This made him somewhat flustered; he didn’t understand what it meant or how to handle it.
Was Mr. Fool in a state where He couldn’t respond to prayers? Well, He had previously hinted that next week’s gathering might be cancelled—this should be a sign. Recalling this, Derrick barely calmed his anxiety and tension.
It wasn’t his fault to react so strongly; the textbooks of the City of Silver recorded a similar situation: The Creator, who normally responded to believers, one day suddenly stopped responding and abandoned this land!
After a few seconds of silence, Derrick stood up, returned to the chief’s room, and said to
«Wait?» Colin the Demon Hunter repeated the key word, frowning slightly.
In his view, this was an unusual occurrence, seeming to herald an unfavorable development.
Derrick resisted the urge to scratch the back of his head and nodded with some difficulty: «Yes.»
The white-haired Colin Iliad stared at him for a few seconds, then slowly nodded: «Alright, you go back first.»
…………
Fors, wrapped in thick clothing, paced back and forth around the warm stove, a puzzled expression on her face.
Finally, she turned her head to look at Xio on the chair and said: «Why hasn’t Mr. World replied to me yet?»
«Maybe he got held up by something,» Xio said with a reason she’d long prepared. «Or maybe Mr. Fool is unavailable to pass along your prayers right now. He did hint that the gathering might be suspended for a week.»
Fors nodded thoughtfully: «Mr. Fool hinted that next week’s gathering might be suspended, and He said that only in the middle of the week. Does this have something to do with George III’s affairs?»
Connecting that to Mr. World’s continued investigation, Xio hummed: «Very likely.»
…………
In the God-forsaken land, inside the silent city.
Dressed in the black robe of a classical mage,
Here, pillars were tilted, a few broken, and dark red grass grew from the cracks at their tops, winding around bird carvings.
Klein, carrying a leather lantern, surveyed the area, confirming that the city’s inhabitants were not entirely extinct; a few survivors remained. Somehow, they had turned into monsters of the deep darkness, avoiding the dim yellow light, surrounding the church in places he couldn’t see, planning to attack Klein and Amon—the two who appeared normal.
—Klein could tell those monsters were originally residents because their «Spirit Body Threads» had become distorted, some gray-white, some twisted, some partially stuck together—completely different from monsters elsewhere, and more reminiscent of the feeling from the corpses in stone coffins.
What kind of despair and collapse led the remaining humans here to choose this path? Perhaps the deepest despair is seeing no hope day after day, while the situation around you keeps deteriorating. With this reflection, Klein adjusted his mindset.
He was experiencing a series of hopes that were followed by disappointments.
Amon, wearing his monocle, walked along the edge of the light until he reached the deepest part of the church.
Klein followed and saw a door shrouded in pale light.
«This city is actually divided into light and dark parts. They used some abilities of the ‘Apprentice’ pathway to hide certain areas, which can only be entered through specific doors,» Amon said, pointing ahead.
«An Arcanist’s ability?» Klein nodded in understanding, showing he roughly grasped the situation.
Amon then said: «Behind this door is the dark side of the city, and I can use it to connect with similar areas far away, directly arriving there and shortening our journey.»
No wonder he’s the embodiment of loopholes... Klein watched as Amon extended his left hand and pressed it against the door made of pale light.
The light began to ripple, spreading rapidly outward, growing more and more intense.
Just then, a grotesque monster hiding in the deep darkness, spying on the church, suddenly twitched and turned into Klein’s marionette.
Twenty or thirty seconds earlier, Klein had already established initial control over it and deepened his influence, but he waited until now to fully convert it.