Chapter 1126 The Dark Glow <TOC> Chapter 1128 The Mechanism of Defense
Translator: SumTLMan
There’s a stark contrast between the illumination inside the Shadow Mist Zone and the light outside.
The zone receives very little light, almost none, thereby forming a distinctively dim area separate from the outside world. Within, it appears as though shadows shift subtly, their identities shrouded in mystery.
Angel listens attentively, yet hears no sounds from within the Shadow Mist Zone, as if it’s an entirely different world from the outside.
This reminded Angel of parallel dimensions.
“Is this place usually not like this?” Angel queried, looking at Canaan.
Canaan nodded, “In my decade hanging around La Sutherland, I’ve never encountered such a situation. This is a first… Could something unusual have happened within?”
Canaan knew well that Angel wouldn’t have any insight into the specifics, so her gaze covertly flitted toward Fafnir. Fafnir had been watching from the sidelines before this illusion had occurred; perhaps she had spotted something wrong in the gloom outside the Void Obelisk.
Angel’s gaze also shifted towards Fafnir. He didn’t comprehend the importance of the issue; it was purely out of curiosity.
“The changes here began when Nythotep rushed to rescue the other seat members,” Fafnir nonchalantly explained. “The dim area, referred to as the Shadow Mist Zone by the nearby demons, initially spread out from the Void Obelisk. As for the state within the Shadow Mist Zone, I am not privy to that. But many demons who ventured in… haven’t been seen since.”
Though Fafnir downplayed the matter, she had previously manipulated a breeze to investigate the Shadow Mist Zone. However, as soon as the gust entered, it lost all contact, as if some force had shackled the wind element.
Fafnir didn’t care much at that time and she knew that even if she successfully steered the gust into the Shadow Mist Zone, it certainly wouldn’t infiltrate the Void Obelisk. So, Fafnir shifted her focus onto the rainclouds, dismissing the situation within the Shadow Mist Zone. Until now, when she once again turned her attention to it.
“Should we examine the inside?” Angel proposed.
Fafnir cast a cold glance at Angel, “I don’t mind, as long as you don’t regret it.”
Regret? At first, Angel didn’t grasp Fafnir’s meaning, not until Fafnir maneuvered the gust into the Shadow Mist Zone…
After an enduring pause, the courtyard of the Phantasmagoria Cabin echoed with an agonizing wail.
Not far off at the crossroads, Canter knitted his brows, addressing Samantha, “Did you catch a hint of a sound just now?”
Samantha gave a small nod, “Sounded like a scream, but it’s nothing surprising. Now if you didn’t hear screams in La Sutherland, that would be strange indeed.”
Contemplative, Canter nodded. The scream, he felt, seemed to have emanated from the scorched lands behind them, the very direction of the Phantasmagoria Cabin… As Canter pondered if Angel might be the one crying out, the sound of footfalls echoed from the main road, obscured by white smoke.
Canter swiftly rid his mind of distracting thoughts, raising his guard alongside Samantha, turning their gaze towards the source of the sound.
——With a surge of swirling smoke, a woman with frost-tipped hair and fiery eyes appeared, wrapped in a fiery aura, stepping forth from the mist.
Meanwhile, within the yard of the Phantasmagoria Cabin, Angel was clutching his head, emitting a scream as if being torn apart. His sea of consciousness was in tumultuous upheaval, an intense sensation of piercing pain persistently emanating from the depths of his brain.
After what felt like an eternity, the pain began to subside. Still, Angel sat on the bench gasping for breath, his body as limp as a ragdoll.
When Angel managed to compose himself, his first utterance was, “Great loss!” The second phrase he managed was, “Toby, where’s Toby?”
“The Frozen Seal is with me,” Canaan quickly replied. Earlier, when Angel suddenly let out a scream, his entire body quaking and losing control of the Frozen Seal, Canaan had helped take over protecting Toby. Seeing Angel starting to recover, Canaan manipulated a fluid arm of water, returning the Frozen Seal to Angel.
Assured that Toby was safe within the Frozen Seal and that no anomalies had occurred with Bina Jonis’s scale, Angel finally let out a sigh of relief.
Canaan, looking at the sweat-soaked brow of Angel, asked with some concern, “Shopkeeper, are you okay?”
“I’m much better now than I was before,” replied Angel between his gasps for breath, while simultaneously checking the state of his sea of consciousness. The earlier pain had been excruciating, feeling as though a violent storm had suddenly erupted in his otherwise tranquil and serene mental sea.
Fortunately, after examining himself, Angel confirmed there was nothing critically wrong.
The earlier scream was actually due to a fragment of his consciousness being crushed. Despite the intense pain, it had only resulted in minor mental trauma. Even without any healing potions, a few days of rest should gradually mend it.
Only after ensuring that he was unharmed did Angel turn his attention back to Fafnir.
The breeze that had been crushed earlier contained not only Angel’s consciousness but also a thread of Fafnir’s. However, while Angel was in unbearable pain, Fafnir hadn’t felt a sting. To her, the agony of losing a thread of consciousness was no different from a mosquito bite.
“Lady Fafnir, you are aware of the peril that lurks within, are you not?” Angel had now come to comprehend why Fafnir had previously cautioned him not to be regretful of his choices.
“I have mentioned before, every demon that entered has never emerged; that should have sparked suspicion. Do you believe the gust of wind under my command to be superior to the power of those demons?”
Despite such claims, what Angel was more curious about was why, if she knew of such hazards, hadn’t she hindered him before he stepped into the Shadow Mist Zone?
“Shopkeeper, what on earth has happened?” Canaan asked curiously. Their illusionary journey only lasted until they entered the Shadow Mist Zone. Afterward, Angel’s screams of pain filled the air and the illusion naturally ceased. Canaan was clueless about what had actually transpired.
Angel shook his head, letting out a sigh: “I really can’t tell what happened. The moment we entered, it felt as if we were caught in a whirlpool, then my trace of spiritual consciousness was ground to dust.”
As Angel reached this point, he looked towards Fafnir. His perception could not discern any anomalies, but Fafnir might have made some discovery.
At this time, Fafnir was lost in deep thought, her brow furrowing occasionally, before she finally snapped back to reality.
“Lady Fafnir, were we ambushed after we entered?” Angel inquired.
Fafnir shook her head, “No ambush, it was probably some defense mechanism of the Void Obelisk being activated. However, there is indeed something peculiar about this Shadow Mist Zone.”
“What’s peculiar?”
Fafnir fell silent. She had a persistent hunch, feeling a strange presence lurking within the Shadow Mist Zone, possibly emanating from an indescribable entity.
As Fafnir didn’t respond, and with Angel contemplating their next steps, Canaan found it inappropriate to interrupt, leading to a rare moment of silence in the courtyard.
This quiet was broken when Canaan unexpectedly stretched out her hand, pointing towards the sky.
Following the direction of Canaan’s finger, Angel noticed the rainclouds conjured by Nythotep gradually fading until they eventually disappeared entirely.
Regrettably, without Fafnir’s aid, Angel, from his ground-level vantage point, could only vaguely discern the transformation of the clouds, unable to perceive the situation within.
However, judging by the current state of affairs, was Nythotep’s retraction of the rainclouds a sign of pursuit?
“Nythotep is chasing after that floating iceberg… no, wait, Nythotep has taken a detour; she’s heading for the Void Obelisk!” Canaan could make out the situation roughly. Even though the view was not as clear as from within the illusion, it at least gave Angel a grasp of the current situation in the skies.
The voice of Giallar stirred Fafnir from her slumber.
Glimpsing in the direction of Nythotep, she noted the seemingly unperturbed countenance of the entity. Yet, subtly hiding beneath the surface was a ripple of panic.
Fafnir mused to herself, indeed, the circumstances at the Void Obelisk weren’t as plain as they seemed.
……
Upon the floating iceberg, the wizards also noticed Nythotep’s movements.
“Hm, it appears Nythotep is also making her way to the core area,” remarked Rivetta. A backlash from a failed summoning had temporarily rendered her wind spells useless, dramatically hindering her combat capabilities. Now, she found herself grounded on the floating ice.
“Oh heavens, this is a gift from the skies! With Nythotep currently not shrouded by the rainclouds, this provides us a golden opportunity to obliterate her once and for all!” Mumin’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“Hold your horses,” Rivetta cast Mumin a disdainful look. “Even without the rainclouds, the power of Nythotep is not to be underestimated. Besides, our priority right now should be to exterminate these minor demons blocking our path. Compared to confronting Nythotep, it might be a more feasible plan to spend time locating those two blood cocoons.”
Nythotep had left alone, while Komodo and the two blood cocoons were nowhere to be found, undoubtedly hidden away. Attacking now would be a far simpler task than facing Nythotep.
“Nythotep seems… off. Her aura, it’s laced with an undercurrent of panic,” ‘Pendulum Clock’ Lucci noted.
Lucci’s words stirred the group into confusion. If Nythotep was skirting around the iceberg to reach the Void Obelisk, and she was also appearing uneasy, could there be issues with the Obelisk?
The eyes of the group inadvertently turned to Mengke.
A sense of bewilderment clouded Mengke’s gaze as well. Previously, he could still sense the presence of Iadase. However, after Iadase entered that dark light zone, all traces were lost. Not long after, Nythotep abandoned the rainclouds and voluntarily returned to the Void Obelisk. These chain of events seemed to be interconnected.
However, Mengke couldn’t yet decipher the link amongst them.
“Lucci, come and have a look at that dark light zone.”
After a while, Lucci, with furrowed brows, said, “The calculations from the Wheel of Time are once again blank, indicating that the zone with dark light is hazardous. If we continue to approach the Void Obelisk, it’s best to avoid stepping into the area where the dark light resides.”
The dark light zone posed great danger, not just to humans, but demons as well.
The emergence of this anomaly at such a central location in the Void Obelisk left Mengke scratching his head. Could it be possible that there was truly an issue with the Obelisk?
“Send a few scouting puppets to explore the dark light zone,” he decided.
Chapter 1126 The Dark Glow <TOC> Chapter 1128 The Mechanism of Defense