Chapter 106: An Image in the Gaps of History

Chapter 106: An Image in the Gaps of History

Sitting diagonally behind the statue was an old man in black robes. He wore a hood, and his head drooped low. His eyes were closed. The white beard around his mouth and across his face was long and dense, as if it had not been trimmed in years, or even more than ten years, making it impossible to see his original appearance.

Yet in Klein’s eyes, this bearded old man was even stranger than the figures suspended in midair.

After his Spirit Body Threads extended from within his body, they did not drift toward the air and gather at that place that seemed to hide a “magnet.” Instead, they circled once around him and returned to the place they had emerged from. Their source and endpoint were one and the same!

Normal Spirit Body Threads originated from inside living beings and extended in different directions until reaching infinity. As for the figures hanging from above, the source of their Spirit Body Threads remained unchanged, but the extended endpoints were all concentrated at the top of this ancient church. One glance was enough to tell that something was terribly wrong.

Is this why he was not hung up? Or, rather, is this his way of avoiding the danger inside the church?

As Klein manipulated his own Spirit Body Threads to resist their tendency to drift upward, he muttered inwardly, making guesses.

Suddenly, he saw a pair of eyes—eyes whose pupils were black like a lightless water surface.

The old man sitting behind and to the side of the statue had opened his eyes.

He is still alive!

Klein subconsciously retreated one step. His body bent slightly, and his left palm blocked in front of him.

Amid an indescribable, heart-stopping silence and tension, the eyes of the old man with the white beard moved slightly. His mouth half-opened, and he spoke in a muffled, indistinct voice.

“At last, another Seer has come here…”

Another? Other Beyonders of the Seer pathway entered this church before? That makes sense. Aside from those erased by the “eraser” angel coming to the misty town, the living beings that vanish at night in the God War Ruins should also appear here. Among them, perhaps there were a few Beyonders of the Seer pathway who had attempted to find mermaids in that sea, or who had succeeded in advancing and were preparing to leave…

Seeing that the other party did not attack immediately and seemed willing to communicate, Klein forcefully steadied his emotions and asked thoughtfully, “Why do you say that?”

The hooded, black-eyed, white-bearded old man did not answer directly. In a low, muffled voice, he asked, “Do you wish to escape this place?

“I can tell you the method.”

Klein was not tempted. He immediately asked, “Then why are you still here?”

If he knew the way to leave this misty town, why was he still inside this dangerous church?

The old man lowered his head halfway and laughed twice in his throat.

“Because I died long ago.”

“…”

The hair on Klein’s back stood on end, and he could not speak.

In his eyes, this old man was not a soul-form existence!

Seeing no response from the other side, the old man slowly lifted his head, swept a glance over Klein in Gehrman Sparrow’s appearance, and said, “Using a special Beyonder ability, I found a gap in this world’s history and fate. I cut out an image of myself and fixed it here, maintaining it until now. As for my body and my spirit, they have long since died completely and dissipated completely.”

This ability is unbelievably strange…

Klein had no way to verify whether this was true or false. He could only change the subject and ask, “Then why guide Seers who enter this place on how to escape?”

The old man’s voice remained indistinct.

“Once you open the door, this place’s history and fate will change. This image I cut out will disappear with it. At that time, you will see a jar of ashes.

“I only hope they can be scattered into the Serenzo River near Trier, the capital of Intis. That is my hometown, the place where I was born.

“Can you understand those names? I do not know how long has passed in the real world.”

He has been imprisoned here for at least a hundred years?

Klein responded frankly, “They still exist.”

“Good.” The old man nodded, his throat sounding as if it held phlegm.

Although Klein did not trust the person before him much, he adhered to the principle that knowing a little more would be more advantageous for overall judgment. He decided not to waste time, lest another accident interrupt him.

“Then how should I escape?”

The old man remained seated in place, making no obvious movements.

“Do you see the wall behind this statue?

“Is there a recessed area on it?”

Klein did not actually wish to follow his words, because he had previously been guided in this manner by the Demoness Panatiya and, after seeing her incomplete mythical creature form, suffered severe shock and harm. However, he had just been planning to examine the surroundings and search for clues anyway, so in the end, he cautiously moved his gaze toward the wall behind the stone statue.

Engraved upon it were one short, ancient, primitive symbol after another, but a space in the middle was blank and failed to connect into a complete form.

The blank area was the size of two palms and clearly sunken inward, as though someone had dug out the surface stone brick.

“So long as you can find the corresponding piece of obsidian and place it here, this wall will initially break free from its concealed state and display illusory colors. At that time, I will tell you a complex and special symbol. It is the key that opens the door of escape on the wall,” said the bearded old man in detail. His head did not turn; he simply looked forward.

A complex and special symbol… the key that opens the door…

Listening to the murmuring of “Hornacis… Flegrea…” echoing behind him with the wind, Klein suddenly thought of a symbol.

It was a vertical eye composed of many concealed symbols!

It was the information the Antigonus family notebook had passed to him through the infected “Misfortune Cloth Puppet”!

And the Antigonus family seemed closely connected to the “Nation of the Evernight” at the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range!

Could this be the so-called key that opens the door?

Without showing any emotion, Klein withdrew his gaze and asked, “Why did all the previous Seers fail?”

Sitting diagonally behind the statue, the hooded old man chuckled.

“Some were as long-winded as you. They failed to leave this church before the red moon became clear and were hung up there. That fellow who made himself a handsome face was one of them. So was that little girl with flawless facial features.”

“…”

Klein was nearly rendered speechless by the other party’s teasing.

However, from this, he learned one thing: when the red moon became clear, the danger inside this church would rise exponentially. Even a Marionettist would be unable to keep control of their own Spirit Body Threads!

I need to pay attention to changes in the light at all times. Once the red moon becomes clear, I must pass through the wall and leave…

Klein glanced left and right, confirming that the outer wall closest to the pitch-black altar was six or seven meters away. Then he swiftly formed an emergency plan in his mind.

Without lifting his head to look at him, the hooded old man continued on his own.

“The rest were unlucky. They encountered enemies who had lost their reason and only wanted food, and were eaten by them.

“As you know, there are not many Beyonders of the Seer pathway to begin with, and even fewer who can become Marionettists. Those who came here for various reasons can be counted on one hand.

“Of course, far more were attracted and lured over, but it was very difficult for them to enter this place. All of them…”

He did not finish. Slowly raising his head, he looked toward the highest point of the ancient church and said indistinctly, “Met equally miserable ends.”

What does that mean… If I had failed to steal the notebook and had no choice but to follow the ravings from those hanging corpses in this church, climbing the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range and searching for the treasure left behind by the Antigonus family, would that count as one of those who were attracted and lured over? It was difficult for them to enter here, and their end was equally miserable?

Klein’s thoughts turned. Combining this with the ruined palace and transparent worm clusters he had once seen in divination, he increasingly suspected that the so-called treasure of the Antigonus family was a trap.

He had no time to inquire about this in detail. First, he asked about more important information:

“Do you know where that piece of obsidian is?”

The old man laughed softly.

“It is in the hands of that Demoness of Despair.”

Demoness of Despair… So Panatiya truly is a Demoness of Despair…

Klein had previously referred to Panatiya that way in secret, but only because he knew she was respectfully called Lady Despair and was certainly a Demoness. He had simply pieced the two pieces of information together into a nickname. What he had not expected was that Sequence 4 of the Demoness pathway might actually be called Demoness of Despair.

“Then it will be very difficult for me to obtain that piece of obsidian. She is a true demigod,” Klein said, not hiding his difficulty, observing what suggestion the other party would offer.

The old man shook his head.

“I am a person who died long ago. The help I can provide is very limited.

“Mm… When you entered, didn’t you have a marionette?”

“Yes, but it has already been eaten by the Demoness of Despair,” Klein answered, seemingly calm.

The old man half-sighed, half-laughed.

“Then I shall summon him out of this world’s history for you.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Klein saw lines rapidly outline themselves beside him, sketching Blood Admiral Senor in his old tricorn hat and dark red coat. His Spirit Body Threads still remained under Klein’s control!

Klein’s gaze instantly contracted and froze. At his ear came the hooded old man’s supplementary words:

“It can only be maintained for fifteen minutes. You must grasp the time.

“I will also strengthen the connection slightly, increasing your control over the marionette. In this way, you can have the marionette use your Beyonder abilities, and you can instantly exchange positions with him. Heh-heh. The control distance and living characteristics will also be correspondingly improved.”

Let the marionette use my Beyonder abilities? In that case, can I use the Faceless ability to make the marionette become another me? The most perfect substitute? Is this person a demigod of the Seer pathway? Is this one of the abilities of a Bizarro Sorcerer? Enemies will never know whether the one they killed is the true Bizarro Sorcerer? Also, summoning a marionette from history—this is simply beyond imagination…

Thought after thought surged rapidly through Klein’s mind, making it difficult for him to calm down.

The old man looked up at him and continued, “Give me a paper figurine.”

Klein’s brows faintly furrowed. After hesitating for a few seconds, he still took out a paper figurine and handed it over.

The old man stretched out a withered hand, accepted the paper figurine, and casually wiped over it.

Klein’s headache, fever, stuffed nose, and swollen throat suddenly disappeared.

Meanwhile, the paper figurine became stained with patches of red rust, quickly growing brittle and cracking apart.

Using my paper figurine to transfer away the disease?

After thinking for a moment, Klein finally asked, “Please forgive my earlier discourtesy. How should I address you?”

The old man did not answer immediately. He sighed and said, “This is all the help I can provide.”

He paused, then laughed indistinctly.

“You may call me, mm…

“Zaratul.”