Chapter 186: The Corrupted

Chapter 186: The Corrupted

The City of Silver. The Berg residence.

Looking at the bloodstained scalp bearing short black hair, Derrick suddenly recalled how it had looked just moments ago: a beautiful and enticing “mushroom.” He had nearly lost control and swallowed it.

And the Doom fruit Dark had wanted to treat him to, the Doom fruit that made a crisp crack when bitten, had actually been bloody, slightly pale human fingers!

At that instant, Derrick’s stomach cramped violently, and sour liquid surged up into his throat.

Suppressing the urge to vomit, he used his duck-like adolescent voice to rapidly sing a line of lyrics:

“God, may Your kingdom descend upon this place. The enemy shall scatter, and the faithful shall rejoice!”

The song carried a faint warmth and sacredness. Derrick immediately felt all the discomfort in his body disappear. His spirituality became full and lively.

His courage, strength, and agility all improved noticeably amid the singing.

This was the Beyonder ability of a Sequence 9 Bard.

Dark stared at his softly singing classmate and former teammate. His expression became increasingly gloomy, and his speech sounded less and less human.

“What is that on you…

“What is that on you?

“What is that on you!”

Suddenly, one strip-shaped bulge after another pushed against Dark’s clothing, as if a nest of venomous snakes had been stuffed underneath and were constantly swimming and writhing.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! One blood-drenched strip of flesh after another pierced through the tight black clothing. Their surfaces still bore rough skin and body hair.

Those strips of flesh danced outward, making Dark look like a blood-colored hedgehog with soft quills.

In a flash, the strips of flesh surged toward Derrick, who stood where he was.

Derrick was, after all, a member of the patrol squad who had seen many monsters. Faced with such a situation, he was not overly flustered.

His waist twisted, his arm rose, and he swung down the Hurricane Axe he had been gripping all along.

Pfft!

The Hurricane Axe cleaved into several blood-drenched strips of flesh, severing them directly and sending them falling to the floor.

However, because it was now “night” in the City of Silver, this strike failed to bring down lightning. More blood-red strips of flesh surged madly forward, wrapping around the Hurricane Axe layer after layer, clinging to it even in death.

Seeing that he could no longer pull back his weapon, pure light abruptly lit up in Derrick’s eyes, as though two tiny suns had descended into the room. His other hand, half clenched, had already been raised before his mouth and nose, forming a posture of prayer.

Silently, a clear pillar of light burning with flame descended from nowhere, striking the tangled mass of blood-red flesh strips.

Dark let out a cry of pain he could not suppress. Many of the blood-red strips of flesh were charred black and snapped off, falling to the ground.

They struggled and leapt as though alive.

Meanwhile, the spirituality within those severed blood-red strips of flesh, no longer under the control of their original owner, gradually merged with the natural power pried into motion by the sacrificial ritual’s incantation. It gathered into rising pale-red “waves.”

Those “waves” poured into the dim yellow candle flame, causing it to suddenly swell and expand until it formed an illusory, mysterious door.

A concealed symbol representing the Fool had already been drawn on that candle by Derrick beforehand.

This was a preparation made in advance.

Together, all these elements formed a sacrificial ritual that was simple in steps but complete in structure.

Crack!

Amid the splintering of the chair, Dark lunged at Derrick with the blood-red strips of flesh flailing around him. There was no fear in his eyes, no nervousness—only the purest and most blazing desire.

And at that moment, Klein, above the gray fog, responded.

Amid an unreal creak, the illusory door covered in countless strange patterns cracked open by a sliver.

Behind the crack was deep darkness. Within that darkness were countless transparent shadows whose shapes could not be described.

High above those shadows, seven differently colored pure lights spread out, each seeming to contain boundless knowledge.

And above those lights was endless gray-white fog, and an ancient palace that overlooked the gray fog.

All at once, a shadow darted out from a dim corner and instantly covered Dark, who was closest to it.

The blood-red strips of flesh waving around Dark were all wrapped in black, viscous “liquid,” making his whole body look like a cat that had burrowed into an opaque bag.

The shadow did not stop. It extended rapidly along the floor, surging toward Derrick, who had already dodged to another position, and shouted in a stern voice,

“Stop! What are you trying to do?”

As the monitor, his original plan had been to observe the changes first, record the corresponding abnormalities, and then intervene only when the situation became impossible to control.

But when he saw that illusory door covered in strange symbols and markings open a crack, he was shaken by the deep, mysterious, lofty, and majestic scene behind it. His intuition told him that this was connected to some terrifying evil god. He could only notify the others while hastily taking action, attempting to forcibly interrupt Derrick’s attempt to sacrifice to that existence.

However, Derrick had long since determined his location and chosen an area at the far end of the room, away from him. Therefore, to control the youth possessed by the mysterious person known as Amon, the monitor known as Shadow first had to either circle around or restrain Dark Regence.

He chose the latter, because Dark had clearly shown abnormality. Leaving one’s back to him would have been absolutely foolish.

Seizing this opportunity, Derrick took the iron box from the hidden pocket of his clothes and threw it hard toward the illusory door formed from candlelight—toward the crack that revealed that miraculous scene.

As the iron box vanished inside, the door covered in strange symbols and markings closed with a clang and swiftly disappeared.

At that moment, Derrick firmly remembered Mr. Hanged Man’s warning. He deliberately twisted the muscles on his face and faced the Shadow with a fierce, savage expression.

Before the Shadow could cover him, he suddenly coughed violently, coughing so hard that he raised a hand to cover his mouth, coughing so hard that he collapsed onto the floor.

The pitch-black shadow spread over and enveloped him completely.

The room returned to silence, but two huge black “cocoons” now lay upon the floor.

After a while, the black, viscous liquid retreated and condensed once more into a shadow.

As the “cocoons” vanished, Derrick and Dark appeared again.

The former lay there unconscious. From his hand had fallen a strange little worm with twelve transparent rings. The latter had turned into a lump of flesh, writhing and roaring, about to launch another attack.

Faced with this situation, the monitor could only divide part of his strength and once again use that shadow-like black “liquid” to wrap around Dark Regence, who had mutated into a monster.

Glancing at the pale fingers scattered across the floor and the bloodstained scalp bearing short black hair, the monitor involuntarily drew in a breath. He used his own Beyonder powers to manipulate the shadows outside, making them rise and fall like tides in order to notify the Chief in the Round Tower once again.

Only after doing this did he carefully examine Derrick’s condition, and he saw the semi-transparent strange little worm.

“This… The avatar Amon hid inside Derrick has died?” the monitor murmured, quite astonished.

He recalled Dark’s strangeness, the terrifying mutation, the “mushroom” and “Doom fruits” that had been completely impossible to detect as abnormal, and faintly formed a guess.

Perhaps Amon and the mastermind behind Dark’s corruption were mortal enemies. To ruin the other party’s plan, Amon would not hesitate to lose an avatar. Derrick’s trips to the training grounds to observe the exploration team, and his report about them to the Chief, were both attempts made by Amon under the premise of not exposing himself.

As for the mastermind who had corrupted Dark, perhaps they had also vaguely discovered something strange about Derrick and thus sent Dark to control him. The bloodstained scalp and human fingers were the tools used to achieve that goal.

Thinking to this point, the monitor suddenly understood some of the Chief’s concerns: perhaps the final apocalypse, or an even greater disaster, was truly about to arrive. That was why the City of Silver had repeatedly encountered strange events and hidden existences lurking in the darkness whose true nature no one knew.

…

The Round Tower. The Chief’s room.

That Shadow described everything that had happened from beginning to end, without alteration.

Colin Iliad, his hair streaked with white and scars marking his face, listened quietly, then nodded gently.

“Derrick—or rather, Amon—did make preparations in advance.

“The candle engraved with a symbolic mark, the evil item capable of making Dark expose his problem, the low-voiced prayer made under the excuse of pouring water, and the final sacrificial ritual that sent away that item all show that the entire matter was proceeding according to his plan.

“There are two questions. First, who exactly does that concealed symbol on the candle point to? Amon’s main body, or the deity behind him? Second, why would Amon prefer to abandon this avatar if it meant exposing the exploration team’s abnormalities? Is it because he and the one behind the curtain are mortal enemies? Then what, exactly, was he quietly waiting for in the City of Silver for forty-two years?

“Could it be that he prophesied this matter in advance, which is why he deliberately encountered that previous exploration team and had his avatar parasitize their bodies, all to ruin the plan of the one behind the curtain? Were those forty-two years of waiting all for this moment?”

Hearing the Chief’s questions, the Shadow monitor suddenly seemed to come to a realization.

“Perhaps that really is the case!

“Your Excellency Chief, think about it. Why did Amon patiently wait forty-two years, only to suddenly cause Udel to lose control after Derrick was locked next to him? Because the time in the prophecy was almost here. He urgently needed to switch to a parasitic host who could move freely and sabotage the plan of the one behind the curtain!”

“Indeed… Previously, we only considered what was abnormal about Derrick. We did not consider the timing,” the Chief of the City of Silver, Colin, replied thoughtfully.

The Shadow monitor immediately said, “Your Excellency Chief, please immediately control all members of this exploration team. They definitely have problems! Also… Elder Lovia. There is a considerable possibility that she has been corrupted as well!”

Colin frowned slightly and said, “Before you reported this matter—even before Dark left—Lovia came to me and told me that she suspected the members of this exploration team had been corrupted by something. She suggested that we secretly monitor them and, if necessary, have them guard the inverted mausoleum of Elder Havik.”

Havik had been a former Chief of the City of Silver. He had built a mausoleum for himself that extended deep underground. Afterward, he moved inside, appearing less and less often, until, eventually, the great doors shut and could no longer be opened.

“Elder Lovia had already raised the abnormality?” the Shadow monitor asked in astonishment.

After receiving an affirmative answer, he murmured half in confusion and half in relief, “It’s good that Elder Lovia has no problem…”

“…I’ve already sent people to control the members of that exploration team. But we also cannot ignore another possibility,” Chief Colin said, exhaling. “Have Aiflor come here. I will interrogate Derrick Berg together with her.”