The moon shone faintly, and a light fog rose between the trees, casting interleaving shadows, with occasional sounds carried on the wind.

Sola took out the antler of a sacred deer and placed it on the ground.

Soon after, between the thickets of the Secret Forest, a figure holding a tree branch emerged, followed closely by the cries of the sacred deer.

Forest God Lipo.

Eternal Life Festival.

This was a newly born festival in the Great Country of Leboga.

Its existence was due to the eternal life of King Seleucus.

Shortly after the ritual of eternal life, King Seleucus had ordered the queen’s sacrificial day to be the Day of Eternal Life, and had called for a three-day nationwide festival of celebration.

Once the Day of Eternal Life was established, it was followed by the arrival of countless envoys from foreign countries.

The palace steps were nearly worn through as people from foreign countries, having heard of King Seleucus’s immortality, flocked to meet him, eager to witness the majesty of an eternal being and to inquire about the secrets of eternal life.

To most people in the world, eternal life was undoubtedly a coveted aspiration.

King Seleucus received these envoys and accepted their offerings. He heard countless words of humility and knew of the tens of thousands of minstrels who sang of his deeds.

Amidst this overwhelming praise, King Seleucus felt, for some reason, a disquieting unease.

He did not know where this unease came from, nor why it arose.

Every morning, upon waking, King Seleucus would stand in front of a mirror crafted from bronze, motionless for a long time.

No more wrinkles appeared on his face; even the few white hairs had been replaced by vibrant red ones that symbolized vitality, his body stronger than before and bursting with youthful vigor.

All these appearances were telling him: "You have achieved immortality, you are the King of Eternity!"

Yet, King Seleucus remained confused and troubled.

Several years later, without any warning, he suddenly realized where this confusion stemmed from.

His soul... was aging with time.

The appearance of physical immortality could not mask the decay of his soul, and King Seleucus discovered that he was losing his sense of urgency!

Many kings in their old age always thought of doing something for future generations, perhaps causing chaos or purging powerful subjects, or waging wars... As their life shortened, their actions became more hurried.

But for King Seleucus, time no longer pressed on him; the past storms, in his eyes now, seemed but mild breezes...

Standing before the copper mirror, looking at his vibrant body, King Seleucus muttered to himself:

"Am I truly... immortal?"

"Am I truly eternal like those deathless divine beings?"

Those stars in the sky, no matter how the world changes or the clouds shift, were always constant, as if in their divine shells, their original spirit never decayed.

This caused King Seleucus to doubt his own immortality.

No matter how youthful his body, his heart was still old.

Even if he could live for thousands or tens of thousands of years, by then, with a soul so aged and numb, what difference would there be between himself and a corpse in a tomb?

No, by then, he would be even more twisted than a corpse.

In front of the copper mirror, King Seleucus shuddered.

He suddenly had an illusion that the young man in the mirror was not himself at all.

After realizing his soul’s decay, King Seleucus began to forcefully resist it.

Originally no longer marrying, he started taking numerous concubines, indulging in nightly pleasures. Previously having put down his arms, he once again took up the sword, seeking to expand his territory inch by inch through blood and fire...

With all these actions, issuing various decrees, he tried to stimulate his increasingly decayed soul with more pleasures.

However, after the initial excitement, endless numbness followed.

This ruler of a great country suddenly realized...

Even though he ruled over thousands and sat on the throne of a great nation enjoying eternal life,

He could not make turbulent rivers flow backward, just as he could not stop his soul from aging.