Chapter 67: Peering

Chapter 67: Peering

North Borough, Saint Samuel Cathedral.

The moment Klein entered the grand prayer hall, he naturally swept his gaze around, using the specks of light shining in through the wall behind the altar to take in every believer praying inside.

With only that single glance, Klein quickly locked onto his target. Showing no abnormality, he walked forward along the aisle.

Seated in the first row was an old man in black clerical robes. His aura was cold and gloomy, his face pale, and his hair withered yellow. His eyes were tightly shut as he prayed with focused devotion. He was one of the internal caretakers Klein had previously sensed.

He is usually on duty on Fridays…

Klein did not truly approach him. He stopped two rows away, found a seat, and handed his hat and cane to his personal valet Richardson.

Then, during the motion of sitting down, he swiftly pinched the first joint of his index finger twice with his left thumb, silently activating Spirit Body Thread vision.

All at once, illusory black threads appeared before Klein’s eyes. They emerged densely from the bodies of different living beings, bunch after bunch extending toward infinity.

Just as he sat steadily, Klein shifted his gaze and focused his attention on that internal caretaker.

At that look, he nearly let out a sound of surprise. Fortunately, thanks to the Clown’s self-control and his own expectation that abnormalities might appear, he easily maintained a calm, composed state.

In his vision, although that old man with withered yellow hair also had Spirit Body Threads extending from him, the interior of his body was pitch-black, swallowing the origin points of those illusory threads. It was completely different from normal Beyonders!

As expected, they have already been corroded by the power of the sealing core, causing a mutation at the level of the soul… From this, the situation is closer to my second guess last time. To some degree, they have already become part of the sealing core. Once signs of losing control appear, that item’s instinctive reaction will be triggered immediately, forcefully soothing everything… No wonder internal caretakers must be willing volunteers, and must already be in old age. They should fully understand what consequences await them…

Klein felt an inexplicable sigh rise inside him. He prepared to shut off his perception of Spirit Body Threads and withdraw his gaze.

Just then, he saw a pair of eyes—eyes whose pupils were black as ink, containing not the slightest emotion.

Beside those eyes, fine, deeply carved wrinkles extended bit by bit, as if they were distorted, strange mysticism symbols.

They were the internal caretaker’s eyes!

At some point, the man had straightened his body and turned his head. With an indifferent gaze, he was looking at Dawn Dantes.

Klein’s scalp instantly tingled. He forcibly squeezed out a smile and nodded at the other party, as if this were merely normal eye contact.

The internal caretaker slowly moved his head and, to Klein’s surprise, actually gave a response.

Then Klein felt his surroundings suddenly pulled away. First they became blurry, then settled again into clarity.

At that moment, he knew he had passively entered a dream.

And so, while maintaining the appearance of Dawn Dantes, he instinctively looked around and discovered that he was still inside Saint Samuel Cathedral. Yet all the seats were either damaged or overturned, scattered everywhere, as though the place had suffered an attack.

At the front, the altar was covered in cracks. Weeds crawled over it, and dust had accumulated there, as if it had been abandoned for a very long time.

The internal caretaker with withered yellow hair stood beside the collapsed donation box, coldly watching Dawn Dantes in his black formal suit.

Seeing Klein look back, his mouth opened little by little, revealing sharp, pale, uneven teeth.

Upon those teeth were embedded blurred, indistinct, tiny figures. They had complete facial features and limbs, each wearing a different expression yet bearing similar agony, as though imprisoned there and unable to obtain release.

“Hah…”

A beast-like low growl came from the internal caretaker’s throat, and his back bent forward.

At his ribs and waist, his clothing bulged outward. With a swish, four skinless arms covered in blood vessels grew out.

Immediately afterward, dense black hair sprouted from them, and sharp nails snapped out from the tips of their fingers.

In just two or three seconds, the internal caretaker, who had still seemed relatively normal moments before, had turned into a monster crouched on the ground with eight “legs.” He looked like both a spider silently weaving a web in the dark night as it waited for prey, and a malformed black wolf. He brought with him an intense sense of fear.

At the same time, from within the cracked and abandoned altar, two enormous black-furred hands suddenly stretched out without warning and pressed against the edge. Slippery tentacles, seemingly condensed from black gas, spread in every direction, instantly filling the entire grand prayer hall.

A shudder-inducing aura, an extreme sense of terror, and an enormous, illusory, blurry figure were piercing through an invisible barrier, manifesting bit by bit.

He lost control? That internal caretaker lost control?

Standing there, Klein instinctively wanted to react, relying on his own special nature to forcibly break free from the dream. But in that instant, he connected this to what had happened before. His expression changed, and he put on a frightened, terrified look, trembling as he ran toward the entrance like a man struggling inside a nightmare.

A single breath later, tide-like cold darkness silently surged in from the outside, completely drowning the dream and soothing everything.

Klein abruptly opened his eyes and discovered that, at some unknown point, he had fallen asleep. Meanwhile, the internal caretaker with withered yellow hair had long since turned his head back and continued praying with eyes closed.

As his eyes shifted, Dawn Dantes looked around with hidden terror, as if he were still immersed in the dream just now and had not fully shaken free from his fear.

Only after several dozen seconds did he take two deep breaths, look once more toward the holy emblem, and trace a crimson moon over his chest.

Only then did Klein have the leisure to recall what had just happened and speculate about what exactly had taken place.

Because I peered at his Spirit Body Threads, he showed signs of losing control and reacted excessively, forcibly pulling me into a dream in an attempt to handle me accordingly?

After that, the sealing core behind Chanis Gate should have sensed the abnormality and soothed the problem…

The key now is whether this internal caretaker still remembers the source of his near-mutation… If he is already used to this, then in his current state, he should be quite vague about how the problem occurred… Of course, it may not necessarily have been my problem. Perhaps he was already close to losing control…

Klein once again looked at the old man with withered yellow hair ahead, observing what he would do next to judge how he himself should respond.

If it doesn’t work, I’ll directly use Creeping Hunger and Travel away…

Klein swiftly made his decision and patiently waited for any possible change.

A few minutes later, he saw Bishop Elektra enter through a side door and walk toward him.

Klein’s heart tightened. He spread the fingers of his left hand, preparing to activate Creeping Hunger.

At that moment, inspiration suddenly flashed through him, and he gave up the action.

If the internal caretaker has already used the dream to tell the bishops that I have a problem, then what should be greeting me now is a combined strike from multiple Church Beyonders. After all, pulling someone into a dream can avoid accidentally harming other believers, so they have no reason to specifically send a bishop familiar with me… This is more likely to be concern and comfort…

Klein withdrew his gaze and continued posing in prayer.

In less than a minute, he finally sensed someone draw near. He hurriedly raised his head to look beside him and saw Bishop Elektra speak gently.

“You do not look very well.”

“I somehow fell asleep just now and had a nightmare. A little fear still lingers,” Klein said with a self-mocking smile.

Bishop Elektra sat down beside him and said in a calm voice, “Dreams are sometimes manifestations of one’s inner fears.

“So long as you sincerely pray to the Goddess and drink holy water, you can be soothed.

“Of course, the most important thing is not to suppress yourself too much in daily life. You must learn to confess to the Goddess. Sometimes, a hidden bout of weeping can relieve a great deal of pressure.”

While secretly observing the other man’s attitude and interpreting his tone, Klein quietly breathed out in relief and said, “I understand.”

He turned his gaze forward once more, lowered his head, clasped his hands, and quietly began to pray.

During this process, he saw the internal caretaker ahead rise on his own and walk toward the side door, where a bishop was waiting.

Whew…

Klein silently exhaled and truly immersed himself in the tranquil atmosphere around him.

Suddenly, a voice surfaced in his heart—a voice that belonged to himself, yet was not under his control.

“You think what you did was very hidden?

“No! Not at all! Have you forgotten that you once came into contact with the Evernight Goddess’s holy artifact?”