Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 109: The Second Reward

Countless stories crisscrossed outside the window, but Teest’s gaze was fixed only on Nol.

Teest stood with his back to the light while Nol’s face was slightly upturned, his golden eyes shining brightly in the sunlight.

‘How wonderful,’ Teest thought, having seen himself in the mirror countless times. He had never imagined that the same gold could become so scorching.

[Since you still remember, this is a good time for an answer. That guy still has a long way to go in his painting.] Teest tightened his grip on the back of the chair.

He hadn’t looked forward to something like this in a long time—even the second before he threw the corpse at the doorstep of the Evergreen Church and the bishops discovered it, Teest’s heartbeat hadn’t been this fast.

What kind of reward would Nol, with his personality, offer?

What reward would the Creator of this world give him?

Teest realized that his palms were starting to sweat.

There was a bit more tension in Nol’s smile. He looked straight into Teest’s eyes and finally gave his answer.

[A conclusion you will like,] Nol said slowly and seriously.

[A conclusion?]

[Yes, the conclusion between you and me,] Nol said.

Teest felt somewhat dazed.

He had guessed everything from “mysterious artifacts known only to the Creator” to “special vows” and “love”, but he had never thought in this direction.

Teest was mentally prepared to receive a bag of cookies. But when the blindfold was removed, he found himself standing in a candy house.

[Even if the conclusion is “I betray you first”, or “I want you to stay”.] Even in his mind, Teest still spoke softly. [Is that okay? You really want to give me this? Are you sure?]

The smile on Nol’s face didn’t waver.

[If you betray me first, why should I cling to a traitor?]

He was bathed in light, without any coldness of an undead.

[If you want me to stay, then I will look for a way that allows us to be together,] Nol said.

[Even if there is no such way?] Teest’s question collided with Nol’s unfinished sentence.

[If there isn’t one in the world, I will create it. If you are concerned about empty promises, we can add terms to the marriage contract,] Nol answered decisively.

…This was his treasure.

Through those eyes, Teest finally confirmed this.

There was no need for daily temptation, no need for constant planning. Nol was indeed his—his companion, his puzzle, his private god.

But why didn’t he feel a bit of peace of mind?

Nol seemed completely different from his family—

Teest had thought that if one day his family had to give him up, he wouldn’t object. He was aware of his anomaly and knew they had once “loved” him and had tried for him.

It was a pity for such an ending, but there would be no regrets. It was fine for everyone to live their own lives; there was nothing to care about.

But Nol couldn’t do it.

The moment the treasure was in hand, the fear of loss and emptiness became more pronounced.

[You’ve changed.] Teest clenched his fingers tightly, as if to grasp the invisible “ending”. [You used to have so many concerns.]

[Because I realized I like you more than I thought.] Nol admitted frankly. [This world is too chaotic, with countless problems to solve. I don’t want to dwell on this—if I can’t let go, I must hold on tight.]

[You asked about our relationship. This is my answer.]

Teest fell silent. He instinctively felt he needed to do something yet didn’t know what to do.

The Eternal Church had taught him how to charm hearts but not how to properly preserve “love”. Once the plan succeeded, they would kill or abandon the object of seduction. “Heart-to-heart” was never part of the curriculum.

He felt like he was wearing a nightgown and holding a pillow, suddenly brought to a battlefield of flashing swords and shining armor.

[I haven’t decided on the ending yet. I want to keep it.] The Mad Monk spoke cautiously but couldn’t quite hide a trace of helplessness in his tone.

[Whatever you want,] Nol said. [It’s a gift for you, after all.]

Liking this guy, he hadn’t expected any normal romantic relationship. The Mad Monk blinked; his eyes filled with hundreds of thoughts. Rather than watching Teest go in circles probing, it was better to give him what he pursued.

Teest looked dazed by this gift. He gazed at Nol groggily for a while before finally speaking up.

[If it’s to be written in a marriage contract.] Teest imitated Nol’s tone, speaking seriously. [I’ve also changed some thoughts. It can be added.]

[Before I said I wouldn’t give you my life, loyalty, or love. But I’ve found that I’m more willing to take risks for you than I thought. So, well, my life could be considered.]

[Really?] Nol raised his eyebrows amusingly.

[I have to admit the truth,] Teest replied earnestly. [Among these three, I only have ‘life’ to offer. I did my best.]

[Yes, yes.] Nol couldn’t help but reach out, his fingertips brushing over Teest’s hair.

Teest breathed a sigh of relief, that subtle fear of loss finally suppressed. His gaze swept over Nol’s upturned lips, suddenly yearning for a warm, soft kiss.

Now they were each other’s lord and knight, entrusted with their lives. A close kiss should be okay, right?

A few steps away, the painter put down his brush.

“It’s done, Lord Drake,” he said respectfully. “Please see if there’s anything that needs to be changed.”

Nol stood up, slipping away from Teest’s view.

The knight, too late to kiss, pursed his lips silently. He turned on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and followed Nol.

The moment Teest saw the painting, he paused.

In the painting, sunlight poured in through tall windows, making everything incredibly bright.

Nol sat in a high-backed chair, looking at Teest standing beside the chair, the colors so pale they seemed to melt into the sunlight.

Teest, with black hair, stood backlit. His shadow was cast on Nol, the position of his head resting on Nol’s shoulder, like a covert embrace.

The painted Nol smiled tenderly, his eyes full of undisguised soft emotions. And the painted Teest looked down, his gaze focused and fiery, as if burning.

Teest subconsciously touched his eyes.

Strangely, that look was very similar to Nol’s just now.

“How affectionate,” the painter remarked. “You must have seen such a look in your lover’s eyes to reproduce it so realistically.”

“No need to modify this painting.” Nol didn’t pick up the conversation. “Remember your promise. It’s not to be exhibited.”

“Of course! The Blanco family has always valued their reputation. I’ll wrap it in silk cloth right away, and even the servants outside won’t see it,” the painter quickly assured, patting his chest, forgetting his earlier sentiment.

“Ah, and there’s this small sketch.” He hurriedly picked up a small piece of cloth from the easel. “You can take this as a souvenir.”

Nol examined the photo-sized piece of fine cloth. It depicted the same scene as the painting, but in even finer detail. It looked more like a photograph than a painting.

“This was ‘captured’ using magic—not strictly a painting, but it’s easier to preserve,” the painter quickly explained. “If you don’t like it…”

“No, I like it very much.” Nol tucked it into his chest.

Later, when everyone had left, he planned to sew it into the last page of “The Complete Recipe Book”.

[I want one too,] Teest protested at his side.

[Having two would be excessive. “Drake” isn’t the type to collect one and play with another,] Nol rejected mercilessly. [You can look at mine.]

The sound of the saluting cannon outside the window finally diminished, as if someone was giving a speech. Just as the servants were about to move the painting out, an earth-shattering cheer erupted outside.

“Ah, the king’s speech is ending. I must take my leave.” The painter packed his tools in a hurry and rushed out the door.

[After the speech, they’ll scatter gold wheels, silver hooks, and copper coins,] Teest said. [But there’s no need for us to join that crowd.]

The king must have announced the news of “the threat of The Manor being eliminated”. Then—

[You have completed the rare area quest: Monster Manor.]

[You have met the perfect completion conditions for the quest “Monster Manor”: Help Eternal Day City resolve The Manor’s threat; Unravel the mystery of the Lord of The Manor’s power.]

[Quest rewards: Prestige in Eternal Day City [Normal] being calculated; Monetary reward [Normal]; Skill Enhancement Stone [Perfect]; Permanent Land Deed (Small) [Perfect], among other rewards, will be settled with subsequent events.]

By now, both of them were used to such prompts.

[There’s no experience points for this quest,] Teest casually mentioned.

[Since we didn’t kill anyone in The Manor…] Nol paused mid-sentence.

“The system that promotes ‘strengthening oneself through killing’ is in operation. Under such rules, you still expect peace?” The shouts of Zhuang Shuhang surfaced in Nol’s mind again, and he pressed his temples.

They needed to inform Paradise as soon as possible and continue their research.

The heroes of Eternal Day City had to exit the stage.

……

On the silver tray, three items were neatly arranged.

A mountain of gold wheels, two crystal-clear light golden gems, and a small scroll emitting a faint glow.

Standing behind the tray, Eugene stood neatly, smiling.

“This is a token of gratitude from the Temple of Life for you, Mr. Drake,” he said, his eyes burning as he gazed at Nol. “Your performance far exceeded my expectations, and I would like to recommend you as an official Investigation Knight in my personal capacity.”

Just as expected.

Nol remained composed.

[Eugene must have consulted the oracles.]

The true Chosen One, Teest, murmured while draping an arm over Nol’s shoulder. [I bet this guy found nothing and just wants to keep an eye on you… Poor thing. His god completely ignores him.]

[I know all this,] Nol said patiently. [We’ve discussed it before.]

[But saying it again in front of him feels especially good.] Teest, still mindful of Eugene’s sword, obediently hid behind Nol.

Nol suppressed a laugh, his expression slightly twisted.

“I’m sorry, but I must decline,” Nol said. “Drawing a sword for the Goddess is my honor. But even without joining the Investigation Knights, I can still wield my sword for Lady Tilia.”

…As if he was a swordsman.

“I see,” Eugene responded easily, his gaze locked on Nol. “Do you mind telling me the reason?”

Nol sighed deeply, tapping his head impatiently. A glimmer of light passed, and the light golden hue in his hair quietly faded, leaving only moonlight-like silver white.

With white hair and golden eyes, Nol now resembled Teest. Even Eugene narrowed his eyes in a moment of doubt—if not for the significant difference in their features and physique, he might have been confused.

“The people will not accept a ‘White Demon’. It’s one of the reasons why I disguised myself to enter the city.” Nol said gravely, “I have no intention of hiding in front of God, nor do I wish to tarnish God’s glory. Please allow me to continue fighting for God in the shadows.”

Eugene narrowed his eyes. “You…”

“I am a distant relative of the Blanco family. Saving Dia Blanco wasn’t out of sheer altruism,” Nol said. “Now you know the truth.”

Beside him, Teest silently grinned.

Eugene hummed. “You initially said you were going to save an acquaintance…”

“He has gone far away.” Nol added mentally, ‘Hopping away on one leg.’

It wasn’t a topic suitable for elaboration, so Nol swiftly changed the subject. “The two with me…”

“Sadly, Mr. Sean died for the glory of the Goddess. We found his remains in the shallow layers.” Eugene sighed. “Mr. Damori is fine, just a bit shocked. We’ll compensate him well.”

Sean went for revenge. Having no relatives in this world, it was unclear whom the Temple of Life would compensate.

Nol grabbed a handful of gold wheels from the tray, slowly releasing them, clinking in front of Eugene.

“This is my personal gesture for Mr. Sean,” Nol said. “If there’s no one to claim it, buy a bouquet of flowers for me.”

“…I still hope you’ll fight for the Goddess,” Eugene said.

“I also hope to maintain a good relationship with you,” Nol replied calmly. “If the Goddess wills, we shall meet again.”

Eugene pulled out a light green crystal from his pocket and added it to the tray.

“If necessary, you can contact me through this. Of course, I might also ask for your help,” he said. “Regarding the king…”

Nol showed no interest. He packed everything from the tray into his backpack and nodded at Eugene.

“May your life be full of vitality.” Nol turned and left.

“May the Goddess’s light forever shine upon you.” Eugene smiled again.

As the door closed, Eugene’s smile slowly faded.

“You’re letting him go just like that?” A knight listening in couldn’t help but speak.

“He’s a peculiar character. Forcing him might backfire.” Eugene said, “Have someone thoroughly investigate the Eternal Church’s Chosen One, reconfirm theTtemple’s oracles, and uncover this man—since the Goddess has shown him to me, She must have noticed him first.”

“Yes! And about this…”

“Don’t interfere, don’t track. Show as much friendliness as possible,” Eugene instructed. “I have a feeling we’ll meet again.”

Meanwhile.

Not long after leaving, the two found a dark alley and jumped back to the Lost Tower through a ring of fire, leaving no chance for anyone to track them.

Nol set his destination to his own room and almost immediately collapsed onto the bed. Kando lay on the carpet, still fussing over its missing candle tears.

Teest rushed to the desk, delightfully counting the spoils of war—mainly skill enhancement stones and a permanent land deed.

“Why is there only one?” Teest shook the deed scroll.

“Oh, the permanent land deed.” Nol buried his face in the pillow. “You can use it to designate a piece of land and expel all visitors if necessary… This one is a small version, not very valuable. In an emergency, it can be used as a small base, to store some items…”

“Give it to me.” Teest weighed the scroll in his hand.

“Take it if you like. I need to rest for a while… I have to explain the situation to everyone tonight…”

Considering Kando’s recent anomaly, he had to interrogate the candle thoroughly; then, he needed to decide how to use the skill enhancement stones and adapt to the body of a Dracolich. The workload awaiting him was immense.

Teest climbed onto the bed, causing a slight depression at the foot of it.

Nol, too lazy to move, closed his eyes, feeling the weight shift around. Teest’s hand caressed his neck, then his spine. Nol hummed twice, still motionless.

Suddenly, a heat of magic ignited behind him. Nol jerked up, flipping over. “What?”

Before him, Teest held a torn scroll, looking earnest.

“I’m following your teachings, looking for useful loopholes.” Teest tossed the damaged scroll away, grabbed the wary Kando, and placed it on Nol’s shoulder.

“Expel!” Teest cleared his throat.

With a whoosh, Kando instantly flew out, accompanied by a scream of “Are you crazy?!”

Nol: “.…..”

Nol: “You didn’t…”

Teest leaned in satisfactorily, his fingertips brushing Nol’s neck.

“My permanent territory.”

His tone carried a hint of pride. “See, it can also become a shield to protect you.”

Nol gazed into the close golden eyes.

“Thank you.”

He grasped Teest’s shoulders, kissing them. Teest hummed comfortably, relaxing completely.

Sunlight flooded the bed, and the trees of the Black Forest rustled.

‘Thank heavens,’ Nol thought. Now he had a “home” where he could relax completely—at least for tonight, he could sleep without worries, holding the person he liked.

Regardless of the outcome, he loved this moment.

Far away in Eternal Day City, people didn’t notice the hero’s disappearance.

Old Dill brought the oil painting deep into the mansion’s cellar, to a room specifically for storing paintings.

Drake wasn’t the first benefactor whose portrait wasn’t made public. There were hundreds of paintings here.

The temperature and humidity in this room were perfectly adjusted, coupled with enough magic, keeping the paintings vibrant.

The Blanco family was large, with many descendants having some Wilder blood. When members of the Blanco family set out to establish themselves, they often secretly took a benefactor’s portrait to ward off potential misfortune.

Old Dill moved the painting forward, stopping at an empty spot.

There remained faint traces of a hung painting. If he remembered correctly, that painting was gifted to the now-destroyed Flama family. The night the Flama house was destroyed, it was probably taken by the Temple of Life. Who knows if it was destroyed.

Unfortunately, that painting couldn’t avert their disaster.

Speaking of which, who was in that painting? Old Dill furrowed his brows, pondering for a long time, but couldn’t recall. Well, their new painting fit perfectly here—this was the hero of Eternal Day City, sure to dispel the previous painting’s shadow.

The old man bowed slightly to the hero in the painting.

“May you bless the bloodline of the Blanco family,” he said.

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The author has something to say:

White Cat Teest: Hmph, I’ll set up a trap to catch my favorite fish!

White Cat Teest: (Busy preparing) (Casting the net finely) (Various temptations)

Fish God Nol: (Struggling) (Contemplating) (Decided)

The cat is still busy with various enticements, only to be swept ashore and caught by the Fish God.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 108: Hero’s Portrait

The castle fell. The anti-magic crystal lost its effectiveness, and large chunks of debris rained from the sky.

Eugene immediately slowed the falling debris, finally creating a way out for the three trapped at the bottom of the stone platform. The moment they escaped the terrifying chasm, Knight Marion immediately knelt on one knee to thank the Goddess, while Damori sat down on the ground, gasping like a depleted dog.

Eugene stood on the edge of the cliff, so close to the chasm that half a step further would cause him to lose his balance. Explosions continued within the chasm, with corruption smoke furiously erupting, passing over his pale golden protective shield.

“Captain!” Marion called out to him.

“The castle wouldn’t collapse on its own, knight.” Amidst the roaring wind, Eugene stood firm. “You take Mr. Damori back first and report the situation. I will witness this to the end.”

“But—” The explosion and wind scattered the knight’s shouts.

At the edge of the cliff, Eugene turned back, giving her a warm smile. “God wants us to witness.”

The nearby corruption was thick, and the soil was already showing the color of rotten blood. Marion tried to support Damori, who could barely stand up.

Damori looked at Eugene with a complicated gaze, coughing hard. “Um, earlier… I said many disrespectful things. I didn’t expect…”

“The Captain won’t mind,” Marion whispered softly.

“No, it’s my insincerity towards God.” Damori hung his head. “I was favored by the Goddess to witness all this. I-I want to stay, as a sign of repentance.”

Marion looked helplessly at Eugene, who didn’t turn back but nodded.

“God will see your faithfulness,” Eugene declared loudly.

Damori then relaxed, continuing to sit collapsed on the grass. An ominous tremor came from deep within the ground. The night grew deep, and the castle crumbled layer by layer before his eyes, leaving only vague silhouettes.

At this distance, they couldn’t see clearly—on one of the particularly large silhouettes, something was moving.

In the blood pool, half a body propped itself up, struggling to regain “combat power”.

High Priest Fischer’s wound ignited with blue fire, the two halves of his body self-adhering. The blood on the ground slowly flowed back into his body through the wound.

“May everything be eternal.”

Fischer sighed faintly.

As a Supplement Demon, he wasn’t a complete undead creature. Having obtained the “immortality” trait from an undead monster, it could only take effect once.

“Such unilateral decision-making, worthy of being the Chosen One by our God.”

He leaned towards the abyss, drawing a circle on his chest. “For true eternity, I must bring you…”

He suddenly became dazed in the middle of speaking. “I must bring you… bring you…”

Fischer covered his face, his eyes trembling amidst the blue flames through his fingers. A bizarre sense of chaos rampaged through his mind, as if cursed.

His pupils trembled, weakly kneeling back to the ground.

Speaking of which, among the high priests of the Eternal Church, Fischer Reginald was quite unique.

If Teest had heard his title rather than his real name, he would never have asked such a question as “How are you sure it’s me?”

This man successfully merged many monsters, but his specialty wasn’t in combat but in strange auxiliary skills. Among them, his most famous and bizarre ability became his title—

[Eye of the Storm]

Whenever Fischer decided to participate in something, he always got involved in the whirlpool of fate with this ability.

After getting involved, “Eye of the Storm” couldn’t affect the event itself. But it always allowed him to be lucky enough to get into the core of the event, knowing the entire development and changes.

The importance of information was no less than combat ability, and magic related to fate was rare.

In the past decades, High Priest Fischer never doubted divine grace—the Eternal Son favored him, allowing him to have this almost miraculous talent.

But as a fanatical believer, he now undoubtedly wavered in his faith.

…To follow that Chosen One, to follow the Mad Monk.

…This is the meaning of your return from death. This is your destiny.

Fischer hugged his head, his stiff wings spreading, shakily flying in the air.

God, what the hell is going on?!

……

At the same time, at the bottom of the chasm.

“Hmm?” Teest hummed in confusion, stopping what he was doing.

“What’s wrong?” Nol immediately turned around.

Not long ago, after the shock, Nol’s first decision was very decisive—to completely seal off this deadly chasm. Regardless of the nature of this world, the “mass emergence of corruption” was a sign of destruction and couldn’t be allowed to persist. As for post-event research, he could rely on Kando to travel directly.

He had the Lost Tower behind him and companions to unravel the mystery together. Nol remembered everything he saw underground and had Teest pack up Zhang Shuhang’s research materials, preparing to relocate the research base to Paradise.

…However, legitimately sealing the chasm meant that “Drake” had to appear again.

After packing up the spoils of war, the two dragged tables and chairs out of the ruins and crafted a new image on the spot.

Nol’s burnt hair was cut off by Teest, who then smeared hair dye on Nol’s head again. Without the long hair to cover him, Nol felt somewhat exposed. Teest tore up several linen shirts, resolutely creating a set of battle-worn attire to cover the important parts.

By now, Nol finally noticed the crisscrossing crown-shaped dragon horns on his head and the huge dragon wings on his back that he couldn’t retract. The roots of the dragon horns were black, with tips resembling blue gems, and ghostly sparks splattered on them. The dragon wings were also magnificent, their dragon scales captivating.

…Beautiful indeed, but irretractable!

Thus, the scene just now unfolded—Nol himself blushed with embarrassment. Teest, meanwhile, was squeezing and pressing around, then suddenly stopped like a bolt from the blue.

“There seems to be a problem with my skills,” Teest said, summoning the system window.

Nol let go of his horns and leaned in to take a look.

Teest’s [Necrotic Dominion] was activating, with the number of subordinates shockingly showing “1”.

“I killed that Fischer, the High Priest of the Eternal Church,” Teest explained with a frown. “At that time, I was focused on… well, finding you, and didn’t notice the system prompt.”

Was the High Priest of the Eternal Church so easy to kill?

Nol was puzzled for two seconds. But given Teest’s current strength, a rare combat class ambushing at close range, it barely made sense.

“It’s possible he automatically transformed into an undead and then was counted as your subordinate by the system,” Nol explained. “Your [Necrotic Conversion (Short-Term)] lasts up to half an hour, after which it will automatically be lifted.”

“We’ve been down here for almost two hours.”

Nol: “……”

“Is this skill really okay?” Teest breathed into Nol’s ear.

“Are you sure he was dead at that time?” Questioned about his design, Nol’s creator’s pride swiftly returned.

Challenged on his killing method, the Mad Monk’s murderous pride quickly joined in.

Teest stepped back half a step, vividly recounting the situation, almost like finding something to chop.

“…Split in two like a salted fish, one half even fell to the ground.” Teest gestured with both hands. “Even if he’s a Supplement Demon, being cut like that would cause instant death.”

“If he has undead monster traits, he might not die.” Nol stroked his horns. “Many low-level undead have ‘regeneration’ or ‘undying’ type skills, needing to be killed twice.”

“But undead monsters don’t have a ‘death’ concept. Once you kill them, they disintegrate on the spot, making [Necrotic Conversion] and [Necrotic Dominion] ineffective.”

As a competent creator, he certainly considered extreme cases. Nol added seriously.

“But Supplement Demons aren’t real ‘undead monsters’.” Teest pondered.

“……”

“If he was alive just now, really died, then revived using the traits of the undead within him, does it count as whether I killed him or not?” Teest brutally pointed out. “Under this premise, can [Necrotic Dominion] really take effect?”

“…………”

Schrodinger’s High Priest, huh? Nol’s face slowly turned pale.

If he ever got the chance, he’d definitely hang up the instigator, the Eternal Son, and beat him—Supplement Demons were too chaotic, and his skill logic had another bug!

Both fell into silence, staring at the “1” on Teest’s panel. As time ticked by, the simple number remained unchanged.

“Purely by design, [Necrotic Dominion] has no expiration time.” Nol spoke painfully. “If, and I mean if, Fischer’s condition caused a glitch in [Necrotic Conversion (Short-Term)], he will always be under your command, until death.”

Teest solemnly closed the skill window, pondering for two seconds.

“Fischer Reginald.” He theatrically ordered into the void. “Bring out the list of ‘Paradise Monsters’ from your subordinates and hand it over to the ‘General’ of Grape Collar.”

“Then find a cave in the Black Forest for secluded cultivation—no leaving without orders.”

After speaking, he paused to feel the effect for half a second.

“…Really feels like I’m in control.” Teest exclaimed. “Fischer Reginald, hop on one foot all the way back. See you later!”

After saying that, he circled back to Nol, his face full of excitement. “Even the errors in your world are amazing!”

Nol had nothing to say, so he just seriously twisted his wings.

Teest took the opportunity to lean down and kiss the soft wing membrane not covered with scales. The touch of the soft membrane and lips was too strange; he couldn’t help but gently lick it with his tongue.

Nol shivered from head to toe, and with a whoosh, the kissed half of his wing disappeared into the void.

Silence fell again.

“Oh.” A few seconds later, Teest’s fingertips ran through Nol’s hair, all the way to the back of his neck. “I heard that arranging the appearance of a god is also the job of the Pope.”

With a smile, he leaned forward again, lightly biting the other wing.

……

The sun was about to rise, and the darkness became thin.

A few hours earlier, the explosions at the bottom of the chasm had stopped. The castle that was once floating in the air had completely disappeared, and the corruption had calmed down significantly compared to before. Eugene could even withdraw the magical protection and directly feel the morning breeze.

He stared intently at the chasm, dew forming finely on his eyebrows.

In Damori’s view, everything probably ended. Perhaps the Great Drake and The Lord of The Manor fought to their mutual destruction. But Eugene’s gaze was so certain that, to avoid being contradicted, Damori tried his best to remain silent.

Just before sunrise, in the center of the chasm.

A beam of white light shot up into the sky, shattering the dim shadows before dawn—

Nol, with Teest hidden under the guise of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, burst out of the chasm in one go. His hair returned to a pale gold, and his golden pupils twinkled faintly.

His knight’s armor was almost gone, leaving only bloodstained linen fabric, barely covering the key parts. Large patches of pale skin were exposed, shimmering with the unique light patterns of dragon scales.

The unconscious Dia Blanco was carried on his back, arms dangling limply. In Nol’s shadow, the shadow wolf happily dove in, its tail tip flashing briefly.

Through layers of smoke, Knight Eugene looked up, meeting “Drake’s” gaze.

“Drake” had an expressionless face, just weary.

Their eyes met, and Drake immediately withdrew his gaze. Carrying the unconscious knight on his back, he hovered in mid-air, extending a broken sword towards the dark chasm.

The tranquility that enveloped the area completely disappeared.

The earth trembled continuously, and the rocks made sharp compressive noises.

In the depths of the chasm, in a corner Eugene couldn’t see, countless bone hands stretched out from both sides of the chasm. They grasped each other, hand to hand, until the hands from both sides successfully interlocked.

Countless “bone-hand ropes” tensed and retracted into the soil. The sides of the chasm shook violently, and the huge chasm, like a deep wound, was slowly stitched together.

In mid-air, Nol hid the freshly revived “The Complete Recipe Book” behind him. He and Teest joined hands, activating a purification magic together.

During the closing process, the escaping corruption smoke instantly ignited into brilliant golden flames, illuminating the morning as if it were day.

The corruption on the ground quickly dissipated in the flames, and the previously murky air became crystal clear. The black and red in the soil slowly faded away, leaving only brown earth.

The morning sun rose from the land, burning with golden fire. The moment the chasm closed, bright light completely struck the earth.

So that’s how it is.

Eugene stretched out a hand to shield his eyes from the dazzling light.

Was this what Lady Tilia wanted him to see? The birth of a hero, or perhaps…

Regardless, he would remember this moment.

Not far away, Damori’s eyes were wide open, greedily taking in everything.

……

“Thank you very much!”

Old Dill bowed deeply to Nol, who was sitting on the bed. “These past few days, Mr. Eugene has been spreading your story. Without you, Lord Dia would surely have died at the hands of The Manor. You helped us expel The Manor and the White Night. You are a hero of Eternal Day City—the king demands a celebration. Everyone is eager to meet you.”

Just kill me already. Nol decisively refused. “No need.”

At this moment, Nol only wanted to be with Teest.

He had put on a perfect heroic performance in front of Eugene and then, according to the script—of course, also to accommodate his own physical condition—dramatically fainted.

Just thinking about it was exhausting. Recently, he had been through countless ups and downs. In the end, he even had to hang in midair, twisting his body into a cool pose.

Teest wasn’t in much better condition.

Considering that Nol had to pretend to be a magic swordsman, Teest had to help hold the Staff of Sacrifice and “The Complete Recipe Book”. He also had to ensure that Nol’s free fall was aesthetically pleasing, not face-down, and not breaking Mr. Dia Blanco’s neck—this was the first time he used the golden thread to save someone’s life, and his feelings were complex.

The two were busy and somehow managed to wrap up this act.

What followed was simple.

According to Teest, the awakened Mr. Blanco was grateful and insisted on taking Nol to the Blanco family’s estate for recuperation. The house wasn’t far from the church, and the conditions were indeed better. Eugene agreed readily.

As it turned out, Knight Eugene was quite foresighted. As soon as the news of “Eternal Day City’s White Night source disappearing” spread, people flocked to the Evergreen Church, trying to find the hero.

Even at this distance, Nol could hear the cheers from the church.

“I just want some quiet time. I don’t want to see anyone.” Nol—”Drake” expressed coldly. “Mr. Blanco is an excellent knight. His survival is due to his own efforts.”

A normal person would have had their intelligence halved by Teest’s repeated slaps, but luckily Mr. Blanco had a tough enough head.

“The Blanco family will never neglect a benefactor. I will ensure everyone stays quiet. Now that you’re awake, would you like some lunch?”

“We’ve prepared roast pigeon, braised beef, egg custard, and mixed fruit sweet porridge, as well as herbal tea with honey.”

Old Dill’s words were sincere, and his attitude had improved significantly since their first meeting. He seemed genuinely fond of Knight Dia.

Dia Blanco was about the same age as Teest. Nol wondered if Teest had received such affection as a child.

Nol’s hand shifted, pressing down on Teest’s hair—Teest, taking advantage of the protection of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, was shamelessly sleeping beside Nol.

“Two servings of each dish, please. Thank you.” Nol nodded. “I’d like to eat in the room.”

“Of course, of course.”

Old Dill bowed deeply again. “By the way, we have a request…”

“Please speak.”

“After you finish your meal, we hope you can leave a portrait,” Old Dill said. “The Blanco family’s painter is in the city, and his skill is unparalleled. Half an hour is enough.”

“The Blanco ancestors were Wilders, and they still believe that ‘the portrait of a benefactor can ward off misfortune’. We will prepare additional compensation if it’s convenient for you—”

According to “Drake’s” character setting, agreeing or not would both make sense. Nol was about to refuse when Teest, beside him, turned over and lazily stretched.

“No problem,” Nol said. “But I have two conditions…”

After a pleasant breakfast in bed, Teest’s eyes widened in surprise.

[…What’s the meaning of this?]

[From now on, you are the magical illusion of my deceased lover.] Nol tied Teest’s hair while speaking. [They want a portrait, and I requested one of the two of us.]

[Honey, I’m really touched.] Teest touched the freshly braided long hair hanging on one side. [But why did you agree to him?]

[“Hero Drake” is a creation of both of us.]

And he liked such a memento.

[We might get recognized by Eugene.]

[I also requested that the portrait not be shown after it’s done because “Drake” hates ostentation.] Nol withdrew his hand. [And your appearance right now is just perfect, “Mr. Landus”.]

Teest resumed his appearance as “Brother Landus”, with long black hair and eyes the same blue as Nol’s.

Until they sat for the portrait, Teest maintained a serious contemplative expression. The painter settled in front of them, stunned for a moment, before picking up his brush.

He had never had such perfect models.

The handsome Drake sat in a high-backed chair, and his lover’s illusion stood beside the chair, an arm draped over it. The two gazed at each other as if the rest of the world didn’t exist.

Sunlight streamed through the arched windows, encircling them in a hazy glow, the scene reminiscent of exquisite murals in a cathedral.

[The quest isn’t yet completed.] Teest leaned against the chair, communicating telepathically. [There are no prompts now. Probably need to wait for the king to officially announce the news… Haa, we still have to deal with Eugene and the king later.]

[So relax for now,] Nol said. [There’s much to do ahead.]

Teest was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but speak again. [So that’s it?]

[Hm?]

[Our relationship now,] Teest said. [And the second reward you promised me, have you forgotten?]

Nol smiled at him. [Of course not.]

At that moment, the painter decisively pressed down his brush, and the paint spread across the paper like a living thing.

Outside the window, celebratory cannons roared non-stop, and cheers were overwhelming. A few meters away, Eugene stood with his sword, quietly watching the Blanco family’s mansion.

Further away, Damori squeezed through the boiling crowd and dived into an alley.

“The investigation is complete. I will submit the incident report within three days.”

He gasped for breath as he activated the communication crystal. “This investigation was too dangerous. You need to pay more, Mr. Enbillick.”

---

The author has something to say:

We’ve got the wedding photo√

---

Kinky Thoughts:

End of the arc.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 107: Skill Endpoint

Kando was still sobbing, nursing its candle tears, while Nol gently tapped his magic staff, expanding the range of the blue fire’s illumination.

His free hand gripped Teest’s tightly. Standing side by side at the edge of the ruins, Nol and Teest gazed into the distance at the scene before them.

This was the apocalypse after the sky had fallen and the earth had shattered.

Tall buildings collapsed, and glaze tiles shattered on spherical machines. Rock layers looked like two rows of molars, brutally crushing two completely different worlds.

…Wait, were they really two worlds?

The gap beneath the chasm wasn’t large. Nol’s dark vision couldn’t see too far. He pursed his dry, tense lips and activated ​​[Bat Eyes].

He saw the corruption remains of terrestrial species, presumably some unlucky ones who had fallen here and were devoured by the corruption.

He saw bizarre corpses that didn’t belong to Tahe. Most were skeletal remains lying in the crevices of buildings, dressed in technologically advanced suits or ancient robes.

He saw relatively intact castles and buildings, fallen amidst dull, unknown remnants. Those huge remnants seemed to stretch out limbs, as if to protect them underneath.

Finally, beyond layers of collapsed rocks and decayed buildings, Nol saw an eye.

The moment he spotted it, his pupils dilated sharply, and his heart skipped a beat—

It was a round plastic eye, covered in scratches.

It flickered intermittently with red light, like a setting sun in the absurd ruins. The huge eyeball belonged to an even larger teddy bear.

This teddy bear was larger than a blue whale. Its body was decayed, and its seams were burst open, covered with vines Nol had never seen before.

Round and cute vines pierced through the rotten stuffing, blooming with bright flowers—pink-white, powder-blue, candy-like, dreamy colors.

The flowers swayed quietly in the deep darkness, as delicate as a lie.

“…Three.” Nol slowly squatted down, clearing away the ruins.

Three worlds had shattered here.

He picked up an especially cute plastic teacup, his fingertips trembling slightly. Not long ago, Nol had subconsciously categorized it with the “futuristic” world, but it wasn’t that; it represented yet another destruction.

Everything before him was strange and unfamiliar. Nol didn’t recognize these works—if they really were works.

He understood Zhang Shuhang’s obsession.

The scene before him was beyond common sense, like a bizarre dream, impossible to occur naturally. How could a normal person consider this place a “normal world”?

Zhang Shuhang, coming from an internet giant, was already knowledgeable about games. Once he learned of the existence of “Players” in Tahe, it wasn’t strange for him to firmly believe this place was a game.

This was the only explanation—the only one that could keep the survivors of The Manor sane.

Otherwise, this world was simply—

“Too terrifying.”

“Too wonderful.”

Nol and Teest spoke almost simultaneously. The former sighed, while the latter was exhilarated—

“Look at this!”

Teest excitedly tapped the cup, his fingertips casting an identification spell.

Orbs of light passed over several types of ruins, emitting gold halos of varying brightness.

“The cup is the oldest, then those strange machines, and finally those red walls and glass tiles. I can’t determine the exact years. What a pity.”

Holding Nol’s hand in one and touching the truth with the other, this feeling was too blissful. Teest decided to postpone his anger.

Carefully avoiding the corruption, he observed a delicate metal pen. “Two religions arguing non-stop, saying darkness descended on the land, a Demon King destroyed the splendid civilization. Then their gods led humanity to revive Tahe… blah blah, that sort of nonsense.”

“This ‘splendid civilization’ is more thrilling than I thought.”

“Yeah.”

The types of civilizations were completely different, some too splendid. Nol gripped the cute cup in his hand tightly.

The question arose: were those worlds really destroyed by the “Demon King”?

The Eternal Church and the Temple of Life had written a bunch of nonsense, and Nol wasn’t about to believe another word they said. The Demon King’s corruption was indeed destructive, but it didn’t seem to have its own consciousness.

No matter how he thought about it, compared to the corruption itself, the person who scattered the corruption everywhere seemed more like the culprit, right? Nol still vividly remembered the grudge he held when he was attacked by the Thousand-Hands Nightmare in the Black Forest.

“Praise to your reward. What a great experience.” Teest floated closer. “So, shall we go back first, honey?”

“…Wait a little longer.” Nol shook his head.

It wasn’t enough.

Zhang Shuhang said that the Demon King’s corruption was “the corpse of a god”. He wouldn’t have come to such a conclusion without reason.

Activating [Bat Eyes]​​ once again, Nol looked along the direction of the chasm.

When his eyes began to hurt, Nol found his target—

A barely noticeable missing piece.

There was a huge piece of black-red debris. Judging by the traces on its surface and the surrounding buildings, there should have been a large castle here.

Around this piece of debris, there were clear signs of human tidying.

“Teest.”

“Hmm? …Whoa!”

Nol hugged Teest and spread his wings again. They flew over the corruption, crossing the dangerous areas with sharp steel rebars, heading straight for the predecessor of “The Manor”.

Zhang Shuhang didn’t disappoint them.

There were some charred bones nearby, probably also monsters that had accidentally fallen here. They were likely the reason why Zhang Shuhang survived at the bottom of the chasm.

Before escaping the chasm, Zhang Shuhang had organized the textual records within the debris and even tried to restore some of the machinery.

The records were diverse and fragmented. Fluorescent screens flickered in the darkness, the familiar text emitting waves of cold air. Teest and Nol’s heads squeezed together, reading rapidly.

The “Teddy Bear” world left no records, hence unverifiable.

The “Near Future” world had two types of records. One type recounted a world-saving genius, while the other spoke of the “world collapsing after the genius’s death”.

The description of the genius was incredibly exaggerated—calling him the “protagonist of the era” wasn’t an overstatement.

Considering this was a work, perhaps he really was the protagonist. Nol sighed—such a standard plot design. The protagonist saves the world, gains perfect love and friendship, lives a magnificent life that surpasses thousands, full of grandeur.

But his life was destined to end before this world.

After the genius’s death, the world prospered for a while. People discovered a marvelous energy source underground—black with a hint of red, mostly solid, even more useful than oil.

…Shortly after this energy was exploited, a strange plague erupted in the world. As survivors struggled to survive, a corner of the sky collapsed.

That thing fell like a meteorite to the ground, shaking the entire world.

All who witnessed it died, the Earth’s crust shifted, and the climate became chaotic. The entire planet seemed to have gone mad. Soon after, people found familiar black and red fragments at the edge of the crash site.

[Our god has fallen.] This was the last record left by the survivors, written in English from Earth.

The records of the “Ancient Style” world were all on paper, decayed and moldy, making them difficult to read.

Unlike the “Near Future” world, it didn’t have a specific protagonist, but it mentioned many “divine edicts”, “fates”, and… “daily tasks”.

Nol didn’t recognize this work, but the framework was all too familiar to him—it was undoubtedly a daily life management game.

Its records, too, ended with the exploitation of the black-red “flesh coal”. Soon after, plagues broke out, and a mysterious, massive seismic event caused volcanoes and tsunamis.

[The underground true dragon has died, and the four seas have scorched earth.] This civilization directly used ancient characters from Country C.

“Corruption out of control, gods dying, civilizations collapsing, dead gods becoming new corruption.” Teest casually tossed aside the document, commenting, “Then the next civilization encounters the corruption, continues to perish… This damned place really is disaster-prone.”

Although from his tone, the Mad Monk didn’t seem to find this regrettable.

“So, the Demon King’s corruption really can be considered the ‘corpse of a god’.”

Nol slowly lowered his head, looking at the black-red debris beneath his feet.

Droplets of water condensed on the surface of the debris, oozing out slowly flowing black corruption, like juice seeping from rotting flesh.

They fell into the nearby soil, turning it a rich black-red. They mixed into the air, stirring up a slightly foul-smelling murky fog.

Nol had seen these before. They were everywhere in The Manor.

This was the goal that Zhang Shuhang pursued. He wanted to bring the corruption to the surface, destroy the current world… and then welcome the “game ending” he firmly believed in.

Nol wiped away the stray corruption, carefully observing their source—the pile of debris resembling dried, rotting flesh.

Teest hummed a tune as he flipped through the remaining records. Halfway through, his voice suddenly stuck, falling silent.

“…Are the gods of ‘Tahe’ really the Eternal Son and the Goddess of Life? Isn’t that too much?”

Teest turned his head, looking at Nol with a complex gaze. “According to previous records, those ruined worlds only acknowledged one god.”

Nol suddenly understood Teest’s implication.

These vanished civilizations were all “works” and works always have creators. Three worlds lay dormant here. Where did their creators go?

As the creator of the fourth world, a chill ran down Nol’s back.

…Why did these “works from Earth” become real here?

…Why were they destroyed time and time again?

…And those black-red remains…

They had touched part of the truth, a part far beyond Nol’s previous expectations.

Nol closed his eyes, and after about five minutes, his breathing became steady again.

…He seemed unable to feel despondent.

Nol’s nerves felt numbed, lacking the energy for sorrow, only driven by the urge to smash those question marks.

Perhaps it was because of the warm Teest pacing around him, constantly picking up interesting-shaped remnants of civilizations.

He had promised this guy to seek the truth together. He couldn’t break his word again.

“Teest, I need to do something a bit dangerous,” Nol said. “I need your help.”

Teest withdrew his hand from studying the relics, his smile completely disappearing. “Danger again?”

“I won’t die. If something goes wrong, just take off my head and purify it vigorously.” Nol patted his head. “Just giving you a heads up.”

“That’s more like it.” Teest snorted and said, “If things really go south, you can regenerate your body after ten minutes—in exchange, I want to observe your head up close for ten minutes.”

“Deal,” Nol agreed seriously.

He picked up the ancient plastic cup, scraped off a piece of the black-red debris, and earnestly requested, “Can you make this edible for me?”

Teest: “.…..”

Teest: “I love the moments when your brain is off-kilter, honey.”

“The ones I ate before were all secondarily corrupted products. It’s time to verify the ‘source’ itself,” Nol said. “I also like your courage to do anything. Let’s do this.”

Previously, Nol would never respond like this.

Caught off guard by the “like”, Teest was stunned for half a second before remembering to light a fire.

Under Kando’s light, Teest set up a campfire, took out a lot of cream and spices. Chopped debris mixed with milk, cream, and various aromatic herbs, along with a lot of sugar, boiled into a light gray slurry.

Teest rapidly froze the mixture with magic, then used the “Betrayer” to cut it into fine powder and sprinkled it with jam. The whole process was astonishingly quick.

He served it in the pink cute cup.

“Here.” Teest cleared his throat with a flourish. “Not quite suitable for the season, but it’s the best way to suppress the odor.”

Nol nodded, taking the cup of light gray shaved ice with both hands. “Thank you.”

He had consumed corrupted monsters before, so it wasn’t a big problem. Recently attacked by pure corruption, he could suppress it with [Lost Last Wish]​​.

Now he was just eating a bit of the source of corruption. The impact was still within a controllable range.

Nol took a small spoonful, cautiously bringing it to his mouth.

A very faint taste of blood, overwhelmed by a strong, sweet flavor. The coldness of the corruption itself mixed with the actual ice, making it hard to detect anything odd.

The next second, two voices appeared simultaneously.

[Save me… I want to go home… Save me… Dad… Mom… Take me away…]

​​[Lost Last Wish] activated. The delirious murmurs of corruption crazily burrowed into Nol’s mind.

The other voice made Nol’s mouth bitter.

It was the sound of ​[Fallen Death]​ successfully activating. That meant the “Demon King’s corruption” indeed was some kind of remains.

[Corrupted False God: Fragile creations, crude laws—their world cannot survive. This skill has no effect, this skill has no value, and this skill cannot be used.]

[Similar origin skill found. Do you want to merge “Lost Last Wish” and “Corrupted False God”?]

[Note: Merging can create a new skill. The new skill will retain the original skill sources, and the new skill will will will will bring you extremely dangerous knowledge. Please choose carefully.]

The strange stuttering occurred again.

“Yes.”

Nol looked again at the remnants slumbering in the darkness, those desperate murmurs still echoing in his ears.

[Origin analysis in progress… Will transmission in progress…]

[Skill merge complete.]

In that instant, the continuous murmurs abruptly stopped, leaving only boundless silence.

The newly formed skill lay quietly in the skill bar, its description surprisingly simple—

​​[To My Compatriots: Please kill me.]

[This is not a skill.]

[This is a request.]

---

The author has something to say:

Here we are!!! The unveiling is essentially complete—

Next up, it’s time to visit the Demon King!

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 106: Story Grave

The shadow wolf was still carrying the unconscious Dia Blanco in its mouth, whining softly. Teest remained still, and the siren, drenched in sweat, showed no intention of running away.

“What?” The rumbling sound of collapsing almost drowned out Teest’s question.

“Go, Teest,” Nol urged.

He summoned a skeleton dragon and climbed on it. He no longer cared about his wounds. Every bit of mana was now precious.

Teest didn’t speak for half a minute, then finally said in his usual tone, “How much mana do you have left?”

“Just enough to not ensure your safe departure,” Nol replied. “I told you, I won’t let you die here.”

“Well, there’s no choice then, and I didn’t plan to die here today either.” Teest shrugged, his golden eyes still greedily fixed on Nol.

“So there’s no way,” Nol said, tugging at the corners of his mouth, wincing as he touched his neck wound.

[You know what to do, right?] He intentionally turned his sentence into a telepathic message. Maybe this was their last chance to use telepathy, Nol thought.

[Of course, keep going amidst the collapse and jump down using the debris,] Teest answered without hesitation. [First try to run as far as possible. If things look bad, abandon these guys and teleport out.]

​​[Sounds perfect,] Nol responded.

The person he liked was the Mad Monk. This once was his greatest dilemma, now his greatest fortune—Teest had given him faith, and faith didn’t require the “object of belief” to be by his side.

“Goodbye, Teest,” Nol said. “I hope we have the chance to meet again.”

Nol hesitated, not mentioning the gold wheel.

How wonderful it would be if he really died here. It could become his tombstone. But if Teest wanted it back, he wouldn’t stop him.

Their relationship had always been like this, hadn’t it?

Teest examined Nol, from his tired face to his battered body, especially around the heart area. Finally, Teest stepped back half a step, nodding politely.

“Goodbye, Nol,” he said.

The explosions had reached a level that shook mountains, and the surrounding corruption boiled and bubbled wildly. The skeleton dragon spread its wings and plunged into the darkness.

On the platform, Teest still hadn’t moved while the shadow wolf whined anxiously beside him. The siren’s face, which had been filled with panic, now showed no fear as he leaped off the wolf’s back.

“Please leave, unique Chosen One.” He knelt halfway, his words full of devotion and passion.

Wings belonging to a dragon emerged from his back as the fabric on his back fluttered wildly, accompanied by the sticky sound of flesh stretching. The siren—or perhaps he shouldn’t be called a “Siren”—Fischer spread his arms, his face full of smiles, without a hint of panic.

“If you don’t mind, I can take you away from here.”

Teest glanced at him. “A Supplement Demon. Did you eat one of your own kind?”

“A small trick, My Lord. We have a few ‘Paradise monsters’ back there.”

Fischer smiled and lowered his head, his eyes no longer youthful but rather cunning like an old man’s.

“High Priest Fischer Reginald, at your service.”

High Priest, a position second only to the Pope, with only two in the entire church.

Teest couldn’t help but look at him again, already figuring out how to deal with this guy.

…But he just didn’t feel up to it.

“Lord Crimson failed, so now I’m responsible for bringing you back. You are very important to us.”

Seeing Teest’s lack of enthusiasm, Fischer continued aptly. Both ignored the rapidly collapsing platform around them, as if it were just a light drizzle on a sunny day.

The collapse accelerated, but the explosions below became slow and weak. Nol must be trying to handle it.

‘With the little mana he had left, who knows if he could succeed,’ Teest thought irritably. And here he was, with a High Priest buzzing in his ear, annoyingly distracting.

“We always act together. That monster was taken down by him just now. How are you so sure it’s me?” Teest said absentmindedly, “I’ll tell you a secret: actually, he is the Chosen One of your god. He just jumped down. You still have time to follow him.”

“You’re joking, but I have my ways of judgment.” Fischer leaned forward, his posture respectful.

“Since you’ve come to me, I admit, I was the one who burned down the Immortal Church of Grape Collar.” Teest raised his hands, really wanting to kill something. “I super hate you guys. It would be better to fight sooner rather than later.”

…That time, he kissed Nol under the blazing church. Teest remembered Nol’s expression at that time, preferring to see that expression again rather than this guy before him.

Would he never see it again?

“It was you who burned it, then it’s God’s will, the predetermined fate,” Fischer said gently.

“How cooperative,” Teest muttered, playing with his sword, his other hand quietly clutching a ball of gold thread. “Even if I’m the Mad Monk, you still want to take me back to your den?”

“I had my suspicions.” Fischer smiled, his already striking eyes protruding even more. “If you like torture, I will bring every high-ranking member to you. If you want power, I can personally help you cut off the Pope’s head… If you seek the truth, we are willing to pave all the paths for you.”

“Just come back with me and admit you belong to the Eternal Church.”

Wow. Teset’s eyebrows twitched.

Compared to these guys, he thought his mental state was great, not understanding what Nol was dissatisfied with before…

Nol reached out to him in the midst of the blue flames, saying he needed him. In this relationship, Teest always felt he would be the first to leave, but in the end, Nol left first.

In the end, Nol still guessed his choice—that guy always guessed his thoughts.

It wasn’t fair.

Teest moved a step to the left, avoiding a particularly large collapse. The stone platform tilted slightly, shaking violently. The shadow wolf shivered, nudging Teest’s back with its mouth.

“This is not a place for a long talk. Please allow me to take you away.”

In the endless darkness, Fischer opened his arms to Teest, his gaze as devout as if welcoming the Eternal Son’s own son.

‘The vicinity is no longer safe,’ Teest thought casually. He needed to find out how Fischer found him. Next, he could kill this guy directly, or use him to destroy the Eternal Church, or…

Teest twirled his hair ends, listening intently. The base of the stone platform was clean, signifying the collapse was nearing its end. The corruption hadn’t spread, and the area near the chasm was still silent. Nol was still holding on.

Realizing this, Teest felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Everyone here likes to sigh, making me want to sigh too.” Teest walked towards Fischer, muttering. “Let’s go. You don’t know what you’ll catch if we stay longer.”

“At your command,” Fischer replied joyfully. “I promise, I will safely take you away from here.”

…Someone had promised before.

One step—Teest’s heartbeat was a bit chaotic.

Small explosions began to occur below the chasm. Had Nol fallen, or not?

Two steps—he wondered if his nerves were stuck to the soles of his shoes. Otherwise, why would each step feel so awkward? He was always looking for an invisible hand.

The wedding ring still hung on his chest. He seemed to have gotten used to its weight.

Three steps… Teest couldn’t help but sigh loudly. A nameless anger was bouncing in his chest.

Damn it, how could Nol dare to leave him so easily?

“Do you know?” Teest stopped in his tracks. “Someone once told me that some people’s emotional connections are like ‘sickness’. When nothing happens, it only feels ordinary.”

Fischer looked at him confusedly.

“I didn’t understand it at the time, and I think you won’t either,” Teest said. “Let me put it in a way you can understand—”

The “Betrayer” was enveloped in full murderous intent. A bright light flashed. Too close to react, Fischer was bisected by the light that cut from head to toe. One half of him wobbled and fell, while the other half barely stood.

“—I haven’t done my evening prayers yet,” Teest whispered into the ear of the half-standing person.

The stone platform completely collapsed.

“Ben, run!” Teest pushed off the falling stones. The shadow wolf, taking advantage of the stone’s shadow, scampered away towards the side of the rift. Teest, however, pushed downward, plunging into the darkness.

The inexplicable heaviness and sadness fell with the stones, leaving Teest feeling unusually light.

…And annoyed.

If Nol was already dead, he wanted to witness his death with his own eyes to complete the final evening prayer. If Nol wasn’t… well, they would first deal with this damn problem, and then he would properly unleash his anger.

As Teest was contemplating this, a white light suddenly exploded in the darkness.

In the next instant, before he could dodge, he fell directly into someone’s embrace.

…..

A while back, Nol sat on a skeleton dragon, hovering in the middle of the rift.

The explosion’s black smoke obscured everything, and the air was filled with murky corruption. Nol, enduring the discomfort, raised his magic staff without hesitation.

Blue flames burned fiercely, rapidly expanding the circle of fire. With Nol at its center, it spread out in a perfect circle beneath the floating castle.

Beyond the circle of fire, a dark gray sea covered in ice appeared. Thus, in the deep night, amidst the rift and the collapsing castle, a circular ocean emerged.

It was the icy frontier at the edge of the Endless Sea from Nol’s memory—where the ice was a thousand feet thick and the seawater remained stagnant all year round, theoretically causing the least impact.

The falling corruption hit the ice layer and quickly froze into black and red ice blocks. With no more corruption colliding from above, the explosions in the chasm below him gradually subsided.

Save me, save me, save me… 

The source of the corruption continuously steamed up from the bottom of the rift, causing Nol’s head to throb with noise.

Save me, save me, save me…

The mana of “The Complete Recipe Book” was down to 3%. The stone platform above continued to collapse slowly, and worse, he could still feel Teest’s presence.

Why is that guy still there?

Nol’s head was spinning, and his whole body was in pain. But as soon as he tried to catch his breath, the circle of fire violently constricted, and large debris falling into the rift nearly blew away Nol’s skeleton dragon.

Now with only 2% mana left and a third of the castle still above, Nol wondered what Teest was up to… What happened to being the most reassuring?

Nol gritted his teeth, forcing himself to expand the circle of fire. The debris striking the distant frozen sea made a teeth-grinding impact and cracking sound.

“Kando, if you want to live, I’ll throw you out of the rift later.” Nol squeezed out the words through clenched teeth, sweating profusely. “Just giving you a heads-up…”

“You’re calmer than I expected,” Kando replied slowly after a while.

“My life’s flashbacks are about to come out. I have no time for panic.” Nol gave a bitter smile, trying not to look at the dark abyss below. “To throw, or not to throw?”

“You know very well, you might not last until the end.” Kando glanced at him with its one eye.

“Just answer the question. Will you die?” Nol couldn’t care less about manners now—he was almost at his limit. Why hasn’t Teest left?!!!

That guy might not care about getting hurt, but he wasn’t one to give up on life easily. Could it be some trick by Fischer. Damn it, did he leave too early…

“Let me see until the end,” Kando whispered softly.

1%.

The skeleton dragon couldn’t hold up and disintegrated into fine bones. Nol struggled to stay mid-air, watching his mana drain away rapidly. “The Complete Recipe Book” turned gray quickly, showing signs of breaking at the edges.

‘This is the end,’ Nol thought.

Facing this disaster, he did his best, and even if he had to do it all over again, he couldn’t have done better.

He was true to himself, and the neighbors in The Manor could continue to sleep in the system. As long as they were alive, there was hope.

He could give up.

Coming to this dangerous world, Nol had prepared himself for death. If he couldn’t make it back… it would be like encountering a car accident or sudden death.

He had to give up.

The Lost Tower was taking shape. Witch Lynn and Officer Luo were smart people, and they had connected with Anakin… It didn’t matter if he wasn’t there.

Let everything come to an end. He was about to let go of that pressure and…

Damn, why hasn’t Teest left yet?!

If he gave up here, that guy would definitely be affected.

He couldn’t die yet.

Nol almost crushed a tooth as he switched the source of his mana from the “Dragon Corpse Notebook” to the “Lich’s body”. The body of a Lich itself was magical material, so it could do the job!

The mana of “The Complete Recipe Book” quietly stayed at 1%. Nol’s legs began to vanish.

‘Hurry up and leave,’ Nol frantically thought to himself, his eyes fixed in the direction where Teest was.

The circle of fire voraciously drained his mana, and Nol’s legs began to turn to dust. Then his waist, his abdomen. In the dark void, only half a person hung there, like many other remnants.

Hurry up and leave. Get away. Didn’t we agree not to sacrifice our lives?

As the erosion reached his chest, Nol switched the source of mana to his left arm.

‘I can’t lose the gold wheel in my chest. I can’t throw it away,’ he thought dully. Losing most of his body, Nol’s HP plummeted, and his thoughts became increasingly blurry.

The castle’s collapse seemed endless.

Just one more second, just a little longer. He had to let Teest leave, to let the person he liked survive…

His left arm vanished, then his shoulder, his right arm. Finally, the Staff of Sacrifice pierced through the crumbling “The Complete Recipe Book”, inserting itself into the gaps of his bones.

Only a head and a heart with a coin embedded in it remained suspended in mid-air. Nol thought he could end quietly, but at this moment, he struggled so hard.

They were so close. How could he let go?

“Of course, I will follow my god, as long as we’re always ready to flee.”

Nol remembered. When he said this, Teest was standing in the sunlight, smiling happily at him.

But he left Teest in the darkness.

Nol began to burn the remaining flesh, tongue, vocal cords, eyeballs. He stubbornly preserved his head and heart—he hadn’t yet said sorry. There were things he still needed to figure out.

…Why haven’t you left?

“Hey,” Kando suddenly said.

“…Hm?”

“Bite me.”

“…Huh?!”

“I admit it. You win! We’ve come this far. I can’t just watch you perish.” The black candle grumbled. “Just bite—ow!!! Damn it, why are you so harsh!”

Nol, in a daze, bit off a tear of the candle. The black candle instantly shed a few more tears, blinking desperately.

‘It’s useless,’ Nol thought. [Fallen Death]​ required eating corpses, but since the candle asked, he might as well take a bite…

A “ding” notification sounded.

Almost in the same second, the system’s prompt eagerly boomed into Nol’s ears.

​[You have met the special evolution condition.]

[You have achieved: Full level of the “Lich” race; Carrying dragon remains for 1,000 hours; Possessing dragon skills; Granted flesh and blood voluntarily by dragon lineage.]

[Special race “Dracolich” evolution unlocked. Do you wish to evolve?]

Was there even a choice? Nol’s mind was a mess. He couldn’t remember information about the Dracolich.

But it didn’t matter. The Mad Monk was clinging to his mind. Even if the system asked him to evolve into a four-cornered chicken, he’d go for it for that one-time “evolutionary state recovery”.

“Yes!” He silently screamed, still fiercely maintaining the circle of fire.

The blue fire turned into a near-white pale flame. The white light instantly broke through the darkness. “The Complete Recipe Book” completely turned into light particles, merging into Nol’s body. Light threads emerged from the void, wrapping his remaining body into a cocoon of light.

It was painful. Every part of his body felt as if it was being ground and then reforged. For a moment, his body became immensely large, then gradually shrank, taking on a human form.

Nol’s torso and limbs fully recovered. His hair grew absurdly long, hanging down towards the chasm, blown about by the storm.

“Thanks, Kando!” Nol shook his head wildly. He felt horns on the top of his head, but he wasn’t quite sure… Whatever. It wasn’t important. He was still alive!

Nol was fully restored. His pitiful 100 MP instantly drained, but now he had this body—

As a magical material, the Dracolich, compared to the Lich, was like rocket fuel to coal briquettes.

Nol, burning his newly grown long hair, sustained the falling that was nearing its end.

The white light dispersed, and his eyes turned into vertical pupils, fixedly staring in the direction of Teest. After the light, a familiar figure dove down—following the last remnants of the castle, Teest plunged straight downward. There was blood splattered on him, and his eyebrows were filled with anger.

Nol’s heartbeat had never been this fast.

To hell with life, loyalty, and love. Watching Teest rapidly approaching, his hair stood on end from the thrill.

Nol timed the moment and retracted the circle of fire, catching Teest in his arms. Their bodies collided, and the familiar warmth blended together. The sense of fulfillment after death felt like rebirth.

He had to admit defeat. Nol tightened his arms, not wanting to let go, and he wouldn’t ever again.

“You promised me a bonus. You can’t back out now,” Teest seriously demanded as they fell.

“Sorry, I didn’t think… What?” Nol almost bit his tongue.

It was still the same—the Mad Monk he knew.

Nol couldn’t help but laugh out loud, hugging Teest’s waist, rapidly crashing into the depths of the chasm.

“Aren’t you going to slow down? If you’re intent on crashing, then I’ll teleport away.” Teest clung to Nol as the darkness rapidly enveloped them.

“Don’t go. I’ll compensate you with two rewards.”

Nol grabbed Teest’s long hair. With a swish, the wings of the Dracolich opened, protecting them both in the middle.

“Let’s hear them.” Teest felt the base of the wings.

“The first,” Nol looked towards the rapidly approaching bottom of the valley, “to wrap up this disaster and verify the truth below. The rest, once we leave here together, I’ll tell you.”

He emphasized “leave here together.”

“Alright, you…” Teest was about to continue when his lips were suddenly caught by Nol’s.

It was a kiss.

“I need you. I like you. I swear I won’t leave you behind.” Nol held the person in his arms tightly. “Will you still come with me, Teest?”

“Of course.”

Those blue eyes still shone brightly. In the midst of the fall, Teest closed his eyes contentedly.

“You’re mine now,” he whispered softly.

……

Nol deliberately controlled their speed. It took them about five or six minutes to reach the bottom of the cliff.

It was pitch black, but fortunately, they both had night vision. Teest carefully wrapped himself in magic, standing firm amidst the surging corruption.

He hesitated for a rare moment. “This is…”

Beside him, the relaxed look on Nol’s face completely disappeared.

In front of them lay the remnants of at least two civilizations.

Part of it resembled the castle, sparkling with a strange white glow, its shapes shockingly symmetrical.

The rest looked newer in material but more ancient in design—golden flying eaves, crimson walls, and scattered blue stone bricks. A carved wooden round table and white folding chairs lay toppled together, utterly out of place even to Teest’s unfamiliar eyes.

They clearly came from different civilizations.

“Nol…”

“This isn’t from Earth.” Nol gazed at a relatively intact piece of ancient architecture, murmuring dreamily. “It looks similar, but it’s not… The real dynasties didn’t have this form. There are many creative beautifications, like…”

“…like Tahe.”

Corruption slowly flowed over his feet, but Nol seemed oblivious. He caressed the fragments, his voice frighteningly soft.

Alien weapons, modern text. Nonexistent architectural forms from Country C, remnants with a sense of technology that seemed even older.

…Apart from “Earth” related, there was another possibility. How could he have forgotten?

These are two “works”.

Two already destroyed stories, lying quietly in their graves, leaving only their remnants.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 105: Choice

As the sky began to darken, Eugene, dragging his injured leg, got up for his evening prayers.

He regularly ate his three meals a day, even though their supplies consisted only of bread, water, and salted meat. After eating, he would complete his knight training as usual. Whenever he recovered a bit of magical power, he used it all to heal the wound in his abdomen.

Damori curled up at the base of a half-collapsed wall, covered with several blood-stained blankets, trying to reduce his consumption through sleep.

Knight Marion stood despondently at the edge of the stone platform, looking down into the bottomless chasm below.

The darkness was like a crack in the world. Staring at it for too long, one’s thoughts seemed to be sucked into that unreal blackness. Every few seconds, Marion had to look up at the castle above.

The castle was shrouded in fog, more silent than a grave. However, this time, when Marion looked up, she saw the castle’s spire blown off. The evening sun shimmered on it, resembling a violently extracted fang.

She jolted. “Captain!”

Damori opened his sleepy eyes, and Eugene lowered his sword. Inside the castle, a colossal silver-white object emerged, struggling in the air, clearly battling something.

Unfortunately, their view was obscured by clouds, allowing them only to see a rough outline.

Eugene narrowed his moss-green eyes, a fervor in his gaze.

“As expected,” he said. “God wants us to witness all this.”

Above in the sky, beyond the clouds, the two challenging the “monster” were far from calm.

Upon giving the answer that “the Demon King’s corruption is the corpse of a god,” the Lord of The Manor—Zhuang Shuhang “stood” up.

His mountain of trash-like body continuously extended from the base of the stage. Nol watched as the shadow grew taller and taller. What they had seen earlier was just the tip of the iceberg.

The black-red flesh interwoven with relics of civilization, grotesquely swollen and endless, made the embedded Savage Giant Witch seem minuscule. Now, the Lord of The Manor looked not like a centipede but more like a mutated ant queen.

The Lord of The Manor raised his hand and pointed. Five embedded weapons on his body activated.

Five beams of light shot towards Nol from different directions, and Nol hastily retreated. He clumsily raised his rocket launcher, firing at the opponent’s mountain-like body.

Admittedly, as an office warrior, Nol’s aim was disastrously bad. He kept firing non-stop, the crystal energy depleting rapidly. The Lord of The Manor didn’t relent. The sounds of explosions and destruction drowned out all else, painfully reverberating in their ears.

With the castle’s top gone, the bright blue sky suddenly pressed down. The highest clouds were thin, with sunlight pouring down, making everything terrifyingly bright.

Amidst the roaring artillery fire, Teest tried his best to jump onto the Lord of The Manor, attempting to sever the latter’s upper body from the monstrous frame. However, each time he swung his sword, a strange barrier repelled his blade.

The Lord of The Manor was like an efficient killing machine—appearing damaged and cumbersome, but actually impregnable.

The Lord of The Manor fired around the hall, bullets and beams sweeping everywhere. If not for their quick evasion, their bodies would certainly have been shattered into pieces.

Nol leaped from his spot, the explosion’s hot wind at his back, releasing his grip as the heavy launcher fell to the ground with a thud.

The launcher’s crystal was completely depleted, but the Lord of The Manor’s relentless attack didn’t slow in the slightest. In the past hour, they hadn’t managed to inflict any significant damage on the Lord of The Manor.

No wonder the Lord of The Manor had them come directly to him—he and Teest had defeated two neighbors, and Zhuang Shuhang had no intention of following the usual tactics. He came out swinging, ready to deal with them for good.

“Stop dragging this out,” Zhuang Shuhang said listlessly as a beam of heat left a deep mark on the wall. After the attack, black-red corruption oozed from the damaged area, emitting billowing black smoke. “This is just a waste of time. Just let me kill you nicely.”

‘Deadly situation.’ Nol thought. ‘This guy’s state is also off.’

As a leader, the Lord of The Manor had no interest in even the most basic negotiations; he seemed fixated only on slaughter and destruction.

But no matter. Nol suddenly leaped up, rushing to Test’s side—his goal had already been achieved.

Seeing Nol relentlessly hopping around, the Lord of The Manor sighed. He had just raised his cannon when a ball of blue fire fell from the sky, blowing off a large chunk of mechanical pile on his body, exposing the black-red, rotten tendons inside. Murky smoke billowed upwards, and Zhuang Shuhang’s expression suddenly turned gloomy.

Magic attack.

Just as Teest was about to instinctively land and jump again, Nol grabbed him around the waist. Teest gracefully spun around, lightly stepping on Nol’s toes, and the two hovered mid-air.

“Ouch.” Teest said, looking at the heavily damaged room from above, “Did you guide him to destroy the anti-magic crystals?”

“I don’t understand his weapons, but the anti-magic crystals are my design. I can figure out where they are,” Nol said hoarsely, swinging his staff forcefully. Blue fire burned, and a ring of fire appeared in the air, intercepting a beam of light.

Beyond the fire ring, surprisingly, was the corridor where the neighbors slept.

The beam created a semi-circular pit, and in the center of the pit was another fragmented anti-magic crystal.

“Teest, the rest is up to you,” Nol said.

“At your command, honey,” Teest replied as a gust of wind rose, and he plummeted towards the Lord of The Manor on the central stage.

The two turned the battle into a game of catch, with Teest leading Zhuang Shuhang’s attacks, and Nol catching them with Kando’s fire rings. The Lord of The Manor’s attacks were ferocious, and Nol simply used them to destroy every anti-magic crystal he detected.

With each crystal shattered, an invisible weight was lifted off them.

Countless skeleton dragons rose into the sky. Nol stood on the back of one, extending his staff towards the heavens, raining down blue fire.

Suddenly, the situation reversed, and Zhuang Shuhang’s reactions became sluggish.

Unable to adjust his cannons in time, he resorted to using his black-red tendrils to whip at the corruption marks, causing chaotic explosions everywhere.

Amidst the smoke, Teest drew the fire, nimbly leaping among the building ruins, gracefully dodging bullets and gunfire.

Nol seized the opportunity to rush towards the sleeping neighbors, jumping between fire rings and sealing them into the system. When the attack wave came crashing down, Nol flashed out of the fire ring again. He grabbed Teest’s hand, and the two beautifully swapped places.

The fire ring was extinguished, leaving Teest in a safe place. Nol stepped on the dragon, swiftly ascending into the blue sky. Then the fire ring reignited. He extended his arm and pulled his knight back to his side.

Between the white light and the black-red corruption, a chaotic dance in space unfolded.

……

As the sun set and stars emerged, the sky grew darker.

With magic power rapidly depleting, Nol gasped, clutching “The Complete Recipe Book”. After sealing all the sleeping neighbors, his mana was left with a mere 10%.

The drawback of a prolonged battle began to show—Zhuang Shuhang’s attack speed hadn’t slowed, and corruption kept gathering, making his power seemingly endless.

At this point, it was difficult for Nol to make Zhuang Shuhang lose consciousness. Their best option was to rescue the siren and escape this endless war of attrition.

“I can’t feel my companions.”

As the sleeping neighbors were sealed one by one, Zhuang Shuhang seemed to notice something, his voice becoming sharp. “Did you kill them? …Did you kill them all?”

“I just protected them.”

Nol stood on the head of a skeleton dragon, facing Zhuang Shuhang from afar. “You must know, their condition was terrible. Whether it’s the Demon King’s corruption or the corpse of a god, it was hurting them.”

He still remembered the relentless pain and ringing in his ears. Ordinary people couldn’t bear it, let alone the neighbors on the brink of collapse.

On the increasingly dark stage, the Lord of The Manor let out an angry laugh.

“But it makes us stronger.” He questioned sharply. “Only we, after being touched by it, can still keep our sanity. Only we can use its power… It’s our greatest weapon, and you just took it away on your own accord?”

“Get stronger, then what? Attack nearby towns, kill ordinary people?” Nol retorted.

“Idiot. This is a game world! You actually sympathize with a bunch of data? Without attacking them, where do we get supplies?”

Zhuang Shuhang yelled, the entire castle trembling with his movements. “Do you think we didn’t try to negotiate at first? Monsters plus corruption—they wouldn’t even talk. Just killed our people!”

“How do you handle different factions? Is your cooperation with those NPCs genuine?”

He twisted his massive body, directly collapsing a wall. “Trapped in this hellish place, if not for this castle, everyone would’ve gone mad long ago!”

“Even with different attitudes towards the outside world, as compatriots, we could have cooperated.”

Nol tiredly dodged beam after beam.

“Look at that announcement. You guys are really getting into this bullshit world. I’m not free enough to be educating you. Just keeping the people around me safe is tiring enough.”

Zhuang Shuhang sneered. “Anyway, as long as this world is destroyed, everything will end—”

“How can you be so sure?!” Nol couldn’t hold back anymore.

The Lord of The Manor widened his eyes, revealing a twisted smile that one might see on the face of a mentally ill person.

“I’m asking you.”

He said with a terrifying smile, “You enter the game. The protagonist has the power to be denied by the whole world, companions on the brink of collapse, and enemies destined to be a matter of life and death with you… Tell me, how do you play this game?”

“Answer me, how do you complete it? With so-called truth, goodness, and beauty in ‘negotiations’? I think it’s a tower defense war game. The monster faction destroys everything, the protagonist wins, the game ends—”

Watching the crazed Zhuang Shuhang, Nol had mixed feelings.

He grieved for the innocent victims of Eternal Day City and Balsam Town, but as a native of Country C, he couldn’t bear the thought of his compatriots being killed either. It was an insoluble contradiction.

If he wasn’t so familiar with everything, able to act effortlessly, could Paradise have been another Manor?

“Have you ever considered that all this might be ‘real’?” Nol tried to soften his tone.

Zhuang Shuhang laughed heartily, black-red liquid overflowing from his eyes.

“Absolutely impossible.” He grinned, pointing to the pitch-black chasm. “You know what? I woke up from there.”

“When you’re about to die, I’ll throw you down there—go down and see, then you’ll understand everything.”

“Listen, don’t take it seriously,” Teest warned. “This guy’s not right in the head.”

“I know.” Nol closed his eyes. “Let’s retreat for now. We’ll come back to seal him later.”

Zhuang Shuhang’s trash heap-like massive body began to stretch, his voice harsh. “Do you know that there are still real Players in the world?”

“I really don’t understand.”

“You advocate for a system that ‘strengthens through killing’. Under such rules, you still want peace?”

“Go!” Nol shouted to Teest.

Communication with the opponent was completely impossible. “The Complete Recipe Book” only had 8% mana left. They couldn’t afford to tangle any longer.

The space emitted a viscous cracking sound.

Suddenly, numerous circular portals appeared around Zhuang Shuhang. They densely filled the space, the ground, the air, and near Nol and Teest. Countless monsters emerged—low-intelligence trolls and lizardmen screamed and furiously attacked the two.

This time, Nol saw very clearly.

Zhuang Shuhang activated some device on his body. The transporter buzzed like a pump, tirelessly opening voids in the air, drawing the power of corruption.

Taking advantage of the monsters distracting them, Zhuang Shuhang’s eyes turned blood-red, and he launched another concentrated barrage of gunfire.

Damn it. Nol gritted his teeth.

No wonder the monsters could invade towns at will. That wasn’t a power Tahe should have. Tahe’s magic definitely couldn’t prevent it. Zhuang Shuhang didn’t hesitate to expose his hand. He wanted to use his “monster army” organized outside The Manor in exchange for their lives.

Nol’s limbs were torn by the trolls and lizardmen. His vision was obscured by monsters, and his eyeball was nearly gouged out by a troll. Amidst the chaos, the effect of [Betrayal Overture] wore off, and Teest was dragged five meters away.

Nol’s magic power had already bottomed out. The mana in “The Complete Recipe Book” was constantly draining away.

8%, 7%, 6%…

They needed to leave quickly.

Nol commanded the skeleton dragon to crash into him, barely breaking free from the encirclement. Ignoring his broken spine, he quickly scanned around and found Teest enveloped by monsters.

Teest’s hand, still extended, rapidly cut through the monsters clinging to him.

Unfortunately, for each one he cleared, two more climbed on. The monsters Zhuang Shuhang recalled were in the thousands, a veritable swamp of flesh and blood.

Near Teest, the Lord of The Manor’s weapon ports all emitted halos. These halos pulsed like heartbeats, ready to launch an attack at any moment with a rain of arrows piercing the heart.

No.

The shooting trajectories nearby were dense. Bumping into Teest would be futile.

Teest was going to die here.

Realizing this, Nol almost stopped thinking. At that moment, he finally made a choice—

The letter opener “Bad News” shot out like a bullet, rushing towards Zhuang Shuhang’s shoulder.

The letter opener had no killing intent and no light effects, like a small piece of shrapnel flying off. It skewered into Zhuang Shuhang’s shoulder, and the next moment, all the weapons on the Lord of The Manor’s body simultaneously extinguished.

They began to fall.

Like mud sculptures drained of all moisture, the weapons stuck to Zhuang Shuhang rapidly rolled off. The rotting flesh that penetrated them lost support and collapsed softly to the ground.

Zhuang Shuhang’s body, belonging to the Savage Giant Witch, melted and disintegrated, just like the previous Player, Jack.

Nol, dragging his broken spine, rushed towards the melting Savage Giant Witch. His heart thumped against his chest. Thankfully, the letter opener had a similar effect on the neighbor as on the Players. Zhuang Shuhang returned to being a normal person, and Nol could take him back to the Lost Tower. With so many neighbors there, they could communicate slowly…

Unfortunately, this beautiful vision shattered in less than a second.

From within the crumbling Giant Witch’s body, there was no tall, thin young man from Country C. When it first fell out, Nol barely recognized it.

It was a half-mutilated skull.

The skull’s edges were charred, and the pink brain inside was still trembling. It fell towards the ruins, the soft brain tissue about to separate from the skull and hit sharp debris.

Nol didn’t care about slowing down. He rushed onto the sharp wreckage, blood splattering everywhere.

“System, custody—!”

Amid the collapsing machinery, Nol caught the half skull, almost breaking his voice shouting.

In a few short seconds, he trembled all over, as if waiting for a judgment. Fortunately, the magic was successfully activated, and the fragmented skull turned into golden light, successfully taken into custody by the system.

Zhuang Shuhang’s life was barely saved.

The castle continued to collapse, the tremors not only not subsiding but intensifying.

With the Lord of The Manor gone, the power supporting this place—whatever it was—suddenly became chaotic. The monsters, without command, stood around confused. Teest successfully freed himself from his burdens and leaped towards Nol.

“Well done,” he said cheerily, helping up the battered Nol. “This place is about to collapse. Need a hand?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Nol didn’t answer for a long time, and Teest suddenly realized something.

The stone layers were crumbling, with floor tiles falling everywhere. The “foundation” of the castle was completely exposed—a huge piece of wreckage, wax-like, was melting and falling into the chasm.

The first drop of “wreckage” hit the chasm, and the nearby land trembled violently. An explosion seemed to occur underground, with thick black smoke rising. The black-red corruption seeped out of the chasm again, signaling another round of the “White Night”.

Then came the second and third drops. The smoke grew thicker, and the trembling land could now be called an “earthquake”.

“We should leave,” Teest reminded again.

Nol looked down at the chasm, enveloped in smoke.

“You take Ben. I’ll go get the siren.” He hurriedly connected his bones, ignoring his flesh wounds.

Without the interference of anti-magic crystals, the two quickly found the bewildered siren. The young knight mounted the shadow wolf, looking utterly shocked. “Did you do this?”

“Yes,” Nol said. “We are from Paradise. Sorry for keeping it from you.”

Teest ignored the siren, focusing only on Nol. “We need to leave.”

“Yes, yes,” Fischer said urgently. “The Lord of The Manor said, if everyone’s gone, this place will fall back into the chasm. Corruption hitting corruption, that’s a super big explosion—let’s go quickly!”

Nol actually smiled.

“You call him ‘The Lord of The Manor’,” he said. “You don’t know his real name. You don’t have corruption on you and there wasn’t any room above for you… Everyone’s mental state is terrible, but you’re unbelievably normal.”

“You’re not from Earth, are you?”

“Brother, is this the time to nitpick?” The siren looked down fearfully as the stone platform was rapidly crumbling. “Let’s leave here first and then…”

“Earlier, when I heard about the collaboration between The Manor and the Eternal Church, I wondered why I hadn’t seen any members of the church.”

Nol glanced at Teest. “Don’t mind me. I’m just guessing—this guy is an expert in identifying cultists. He’ll know for sure.”

Teest wasn’t smiling anymore. His eyes were fixed on Nol.

As the platform peeled away, the corruption poured like heavy rain, falling into the abyss along with the debris. Black smoke rose swallowing the stars above, leaving nothing but boundless darkness.

‘At least for now, the siren hadn’t lied,’ Nol thought.

The explosions underfoot became more frequent, like standing on a volcano about to erupt. If the castle completely fell, the impact would undoubtedly reach Brick Shadow and the capital city, Eternal Day City, causing an immense White Night disaster.

In the darkness, the staff could only illuminate a small area.

Nol suddenly felt the staff containing the [Mid-Distance Teleportation] was a bit hot​​ his hand. He couldn’t help but look at Teest, those molten gold-like eyes meeting his gaze.

The scales of decision wavered. It was time to choose again.

Perhaps he would never have enough time to make the perfect choice.

“My judgment has led to this crisis. I have to take responsibility.” Nol’s voice trembled, but his tone was unusually calm. “But even if time were reversed, I think I would make the same choice.”

“What responsibility do you have?” Teest’s tone was dissatisfied, and his voice was slightly hoarse. “This is a natural disaster. No one can stop it.”

“I can expand the candle’s fire ring to its maximum, making the castle debris fall into the sea, preventing the explosion.”

“Are you joking? You only have that much mana left, and you have to—”

“Have to catch it below. It’s a bit dangerous.”

Nol reached out, straightening Teest’s slightly disheveled hair, his fingertips brushing over the other’s warm skin. “If things go well, I’ll just go down to the bottom of the cliff. Sorry, this time I won’t take you with me.”

“Go, Teest.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 104: You Are Here

The interior of the castle was like a maze. Had it not been for Nol’s astonishing memory, Teest would have almost taken a wrong turn.

Now Nol understood why the two neighbors had no reinforcements.

The guest rooms in the castle had all been converted into something resembling hospital rooms. Beautiful, flat doors were fitted with glass peepholes, and below each door was a slot for delivering meals. This slot was much larger than usual, just big enough to allow an adult to pass through.

Dried, brownish-red stains lingered around the edges of the meal slot, smelling like blood. Suspicious stains also seeped from beneath the doors, something Nol preferred not to dwell on.

After all, some of the monsters in Tahe’s repertoire indeed had humans on their menu—

In those hospital-like rooms, monsters of different races were in slumber. They lay in transparent magic cocoons, floating up and down in the center of the rooms, lifeless like specimens.

Despite no apparent need, all the monsters were dressed in coarsely made striped clothes, their faces bearing complex emotions that didn’t seem to belong to their races—they curled up anxiously, and Nol didn’t see a single smile.

Fortunately, there was no scent of death on them. They were just sleeping.

Two of the rooms were empty, with their doors slightly ajar. Nol cautiously slipped into one and felt a lump in his throat at the sight within.

In one room, there was a coarse cloth on a table with a half-finished cross-stitch. The embroidery was poorly done, and the color selection was a mess, resembling the scribbles of a madman. But Nol could feel the embroiderer’s will to “desperately live a normal life”… A woman’s “hospital gown” was neatly folded and placed beside the bed.

Next to the pillow lay a small painting the size of a mobile phone, prominently displaying a chat interface from a messaging app.

This conversation was with “Mom”. In the imagined dialogue, Mom told her, “Get well soon, my dear daughter. We’ll be home soon.”

The text was in Nol’s native language, the standard language of Country C.

The other room was much more austere. There was an indistinguishable wood carving on the table, with a joking “Morning” carved on it, and the remaining space was filled with rows of crookedly carved “正*” characters. Nol counted them, matching the dates of the neighbors’ arrival.

*Clarity: It’s a way to record tally marks in Chinese. In this case, this symbol resembles 5.

A man’s “hospital gown” was carelessly draped over a chair, and Nol found lizard scales at the foot of the bed.

…These two rooms likely belonged to those two sealed compatriots.

If there was one thing these two rooms had in common—it was the same biting cold, half from the air of despair and half from the omnipresent corruption of the Demon King.

The remaining rooms were completely sealed off by energy crystals, making them inaccessible.

“Can you use ‘Dream Manipulation’ at this distance?” Nol whispered, gazing at the sleeping monsters.

Inside the castle, the power of the anti-magic crystals was even stronger. Even non-aggressive little spells were difficult to use here.

Teest roughly estimated the distance, then frowned as he felt around. “No, the interference is too strong. I can only sense their condition, not get specific information.”

“Condition is enough.” Nol watched those likely neighbors wrapped in corruption.

Teest looked at him for a while, then reluctantly nodded. He reached out towards the sleeping neighbors, his other hand covering Nol’s eyes.

“I can only hold it for two seconds,” he sighed.

Nol hummed in response, closing his eyes in that warm darkness. But in the next moment, he felt a void beneath his feet, as if plunging into an abyss.

Pain was everywhere, spreading throughout his body. It wasn’t intense, but persistent, like a nest of ants building their nest in his limbs—his nerves and flesh being gnawed to shreds.

A tinnitus-like murmur surrounded his ears, an inhuman voice that was intermittent, so noisy it drove one mad. Even with his Player privileges, Nol couldn’t hear it clearly, only feeling a faint wail of a ghost near his ear.

Fortunately, all of this was softened by ‘sleep’, becoming gentle and dull.

Two seconds felt like two centuries. When Teest removed his hand, Nol was still somewhat unsteady on his feet.

No wonder the monsters here chose to sleep. No one would want to endure these sensations consciously.

…Is this what being corrupted feels like?

Not to mention the unaware neighbors. Even if Nol himself were in such a situation, he wasn’t sure he could maintain his sanity.

“I knew it. You’re going to sympathize with them again.” Teest retracted his hand.

Nol didn’t deny it. “The seal can indirectly eliminate the corruption. This could be a bargaining chip for us—at least for now, it seems that the Lord of the Manor holds no malice towards these… monsters.”

Thinking of the tragic state of Balsam Town and Eternal Day City, his tone became uncertain again.

Apart from these peculiar guest rooms, the castle’s defenses were lackluster—rolling stones, traps, laser tripwires, or flamethrowers. It was like a clichéd RPG setup, but without monsters and rewards, and no tense background music, just endless silence.

Walking through the empty corridors, Nol dared not make his footsteps too heavy.

It seemed like the castle’s master tacitly allowed their presence. As the two cautiously explored step by step, they encountered no enemies other than mechanical traps.

Lamps powered by black-red crystals, overly stylish pipe designs, and dilapidated daily necessities not belonging to Tahe. The more Nol observed along the way, the more alarmed he became.

If “black-red crystals” were seen as power equipment, given the interior decoration here, saying the castle was a modern theme park wouldn’t be far-fetched—they even found a flat guide map in the decayed garden.

Nol stood in front of that map for a long time.

The metal guide map looked as ancient as the castle, its edges corroded and covered with corruption. The paint was peeling and cracked making the content blurry and unclear. Only the general routes in the central area and a conspicuous red upside-down droplet-shaped marker remained.

In the marker, it clearly showed [You Are Here].

It was text from Earth.

Nol reached out, touching that piece of civilization from Earth.

The Demon King’s architecture was filled with Earth styles… Did the Demon King from over two thousand years ago come from Earth, or was this place Earth?

Numerous speculations floated in Nol’s mind. Each possibility, upon closer thought, sent chills down his spine.

The Lord of the Manor must have noticed this statement, and the neighbors surely saw it too.

With so many possibilities, why did they adamantly insist this was a game? Was The Lord of the Manor lying and brainwashing, or did he really have more damning evidence…

For a moment, Nol even doubted his judgment about the “reality of the world”. He took several deep breaths to curb his wild thoughts.

‘Seeing this thing in advance had its advantages,’ Nol thought.

With all the peculiarities along the way, he was mentally prepared. No matter what the truth of The Manor was, it wouldn’t break him.

On the corroded signboard, someone had marked an “×” with red-brown paint. It corresponded to the central hall of the castle on the guide map.

The red-brown mark was still fresh.

“Since they’ve sincerely invited us…” Nol gritted his teeth. “Let’s go, Teest.”

After saying this, he hesitated for a moment and took out the medium-range transmission magic talisman. “You hold onto this first. Without anti-magic interference, you can activate it with your ability—just in case.”

Teest wrinkled his nose at the charm, as if he had found a half-eaten insect in his food.

“Alright then.” As Nol expected, the Mad Monk quickly took it.

Teest carefully stuffed the talisman into his chest and extended his hand to Nol. Nol hesitated, then handed over his hand. Teest bowed his head and kissed the back of his hand.

​​[Betrayal Overture] activated.

“The time limit from last time is almost up. Let’s extend it,” Teest said. “Just in case.”

……

Before the hall lay two massive doors.

The decorations on the doors were unexpectedly exquisite and vivid, but unfortunately, they had been tarnished by the Demon King’s corruption, turning the bright colors dull and ashen, like rotting fruit.

Teest was vigilantly holding onto his “Betrayer”, while Nol prudently armed himself with the rocket launcher. The shadow wolf left its shadows, ears drooping as it lay down outside the door with Mr. Dia Blanco still unconscious in its mouth.

“Good boy, wait here.” Nol petted Shadow Wolf’s dark nose. “If something happens…”

He bit his lip. “I mean, if it really becomes an emergency. Abandon this knight and hide in Teest’s shadow.”

Shadow Wolf Ben lowered its head and nudged Nol’s palm. Nol forced a smile, patting the wolf’s cold, damp nose.

After settling the shadow wolf, Nol went to push the door.

His face was expressionless, but the closer his hand got to the door, the more it trembled. Just as he was about to touch the door, Nol abruptly withdrew his hand as if burned by fire.

For the first time, Nol vividly felt the courage his role as a “producer” had given him along the way.

This was the first time since he arrived in Tahe that he faced such a vast and terrifying unknown.

The “You Are Here” sign kept flashing before his eyes, and Nol couldn’t convince himself that what awaited him was “just a game problem”.

Fear clenched his throat, turning his blood to flowing ice.

“…If you want to give a hint, now is your last chance.” Nol tapped the end of his staff on the ground, causing Kando to open its eyes.

The black candle’s eyes roamed around, showing complex emotions. It seemed to be recalling something, its gaze becoming more sentimental.

“You guys move really fast,” it said softly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have much to say.”

“Honestly, I already feel like giving up. I wish I could turn back and isolate myself with the neighbors in the Lost Tower until the end of the world,” Nol said with a forced smile. “Whatever you say will just help me be more mentally prepared.”

Teest turned his head, silently watching Nol.

“Tell me what you know, even if it’s incomplete information. I’ve guessed that the Demon King is related to my homeland, and this world isn’t as simple as I thought.”

Nol looked steadily at Kando, almost pleading. “I really need to be better prepared, have a more complete plan… I’m not a hero. I get scared too.”

He was an ordinary person, naturally prone to nervousness and making unnecessary mistakes out of fear.

But this wasn’t a game where mistakes could be undone with a reload. There was no second chance—whatever happened next, he had to achieve a perfect outcome on the first try.

Despite gathering courage and the truth being within reach, Nol felt a reluctance. Contrary to his wishes, his feet seemed to be welded to the spot.

“Tell me, okay?” Nol didn’t retreat, repeating with a hoarse voice.

“But from my perspective, you haven’t given up yet.” Kando answered almost cruelly. “And who told you that ‘heroes’ don’t feel fear?”

Nol pursed his lips. “So this is a refusal.”

“Keep going forward, My Lord,” the candle said softly. “Until there’s no way back.”

“Asshole,” Nol cursed under his breath.

“Yes, I am indeed an asshole.” The candle’s tone was unexpectedly gentle.

After a dozen seconds, Nol and Teest each placed a hand on one of the doors.

“You gave instructions to Ben and asked Kando.” Teest suddenly spoke. “It’s not fair. Don’t you have anything to say to your husband?”

“I hope you can survive this,” Nol said without looking up. “Fortunately, I know you will—should a real crisis arise, even without my reminding, you would immediately abandon the shadow wolf, Dia, the siren, and…”

Nol paused for a moment, his grip on the door tightening.

“…and me,” he said. “That’s why I’m very reassured by you, Teest.”

Teest opened his mouth, gazing at Nol’s profile in silence for a long time.

“Right.” Finally, the Mad Monk responded as casually as he could.

Regrettably, his tone didn’t sound very relaxed.

The dim doors slowly moved, and as soon as they opened slightly, a rush of wind eagerly burst forth. A strong, strange stench hit them, and Nol quickly suppressed a gag.

Then the dust swirled, and without further effort from them, the doors opened to their fullest.

Nol looked up.

His first thought upon facing everything in front was that this place indeed resembled a modern-themed castle—

In the center of the magnificent hall, instead of a throne, there was a huge sunken stage. The exquisite floor tiles were covered in dust, the curtains rotted and dull, yet their former vivid red was still discernible.

Opposite the stage, near where they stood, were decaying remnants of seats.

The Lord of The Manor stood on that stage.

This wasn’t to create some dramatic effect—judging by the Lord’s physical condition, it could only stay on this stage.

It was too large.

Nol could barely recognize parts that belonged to a “troll”. Trolls were naturally tall and robust, with the stronger ones reaching over three meters.

The Lord of The Manor seemed to have evolved; his skin was as white as plaster, covered with fine lines, characteristic of the high-ranking troll species—Savage Giant Witches.

These were all settings from “Tahe World”, but Nol couldn’t find comfort in these familiar settings. The Savage Giant Witch from the spine to the waist was completely merged with a pile of machinery.

Dead white skin, dead white material.

The bizarre mechanical legs mixed with bones barely supported that rubbish heap-like body. That “creature” was hard to move, resembling a fat and twisted white centipede.

Its body surface was made of mechanical material that resembled the alien rocket launcher. They didn’t look like they came from Earth but more like retro mechanical designs that would appear in specific works, with a heavier emphasis on design.

On it, Nol saw other damaged rocket launchers, firearms, and more things he didn’t recognize.

Black-red tendons protruded from the gaps in the machinery, burrowing into the floor below or climbing up the walls, bulging like blood vessels. They extended further and further until they disappeared.

“…Welcome.”

In the center of the chaotic wreckage, the monster raised a human-like head. “It’s been many days since anyone came here.”

It spoke in the common language of Tahe and had a friendly tone.

“You…” Nol struggled to lick his dry lips. The rocket launcher on his back suddenly felt like a massive burden. “I come from Earth, Joy Garden in City A. I specifically came to talk to you…”

“I know. I heard you introduce yourself to Zhou Nana.” The Lord of The Manor nodded, smiling. “There are cameras at the castle entrance. Theme parks don’t lack these.”

“Zhou Nana… the ghost lady?”

“Yes.” The Lord of The Manor nodded again. “So that’s called a ‘ghost’.”

Good, Nol’s heart pounded like a drum. At least, this person in front of him seemed capable of normal communication.

“I also live in Joy Garden, Building 7, Unit 1, Room 801.” The Lord of The Manor continued calmly, “My name is Zhuang Shuhang. Have we met?”

“Xu Yue. I live right below your apartment.” Nol blurted out rapidly. “Mr. Zhuang, you’re about 1.9 meters tall, very thin, with a buzz cut and glasses, right? I remember you. They say you work at T Factory. We both work overtime every day.”

“That’s me.” The Lord of The Manor—Zhuang Shuhang said, his tone neutral.

“Alright, let’s end the introductions here.” He continued, “First question, how do you like to die?”

“What…” Nol was momentarily taken aback.

“I’m glad to see you. It means the game has entered a new chapter.”

The Lord of The Manor’s bloodshot eyes widened, his dilated pupils focusing on the void. The walls around them trembled, and ominous bulges appeared on the carpet.

“Out of consideration for a fellow compatriot, I’ll make your death quick.”

Nol gripped his staff tightly, his hands covered in cold sweat. “Wait! Let’s talk first—I have a way to remove the Demon King’s corruption. There’s no need for it to come to this…”

The Lord of The Manor laughed.

“The Demon King’s corruption.” He seemed amused by the term, a smile reaching his eyes for the first time. “Indeed, different factions have different perspectives. Corruption… Haha, is that what you call it?”

Nol bit the inside of his cheek hard, forcing himself to focus.

Negotiation seemed futile, but he had to try to extract more information. He stepped back half a step, imitating Teest, trying to appear as innocent as possible. “Yes, that’s what I’ve always heard humans say—”

“NPCs, that’s all.” The Lord of The Manor murmured casually. “What would NPCs know?”

“Out of consideration for a fellow compatriot, Mr. Zhuang, at least let me die with some understanding.”

The Lord of The Manor cast a murky glance, looking somewhat weary. “One question.”

“Please tell me about the ‘factions’ situation.” Nol held his breath. “From my perspective, The Manor seems to be ‘on the Demon King’s side’.”

“No, no.”

The Lord of The Manor’s massive body shifted slightly. “It’s not the ‘Demon King’… These things are not ‘the Demon King’s corruption’.”

“I prefer to call it ‘the corpse of a god’,” he said.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 103: Whose Last Wish?

Why is there a rocket launcher here? 

Did the people of The Manor make it? No, there are only a few people in Country C who can manufacture a rocket launcher from scratch. And that weapon looks very old, with no trace of modification.

So, was it found in this world? But the most advanced weapon here is a cannon. Firearms are rare, let alone such high-end thermal weapons.

‘Where did you get your weapons?!’ Nol asked sternly.

“Of course, our leader gave them to us,” the ghost replied in a flat tone. “Without weapons, we can’t sleep… can’t sleep… ah ah…”

She swung her knife at Nol again, expressionless, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

In Paradise, the neighbors were thriving, not lacking food or clothing. They even gathered to make dumplings and chat, their spirits still relatively stable—compared to them, the two neighbors in front of them were on the verge of madness.

Nol tried asking a few more questions. The answers he got were all repetitive nonsense, piecing together no useful information. The only thing they could ascertain was that all of this was bestowed by the “Lord of The Manor”.

What exactly is going on with the Lord of The Manor?!

The ghost clumsily but tirelessly hunted the two. Teest was agile like a leopard, slowly pursuing step by step. Once they lost sight of their quarry, the lizardman carrying the rocket launcher would always fire at their hiding place, guiding their direction.

A total war of attrition.

They ran around the castle several times. Even during the day, the interior of the castle was eerily quiet, like a deserted city. The absence of reinforcements was both a relief and a source of immense anxiety for Nol.

What exactly were those monsters he sensed earlier doing?

Nol’s hand lingered for a moment on the “Bad News” letter opener but ultimately didn’t use this deadly weapon. Teest withdrew his gaze and frowned.

“I’m tired,” Teest said. “Do you still want to run around the castle? I’ve memorized the terrain. If it’s inconvenient for you, I can take action for you.”

After saying this, he paused meaningfully. “This isn’t your fault. They were the ones who acted first. You just wanted to survive, so you sent out your loyal and faithful knight—”

Nol interrupted him. “I need a large bucket of clean water and half a bucket of olive oil.”

“Ah…?” Teest was choked by his own words.

“You should have these in your waist pouch.” Nol said, “A full bucket of clean water, half a bucket of olive oil… other vegetable oils will do too—just not solid fats.”

Teest looked curiously at the ghost, then at the lizardman.

“Fried lizard isn’t tasty.” Though he said this, he still obediently took out the water and oil Nol requested.

This area was remote, yet still affected by the anti-magic crystal. Only very weak magic like telekinesis and fire-starting could be used—but as long as his magic worked here, it was a “game problem”.

Nol raised his hand, skillfully using telekinesis.

The golden olive oil gathered into a perfect sphere, rotating around Nol. The large bucket of water split into four water masses, twisting into the shape of mirrors.

They floated and moved in the air, quickly adjusting their positions. The focal point of the sunlight relentlessly followed the ghost’s weaknesses, burning her heart and forehead with concentrated light, causing the ghost to emit a sharp scream.

Teest: “……”

What was this? It seemed like light magic, but it felt a bit subtle…

Nol bit his lower lip, but his hands remained steady. The ghost’s skin began to curl like burnt paper, but he didn’t stop. The four water mirrors spun dazzlingly, focusing on the ghost from all directions.

The ghost gradually couldn’t stand. The hem of her skirt fluttered, and she fell to the ground like a wilted flower, dropping her dagger that clattered on the ground. With his teammate injured, the lizardman hurriedly approached, aiming at the dazzlingly white Teest. In the crosshairs, Teest stood alone, shrugging helplessly at him.

But wait, that demon was just by his side!

The lizardman hastily adjusted his view, only to see a large mass of gold rushing towards him. It smeared over him and his rocket launcher. The lizardman instinctively pulled the trigger.

The rocket was fired, then the weapon buzzed, flames suddenly igniting. The oil on the lizardman’s body burned fiercely, and the intense heat instantly incapacitated him.

Nol withdrew his gaze, continuing to burn the struggling ghost with sunlight.

The ghost’s cries of pain, screams, and nonsensical babbling filled Nol’s ears. But he forced himself to watch until the ghost weakly closed her eyes, completely losing consciousness.

Nol opened “The Complete Recipe Book”. The page he turned to sparkled a bit of gold in the sunlight.

It was a complex magic circle with a core stuck to a Player’s earring.

After rescuing Little Piel, Nol reclaimed the earring used as a prop. Using it as the core, he turned “system custody” into a fixed spell.

Nol called it [Soul Seal].

The magic sounded powerful, but it had significant limitations. It required the target to be unconscious and unable to resist throughout, and the caster must have physical contact with the target.

But as troublesome as it was, it was better than killing one’s kin.

Nol held the book in one hand and placed the other on the ghost’s forehead, pouring his magic power against the influence of the anti-magic crystal.

Just like the unconscious Little Piel, golden light quickly spread over the ghost’s body. Her form dissolved into countless brilliant particles in the sunlight.

“Ah, there’s this trick too.”

Teest stroked his chin, glancing at the still burning lizardman in the distance. For some reason, his tone was a bit regretful.

[….Execution error occurred…]

Just as Nol was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the system’s static voice entered his ears. At the same time, the cluster of light particles stiffly danced in place, unable to dissipate quickly.

[….Target contains abnormally formatted messages. Unable to be properly custodied…]

[…Do you want to clear the abnormally formatted message content?]

Abnormal?

The only thing that could be called abnormal about the ghost was the corruption spread all over her body.

It seemed the system was completely incompatible with the Demon King’s corruption. Nol wiped away cold sweat. “Yes.”

[…Forcefully clearing the abnormal message will significantly weaken the target’s attributes. Do you wish to continue?] the system warned again in a staticky voice.

“Yes!” Nol replied without hesitation.

It was okay if the attributes were weakened. These neighbors were really not right, and Nol didn’t want to release them right away. Until the situation was clear, they could sleep in the system.

[…Execution completed…]

[…Looking forward to meeting you again……]

The lingering light particles finally scattered. Several hundred meters away, the lizardman finally couldn’t endure the intense heat and fainted as well. Nol, without even closing the book, walked forward with “The Complete Recipe Book”.

The sunlight pierced through the mist, sparkling gold, and then quietly extinguished.

……

Teest fried some potato chips and potato pancakes with the remaining olive oil.

He seasoned them with plenty of pepper and coarse salt, eating to his heart’s content. While enjoying the potatoes, he boiled water again, making a pot of cabbage and salted meat soup.

After lunch, Teest wiped his mouth contentedly and sighed.

“It seems the neighbors’ relations with The Manor are average.”

He licked his lips, fiddling with the newly acquired alien rocket launcher. “We took care of two people, and there were no reinforcements from The Manor.”

But the air wall didn’t disappear.

Nol bit into a potato chip bitterly. From the game’s perspective, they had just dealt with a “regional boss”. Surely, no new enemies would be refreshed.

But did the Lord of The Manor need to go this far? Or did that person have other concerns…

Bang!!!

Teest successfully fired the rocket launcher, but he had no estimate of the recoil. The barrel trembled, sending the soup pot flying. The shell exploded behind Nol, blasting through the thick stone slabs and sending soil flying.

Nol, holding the half-blown spoon: “……”

Teest slowly put the rocket launcher on the ground, looking aggrieved, as if the launcher had just punched him. “This thing is too hard to control.”

Nol poked the rocket launcher. The energy source, a black and red crystal, had dimmed, probably having been consumed quite a bit in this battle… but the aura emitted by the crystal felt somewhat familiar to him.

Nol pulled out the dagger dropped by the ghost. It also had a black and red crystal embedded, identical to the rocket launcher’s energy source. He frowned, sniffed, and started digging in a nearby pit.

Digging out a small dish of soil, Nol lined up the rocket launcher, dagger, and soil, extending his hand to Teest. Teest looked puzzled at Nol’s palm for a while before placing his hand on it.

Nol held back a laugh and patted the back of Teest’s hand. “Do you still have the monster’s body parts from before?”

Teest hummed. “A good chef always keeps precious ingredients.”

He subtly withdrew his hand, pulling out a piece of monster meat and slapping it into Nol’s palm. “Here.”

“Do you have any purification herbs?” Nol didn’t withdraw his hand.

“……” Teest rummaged for a moment, reluctantly pulling out two semi-transparent herbs. “You’re asking for offerings quite frequently, you know. These are good for stewing meat.”

“I will increase your mission reward,” Nol promised generously.

“Deal.” Teest perked up.

Nol filled a cup with water and stewed the purification herbs and monster meat together. After about ten minutes, the Demon King’s corruption in the monster meat was purified. It floated on the water’s surface, forming a black layer with a barely perceptible deep red halo.

Nol had never closely examined pure contamination before. He isolated it in a test tube and placed it alongside the other items.

The black and red crystal, black and red soil, black and red corruption.

They all emitted the same aura, albeit with varying intensities.

On closer inspection, their power fluctuations were identical. Nol tasted a bit with a spoon; even their flavors were exactly the same.

Nol pressed his knuckles to his lips. The power, weapons, land, and buildings here might all belong to that mysterious “Demon King”… The one said to spread corruption and hatred towards all living beings.

The Demon King not mentioned in the “Tahe” game setting.

According to lore, it slumbered on Desolation Island, also not existing in “Tahe”.

“How about it? Did you find what you were looking for?” Teest asked curiously.

“All these are remnants of the Demon King,” Nol asserted. “Teest, you’re familiar with the information on the Temple of Life and the Eternal Church, right?”

“Ask away.”

“And both religions see the Demon King as a common enemy… ‘The darkness suddenly descended upon the land, and the Demon King awoke from the depths of filth’… Is this ‘descent of darkness’ a general statement, or is there a specific time?”

“The Dark Ages, probably over two thousand years ago,” Teest answered crisply. “It’s not just the ravings of two groups of fanatics. There are many historical records from the Dark Ages, and the Demon King’s influence was much greater back then.”

Over two thousand years ago.

Nol’s fingertips touched the ancient, tarnished rocket launcher, feeling its cool smoothness. A subtle, uncomfortable suspicion arose.

Could it be that his “Tahe” was actually the newcomer?

Seeing Nol silent for a long time, Teest paused and turned to look towards the center of the castle.

“According to the records of both sides, for thousands of years, the Demon King was just a mindless destroyer, and its corrupted monsters rampaged senselessly,” Teest said softly. “I don’t know what you think, but in my opinion, the Lord of The Manor can’t be the ‘Demon King’—that’s a powerful entity that even the combined gods couldn’t eradicate. It has no need, nor the ability, to play these roundabout games with us.”

“True, we’re no match for a ‘god’ who can casually throw meteors.” Nol put away the rocket launcher, barely managing a smile. “I also don’t think the Lord of The Manor is the ‘Demon King’.”

As the two left the campfire, Nol casually said, “If it really was the Demon King from thousands of years ago, it wouldn’t be so adept at the tricks of games from other worlds.”

Teest’s steps slowed.

“Really?” Teest replied just as casually. “But you’re also very familiar with these things—Master Nol, you’re now the leader of the monsters. To some who don’t know the truth, you’re qualified to be called the ‘Demon King’.”

Nol shrugged it off. “What are you talking about? The real Demon King is from thousands of years ago…”

Teest tilted his head in confusion. “Aren’t you from two hundred years ago?”

Nol stopped in his tracks.

That subtle, uncomfortable feeling grew stronger. The will conveyed by [Lost Last Wish] resurfaced from his memory.

I’m scared. Save me…

I don’t want to die like this… My family…

……

Don’t hurt me… Save me… Save me…

Save me…

……

The information he received from [Lost Last Wish] hadn’t changed much. He heard cries, sobbing, and repeated desperate pleas for help.

When he was in Eternal Day City, Nol thought it was the wish of the corrupted old lady. But the last time he used the skill, it targeted only the pure corruption in The Manor, which had no hosts.

So, whose last wish is it…?

[Regrettably, the cries for help have vanished, and you can only chase the echoes. This skill has no effect and holds no value.] Initially, the system defined [Lost Last Wish] in this way.

“Teest, this time I must meet the ‘Lord of The Manor’.” Nol stopped moving, and his voice became frighteningly stiff. “I must find out what that person really knows.”

“Of course, I will follow my God.” Teest, walking ahead, turned around, his long hair lifted by the wind.

“…As long as we’re always ready to flee.” In the sunlight, he winked at Nol.

Nol wanted to return a smile, but he found his mouth too stiff to do so.

……

Black Forest, Lost Tower.

“Xiao Xu hasn’t contacted us at all.” Uncle Ma vigorously mixed the dumpling filling, which made his muscles bulge.

“He helped me place surveillance dolls in Eternal Day City. They’re all still functioning.”

Lynn bit into a freshly baked bun, vaguely looking at the screen. “If something happened to the caster, the magic would react.”

“A couple of days ago, he said he was going to visit The Manor?” Uncle Ma pondered. “I heard it’s all neighbors there. As long as you can talk, there shouldn’t be a problem—how good is our welfare here? Isn’t it better than suffering outside?”

Lynn paused for a moment.

“Not necessarily.” Her tone was a bit heavy. “We’re right under human eyes, and we’re only fine now because everyone’s kept quiet. Once there’s a conflict, it’s hard to say.”

“There’s nothing we can do. To save people, Xiao Xu had to expose himself. Who knows how many unlucky people those two churches are holding.” Uncle Ma clicked his tongue.

“That’s just because Mr. Xu is too kind-hearted.” Lynn finished her bun, wiping her hands thoughtfully. “If it were me, I’d only want to save my sister. If it weren’t easier to find people here, I might not have stayed.”

“Moreover, Xu Yue’s understanding of ‘saving people’ includes good food, comfortable living, medical and entertainment support. Not many people can achieve this.”

Uncle Ma wasn’t a greenhorn. He fell silent knowingly upon hearing this.

“Haa, if I had to take over this ridiculous mess, I would have only one thought—”

After a long while, Uncle Ma sighed heavily.

“Staying alive, being able to keep people alive—that’s already remarkable.”

---

The author has something to say:

Slowly revealing the worldview XDDD

————————

Nol: (extends hand)

Teest: (covers)

Is this:

A) A dog shaking hands

B) Cat’s paw on top principle

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 102: Game

When the knights returned to the original stone platform, the dawn was faint. Eugene’s deep green cloak had been dyed dark red.

The Lord of The Manor was like an extremely wicked psychopath. Merely fighting in an enclosure would have been bearable, but as Eugene fled downward, he encountered countless tests of humanity.

He had to abandon companions, limbs, and faith… The cruel traps were interlinked, and it was evident that the people of The Manor had a vivid imagination when it came to “torturing the human spirit”.

Eugene, of course, didn’t comply easily.

He escorted Knight Marion and Damori, forcefully breaking through the traps and safely returning them to the starting point.

Compared to the two who only suffered minor injuries, Eugene’s condition was far worse—his left leg was broken twice, his right thrice, and his left arm was severed by a trap. His lungs were pierced by ribs five times, and his abdomen was punctured twice.

The effects of the anti-magic crystals were everywhere, and healing spells were ineffective, so all healing potions were used up on Eugene. In the end, Eugene’s right leg was still limp, and his abdomen bore rough sutures.

Fortunately, they managed to escape back as a whole.

Returning to the main force, they planned to treat themselves with the remaining medicine and then have some hot water with soft bread. This thought helped them endure the night. Their noses were numbed by the smell of blood.

But what awaited them at the bottom was an even more intense smell of blood.

The six knights who stayed at the lowest level were all killed, and Sean was missing.

The knights’ bodies were torn to pieces, their swords still sheathed, not having had the chance to draw them. The chunks of their bodies were left out overnight, becoming cold and shriveled, and the pools of blood turned into a sticky, hardened mess.

Seeing such a scene, Knight Marion swayed on the spot. She kneeled on one knee and began to pray to the Goddess. Damori’s mouth fell open in shock, and he stumbled over the cold bloodstains, falling to the ground.

Eugene stood in silence, bracing his injured leg. Behind him, the sunrise split his shadow nearly in two across the stone platform.

Below the platform, the dark chasm was like a toothless giant mouth, sneering at them menacingly.

“What do we do! What do we do!” Damori said incoherently, struggling to stand up. “Where is Sean? God, Drake isn’t here either… Sir Eugene, Sir Eugene, we…”

“God has led us here, surely not for us to be completely annihilated.”

Eugene spoke solemnly. He hadn’t yet wiped away the bloodstain on his face, and it crossed his right eye like a scar.

After completing her prayers, Knight Marion looked at the scattered remains of their comrades, her face turning pale. “Captain, should we use the emergency contact marker?”

The emergency contact marker, made of special materials, was a colored signal flare.

It exploded in the air into an emerald-green emblem, resistant to the wind and very conspicuous. This device wasn’t triggered by magic but purely by craftsmanship and was thus suitable for such situations.

“No,” Eugene said.

“What?! These knights didn’t even have time to draw their swords, and you’re injured… If The Manor attacks again…” Damori was close to tears when he heard Eugene’s refusal.

“First of all, if I can’t deal with the ambushes here, calling more Investigation Knights would be useless.”

Eugene smiled at Damori.

“Moreover, there are many temporary knights below. They are the eyes of the residents of Eternal Day City.” Eugene continued leisurely, “Running away like a beaten dog in front of them would tarnish the glory of the Goddess.”

Damori looked at him in disbelief. “Can’t we at least try? Have them ready to assist from below? Is the glory of the Goddess really more important than life?”

Eugene: “Yes.”

“But it was you who saved us all the way! You’re so badly injured, you—” Damori’s lips trembled. He even forgot to use honorifics.

“Your lives are extremely precious.” Eugene continued with an infuriatingly gentle tone, “But the trust of Eternal Day City in the Goddess cannot be traded for three lives.”

Marion lowered her gaze sadly, as if she had anticipated the current situation. “Yes, my lord. I will go clean up the camp and collect the remaining supplies. At the moment, it looks like we can hold on for about another week.”

Damori could no longer care about religious reverence. “Wouldn’t Eternal Day City feel disgraced if we were to die trapped here? It’s clear we can’t win. Shouldn’t staying alive be the most important thing?!”

“‘To sacrifice in struggle’ and ‘to run away with tails between our legs’ are two completely different things.” Eugene looked at Damori almost pityingly. “I assure you. If later you are truly afraid, I can kill you without pain. If you are willing to try until the end, I will give you an additional reward of a hundred gold wheels.”

“Lunatic.” Damori stepped back half a step, muttering, “…You’re all mad.”

Unfortunately, he could only step back so far. A few more steps would lead him into the terrifying abyss.

Eugene raised his head, looking towards the splendid morning glow, his gaze almost warm.

“God has led us here, surely not for us to be completely annihilated.”

He repeated, slowly closing his eyes. He made the standard prayer gesture with both hands, his gauntlets stained with mottled blood. “It seems that this time, the one to offer victory to the Goddess isn’t me…”

“Supreme Lady Tilia, thank you for granting me the honor to witness by your side…”

Knight Eugene devoutly kissed the base of his thumb, where he often wore the ring of the holy emblem.

……

Knight Teest pressed a particularly loud kiss on Nol’s forehead.

“Morning… yawn… prayer.” Teest avoided the increasingly strong light, squinting his eyes slightly. “Dear Lord Nol, time to get up…”

In his arms, Nol struggled weakly. He slapped Teest’s shoulder with one arm, as if searching for the snooze button on this person.

“Just a little longer…” Unable to find it, Nol hummed in distress.

“Oh… okay then…” Teest laid his head on Nol’s shoulder, going limp once more.

The [Lost Last Wish]​​ ensured that Nol wasn’t targeted and corrupted by the Demon King, but it couldn’t eliminate all effects.

Last night, like a snake shedding its skin in a frenzy, Nol renewed his flesh three or four times in Teest’s arms until the last trace of corruption was expelled from his body.

Renewing flesh was a time-consuming and strenuous task, and during it, Nol was incredibly vulnerable. Teest stood guard without closing his eyes, only dozing off for a moment in the early morning.

To be honest, Teest didn’t sleep well.

Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Nol falling on the stone steps.

One second, that person was helping him overcome thousands of obstacles, and the next, he fell on the steps, blood pouring through his fingers. The two images kept interchanging, making Teest feel suffocated, wanting to punch something.

Teest realized a simple and terrible fact—he seemed to have never considered “leaving this place alone”.

The moment he took Nol’s hand to move forward, Teest hadn’t thought about what awaited them, how to preserve their lives, or how to retreat safely—something he should have considered before acting!

It was awful. He shouldn’t be this careless.

The moment Nol fell, panic, helplessness, and fear overwhelmed him. It was definitely because he had no backup plan, Teest solemnly considered.

At the same time, his brain tirelessly replayed the scene of Nol falling.

Thus, the remarkable Mr. Mad Monk still hadn’t thought of a plan for “leaving here alone”. He chose to open his eyes and carefully check Nol’s physical condition.

His complexion was fine, magical fluctuations were normal, and there was no unusual stiffness in his body. Nol, with his face buried in Teest’s chest, was wholly reluctant to get up, looking just like the usual Nol.

“Let’s go back,” Teest said.

Nol immediately pulled himself up, rubbing his eyes hard. “I’m awake. I’m fine.”

Teest deliberately looked him up and down, drawing out his words. “I forgot to say last night, if something happened to you, wouldn’t I be trapped alive here? Too risky. I don’t want to continue—”

Nol paused, his expression ambiguously relaxed. “You ‘forgot to say’ last night.”

“Am I so perfect in your mind?” Teest clicked his tongue. “Everyone forgets things sometimes.”

Nol chuckled. “I thought that was one of the things you cared about the most. Don’t worry. If I dared to bring you up here, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

Teest looked at him doubtfully.

Nol hummed twice. He pulled out a folded piece of parchment and waved it in front of Teest, then patted the magic staff in his hand.

“I’ve been waiting to tell you—two mid-range teleportation spells. They took me a lot of work, and there’s a spare one in the staff.”

Nol introduced earnestly. “Kando’s movement takes time to prepare, but this can be used to escape instantly. I indeed like to take risks, but I would never storm The Manor barehanded.”

Teest was stunned for a moment. This was one of Nol’s trump cards, and he was talking about it so openly.

“Just like that, you’re not afraid I’ll snatch them away at a critical moment?” he asked bluntly.

“Do you need two for yourself?” Nol raised an eyebrow.

“But there are anti-magic crystals nearby…”

Nol shook his head. “Anti-magic crystals can be temporarily neutralized by ‘a short, intense burst of magical power’.”

“And—” Teest tried to find any safety concerns.

“When did you become so cautious?” Nol looked at him oddly. “With things being so strange, I thought you’d grab me and rush into the castle.”

Teest snapped his mouth shut, looking a bit aggrieved. “Okay, then we won’t go back yet.”

“We’ll keep a low profile and go as far as we can.” Seeing Teest in a bad mood, Nol had to reassure him repeatedly.

The sun had risen completely, and the light piercing through the mist gave The Manor a sacred touch. Unfortunately, there were no green trees or birds chirping nearby; only dead silence, and this hint of divinity became as solemn as a tombstone sculpture, cold and forbidding.

The two returned to the base of the stone stairs.

The closer they got to the center of the castle, the weaker the protection of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” became, and who knows when it would fail. They climbed cautiously, shaking their heads with every step, fearing that enemies might suddenly emerge from any crevice.

The Demon King’s aura here was still strong, but it only swirled in place, not gathering crazily and targeting Nol like the night before.

Oddly, from beginning to end, they seemed less interested in Teest. With just a little protection, he could keep them at bay.

All these phenomena were new, and Nol had to keep a mental note of the abnormalities. Anyway, it was better for him alone to be unlucky than both of them.

They reached the castle gates unscathed.

The castle doors were wide open, with no guards on either side nor the monsters Nol had imagined. After careful confirmation, Nol also didn’t find any suspicious armor or shadows.

He cautiously stuck out his toe, crossing the threshold of the castle gate.

“…Haa.”

A sad sigh sounded in Nol’s ear.

At the moment the sigh was heard, Teest grabbed Nol, and they both jumped to the side. In the place where Nol had been standing, a hand appeared, clutching a dagger.

The dagger was smeared with a black liquid that clearly looked poisonous.

A phantom monster?

No, how could a phantom be so strong?

“You guys dodge quite quickly.”

An ethereal sigh sounded again, and a young woman’s ghost slowly became visible in the air. She wore a spiderweb-like torn and tattered dress. Her silver-white eyes were wide open, making it hard to distinguish the pupils from the whites.

But Nol’s attention wasn’t on her appearance.

Unlike other translucent ghosts, the hem of her garment was gradually turning black, the edges sagging with stringy mucus, like a mature ink cap mushroom. That was clearly the corruption of the Demon King, giving her powers an added eeriness and chill.

The dagger was no ordinary tool either. Its blade was embedded with some kind of black and red shard, emitting an ominous black aura.

Nol had seen ordinary people corrupted, as well as unthinking corrupted monsters like the Thousand-Hands Nightmare and the guard in the garden. This was his first time seeing a creature still capable of communication after being corrupted by the Demon King.

“Don’t hide anymore.” The ghost murmured sadly, with a certain rigidity and neurotic tone. “I don’t want to be too cruel. I don’t want to kill… I just want to go home. I’ve done nothing wrong…”

Her figure flickered for a moment, then suddenly appeared in front of Nol, raising her knife to stab.

Nol crossed his staff in front of him, barely blocking her attack—the ghost’s movements were very amateurish, evidently lacking experience in violence, even on par with Nol, the office warrior.

“Wait!” Nol reflexively protected Teest while saying rapidly, “Earthling? Joy Garden in City A?”

“Ah.” She revealed a desolated smile, her grip slightly lighter. “My own kind, huh? I knew this day would come…”

“We’re all kin. There’s no need for us to fight.” Nol kept his guard up. “We’re looking for a way home. If you’re willing, we could have a talk.”

Even if The Manor’s situation was bizarre, after all, it only rose to prominence in recent months. There couldn’t be that many people. It seemed they still had a chance for negotiation, as long as communication was possible—

“Talk?” The ghostly lady responded with a laugh that was more like a sob. “How sad. You still know nothing… Poor kin…”

She withdrew her dagger and struck at Nol again. Nol narrowly dodged. Behind him, Teest took the opportunity to thrust with his sword—only for it to pass harmlessly through the ghost’s body, causing no damage.

Damn it.

If they had come by the official route, they would be dead or severely injured by now, their equipment thoroughly depleted.

And like will-o’-the-wisps, ghosts were immune to physical damage. The area was also surrounded by forbidden magic crystals, giving the ghost home field advantage to an overwhelming degree.

It was like…

It was as if someone meticulously set this all up, turning it into a one-sided “leveling field”. The planner, filtering through layers, was just waiting for the exhausted high-level prey to fall into the trap.

So very safe, yet extraordinarily cruel.

“I live in Building 7, surname Xu. What’s your name?” Nol’s mind raced as he tried to stabilize the other with kinship. “What don’t we know? Why are you guarding this place alone? You have to tell us first…”

Her gaze upon them grew even more pitiful, and the ghost opened her pearl-white lips, her voice echoing hollowly.

“This world is a lie. Everything is just a game—merely a game.” She spoke solemnly, her gaze empty. “We must clear the game. Only by clearing it can we go home… Only by clearing it can we go home…”

Nol’s pupils shrink. He almost lost grip on his magic staff.

How did The Manor’s people confirm this?!

Even he, the designer, had to expend great effort to understand the situation. Not to mention, the answer derived by The Manor was completely opposite to his!

“Our factions are different. What a pity.”

The ghostly lady picked up her skirt with one hand, curtsying in a bizarre manner, her gaze drifting slightly to a spot. “We must defeat you, Mr. Xu… We all need to level up…”

She said “we”.

This meant she wasn’t alone in guarding this place.

“Teest!” Nol called out directly.

Teest wrapped his arms around Nol’s waist, kicking off with all his might. In an instant, they flew tens of meters away, with an explosion following closely behind—sand and stones flew at the castle entrance, and the entire gate was blasted away.

The stone steps peel away, revealing the dark red “soil” beneath, and the stench of decay in the air grew even stronger.

“…Haa.”

From within the smoke, a light sigh was heard.

The ghostly lady was immune to physical damage. She still stood quietly in her place. Seeing Nol evade successfully, she cast a disappointed look.

Teest sharply turned his head, pinpointing the source of the attack—it was a bizarrely dressed lizardman, shouldering an odd-looking magical device.

Lizardmen were generally of low intelligence, but this one’s gaze held the same sorrow as the ghost. Its tail and arms, revealed from the armor, showed an abnormal black-red color, and the Demon King’s aura on its body was equally intense.

“Give up.” The ghost sang in a low whisper, her voice piercing directly into their ears. “We will chase you day and night… I have my dagger, and he has his artillery. Give up. Let’s all make it easier… It’s just a game, only a game…”

“What to do, honey?” Teest dodged another explosion. “If you insist on not harming them, we’re really going to die here.”

Nol didn’t respond.

The ghost reappeared in front of them, slowly raising her dagger. Nol sidestepped, pulling Teest out of the way.

“Or do you plan to retreat now?” Teest took the opportunity to look back.

Nol still didn’t respond. He looked towards the lizardman; his face never having been so pale.

The weapon of the lizardman was very old. Its material was somewhere between metal and plastic.

There were highly industrialized, neatly designed energy grooves on its surface, within which black-red crystals could be seen. Blue light poured from the crystals, spreading along the patterns covering the weapon.

Its light, pulsating like a breath, was completely consistent with the previous teleportation effects.

The light flickered like breathing, emitting the decay of the Demon King’s corruption. That fluctuation was somewhat close to Tahe’s magic, yet not quite the same. The forbidden magic crystals worked diligently, yet it remained completely unaffected.

Nol didn’t recognize the material of the weapon or the kind of power it wielded, but he did recognize the basic shape of the weapon.

It was a xenomorphic rocket launcher.

---

The author has something to say:

Following the previous chapter: Not as many as 300 chapters! Should be less than “Stray”?

I’ve been following the main storyline recently…

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 101: Speedrun Strategy

Eugene came for the rope ladder for the second time.

He carefully touched the edge of the stone platform. This time, there was no air wall to hinder his fingers. However, as they climbed up the rope ladder, the gravity around them instantly reversed, causing the rope ladder to stretch straight upward.

It was almost a clear sign for them to continue ascending.

In the darkness of the night, the stone platform above them was nothing more than a pitch-black silhouette, as quiet as a graveyard. Who knew whether ascending would bring them face to face with even more outrageous monsters.

Such scenes were fine in a game, but now faced with this unknown, Nol felt genuine displeasure—he had the feeling of being toyed with.

Eugene jumped down from the vertical rope ladder, which still stood erect, as if in defiance.

Unable to contact the personnel below, Eugene’s expression was rather unpleasant. Sensing the shift in mood, Damori couldn’t sit still. “How about… I mean, why don’t we regroup here for the night? When the sun is up, we can try to send a message.”

Nol sighed inwardly.

If the Lord of The Manor was really following the logic of a game, he would definitely not leave behind a mechanism like “game characters defending the original map”. In floating maps, the designers favorite method was to use—

The stone platform began to tremble with a thunderous vibration, and a chilling, terrifying cracking sound came from within. Numerous cracks swiftly spread under their feet, and the once-solid ground became unstable, fluctuating up and down.

The limbless corrupted monster still lay where it was, mechanically biting at the air.

Its giant mouth opened and closed, rhythmically making a “clack, clack, clack” sound, like a countdown timer.

The collapse came very suddenly.

Eugene grabbed Damori, who was closest to him, and with his other hand, he grabbed the cloak of the female knight next to him. He only had time to glance at “Drake” before his figure disappeared into the rolling smoke and shadows.

Just seconds before, the knight named Dia had run towards Eugene, but he wasn’t fast enough and failed to touch the hem of Eugene’s robe. His eyes reflected the starry sky and dust, filled with terror.

The next second, Knight Dia’s cloak tightened. He was pulled upward, and though the position didn’t allow him to look up, he knew who had lent a hand—in addition to himself, only the skillful Mr. Drake remained.

The night belonged to the shadows. Thick dust laid the path of shadows, and Teest mounted the shadow wolf, stepping on shadows to ascend. He held Nol around the waist, and Nol clutched Dia as they leaped upwards together.

By the time they reached the upper stone platform, Dia hadn’t had a chance to utter words of gratitude before he passed out. The last thing flashing before his blurred vision was a huge black nose.

“We were almost able to have a perfect world for just the two of us,” Teest complained, retracting the hand that had knocked the man out. The shadow wolf curiously sniffed around Knight Dia, ending with a sneeze.

“I’ve looked through the list of Investigation Knights. His full name is Dia Blanco,” Nol said. “Strictly speaking, he’s a distant relative of yours. I couldn’t just ignore him.”

“Yeah, a handsome young man, with long hair too,” Teest hummed.

“What a pity. I only take in followers that are mentally ill. This one is too normal,” Nol hummed back, helping Dia onto the back of the shadow wolf. The situation here was strange, and he had no expectations for the cowardly Ben to lead the way.

“You think that kid Eugene is dead?” Teest asked hopefully.

“It depends on whether his prophecy includes an image of him dying from a fall. The Temple of Life values him so much, so I guess his prophecy must be something special.” Nol took Kando from his chest and placed it back on the Staff of Sacrifice.

“I’ll bet a gold wheel that the kid has jumped onto the stone platform below.” Teest kicked the pebbles under the platform.

Feeling the cold night wind, Kando opened its eyes, and its eyeballs spun wildly. Nol was waiting for it to curse, but it remained silent and slowly closed its eyes again.

“Be careful,” it warned them wearily. “I’ve never seen this formation before.”

“Really? Then you should take a good look.” Teest forcibly opened Kando’s eyelids, and it beat him with a stream of wax tears.

“Ah, we were so close to having a perfect world for just the two of us…” And so, the Mad Monk let go of Kando and started muttering again.

Why are you saying that in a loop?

Nol sighed and took the initiative to grab Teest’s wrist. “Let’s go.”

“Aren’t you going to have some late-night snacks? I just found a piece of wreckage.” Teest didn’t move, almost writing “I’m not motivated” on his face.

“It’s not appropriate. Someone might be watching us.”

Nol tugged at the corner of his mouth, his gaze sweeping over the pitch-black platform. “Teest, it seems you’re not looking forward to what’s coming.”

“I want the truth, but I don’t like the process.” Teest yawned while propping one arm on Nol’s shoulder. “Throwing people into an enclosure, then throwing in a monster, only the victor gets to leave alive. I’ve been fighting like this since I was a kid. It’s a bit tiring aesthetically.”

Thinking of the possible experiences of the young Teest, Nol’s expression stiffened.

Teest glanced at him without a trace and continued casually, “The opponents here are just like puppets—not even as fun as fighting the shadow wolf. Compared to this mess, I prefer your ‘game’.”

Nol’s expression relaxed a bit, and his mouth involuntarily curled up. “You don’t want to fight this?”

“Mm.”

“Then we won’t fight.” Nol cleared his throat. “Let’s find something interesting to do.”

Teest raised his eyebrows at him and slapped the freshly formed air wall. “But there are invisible walls here—”

Nol smiled at him. “As long as magic still works here, I have a way out.”

He sat down on the spot, patting beside him. Teest understood and leaned over, stretching out comfortably.

Mr. Lich clearly had no intention of approaching the center of the platform. Nol took out “The Complete Recipe Book” from his bag. His pen briskly swept across the paper, writing down a series of incomprehensible characters.

Teest’s gaze couldn’t help but follow Nol’s hand—from the ink-stained fingertips to the trembling wrist, and then to the slightly contracted pupils.

He was surprised to find that even without the unique blue color, those eyes were still as perfect as he remembered them in his memory.

The two didn’t explore deeply, and the platform didn’t respond. Under the starry sky, everything was exceedingly quiet and peaceful. Ben let out a yawn and lay down beside the two. For a moment, the atmosphere was actually quite serene and pleasant.

About an hour later, Nol completed the calculation. Teest propped his eyelids and watched the ink marks shimmer and turn into a brand-new magic circle.

[The Eye of the Bat]

Nol scribbled, writing down its name and function—this magic allows the caster to see through the terrain within a radius of 10 to 1,000 meters. The farther the viewing distance, the higher the magical power consumed.

It looked like an extremely degraded version of the [Eye of Truth], with a little bit of modification. After completing the magic, Nol closed the book and raised his head with a smile, his eyes twinkling faintly. Teest remained silent. As Nol observed above, he watched Nol’s profile. It was hard to say who was more focused.

“Okay.” Nol stood up, reaching out his hand to Teest, his eyes still in the state of magic activation.

“Just like that?” Teest grabbed his hand, his eyebrows raised high.

“Hold my hand tightly,” Nol said “Ben, keep up!”

The shadow wolf quickly stood up, accidentally knocking off the knight who was unconscious on its back. It then annoyingly picked up the tin can again, saliva streaming down from its mouth that wouldn’t close.

Nol waved his staff, and a circle of blue flames opened up in front of everyone. Nol tightened his grip on Teest’s fingers, pulling him forward.

Teest curiously extended his foot, thinking they would travel upwards layer by layer. Who would have thought that his god wasn’t as honest as he imagined—

The Mad Monk saw such a crazy scene for the first time.

One circle of fire was extinguished, and another lit up. It was as if they were traveling through a tunnel made of circles of fire. And between these tunnels were psychedelic scenes of the world turned upside down.

Teest stepped over broken tiles on one step, and the next step was in the midst of stars, stepping into the void. After falling through the circle of fire, he found the ground reappearing under his feet, surrounded by thorny bushes with dried flowers.

The white stone platform was bathed in moonlight. Descending monster’s spine; the cold water surface smooth as a mirror… While the blue fire burned, the tips of their toes brushed over even more things.

Their footsteps added prints to the frost-sealed bridge, the surface of the lava-flowing river rose with a cold wind, and the fog that filled their vision tumbled endlessly.

The roar of monsters mixed with various noises. Strangely, Teest thought, the clearest sound was always Nol’s heartbeat close at hand—and his own. His heartbeat had never been so fast—loud enough to burst his eardrums.

Right in front, Nol was always holding Teest’s hand. To prevent slipping, their fingers were tightly interlocked.

Teest looked at the figure in front, his fingers getting tighter and tighter.

Regrettably, this beautiful and chaotic journey had to end. The last circle of fire extinguished, and the two stopped at the end of the stone steps of the castle at the top.

“Pity, the final boss can’t be skipped directly,” Nol muttered.

It turned out that Eugene’s speculation was completely wrong. At the top, the effect of the anti-magic crystal was even stronger. Even the low-level [The Eye of the Bat] couldn’t be activated normally here.

No matter how this castle was floating in the air, it must have nothing to do with Tahe’s magic.

This discovery didn’t please Nol—if he couldn’t see the destination, he couldn’t use Kando to connect spaces. This meant that his “speedrun strategy” was over, and he could only rely on his own feet going forward.

“I thought you would go to see that siren,” Teest said, not letting go of Nol’s hand.

“I took a quick look just now. His condition is still okay.” Nol pursed his dry lips. “Rashly going to see Fischer might let the people of The Manor notice something unusual, and it might even turn him into a hostage.”

After speaking, he glanced strangely at Teest. “I thought you were familiar with these things.”

“Well, I am usually the one who notices something unusual and takes hostages.” The Mad Monk shrugged. “I will try to adjust my mindset.”

“Thanks. I feel much safer now.”

After a bit of joking, Nol finally relaxed a bit. At least he was now in the mood to carefully observe the “final level”.

In front of the two, the long stone steps were covered with black dust. At the end of the stone steps, the huge castle was brightly lit. Its stone was even stranger than the stone platform below, with a moist texture, nearly black in the night.

Between the bricks and stones, the web-like black-red flesh was denser than below, emitting a faint smell of decay.

The aura of the Demon King grew stronger, as if this place had been blood-washed by countless corrupted monsters. That breath deeply penetrated every crevice of stone. Just standing there, Nol could feel a chill creeping up from the soles of his feet.

The buildings here were relatively well preserved, and the wind made a sharp wail through the crevices. On both sides of the castle’s spires, two full moons were hanging.

Maybe it was the environment, but from here, all four moons seemed to have a hint of blood color.

‘Just add some spooky music, and it would be perfect,’ Nol thought. As the final battle zone, this map was entirely qualified.

Nol also didn’t let go of Teest’s hand. The “Betrayer” longsword was unsheathed, and the Staff of Sacrifice blazed with flames. The shadow wolf, carrying the unconscious knight and looking confused, was half-hidden in the shadows of the two men.

Feeling the other’s dry and warm palm, Nol steadied his mind and stepped onto the first level of the stairs.

At that moment, the ground trembled, and the gravel on the edge of the stone platform hissed as it slid into the darkness. Nol’s knees became weak, and he knelt on the stairs. If it weren’t for Teest holding on to him, he would have tumbled down.

“What’s wrong with you?” Teest’s leisurely expression completely vanished, and his speech sped up. “Hey, Nol, can you hear me?”

Nol covered his mouth. Something warm touched his fingers.

It was blood. He smelled the scent of blood, Nol thought somewhat dazed. Drops of fresh blood fell on the stone steps, blending instantly with the dark stone surface.

In that instant, after the tremor, the Demon King’s aura burst forth violently. There was no White Night here, yet the Demon King’s aura was so intense that it could rival the phenomenon of the White Night.

It was as if he had plunged into the deep sea in an instant. Everything around him was pressing on him, vowing to completely eject him, this “foreign object”, from this place. Nol’s whole body was in pain, and his energy and strength were rapidly leaving him, as if being wrung out alive.

“Nol!” Teest grabbed his shoulders. His voice was muffled as if it was covered by a layer of water. “Nol, let’s go back right now.”

[Warning……. Abnormal status @#¥%……]

[Abnormal power system… Source rejection reaction…… You are not recognized. Your level is insufficient…… Your power is insufficient…….]

In Nol’s somewhat blurry vision, the system pop-up struggled and flickered.

[Warning……………… Abnormal status @#¥%……]

[Please leave as soon as possible…… Please leave as soon as possible…… Please leave as soon as possible……]

How could they possibly leave?

They had finally made it here. They had to take something back, no matter what.

Intelligence, data, knowledge…. Anything at all…

Faced with the exceptionally active Demon King’s aura, Nol instinctively activated [Lost Last Wish].

That terrible sense of oppression seemed to freeze. The crushing pain around him stopped, and countless tiny voices drilled into his ears.

Don’t hurt me… Don’t hurt me… Don’t hurt me…… Don’t hurt me……

Save me… Save me……….. Save me…………….

Save me…… Save me……

Save me………

……..

[Source rejection reaction stopped… You are preliminarily recognized…. Your level is insufficient… Your power is insufficient… It is not recommended to proceed…]

The system’s intermittent voice echoed in Nol’s ears.

Nol’s vision finally focused, and he realized that his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears were all stained with damp blood, and his robe was soaked with blood. His internal organs were in stabbing pain, and his limbs felt boneless, completely devoid of strength.

He looked at his hand placed on his chest. The back of his hand was paler than a corpse that had been dead for three days.

The surrounding scenery was bumpily retreating—he seemed to be held in Teest’s arms, and Teest was striding forward in the opposite direction of the castle. A pale golden protective shield surrounded the two of them, and the air inside was much warmer than outside.

“I’m okay now.” Nol tasted a strong metallic blood flavor in his mouth.

“We’ll find a place to rest, and then we’ll go back,” Teest said without looking down.

“This opportunity is rare. We might not be so lucky next time.” Nol exhaled tiredly. “The system just prompted something about an ‘abnormal power system’. Our guess was right. There’s definitely something wrong with this place.”

“Whether it’s the building itself or its power, it doesn’t belong to Tahe… This is a big discovery. You wanted to understand the true nature of the world, right? The Lord of The Manor must know something…”

“Don’t talk about that. I’m not in the mood to listen.” Teest clicked his tongue. “If you die here, we’ll end up with nothing.”

“I really am okay.”

Nol struggled to get down to the ground, but alas, with his power halved, the Lich was no match for the terrifying strength of the Death Knight.

“I wouldn’t be able to put you down even if I didn’t use Kando,” Nol admitted, resorting to his trump card.

Teest grunted, took Nol’s magic staff with one hand, and shook it vigorously. Kando, without even opening its eyes, said faintly, “Let go, you. Fish shouldn’t spend all day pondering how to fly.”

With a snap, Teest gritted his teeth hard.

“Even if I don’t go with you, you wouldn’t be foolish enough to seek death on your own.” Seeing that the magic staff was ineffective, Teest stubbornly persisted.

The two faced each other, neither willing to give in.

“I won’t tell you any intelligence,” Nol threatened.

“I won’t make you supper then.”

“A Lich can’t starve to death.”

“Then would you have the heart to watch me starve here?”

“…Alright.” Nol pinched the bridge of his nose hard. “Let’s compromise. We’ll rest here tonight. If by tomorrow you still think I’m not in the right state, we’ll go back.”

“That’s more like it.” Teest lifted his head in triumph.

Nol resigned. “First, put me down…”

“No.”

With their backs to the castle, they found a remote part of the ruins. After a rudimentary setup of spells, the two hid in the shadows. Teest quietly set up a pot and began to cook some recently obtained monster remains.

Concerned about being discovered by outsiders, he kept the fire low. Honey, strange pasty medicine, and scraps of the remains were stewed into a soft, mushy syrup, eventually shrinking to the size of half a palm.

Teest sprinkled some sugar on it, wrapped it in a grape leaf, and placed it under Nol’s nose.

“Eat it. Any added attributes are good.” Teest stood up. “I’m going to cook some honey milk.”

“Thank you…  What are you doing?!”

Teest walked over to the still unconscious Knight Dia, beat him around the head with a clatter, and then naturally sat back down as if nothing had happened. Nol watched, dumbfounded.

“Oh, just increasing his unconscious time,” Teest muttered.

“…I still prefer the world of just us two. What about you?”

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The author has something to say:

The explanation refers to the middle part of the story as described in the previous chapters—

The beginning, middle, and end each make up one third of the story. Since the beginning has certainly passed, it is now in the middle phase. <-∑(>w0)b

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Kinky Thoughts:

Speedrunning is the act of playing a game, or section of a game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible, for those unaware of the term.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 100: Air Wall

The parachutes descended slowly, like jellyfish in the ocean, touching down on the ground. The light vanished, and the rope ladder was nearly swallowed by the darkness.

The group finally gathered on the lowest level of the stone platform—Damori was fine, but Sean’s legs went soft on the swaying rope ladder, and he had to be pulled up by an Investigation Knight. When he climbed onto the platform, his entire face was pink, like a cooked shrimp.

The platform was nearly the size of a sports field, with only the ruins of a few huts on it. The peripheral area was piled with various items, like rusty components and rotten wooden boxes, emitting a faint smell of decay, their purpose unclear.

Black and red fleshy tendons clung to the edge of the platform, connecting to higher platforms, gently bouncing in the wind, looking almost alive. Nol didn’t think “climbing them” would be a good idea. The whole manor gave him a very bad feeling, very similar to the atmosphere of the White Night.

The presence of Siren Fischer was just above. Nol strained to look up, only able to make out the vague outlines of the structures above. The siren was probably imprisoned somewhere, having only moved slightly within a small area recently.

While the knights took a break to regroup, Nol glanced at Eugene. If the Knight Commander demanded an immediate surprise attack on The Manor—assuming Mr. Eugene was really foolish enough to do so—Nol would definitely jump out to stop him.

Fortunately, Knight Eugene remained calm and composed.

“Drake gets an additional fifty gold wheels as a reward,” Eugene said approvingly. “Well done, sir. Let us have a pleasant exploration.”

Then, his gaze swept over the shivering Sean and Damori who was looking around. “Leave seven people with Sean and Damori to record the terrain. I, Dia, and Drake will go up to have a look.”

“Can I come along?” Damori immediately chimed in, his eyes sparkling with a desire for money… Ah, no—a desire to be loyal to the Goddess. “I’m in good condition. I can definitely help!”

“It’s dangerous up there. In case of an emergency, we may not be able to protect you,” Eugene said gently.

Damori persistently applied to join. “That would be my fate then. If anything happens, I won’t blame anyone.”

Eugene’s brows twitched slightly, and he stared at Damori for a long time. “The Goddess sees your loyalty. Marian, you come along too.” The female knight beside him nodded, and the original trio thus expanded into a team of five.

Actually, six, as Nol pulled Teest, who was looking around. The latter quickly stuck back to Nol’s side. [I feel the aura of monsters.]

[There are indeed quite a few above,] Nol replied. [We’ll find a time to split from them and first look for the Lord of The Manor.]

The methods of The Manor in Eternal Day City were indeed outrageous, but Nol didn’t want to attack a neighbor without understanding the situation first—The Manor was easy to defend but hard to attack, and the knights would surely investigate first. He wanted to clarify the situation himself before deciding on the next move.

[How do you know what I’m thinking?] Teest let up a long hum. [Coincidentally, I also don’t want to play with the little dogs of the Goddess of Life.]

Eugene had no idea of this “Drake’s” private conversation. He gathered the exploration team, distributing scent-masking ointment to everyone. The knights who weren’t named established a simple base on the spot, began to visually measure The Manor’s stronghold, and started drawing maps.

Sean sat on a folding chair at the edge of the platform, his lips pale. He sat with his back to the center of the platform, tilting his head up, silently staring at the sky.

The night sky was clear, the stars plentiful, with the four moons hung high in the sky. Together with the scattered lights from The Manor, the scene was almost beautiful.

He watched as the scouting team’s figures disappeared higher up—once on the platform, the difference in height wasn’t so absurd, and one could climb up with physical strength.

But he couldn’t do it.

As a healer who usually stayed in the rear, even the physically fit Sean couldn’t jump that high. On second thought, his presence seemed to bring nothing but trouble on this trip.

Sean hung his head in dejection, opening his empty palms. He had harbored a flame of vengeance, thinking of burning his last drop of blood for God. But now he realized that even “sacrifice” had its thresholds.

“Don’t mind it. Your job is to ‘witness’, not to ‘fight’.”

A young knight noticed his gloominess and approached. “Someone like Drake is rare… Forget Drake, we couldn’t even find someone like Damori when recruiting in the last city.”

“Thank you. I was too naïve.” Sean managed a wry smile. “I thought I could at least be of some help.”

The knight laughed. “Of course, you can help! The captain might take a while, and when they come down, they will definitely need your help to recover their strength.”

“Does Lord Eugene always lead from the front?” Sean asked curiously.

“Yes. In these unknown places that are a matter of life and death, the captain is always the first to go in and explore. He only lets everyone ‘up’ after he’s sure the path is viable.” Behind Sean, the knight was busy sorting through the debris while earnestly answering.

“But he wouldn’t bring temporary knights on a previous occasion… After all, this is not official combat—it’s a covert investigation, and temporary knights can easily cause trouble.”

“Perhaps Drake and his group are too special. Even I can tell at a glance that they’re not ordinary people.”

Sean leaned forward from his chair back, forcing himself to look down at the chasm below the platform.

The knight didn’t answer him again.

“How long does a typical investigation take?”

Sean brought up another topic. “Magic can’t be used here, and I need to allocate time to prepare potions in advance. If the situation is serious, fresh potions are more effective.”

Silence still reigned behind him.

A sinking feeling hit Shaun.

He suddenly realized that, at some point, all the footsteps of the knights and the friction sounds of moving debris had ceased, leaving only the whistling wind on the stone platform.

A few steps away was the swaying rope ladder. Just as Sean’s gaze reached it, he saw one end of the ladder drifting down, falling towards the edge of the chasm.

…Who?

Sean didn’t dare to look back. He didn’t smell any blood—nothing at all. The platform became an isolated island again, and he felt an immense weight on his back, followed by emptiness.

He tried to stand, but his already weak legs failed to respond. Behind him, there was a soft rustling sound, and he could hear the clatter of his teeth.

A pair of hands gently rested on his back.

“I’m sorry.”

Sean heard a soft voice, and at the same time, his body, along with the folding stool, fell from the stone platform, plunging into the chasm.

Darkness rushed towards him, and in his confusion, he suddenly remembered the day he parted with his family.

What did they eat that night?

In the shallow part of the chasm above the cliff, a huge rock caught him, and he didn’t have time to remember the answer.

……

Nol suddenly sensed something was amiss.

He felt the presence of death from below, yet no unusual sounds were heard. The area was still under the influence of anti-magic crystals, rendering communication crystals useless, so he couldn’t immediately confirm the situation underneath.

At this moment, they had moved from the lowest layer to near the middle layer. The stone platforms here were relatively intact, displaying statues wrapped in withered vines and buildings that were somewhat whole.

The more clearly Nol saw, the more questions arose in his mind.

From a distance, the castle was surrounded by clouds and mist, not very discernible. Now, viewed up close, the architectural style of The Manor was extremely peculiar.

Its stone bricks were too finely carved, and there were too many unidentified metal debris around. The style was a mishmash, without a trace of the culture from the Gemino region—not even the remnants from the “Era of Strife”.

Moreover, they still hadn’t figured out how this castle had flown up into the sky.

There were no magical fluctuations, no magical circuitry. The castle stood in the void against common sense, immobile as a mountain in the cold wind.

“There must be a gigantic magic circle in the uppermost building. Those flesh and ruins below were lifted by it.” Eugene analyzed. “A little further up, and everyone will be able to use magic normally.”

To the people of this world, this was an obvious thought.

Just as when still on Earth, no one would doubt gravity—apples fell downwards, and there could be no other possibility. Just as the castle could only stay afloat in the sky supported by magic.

Nol, however, had a vague sense of unease. This castle seemed not to be “his creation”.

The group climbed up another layer, and finally, the effect of the anti-magic crystals weakened slightly. This should have been good news, but Teest, who was usually so confident, became quiet at this moment, sticking close to Nol’s side.

[I don’t like this place. Its aura is very… foreign.] Teest frowned, looking at those bricks and stones. [A Lich’s home is warmer than this place.]

[I agree.] Nol looked towards the garden in front of him.

The stone platform was comparable in size to the Joy Garden community, resembling a dilapidated yet elegant garden.

Half-rotten metal gates stood at the edge of the platform; their fine wrought iron covered with black-red rust. In the moonlight, it had the texture of bones.

The flowerbeds were devoid of plants, with only dry roots remaining. The body of the beds was full of cracks—a rough texture that was eerily familiar. The fountain was dried up and dirty, and the angel-shaped stone figure had fallen to the ground, its cracked eyes filled with dry grass. Those stems were hard and dark, like the limbs of giant insects.

There were no guards, no magical artifacts in ready stance—nothing but the silence of the night and the cold wind at this place. Nol wanted to “accidentally get lost” but couldn’t find the opportunity.

“Sir, should we just keep going like this? Let’s go up. There’s nothing here.” The team had circled this ruined garden four or five times, and Damori couldn’t help but speak up.

Eugene stopped by a clump of dry thorns, pinched the peeling rust, and tasted it with his tongue. His expression was serious, his usual smile gone.

“Let’s go back tonight,” he said. “Something’s not right here.”

Nol couldn’t help but look up again—Siren Fischer wasn’t far from them. Just a few more layers up, and he was confident he would find the siren.

But as the saying goes, haste makes waste. Especially in a game, greed for quick victory was a big taboo.

The place was truly eerie. With The Manor activities being so frequent, Nol thought he would see one or two guard monsters, but he didn’t even see a single monster’s hair. This dead silence didn’t seem like a symbol of peace but more like the atmosphere before a boss battle.

“I agree to go back,” Nol said in a steady voice. “We’ve investigated enough. Caution is the better part of valor.”

[Forgive my bluntness, but your neighbor seems more like a Lich than you do.] Teest poked at a disfigured statue beside him. [Look at this atmosphere. Next time use this style for the illusion in the Lost Tower… Hey, don’t twist my waist. It tickles!]

After consultation, everyone unanimously agreed to go back temporarily. Eugene quickly made his way back the way they had come, just about to lower the hook rope—

His hand bounced back.

Eugene’s face stiffened, and after groping forcefully, he found the air rippling like water, trapping them firmly on this large stone platform.

The rope dangled just half a step away, yet they couldn’t use it to escape. Eugene groped along the edge again. Without a doubt, they were trapped here, like little delicacies under a glass dessert cover.

Nol: “……”

This barrier seemed somewhat like an “air wall” that restricted character movement. His own “Tahe World” didn’t feature such a design—what was going on here? Regardless of the wall’s origins, since it was now activated, it meant only one thing—

Nol swiftly drew his longsword. “Prepare to fight!”

Eugene looked back in surprise. “There’s nothing here—”

His words were cut short as a “monster aura” emerged. He saw a dark blue glow tangled into a cluster above the center of the stone platform and the old fountain, tearing open a black hole in the air.

A sticky black giant hand emerged, followed by an arm, and finally an almost mummified body—

The creature placed its claws on the edge of the fountain and let out a silent, skyward scream.

It was about four meters tall, resembling the skeleton of a giant canine, its bones covered in sludge-like Demon King’s corruption. This corruption flowed over its body, forming new flesh and skin.

The beast’s four legs ended in giant human hands, and from its chest sprouted two long, thin arms. They waved and scratched in the air, as if embracing their target.

It was indeed a mini boss battle. The Lord of The Manor seemed to have a taste for gaming, Nol thought, somewhat helplessly.

He was more concerned with the fact that this creature, no matter how you looked at it, was a “Thousand-Hands Nightmare” from the Black Forest.

Upon seeing the monster appear out of nowhere, Eugene gave Nol a meaningful look. “…A monster of the Demon King.”

[It’s your midnight snack,] Teest exclaimed at the same time.

Damori’s brown skin paled at his first encounter with such a sinister creature. “A monster of the Demon King—how come it’s here? Isn’t it said that they are only on Desolation Island?!”

“The Manor is very likely working together with the Demon King.” Eugene also drew his long sword. “Mr. Damori, cover our rear. Everyone else, attack!”

Nol, who was assigned to the Investigation Knight’s camp: “.…..”

Nol: [It might have intelligence. Teest, why don’t you try talking to it?]

No sooner had he spoken than the creature bit off a marble statue beside it with a snap.

A thick metal wire went through its mouth, making it look comically as if it were smoking. However, the creature didn’t move at all, not even reacting to the pain, just staring maliciously at everyone.

There was not a drop of blood from the wound. This thing was even drier than a Thousand-Hands Nightmare.

[Hey, what did you just say?] Teest cupped his hand to his ear, posing as if listening intently.

[…Nothing. Forget it.] Nol sighed.

The creature’s movements were stiff, more like a machine left with only fixed behaviors than a living being.

The only relief was that the anti-magic crystal’s power had weakened, and now they could use some simple magic.

Nol took a deep breath and launched into a flurry of game-like footwork and esoteric sword techniques, sweeping up to the monster.

Up close, the creature’s “fur” was layers of protruding fingers constructed from the corruption. Used to being a fixed artillery, Nol felt awkward up close to such a disgusting enemy, nearly failing to connect his movements.

Eugene flashed to the side of the monster before Nol, his glowing longsword sweeping across the creature’s head and neck.

But just as the head was about to fall, the fingers on the creature’s body intertwined. Accompanied by the sickening sound of flesh and blood intertwining, the head instantly returned to its original state.

The creature leapt up in anger, charging at Eugene like a specter, nearly stepping on Nol beneath it. Nol dodged ungracefully. Luckily, the others were too busy dealing with the monster to notice.

Eugene kept a focused gaze on that bizarre carcass.

He leapt up, landing on the creature’s head and driving his longsword fiercely into its skull. The other two Investigation Knights, one on each side, bombarded that wound.

The glow of holy magic shone within the creature’s skull, the Demon King’s corruption temporarily faded, and the dry bones cracked to the ground. But the creature’s body was unaffected. Its neck’s black fingers, like flowing blood, wrapped around that head, pushing it back into place.

Under the four moons, the creature’s eyes flickered with a pale light, leaping at them again with movements that were unpredictably fast and slow, as if weightless.

This was a monster that the world had spawned on its own, and now they could only brace themselves to confront it.

Nol’s fingers gently brushed the blade, and the sword instantly ignited in flames—since the flag of the magic swordsman had been raised, if physical damage wasn’t enough, they would make up for it with magical damage!

Teest’s small hunting knife spun in his hand, transforming into a long sword with the dim moonlight flowing along the blade.

Eugene was still attempting to destroy the monster’s head, while Nol, raising his flaming longsword, struck at the monster’s foreleg. In the shadow of the flames, the long sword “Betrayer” followed like a shadow.

The two stood back-to-back, their presence nearly touching, as they spun on the battlefield, close yet apart.

Both swords struck the monster’s right forelimb simultaneously. The limb, like a tree trunk, instantly flew off, and the sound of searing flesh hissed from the wound. Fingers made of corruption tried to flow again to restore the monster’s limb, but they curled up at the charred wound, hesitating to advance.

The corrupted monster lost its balance, falling to one side, not forgetting to open its mouth to bite at Nol. The latter narrowly dodged and lunged with another sword strike at the monster’s remaining forelimb.

Teest gracefully carried Nol around his waist, elegantly moving back and forth amidst the monster’s frenzied onslaught. Brought near the monster’s hind legs, Nol intuitively thrust his sword—

With one of the monster’s hind limbs severed, Eugene immediately switched from offense to support, diverting the monster’s attention to allow “Drake” to strike easily.

Lastly were the double arms on the monster’s chest.

The flaming longsword rose and fell, and the fractured bones quietly burned in the garden.

The monster could no longer leap to attack. It stood in place, mechanically stretching and retracting its head, trying to bite the closest person. Its movements were stiff and repetitive, making everyone uncomfortable to watch.

“Your purification abilities are indeed stronger than ours.” Eugene took a long breath of relief. “Mr. Damori was right. Such a corrupted monster of this level should have appeared deep within Desolation Island… We can’t proceed further. We must go back immediately!”

Nol ignored Eugene, reaching first for the edge of the stone platform—the wall of air trapping them was indeed slowly dissipating.

He couldn’t help but look up again at the castle at the very top.

The Lord of The Manor… Could it be a colleague?

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The author has something to say:

The Paradise banners were posted overnight—Colleagues, do not enter; repel the indecent (x

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