The Outergod's Avatar-Chapter 64: Flames of the Altar

Immediately Izikel confirmed that they had gone a bit far, he rushed down the Altar cave, forcing his mind to believe that his eyes had deceived him.

’That had to be it, there’s no way...’

But as he got to the Altar, he was disappointed—his eyes had indeed told no lies.

’The flames have actually reduced.’ His heart sank all over again.

It wasn’t much, but it was very easily noticeable to Izikel.

"How is this happening?"

According to the diary, the flames of the Altar reducing always meant the beginning of the end.

But Izikel didn’t want to believe that.

He was different from the other men in that book. He was meant to ignite the Altar. That was the reason why theirs always went out—it was because it was always incomplete.

While in his case, not only could he imagine the true form of the Outergod, he had an ignition prayer sent by the god himself. In a world like this, he was sure those two factors alone could make all the difference. But yet...

"Maybe this is how normal Altars functioned?"

That was a possibility. He needed more information about Altars.

With that idea, he rushed upstairs and began rummaging through the bookshelf.

"I’m sure I saw a book about Altars somewhere... Here." He pulled out the book and opened it.

"It says here that Altars need energy to remain alive. If not, the flames of the Altar will reduce, stopping the believer from receiving any Fate trial."

"If the Altar isn’t fed any beast core or divine crystals, the flames would eventually go out, and the Anchor would die along with it."

His breath caught in his throat as he read the final statement.

’There’s no need to worry. This means that it’s normal for the flames to reduce. I just have to get the crystals.’

But then he remembered that Azrael, his great grandfather, had written something about this in the Diary. He said when the flames of his Altar were reducing, it was non-responsive when he sacrificed beast cores or crystals.

’It only worked when he worshiped by chaos.’

That means he might have to kill someone else if he wanted to live.

The thought of taking the life of another man was a scary one. He never imagined he would have to kill, but... he sighed.

"Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet. That could have been because his was incomplete. For now, I should just focus on getting crystals."

Yes, that’s what he needed to do.

He closed the book and placed it back on the shelf.

He remembered the crystals they had gotten from the belly of the beasts during the crusade. Sophia said they would bring it back to be sacrificed on the Altars of the kingdom.

’But until they get transported, they will probably keep them in a safe place.’

His mind immediately went to the Saint quarters. That was the only place they could keep it.

’But they wouldn’t just give me some if I asked. Especially if I ask for too much, they might start to ask questions that might expose the Altar...’

"Then I’ll just have to borrow some without anyone knowing."

Immediately the words left his mouth, he heard how outrageous it was—to sneak into a place filled with hardened battle warriors. But if he really wanted to live, this might be the only way.

With his goals aligned, the next step was to gather information about the target.

Izikel went looking for Sophia so he could ask some unsuspecting questions that would help him out, but instead, he ended up running into Dremlin.

"Dremlin, is Sophia back yet?"

"Not yet, Master Izikel. Is there anything you need?"

"No, no thank you." Then he turned to go but he stopped.

’Why am I hiding my intentions from Dremlin? He is literally the only one that I can tell my plan to.’

Izikel gave a quick glance at Dremlin.

"Dremlin, I need your help."

"Sure, what do you need, Master Izikel? I will see how I can get it right away."

Izikel was about to speak before he remembered that they were in the open. He couldn’t possibly risk someone else hearing his crazy intentions.

"Follow me. Let’s find a quiet place."

With that, he led him back to the study.

"Dremlin, what can you tell me about the security of the Saint quarters?"

Dremlin scratched his jaw for a few seconds. "Is that a trick question, Master Izikel? The Saint quarters is obviously the most secured place in the whole village. It’s filled with Saints, after all."

"I know that. I just need you to tell me if you think it’s possible for me to sneak in and out without anyone knowing. Or maybe I can use my influence to get in and out,"

He considered, before recalling why that was a bad idea. "But then if anyone finds out, they’ll get suspicious of what I’m doing with Divine minerals."

He continued pondering before Dremlin spoke.

"Divine minerals?" Dremlin wondered. "Why didn’t you tell me that was what you needed?"

"Hmm?" Izikel’s face was blank as Dremlin pulled him out of his thoughts.

Dremlin wore his usual practiced smile.

"Please come with me."

Dremlin led him to another room not too far from the study. When he opened it, Izikel could immediately tell it was the master’s bedroom because of how large it was. It was well bigger than his—and his was already far too big.

The room had a more elegant bed and furniture, but they were covered in dust since no one had visited in a while.

"I forbade the maids from cleaning your parents’ room, so they don’t rummage through their items. The maids can be like that sometimes," Dremlin explained as he opened up a wooden closet.

"Maybe I should switch my rooms," Izikel considered. Just this room alone had more space than his former house back on Earth.

Dremlin pulled out a chest. It wasn’t too small, seeing that it reached his knee and was pretty heavy to pull to the floor even for Dremlin.

"That would be great, Master Izikel, but that isn’t why I brought you here."

He unlocked it with a key and flipped open the chest—and Izikel’s eyes widened.

The chest was filled to the brim with Divine minerals of different grades and colors, more than Izikel could ever imagine.

Crystals of pale blue, radiant pink, and pulsing violet shimmered under the dust-filtered light. Some glowed faintly, others sparkled like frozen lightning. It was like staring into a condensed storm of glowing stones.

He stepped closer, almost reaching out instinctively, but stopped.

"These... these are all yours?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"They belonged to your parents. They gathered them for the kingdom, but always kept a personal reserve in case of... emergencies."

Izikel swallowed, "Emergencies?"