Chapter 184: Afternoon Town

Chapter 184: Afternoon Town

That is… Reflected in Klein’s eyes was something almost completely transparent.

It seemed to be the shell of something. At times, it shrank back a little and vanished from Klein’s field of vision. At other times, it protruded outward as though blown by an invisible wind, revealing a faint outline.

Using it as an anchor, he looked higher and saw a smear of deep green close to black quietly standing there.

Like the color of trees in a dark forest… Klein muttered, completely unable to imagine what that “color” and that “thing” symbolized. He could only boldly guess that it might be related to further control over the mysterious space above the gray fog.

Without trying to do useless work, he jumped down from the stairway that seemed to lead to heaven and returned to the palace he had manifested.

Taking the Queen of Mysteries’ existence into consideration, Klein did a little tidying, then left the space above the gray fog and returned to the washroom in his room.

After dealing with the aftermath, he walked step by step to his suitcase, found the Sun Brooch, and pinned it to his double-breasted frock coat.

After all that trouble, the types of mystical items he could use and carry had returned to the same state as when he had been in Backlund. However, he was now Sequence 5. He now possessed one of the most difficult abilities to deal with below the demigod level. He was now, in the truest sense, a powerhouse of the Beyonder world.

“Normally speaking, I should be very excited and happy, but in truth I’m not. I’m not even as excited as I was when I finally found the mermaids… Because, to me, this is only another step taken toward revenge. The goal I truly want to reach is still far away…

“Next, I need to summarize the acting rules, digest the Marionettist potion, and look for the corresponding Sequence 4 formula and ingredients. Mm. These things will have to wait until I leave this sea. I can ask Mr. Azik, Will Auceptin, and the magic mirror Arrodes in turn…

“Heh. I should relax my mind and body over the next few days. If the mind is stretched too tight, it will snap, leading to signs of losing control…” Klein turned and looked at the full-length mirror inside the room. He saw himself standing nearly 1.8 meters tall, with black hair and brown eyes, a thin face, and sharply defined features. He wore a white shirt and frock coat, a bow tie, a top hat, and a dark-gold sunbird brooch. His expression was calm, and his gaze was dark and deep.

After silently looking for a while, he raised both hands, adjusted the buttons at his cuffs, and patted down his black frock coat.

…

Lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the layers of gray, gloomy buildings ahead.

Demon Hunter Colin Iliad, carrying two swords on his back, pointed across from them and said, “That is Afternoon Town.”

His gray-white hair, neglected and unkempt, constantly swayed in the wind blowing across the wilderness.

So soon… Derrick, holding the Axe of Hurricane, sighed inwardly in surprise.

He soon understood that this was reasonable. After all, the Giant King’s Court itself lay in a region near the City of Silver, and Afternoon Town was one of the key nodes connecting the two.

With the help of lightning that lit up the dark night, he saw the appearance of Afternoon Town clearly. It was built at the foot of a mountain and naturally divided into upper, middle, and lower levels. Although it was called a town, it was no smaller than most ruins discovered by the City of Silver.

Here, gray stones had been piled into different houses. Some were hollowed out from whole blocks and reached nearly ten meters high. Others were like Derrick’s current home, so low that a normal human seemed capable of touching the ceiling.

These buildings were arranged tightly together, spreading outward. Some had already collapsed, while others still stood firm. Yet all of them were stained by traces of age, decay, and ruin.

This is completely different from the descriptions in the textbooks… Derrick naturally recalled the knowledge he had learned in history class.

According to the records of the City of Silver, Afternoon Town was the gate separating reality and myth. Humans and giants had once lived together here. It had night and day, but all of its daylight remained in a state of “afternoon.” Whether dense fog, heavy rain, or snow and ice arrived, none of them could conceal that rather fierce sunlight. Yet at this moment, the place was dark, gray, and sunken. Even when illuminated by lightning, it lacked any sense of brightness and showed no vitality at all.

Gripping the axe handle, Derrick, whose eyes seemed to contain two miniature suns, walked along the side of the exploration team, following Chief Colin step by step into Afternoon Town.

This place had already been cleaned once during the first exploration. The streets were covered in traces left by rotting chunks of flesh and dried pus. The surroundings were completely silent, without the slightest sound.

“Careful. Many strange monsters hide here in the darkness.” Colin Iliad, whose face bore old scars, did not treat the place lightly. Reaching back, he drew one of the two swords on his back. Its silver blade held back its light.

This is the gate to myth? When the Creator abandoned this land, did He abandon even myth itself? Derrick could not help imagining what Afternoon Town had experienced during that great upheaval long ago. Intuitively, he believed it was likely different from what had happened to the Nation of Silver.

Before he could observe the surroundings more carefully and search for possible clues, he suddenly heard an urgent shout from a teammate on the other side.

“There’s something!”

Derrick turned his head and saw that on the surface of a ten-meter-high giant stone house, a transparent face had grown.

The face was covered in countless cracks, which spiraled regularly toward the center, forming something like a whirlpool-shaped single eye—or mouth.

Within the whirlpool, a hurricane was almost tangible, howling as it surged outward. Inside it, light like dawn gathered densely, like arrow after arrow of light.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

They struck several members of the exploration team, but it was as if they had hit thick city walls. They only produced dull, dense sounds before quickly vanishing into the gloomy surroundings.

At some unknown point, Colin Iliad, Chief of the City of Silver, had already bent his knees and half-crouched, thrusting the silver straight sword in his hand into the rotting gray-stone ground.

He had provided the strongest protection to the team members in front!

At the same time, the remaining members of the exploration team launched attacks in orderly fashion. Storms of light and crimson fireballs struck the monster one after another.

Immediately afterward, the sacred light summoned by Derrick also descended upon the whirlpool-like eye.

Amid the sound of explosions, the giant stone house, already covered in cracks, collapsed with a crash. The transparent face screamed and evaporated into nothing.

Although the battle had been easy, Derrick did not feel happy at all. At the Tarot Gathering, he had listened to Mr. Hanged Man, Miss Justice, and the others discuss examples of Beyonder combat. Combining that with the experience accumulated by the City of Silver from fighting all kinds of monsters in the depths of darkness, he worriedly discovered that the pathways grasped by the City of Silver were limited. Below demigod level, they lacked effective means of control. The situation just now had happened to prove that point.

Thankfully, the Sealed Artifacts formed after monsters die can make up for it… Derrick thought silently. Then he heard the Chief give instructions.

“According to the arrangements made before departure, form groups of three or four. Explore and clear different areas.”

“Yes, Chief!” Most of the exploration team members had abundant experience and quickly finished grouping.

Derrick’s group consisted of three people. Besides him, there were Joshua and Heinm, both of whom had gone to the abandoned temple with him before. The former was a Sequence 7 Weapon Master and owned a mystical glove that could manipulate flames. The latter had recently become a Sequence 6 Dawn Paladin, and his height had shot up by a large margin, reaching 2.3 meters.

The City of Silver, whose main strength lay in the Warrior pathway—that is, the Giant pathway—had an average height of 1.8 meters, including children above the age of six. Even if Beyonder characteristics were not inherited, altered normal genes accumulated generation by generation. Although Derrick was not old, he was already close to 1.8 meters, and he still had room to grow.

According to their assigned target, Derrick, Joshua, and Heinm entered an alley on the left in a triangular combat formation, exploring every house they could still enter.

Perhaps because the place had been cleared before, they did not encounter any monsters for a long while, and without realizing it, they relaxed slightly.

“I heard the Council of Six wants to establish a camp here and turn Afternoon Town into our stronghold,” Joshua said after inspecting the hall of one house. He wore a crimson glove on his left hand.

Heinm nodded, looking down at his two companions.

“The real goal seems to be…”

He pointed diagonally upward.

“The Giant King’s Court?” Derrick asked in surprise.

Aren’t we looking for the seaside Little Jack and the others came from? Don’t we need to bypass the Giant King’s Court? Derrick’s heart filled with confusion.

Heinm shook his head.

“I only heard that.”

His gaze swept around, and he pointed at the basement entrance.

“Let’s finish exploring this place first.”

Derrick acknowledged with a murmur. Relying on his night vision and ability to “glow,” he was unafraid of darkness and entered the basement first. Heinm, carrying a lantern covered in the hide of a monster beast, followed with Joshua close behind.

The basement of this house was rather spacious. Inside were one blackened, dried trace after another. A faint scent of blood still lingered after who knew how many years.

Derrick looked around and felt that some sacrificial ritual seemed to have been held here.

A very, very long time ago… he silently added. Then he discovered something like an altar—a stone table, as well as a remaining length of candle, which further confirmed his guess.

Why would the residents of Afternoon Town secretly hide in a basement to hold a sacrificial ritual? Under the Giant King’s Court’s rule, they were all believers of the Giant King. Later, they belonged to the Lord who created everything… Was the owner of this house secretly worshiping another god? One question after another surfaced. Derrick approached the altar and saw that the stone table had originally been covered in carved text, but natural and unnatural factors had almost completely destroyed it.

After carefully identifying what remained, Derrick found three names:

“Ouroboros;

“Medici;

“Sasrir.”

Ouroboros? Isn’t that the name of the Angel of Fate? Mr. Fool mentioned that Medici was also a King of Angels. Is Sasrir another one? Derrick suddenly felt excited, yet also afraid. He quickly turned around, wanting to call his companions over to look.

But within his sight, the basement entrance was empty and dark. Heinm and Joshua, who should have been following him, were gone!