Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 106: The Fake Knight

It was just a question, Nemo thought. It shouldn’t be difficult.

He had escaped many things previously. After embarking on this journey, he became accustomed to forcing himself to take the lead before retreating. He still remembered the simple and casual life he once had, but that was more than half a year ago. The memories of Roadside Town had shown him what it meant to be separated from the world.

He felt melancholy thinking about the life of counting copper coins to calculate his tight budget as he would bargain with the bakery before dark.

“You’re asking the right person,” Jesse didn’t hesitate to answer. He scooted over in Nemo’s direction and sat next to him. “Although Adri is in front of me… Well, this isn’t very good, but I’m not a man who will deny my past. My dear Nemo, you may have forgotten, but we did have a sweet time in the past together—wait—wait, don’t do that.”

Nemo moved his gaze away from the statue of Ulysses, raised his finger solemnly, and cut it across his neck, showing a raw threat towards Jesse.

“Well, I do know who you are,” Jesse sighed reluctantly. “If you can ask this, then I believe you also have some understanding of your situation now.”

Nemo’s expression didn’t change as he nodded lightly.

“Do you know?” The smile on the blond young man’s face faded a bit. He raised his head and stared at the darkly painted dome of the Church of Silence. “People often say, ‘it’s a good thing to keep hope’, even if it’s unrealistic and stupid. You’ve always liked this idea, and I hope you’ll keep it.”

“You don’t want to tell me,” Nemo concluded in a low voice as he clutched the corners of his robe tightly. The person sitting next to him knew the answer, which made him anxious.

“Because it’ll be a lot less fun.” Jesse shrugged. “Besides, you won’t torture me for the answer to this question. Don’t be disappointed. I can answer your other question.”

Nemo turned his head; his silver-gray eyes stared through the gap in the mask at the blond young man’s fluttering lips.

“Why do I insist on joining? Why did I approach such a danger… Hmmm.” Jesse’s smile was mixed with a little malice. “What I said just now isn’t a joke. We did have a ‘sweet’ past—a wonderful deal that’s still in effect.”

“…But you can rest assured,” Jesse pushed back strands of his blond hair behind his ear. “I’m not here for you.”

Nemo took a deep breath and tried to gauge Jesse Dylan’s strength again, but even when he realized that he was “an ominous monster”, he still didn’t get any results. The other party sitting next to him had a strong heartbeat and a normal human body temperature. That was it.

He had a vague idea—crazy in fact—but it didn’t hold water. Nemo hesitated for a few seconds, concentrated all his strength, and carved a magic array on the cookie tin. He opened his mouth, intending to ask another question when the door of the nave suddenly opened, and a neat line of Knights of Silence slid quietly into the church.

At the same time, a relatively powerful demonic aura was approaching. If his judgment was right, Hagen Ingram was heading in the direction of the nave, and it wasn’t a good idea to use this makeshift disguise while she was around.

“I’ll retreat first.” Nemo stood up and didn’t look at Jesse again.

“Contact?” Jesse raised his eyebrows.

Nemo solemnly stuffed the cookie tin into the arms of the blond young man and patted it. “Cover its aura,” he warned earnestly.

Jesse looked speechless for a moment before he opened the cover of the tin and glanced inside, then let out a laugh.

“I see,” he said. “The location of the sacrifice?”

“Engraved on the lid of the tin.”

“…Take your time.” Jesse also stood up. “My sweetheart and I will go and see those poor sacrifices.”

Nemo chose a different route and quickly left the nave. He hastily walked to his and Virgil’s room. His brain was buzzing, and God knew how much he wanted to spare a few days to shrink into a corner and sort out all the information that made his stomach churn, but he didn’t have time now. The rapid passage of time was dragging him like a wheel. He hadn’t even digested Jesse Dylan’s astounding speech and abnormal performance, so he’d rather face the exorcist instead.

As if there were countless small needles poking his nerves, Nemo clung to the staff tightly wrapped in his robe. He found a dark indoor pillar and leaned against it, trying to control his breathing.

His test was undetected, and the feedback appeared earlier than he thought.

He did his best to add a highly concealed seal on the cookie tin. It was extremely sensitive to magic. If he found that the other party failed to open it successfully the first time, he could directly remove it from a long distance. It was a harmless little test. Jesse Dylan had opened it easily, and the seal broke without leaving a trace behind, failing to bring even a moment of stagnation to the blond young man’s movements.

Nemo pressed his hand on his left chest. He could feel his heart pulsating violently under his ribs. The brilliance of the setting sun leaked in through the narrow windows, leaving a blood-red light mark on the stone tiles.

This proved his conjecture—Jesse Dylan’s strength was comparable to “him now”.

Nemo looked at his hands. This discovery didn’t make the current situation much simpler, but if there was a trace that his guess could be right…

Then everything may be more complicated than he thought before.

Nemo buried his face in his hands and smiled bitterly between his fingers. He had never imagined that one day he would have such ridiculous and dangerous expectations. Whether it was him or Dylan, it was better to be an unknown superior demon from the Abyss.

That would be great.

Nemo stared at the sunlight for a while, until the light gradually faded. Seeing that the wheel of time was about to roll on his neck, Nemo finally decided to put everything behind him and complete his current task. First, he had to make up a sufficiently credible lie about the entire afternoon…

The clinking sound of armor was heard not far away, causing Nemo to quickly recover. He forgot to look around when he was distracted, and a Knight of Silence was already too close. In desperation, he could only try his best to eliminate his aura and hide himself behind the pillar.

Wrong. Nemo suddenly recovered. Why would a Knight of Silence make such a loud sound when moving?

Nemo looked suspiciously into the dim corridor and saw a Knight of Silence walking… awkwardly. The effect was a little funny. Either the knight himself suffered from severe arthritis, or the horribly distorted armor was rusty. The other party moved forward slowly. For a moment, it was completely silent and cavalier. After a while, he relaxed again and moved casually, making the armor clink again. 

As if perceiving his sight, the knight suddenly stopped moving. The helmet turned directly in Nemo’s direction. Shit. Nemo decided to give up hiding his aura and move to knock the opponent out and lock him up in a utility room. He licked his lips nervously, and the array in his right hand was ready to go at any moment.

The Knight of Silence stretched out his hands, but instead of drawing his sword, he took off his helmet…

“Come out, Nemo,” Oliver’s voice was filled with joy. “I see you.”

Nemo almost lost control and the array in his right hand almost exploded. He thought he might be going crazy. Not to mention Jesse; even Oliver could see through his disguise.

“…Your ponytail is exposed,” Oliver added thoughtfully.

Nemo chuckled. He shook his head and strode out from behind the pillar and rushed towards Oliver, trying to give him a strong hug but the long thorns of the Knight of Silence armor dispelled his thoughts. Nemo stopped in front of Oliver and opened his arms a little embarrassedly and began to think about how to put them down without making it awkward.

Oliver clung to his helmet with one hand, and his emerald eyes were full of warm smiles. The dark and creepy knight’s uniform didn’t match his gentle face at all, creating a stark contrast. He quickly reacted to Nemo’s stiffness and raised his brows towards the long thorns on his armor. He then stretched out his other arm and gently lifted the weird mask from Nemo’s face.

Oliver took in a breath, leaned forward slightly, and tentatively kissed Nemo’s lips.

“I’m looking for you,” he said.

“Oh, it’s been a long time since I saw you.” Nemo smiled back at Oliver. Those heavy thoughts no longer seemed to be as piercing as before. Oliver Ramon would always be there when he needed it the most and could easily bring him back to the state of mind when he was in Roadside Town. “Why are you here… No, how did you get in? Those two rows of corpses have already let three groups of people pass them. Are they really useful?”

“Oh, this… It’s a long story.” Oliver scratched his head. “I have more important things to tell you.”

In fact, it was closer to “confusing” than “a long story”, Oliver thought helplessly.

Half an hour ago.

“I can only bring you here,” Parish, the Knight of Judgment, said solemnly. He carefully held a delicate silver candlestick in one hand and clenched the reins of the white horse in the other. Rather than candles, there were five dazzling white balls of light on it. “We are even now, miss. For Zenni’s sake, don’t mention that bowl of soup anymore.”

Three people, a horse, and a goat—five living creatures were squeezed together into a ball covered by a transparent barrier with ripples.

“They installed that kind of thing.” Ann curled her lips at the stone steps in the distance. Even though it wasn’t close, it was enough to see the corpses hanging from both sides of the stone steps clearly. “Now things are troublesome.”

“…Wait. You want to go in?” Parish raised his voice. “I can say very affirmatively, unless you’re a demon worshiper or a demon warlock, this kind of thing—” he glanced at the fuller goat. “Impossible.”

“Besides, you don’t have any demonic aura,” he added. “Forget it.”

“What about sneaking in with that?” Oliver stretched out his hand and pointed to the Knight of Silence patrolling not far away.

“…No one has tried it, but…”

Before Parish finished speaking, Oliver had already made his move. A soft light cable lashed out, directly covering the sole patrol knight, and dragged him into their protective barrier. The Knight of Silence, who was dragged in, immediately fainted. Although the light cable didn’t damage his armor, the flesh inside the armor made a subtle hissing sound.

Parish took a deep breath. He wasn’t wrong.

Oliver awkwardly stripped off the knight’s armor and carefully put it on himself.

“Are you thinking straight?” Ann frowned. “There’s no demonic aura on this armor, Oliver. It may not work like this.”

“If it doesn’t, we’ll run away,” Oliver said. “Didn’t we see another team on their way just now? We walked a bit faster than they did, so I’ll try to catch up. At least I have enough confidence I can escape.”

“Then I’ll stay here and support,” Ann said, glancing at Parish unabashedly. “But to be honest, I really don’t think it’s feasible. Did you memorize the protection array? Remember to make a few rounds before you come back.”

However, her warning wasn’t needed.

Oliver followed the tail end of the Knights of Silence team and carefully stepped on the stone steps.

“The smell of the Abyss.” The bodies shook gently. “Qualified. Qualified.”

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The author has something to say:

Oliver is here!

……It was said that only one person was dispatched, and now they officially invested 5/6. Tumbleweed is very cost-effective, Mr. Virgil.

————————

Nemo’s test was successful, and Jesse’s about to say goodbye to his beloved melon field…

Nemo: …Come on, hurt each other!

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 105: Sheep and Poetry

This was a genuine provocation.

If one were to say this elsewhere, although it would be annoying, it wasn’t a problem in a strict sense. The current major religions were more lenient. If a religious person were to hear it, they would give a stern glare. Jesse Dylan wouldn’t be burned at the stake, nor would he be hanged by a noose and tarred and feathered.

However, this wasn’t a bustling tavern nor a crowded street at dusk. It was the nave of the main church of the Abyssal Church.

Adrian stood quietly besides Jesse, slightly lowering his upper body, like a leopard waiting to pounce. The demon warlock behind the sermon table was silent for a few seconds; a few tentacles stuck out of his cuffs, pointing straight in the direction of the blond young man. The color of the tips of the translucent tentacles gradually turned black, like the eyes of a snail sticking out.

“Please continue,” the demon warlock said politely, but his tone was much colder than before. “Forgive me for not understanding your point of view.”

As a preacher, this response was truly qualified for the position he held. Adrian, however, didn’t plan to let down his guard. He stared at the swinging tentacles and clenched the metal bow in his hand.

Jesse let out a long “oh”, and the glee in his tone became a bit heavier. “According to what you just said, you seem to be pretty sure that your enemy… Well, humans have turned their backs on your God.”

“You’re right,” the demon warlock responded. The tentacles sticking out of his cuffs move slowly. “I was also a human once, and I was blinded by the various religions. Demons are evil and need to be exorcized. This concept has been deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and the opposite of the Demon King is God—who regulates all this? Few would seek the truth.”

“After thinking one step further than others, do you think that what you see is the ‘truth’?” The blond young man sneered. Adrian could hear the sarcasm in his voice. “It’s better to say, you hope that it’s the truth—I have read your teachings, the Demon King… Oh, sorry, your God is the image of a victim. It endured betrayals and killings but didn’t say a word. What a ‘kind’ and ‘great’ sacrifice.”

“Now that you have an understanding, then you should know very well. It was a miraculous life, and surface creatures—especially humans—fed themselves with this miraculous remnant. They consciously isolated demons and excluded those of us who wanted to worship and stand on their side. Evil? We are just following the laws of nature, working to overthrow this unnatural…”

“This is the question I want to talk about,” Jesse interrupted unceremoniously. “Do you think you are important?”

Adrian’s brows slightly furrowed.

Over the years he had been on the battlefield, he had gained confidence in reading people. This was also the reason why he didn’t take Jesse Dylan’s love bullshit seriously. This man was full of lies and the smile on his face could hardly reach the bottom of his eyes. The beautiful words in his mouth were like a script, and after stripping them off, they were simply full of banter and indifference. Long gone were the days when he was a teenager. As a warrior who had seen enough blood and fire, it was impossible for him to be confused by that beautiful face.

He was suspicious and vigilant about every word that Jesse Dylan’s mouth uttered.

But now Dylan’s momentum had changed. The casual look on the surface was still there, but Adrian suddenly felt that what Dylan was saying now did have some seriousness behind it.

“Of course, it’s a bit rude to say that. After all, you’re not the only one with this problem. Let me avoid it. In view of the fact that humans have the most religions, human beliefs, human love and dedication, will always be extremely important to the so-called omnipotent ‘Gods’. And mankind’s virtues… Ha, ‘virtues’ always apply to said Gods, don’t they? Even for most humans, they can’t even agree on the standards of virtue of their own ethnic group more than a hundred years ago.”

“And the appearance of God… Well, let me see. Zenni taught by the Laddism Church, is a wise and majestic old man. Unfortunately, Celestine, the God of the Forest, is the image of a female elf. Mansfield, the God of Fire, has a beard that all dwarves envy, while the Dragon God Dimitrius has the most noble golden scales.”

“This just shows their superficiality and arrogance,” the demon warlock said as his tone became icier. The tentacles continued to stretch longer, and their tip was no more than an arm’s length from the blond young man. “Those are all imaginary gods who have never appeared before. Our God exists—”

“Indeed, and it happens to be the appearance that is ‘closest’ to you and ‘most beneficial’ to your cause.” Jesse clapped his hands. “Is there any difference between you and other races from the perspective of believing in ‘being loved by God’?”

“This is pure sophistry. It’s the inevitable result of my God’s protection.”

“If you need all sheep to love and respect you from the bottom of their hearts when shearing wool, then imagine yourself as a sheep, and you can continue to think so. Wool is exchanged for gold coins, and gold coins are exchanged for poetry, but can a sheep really imagine human poetry?” The blond young man showed a perfect smile. “…Even if the sheep disappear from the world one day, it’s still fine to raise other livestock and grow more crops. What do you think? At least that’s what I think.”

Adrian suddenly felt a chill on his back inexplicably.

“If that’s your argument, then you’re in the wrong place.” The demon warlock walked out from behind the sermon table and showed a weird smile on his face. “You should go to the ’Gatekeepers’ for a long talk. They’ll welcome you.”

The other party didn’t have the attitude for any more equal talks. The demon warlock decided to take the lead and teach this ignorant madman a small lesson. However, the next moment, he was horrified to find that his human body was completely unable to move, and only the part mixed with demon flesh could still struggle.

Without hesitation, he directly activated the alarm array on the sermon table. At the same time, the outstretched eyes on his tentacles stared straight at the dangerous uninvited guest and saw the other party’s blue eyes turn golden.

As soon as the word “charm” crossed his mind, his thoughts turned blank.

When a Knight of Silence guard arrived, there was already a peaceful scene in the nave. The preacher was still preaching calmly, and a beautiful blond young man was sitting on a bench, listening very seriously.

“An unexpected magic diffraction.” The demon warlock behind the sermon table turned his head. “It’s just a false alarm. Don’t mind.”

“What’s the origin of magic? We have reason to think…” After that, he continued his preaching.

When the alarm sounded, Hagen Ingram was making final preparations in her room.

The alarm lasted for a very short time, and she carefully explored it at that time but didn’t find any hostile magic fluctuations. The Knights of Silence could handle it, she thought as she dragged out a huge python suitcase from the dark cabinet with great care. The suitcase that was carefully taken out was then levitated by a spell and landed firmly in the magic array.

A series of small magic arrays instantly floated above the suitcase, and as Hagen’s fingers crossed, they burst like bubbles one by one. It seemed whatever was inside had noticed the disappearance of the shackles and it started to struggle frantically. It impatiently opened the lid of the suitcase and gushed out the window.

“Go,” she said softly, cocking the corners of her mouth slightly. “Help me record everything, my lovely children.”

When the first surveillance bug flew out the window, Nemo was rushing to the nave of the Church of Silence. After the short alarm sounded, he subconsciously moved his attention to the nave and then found a new visitor at the Abyssal Church.

It wasn’t Oliver. He was depressed for a few seconds, but decided he had to count on Jesse Dylan for the time being. No, it wasn’t just Jesse—Adrian Cross’ aura was also there in the same place as him. He should be concealed under some kind of illusionary spell. Nemo glanced at the cookie tin in his arms and decided to find a chance to practice his illusionary skills from the abyssal faction.

He was startled when he saw a swarm of surveillance bugs flying over from outside a window.

They looked very similar to the surveillance insects he saw during the Black Chapter’s test, though they looked a bit different. The surveillance insects of the Mercenary Guild had a fat abdomen covered with stripes, but these insects had that replaced with an eyeball. After retracting his gaze, Nemo immediately hastened his steps. From what he read, the rituals of the Abyssal church didn’t include this step.

Fortunately, meeting his teammates went smoothly.

The sun was about to set, and there were a few more wandering demon worshipers in the nave, which allowed him to mix in easily. Nemo sat down not far from Jesse, and Jesse recognized him instantly by his iconic ponytail.

“Darling… Sorry, Mr. Light.” Seeing Nemo cracking his fingers, Jesse wisely changed his tone. “Are you alright? Did you find anything?”

“Aurorae is coming early,” Nemo whispered, even discreetly adding a confounding effect. “They want to advance the sacrificial time.”

“…Do you remember what your goal is?”

“Mr. Virgil and I have to get things done as soon as possible.” Nemo hesitated for a while, not thinking this was the right time to discuss the truth about this church. “If I’m not mistaken, you came here because…”

“Because Duran Virgil’s details are unknown, and my sweetheart Adri knew enough about this goddamn place.” Jesse spread his hands and glanced at the cookie tin Nemo was holding. “The captain decided that we should keep up as support in case something goes wrong on your end. In a sense, I’m merely a bonus, so don’t mind me.”

“Just in time.” Nemo cut to the chase. “As usual, they have a group of civilians as sacrifices. If you can… I want to help them escape.”

“Now? It’s not impossible, but I have to say—”

“Not now,” Nemo sighed. “I have to act with Virgil, so I need someone to help me pay attention to the movements over here. Once they decide to use the sacrifice, you can notify me in time. Uh, find a way to delay if necessary. If it’s Mr. Cross—” he had no intention of hiding it and looked directly at the position where the knight was standing, “There should be a way.”

“Your tone is becoming more like that of the captain of the team.” Jesse raised an eyebrow. “…But the captain will at least explain to us the entire picture of the plan.”

Nemo was silent.

“I’ll tell you,” he said succinctly, “but not now.”

“You can’t do this! I don’t like being stringed along.” Jesse showed an expression full of grievance, while Adrian remained suspiciously silent. “Well, if you’re willing to give a tiny piece of debris to the captain—”

“Aren’t you a diviner?” Nemo glanced at the blond young man. “Guess it yourself.”

“You’re so cold,” Jesse muttered.

“I have more important questions to ask than this.” Nemo raised his eyes and looked at the statue of Ulysses again. He suppressed the convulsions in his stomach, forcibly ignored the constriction in his throat, and asked his questions as calmly as possible.

“Considering your abilities, Dylan, did you know my identity earlier on? If you have a definite answer, I want to know,” he asked bluntly. “And if you really know, then who are you… and why do you insist on joining us?”

---

The author has something to say:

It’s not a very traditional Western fantasy worldview. _(:D”∠)_

So magic has nothing to do with faith, and laws don’t exist out of nowhere (?

————————

Nemo: If you don’t understand, just ask. That’s the job of a librarian.

Jesse: ? (Hold on to the melon in his hand)

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 104: The Atheist

At this moment, Nemo seemed to have swallowed a sharp piece of ice. Its edges and corners scratched his esophagus, leaving behind an icy temperature that triggered a series of uncontrollable convulsions. Nemo felt nauseous, but he stabilized and forced himself to continue peeping.

No, there was still a difference. This demon didn’t struggle as painfully as Pandorater. It remained motionless, and the cross section bound by the law revealed dry and rotten flesh. However, because the law wasn’t a thing that existed in a physical sense, the scent of rancidity smelt only a bit and wasn’t very strong.

Except for an extremely weak multiple heartbeat, it was no different from a corpse.

Nemo could estimate the strength of this demon and its vigor wasn’t strong. At most it was a little stronger than Pandorater. It now seemed to be exhausted and had even stopped breathing.

He recognized this thing now.

This was a dying mountain nightmare leopard. They lived in the upper and middle layers of the Abyss where the hunting area was very narrow. They sleep most of the time, so they spend more of their lives in dreams than in reality. The racial strength belonged to a miserable category of superior demons, but these lazy and evasive creatures didn’t care. The racial characteristics of the mountain nightmare leopard were similar to Pandorater. They disliked disputes and were relatively pacifist in the Abyss.

Nemo carefully explored its physical condition. The reality in front of him aggravated the cold feeling in his stomach. It was hopeless. Even now, he couldn’t save it. Its organs had withered and most of them had long been lost. It could have been saved hundreds of years earlier, but now death had onset and it couldn’t be reversed.

It would continue to survive this terrifying pain for decades, and then die completely. This mountain nightmare leopard was most likely aware of this, as its consciousness wasn’t in its noumenon. It was like…

Wait a minute.

If he changed himself… Nemo subconscious thought. Since it had to endure this kind of torture when it was awake, if he was the mountain nightmare leopard, there was only one best choice. If it couldn’t die quickly, then it would separate its consciousness from the body and rely on external forces to make the consciousness fall into deep sleep.

“…Bagelmaurus. Let’s go,” Nemo murmured. He prayed slightly bitterly, hoping that the reality was not as he had guessed.

“What?” The gray parrot stopped pecking at the cookies. “Go?”

“First, we have to find a way to let go of those sacrifices.” Nemo’s voice was a little unstable. “Second… It seems that I really do need to go to the catacombs.”

“What are you talking about? Are you dreaming—uh, excuse me. As you can see, the magic array in this room is very strong. It didn’t even respond to my attack at all. Even if you’re a complete…”

“No.” Nemo raised his hand with a solemn expression. “All ‘impossibilities’ have a ‘limit’ as a prerequisite.”

He stretched out his slender fingers and drew a few imaginary lines in the air. Oliver’s assistance wasn’t needed this time as the empty space cracked open, revealing a gap large enough for one person to pass through. There was a simple room on the other side of the gap, with all kinds of debris piled on the neatly placed wooden frame.

“I’ll steal some clothes first.” Nemo spoke quickly. “Magic can trigger their attention. Since I’m not very skilled—can you camouflage yourself with magic?”

“…If I meet a demon warlock, I’ll definitely be seen through!”

Nemo looked around the room and finally found a cookie tin on top of the cabinet. He stood on tiptoe, hooked it with his staff, and then poured all the cookies inside out onto the tea table.

“Go in,” he said solemnly, pointing to the empty tin. “I’ll cover—at least I can hide your aura.”

The gray parrot looked at him angrily for a few seconds, then sighed before mentally giving up. It squeezed into the tin honestly. Nemo took the tin into his arms and crawled into the hole made by the crack in space.

The messy decoration on the gray parrot’s body clattered against the wall of the tin, which really made it sound like a tin of cookies.

On the other end of the crack was a small warehouse with various items. There was no security. The robes of the believers in the church were stacked into neat squares, and the masks with uniform styles were buckled into a tightly sewn pile, all neatly stacked on a wooden frame against the wall. Nemo took off his black robe and quickly changed into a believer’s robe. After carefully smoothing out the unnatural wrinkles on the robe, he tied his hair into a short ponytail again and took the mask and put it on his face.

After repeatedly confirming that there weren’t any exposed places in the outfit, Nemo wrapped the staff with his old robe and hugged it in his arms with the cookie tin.

The small warehouse was above ground. When he walked out, he saw that it was a bright afternoon.

Nemo was aware that Virgil had returned to his room, and that no one had followed him. It seemed that his speculation was correct. Virgil was currently regarded as a ‘demon worshiper who serves a superior demon’ by the Abyssal Church. However, the actions of a superior demon had always been willful, so it was common for them to disappear for days, even weeks, for no reason, so there was no need to deal with its believers who served them particularly.

It was still early, so he could still gather information first. When the next sunrise came, he would ask Oliver for support. At the very least, he couldn’t get the sacrifices out “inconspicuously” and “foolproof” by himself. The space gap he created was too rough, and only those with high enough magic could pass through alive. Nemo didn’t think those human sacrifices had this qualification.

Nemo tightened his arms around the staff and cookie tin.

He didn’t know why, but at this moment, he especially wanted to say a few words to Oliver—any words would do.

He wanted to hug him and vent furiously. After this was over, he probably needed to increase the frequency of their practices… When the time came that he got enough conclusive evidence, he would be the first to tell Oliver.

[If one day I find out that everything is a lie and he really intends to harm innocent people, I will personally kill him—even if I die. Before that, I will stand by his side and move forward with him.]

Oliver once promised Adrian Cross this.

I will not lie to you. Never. Nemo glanced in the direction of the sun, but his eyes didn’t feel a slight tinge of pain from the strong light.

…I hope you will still move forward with me.

Nemo took a long breath, lowered his head, and continued to walk towards the central area of the church.

It just so happened that his support was there.

“We have to find a weakly guarded place.” Adrian looked at the stone steps covered with corpses on both sides. At this moment, his monk uniform was full of holes and black spots from bloodstains. His face was covered in grime, making him look quite pitiful. “First, think of a way to get in—”

“Why?” Jesse asked rhetorically. He looked no better than Adrian, as his long blond hair was a mess. “Just enter directly from the entrance.”

The knight commander glared at Jesse from head to toe, giving him a look that said “are you crazy” before silently pointing to the two rows of corpses and then pointing to the monk’s uniform on his body.

“But we’ve already met tons of guardian demons along the way!” Jesse shouted. “I don’t want to move anymore!”

“So you’d rather commit suicide?” Adrian calmly concluded.

“Don’t underestimate me too much, baby.” Jesse shook his fingers while he used his other hand to dig deep into his pocket. “I got a lot of good things from my old employer. These two rows… Uh, of things, mainly identifies by smell.”

“You can’t just get a demon’s flesh on your body.” Adrian frowned. “They only judge two things—a demon’s flesh that’s integrated into the body or a demon’s contract, and we have neither.”

When he said this, his eyes stared straight at the beautiful blond young man, but the other party didn’t show any unnatural mood.

“Oh, I found it!” Jesse held up a sealed black vial like it was a treasure. “A good thing for disguising your aura—er, don’t look at me like that. You don’t want to know what it’s made of.”

Adrian narrowed his dark brown eyes. He had never heard of such a thing on the market.

“It’s just an unorthodox gadget.” Jesse seemed to read his thoughts and  shrugged generously. “After all, the noble Knights of Judgment have always rushed head-on and wouldn’t dabble with this kind of stuff.”

Having said that, he bit open the stopper and poured the contents of the vial directly into his mouth.

The knight commander looked at the small bottle’s opening that was currently stuffed into Jesse’s mouth with disgust. He took a step closer and reached out to grab it from Jesse.

However, Jesse didn’t hand him the bottle.

Instead, the blond young man directly grabbed the front lapel of the monk’s uniform and kissed Adrian on the lips. Adrian’s first reaction was to break free and punch his opponent unceremoniously at the same time, but Jesse raised his free hand and had unknowingly grabbed his wrist. The strength was amazing. He had a strong physique as a Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgment, which he had trained for many years, yet he couldn’t break away from Jesse’s grip.

At the same time, an indescribable liquid passed over into his mouth from Jesse’s tongue.

Adrian frowned tightly. After swallowing a mouthful of the astringent and sweet liquid, he bit down hard with his teeth as Jesse released him at the same time, took a step back, and successfully kept his tongue.

“Don’t be angry,” the blond young man said lightly as he wiped his lips. “This thing deteriorates very easily and isn’t suitable for exposure. I can’t help it. You see, now we’re even. This thing is worth a lot of money, so count it as my contribution to the team.” He stuffed the empty bottle back into his pocket and repeatedly sighed. “Its time limit is very short. How about we move forward first, Mr. Consultant?”

Adrian took a deep breath. He glared at Jesse Dylan coldly before he raised his foot and stepped onto the stone pavement.

The two rows of corpses hung quietly, without the slightest reaction, like they were real corpses. Strangely, he hesitated for a few seconds. In his impression, even if they disguised their aura, these things shouldn’t react like this…

The former knight commander glanced at the blond young man behind him and decided not to worry about this detail for the time being.

Jesse Dylan, on the other hand, was thinking about something else…

Cheap gooseberry wine didn’t taste very good. Jesse shoved the empty black vial back into his pocket with dissatisfaction. If he had known, he would have chosen something that tasted better. He glanced at the corpses on both sides again. They seemed very aware of the current affairs and remained motionless.

They soon reached the entrance of the Abyssal Church.

“Do you want to cover your face, love?” Jesse said sweetly. “You’re very famous, aren’t you?”

Adrian ignored him. The spiritual sacrifice was still in effect, so he simply drew a few magic arrays to completely hide himself. In an instant, the blond young man was left in place by himself.

“You’re using a high-level illusion spell that has high magic consumption? ……I see, you’re quite angry.” Jesse hung his head pitifully, while his hand was unceremonious. He pushed open the door full of eyes and entered the nave of the Church of Silence in a dignified manner.

Adrian hesitated for a moment before he whispered, “It’s you who needs to cover your face. Only demon warlocks and superior demons can show their faces here.”

“I think my face is pretty good,” Jesse whispered back confidently. “It would be a pity to cover it up, right?”

Adrian didn’t respond to him.

There was only a demon warlock who had only a mouth on his face and was still standing in front of the stage. It was afternoon, and there were no audience members, but he still spoke to the air, in a gentle tone and full of emotions, as if the place was full of believers.

“That’s a demon warlock. It’s best not to attract his attention,” Adrian whispered coldly. “Let’s go find Mr. Light.”

“How? Knock on each door one by one and ask? You’re so direct that it’s cute.” Jesse inserted a finger in his ears, then waved his arms and greeted the demon warlock that was onstage. “It’s Light who needs to reduce his sense of presence—why don’t we go ahead and wait for him to come to us.”

“How will he notice…”

“Oh,” Jesse said, showing a bright smile “he’ll notice.”

The demon warlock who was preaching on stage politely returned Jesse’s greeting. Jesse picked a chair casually and sat without any formalities with his legs crossed.

“What is the origin of magic? We have reason to believe that the Abyss is the origin of magic. The superior demon provides flesh, and the demon warlock can use both surface magic and abyssal magic. However, the experimental records of the ‘Gatekeepers’ have proved that the reverse is not feasible.” He paused and turned his face that only had a mouth towards Jesse’s direction. The blond young man was resting his elbows on his knees, holding his cheek with his right hand and had a cynical expression.

This new visitor looked calm and didn’t seem to be surprised by the content of his sermon.

“This is not a gap in strength,” the demon warlock continued. “It’s enough to prove that there are remnants of circuits of abyssal magic inside the human body, but they abandoned it and took refuge in a brand-new magic system. Of course, it’s a choice of free will, but what did they do next? They returned to the bottom of the Abyss, plundered our original Gods and suppressed our former brothers. Why? So, they can monopolize this power.”

Jesse still maintained his original sitting posture, but he raised his left hand high.

“Just a little question, my dear friend.” He raised his unblemished face.

“Why do you humans… Oh, sorry, your type and humans, like to take yourselves so seriously?”

---

The author has something to say:

…I like to put a disclaimer that this has nothing to do with any religion that actually exists!…

————————

Knight Commander: …Sure enough, I’d better find a chance to fight Dylan.

Jesse, as the only evil camp of the team (?) I really tried hard (X

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Kinky Thoughts:

Very interesting development between Adrian and Jesse…

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 103: The Living Building

“If you think that Aurorae will still come at the original time, you are dead wrong—”

“Aurorae?” Oliver paused and held his spoon in his hand for a few seconds. “Who’s Aurorae?”

“…” The Knight of Judgment narrowed his eyes, squeezed the edge of the soup bowl, and studied his opponent’s reaction. It was a pity that what discouraged him was that the reaction didn’t seem to be false. “Are you really here just to do a general task?”

“Mm-hmm.” Oliver scooped a bowl for himself and stared carefully at the movements of the Knight of Judgment, ready to release icicles at any moment. “Either way, you can tell me more, and I’ll give you some information about our mission. The records of the Mercenary Guild can’t be falsified. How about it?”

“How about starting with your name?”

“Let’s start with something else,” Oliver laughed. After all, their consultant was once famous, and no one knew whether he, as the leader of the team, had been blacklisted by the Laddism Church. “You see, I’m also a Black Chapter, so I don’t want to be on the Knights of Judgment radar. You guys don’t get along with us little people.”

The fuller goat behind Oliver stretched out its tongue and began chewing on Oliver’s hair.

Parish Sherman, the Knight of Judgment, held his forehead weakly.

Although he personally hated the Black Chapters, if this team had no intention of disrupting the game, he really had no need to fight against such opponents. On the other hand, it seemed that the equipment of this team was extremely poor. They didn’t look powerful at all. When was the last time he saw a regular team transporting the entire team’s supplies using a fuller goat? Ten years ago?

The young man in front of him seemed to be the leader. He didn’t look old and didn’t put on any airs—rather than air, his tone was a bit too cautious. He also seemed proficient at cooking, so it could be seen that he does a lot of chores.

Snake level. Parish frowned. He had attacked them first, and considering this person easily repelled him, nothing was making sense at this moment.

These two people were completely different from the arrogant and domineering Black Chapters he had encountered before. They were frighteningly low-key and didn’t seem to have a strict hierarchy relationship. At present, the two leisurely Black Chapters were minding the pot of soup carefully, as if it was the most important thing in the world. He could almost believe that they were tourists who seemed to have gotten lost.

What the hell is this team up to?

“In fact, I don’t know much about Aurorae…” Ann soaked the bread in the jerky soup and ate it. “I remember that he’s not an enemy of the Laddism Church. What’s he doing here?”

“Information for information.” Parish sat upright as he drank the soup solemnly.

“You first.”

“Why?”

“That soup is ours,” Ann said solemnly. “And the soup contains our most expensive jerky.”

“…” Now Parish was pretty sure this Black Chapter team really didn’t have anything like ‘pride’.

“Knight of Judgment, Parish Sherman. I’m here to record the battle between Aurorae and the Abyssal Church.” He held the soup bowl in both hands and carefully placed it to the right of his body. “Now your turn.”

“We’re here to accompany someone sightseeing.” Oliver considered his words. Mr. Virgil’s task was public, so it shouldn’t be a problem to reveal tidbits of it… He activated the black badge, used his magic to cover up key information, and briefly showed the content of the task to Parrish. “Our client wants to enter the catacombs of the Abyssal Church… Er, you can look for yourself. He designated one of us to accompany him.”

“Are you joking with me?” Parrish took a deep breath. “If you’re using magic, I have to say…”

“No, Mr. Virgil, he really—”

“Who?” Parish shouted suddenly causing the fuller goat to take a step back in fright.

“Duran Virgil.” This time it was Ann’s turn to frown.

“Describe what he looks like.” Parish stared into Ann’s eyes.

“Information for information.” Ann shrugged. “You scared our goat.”

The Knight of Judgment was silent for a while before he seemed to make up his mind. “What do you want to know?”

“Before you said that we ‘sure know how to pick the time’. I hope you can explain why.” This time, Oliver spoke before Ann. “And— If Mr. Virgil is the person who you’re thinking of, are you after him?” A Knight of Judgment wouldn’t lie, which was quite advantageous in negotiations.

“No,” Parish replied quickly. “If it’s really that person, then it’s just a personal matter of mine. It has nothing to do with the Laddism Church. I swear to Zenni that unless he starts killing humans indiscriminately, I won’t act against him.”

“Well, we’ll tell you the appearance and characteristics of Mr. Virgil.” Oliver put down his bowl of soup. “After you.”

“There is a powerful superior demon sleeping in the Abyssal Church, and those crazy cultists have been working to awaken it,” Parish snorted. “Although Aurorae is also a superior demon, it has been committed to eradicating unstable factors that ‘may cause mass destruction’, so it’s on our amnesty list. According to records, it comes here every three hundred years to strengthen the seal of the superior demon.”

“Then there’s conflict within the Abyssal Church,” Ann answered.

“According to the text, this has been the case in recent times.” Parish’s tone was serious. “I need to observe and record the process and the result of the conflict to ensure that no accidents occur.”

“I was under the impression that Aurorae was known as the ‘Superior Demon Slayer’,” Ann raised her brows. “Wouldn’t it be better for it to just kill the superior demon in the Abyssal Church?”

“It’s probably because the one in the Abyssal Church is too powerful.” There was more disgust in Parish’s voice. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t be worshiped by those lunatics. They’re counting on it to wake up and realize what they call… ‘the sky will fall, and the Abyss will rise’,” he sneered. “Aurorae will arrive early in the next few days. If you’re not here to muddy the water, then you’re simply too ignorant—It seems like you’re the latter.”

“That superior demon… It’s not sleeping in the catacombs of the Church of Silence, right?” Ann murmured, throwing the last piece of bread into her bowl of soup.

“I’m not certain of that.” Parish shook his head. “Our intelligence isn’t as detailed.”

Despite what the other party said, an ominous premonition crawled over Oliver’s back in an instant. “The Mr. Virgil who entrusted us… is more than 1.9 meters tall, with brown skin, short brown-gray hair, and brown-yellow eyes. He carries a lot of things on his back, looking like a painter,” he described skillfully, omitting the part about the “demon warlock”.

“It’s him,” Parish sighed. “Damn it, he definitely has a purpose.”

“Why do you say that?”

This time, Parish didn’t plan to haggle with them with trading information. “He has sneaked into churches of various religions several times to steal research results on erosion spells, but he has also been committed to exorcizing demons. His enthusiasm is frighteningly high, so everyone generally turns a blind eye to him. I just don’t think he’s a bit pleasing to the eye, but in front of his merits… I have no position to be hostile to him.”

“Does the Abyssal Church also have research on erosion spells?”

“Yes,” Parish said, answering Oliver’s question. “Sneaking into the catacombs may just be a cover. Virgil’s strength is mind control. Whether it’s a human or a demon, as long as their strength is lower than his, they can’t escape… What’s with the expression?”

“Oh, nothing. Continue,” Ann coughed.

“…Can’t escape his control. You shouldn’t be nervous, though. Your teammate isn’t a demon warlock.” Parish seemed to be holding back an eyeroll. “I hope I didn’t make a mistake in my judgment—you don’t seem to be lying. Since you have no plans to get in the way, I have to continue to move on.”

“Do you mind if we go together?” Oliver stood up while Ann raised one of her brows.

“What?”

“Our client seems to be hiding many things,” Oliver said slowly. “Before the task is completed, I have to tell him in person that I’m considering raising the price.”

‘No wonder,’ Oliver thought. ‘I hope this ‘enthusiastic’ exorcist will not try to control Nemo.’ He wasn’t too worried that Nemo could be controlled. The issue was the chaos that was about to happen.

Nemo’s identity couldn’t be exposed. Mr. Cross and Dylan hadn’t arrived yet at the Church of Silence, and no one knew if they could get to Nemo in time. The disposable communication crystal in his hand was one way, and there was nearly an entire day before sunrise tomorrow. If something went wrong before then, they needed to ensure that all their combat power was present.

It was only the first day. He adjusted his breathing. There was still time.

The person that Oliver was worried about was currently looking at the special dungeon he was assigned to by the Abyssal Church with interest.

This was more like a high-end room than a prison—if he ignored the tapestries painted on the walls full of imprisonment arrays and the wallpaper inlaid with erosion spells. It almost felt comfortable in a way. Nemo picked up a few cookies from the saucer on the tea table and started chewing on them, and was relieved to find that they were better than dry food.

The long-lost sweetness calmed his mood a bit.

The Abyssal Church was very cautious. There wasn’t even a surveillance array from the outside world, eliminating all possibility of any two-way influence. Unfortunately, this was just a room for a “piece of flesh from a superior demon”. No matter what his race was, this couldn’t possibly stop a complete superior demon. Rather than letting the Abyssal Church monitor him in fear, it was better to let them think that he’d been locked up tightly.

“Bagelmaurus,” Nemo whispered as he took another cookie. “Attack the wall… Don’t shiver. ‘Please’ attack the wall.”

The gray parrot still shivered and spewed out a dark ball of light, which blasted towards the wall but dissipated seconds before hitting it.

“Um, seriously. Don’t shiver. Would you like some cookies?” Nemo felt a little helpless. He even missed the strutting of “Lord Bagelmaurus” for a few seconds.

“Lord Bagelmaurus” didn’t touch the cookie in Nemo’s hand. It trembled and pecked the cookies in the bowl instead, almost pecking them away.

“Weaken, imprison, and erode.” Nemo recognized the reaction of the magic array. The construction of it was very delicate, and this room couldn’t have just been prepared. In other words, it wasn’t prepared for him. A church that believed in the Demon King had carefully set up a special cell for a superior demon. Looking at the reaction of the Bishop of the Abyssal Church, they seem to have a lot of research on how to deal with superior demons.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the Abyssal Church’s expectation was that the last “guest” for this place should be Aurorae.

However, he wasn’t sure if he would become a sacrifice. Nemo rubbed his chin with his fingers. Superior demons who were imprisoned for no reason would indeed feel angry, but there were many superior demons behind the Abyssal Church who secretly supported them. Ordinary superior demons wouldn’t offend their compatriots on the surface just because they lost some face.

He had to make sure that Hagen wasn’t lying. After all, it could affect their next plan.

Nemo opened his lips slightly and took a deep breath.

Jesse Dylan once told him that he was “just bound by cognition”. He now knew that there wasn’t anything wrong with what he said. The cognition of ordinary mages would be bound by power, and their limited power would prevent them from doing things outside the scope of their abilities. He was the opposite. His power growth depended on the cognition that came from his own heart.

If he thought he was an ordinary person, then he was an ordinary person. If he firmly believed that he was a demon warlock, he could indeed exert matching power, and now…

Imagine. There were no spells, no runes—imagine and turn it into reality.

Nemo closed his eyes as he frantically drew out his own power. Invisible peeping nets suddenly spread out. He wanted to see every detail of this church, and then…

He gasped, causing the cookie to fall to the ground.

He found something more compelling than the location of the human sacrifices, or the military division of the Church of Silence, or even the mysterious catacombs. Since he stepped into the Church of Silence, all the details of incongruity had been answered.

The distorted asymmetrical shape, the strong incense and vaguely rancid smell, the slightly higher temperature in the room.

It was alive.

He saw something in the stone bricks. This huge and magnificent building was built on the bones of a giant beast. Those solid bones became the most reliable pillars of the church, but this was only part of it. Nemo could see more at this time.

The scene before him was no stranger. The situation of this superior demon was exactly the same as Pandorater, who was bound by the Mercenary Guild during the Black Chapter’s test. Part of its body was exposed to the surface while the other parts were bound by the law of the abyss, stuck in the cracks. Unlike Pandorater, the parts above ground were almost just bones. It was dying, rotting alive, every minute and every second.

……But it was still alive.

---

The author has something to say:

Oliver is going to rush over XD

————————

Parish: ? Don’t be nervous. Your teammate isn’t a demon warlock.

Ann: Ummmmmmmmmm

Oliver: …

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 102: Imprisonment

The afternoon sun was warm and dazzling.

Virgil retracted his hand. He wasn’t wearing a mask, and his plain and hearty smile disappeared without a trace at that moment. The tall man lowered his head and looked coldly at what was struggling on the ground…

It was the demon warlock they ran into when they first entered the church. He had basically lost his human appearance and was closer to a large ball of tar. The deformation was so severe that only his human-like head was retained, while other parts were completely distorted into dark and viscous oil.

At that moment, he was dying, and his shrill screams were bound in a small space covered by a mute array.

“Exorcist!” he roared. His moist body was melting and oozing out blood that had a fishy smell. “How dare you… How can you use a corrosion spell! You filthy traitor!”

“Because it’s very easy to use,” Virgil’s tone was mixed with a sneer. “It’s also suitable for torture.”

“So you’re…!”

“Yes, but I’m not the same garbage as you who prey on children, ‘Pied Piper*’. Even human hunters know that hunting cubs is an unwise choice.”

*Based off the legend describing a Piper dressed in multicolored (“pied”) clothing, who was a rat catcher hired by the town to lure away rats with his magic pipe. When the citizens refuse to pay for this service, he retaliates by using his instrument’s magical power to lure away their children.

“You…” The demon warlock who fell to the ground couldn’t speak anymore. His deformed body had turned into pus and blood. The remaining head was like ice soaked in hot water. His mouth began to melt and deform, so he could only open his bloodshot eyes in vain.

Soon, the head disappeared completely, leaving only a dirty and greasy pool of blood behind.

Virgil slowly opened a vial and sprinkled some white powder on the blood. With a shrill hissing sound, the only trace that was left by the demon warlock disappeared from the world. He glanced at the position of the sun and briefly estimated the time. Shortly after noon, the inquiry went smoother than he thought.

Next, he just needed to find some small fries to confirm the information. Virgil put on his mask again and stroked the rough wall of the church.

“Colestoro,” he murmured. “Wait a bit longer for me, alright?”

In the third room of the library.

There was a small tea table and two chairs in the center of the room. Nemo pulled one of them away in silence and then pressed all his weight on it. He gripped the armrest and stared at the hanging lights on the walls around the room. Since they were located underground, this narrow room had no windows. In addition to the hanging lights, the roof had a concave circular structure, and its edges cast soft, warm light.

It wasn’t dim there, but Nemo only felt thick black shadows that submerged his knees and froze his calves.

“Bagelmaurus.” Nemo, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. His voice was low, as if he was talking to himself. “Since you have already run away before, why do you want to check on me? Is it because you’re unsure about my race?”

The gray parrot hesitated.

If it was like the past, it would spout its conjecture mercilessly, but now Nemo Light wasn’t in the right state. His tone had a strong negative intonation, as if he was aware of something close to an answer, and he didn’t like the sound of that answer.

Bagelmaurus racked its brain.

“Because of the aura.” It finally chose to speak truthfully while remaining cautious, unsure whether Nemo was testing it in bad taste. “You… Your aura doesn’t seem like that of someone who has never experienced battle… So what you said at Nadine’s side…” Doesn’t hold water, it answered the rest in its heart, daring not to say it aloud.

“So you think I might be lying?” A wry smile appeared on Nemo’s expressionless face. “Well, I can understand why you ran away.”

“But I’m not lying,” he added with difficulty, as he stared at the wooden grain on the tea table.

Nemo scanned the books of the Abyssal Church. He thought that such a huge amount of information would take at least a few days to sort out. Unexpectedly, it was like a fine stone thrown into the lake; the collection of books in the three rooms didn’t add much burden to his brain. If the author of those books wasn’t spouting nonsense, then there could only be two answers about his “race”.

Either he was a humanoid wanderer who had never been recorded and ran contrary to all known laws of nature. There were records of all types of powerful demons in the Abyss, but only the wanderers at the bottom were still unknown. Maybe he just sealed his memory on his own so that he could climb out of the Abyss and look at the surface. This possibly wasn’t zero, but it was miraculously slim. It was like hoping to find creatures that exactly matched humans but came from the deepest depths of an unreachable trench.

Or maybe he was a creature they called the “Demon King” of this world.

He desperately looked for exceptions and counterexamples in those documents, trying to overturn this conjecture about the “Demon King”. He did unearth more details, and those details, without exception, proved the rationality of that absurd conjecture.

Nemo inserted his fingers into his black hair and held his elbows to the edge of the tea table. He had never really expected a miracle, but now he needed it badly for the very first time.

It was okay if he wasn’t human. It was okay if he was a superior demon that no one had ever seen before. Any kind of monster would do. In this way, his behavior could be chaotic, aimless, or even completely out of curiosity.

But if… If it’s the “Demon King”…

The arrival of Bagelmaurus, Oliver’s abnormally overwhelming power. Was this all truly “coincidental”? What if all their encounters had been arranged in advance?

Nemo stretched out his hand and grabbed the fabric of his robe tightly around his chest. He suddenly felt difficulty breathing. His body dutifully imitated humans, and his head became dizzy from all the blood that was rushing into his brain.

Assuming the “Demon King” was really “one” creature that continuously evolved and had existed for tens of thousands of years, he was still “Nemo Light” currently, but once his hidden memories surged up, would he still be “himself”?

He had never been able to truly fear death and could give up everything in front of him casually. If it was all because he subconsciously knew that he wouldn’t really die, ultimately, he would be “indifferent” to everything…

Nemo opened his hands and slapped himself fiercely, creating a loud “pop” sound. The gray parrot, who was engrossed in observing him, was so frightened that all its feathers exploded.

“It’s all assumptions—” Nemo said to himself sternly, forcing his mind to cut off such thoughts. “There’s no evidence.”

“Did you get what you wanted?” A sultry female voice sounded in the direction of the entrance of the room. Nemo raised his head abruptly. His contemplation had occupied all his attention so that he didn’t even notice the arrival of the Bishop Hagen Ingram of the Abyssal Church.

“Don’t be surprised.” Hagen pulled away a chair opposite Nemo, straightened her dress, and sat down neatly. “I just confirmed with Lord Telaranea that you’re not this servant.”

She didn’t come alone. Two strangely dressed knights stood silently on both sides of the small tea table. They were dressed in dark matte armor. He didn’t know what material their cloak was made out of, but there was thin black smoke rolling from the irregular ends.

The Bishop of the Abyss made a gesture to the two knights, who then took off her exquisite black veil.

Nemo blinked.

Her head was indeed multiple times larger than the average person’s, but her appearance was beautiful… If there was only one face on it. About five beautiful faces were squeezed together on her head, even occupying the space of her scalp. Five pairs of eyes stared at Nemo at the same time. If it had been at a normal time, Nemo’s tension level would have surely doubled.

However, currently, Nemo had completely lost his nervousness. He just stared straight at the other party with a wooden face.

“I’m not mistaken. You’re really an interesting person.” Hagen raised her hand, and a book that hadn’t had time to climb up the wall bumped into her palm. Tender white fingers with bright red nails pinched the flesh of the book. “These books have been… Who are you?”

Bagelmaurus quietly hid behind Nemo.

“Which one are you referring to?”

“If you can open these records related to the Demon King, you are most likely a demon warlock or higher.” She tilted her head. This could be seen as a flirtatious move, but given her appearance, it only exuded terror. “And your deformation is too small and your movement while holding the staff is too jerky. That’s not an issue that a powerful demon warlock will have. Lord Bagelmaurus’ reaction to seeing you was also very interesting. It’s not surprise, but fear.”

In the church that worships the Demon King, Nemo smiled bitterly in his heart as clouds of wistful thoughts rolled through his head. He hoped that the Demon King had some unique mark or characteristic so that he and the Abyssal Church could give each other a satisfying answer. Out of some strange state of mind, Nemo found he could never find his nervous state again. He even thought the current situation was quite humorous.

At this moment, Nemo only had one exact thought left in his mind—she had noticed him and he had to deal with it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have a way to explain this to Mr. Virgil.

It may be that Nemo’s silence was misunderstood. Hagen paused for a moment and then said again, “Since you didn’t enter your name, can I presume… you’re not here to cooperate with us?”

“I’m just here to find some information,” Nemo responded cautiously. “I don’t want to attract extra attention.”

“Then you really chose a bad time.” Hagen put on her veil again and let out a sigh. “Can we talk?”

“Please,” Nemo replied quickly, while carefully observing the other party’s reaction. Hagen should know that he’s a superior demon by now, but her attitude didn’t soften. Rather, she seemed even more at ease.

“I have dealt with quite a few capricious Superiors,” she said diplomatically, “and to be honest, I do not wish to interfere with your actions. Even if you don’t regard us, to us you are an honored messenger from the Abyss. However, the current situation is indeed special… You may not be aware, but Aurorae is coming, and you would not want to meet with him.”

Nemo rummaged through the name in his mind for a moment, and the first things that came out were “Superior Demon Slayer” and “The Guardian of Order”.

“He will only appear at your new moon sacrifice,” Nemo said slowly, “but that’s still two weeks away.”

“But, I don’t know why… He’s already moving in this direction. If our information is correct, he’ll arrive here in two days.”

“So you plan to sacrifice in advance?”

“To be precise, it’s not that ‘Aurorae will only appear during the new moon sacrifice’, but ‘because he will appear that there is a new moon sacrifice’. Now you know the situation.”

She crossed her fingers and placed it on the small tea table. “Would you like to help us repel him, dear Lord?”

“What if I refuse?” An idea suddenly crossed Nemo’s mind as he replied in a deep voice, carefully showing a little momentum.

“Then please leave at once.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t plan to obey a demon warlock.”

“Then there’s no other way.” Hagen stood up and took two steps back and saluted. “Pardon our rudeness.”

A complex magic array instantly appeared on the originally empty stone floor. The magic array was specifically used to restrain superior demons, something that was freshly acquired in today’s harvest as Nemo recognized it instantly. It could make any superior demon incapacitated for a short period of time. Nemo quietly moved his finger from an angle hidden from Hagen’s view. It obviously didn’t work on him.

But he pretended and didn’t move.

The two knights stood beside him as two pale bone swords crossed his chest in a cross shape. A small white array floated along with the bone sword.

“An erosion spell,” Hagen kindly explained. “Please don’t move. I think you know what this is… After all, it’s a once-in-three-hundred-year event. Even if you’re a distinguished guest, we don’t want you to cause any trouble.”

The gray parrot shivered and stood on Nemo’s shoulder consciously. Hagen glanced at it, and a few chuckles leaked from behind the black veil.

“I didn’t expect you to learn from surface religion… You don’t have to pretend to be so polite,” Nemo said quietly, as he tugged at the corners of his mouth. “If I remember correctly, whenever Aurorae arrives, you will sacrifice a piece of flesh of a superior demon to the Demon King.”

“You’re going too far,” she replied, with a smile. “A demon warlock also has the flesh of a superior demon in his body, so naturally we won’t attack you. We’ve just 

wronged you temporarily. Please don’t mind.”

“Bring our guests into the dungeon,” she ordered. “Give him the best room.”

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The author has something to say:

In fact, I know that at the beginning, Ollie and Nemo have similar personalities. In these two arcs, they are about to start to differentiate slowly. _(:D”∠)_

People grow up after going through tribulations (?)!

————————

Bishop of the Abyss: Lock up this friend.

Nemo: Ummmmmm

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 101: The Demon Kings of the Ages

Amid the screams of the gray parrot, the bishop in the black veil hat released her hand, holding Nemo’s chin. The black veil covering her face was like mist, so Nemo could only see the abnormal size of her head but not her expression.

“Lord Bagelmaurus?” she asked in a gentle voice. “What’s wrong?”

The gray parrot seemed to want to shrink itself into a ball, but due to some subtle dignity, it forcibly straightened its back. Its entire body eventually twisted into an unnatural and weird posture. Rather than answering Hagen’s question, it stared directly at Nemo’s face.

Hagen let out a soft sigh, then snapped her fingers. Nemo suddenly found that he was tied firmly by bright red thorns. He used all his restraint not to move to avoid accidentally breaking free.

Should he immediately show weakness or beg for mercy? Nemo bitterly thought about Virgil’s comment about the Bishop of the Abyss not being active at noon. If his opponent was an ordinary demon warlock, in the absence of Virgil, he would consider resisting, but this was the Bishop of the Abyss. If they accidentally hurt her, their hidden infiltration plan would be uncovered, and they would become the focus of attention from the entire church.

If worse came to worse, it was better to pretend to be dead. Nemo swallowed the sandpoint plum in his mouth with difficulty before he turned his gaze to the gray parrot. Based on Bagelmaurus’ guts, it shouldn’t screw with him at this time.

“Did he make you unhappy?” There were traces of regret in the bewildering female voice. Several thorns were tangled together closely around Nemo’s throat, like a drill. “It’s a pity. I quite like his face.”

“Wait a minute… Wait a minute!” Just as Nemo was thinking about how to struggle naturally, the gray parrot cried out in a trembling voice. “Let… Let him go first, Ingram.”

“Yes.” The Bishop of the Abyss obediently did as she was commanded. The red thorns instantly disappeared around Nemo. “Is this your acquaintance?”

Her tone was polite and generous, and the hostility she emitted just now seemed to have never existed.

“You can call me White,” Nemo said quickly. “We once had a relationship, Bagelmaurus… Uh, the Lord and my… Um, master had some unpleasantries in the past.”

He strained his face hard, trying not to let his facial muscles twitch.

“Oh, which one are you serving, Mr. White?” Hagen chuckled lightly, without any hesitant pause.

Great. Nemo breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at her reaction, Bagelmaurus shouldn’t have mentioned too much about him to her.

“……Telaranea.” Nemo glanced at the gray parrot again and winked desperately. “I mean, Lord Telaranea.”

“No… That’s right! I hate that voyeur.” Bagelmaurus stumblingly agreed. “Hell, I didn’t think you were interested in this kind of place!”

Nemo thought the second half of that sentence should be its true feelings. In fact, it might be more suitable to say Witherspoon, who was no longer on the surface, but he knew almost nothing about Witherspoon. He knew the basic process of the contract and the general character of Telaranea, though, so he could only take this risk.

“It turns out you’re a servant of the Sage of the Abyss.” Hagen nodded. Nemo wasn’t sure whether it was an illusion, but he felt there were always several meaningful layers that were projected behind the black veil. “No wonder you came here at such a time. Unfortunately, you made our distinguished guest feel unhappy, so please—”

“I have an idea,” Bagelmaurus said calmly. “Let me take this kid. I want Telaranea’s people to serve me. That’s right. I’m so angry with that bastard. You can stand down and rest, Ingram.”

“…As you wish.” Hagen let go of her hand and the dendritic staff was suspended in the air.

Nemo hurried down and maintained an indifferent look on his face.

“Since you two know each other, I won’t make unnecessary introductions.” She saluted the gray parrot, causing the black veil to dance gently with her movements. “Please feel free to call me if you need it, Lord Bagelmaurus.”

“Ok,” the gray parrot responded blankly.

Once he confirmed that the black skirt corner of the Bishop of the Abyss had disappeared around the corner of the corridor, Nemo quickly entered the library carrying the gray parrot. It may be because the time was too “late”, or because Bagelmaurus had plans to be here; there were no other figures in the library. Nemo carefully confirmed the signs of life nearby again before he threw the parrot in his hand to the side, put his back on the door, and breathed heavily for half a minute.

“Why don’t you let me go?” The gray parrot maintained its falling position. Its voice was small and aggrieved. “The power of my flesh is just an intermediate. Even if I used to… Uh, treated you badly, you‘ve already taken my powers away!”

“I just want to talk to you,” Nemo straightened himself up and said in shock. “She shouldn’t have found out, right?”

“What if she did? You’re a more distinguished guest than me,” The gray parrot shrank its neck and muttered sourly. “Here, all demon warlocks and demon worshipers are not worth mentioning. What are you so nervous about?”

“We took on a task,” Nemo said carefully.

“Oh, that’s why you look so weird.” Bagelmaurus abandoned its prideful appearance as its once spirited look had completely disappeared. “Forget it… If you want to kill me now, you can just do it. Besides… this flesh is already like this. It’s just returning my consciousness back to the Abyss. Eventually I’ll find a way again…”

Its bird eyes were wet, and it couldn’t stop crying. It had completely fallen into its imagined, depressing scenario.

“Why do you have this idea?” Nemo sighed weakly. “Why do you think I want to kill you?”

“Don’t you know how terrible you are?”

“Really? You’re the one out of the entire team who seems to heavily respond to this the most,” Nemo frowned.

“That’s because they are too stupid and truly don’t understand at all!” The gray parrot complained angrily. “Wait, you’re here… Are you…”

“Well, I’m trying to find information about myself here,” Nemo admitted frankly. He pulled the hood off his head and wiped the sweat from his neck. “But you’re also here so…”

The gray parrot turned his head and said, in a vague tone, “Otherwise, I can’t sleep at night.”

“How much information did you find?”

“Nothing much,” the gray parrot muttered, “but I’m still scouring the first room. There are two more rooms in the back.”

Nemo raised his head and looked at the library in front of him. If this was a room, the space would be a bit too wide. Huge bookshelves were lined up, almost reaching the ceiling, and the surrounding walls were also lined with books. The door at the other end of the room from this distance looked like half a piece of breakfast butter.

Nemo felt a trace of despair in an instant.

“And you have to deal with the books themselves.” The gray parrot saw that Nemo didn’t intend to do anything to it, so its voice became louder. “If the power isn’t enough, they won’t be willing to open for you. I was looking at the bookshelf in the middle of this room. With my current strength, it’ll take three minutes to open a book. There’s a bitter monk who came here to read. I heard that he’s been here for ten years and hasn’t been able to open the last row of this room—”

“There shouldn’t be a surveillance spell here, right?” Nemo frowned and fell into contemplation.

“Yes. The books themselves are protected.” Bagelmaurus finally stood up from the ground and shook its feathers. “This… This is a favor! Listen up, trash… Light. These books are all things that deceive the soft and fear the hard. If you forcibly open them or try to take them away, they will scream and sound the alarm.”

“…Then I’ll give it a try.” Nemo rubbed his hands together, and his face was a bit reluctant. “It shouldn’t be forced.”

“Try what?” Bagelmaurus suddenly had a bad feeling.

Nemo didn’t answer. He raised his hands and moved his fingers, as if he was playing an invisible piano.

The thick black shadow spread out quickly. The tsunami-like phantom slapped all the books in the first room, causing all the heavy books to leave their original position and slip onto the black shadow, completely opening. The pages of the book flipped frantically, creating a rushing sound that resounded throughout the huge room. Within five minutes, all the books neatly closed at the same time and took off like living creatures, shuttling back into their original position.

Everything fell silent again. The books were back on the bookshelf, but with a slight difference…

“I arranged it alphabetically,” Nemo said seriously, looking as if he was completely relieved. “Did they all put these books back indiscriminately after they finished reading?”

“…” Bagelmaurus was lost for words and didn’t know how to respond. “Did you just…”

“I finished reading them.” Nemo opened the bag full of sandpoint plums and stuffed another one in his mouth. He thought for a moment and loped one in the direction of the gray parrot. “I’m just trying to see if it can be done by using abyssal magic to identify the letters… It seems possible, but you’re right. There’s no relevant information in this room.”

The gray parrot stayed in place for half a minute, then swallowed the sandpoint plum without responding. The books here were written in several different languages, some of which were extremely ancient texts, but the other party didn’t seem to care about it. Bagelmaurus decided not to ask questions.

“How do I get into the second room?” Nemo passed by the tall bookshelf and walked directly to the door.

“Go straight in.” Bagelmaurus boldly flew closer. It shivered a bit and stopped on Nemo’s shoulder, causing the magic ornaments on its body to jingle.

The layout of the second room was similar to the first, except the books looked closer to living creatures. They screamed with fear when they were opened. This time, Nemo had an ugly look on his face after returning the books to their place. He rarely frowned, and the usual softness between his brows completely disappeared.

“Did you find the answer?” The gray parrot’s spirit was in shock. Its expectation of the truth overshadowed its fear and anxiety at this moment.

Nemo didn’t say anything but went straight into the third room. The gray parrot clenched his black robe with its claw, but Nemo’s reaction turned abnormal. It began to become uncertain whether it should continue to stay with him or leave.

When Nemo slightly violently waved away the prohibition in front of the third door, its feelings reached their climax.

The third room was unexpectedly small, about the same size as the guest room in a countryside inn. The books were no longer placed on shelves. They were like deformed snails carrying pages on their backs. They crawled along the walls that looked soft and fleshy. The black eyes on the spine of the book looked down and showed a little white.

“Those things are poisonous. You—” Bagelmaurus hesitated for a few seconds but decided to give him a warning.

However, Nemo didn’t use the dark shadow this time. He directly released his aura of a superior demon, causing the book that was crawling happily to freeze instantly and fall to the ground. The eyes on the spine of the book spun frantically.

No. It’s different this time. Bagelmaurus shut its mouth. Nemo Light’s aura was completely different from when he first entered the library. Even if he was flustered and nervous at that time, he wasn’t like he was now…

Nemo was truly expressionless at the moment. Bagelmaurus could see that this “superior demon” was in a real state of confusion and was struggling with itself. The black-haired young man dressed like a mage personally picked up the book. His face was much paler than before. He looked eagerly at it as pages of the leather book flew left and right under his fingers. Bagelmaurus tried to peek but found that it didn’t recognize a single word.

“How’s it going?” Bagelmaurus asked cautiously half an hour later, when Nemo finally put down the last book.

“The demons have no so-called innate knowledge,” Nemo said slowly, as the book under his feet fled from him. “Knowledge can only be accumulated in person or… Taken from others.”

“That’s right,” Bagelmaurus said dryly. “How do you think I know about information on the surface? It’s a pity that the corpse didn’t have much insight—”

“There’s no record of any humanoid demons,” Nemo interrupted the gray parrot. He lowered his eyes and stared at the wet marks left by the strange books.

“Yes! I’ve already said this long ago—” The gray parrot stretched his tone this time, waiting for Nemo to interrupt it, but the other party remained silent.

He didn’t find any information that could directly determine his identity. Nothing. Nemo clenched his fists. He had expected this… but he seemed to become aware of other problems.

[Why is there always… Only an abnormal life at the bottom of the Abyss?]

Although it was around noon, Nemo suddenly felt chilly. After finishing all the books in the Abyssal Church, he discovered some unnatural details that creeped him out. Nemo raised his hand and eighteen black shadows condensed into figures appeared in the air.

These were the images of the Demon Kings through the ages. Their appearance ranges from vague descriptions to pinpoint accuracy. Their sizes varied greatly, their appearances were completely irregular, and they were all races that had never appeared before.

Is it really like this?

Nemo stared at the eighteenth image, which was named the “Grim Reaper’s Scythe” Ulysses. From a glance, its appearance was distorted and weird, but if disassembled, its anatomy was somewhat similar to that of a multi-legged shadow beast on the surface. Similar partial characteristics could be found in all the other parts of the superior demon.

There was no mistake or omission. It was like a synthetic life that absorbed the advantages of countless demons based on certain surface creatures.

Nemo raised his hand again, and a row of corresponding names and information appeared under each image. “Coincidentally”, there happened to be a leader of the multi-legged shadow beast in the Hero’s team that fought against the seventeenth-generation Demon King. The huge number of books in the collection were all turned into lines of text in his mind, and countless legends and documents with side descriptions or positive narratives swirled in his mind. If he removed those contradictory points and integrated the coincidences of all the data…

The sixteenth generation.

The fifteenth generation.

. . . . . .

The first generation… The first generation wasn’t actually the first. Before that, mankind hadn’t flourished, so there wasn’t any testable information.

However, whenever there was a record, he could find a similar “corresponding archetype”. That archetype was sometimes the Hero of the previous generation, sometimes a member of the previous archetype of the expedition army; most of them were generally the latter. What they all had in common was obvious. All the surface archetypes were ridiculously strong without exception, and none of them were human.

Could he assume that the “appearance foundation” of each generation of Demon King was consistent with the strongest creature in the previous generation of the expedition army?

Yes. The title of the Hero had always been given to the one that “gave the Demon King the final blow”, but no one had ever said that the creature that “gave the final blow” was the strongest in the expedition. On the other hand, regardless of any laws, this shouldn’t be a message that could be conveyed after an individual dies. If all the death information of the previous generation could be learned by the next generation, was the Demon King really “natural” and “unrelated individuals”?

There had always been and would always be one. It was like something that was constantly evolving.

If… A vague thought crossed his mind like a whisper in his ears. What if the strongest creature in the eighteenth-generation expedition happens to be a “human”?

He became frightened by such a thought.

At the same time, in the Bishop’s room.

“Lord Telaranea,” Hagen said, lowering her head and raising her skirt. “I’m sorry to disturb you at this moment.”

“How rare—it’s you who contacted me, Miss Ingram,” a young male voice came from the communication crystal. “Why? Are there religious knights causing trouble?”

“It’s just a trivial matter, but I need to confirm it with you. After all, this involves your reputation.” Bagelmaurus’ reaction wasn’t simple. Hagen adjusted her veil and shook her head.

“Speak.”

“Do you still have a demon warlock contract on the surface at present?”

“No. Why did you suddenly ask this?”

“…No reason. I’m sorry to bother you.” Sure enough, she thought. Demon warlocks would never—or rather dare not—lie about “serving a demon”.

So, who’s the one that broke the rules? Or rather… Which person?

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The author has something to say:

Nemo：……………………………… Fuck, I’m super bad at guessing.

Hagen: Ah, how cute to watch this kid(?) put on an act.

Telaranea: Stop! He might look innocent, but he actually has a gun!

…In any case, the Abyssal Church is about to make this into a big deal XD

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Kinky Thoughts:

Just a note on Lord. This is used as a respectful title to the demons these believers worship and is genderless (think along the lines of Master/Ruler, ect.) Demons have no gender unless otherwise stated in the text (like Pandorater) or they currently possess a human body. That’s why Bagelmaurus and other demons are referred to as an it not a he/she.

Miss Ingram, you’re about to bark up the wrong tree…

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 100: Lord Bagelmaurus

“Mr. White, this way, please.” Seeing Nemo’s posture as if he was about to sit down and listen to the sermon, Virgil whispered quickly. He controlled his volume politely, but it was still loud enough for the people closest to them to hear clearly.

The preacher, with only a mouth on his face, had a very beautiful voice. His tone seemed to have magic powers that could make people believe everything he said. Nemo was stunned for a few seconds and bit fiercely into the sandpoint plum that was in his mouth. He instantly recalled his current situation, accompanied by the sour taste that almost choked into tears.

“What is the origin of magic? We have reason to think…” The demon warlock who was preaching completely ignored them.

Nemo pulled the top edge of his hood up with one hand and strived to show only half his face. He then straightened his back and followed Virgil out of the hall as calmly as possible. Virgil seemed to be familiar with the area. He stuck to the wall on the left side of the nave and went directly into a long corridor. Nemo held back a belly full of questions he wanted to ask as the other party continued to walk in front of him without any hesitation. He could only obediently remain quiet.

After passing by dozens of incense lamps, doors finally started appearing on both sides of the corridor. The thick, dark wooden doors were carved with two symmetrical arcs that intersect at the top and bottom. The middle was neatly separated by a vertical line. Virgil stopped in front of one of the doors. Unlike the other doors, the mark on this door flashed coldly in the dim shadows. “You can stay here. As your ‘assistant’, I’ll stay in the servant room on the side.”

The visitor room of Abyssal Church felt equally cold. There were no odd decorations in it. Rather, the cramped room was almost empty. There was only a long wooden table with books and a stone bed. From the suffocatingly narrow side door, he could catch a glimpse of the servant’s room. There wasn’t even a bed in it. Only a withered patch of piled yellow straw was in the corner.

Fortunately, it was clean enough and there was no dust.

After they both entered the room, Virgil carefully locked the door. He took out his paintbrush and buffed it casually in the air a few times. The stone interior, which originally lacked color, instantly became darker. Then he took out a small cloth bag from his shoulder, reached in and dug into it for a good half a minute before finally taking out a yellow and white candle that had almost been burnt up and threw it on the wooden table.

It wasn’t until it was lit that the slender candle became half a meter high, causing Nemo to realize that it wasn’t an ordinary candle.

“We can communicate freely now,” Virgil said. He took off the weird mask on his face, but his voice was still very light. “But lower your volume. Better to be safe.”

“You’re very familiar with this place.” Nemo picked up a book without a title on the wooden table and looked at it carefully by candlelight. Its leather cover was printed with the same symbol as the door.

“Yes.” Virgil nodded bluntly. “Perhaps more familiar than you think.”

“When will we officially act?” Nemo rubbed the book cover and breathed a sigh of relief. He licked his lips, which were slightly sticky because of tension. “If believers move more at night, it would be better to act during the day.”

“I will go out for a walk tonight to find out why the sacrifice is ahead of schedule.” Virgil stared at the candlelight. “Things seem to have changed. We’ll have to wait for the status quo to be determined before discussing the details. You can rest in the room until dawn.”

“Can I go to the library tonight?”

“You’d better not. There are not many hours left before dawn. It’s better around noon, when most people go back to their rooms to rest. Most importantly, the Bishop of the Abyss will not wander around at noon,” Virgil patiently explained.

“Bishop of the Abyss? ……Was it the man who was preaching?”

“The Abyssal Church doesn’t have a Pope. It’s managed by twelve bishops in turns.” Virgil looked serious. “It’s not the preacher just now, but you should have noticed. The bishop in power this month is that woman in the veil hat, Hagen Ingram.”

“Okay,” Nemo responded. “Then let’s talk at noon.”

“I may not be able to come back in time after dawn, so I’ll leave you a road map to the library.” Virgil took out a thin drawing board and quickly painted on it with his charcoal pen. “You can go by yourself… You won’t have trouble finding the way… right?”

“I am confident in my memory,” Nemo whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Virgil sighed, rubbing his nose uncomfortably. “I promised to take you there.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine.” Nemo finally put down his hood, and the scattered hair made the back of his neck itchy.

Virgil put on the mask again and put a tightly wrapped paper bag and a small piece of crystal on the wooden table. “This is dry food. The Abyssal Church doesn’t provide food for visitors. You should be able to condense water spells, right?”

Nemo nodded with uncertainty.

He put away the charcoal pen and put the thin drawing board and the things on the table together. “And this is the road map… I’m going out first. You have a good rest.”

With Virgil’s departure, the color of everything in the room returned to normal. Nemo suddenly relaxed. He threw the staff away, took off his shoes and jumped on the stone bed while holding a book and retracted into a corner of the room. The dark shadows rose from the air around him, affixed to every weak gap in the room while blocking the door at the same time.

He would finish reading this book before sunrise and report to Oliver then. Afterwards, he would sleep until noon.

However, Oliver’s side didn’t have it as easy as he thought.

After the Knights of Silence left, Oliver painstakingly began to paint the camouflage array again. From time to time, he would touch the piece of crystal in his pocket with his hand. Although it was still a while before sunrise, he couldn’t help but rub it a few times.

“If you are worried about Nemo…” Ann once again completed the camouflage array ahead of time. “I can assure you, don’t think the Knights of Silence are terrifying. Your sweetheart can take down that entire team by himself.”

“Strength is one thing, mood is another.” Oliver painted much faster this time around. “I hope it goes well for them.”

He threw away the branches with satisfaction and nodded at the newly painted array. Three seconds later, the formation triggered again, and Oliver didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They quickly hid behind the trees. Oliver thought melancholically that at this rate he would never be able to set up his tent.

The visitor this time had nothing in common with the Knights of Silence. Rather, it could be said to be the complete opposite. The man was riding a white horse without a trace of unruly hair. He wore silver armor on his body, which shone dimly in the moonlight. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, which revealed short, supple burgundy hair.

“…Is there a knight exhibition going on?” Ann muttered in a low voice. “Why would a Knight of Judgment from the Laddism Church come to such a hellhole alone?”

Her voice was low, so low that Oliver, who was close by, couldn’t hear it clearly. However, the Knight of Judgment, who wasn’t far away, suddenly turned in their direction. He turned his horse’s head and rushed straight over, immediately lowered his body, and pulled out a long sword that was giving off a silver glow.

This time, Ann cursed loudly. Oliver sadly glanced at the camouflage array that had lost its effectiveness and pulled out his Rest in Peace.

This battle was much simpler than they thought.

“Don’t struggle, okay?” Oliver began to apply the camouflage array again for the third time with a blank expression. The Knight of Judgment was entangled in vines and was locked up in a simple cage made from ice. “We’re not going to do anything to you.”

“Despicable Black Chapters!” The tone of the Knight of Judgment was still in shock. “Your footwork… That is the advanced footwork of the Knights of Judgment. Where are you from—”

‘I learnt it from your former Chief Justice,’ Oliver replied in his heart while pursing his lips tightly. The movements of the person in front of him was like a downgraded version of Adrian Cross. As soon as he raised his sword, Oliver would react, as he knew exactly what he was going to do. The whole battle didn’t even last five minutes.

Even the fuller goat didn’t budge from its position as it remained chewing peacefully in place on the grass.

“It seems that Adr— Ahem, your training has paid off.” The female warrior showed signs of annoyance as she was getting tired of repeatedly repainting the camouflage array. She began to tease the white horse with a carrot. “Speaking of which, with such a guy, do we really have to hide?”

“We’re just performing a task related to the Abyssal Church.” Oliver rubbed his face and walked towards the Knight of Judgment. “You don’t need to care about our origins. We’ll leave in a few days.”

“Few days,” the knight sneered dismissively. His light blue eyes were gleaming with anger. “You guys sure know how to pick the time.”

“Speaking of which, what are you doing here?”

“Do you think I will tell you?” The Knight of Judgment grabbed his neck and made a gesture of slicing his finger across it.

“What should I do, captain?” Ann yawned. “He looks like he doesn’t want to let us go.”

“It’s a good idea to knock him out. We have animal repellent powder here to ensure that he wakes up alive.” Oliver rubbed his temples. “But if there is another team of Knights of Silence, they’ll most likely find him.”

“So?”

“Let’s take care of this first.” Oliver stopped the hand that was painting the array and continued to set up his tent, ignoring the angry gaze from the Knight of Judgment. “Anyways, he can’t do anything… Ann, let’s draw another camouflage array.”

The Knight of Judgment obviously didn’t believe that two snake-level Black Chapters would simply stop here. Until the eastern sky began to turn white, the two squatted in front of the tent and began to cook soup in a small pot.

“You almost threw the small piece of crystal into the soup and cooked it.” Ann poked the soft-boiled carrots in the soup with a freshly peeled branch. Her tone sounded a bit more pitiful. “The sun hasn’t come out yet. Relax. Even if the entire Church of Silence exploded, Nemo would be fine.”

Oliver rubbed the bread in his hand silently. When she saw that he was about to stuff the crystal into his mouth with his other hand, Ann stretched out the branch stained with soup, slowly pressed Oliver’s hand holding the crystal piece down, and knocked on the hand he was using to rub the bread.

“You should be glad Dylan’s not there. Otherwise, he’ll laugh at you for a month.” The female warrior shook her head. “It’s nice to be young.”

At the same time, the crystal piece suddenly burst into cracks and Oliver bounced back into place.

“Ollie?” Nemo’s voice came from the crystal piece. “We’re in the Abyssal Church.”

“Are you okay?” Oliver maintained a steady tone of voice. As the conversation went on, the cracks on the crystal piece became denser.

“…” Nemo’s voice paused for a moment. “From an aesthetic point of view, I prefer the Laddism Church.”

Oliver bent the corner of his mouth. “You’re okay.”

“I’m okay.” Nemo’s murmur revealed some dissatisfaction. “I’m not acting with you. I’m not used to this.”

The crystal piece shattered, forcibly terminating the communication. Oliver closed his mouth that had just opened, and his expression became stiff. The Knight of Judgment, a few steps away, had stayed up all night and looked at the scene in disbelief.

“Yeah, it’s a great conspiracy.” Ann served herself a bowl of soup and gave herself an extra piece of boiled jerky. “That’s the boyfriend of our leader, who just conveyed important information about the aesthetics of the Abyssal Church. Is there anything else you want to ask this gentleman?”

The Knight of Judgment snorted coldly with some difficulty and turned his head away. It was just that this time, his attitude wasn’t as determined as previously.

When Nemo opened his eyes again, the strong afternoon sun shone into the room through the small window in the room, making everything look not as cold and hard as it was at night. Too good of a memory could have its downside. It only took him a few minutes to read through the doctrine taught by the Laddism Church. His only hope was to contact Oliver, but the crystal was truly too fragile. It seemed that the Abyssal Church’s tolerance for them wasn’t unreasonable.

He rubbed the crystal powder in his hand and moved the dark shadows away from the door. After a brief glance at the map on the table, Nemo put the dry food into his pocket and picked up his staff. He took a deep breath and opened the door with a look as if he was heading towards his death…

He poked his head out and looked around.

As Virgil said, there were almost no figures in the Church of Silence during the day. Nemo made up his mind. He put on his hood again and walked towards his destination with his staff in hand. According to the instructions on the road map, the library was on the ground floor of the second half of the church. The structure of the entire Church of Silence wasn’t symmetrical. It had many passages that were crooked and twisted, and the corridors were like an ant’s nest, which made it very difficult to tell where he was going. It took him almost an hour to find the “white stone gate” indicated by the destination.

The only thing he could consider lucky was that he hadn’t run into anyone along the way. With gratitude to the god of luck, Nemo looked around at the empty surroundings again and pushed the door open with satisfaction.

“We are here.” As soon as the stone gate made a little moving sound, a velvety female voice came from behind him. “Is it still the same area as last time, Lord Bagelmaurus?”

Nemo froze.

He almost dropped the staff he was holding in his hand. It was too conspicuous if he were to grab his hood, so he slowly moved away and stepped aside, trying his best to lower his head. He tried to look out from the edge of the hood.

He could see a woman dressed in a long black dress. As his vision moved up, he saw an enlarged head that didn’t match the enchanting body that was covered by an exquisite black veil hat. The Bishop of the Abyss, Hagen Ingram, was holding a thin dendritic staff with golden bones, and on top, a gray parrot was perched on it in high spirits. It was surrounded by several rune ornaments, emitting a strong, powerful aura. On its feet were inlaid with small gemstones that glittered with fine light.

Nemo suddenly lowered his head even lower, so that he even drooped his shoulders slightly. Although he did plan to have a good talk with the gray parrot, this plan didn’t include the Bishop of the Abyss as a bystander. Bagelmaurus was arrogant by nature, so it shouldn’t pay attention to a “human” who it occasionally passed by.

In fact, it wasn’t the gray parrot that noticed him but someone else.

“Oh,” Hagen Ingram stopped. She stretched out her spare hand and naturally squeezed Nemo’s chin. “You’re yesterday’s visitor, that beautiful young man.”

Nemo’s head was lifted by force, revealing his entire face.

“Ah,” he sighed dejectedly.

“Ah—!!!” Bagelmaurus let out an earth-shattering scream.

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The author has something to say:

Chapter 100!!! The title of this chapter is given to the gray parrot. Are you happy now, gray parrot?

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Probably the most glorious flirting in Ms. Ingram’s career…

And the deepest psychological shadow of Bagelmaurus…

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Kinky Thoughts:

Uh oh, do I smell vinegar?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 99: The Statue of the Demon King

The clumsy and heavy carriage creaked away while Nemo’s gaze remained glued to the cage until it disappeared into the dense woods.

“Trouble?” He finally recovered and turned his face to Virgil, who was beside him.

“The sacrifices are usually prepared a week in advance, but there are still two weeks before the new moon,” Duran Virgil whispered. His complexion and hair color were already quite dark, which made his white teeth more noticeable in the night. “If the sacrifice has already arrived, then the Knights of Silence will also come early. We have to hurry. Once the sacrifices officially begin, the Church of Silence will be completely sealed.”

“…What will happen to the sacrifices?” Nemo pressed the sandpoint plum to the bottom of his tongue and clenched his staff.

“I don’t know. It’s different every month,” Virgil said in a deep voice. “Don’t bother. They’re dead.”

Nemo looked in the direction where the carriage disappeared again and didn’t answer.

“It should be too late now.” Virgil looked at the magnificent building not far away with a complicated expression. “There’s no sign of a blockage. We can probably catch up. When we get to the church later… Well, you don’t need to pay special attention to anything. I think you’re in very good shape now. There are too many kinds of superior demons, so the deformation of a demon warlock varies. They will not be idle enough to determine the true class of every temporary visitor.”

“Are there many conflicts among the believers?” Nemo tried to confirm.

“It’s hard to say,” the tall man sighed softly. “This is also what I’m worried about… You’re known as a demon warlock, so demon worshipers shouldn’t take the initiative to provoke you, but you better not come into conflict with a real demon warlock.”

“Got it,” Nemo replied.

“As for the demon information you want to know… The library is open to everyone, but how much you can see depends on your strength. After sunrise tomorrow, I can show you the way.” Virgil played with the brush in his hand. “Actually, you don’t have to be too uptight. The Abyssal Church is a bit different from other general religions… Most believers are more self-centered, so they’re not very loving to each other. Just by staying as a visitor for three days, the possibility of being exposed is really high—”

“You don’t have to say anything.” Nemo had a bad feeling, so he quickly interrupted the other party.

“Remember to call me ‘Duri’ in a while.” Virgil took care of the clothes on his body without the intention of taking off the strange materials on his belt. “What should I call you? It’s not suitable to use your real name here. Since you’re a Black Chapter, you must have a common pseudonym.”

He really didn’t. Nemo quickly searched his memory and a thought immediately popped into his head. “White,” he said solemnly. “You can call me that, Virgil… Duri.”

“Mr. White.” Virgil nodded solemnly, motioning that he remembered.

However, when they really arrived in front of the Church of Silence, Nemo found that his psychological preparation wasn’t enough.

The structure of the Church of Silence had become more magnificent and distorted as they got closer. The long steps led directly to the entrance of the church, but there were no marble statues that other religions like to place on both sides. Instead, gallows like stone platforms with corpses wrapped in white cloth that were hung upside down adorned the steps on either side. The body was tightly wrapped, with only a pair of blue and white feet exposed outside the shroud that was tightly tied by slings. They hung quietly and straight in the air, giving off a faint putrid smell that was obscured by the choking incense.

There was no other lightning. In the faint moonlight, two rows of white cocoon-like shapes gave people chills down their backs.

Nemo stuffed two more sandpoint plums into his mouth and stared at the tip of his boots as intently as possible. This time, his plan failed. After the two stepped onto the stone steps, whispers instantly sounded from both sides. Nemo’s scalp exploded as the last thing that he wanted to see appeared…

The two corpses closest to them began to shake, while the rest remained silent like statues. The two white cloth-wrapped things started swaying faster, and finally unnaturally went straight towards them, like iron pendants attracted by a magnet. The whispers under the white cloth became louder and were accompanied by a creepy smell.

“The smell of the Abyss,” they whispered in a sickly voice. “Qualified. Qualified.”

Nemo almost tripped over himself. He resisted the urge to ask questions and distributed part of his weight on the staff in his hand, continuing to move forward as smoothly as he could. From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of what he thought was a “shroud” that changed positions and was squirming very slowly on the surface of the corpse.

“The watchdogs of the church,” Virgil explained succinctly. The thorn corpse bird was still perched on his shoulder as if it had taken root on him. “Generally, it doesn’t bite.”

Nemo pulled his hood down, narrowing his vision as much as possible. The visual effect of the corpses swaying one by one was shocking. Compared to this, he would rather face ten Seymour worms. He really didn’t want to know how these things were going to bite.

“No smell of surface magic.”

“No smell of excessive communication.”

“……”

“The smell of companions.”

When they stepped on the last stone step, the last two corpses also came to the same conclusion. Nemo could feel that the lining of his back was soaked through. He trembled and breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the entrance of the church in front of him…

The gate blinked its countless eyes and looked back at him.

“…I definitely want to ask for more remuneration for this task.” Nemo gritted his teeth and looked away.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing,” Nemo, who couldn’t control his emotions well, said depressingly. “Let’s go, Duri.”

Virgil, who was walking ahead, didn’t hesitate, as if the eyes on the door were just ordinary decorative patterns. He stretched out his hand and pushed open the door, causing a dim light to peek through the crack.

“After you,” Virgil stood against one of the doors and carelessly pressed several of the eyeballs with his bare hands. He didn’t know when, but suddenly there was a weird mask on his face. The black mask was painted with a weird symbol in red paint. “A demon warlock takes the lead, Mr. White.”

Nemo stepped through the entrance of the Church of Silence.

Within the next few seconds, he wanted to leave.

He really should cherish the poor but normal times in Roadside Town. Nemo looked at the scene in front of him and felt eager to cry without tears. The decoration inside was normal, but the temperature was slightly higher than outside. The lights were dimly lit and there was an indescribable smell that was fishy, and mixed with incense, it only amplified it. And the creatures inside…

If one could collect the nightmares of children and put them all into the same pot of porridge, it would be almost like this scene. For a few seconds, Nemo even doubted whether the always upright knight commander was deliberately cheating him. At present, he was simply the most conspicuous thing there because he looked “too normal”.

Looking at the living things inside, they were roughly divided into three categories.

The first category was subordinate and intermediate-level demons that moved around with their master. They were purely demonically looking creatures, and not a single one looked the same. The second was their master, the demon worshipers, who wore the same masks as Virgil, but didn’t show the slightest hint of their faces.

The third category that had the least numbers was…

Nearest to him was a mass of black oil and a half-melted human head that floated in it. The tar-like thing crawled past his feet and the floating head glanced up at him, letting out a disdainful snort. There was also a middle-aged man more than a dozen steps away. He still looked like a normal human, but there were a lot of moving tentacles sticking out of his eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and his facial features were almost too deformed to see what they originally looked like. There was a woman in the front row with a similar situation, but looking at her back, one could only tell she seemed like a graceful lady. From his angle, he could only see a black veil hat she was wearing as well as an abnormally large head.

Nemo could clearly feel the strength gap between these “people” and other creatures in the room. These were the real demon warlocks.

……He suddenly understood why Virgil didn’t pretend to be a demon warlock with him. Now he himself felt out of place in this hellhole. Not only that, their client most likely completely misunderstood his forceful calmness and truly believed that he was confident.

Nemo almost broke his staff in half.

“Visitors.” The demon warlock standing at the sermon table nodded at them. This one seemed to be the most “normal” among the demon warlocks. He had no facial features on his face except for a mouth, which was really normal in comparison to the others he witnessed.

Virgil, who was wearing a mask, lowered his head and saluted, while Nemo stood upright. Fortunately, the demon warlock didn’t seem to mind.

Nemo was attracted by what was behind the sermon table.

It was a life-like monster statue. Compared with the demons he had seen, it wasn’t a large type, but its distorted appearance far surpassed everything he had seen. The width and height of the nave of the Church of Silence were amazing, but the monster statue supported the entire wall of the nave. For a moment, he couldn’t see how many pairs of forelimbs it had. He could only see that they were supporting the wall and were strong and powerful. The hook claws at the end were like death sickles. Its head wasn’t big, about the length of an adult’s, and was slightly lowered. Several pairs of eyes on both sides of the head narrowed slightly, looking like dragon heads that were eroded by beholders.

The rest of the statue was equally distorted yet stunning. However, each tight line revealed a shuddering chill.

“That’s Ulysses,” Virgil said in a very low voice. It was more of a reminder than an explanation. “The statue of the last Demon King was about the same size as this one… If I remember correctly.”

However, the voice seemed to go in one of Nemo’s ears and out the other. He was fixated on the statue, unable to distinguish the strange feeling that was surging from the bottom of his heart.

The demon warlock at the sermon table looked at the two of them for a while, then retracted his gaze as if he had lost interest.

“Doubt everything.” The man with only a mouth on his face continued to preach. His voice was amplified by a magic array, and it came out clear and crisp, echoing along the wide nave. “The first who questions will always be persecuted. I believe that you have been exposed to many surface religions. They have stopped in the face of power and interests, and will never further clarify the truth of this world to their believers.”

“Everything belongs to the belief in God, and everything belongs to the so-called good and evil. Their eyes are blinded, their minds are shackled, and they only measure everything in the world by their own cognition. In the face of superficial doubts, you just need to keep thinking, keep doubting, and asking questions—”

“Why are demons ‘evil’? Because it hurts people—beasts hurt people. People hurt people.”

“Why do you call the Demon King the ‘Demon King’? There’s no evidence that the power structure of demons remotely resembles that of humans. When did this concept appear?”

“Why is there always… and there will always be only such a powerful existence at the bottom of the Abyss? Why do they go on an expedition if they claim that the Demon King will not come to the surface?”

“Never stop asking questions—is the common sense in this world really ‘common sense’?”

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The author has something to say:

Nemo: SAN CHEEEEEEEECK–!

Virgil: This friend is really unpredictable. Not sure if he can or can’t do it.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 98: Living Sacrifice

“I thought you would choose to follow by yourself.” Ann looked at the only remaining member of Tumbleweed left. Their leader was removing the simple camping items from the fuller goat. The night became darker so she couldn’t see his expression. Even the outline of his figure became blurred.

“I’m not the most suitable choice. Mr. Cross knows the Abyssal Church better, but he can’t fight alone.” Oliver broke off a young branch, peeled off the bark and looked around at the terrain. “Ann, can you help me draw three camouflage arrays in the west? The simplest kind is fine.”

“Sure.” Ann nodded readily. “Great, you haven’t become a muddleheaded fool. Speaking of… you didn’t tell Nemo in advance. Aren’t you afraid that he would care?”

“I didn’t plan to hide it from him, but I couldn’t do it,” Oliver shook his head. He dipped the branch in a liquid material from a glass bottle and carefully drew an array on the tree. “I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. He’s already nervous enough. When he succeeds in infiltration, Mr. Cross will find a chance to get him.”

“How considerate,” Ann snorted, her tone becoming more teasing.

“After all, Duran Virgil’s motives are unknown.” Oliver tilted his hand, and the magic array on the bark burst out with a puff of green smoke. He adjusted his mood and dipped the branch into the glass bottle again. “But when I was in the branch office, Mr. Cross said that he’s a ‘real exorcist’… Mr. Cross is not the type who lies, and you didn’t seem surprised by that statement.”

“Ah, that.” Unlike Oliver, who was busying his hands and feet, Ann had neatly drawn three hidden arrays in the corner. “Actually, I wasn’t sure… but since Cross said it, it should be true.”

Oliver finally finished tracing the camouflage array that he had just learned from the knight commander. A fine layer of thin sweat appeared on his forehead. He raised his sleeves and wiped them. The uneven plane required such an extremely high degree of concentration that it made the arm he used to paint the rune sore. “What do you think?”

“Those things on him,” Ann said as she took a bag of preserved fruit from the fuller goat and began eating it slowly. “It looks like a complete set of exorcism materials. That’s not a depth that someone can just casually disguise.”

“I thought those were painting tools.” Oliver began to build his tent. “Isn’t he a demon warlock? Nemo shouldn’t be mistaken.”

“Who knows?” Ann shrugged and patted the white icing that was stuck to her hand. “Honestly, I am interested… If I’m not mistaken, he’s not as simple as a ‘part-time exorcist’, but more of the kind that uses ruthless means…”

Her voice stopped instantly, and Oliver’s reaction was just as quick. All the magic formations they had just drawn had come in handy. The camouflage arrays activated at the same time, completely silencing them and eliminating their breath.

The two people who were painting runes on trees stared at the sudden emergence of a group not far away.

The group’s numbers looked small, but they had an insidious aura. It was too dark for them to see what those people were riding, but it didn’t look like horses. Someone at the front of the team was holding a flag, and the entire team was wearing black cloth armor. Only the floating lanterns from both sides of the team provided a pitiful bit of lighting.

Oliver realized something was wrong. The group wasn’t far from them, but they didn’t make a single sound. There wasn’t even the sound of riding and galloping on the ground.

It was like a group of moving shadows.

Oliver subconsciously held his breath. Even if there was a camouflage array, he didn’t dare to be careless. A cold and decadent faint smell wafted from not far away and that smelled like a moldy and rotten coffin. The indistinct calvary stepped into the dead forest, but their movements didn’t stagnate. They floated forward lightly, as if they were sliding on the lifeless land, and eventually their figures melted perfectly into the night.

Ann was the first to speak, “The Knights of Silence.” She spoke at a volume that was estimated to be the lowest sound she could possibly make. “I’m afraid things will not go well this time… I hope Cross and Dylan have enough distance between them.”

Adrian had indeed gone far enough. He drew magic from the sacrificial blood mark that was on the back of his neck and maintained a floating array that could sustain two people. They were orbiting around them like planets, ensuring that they wouldn’t become rotten corpses.

And the source of that magic was tucking back his long golden hair that was hanging from one side behind his ear, while his other hand was holding onto Adrian Cross’ hand tightly.

“……Why?” Finally, unable to bear it, the knight spoke. The hand that was holding his was dry and warm, and the skin was smooth without a speck of calluses or scars, unlike his own. However, there was an unpleasant sticky feeling, as if there was a slug crawling over his skin. “I remember that spiritual sacrifice doesn’t involve this step.”

“Am I not pursuing you? Look, isn’t this romantic?” Jesse’s blue eyes gleamed. “You should know, it takes a lot of magic to maintain this kind of thing. I can’t even stand very firmly right now.”

“If the two of us were twenty years younger, this kind of pursuit might be considered romantic.”

“I’m only twenty-seven!”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”

“You’re so harsh,” Jesse tutted as he exerted more force in his hand. “They all say that humility and courtesy are the virtues of a Knight of Judgement. Where are your virtues?”

“Packed up together with my dismissal.”

“…” Jesse faintly sighed. He looked up at the sky that was still covered with thin clouds. In the next second, he threw out a dagger with a warm white light that broke through the darkness, creating a hoarse scream in a corner a few steps away. Adrian stopped knowingly, and the two immediately formed a back-to-back formation.

“Interesting,” Jesse said briskly. “It’s coming so fast.”

“They seem like small fries.” Adrian opened his right hand and danced his five fingers quickly for a few seconds. A magic array was taking shape in his palm that was slowly getting bigger. When the magic array stabilized, it began to rotate slowly. He directly pressed it into the ground. The magic array didn’t enter the soil but instead released countless light needles that drilled out of the ground. This time there were more than a dozen screams from the nearby darkness, followed by a rustling sound that quickly disappeared.

“Let’s go and escape quickly.” Jesse put away his dagger. “Perhaps it’s just me… but they seem to be a little flustered?”

“Maybe.” Adrian didn’t seem to be very interested in this issue. He quickly resumed his forward posture, while Jesse remained motionless. After taking a few steps, the knight turned around discontentedly. Even though the night was dark, the furrow between his brows could clearly be seen.

However, the “cause of panic” of the monsters also surfaced at this time. A suffocating smell of decay overwhelmed the two of them in an instant. Something pale arched out of the soil, followed by a thick white bone still stained with carrion…

What came out of the soil looked like the skeleton of some kind of carnivorous fish. However, its height was more than ten meters, and there was also a piece of black flesh that was pulsating. The strong fishy smell caused by the pulsation made the air instantly viscous. Unlike normal fish bones, there were several “feet” with only white bones protruding out of the skeleton. Half of those insect-like bone feet were still buried in the soil, curled up and stretching aimlessly around, like a poisonous spider convulsing madly before its death.

“I’m curious.” Jesse threw out three daggers that hit the same position in a row. The white light directly shattered the joint of one of the monster’s feet. “Why don’t you tell Mr. Light?”

“About what?” Adrian took off the bow on his back and fired several scorching light arrows at it.

“You have such outstanding talent. It’s a pity to waste it here. There are not many people who could temporarily transform a magic array.” Jesse turned his head, but his attack didn’t stagnate one bit. His blue eyes gleamed dimly in the moonlight. “Although surface magic and abyssal magic are completely different in nature, there are also similarities. According to your talent, you would be able to master the use of abyssal magic. You don’t need to do this…” He deliberately paused for a few seconds. His tone became ambiguous, “…Be subjected to me.”

“If I heard you correctly,” Adrian’s voice became colder. His light arrows continued to pierce through the monster’s bones nonstop, accurately drilling through the pulsating flesh. “Are you suggesting I become a demon warlock?”

The monster began to struggle more fiercely as rows of dead trees were cut away by its bone feet.

“Yes. Mr. Light doesn’t seem to need so much power. He won’t care about a tiny loss.” Jesse lightly avoided the flying tree debris. As if he was tied to Adrian by an invisible chain, he stopped right at the boundary of the protection array. “He can voluntarily give you a little flesh, but not make a contract. In your case, there won’t be much deformation. At most, you’ll grow a tail or something—perhaps even something that’ll look quite suitable on you.”

“Are you dreaming, Mr. Dylan?”

“What?”

“Your sleep talking is very loud,” grumbled the former knight commander. He pulled back his bow again, but this time, the appearance of the light arrow became closer to that of a huge light spear. “It’s impossible for me to accept this kind of proposal.”

“Because ‘demons are evil’?”

“No. Because I don’t plan to turn my back on my faith. Please stop joking about this.” Adrian’s attitude was resolute. He pulled the bow tightly before letting go of his hand.

The spear of light pierced straight through the mass of flesh and caused the monster to make a weird clicking sound all over its body before the piece of flesh ballooned up. The surface of the dark ball of mass lighted up, like a red arc of lightning, before it exploded.

Jesse stopped his attack.

“But your faith has turned its back on you. You see, if I take away my ‘sacrifice’ now…” The blond young man, who was of similar height to Adrian, approached. He quickly shot out and grabbed his hand directly on the exposed back of the knight’s neck. As a giver, he only needed to snap his finger to destroy the blood mark. “You’ll immediately become a rotten corpse. How unreasonable is that?”

“There’s no ‘betrayal’.” Adrian shook his head. He straightened his right arm and covered the two of them with a pure white light shield.

The ball of light exploded, causing the land around them to instantly turn into darkness. Sticky fragments splashed everywhere. Their standing positions remained intact, and at first glance, it looked like a strange and narrow stage. The monster howled angrily and dragged its injured bone foot away, diving back into the soil.

It most likely became aware of the gap in strength and wisely chose to retreat. The drumming noise coming from underground sounded further and further away with each passing second.

Jesse raised his eyebrows, put his face closer to the point where the tip of his nose almost collided with Adrian’s. The former Knight of Judgement didn’t avoid his action. His dark brown eyes almost appeared pitch black under the reflection of the light shield, but this didn’t weaken the awl-like gaze.

“There is no ‘betrayal’,” Adrian repeated. He even showed a faint, mocking smile. “God has no obligation to ‘respond’, so naturally there will be no ‘betrayal’.”

“Hm? Don’t you crazy devotees like to praise ‘God loves the world’ the most?”

“I can’t speak for others without authorization, but I personally don’t agree with it,” Adrian whispered softly.

“…It’s really tolerant that the Laddism Church could make you the Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgement.”

“Because I really love Zenni.” Adrian didn’t seem to pay attention to the beautiful face in front of him that was inching closer.

“Sorry. As an atheist, I can’t understand your thoughts.” Jesse was so close to him at this point that when his lips moved, warm breath sprayed onto Adrian’s cheek.

Adrian finally took half a step back and broke free from Jesse’s grasp. He sighed and stretched out his hands, causing the white filaments of light to entangle above his palms. It emitted a soft and warm light.

“Is it beautiful?” He asked calmly.

“……Huh?” Jesse’s brows started rising.

“It’s just my personal opinion that ‘magic’ is a miracle in some form, so it must have a source,” he said softly. “I love this light deeply, but to it, I’m just a trivial thing. If I believe that it loves me as it should, I think… that would be a bit too arrogant.”

“As long as it exists, it’s enough.”

“I see,” Jesse muttered in a low voice. “You’re not a crazy believer. You’re just a masochist.”

“As I said, you can think however you wish.” Adrian took another step away and stepped into the air above the chasm that was left behind by the monster. “We’ve made too much noise. We need to get out of here quickly.”

This time, Jesse followed honestly. His blue eyes casually swept through the magic array that was flying around the two of them before finally locking onto Adrian’s back. It was a pity that all of his prepared remarks were blocked back into his stomach by just a few words from the other party. Jesse sighed discontentedly.

“But about that arrogance,” the smile on the blond young man’s face disappeared and he spoke at a volume that only he could hear, “I have to agree with you.”

A few kilometers away.

“If I remember correctly,” Nemo tried to make him sound as if he was confused, “didn’t you say, ‘there are other barriers’?”

They had been moving forward for a long time now that it was estimated half the night had already gone. However, apart from the bad scenery along the way, this journey was extremely smooth in other aspects. Nemo had stepped onto a few immovable myxomycetes and gave out a few aggrieved “whoops”, but besides that, the only living thing he saw was Virgil and the spiny corpse bird on his shoulder.

“Strange. There should be a large guardian demon nearby.” Virgil scratched his head. “This isn’t normal.”

Nemo suddenly felt the staff in his hand become more slippery. His palms were probably sweating fiercely.

“Anyway, do be careful,” Duran Virgil’s voice was low. “We’re about to arrive… Shh.”

He suddenly made a quiet gesture with his left hand, picked up a brush with his right hand, and quickly drew a series of rough marks in the air. The air seemed to be colored by his pen, as the handwriting turned into a faint shadow, isolating them in the darkness.

Nemo silently put down his hand and secretly rejoiced for a few seconds. He was so nervous that he forgot about the staff and almost cast his spells directly.

At that moment, they were close enough to the Church of Silence that he could see its general appearance. For a large church, its shape was very irregular. The slightly distorted building revealed a desolated and treacherous beauty. A long, dark carriage was heading towards the church, and the driver’s face was wrapped in a wide white cloth, but he—or she—showed no obvious signs of wasting his energy dealing with the cage behind the carriage. About five or six weak figures were crowded together, and the sounds of chains rubbing were particularly clear in the silent night.

As Nemo could see, there were a few young people, some of whom appeared much younger than adults, and the oldest person in the cage appeared to be the same age as him.

“What is that?” Nemo swallowed quietly, trying to ease his tension.

“Sacrifices to the Demon King.” Virgil’s face was distorted. “Fuck. The time is clearly wrong… Now we’re in trouble.”

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The author has something to say:

Priest of the Abyssal Church: Okay, we are ready to start the sacrifice ceremony…

Nemo: ??? Wait a minute. Shouldn’t we do something? They plan on killing people.

Virgil: .

Fortunately, we don’t know the truth.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Man the sexual tension between Adrian and Jesse is heating up.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 97: The Church of Silence

Roscoe City was in the territory of Willard in a relatively remote location. Garland and Alban used the Ash Mountain Ranges as their natural border, which extended north to Willard. Not far from the end was Roscoe City. If one followed the ordinary way of traveling, it was estimated to take at least half a month of walking and teleportation arrays to arrive at their destination. However, with a fixed teleportation coordinate set up, everything was much simpler. It could be seen that Virgil had spent laborious time setting this up. The teleportation array that was set up for individuals was fragile and expensive and would break after several uses. This kind of behavior from him seemed soaked with a desire for success.

They didn’t know what was in the catacombs that would make a person like this care so much. Nemo was smacking on the sandpoint plums as he thought in silence about their current situation. Fortunately, the location of the area near Caleb was ambiguous, so they didn’t need to register in Alban. Otherwise, if they were to go through the private teleportation coordinates, Willard would judge it as an illegal invasion.

As he thought about it, Nemo, who was still unaccustomed to holding his staff, stepped into the teleportation array with the team in a disciplined manner.

There was a great difference between a teleportation array set up by an individual and a public one. This time, it wasn’t only Oliver who wanted to faint, but Nemo almost spat out the dried plum in his mouth. If the public teleportation array felt like a wooden-wheeled carriage galloping over a pebbled riverbed, the individual teleportation array…

Nemo felt as if he was hung on the blade of a windmill that was spinning in the face of a hurricane that could blast away livestock.

Virgil seemed to be used to this kind of tossing. He looked at the small objects on his body without a change in his expression, then he smiled at them apologetically. This time, even the fuller goat couldn’t stand up. It lay on the ground, aggrieved, and the luggage on its back lurched forward, almost being pierced by its horns.

Adrian only slightly arched his waist and lowered his center of gravity before he stood upright the moment he landed. At that moment, he was frowning as he looked at the scene in front of him.

It was almost nine at night and the sky was already dark. The moisture around them was much heavier than when they were in the desert. The stars in the sky were obscured by thin clouds. In front of them was a forest, or rather, the remains of a forest.

The land on which they stood was still lush with trees and shrubs, and from time to time, the sound of insects would sound from the gaps between the fallen leaves. However, ahead of them was dead land. The general appearance of trees was still there, but the branches were all dried and scorched black. Although the land was wet, there were no traces of plants. Not to mention ordinary animals, even the sight of demons and monsters was rare.

Pale and thin mist flowed slowly against the ground, creating a dead silence. Over the layers of dark branches, Nemo could see a spire of a weird building in the distance.

“The Church of Silence,” Adrian said in a deep voice that had a solemn tone. He finally showed the appearance of a Chief Justice of the Knight of Judgment. The murderous aura and hostility around him suddenly rose.

“Control it Cross.” There were no hints of joking in Ann’s tone. “That’s not the enemy for the time being.”

Adrian adjusted his breathing a few times and quickly suppressed his killing intent. “Sorry, everyone,” he said in a flat voice.

“I understand.” Duran Virgil smiled uncomfortably. “If you want to talk about it, take advantage of it now. If you’re not prepared, it’ll be very troublesome for you to move forward.”

“Why?” Oliver frowned slightly.

They didn’t know which bag Virgil had dug into, but he took out an apple and took a few bites of it. He lowered his body and rolled the round fruit towards the dead land. After crossing the obvious boundary between lush and dead, the ruddy and attractive fruit quickly decayed, and soon only a little black and yellow dry debris remained.

“Unless measures are taken in advance, ordinary surface creatures won’t last here.” Virgil wiped his hands. “This is considered to be their lowest barrier.”

Nemo nervously grabbed the small leather bag hanging from his belt. He wasn’t sure if the sandpoint plums could escape this catastrophe, and eating ash would not help his expression management.

“The weaker the vitality, the better the protection.” Virgil seemed to read Nemo’s mind. “If it’s just food, just protect it with a little abyssal magic. However, if you want to bring people in, you must either use extremely strong surface magic to forcibly counter it, or you must ensure a stable output of abyssal magic. Trust me, there are other barriers besides this one. People of the Abyssal Church usually transport… Uh, other creatures in carriages engraved with a protection array.”

“How do we keep in touch?” Oliver was more concerned about a different thing. “We need to know your situation before we can take cover in time.”

“Communication crystals won’t work. The magic is too strong, so it’ll be detected.” Virgil touched his chin. “I recommend a disposable communication crystal… I have enough here and can give it to Mr. Light.”

“The kind that can only say two or three words at a time?”

“Yes. It’s cheap and easy to use. It doesn’t take as much power to start compared to a regular communication crystal. The Abyssal Church has never restricted the rules so tightly. I remember that I can bring up to three.”

Nemo hitched his breath. After leaving Roadside Town, he hadn’t acted alone. He didn’t expect that the goal of this task was this big and he was expected to act by himself. Even the sandpoint plum couldn’t hide the prim look on his face at this moment.

“Three days. Communicate once a day and the remaining three will be reserved when they enter the catacomb,” Oliver quickly suggested. “If the people of the Abyssal Church are used to acting at night, then you can report in peace at sunrise. If something dangerous happens, or we don’t receive the news in time—”

“We’ll create some chaos and attract some of their attention—”

“No, we’ll come get you.”

Virgil raised his brows. “Do you have any idea about the level of vigilance of the Abyssal Church…”

“I do,” Adrian whispered. “Mr. Ramon’s proposal isn’t a problem.”

“If I could, I want to go with you.” Oliver sighed and stood in front of Nemo. “We’ll wait for you here, so relax.”

He then stretched out his arms and gave Nemo, who was wearing his grayish-black robe, a very strong hug. Nemo could feel Oliver’s cool kiss falling between his eyebrows. “Be safe,” Oliver said in a crisp, clear voice after moving his lips away.

Duran Virgil watched them quietly. There was no expression of surprise on his face, but a faint sadness was revealed.

“Oh my god. ‘Be safe’.” Ann’s voice brightened. She glanced at Virgil and spoke in an extremely low voice. “He should be saying that to the Abyssal Church.”

“You’re absolutely correct,” Jesse said, grinning from ear to ear, as if the bleak scene in front of him were just a funny set on a comedy stage. “But I have a hunch—”

“Please shut up,” Adrian decisively interrupted. “Prophecies are not permitted in this task.”

Jesse closed his mouth, aggrieved, and leaned crookedly on the fuller goat.

“Then let’s go first.” Virgil looked at the spire of the Church of Silence in the distance. “If it goes well, two days will be enough. Let’s go, Mr. Light. Are you ready?”

Nemo looked at Virgil in silence. His pupils were already in their non-human cruciform shape. The latter suddenly took a step back and looked at him suspiciously.

“Mimicry,” Nemo explained dryly, putting three layers of black shadows on the bag of sandpoint plums that were hanging from his waist to protect it.

Virgil frowned. After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head as if giving up. “Let’s go.”

Nemo breathed hard and stepped into the dead land. Sure enough, nothing abnormal happened. He turned his head and gave his teammates an “okay” gesture as the end of his staff was inserted into the soft soil.

The mist quickly separated them.

After walking for a while, Virgil said tentatively, “You don’t seem to be nervous at all.”

No, Nemo thought seriously. Although the expression on his face didn’t fluctuate, the soles of his feet were numb with tension. However, what was the use of that? At this moment, he could only trust his problematic origin and the combat effectiveness he displayed while fighting Witherspoon, whom he sent back into the Abyss.

“I’m okay.” He squeezed out a relatively appropriate answer.

“You’re not even curious about how I plan to get in?” Virgil showed a wry smile. “Maybe the Mercenary Guild’s evaluation of you is biased. You seem very confident.”

……No. He just forgot to ask. The corners of Nemo’s mouth twitched. He already knew that Virgil was a demon warlock, so he didn’t consider asking him exactly how he planned to get in.

“Perhaps.” Nemo turned his face away and hummed vaguely, causing him to almost choke on his sandpoint plum.

Virgil’s next actions answered the question on his mind. The tall man moved his shoulder, pulled out a strangely shaped metal whistle from behind his neck, and blew on it.

After a while, a bird flew down and landed gently on Virgil’s shoulder. Nemo curiously propped up the edge of his hood and turned to look.

Then he shuddered.

It wasn’t a “bird”, at least not one belonging to the surface. It was a bit like a crow, but it had no feathers. Instead, long black scales covered its skin. Its size was bigger than a crow and it only had one lone claw.

This was still within his scope of acceptance. The problem was at its head. The “beak” of that thing was larger than that of a crow, as if its entire head protruded forward and then split in half, leaving only a little skin on the back. Its face was covered in scales, and there were no eyes. Rather, three pairs of black and white eyes were embedded on both sides of the long break correspondingly.

At that moment, those eyes were staring at Nemo, which made the roots of his hair stand up.

“Spiny corpse bird,” Virgil explained in a low voice as he scratched the thing’s chin. “Uh… You don’t have to stay so far away. They are very docile.”

Originally, Duran Virgil’s aura was easy-going and warm, but when that thing was standing on his shoulder, his whole temperament was instantly titled. At that moment, he looked very much like a grinning serial killer.

The spiny corpse bird tilted its head at Nemo, making him swallow the remaining sandpoint plum in his mouth. He mechanically turned his head away, took out a new one from the cloth bag, and threw it in his mouth, trying to act as natural as possible.

“What is that?” Virgil asked curiously.

“Klebato salamander’s hearts,” Nemo replied dryly. “Would you like one?”

Virgil shook his head politely. “You need to be careful… We’re close to the Church of Silence. Nearby things will not actively attack creatures with demonic auras, but they will respond to ‘provocations’.”

“For example?” The new sandpoint plum had a stronger sour taste. Nemo tried his best to compress the conversation to the shortest time possible while staring into Virgil’s eyes. Mr. Cross’ suggestion was extremely useful, as it had also diverted his attention away from the creepy, spiny corpse bird.

“For example… Be careful not to step on them.”

Nemo’s footsteps stiffened. He thought it was just the soil on the soles of his feet that had softened. He raised his foot as carefully as possible and looked at the myxomycetes that he had just stepped on. The sky was too dark. Even with the dead forest that wasn’t covered with leaves, he couldn’t tell whether the dense reflections came from the myxomycetes’ bubbles or their small black eyes.

The myxomycetes made an aggrieved grunt but didn’t attack.

“It seems that this one has a better temper,” Virgil said sincerely, looking straight ahead, “but be careful.”

He really didn’t want to look at Nemo’s eyes.

Virgil didn’t really feel any strong combative power from him, so he should be just a harmless demon worshiper. However, he just couldn’t face those eyes calmly…

It didn’t seem like mimicry. If it was, the effect was too realistic. From time to time, those silver eyes were covered a little by the drooping hood, and in the dim night there was a mercury-like shimmer that it gave off. When the cruciform pupils turned, Virgil felt as if there was an icicle stuck in his heart that wouldn’t melt. He couldn’t accurately describe this subtle sense of fear.

It could be a side effect of the mimicry; at least, that was the only explanation he could come up with. After all, he had seen a real superior demon before, and he had never felt this way at that time.

At the same time, on the edge of the dead forest.

“Let’s leave too,” Jesse said lazily. “This distance should be safe.”

“We have the communication crystals.” Adrian checked the things in his hands again. “We can still keep in touch at any time.”

Oliver nodded and stroked the hilt of his Rest in Peace with his right hand.

“Keep in touch,” Their leader’s voice was steady. “Ann and I will stand guard here. You two… Don’t act forcefully.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Jesse blew a kiss to the two teammates left behind. “I believe in our dear Mr. Knight Commander. I will try my best to support him—”

“The Abyssal Church will never find us,” he added sweetly.

---

The author has something to say:

After all, this is a demon warlock with an unknown agenda. The team can’t possibly act obediently.

————————

Nemo: (Facing the spiny corpse bird) Uh, I think my san* value is a little bit……

*Refers to sanity value that you often find in horror games.

Virgil: (Facing Nemo) I also think my san value is a little bit……

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