Chapter 100: Town

Chapter 100: Town

Before his mind fell into a “power outage” state, Klein had only enough time for two thoughts to flash through:

“So strong. There is no way to resist at all…

“I wonder whether I will still have a chance to revive after dying this way…”

No sooner had the thoughts echoed than Klein’s vision had already turned pitch-black. He completely lost consciousness, as if entering the deepest sleep without dreams.

An unknown amount of time passed. The lightless, soundless darkness suddenly swayed, and in a vague, hazy way, he regained a little sensation. He felt a cold wind blowing over him.

His thoughts broke free from stagnation little by little. Klein slowly opened his eyes and saw fog overhead. The crimson moon hid within it, appearing and disappearing.

Have I revived again? Or have I entered the Underworld? Even if it is the latter, the problem is not too serious. Perhaps I can still ask the bone messenger to contact Mr. Azik. It is only that I may have to become an undead creature or spirit world creature from now on…

Klein’s thoughts remained somewhat heavy, as if someone had poured paste into his head. His thinking scattered involuntarily.

Gradually, he sensed his body and heard the thump-thump beating of his heart.

His mind quickly cleared. He believed the possibility that he had revived again was greater, and perhaps he had been thrown into the wilderness.

Crack!

Klein’s joints sounded as he abruptly rolled over and stood. He had no time to inspect his own condition and first examined his surroundings, confirming the environment he was in.

What entered his vision first was mist drifting all around and the deep, cold night. Not far away, there was a small town.

The town’s most eye-catching building was a church with a pointed roof and an extremely ancient style. It was entirely black, had no bell tower, and one pitch-black crow after another wheeled and circled around its peak.

Around the church were scattered quite a few buildings. There were ordinary two-story residences, simple wooden houses, a bakery with a hanging signboard, and a gray-white mill powered by a waterwheel. Yet there was not a single pedestrian. Everyone seemed to have sunk into deep sleep amid the quiet, peaceful night.

As a Seer, Klein instantly felt that this town was very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before!

After a brief recollection, he remembered what it represented.

This was the dangerous source of the God War Ruins at night!

After entering that region at the easternmost end of the Sonia Sea, when night descended, anyone who did not sleep and enter the dream world would, once the sky brightened and noon arrived, be discovered to have vanished silently without a trace. Once, when Klein had been woken from a dream by the Black Saint, he had seen, far out at sea and in the place shrouded by quiet night, a mysterious, eerie mist-covered town just like this one!

He even suspected that all living creatures that vanished at night in the God War Ruins entered that place.

And now, he himself had come here, standing less than a hundred meters outside that misty town!

It is connected to night… Targets disappear, as if erased… That Church higher-up’s ability is not to directly wipe out enemies, but to send them here? The living creatures that vanish at night in the God War Ruins encountered something similar? But it is said that divination cannot learn their whereabouts and can only interpret that they may still be alive… Of course, it may also be that because I can revive, I appeared here…

Amid scattered thoughts, Klein withdrew his gaze and used the Clown’s ability to examine his own state.

He had returned to Klein Moretti’s appearance, but he still wore the black clerical robe belonging to an internal caretaker. There were no traces of injury on him.

Having experienced no small number of things already, Klein quickly calmed down. His right palm reached into his pocket, opened the iron cigarette case, took out the folded human-skin glove inside, and put it on his left hand.

After confirming that Creeping Hunger could still be used, Klein picked up Azik’s copper whistle, brought it to his lips, and blew.

However, within the Spirit Vision he had opened swiftly, the bone messenger did not appear.

Klein was not surprised by this. On the contrary, he found it normal. After all, those who had vanished at night in the God War Ruins at the easternmost end of the Sonia Sea had never been found. Over so many years, there should have been no lack of Beyonders capable of summoning messengers among them, such as members of the Numinous Episcopate.

This place is directly isolated from the spirit world? From the looks of it, Travel cannot be used either… As expected of a Church higher-up dispatched to deal with the Great Smog of Backlund incident. Sending a target here seems equivalent to eternal exile and imprisonment. With simple, normal methods, contacting the outside world or escaping from here is certainly impossible. Even those at the level of saints would find it difficult…

Klein did not panic. He had considerable confidence.

He immediately put Azik’s copper whistle back into the iron cigarette case and began preparing to take four steps counterclockwise.

He intended to break this misty town’s “imprisonment” by going above the gray fog!

“The Immortal Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings…

“The Sky Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings…

“The Exalted Thearch of Heaven and Earth for Blessings…

“The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.”

With each step, Klein recited one sentence, rapidly completing the ritual.

However, the familiar, mad ravings did not appear by his ears, and he saw no boundless gray-white fog spreading before his eyes.

“This…”

Klein’s eyes contracted. He froze for several seconds.

This place could actually isolate his connection to the mysterious space above the gray fog!

His greatest trump card could not be used!

Many times before, Klein had escaped danger precisely by relying on his ability to go above the gray fog. Yet now, this method had failed.

This was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation.

Whew. This feels like having my cheat disabled…

Klein used internal mockery to ease his taut emotions.

Based on his mysticism knowledge, he preliminarily suspected that the misty town before him was highly likely to be related to a true god. Only that could explain the inability to enter above the gray fog.

This place has a close connection to night, and I was “sent” here after encountering a Church higher-up… Could this be a “prison” personally created by the Goddess? It is possible. She is the Mother of Concealment. Perhaps She can directly transform people and objects into a state of concealment, making it impossible for those in the real world to ever find them…

After thinking seriously for a while, Klein decisively chose to enter the misty town to explore, because the method to leave was most likely hidden there.

At this stage, he no longer thought about whether he could convene the Tarot Gathering in time.

Of course, there was no need to worry about that for now. He had already canceled this week’s Tarot Gathering in advance. Because the operation to steal the Antigonus family notebook was extremely dangerous and full of variables, Klein suspected that he might need to die once and that he might not revive in time today. Therefore, he had simply found an acceptable reason and told everyone to prepare for an extra week.

After making his decision, Klein immediately had the Wraith inside his body appear beside him.

The marionette’s state was already very poor. Its deathly still, cold aura seemed almost tangible, making the control originating from the Spirit Body Threads somewhat sluggish.

Good. It can still barely be used for a few days… Also, Mr. A was previously erased by that Church higher-up too. Perhaps he is living somewhere nearby. I must be careful of him—he is practically equivalent to a lunatic…

Klein changed into the appearance of Gehrman Sparrow and had Admiral of Blood Senor walk ahead, taking the lead as they approached that misty town.

As for himself, he obeyed the Marionettist rules he had summarized, dragging behind at a distance of at least 110 meters.

After this period of digestion, the maximum distance at which Klein could control a marionette had risen to 120 meters. The time required to achieve initial control of a target through Spirit Body Threads and then fully transform them into a puppet had also shortened accordingly. If facing an enemy whose spirit body strength was at the same level, the numbers were sixteen seconds and four minutes respectively.

In the mist-filled world, so quiet that there were no other sounds, the Wraith Senor, wearing an old tricorn hat and dark red coat, did not take long to enter that eerie, mysterious town.

Inside the town, many houses still had their doors open, as though welcoming travelers from afar. Through his marionette’s vision, Klein saw tables inside with half-eaten white bread, glasses filled with red wine, and silver knives and forks scattered in disorder.

It looked as though someone had been in the middle of dinner, yet not a single person was present. The owners of those different houses seemed to have suddenly evaporated from their lives.

Evaporated…

The word suddenly appeared in Klein’s mind. He hurriedly had Senor cast his gaze toward that gray-white mill.

Inside the mill, the stone mill powered by wind still turned silently, but no flour emerged from it. Quite a lot had spilled over the ground.

This kind of scene feels a little familiar. I seem to have heard of it somewhere…

Klein furrowed his brows bit by bit. As he relied on his marionette to continue examining the environment, he carefully recalled similar situations.

Just as he was wondering whether he should use dream divination to ask his spirituality, the corresponding answer was finally dug out:

A similar scene had appeared in the ancient ruins on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range!

According to the records, inside the buildings there, the furnishings and decorations had been preserved intact. The murals had not been damaged either. On some tables were quite a few plates, with dried traces of rot inside them. In certain rooms, there were half-bottles of wine that had almost turned into water.

The discoverer had mentioned that when he first saw such a scene, he had even thought that the residents there had evaporated in an instant!

This misty town has some kind of connection to the ancient ruins on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range? No way. After going in circles, I run into this again?

The muscles of Klein’s face could not help twitching twice. For a moment, he was unwilling to believe the thought that had surfaced in his mind.

Of course, the similarity in the scene alone was not enough to support such a judgment.

After deeply inhaling and then slowly exhaling, Klein forced himself to calm down and continued controlling the Wraith Senor, making him head deeper into the misty town.

Just then, he heard faint footsteps.

Klein’s heart tightened. He hurriedly hid inside the mill while making his marionette stop.

In only a few seconds, the Wraith Senor saw a woman walk out from a nearby alley.

The woman wore a pure white robe. Her hair was loosely pinned up. Her neck was long, fair, and graceful. Her face was astonishingly bright and beautiful.