Chapter 26: An Open Plot

Chapter 26: An Open Plot

Facing the angel’s embrace, Colin Iliad showed no astonishment. His expression remained calm as he accepted everything, as though he had long since prepared himself.

The ritual began.

He stepped forward, picked up the bottle of Silver Knight potion, and poured it into his mouth.

Silently, the Demon Hunter’s body expanded, turning into a giant several meters tall. Its base color was grayish blue, with bluish-black muscles knotted across it, and a pitch-black fissure in its forehead.

Every inch of this giant’s body contained indescribable mystery and vast, terrifying power. Aside from its head, which still retained a human appearance, the rest was already close to a mythical creature, emitting a strange mental influence.

The next second, Colin Iliad’s head seemed to suffer from softening of the bones. It sank completely inward, slowly writhing around that pitch-black fissure as its core, as though it were about to form a nebular vortex.

Such pain made even this Chief of the City of Silver, this Demon Hunter who had slain many powerful creatures, unable to suppress himself. He let out roars that would make the heads of ordinary living beings nearly split apart and their minds descend into extreme chaos.

If Colin Iliad had not evacuated the round tower in advance, leaving only the demigod elder Waite Chirmont to stand guard against accidents, many Beyonders would certainly have lost control on the spot.

The remains of the six powerful creatures in different positions of the ritual floated up under the pull of an invisible force. They circled around the transforming Colin Iliad, using some mysterious connection to awaken part of this top-tier Demon Hunter’s memories.

There was the experience of hunting a Devil. There was the attack with which he personally ended the previous Chief’s pain. There was the life of defeating powerful monster after powerful monster.

These memories manifested within the altar as though they were paintings. At times, they merged into Colin Iliad; at times, they separated. They helped him locate himself, allowing him to maintain a certain degree of clarity amid extreme pain and change.

Only now did Colin Iliad understand what the essence of the ritual was.

As a Sequence 4 Demon Hunter, every hunt of a powerful creature had been a battle of baptism infused with intense spirit, leaving deep marks upon his life.

Only with the help of those marks left by intense spirit could he locate himself after consuming the potion and avoid becoming lost in pain and madness.

This made Colin Iliad recall a term recorded in some of the City of Silver’s ancient texts:

Anchors!

Upon reaching Sequence 3, one was, in a certain sense, already a godlike being, capable of responding to prayers within a limited range, and therefore required a certain amount of anchors.

Because it was still not yet the angel level, those anchors did not necessarily need to be believers. They could be replaced by other things, such as distinct, mystically meaningful marks left within one’s life.

Within the awakened memories, Colin Iliad recovered his self-awareness bit by bit, once again feeling his body and grasping its changes.

Immediately afterward, layered wings made of illusory light grew from his back. They combined with the surrounding “paintings” and continuously contracted inward, collapsing upon Colin Iliad’s surface into a sturdy, gorgeous silver armor that had no weight.

After a Demon Hunter advanced to Silver Knight, minor differences would arise depending on the god who bestowed the blessing. The previous leader of the Court Hunters, Light Slayer Murskogan, had received the Giant King’s blessing, so every aspect of his Silver Knight domain was stronger.

Colin Iliad, by contrast, could occasionally make the silver-white rapier he condensed—one capable of Teleportation—show random, preferred, and unpredictable changes during attacks.

Additionally, when he mercuryfied, he could also obtain certain special effects.

As the silver armor finally took form, Colin Iliad completed the advancement. Aside from the fact that a vertical single eye had not yet grown on his head, he was already equivalent to a mythical creature.

At that moment, he raised his right hand and swung it to the side.

Outside the City of Silver, at a small hill, silver sharpness erupted from thin air, tearing apart everything around it and splitting that hill in two.

…

During Colin Iliad’s advancement to Silver Knight, Derrick Berg completed the bestowment prayer ritual and received a small metal tube.

Seizing the chance created by the abnormalities caused by the Chief of the City of Silver, which drew away the vast majority of attention, Klein, inside the ancient palace above the gray fog, abruptly reached out and summoned a bullet and the Death Knell revolver from the gaps of history.

Immediately afterward, after having performed divination in advance and confirmed that there were no Amon parasites in a very large area around Little Sun, he opened the cylinder without hesitation and loaded that Deceit Bullet.

Click!

Klein flicked his right wrist, closing the cylinder. Then, using his mysticism connection, he aimed across the distance at his original death location.

Bang!

He calmly pulled the trigger and fired the single bullet.

At the same time, by relying on this Beyonder medium and his own will, he leveraged the power of Sefirah Castle.

The entire gray fog boiled again. The space itself boiled. Vast yet slightly dark power surged out like a tide, enveloping the bullet, piercing the separation, and shooting toward the real world.

The light inside Sefirah Castle abruptly dimmed for a moment. Klein suppressed his fear and dread, holding the historical projection of Death Knell, simulated the feeling of weightless falling, and “leaped” toward the crimson star that represented The Sun—toward that small tube of his own blood.

On the barren plain where Chernobyl lay, the Amons wearing pointed soft hats all raised their heads in unison. They looked toward the lightning streaking across the sky, toward a deep darkness that not even lightning could illuminate.

All the Amons adjusted their monocles at the same time. After a moment of speechless silence, they laughed.

“He does not seem like someone who could think of this method…

“Pallez?

“Has He joined this organization that uses tarot cards as code names?”

City of Silver, the Berg family home.

Derrick’s vision suddenly turned pitch-black, giving him the feeling that the candles in the room had burned out.

For residents of the City of Silver, this was no good thing. Light belonging to the sun immediately began to gather in Derrick’s eyes.

Just then, within that deep darkness, specks of light burst out, like many transparent, wriggling insects.

The thin metal tube Derrick had received shattered by itself. Fresh red blood floated out from within, drifting into the air and continuously splitting, combining with the fragments of light.

In only two or three seconds, those “fragments of light” condensed into one, transforming into a huge sphere of light.

The sphere stretched and changed, swiftly outlining a human figure.

This figure had deep, sharp lines, a cold and rigid face, a half top hat made of silk, a black wool coat, and an iron-black revolver in hand. It was none other than Gehrman Sparrow.

Klein had successfully deceived that mysticism rule. At the fake resurrection point, with the help of the blood he had previously stored, he completed his resurrection!

There was no need for any introduction. Derrick recognized the visitor through that special bearing. After two stunned heartbeats, he instinctively revealed an uncontrollable smile.

“Mr. World?”

Klein lifted his head slightly, looked at Little Sun—who seemed to have grown a little taller again—and subconsciously reached out to press his hat.

Then he nodded gently and said, “I will remain in the Forsaken Land of the Gods for this period of time.

“But I must leave right now. I cannot draw Amon to the City of Silver.

“If there is a chance later, I will cooperate with all of you.”

Derrick understood the meaning in Mr. World’s words and nodded heavily.

“All right!”

Just as Klein lifted his right hand, preparing to snap his fingers and use Flame Jump to leave, Derrick looked at him and suddenly pointed toward a storage cabinet in the room.

“Mr. World, do you need to take some food? There are mushrooms that can produce milk!”

…Klein controlled himself, preventing the corner of his mouth from twitching. Maintaining his cold and stern demeanor, he said, “I do not drink milk.”

No sooner had he spoken than he snapped his fingers. A scarlet flame rose from his pocket and wrapped around him like flowing water.

The flames quickly scattered, falling like tiny stars. Klein vanished from Derrick Berg’s room.

Outside the City of Silver, in a distorted forest, firelight flashed continuously, extending all the way into the barren wilderness that led north.

Only after he had truly moved far away from the City of Silver did Klein slow his “steps” somewhat. He summoned a lantern from the gaps of history and carried it in his hand.

He had long anticipated that this resurrection would proceed so smoothly, because once the correct method was found, Amon actually could not stop it.

In the City of Silver, Amon would at most have a few avatars at Sequence 4 or Sequence 3 level. Klein could locate them in advance with True Vision and eliminate them.

And if they could combine into a Sequence 2-level avatar, then Klein, who had preliminarily grasped Sefirah Castle and could leverage angel-level power, could directly fight that avatar above the gray fog while standing in an invincible position where he could not be attacked. He had a fairly good chance of repelling the enemy.

If Amon moved His main body to the City of Silver, then Klein could choose to revive at his original death location.

Of course, Amon could create an avatar nearly at Sequence 1 and send it to the City of Silver. But under the premise of the conservation of Beyonder characteristics, how many avatars of that level could He produce?

No more than two!

And Klein could divide the blood he had stored into multiple portions, then use bestowment rituals to send them to Mr. Hanged Man, Madam Hermit, Leonard the Star, and so on. There would be far too many possible resurrection points for Amon to guard all of them.

This was an open, aboveboard plan built on his own level, Beyonder abilities, and the uniqueness of Sefirah Castle. Before attempting resurrection, Klein had been quite certain of the result. His only worry was that Amon would perceive the deception in advance and interfere in time, preventing the resurrection point from shifting.

Fortunately, his divination had preliminarily confirmed that the level of danger was not high. This was also one of the reasons he dared make the attempt.

“Whew. I’ve really shaken off Amon…” Walking within the dim yellow glow of the lantern, Klein felt the existence of his body and breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief.

Of course, he knew very well that what awaited him next was the fierce pursuit of Amon’s main body and His many avatars.