Chapter 105: The Hanged Ones

by cnwebnovels.com

The instant the crimson moonlight dimmed, a corresponding thought surfaced in Klein’s mind.

“The red moon has been covered by the mist again!”

No sooner had the thought appeared than the faintly visible figures walking to and fro outside the dark curtains all vanished, as if evaporating. The beast-like growls also stopped abruptly.

The environment here has returned to its previous state… The Demoness of Despair, Panatiya, can move normally again… Mr. A no longer needs to fear the dangers outside and can attack madly to hunt his prey…

Klein instantly made his judgment. Raising the index finger of his right hand, he snapped his fingers and lit the leaves of a tree dozens of meters away.

He intended to pull distance from Mr. A to avoid further contamination by disease, while deciding, depending on the situation, whether to risk entering that ancient church.

As for his present circumstances, Klein already had a preliminary plan. He would try to use the versatile and powerful Mr. A to divert Panatiya’s attention. After all, to the latter, there was no essential difference between a Shepherd and a Marionettist in terms of meat quality. Either could fill her stomach; she would certainly deal with whichever prey was easier to capture first.

When the time came, the two would inevitably erupt into battle, and Klein would look for a chance to “snipe” Panatiya!

Just as the crimson stream of flame shot upward and shrouded Klein’s figure within it, he saw Mr. A once again transform into a shadow and merge into the surrounding environment, vanishing to some unknown place.

He ran… He ran… Aren’t you the crazy Mr. A? Shouldn’t you keep chasing your prey? How did you just run away…

Klein’s gaze sharpened, and he could not help the corner of his mouth from twitching.

His figure then disappeared into the flaming stream and reappeared within firelight dozens of meters away.

The moment Klein leapt out of the flames, his forehead burned hot again, and his lungs became heavy. Breathing suddenly turned painfully difficult.

Plague!

The Demoness of Despair Panatiya’s plague had spread over!

In Klein’s eyes, this bright, beautiful woman in pure white robes had, at some unknown point, floated into midair. She walked toward him step by step.

Beneath Panatiya’s feet was a spiderweb woven from countless transparent threads. It connected to the surrounding houses and trees, covering half the street.

In the eyes of this demigod-level Demoness, the intense hunger had already receded, and the obvious blood-red color was gone. The gaze she cast at Gehrman Sparrow now carried a trace of madness and mockery, as if she wanted to make him lose his ability to resist little by little and experience the deepest, heaviest, most painful despair.

Suppressing a cough, Klein snapped his fingers again, making a tree near the pointed-roof church suddenly erupt in a stream of crimson flame.

His figure was immediately covered by firelight, rapidly fading away and flashing to that tree—to the swaying, gorgeous, resplendent “fireworks.”

Immediately afterward, Klein abruptly leapt toward the ground and quickly rolled to the side of the ancient church.

At that moment, his body suddenly turned cold. He saw that his feet, thighs, waist, and abdomen had already been sealed within a thick layer of ice, while white frost accumulated around him and the temperature plunged sharply.

Klein clenched his teeth, controlled the terror in his heart, and, following his predetermined plan, stretched out both hands with abnormal calm and pressed them against the wall.

Creeping Hunger, worn on his left palm, had already turned transparent.

Silently, Klein passed through that thick, pitch-black wall and entered the interior of the pointed-roof church.

Where he had originally stood, a deep, dark fireball arrived slightly too late. It could only strike the corner of the wall, rippling outward like water and burning away the nearby frost and weeds completely.

At that moment, around the spire of the ancient church, the circling crows opened their beaks.

“Caw!”

Panatiya stopped. Looking at the deep-black church ahead, an expression of fear slowly appeared on her face.

…

Inside the church, Klein, who had passed through the wall, was first blinded by an environment even darker than outside. Only after the ice on him gradually melted did he adapt to the dim light and clearly see the scene before him.

Within the range of his vision, figure after figure hung in midair.

They were all humans!

Some wore black classical robes. Some wore brown jackets. Some wore fluffy dresses held out by their framework. Some had ragged clothing, like beggars.

Some had rough faces. Some had deep, handsome, masculine features. Some had exquisite, elegant, beautiful looks. Some were young and adorable, clearly children. None of them resembled one another.

No—they did have something in common. They all resembled pieces of smoked meat being air-dried. Suspended from above, their heads hung low, their eyes rolled white, and their bodies swayed.

Klein’s scalp gradually tingled. He no longer doubted Panatiya’s and Mr. A’s descriptions of how dangerous this place was.

His back pressed tightly against the wall. If any change occurred, he intended to immediately Open the Door and leave, avoiding danger. If the Demoness of Despair discovered him, he would pass through the wall again and return inside to avoid the attack. By repeating this, he could ensure safety.

Whoosh!

An icy wind began to blow through the church. The figures hanging in midair—the corpses—turned one by one at the same time to face Klein.

Their collars seemed connected to ropes, yet their heads remained drooping.

Klein nearly inhaled sharply, and he pressed his left palm against the wall.

At that very moment, those figures began to sway like wind chimes. Their mouths opened, producing voices that were almost sleep-talk:

“Hornacis… Flegrea…

“Hornacis… Flegrea…”

The voices echoed, overlapped, and merged into one, drilling into Klein’s ears and giving him an exceptionally familiar feeling.

This was exactly the ravings he had heard after advancing several times before!

They actually came from here—from the misty town, from the bodies hanging in midair inside this ancient church!

At this moment, not only did Klein’s scalp go numb, his entire body trembled.

Could the root of this misty town truly be at the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range… that evaporated “Nation of the Evernight”? Did I really end up on that mountain? But why is it that inside this church, the same ravings do not bring piercing pain in my head or tendencies toward losing control…

Klein hissed softly. His hands opened and closed, closed and opened, and he restrained the impulse to pass through the wall and leave.

Since he had already come here and had already seen the source of the ravings, he believed that escaping might not solve the problem.

No matter what, a simple investigation had to be done. Otherwise, if something truly became abnormal with his body, he would not even know what had happened.

After swiftly performing a divination with a gold coin, Klein tapped his teeth and activated Spirit Vision, looking toward the dense mass of figures hanging in midair. He saw that their spirituality was extremely restrained, and their aura colors looked normal, yet gave off a wooden, rigid impression.

They have aura colors… They aren’t dead yet?

Klein frowned slightly and deactivated Spirit Vision.

Immediately afterward, he pinched the first joint of his index finger twice with his left thumb, preparing to observe their Spirit Body Threads.

With one glance, Klein’s pupils abruptly dilated, because the Spirit Body Threads of those swaying figures hanging from above were extremely unusual.

The illusory black threads corresponding to each person extended out from within their bodies, yet gathered toward the same direction: the highest point of the ancient church. Without a single exception!

In Klein’s field of vision, they were like corpses hung up by their Spirit Body Threads!

Before Klein could think about what this meant, he suddenly caught a scene from the corner of his eye:

His own Spirit Body Threads were drifting upward on their own, extending toward the highest point of the church, toward the source from which those figures were suspended!

This was the first time Klein had ever seen Spirit Body Threads move on their own without being manipulated by anyone.

They were like metal encountering a magnet, uncontrollably floating upward. The fastest thread was already about to reach its destination!

Klein did not dare imagine what would happen once all his Spirit Body Threads gathered there. He suspected he would become air-dried “smoked meat” too, hanging in midair and murmuring “Hornacis… Flegrea…” as the wind passed.

For most Beyonders, at this moment, the only option would be to consider leaving the church and see whether that could interrupt the process of their Spirit Body Threads being pulled in. But Klein was different. He was a Marionettist. With a thought, he directly controlled his own Spirit Body Threads, pulling them back one by one.

Nearly thirty seconds passed before Klein finally completed this. However, his Spirit Body Threads still retained a tendency to drift upward. He had to pay attention and resist at all times.

Is this one of the hidden dangers inside this ancient church?

Klein slowly inhaled. He no longer pressed himself against the wall and began walking step by step deeper into the church.

Above him, those figures swayed as though looking down at him.

After advancing twenty or thirty meters, Klein finally saw something else: the pitch-black altar belonging to this church.

And upon the altar stood a stone statue.

After taking a few steps closer, Klein saw the statue’s appearance clearly.

Its overall shape was that of a female human, but two beast legs grew from its ribs and waist respectively, covered in short, coarse, hard black fur.

In addition, thin black bands circled around the stone statue, like tendrils extending outward.

At the statue’s feet, soul after soul lay asleep, as if forming a cluster of stars surrounding it.

Klein’s gaze moved to the statue’s head and saw an elegant, beautiful face.

This…

Klein’s eyes froze.

He was not unfamiliar with that face, because she was the one who had “sent” him here!

The face of this stone statue was exactly identical to that “eraser” angel beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral!

She actually has something to do with this place… That makes sense. Her erasure sends people here. It would be strange if she had no connection to this place… What is her relationship with the “Nation of the Evernight” from the Fourth Epoch on the Hornacis mountain range? The “Mother of the Sky”? But if that is truly the case, why would she serve the Church? Also, this image bears a certain resemblance to the demonic wolves the Sun described…

In an instant, many doubts flashed through Klein’s mind.

During this process, his gaze slowly moved away and turned elsewhere, searching for any other clues that might exist.

A few seconds later, Klein discovered a figure—not suspended in midair, but sitting behind and to the side of the statue.