Chapter 62: Spreading Radiance

Chapter 62: Spreading Radiance

When Klein had been thinking of methods just now, one image had naturally appeared in his mind:

Between two mountain peaks, a sea of clouds abruptly “boiled” and split toward both sides, revealing a dark fissure with no visible bottom. Orange-red twilight filled it, forming a tangible road.

This was the scene created when the Blasphemer Amon had entered the dream projection of the Giant King’s Court.

Just as Klein felt he did not understand the corresponding ability well enough and intended to change methods, the red, green, blue, and transparent gemstones inlaid on the Staff of the Stars had already bloomed with hazy light, activating on their own.

The solidified grayish-white fog likewise “boiled,” though not as violently.

It rolled backward and parted to both sides, yet ahead remained endless gray-white, without any end in sight.

Klein sighed inwardly. While paying attention to controlling his thoughts, he began other attempts.

Within three minutes, he made at least ten attempts. Seven were deliberate, while three were triggered by stress, but none managed to open that invisible barrier.

…As expected, normal methods do not work… Klein flicked his wrist, causing the historical projection of 0-62, now close to its maintenance limit, to vanish from the real world.

He stared at that utterly silent grayish-white fog without moving for several dozen seconds, like a statue frozen in place.

Finally, Klein closed his eyes briefly, withdrew his gaze, and, carrying the lantern, walked toward the humans peering from not far away.

He did not intend to continue making blind attempts, because there was a high probability they would not succeed. He planned to question these ancient remnants, who had clearly guarded this place for two or three thousand years and explored the grayish-white fog, and see whether he could find inspiration from the experience they had accumulated over a long period of time.

According to Klein’s expectations, those humans would inevitably react rather violently to his approach, and he had already prepared corresponding abilities to help them speak with him calmly. Yet when he looked over by the dim yellow glow of the lanterns on both sides, he discovered that these ugly or deformed humans were all staring at him with mouths slightly open, their expressions dazed and shocked, as though they had temporarily lost the ability to think.

Klein’s brows furrowed slightly. In the deep darkness, he walked toward those ancient remnants neither quickly nor slowly, stopping roughly two or three meters away from them.

“What do you know about this fog?” Klein asked in a low voice in Jotun.

This language, capable of prying at the forces of nature, did not differ from region to region. At most, it carried minor differences in accent, but not much more than that. If it deviated from the original form, it would most likely lose effectiveness in ritual magic.

Only after Gehrman Sparrow asked the question did Adal seem to recover. His lips moved for a while before he gave an answer unrelated to the question:

“We… we have never made the fog change…”

The sight of Gehrman Sparrow making the fog boil like water and part to both sides had truly terrified them. It felt like witnessing a miracle.

The efforts of generation after generation in Moon City over two or three thousand years could not compare to that person holding a cane and trying for one or two hundred heartbeats.

That was also the main reason they had given up resisting when Gehrman Sparrow approached.

Instinctively, they believed that no matter how they avoided him, it would be ineffective.

Klein was silent for two seconds, then asked again, “Do you have corresponding records?”

This time, Adal understood somewhat what Gehrman Sparrow meant. After hesitating, he slowly nodded.

“Yes… But only the High Priest and the others read them often.”

Wearing a black trench coat and half top hat, Klein thought for a moment. Then he suddenly reached out and took an item from the void.

It was a cross covered in verdigris, with several spikes protruding from it.

A historical projection of the Unshadowed Crucifix, originating from the ancient Sun God!

Klein held the cross and lifted it slightly, pointing it toward that group of ancient remnants.

Pure, bright, warm radiance bloomed from it, driving away the surrounding darkness and shining upon Adal, Xin, and the others.

Their combat experience made them reflexively attempt to defend themselves, but the instinctive comfort coming from within caused their movements to stop halfway, one after another.

That brightness, that warmth, was absolutely incomparable to a campfire!

It made the remaining members of Moon City’s hunting team recall, in a daze, the deity spoken of in ancient texts and by the High Priest—the deity who radiated infinite light and brought infinite warmth.

Under the illumination of that clear, pure radiance, strands of distorted, struggling illusory black gas, seemingly alive, steamed upward from Adal, Xin, and the others, then swiftly dissipated.

The members of Moon City’s hunting team felt their bodies lighten, and the oppression within their souls vanished along with it.

After purifying the accumulated pollution and diseases in their bodies, Klein flicked his wrist slightly, causing the Unshadowed Crucifix to vanish before him.

Immediately afterward, he grabbed toward the side and front, dragging another cane out of nothingness—a perfectly ordinary-looking wooden cane.

This was the former City of Silver sealed artifact, the Staff of Life!

Although Klein had already sacrificed it to the Evernight Goddess, anything an Ancient Scholar once possessed would merely accompany him in another form.

Holding the Staff of Life, Klein stepped forward several paces and tapped the leader of Moon City’s hunting team with the head of the cane.

The experience from earlier made Adal refrain from dodging. The fleshy tumors on his face began to burst, drain pus, fade, shrink, and disappear. In the end, not even a scar remained.

Adal learned of his own change from the eyes of his teammates. Somewhat hesitant and slow, he raised his right hand and touched his face, from top to bottom, and then from bottom to top, several times in a row.

During this process, he discovered that his condition had never been better—not even when he had just come of age.

Klein did not look at him. Taking a diagonal step, he used the Staff of Life to treat the rest of the ancient remnants.

With Adal as an example, Xin and the others accepted the cane’s touch while remaining guarded and cautious. Then, through an indescribable sensation, they obtained new life.

Among them, two of the deformed ones, whose emotions had already been prone to agitation, could no longer stop tears from flowing.

What a pity. It cannot treat congenital defects… Mental illnesses can be healed, but certain tendencies toward madness cannot… Klein withdrew his right hand, causing the historical projection of the Staff of Life to scatter into thin air.

He walked back to his original position, turned, and looked at that group of ancient remnants.

“I came here not to destroy, but to spread my Lord’s radiance, to bring light and warmth.

“Return and tell your leader: I am here. If he is willing, he may come.”

He did not attempt to ask where this group of ancient remnants lived, nor did he plan to go there directly, because that would provoke the strongest resistance and vigilance.

Therefore, handing the initiative to them was the most suitable way to handle matters.

At that moment, Adal, Xin, and the others had been shaken to the depths of their hearts by the missionary Gehrman Sparrow opposite them repeatedly taking all sorts of miraculous objects from thin air. They increasingly felt as though they had walked into a miracle and had already received the baptism of divine light, restoring their bodies to their best condition—even beyond their best.

“…All right.” After several seconds, Adal gave a response.

Just as they turned, preparing to return to Moon City, specks of firelight lit up in the depths of darkness, rapidly approaching from far away.

At the head was an old man wrapped in deep-brown beast hide. His hair was gray-white and hung down in messy locks, while his face was covered in truly deep grooves.

“High Priest…” Xin blurted out after seeing the newcomer clearly.

The one who had arrived was none other than Moon City’s High Priest, Nim.

Behind Nim followed Rus and the other hunting team member who had returned to the city early, as well as several higher-Sequence Beyonders.

Nim nodded to Adal, Xin, and the others. Then he walked to the front of the group, looked at the man who called himself the missionary Gehrman Sparrow, crossed his hands, and bowed.

“Honored guest, I am Nim, High Priest of Moon City.

“Moon City was once a city belonging to vampires, but that civilization was destroyed in an ancient age.

“Afterward, we accepted the command of the great Sun God, the Lord who created all, and migrated here to guard this grayish-white fog and conduct corresponding attempts. Even later, when this land was cursed and the Lord no longer answered us, we did not give up.

“Today, three thousand seven hundred and twenty-two years have passed.”