Within Halcyon Earth Forest.

A plague was beginning to spread amongst the Sun Astrals.

In just half an hour, hundreds of Sun Astrals had been afflicted by the curse.

Amelie’s temple was packed to the brim with Sun Astrals.

At the very front was Klipp’s wife, Emma, and another one of the Love Goddess Church’s twelve priestesses. She cradled her daughter as she whispered prayers to the statue in front of her.

This statue had been carved to bear the likeness of a beautiful woman. Her appearance was peerless and her clothing sensual. A faint, bewitching smile perpetually hung on her face.

Such a smile was definitely not something that could have been made by just the Sun Astrals’ ability. It must have been their goddess’s design.

Finally, her prayers received a response.

A golden light surrounded the statue, which opened its eyes ever so slightly. “What has happened for you to summon me...... Hm? What is this? I can sense a thick aura of death!”

“Oh Great Amelie, a plague is currently sweeping through our lands. I implore you, show mercy and save my child, my husband, and our race,” Emma pleaded.

“What a nauseating stench......” Amelie said with a frown. She looked down and saw the child being cradled by her priestess. Even as a statue, her appearance was incredibly beautiful.

A golden light suddenly shone forth from the statue, sweeping over all of the Sun Astrals present. Little Ivy slowly began to open her eyes.

Her illness had been cured.

“Ivy!” Emma embraced her daughter excitedly.

Quite a few of the other Sun Astrals who were in similarly dire straits also recovered.

There were a few, however, that died before the Love Goddess could do anything.

Even she couldn’t do anything about that.

“Alright. If there’s nothing else, then leave me be.” After taking care of the matter, Amelie’s presence disappeared, and the statue returned to its original motionless state.

“May the Love Goddess be blessed!” all of the Sun Astrals chanted at the same time.

After they finished praying, the Sun Astrals left the temple.

The plague had passed, and life needed to continue.

Even though a few Sun Astrals had died, the matter had mostly been resolved. This was a good thing.

Little Ivy was able to laugh once more, and she immediately returned to continue carving her small bow. Klipp and his wife were already beginning to discuss what they would eat for dinner.

They definitely needed to have a special dinner.

After all, they needed to comfort themselves after suffering through such a terrifying experience.

Priestess Emma actually decided to personally cook this meal.

Klipp, however, vehemently refused. “No, no, this is a celebration, not a punishment.”

“Are you saying that my cooking skills are not adequate?” Emma’s expression sank.

“That’s exactly what he means, mama,” Little Ivy said, gleefully adding fuel to the fire.

“Hey, kiddo, don’t throw me under the bus like that.”

“I just saved your life, you bastard! Is this how you plan on repaying me?” Emma said, angrily putting her hands on her hips.

“Even that cannot make up for your cooking,” Klipp guffawed. “I would say that even if I was cursed a second time.”

“I should have just let you die,” Emma said as she smacked her husband on the back of his head.

This gentle smack, however, caused Klipp to suddenly freeze.

“Klipp?” Emma asked, badly startled by his reaction.

Klipp opened his mouth and spat out another mouthful of blood.

Emma began to panic. “Klipp, what’s wrong?”

Klipp crumpled to the floor, a red rash appearing all over his body.

He spat out with great difficulty, “The curse...... has returned.”

How was this possible?

Emma was stunned.

Even so, she reacted immediately by casting two protective barriers around him, isolating him from Ivy and herself.

These protective barriers could prevent the curse from spreading any further, but it couldn’t cure those who were already afflicted. Only the divine light of the goddess herself could drive off the curse.

But even if it could protect them, the amount of holy light that Emma could use was limited, and the number of Sun Astrals who died would only increase with time.

Emma hurriedly picked up her husband and rushed back to the temple.

“Oh great goddess, may you once again return to our mortal plane. The terrible plague has returned with a vengeance!”

Following Emma’s prayer, the Love Goddess Amelie returned once more.

Even she was surprised by what had happened. “Didn’t I already remove the curse? Why is it still...... Hm, it seems that the source of the curse is still present.”

“Please, Goddess, destroy the source!” Emma loudly pleaded.

Suddenly, she saw a strange expression appear on Amelie’s face.

“Goddess?” Emma asked with some suspicion.

“I cannot find where the source of this curse is,” Amelie replied with a dour expression.

What?

Emma was stunned. “How can this be?”

“It’s not strange at all,” Amelie replied straightforwardly. “If the source is too far away, or if the source was hidden after the curse was released, then it will be very hard to discover.”

“But you are a goddess!”

“The gods are not omniscient,” Amelie murmured. “If they were, then how could there be stronger and weaker gods? That alone indicates that even gods have their limits. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that we are so busy that we really don’t have time to take care of these matters. I haven’t rested in days because of that damned Barrier. Ugh, my skin must look horrible right now......”

Amelie seemed a bit absent-minded, and she complained incessantly about her burdens.

Emma understood her goddess’s personality quite well.

Each deity had their own personality, and the Love Goddess’s personality was unquestionably that of a prima donna.

Unfortunately, this prima donna happened to hold the fates of the Sun Astrals in her hands.

Emma had no choice but to interrupt her string of complaints. “Goddess, please save us!”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about that.” Amelie raised her hand, and another wave of golden light surged forth, covering all of the afflicted Sun Astrals.

They were cured yet again.

This time, however, they weren’t nearly as happy about their situation.

Because they knew that, not long from now, the curse would resurface once again.

Amelie waited around for this precise reason.

She wanted to see just what was so special about this curse.

But nothing happened even after a long time of waiting.

“It seems that the curse must have gone dormant. I will take my leave for now. There are still many things that I must do.” Amelie disappeared once more.

“All we can do is hope that the curse doesn’t appear again,” Klipp said, comforting his wife.

“Yes, all we can do is hope,” Emma replied in a weak tone. For some reason, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still wrong.

Indeed, half an hour later, the Sun Astrals fell victim to the curse yet again.

Actually, Emma was still sitting in the temple.

She prayed once more, and Amelie appeared for the third time.

“So the curse is back again? How annoying. Why doesn’t it ever show itself when I’m around?” Amelie rubbed her head, groaning in frustration as she unleashed another wave of golden light.

This time, none of the Sun Astrals had any heart to celebrate their recovery.

Because they could sense that this curse was quite troublesome.

Amelie waited once more.

This time, she waited for two whole hours.

But nothing happened in those two hours.

Amelie finally understood.

“It’s avoiding me,” she stated.

“Someone is trying to drive a wedge between us Sun Astrals and you, Goddess. This is not a coincidence, but a deliberate scheme!” Emma was extremely confident in her deduction.

“You’re right. Who could it be? Who would orchestrate all this behind the scenes?” Amelie was growing angry as well.

The glow surrounding the statue grew more and more radiant as Amelie’s expression became angry.

A giant image appeared from behind the statue of the goddess, and the Sun Astrals all fell to their knees one by one. They knew that this was not a will projection, but rather a clone of the Love Goddess herself that Amelie had left behind.

The glory of the goddess’s clone filled the entire temple, greatly concentrating the energy nearby.

Amelie’s gaze swept through the temple. Suddenly, she laughed. “Found you!”

She immediately flew forwards.

“Squeak!” A shrill cry filled the temple.

A small mouse squirmed out of its hole before being blasted to smithereens by Amelie.

“Hahahaha, I’ve caught you now!” Amelie giggled with delight.

“So the source was that mouse?” Emma murmured to herself. “But how could a mouse contain such a powerful curse? And how did it know to avoid your presence?”

Amelie’s expression sank. “Because even though it is the source, it is not the one controlling the curse...... Damned bastard!”

Amelie had been able to find the concealed source of the curse, but determining the mastermind behind the curse was an entirely separate matter.

Just as Amelie had said, the gods were not omniscient.

They were very powerful, but there were quite a few things that they simply could not do.

“In any case, the source has been destroyed. You all will be safe for now,” Amelie said.

“But if the mastermind doesn’t give up, then the plague will inevitably return, right?” Emma asked carefully.

Amelie’s expression was dark as she replied, “Yes...... However, he’d better not return! I will not spare him.”

She left then, her words still ringing through the air in her wake.

Nothing else happened in Halcyon Earth Forest for some time.

The Sun Astrals believed that the plague had passed, and that they could now return to their old way of living.

But the curse returned once more.

Amelie was about to go crazy at the thought of having to descend a fourth time. However, she could not find the mastermind even after she searched through the entire forest.

He simply wasn’t anywhere closeby.

He had most likely made his arrangements and then ran away, leaving behind no clues apart from a single mouse that served as the source of the curse.

Actually, there was more than one.

This time, there were three sources of the curse.

Amelie stomped her feet in exasperation at being provoked like this, but there was nothing she could have done. The situation would have been the same even if her true body was present.

Even though an elephant was far stronger than a mouse, there was only so much it could do against a mouse.

As such, the curse appeared time after time, forcing Amelie to descend again and again.

And her multiple descensions did not come without a price.

Every time a god or a goddess descended, some of their divine power that was obtained through faith would be consumed.

Repeatedly descending was putting an immense burden on Amelie.

This Love Goddess soon became extremely reluctant to descend and save her people.

Of course, she still kept up the pretense of a loving goddess on the surface.

“The Barrier’s destruction is at a critical juncture, and I cannot keep leaving like this. Otherwise, our progress will be obstructed. You all must learn to adapt and face the situation on your own instead of relying on us gods for everything......”

After Amelie spoke these disingenuous words, she was no longer willing to descend.

In some sense, however, her words were also correct.

Once the Barrier was destroyed, even better sources of faith would be available in the Origin Realm.

As such, there was no need to be too distraught even if all of the Sun Astrals were wiped out now.

As soon as Amelie realized this, she felt extremely regretful about her past descensions.

But it was too late for regret. She had already lost quite a bit of divine power by descending repeatedly.

As such, the Sun Astrals soon realized something when the curse returned, and their cries for help went unanswered:

They had been abandoned by their goddess.

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