Chapter 205: A Few Days Later

Chapter 205: A Few Days Later

The Queen of Calamity and Horror… Isn’t that the Goddess? Right. Calamity includes misfortune, and misfortune is part of fate. The Goddess possesses corresponding authority, so naturally She can respond… Will Auceptin giving me this suggestion means that, in His eyes, I have always looked like a favored one of Evernight while remaining completely unaware of it myself—just like the last time He answered how I could obtain the high-sequence potion formulas of the Seer pathway… After what happened at Saint Samuel Cathedral, He should be even more certain… Klein was first taken aback, then enlightened.

As though speaking to himself, he said,

“If I pray to the Goddess, then no matter how I choose the symbolic marks, the final product’s effect should lean toward the domain of misfortune.”

“That’s common sense!” the tiny infant wrapped in silver silk shouted.

Having received confirmation, Klein felt a little more confident. He smiled and changed the subject.

“Mm… Are you still called Will Auceptin now?”

He was rather curious whether the other party would change names after being born.

“If you like, you can continue thinking that way. But my full name has already become Will Kriss,” the little infant answered without the slightest concern.

Klein thought for a moment, then probed further.

“If I wanted to deal with the holder of 0-08, do you have any suggestions?

“I’m not asking for information about 0-08 itself. I only hope to know whether you have advice.”

The chubby baby simply looked at him. Then his mouth suddenly opened wide, and he burst into a loud cry.

“Waaah!”

…The corner of Klein’s mouth twitched. Seeing that the maid was about to wake, he retreated a few steps and disappeared from the room with his two marionettes.

…

Rorsted Archipelago, aboard the Future, docked at the Resistance’s private harbor in Bayam.

Star Admiral Cattleya, who was performing a ritual, saw a drop of silver blood fly out from the illusory door formed by the candle flames.

She merely glanced at it before hurriedly closing her eyes, despite already wearing her heavy glasses.

At that moment, one transcendent and mysterious wheel after another seemed to turn inside her mind, connecting into a silver serpent whose head and tail nearly joined.

This caused her to repeat the thought she had just had again and again. She thanked Mr. Fool twelve times in succession before finally returning to normal.

“It really is the blood of a mythical creature from the domain of Fate. Its status is even higher than that of an ordinary angel…” Cattleya ended the ritual in delight and took out a vessel she had prepared long ago, placing that drop of silver blood inside.

From the Mystery Queen, she had learned some things about the Monster pathway. From Mr. Fool, she had come to know of the existence of the Angel of Fate, Ouroboros. Thus, she quickly formed a certain guess as to the blood’s owner.

“Perhaps it belongs to that one from the Life School of Thought. Or perhaps there are other Sequence 1 angels… In any case, Mr. Fool can mobilize at least two angels in the real world. Added to that ancient evil whose identity is difficult to confirm, and setting aside the relative weakness in terms of Sealed Artifacts, the power that worships Mr. Fool is already enough to rival an orthodox Church. Even Element Dawn and the Moses Ascetic Order cannot reach such a level…

“As expected of a reviving ancient god.”

Feeling increasingly awed, Cattleya inhaled softly and turned her thoughts to her own matters.

Her other preparations had been going very smoothly. If nothing unexpected happened, in a little more than a month, she would be able to attempt advancement to Sequence 4 and obtain divinity!

…

The sky above was pitch black. From time to time, silver-white lightning streaked across it, illuminating the barren, deathly silent plains and the winding, waterless river.

In the middle of the plains, where the river curved halfway around, dark outlines loomed indistinctly, layer upon layer. It was clearly a lifeless city.

After days of trekking, the City of Silver’s Chief of the six-member council, Demon Hunter Colin Iliad, had finally led his exploration team to their destination: Nois City.

There were not many people in this team. Besides Colin, there were only four members: the six-member council elder and Shepherd, Lovia; two Sequence 5 Guardians, Rig and Gunaruen; and the Sequence 6 Notary, Derrick Berg. Overall, their strength was no weaker than a full exploration team—if anything, it was considerably stronger.

According to Colin Iliad, this was because Nois City contained many monsters and was extremely dangerous. The Shapeshifter was especially skilled at disguise and loved exploiting trust. Therefore, an exploration team with fewer people was better than one with many. And since there were fewer members, their strength configuration naturally had to be higher.

Looking at the city ahead, where a faint mist lingered and even lightning could not illuminate its depths, Demon Hunter Colin removed the two straight swords on his back. Calmly, without any haste or disorder, he smeared silver-gray ointment onto one and poured golden liquid over the other.

He then planted both swords in front of him. From hidden compartments in his belt, he took out three small metal bottles, pulled out their stoppers, and gulped down the potions within.

At the same time, Rig and Gunaruen each began their own preparations for battle. Derrick Berg, holding a hammer in one hand and spreading the other, spoke in Giant with solemn gravity:

“God says, it is effective!”

Silently, Colin Iliad and the others felt the potions they had just drunk, the dawnlight they had conjured, and the ointments they had applied all strengthen by several degrees.

Immediately afterward, a warm halo spread outward, bringing courage and strength to the entire exploration team.

After Derrick used Sacred Oath to increase his own agility, Colin glanced at Lovia, who was holding a beast-hide lantern and observing everything in tranquil silence. He then turned and pointed at the outer region of Nois City, a dozen meters ahead, speaking to the large boy who had grown a little taller again.

“Use your ability to light up the street ahead.”

After saying this, he looked around and added,

“Once we enter Nois City, we absolutely cannot separate.

“Over the past few days, I have already introduced to you the more active monsters here that come from the depths of darkness. You should all understand very clearly that separating is precisely the kind of behavior the Shapeshifter will exploit.”

Gunaruen was a delicate-looking female warrior, two meters forty to fifty centimeters tall. Hearing this, she thought and said,

“Then can we use that point in reverse to hunt the Shapeshifter?”

“It is best not to do so. The danger is far too high, and it is very easy to accidentally kill a teammate—or be forever lost in Nois City.” Colin Iliad, his graying hair messy, issued a solemn warning.

Derrick looked toward the dead, silent city ahead, shrouded in faint mist and giving off not the slightest sound. Almost by instinct, he asked,

“Your Excellency Chief, did this city once belong to the Giant King’s Court as well?”

“Yes. However, it lay very close to the kingdom ruled by another ancient god,” Demon Hunter Colin answered with great patience.

Holding two iron-black rods and standing more than two meters forty centimeters tall as well, Rig asked curiously,

“Which ancient god?”

“The King of Demonic Wolves, the ‘Destroyer,’ Flegrea.”

So that’s how it is… Derrick noted the Chief’s explanation and took a step forward, stretching out both arms.

Pure, radiant sunlight abruptly burst from his body, illuminating collapsed and decayed buildings, illuminating the streets paved with grayish-white stone slabs, illuminating the edge of the city, silent to the extreme.

On the street, figure after figure appeared before Derrick and the others. Some wore linen-like robes, while others were dressed in beast-skin clothing, as if they were busily coming and going.

Sensing the sunlight shining upon them, they turned their heads all at once without making a sound, looking together toward the City of Silver’s exploration team.

…

At night, Bansy Harbor occasionally echoed with the cries of crows or other birds, making the entire ruin seem even more sinister and deathly still. Even the sound of the waves could not wash that feeling away.

As believers of the Lord of Storms and crew members of the Blue Avenger, the sailors were not timid people. Especially when they thought that gold and other valuables might still be buried inside the collapsed buildings, their hearts burned with greed. The moment they arrived, they left the ship in groups of two or three and began searching.

Alger did not join them. He walked through the ruins alone, searching for traces that had only appeared after Bansy Harbor’s destruction.

As he walked, wearing the Psychic Whip ring on his hand and carrying the Venomous Blade at his waist, he arrived before a collapsed building whose walls had cracked into several pieces and whose door was reduced to a few charred pieces of wood.

“If I remember correctly, this should have been Bansy Harbor’s telegraph office…” Alger nodded almost imperceptibly, approached, and made a brief inspection.

He soon saw that, among the broken wood and shattered stone, there was a relatively empty area. The ground there was scorched black, with two blood-red shadows imprinted on it. It looked as though two people had once lain there and been crushed alive into meat paste.

Yet despite how long ago the matter had happened, those two red marks were still vivid, as if they possessed a certain vitality.

Alger’s temple twitched. He felt he could vaguely imagine the eerie, wicked scene before Bansy Harbor was destroyed.

As his gaze swept around, he suddenly saw, beside the two bloody shadows and in a place moonlight could hardly reach, a picture carved onto the remnant wall.

The drawing was crude and uncolored. Its main subject was a monster wearing armor, with the head of an octopus and a trident in hand. Lightning coiled around its body. Its feet stepped upon waves, and behind it was a cloak formed from bird feathers.

Alger’s pupils suddenly dilated, and stormy waves surged in his heart.

He recognized what the monster in the picture represented, because The Sun had once displayed it:

It was the Rose Redemption’s distorted image of the Lord of Storms!

And the existence of this drawing meant that a member of Rose Redemption had once come to Bansy Harbor—and had done so after the building collapsed. Otherwise, the mural could not possibly have remained undamaged, neatly covering a wall that was already so badly broken.

“This should be the trace The World asked me to look for in Bansy Harbor… Is he investigating Rose Redemption, this secret organization?” Alger muttered inwardly and raised his right hand.

He had originally planned to destroy the picture directly. But after thinking for a moment, he lowered his arm again. He circled around the ruins of Bansy Harbor’s former telegraph office and walked toward another place as though he had discovered nothing.