Chapter 166: Response

Chapter 166: Response

After placing the candles, Colin Iliad found a piece of pure silver and picked up the carving knife beside him. With a few quick strokes, he shaved out a charm carrier the size of a palm.

Then, according to Derrick Berg’s description, he engraved the secret symbol representing the Fool onto both sides of the silver piece.

Throughout the entire process, his movements were extremely fast. Had anyone been watching from the side, they certainly would not have been able to see his actions clearly. Yet the final product did not contain the slightest flaw. It was as though it were an artwork slowly carved over several days.

Immediately afterward, Colin Iliad found a bottle of mercury. Relying solely on his powerful spirituality, he guided thin streams of liquid out through the air and into the charm, filling every line. He even kept the mercury on the downward-facing side from falling because of gravity.

After repeating the process and finishing the second charm, Colin Iliad placed them before the candles and set one transparent-ringed worm on each.

Compared with when he had risen from silence, every movement he now made was steady, calm, and firm. There was not even the slightest hesitation left, exactly as when he faced powerful monsters in the darkness.

With the ritual prepared, he stepped back twice, took down the straight swords hanging crossed upon the wall, and inserted them into the cracks between the floor tiles by the door.

As Colin closed his eyes and murmured, pure and rich light emerged little by little from the surrounding void. Carrying a sense of holiness and glory, it covered the two straight swords.

More and more of this radiance gathered. Slowly, it transformed into flowing water, moving along the seams in the floor tiles and walls, forming a “cage” that divided inside from outside.

As a veteran Demon Hunter, Colin Iliad did not actually wish to make this kind of defensive preparation while holding a ritual, because such actions could very likely anger the being to whom he prayed, bringing even more dangerous changes. However, he had no choice. He had to ensure that even if the ritual failed, even if that “Fool” was an existence filled with malice, even if he died before the altar, the entire City of Silver would not suffer too much harm because of it.

Colin, the Chief of the City of Silver, was quite confident in the defensive power of this “cage,” because it came directly from a god-level sealed artifact—the crown once worn by the Giant King Aurmir:

The Proof of Glory!

This was one of the main reasons the City of Silver had been able to withstand wave after wave of attacks from the monsters in the darkness during the Age of Darkness.

Seeing that all preparations were complete, Colin Iliad used the desk as an altar and relied purely on spirituality to create a holy, clean, undisturbed environment. Then he lit the three candles.

The dim yellow light flickered gently, reflected in his eyes. He lowered his head and cast the plant powder and monster fur Derrick Berg had mentioned either into the candle flames or into the cauldron after igniting them, in order to please the hidden existence to whom he would soon pray.

Such activities were not uncommon in the City of Silver. On the surface, there were sacrifices to the Creator; in secret, from time to time, certain residents, tempted by unknown beings during patrols or explorations, would hold all kinds of rituals.

Most of the latter were passive, but a small number were active attempts. On one hand, several thousand years of worshiping the Creator without receiving any response had accumulated into despair, driving some people’s minds to collapse and making them desperately wish to grasp another support. On the other hand, many generations ago, the City of Silver’s six-member council had already reached a consensus: the Creator who had abandoned this land very likely would not return. Searching for another way out had to be…