After even the united strength of the fragmented human realms had failed and they suffered defeat in battle against the Beast King and his army of thousands of magical beasts, the humans—driven by desperation—began to ally with the elves.
Fortunately, the elves agreed to join the pact, sensing the danger the Monster King would pose to them in the future, and marched together into battle.
The dwarves, however—whose might both races had also courted—chose to sidestep the catastrophe and seclude themselves within their massive, hollowed-out mountain, opting for safety in cowardice.
In the end, however, even the huge force of over two hundred thousand humans and elves was unable to defeat the Beast King, Ananta.
At that time, Ananta lay within one of the destroyed human kingdoms, amidst the ruins of the capital, resting as swarms of magical beasts protected him like a queen bee, flooding the intruders.
Even when the two Saints of the Church united and—with elite warriors trained by Ethan—confronted the Beast King, they failed and barely survived.
The "King of Beasts," Ananta, held the B-rank.
Even the exceptional Ethan, at the peak of C-rank, together with Saint Maria's impressive healing and support skills, was no match for the monster.
The sheer volume and difficulty of the Beast King's abilities, acquired through evolution and devouring various beasts and Awakened, formed a wall too high and seemingly impassable.
But it was at this very moment that Asher chose to intervene.
Despair was spreading across the whole of Gaia; different classes of humans—whether warriors, nobles, or simple farmers—no longer dared to leave their homes.
It was as if an eternal dark curtain had been drawn over the world, dimming the sky and filling the atmosphere with dread.
This was the perfect time for a savior, a hero, a Saint chosen by God, to emerge and bring peace and prosperity once more.
Asher had been waiting for precisely this moment, and he had already selected a candidate, training him under the guidance of the two heroes, Arthur and Morgana.
These legendary figures, specializing in training young talents, lived up to their reputations and did an even better job than Asher himself, transforming their protégé into a powerful warrior in record time.
This young, future hero had already reached B-rank and had even surpassed the matured and experienced Ethan, who had plateaued.
But that alone was not enough to stand against monstrous Ananta, who could stand against entire armies of Awakened alone.
Therefore, Asher decided that Arthur should equip his young protégé with an artifact—an arrow and bow imbued with divine energy.
The bow, named "Ekfortosi," was capable of pushing its wielder's inherent energies toward infinity, and in conjunction with the arrow "Geotrisi," could launch a charged strike that would hit its target with 100 % accuracy and unleash immense destructive force.
Armed with these items, the young hero's chances against Ananta skyrocketed.
In the 180th year of the Redeemed Saints, the hero Kronos finally appeared on the world stage and began his hunt for the Beast King, Ananta.
This battle, however, differed fundamentally from the one Ethan had once fought against the wyvern, which lasted barely an hour.
Aside from being far more exhausting and draining, it stretched across multiple days and was composed of more than a few short, direct confrontations.
The fight, which Kronos had begun full of confidence, turned into a days-long hunt filled with dodging, fleeing, and long-range attacks, with only a few surprise strikes.
Simply put, the young hero spent most of the time dodging the fatal and dangerous attacks of the enormous multi-headed serpent, keeping distance, maintaining distance, and using rare opportunities to strike from behind.
It took days before he finally got a real chance to inflict a fatal wound on Ananta with the help of the two artifacts, all the while suffering from severe exhaustion and not-insignificant injuries.
After almost more than four days, he finally managed to land the killing blow—but lost an arm in the process, torn off by a berserk and raging Ananta in an uncontrolled outburst.
In the end, however, he succeeded in defeating the Beast King, albeit under great strain.
Now Ananta's severed heads lay scattered across the ruins of the fallen kingdom, soaking the ground with lakes of blood.
Later that same year, the Church of Salvation reappeared, having dissolved the Holy Empire and been taken over by a new pope.
The former pope, Almen, had recently perished during the unrest in the Holy Empire—stabbed in the back by one of his own people, blamed for the calamity that had befallen the world and that bore the name Ananta.
The new Saint Kronos then joined the Church, hoping once again to bring peace to the world.
"I see. Things are going well."
Asher watched the events with pleasure.
He had created a throne on the platform so that he wouldn't have to stand the whole time, and observed the happenings from afar, his eyes glittering.
"Renas, there's something I want to ask. I am capable of creating multiple worlds, right?"
"Confirmed. With your current rank, you are capable of managing and shaping more than one habitable world simultaneously, according to your desires."
"Okay, but tell me…"
Asher suddenly paused and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his intense and serious gaze met the indifferent look of his advisor, who flinched ever so slightly at the sudden shift in tone—though without changing his expression.
After steeling his heart, Asher dared to ask the following question:
"Am I also capable of restoring already fallen worlds… like Earth, for example?"
Renas did not answer immediately and appeared to be thinking. It looked as if he were searching through all available information in his mind until he finally completed his analysis.
He nodded in confirmation.
"Confirmed. As the Creator God of this galaxy, you can access the data of all worlds created within it—whether during or even before your reign—and you are capable of restoring them. Since these worlds once existed, you are also able to choose the timeline in which they will be restored."
Asher exhaled in relief and nodded.
With that, his next question was answered as well. He truly was capable of bringing Earth back—and in a time before the monsters appeared and humans awakened. A time of peace.
He had long considered what it would be like to see his old home again after its destruction.
The very thought stirred many emotions in him: grief, uncertainty, shame… But he was not someone who let himself be ruled or guided by such emotions—especially not by past events that could no longer be changed.
So, let me see it once more…
With a determined look, he finally opened the world shop, accessed a list of past worlds from the Galaxy of the Grey Dwarf, and began to navigate.
There were truly many worlds—thousands, if not millions. Each with different themes and developmental paths—from modern to magical, everything was there.
With the search function, he quickly filtered out a dozen Earths that appeared very similar. Fortunately, the logbook indicated which one had been his, and so the work began.
After locating and selecting the last registered Earth from the list, he didn't restore it right away.
Before restoring Earth, he had to first take care of the surrounding space.
With a wave of his hand, stars, a sun, and a moon appeared in a distant, mostly empty part of his galaxy. He skillfully recreated the solar system as known from Earth, with its eight planets—Mercury, Venus, Mars, etc.—orbiting the sun.
Then all that remained was the correct place and the timeline of Earth before its downfall, and then it could be restored.
With a blink, the planet appeared—a twin of Earth, orbiting the sun near the moon.
The splendor of the solar system had thus been restored.
Asher was full of anticipation, though he kept it visibly restrained and tried to maintain his neutral, expressionless look. But despite all efforts, he couldn't suppress the nervous, excited tremble in his hand.
He finally used his divine eyes to gaze directly from space upon Earth and inspect it.
Earth was currently in the year 2020.
Thus, it was in a time shortly before the gates appeared and the monsters poured forth to massacre humanity. That would now never happen, as Asher had essentially changed and diverted Earth's fate.
Asher took a glance and saw something—peace. There was still peace, and people lived calmly, going about their daily lives.
Of course, there were still conflicts between nations at this time, but when had that ever not been the case? It had long become part of everyday life that conflict existed somewhere. But that did not shatter the Earth's peace, making it a peaceful—if not downright dull—era.
This sight touched Asher deeply.
Back during the time of war, he had always imagined what it would be like if the monsters had never come.
He fondly remembered sitting in cafés during his free time, reading books in peace—and often comforted himself with these memories.
He was profoundly moved at the sight of his homeland, yet also felt a strange emptiness he could not explain.
Just as he stepped forward toward Earth, he suddenly stopped and furrowed his brow deeply. His divine perception—which allowed him to monitor all of Earth even from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away—sensed something unnatural.
His gaze darkened at once, becoming ominous.
A bad feeling welled up inside him. It was something he had not felt since becoming a Creator God—a kind of dissonance, as if something were there that shouldn't be. It made him uneasy.
Asher closed his eyes for a moment, focusing his perception as much as possible to locate the source of this sensation.
It took only a moment before he had found the origin.
He frowned strangely at the sight of it, a bit confused, as he recognized the place.
It was a very well-known location on Earth—familiar to most people, yet rarely visited.
With a flicker of his form, Asher vanished from the void of space and reappeared directly on Earth at that very spot.
Earth. Mount Everest.
Asher materialized high in the sky, not far from the summit of the towering Everest.
He stood motionless, gazing down at the mountain peak as if searching for something specific.
"There it is!"
After just a moment, Asher spotted from the sky what he had apparently been searching for—though even he wasn't sure exactly what he had been looking for.
But the moment he found it, he vanished again and reappeared atop Everest's summit—unimpressed by the cold winds and icy chill of the highest mountain on Earth.
Then, he extended his hand downward.
The mountain peak began to part under a mysterious, formless pressure, cracks forming along its surface and revealing its interior.
Without effort, a hole more than twenty meters deep appeared, reaching into the depths of Everest and revealing what lay hidden within.
A roughly five-meter-tall, glowing green portal.
Asher stared silently and somewhat perplexed at the portal—wondering what such a thing was doing on Earth. Despite his composed demeanor, his thoughts raced, searching for the source and origin of this portal.
What the hell is that? No portal should exist on Earth in this timeline! Did I fail? Will the tragedy repeat itself? No… that can't be. The portals back then looked different. Where does it lead…?