Chapter 188: The Confessor

Chapter 188: The Confessor

That strange Afternoon Town had invaded the real Afternoon Town? Derrick vaguely understood what the Chief was saying and formed a rough guess as to why such a thing had happened.

He suspected that when Mr. Fool had pulled him out of that strange Afternoon Town, the balance there had been broken, allowing its power to seep out.

That also explained why nothing had happened when Demon Hunter Colin Iliad repeated his attempt.

While Derrick was still thinking about what kind of change this would bring, Colin, Chief of the Council of Six, had already taken a handful of faintly glowing powder from a hidden compartment in his belt and scattered it into the air.

The powder suddenly burst apart, spraying silver-white radiance upward. In the gray, sunken, dark environment, it was exceptionally conspicuous.

Derrick, Joshua, and Heinm all understood the meaning of that signal very clearly: do not run around, remain where you are, guard against possible attacking enemies, and wait for rescue!

Without question, this signal was aimed at the exploration teams scattered throughout other parts of Afternoon Town.

Demon Hunter Colin released the signal three times in succession during the gaps between lightning flashes. Then he turned sideways to Derrick and the others.

“We will meet up with them in order, from near to far.

“Be careful on the way.”

“Yes, Chief!” Derrick had already forgotten the grievance from earlier. He only hoped to help his companions as quickly as possible.

Following Colin’s instructions, he walked on the left side of the team. On the other side was Joshua, wearing a crimson glove and carrying an iron-black straight sword. The relatively stronger Dawn Paladin, Heinm, brought up the rear, about three steps behind the Demon Hunter in front.

High above, lightning flashed in fairly quick succession. The gloomy Afternoon Town alternated between brightness and darkness, while candle flames reflected in various windows swayed gently, peaceful and quiet.

Derrick was no longer the rookie he had once been. Although he was tense, the palm gripping the Axe of Hurricane was not sweating. His gaze moved back and forth with practiced ease, watching for monsters that might suddenly dart out from the buildings on either side.

A bolt of lightning passed, and the world returned to darkness. The candlelight of Afternoon Town became scattered points, as if waiting for travelers in need of lodging.

The light from Heinm’s beast-hide lantern was dim yellow, spreading outward but unable to reach far. It was less effective than Derrick’s own night vision.

Its only apparent function was to drive away the thick darkness nearby.

Just then, a chill suddenly appeared at the back of Derrick’s neck, even though no cold wind was blowing around them.

Instinctively, he did not turn his head directly. Instead, he took a diagonal step, half-turning his body and looking backward from the corner of his eye.

He saw Heinm, who was nearly 2.3 meters tall, staring darkly at him while swinging the large, broad straight sword downward!

Bang!

Derrick curled into a roll, dodging the strike. It seemed as though the intense sound of wind still echoed beside his ears.

Immediately afterward, he heard the Chief’s voice.

“What happened?”

“Heinm attacked me!” Derrick rolled to his feet in the direction of Demon Hunter Colin.

“Me?” Heinm held the beast-hide lantern in one hand and the large straight sword in the other, asking back with a face full of confusion.

Colin looked at Derrick.

“I did not detect any abnormal movement from him.”

As he spoke, two dark-green symbols appeared in the Demon Hunter’s eyes.

He looked around and said, “The attacker can transform into Heinm’s appearance?”

Before his words had fully fallen, the silver straight sword in his right hand thrust violently backward.

Pfft!

Amid a silent collision, a figure emerged from the dim, sunken environment. The figure had messy, gray-white hair, deep nasolabial folds, weathered and profound pale-blue eyes, and also held a silver straight sword smeared with pale-gray ointment. He looked almost exactly like Demon Hunter Colin. The only differences were that his expression was dark, and his skin color was dusky.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The two silver straight swords clashed repeatedly in midair, striking out sparks.

At the same time, Colin Iliad shouted in a deep voice, “Light!”

Light? Derrick instinctively raised both hands and clasped them before his mouth and nose.

In that instant, he saw three figures rush out from the surrounding darkness: one was the tall, robust Heinm; one was Joshua wearing the crimson glove; and one was Derrick himself, still rather young in the face and not short in height.

Derrick did not panic. Following the Chief’s instruction, he released wave after wave of clear, bright radiance from within his body.

Those three figures seemed extremely afraid of it. They raised their palms to shield their faces while trying to flee to the sides.

But how could their speed compare to light?

The clear radiance illuminated the surrounding area, completely engulfing the three figures.

They opened their mouths, producing silent screams, but they swiftly faded and vanished.

The light surged onward, drawing the two battling Demon Hunters into the bright domain as well. One of them immediately became stiff and sluggish, then lost color and turned completely dark.

Pfft!

The silver straight sword smeared with pale-gray ointment pierced the monster, yet seemed to have stabbed into intangible air, failing to cause any harm.

At that moment, the pitch-black monster suddenly began burning by itself. It split into one twisted shadow after another, dissolving inch by inch within the light and flames.

Demon Hunter Colin withdrew the silver straight sword and turned his head slightly toward Derrick and the others.

“The monsters this time are our own shadows.

“Their weakness is bright light.”

As he spoke, pure and holy dawn surged from the Chief of the Council of Six, illuminating the entire street as if it were daybreak.

This was a Beyonder ability the Warrior pathway gained at the Dawn Paladin stage. The reason Demon Hunter Colin had not used it from the beginning was because its effect was too obvious, and he had not known what accidents it might provoke. Now, he had already confirmed the weakness of the monsters in Afternoon Town.

The dawn created by the Chief was like a domain. Heinm abandoned his plan to use a similar Beyonder ability and still carried the beast-hide lantern, following behind Colin Iliad with Derrick and Joshua as they turned into another street.

Before long, the group of four reached a church that had mostly collapsed.

The church had once had a tall tower. Its overall structure used classical stone pillars and masonry arches, heavy and gloomy.

Through a gate that even giants would find spacious, Derrick and the others followed the Chief into the prayer hall. They saw that the statue here had already been destroyed, but the candles upon the altar had been lit by someone unknown.

In front of the altar, a figure dressed in a plain white robe lay prostrate on the ground. He prayed softly, too low for anyone to hear.

“He isn’t one of ours.” Heinm, who also had night vision and was the tallest among them, was the first to notice the anomaly.

That means he isn’t a monster transformed from the shadow of one of our team members… Derrick completed Heinm’s unspoken meaning in his heart.

And that meant the unknown. The unknown often represented extreme danger!

“There should have been an exploration team here,” Colin said, narrowing the range of his dawn so as not to agitate the white-robed figure.

Heinm, Joshua, and Derrick suddenly fell silent. In this kind of scene, if that exploration team did not appear immediately, it basically meant their ending was not very good.

As those thoughts turned in their minds, two men wearing tight black clothing walked out from the door on the right side of the hall. They were two members of the church exploration team.

“Chief, those shadows—those shadows have a problem! Laroya was swallowed by his own shadow!” One exploration team member noticed Demon Hunter Colin, and immediately spoke with both excitement and fear.

Someone has already been sacrificed… Derrick felt heavy-hearted. At the same time, he saw the dawn spread outward, covering those two exploration team members.

Their expressions suddenly became savage, but their bodies quickly darkened. After only two seconds, like shadows exposed to light, they vanished completely.

Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!

Bones and masses of flesh fell from inside their bodies, striking the floor.

Specks of light were slowly separating out from within the remains.

Colin withdrew his gaze and said without expression, “First go to that clergyman and listen to what it is praying.”

Derrick and the others nodded silently and advanced step by step toward the collapsed statue.

After a dozen steps, they saw the white-robed figure clearly from an angle. It was a middle-aged man with sharply defined features and tears streaming down his face.

The clergyman’s face was almost pressed against the floor tiles. He muttered to himself, “Almighty Lord, I confess… tempted Sasrir. The Kings frequently enter the palace that belongs to dusk to conspire.

“The people of this town changed at some unknown time as well. They set up secret altars, held strange rituals, and did all kinds of things You did not allow.

“I discovered all of this, but it was already too late. Depravity, blood, darkness, rot, slaughter, filth, and shadows have already flowed across and submerged this land.

“A great disaster will begin here!”

Those words repeated again and again, like a prophet speaking in a deep voice of the tragic ending that was certain to come.

A great disaster will begin here? Does this mean that the abandonment of this land by the Lord who created everything began here? Also, who tempted the Dark Angel Sasrir? This clergyman must have said the name, because after the sentence “I confess,” there is a blank just long enough to say a name… He originally said it, but the name disappeared on its own? Who erased it? This clergyman should have been in that strange Afternoon Town before, only appearing here after the balance was broken. Otherwise, he would have been discovered during the last exploration… Many thoughts flashed through Derrick’s mind in a short time.

At that moment, he saw the Chief step forward and walk to the side of the clergyman dressed in plain white robes.

…

Klein woke from the dream, forced to close his eyes briefly against the noon sunlight shining in through the window.

He rolled out of bed and, neither fast nor slow, went to the pirate dining room.

When Frank Lee saw him arrive, he immediately waved at him.

“Gehrman, I discovered something new!”

What the hell is it this time… Klein’s heart immediately tightened.

“Your new invention?”

“No, no.” Frank shook his head excitedly. “I originally wanted to study the fish in this sea. They should be able to dream! I tried fishing earlier, but ended up catching something strange.”