Chapter 102: Mr. Clown

Chapter 102: Mr. Clown

When they saw the figure walking out from behind the collapsed tower, the members of the City of Silver’s exploration team immediately adopted guarded postures, ready at any moment to launch an attack or provide defense.

In their eyes, the man in strange clothes and a strange hat was no different from a monster—and an extremely terrifying one at that!

Even an ordinary Beyonder, once their body had undergone such a degree of mutation, could already be considered a monster!

Seeing the reaction of those half-giants, Klein split his mouth into a grin and said, all smiles, “Hello, everyone. I am Gehrman Sparrow.

“You should count yourselves lucky that I can still control myself. Otherwise, you would already have lost your sanity for looking directly at me.”

As he spoke, the transparent worms on the left side of his face and neck continued crawling slowly. Beneath the clothes on his left side, raised traces surfaced one after another, squirming gently.

Monster! The members of the City of Silver’s exploration team who were not demigods became even more certain of their judgment.

“You are… you are Mr. Wo—no, Mr. Sparrow?” Derrick Berg finally managed to recognize Mr. World, whom he had once met.

Klein raised his left palm and covered the left side of his face. With a smile, he said, “Life is always full of unexpected things.”

Without waiting for Little Sun to respond, Klein paused and continued, “I’ve already opened the door to the Giant King’s residence. That brought about some accidents, causing changes in the divine kingdom.”

Already opened the door to the Giant King’s residence? Colin Iliad, whose hair was graying and whose face bore old scars, felt his gaze sharpen. Almost instinctively, he raised his head and looked toward the magnificent complex bathed in golden sunlight.

But because the distance was too great, he couldn’t make out the situation at the highest point.

However, the fact that the frozen twilight had been replaced by the blazing sun of noon already said much.

Klein’s gaze swept across the Chief of the City of Silver and Lovia, the elder of the six-member council dressed in black armor, before returning to The Sun Derrick’s face. His smile was obvious as he went on.

“This has also brought me some negative effects, as you can see.”

At this point, he clapped his hands and said in a tone as though instructing children, “All right. Any Beyonder below the demigod level should leave this place. The Giant King’s Court after its mutation is not somewhere you can explore deeply.”

The exploration team members apart from Colin, Derrick, and Lovia inexplicably felt a certain fear. One after another, they looked toward the Chief.

Colin Iliad remained silent for a few seconds. Then he turned his head and said to them, “Leave the Giant King’s Court first. Wait at the edge. If you see the signal, immediately act according to the predetermined plan.”

The carefully selected exploration team members were not only fairly powerful, close to demigods themselves, but also carried different powerful Sealed Artifacts that complemented one another. Even against a Saint, they would not necessarily be without a chance. But in the City of Silver’s original plan, they had never been intended to serve as the main force. Colin Iliad had brought them because, if he and the other demigods were to fight potential enemies until they had no strength left, these team members could play their corresponding roles. They could also rely on different Sealed Artifacts to handle different accidents, ensuring that the team had no obvious weak point.

Now, however, with a powerful external helper joining them, and with the Giant King’s Court indeed having changed, no one knew what they might encounter deeper inside. Out of caution, Colin Iliad believed there was nothing wrong with Gehrman Sparrow’s suggestion. In his private heart, he also felt that members below the demigod level should not bear unnecessary risks or suffer meaningless casualties. Thus, he agreed with the opinion of that monster-like powerhouse.

When the time came, if there was truly a chance, he, Lovia, and Derrick could all send a signal and have those team members rush over to assist along the cleared route.

As for the problem of the team’s Beyonder powers becoming comparatively monotonous and unable to handle different situations, Colin Iliad was not overly concerned because Lovia, once a Shepherd, was present.

The exploration team members below the demigod level exchanged glances. After hesitating for a while, they eventually chose to obey Colin Iliad.

“Yes, Your Excellency Chief!”

As they answered, they all looked deeply at Derrick Berg, as if wanting to remind the Chief to be wary of this Sequence 4 demigod.

He actually knew a monster-like living powerhouse!

To the residents of the City of Silver, who had almost never seen outsiders, this was an extremely suspicious matter.

Sensing the clear distrust shown by his companions, Derrick’s heart tightened with sourness. His eyes nearly reddened.

In the end, however, he offered no explanation. He remained silent, his waist and back straight.

After the rest of the exploration team members had withdrawn from the Giant King’s Court, Klein smiled and pointed at the two demigods beside Derrick.

“Let me guess. You must be the Chief of the City of Silver, the former Demon Hunter and current Silver Knight, Colin Iliad. And you are Lovia, the Black Knight who believes in The Hanged Man and shepherds His lambs?”

Lovia’s pale gray eyes, hidden behind her visor, narrowed slightly.

“You really are like a clown.”

“The Hanged Man?” When Derrick heard what Mr. World said, he almost doubted his own ears.

For a moment, he had thought Elder Lovia had some connection to Mr. Hanged Man, but he quickly recalled the specific image of the Fallen Creator: a naked man nailed upside down upon a cross.

Mr. World is using The Hanged Man to refer to the Fallen Creator, and Elder Lovia is reprimanding him for being impolite? Derrick, who stood just over two meters tall, nodded thoughtfully and sincerely admired Mr. World’s courage.

He actually dared to give a true god a nickname, and he even said it aloud in front of that god’s believer!

Colin Iliad looked at Gehrman Sparrow, then at Lovia. He did not attempt to determine who was right or wrong. In a steady voice, he said, “We continue forward.”

He had already drawn the two straight swords from his back and let them be covered in dawnlight.

“No problem.” Klein smiled, turned around, and together with the three demigods of the City of Silver, circled toward the left side of the enormous stone staircase.

After walking for a while, they saw the familiar narrow path. On one side of the path stood a towering cliff wall; on the other side were bottomless clouds now stained by the light of noon.

Just then, Klein and the others felt the ground tremble. They saw a large amount of illusory, pitch-black gas surge from the depths of the golden clouds.

With a crash, the entire narrow path collapsed and fell into the dark “water surface.”

Beneath that “water surface,” it was as if invisible whirlpools were hidden.

“Haha, it collapsed. There’s no road now, haha.” Klein laughed until his back bent, and his laughter made the spirits of the three Saints—Colin, Derrick, and Lovia—tense.

After taking a few seconds to regain a little control over his emotions, Klein straightened and, still smiling broadly, took a sheet of white paper from his pocket. He folded it into a “plane.”

Huh. He breathed toward the paper airplane’s nose, swung his arm, and threw it toward the cloud sea swallowed by the deep black.

At the same time, the glove on his left palm became covered in slick fish scales.

Seeing this, Colin Iliad, who had originally been somewhat confused, nodded lightly and turned his gaze toward the flying paper creation.

A violent gale immediately rose, carrying the paper airplane forward for several seconds.

Then, it suddenly dispersed. Like a stone, the paper airplane plummeted rapidly into the pitch-black clouds without causing the slightest ripple.

“It seems flying won’t work.” Klein half-turned and smiled at Derrick and the others.

Lovia did not respond. She released a semi-transparent spirit and let it wrap around a fragment of stone.

In the blink of an eye, that stone vanished from its original spot and “blinked” into the air above the dark cloud sea. Then, unstoppable, it fell straight down and sank into the clouds.

“Teleportation won’t work either,” Lovia said in a rather low voice.

Klein pressed a hand to his abdomen and bent over laughing twice before saying, “Looks like we can only enter through the main gate.”

Derrick immediately turned around, ready to head back. Colin Iliad and Lovia exchanged a glance, then nodded almost imperceptibly.

The group of four demigods soon returned to the front of the enormous grayish-white stone staircase and looked up ahead.

Upon the silent steps, each one very high, the majestic city wall was covered with traces of burning and destruction. In some places, arrows as thick as ordinary trees were still embedded.

At the center of the wall was a pair of doors dozens of meters tall. Their color was a grayish blue, and their surface was inlaid with golden studs.

On either side of the door stood a guard, each five or six meters tall and extremely oppressive. They wore exquisite and sturdy full-body silver armor. One held a greatsword; the other leaned on a giant axe. Behind each mask, a cluster of orange light shone.

Silver Knights!

These were two Silver Knight guards!

Without wasting time, Colin Iliad swiftly withdrew his gaze and said to Gehrman Sparrow, “I’ll hold off one Silver Knight. The rest of you deal with the other as quickly as possible.”

He did not know Gehrman Sparrow’s strength very clearly, but judging from Derrick Berg’s reverence and the fact that this demigod blessed by The Fool had opened the Giant King’s residence, Colin believed he would not be inferior to himself.

Under such circumstances, whether it was Gehrman Sparrow or Colin Iliad himself, either one should be able to swiftly kill a Silver Knight guard with the cooperation of Lovia and Derrick. After all, those were not living demigods, but special golems with little intelligence.

The moment Colin Iliad finished speaking, he saw Gehrman Sparrow bend over and let out a loud laugh.

“Why take these two toys so seriously?

“If they were still alive, capable of thought, and true Silver Knights, I would definitely be as cautious as you. But now? Haha. Just watch.”

As he spoke, Klein used his left hand, where quite a few Spirit Worms crawled back and forth, to press down on the top hat on his head. Then he straightened and strode quickly toward the steps.

Under the embrace of wild winds, he ascended step by step toward the main gate of the Giant King’s Court.

During this process, his right hand lifted casually and shook a few times, as if he were flexing his wrist or grabbing at the air.

On the final motion, Klein’s shoulder sank slightly, as though something had solidified there, yet nothing appeared in the void.

Colin Iliad had originally wanted to witness Gehrman Sparrow’s strength and had not stopped him in any way. He had merely signaled for Lovia to follow and prevent any mishap. But at this moment, he suddenly slowed his steps, frowning slightly, as though he had smelled something.

As for Derrick, he watched with a trace of worship, fully believing that Mr. World would swiftly resolve the guards.