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Chapter 185

A faint smile curled on the priest\'s lips as the voices continued. These reasons were likely different from their true intentions. From the priest\'s perspective, they were jealous of Ian Hope, a mere mercenary of unclear origin who was receiving far more love from the gods than they did.

"It doesn’t seem like the right time to make such a decision."

Nonetheless, the priest did not side with them.

"There’s no rush to conclude before everything is clear. He might indeed be the great hero destined to save the continent, as the public believes."

"...."

"Rather than plotting against him, finding his whereabouts should be our priority. He always vanishes without a trace, and we know very little about him."

A moment of silence followed. The priest’s words had hit the mark. At this rate, they would only end up chasing Ian Hope\'s shadow.

"He probably didn’t head north. He seemed uninterested in the war."

"He might have crossed the western border and headed to Agel Lan. The Red Knight is from there, and he wouldn’t ignore his homeland on the brink of rebellion."

"While we don\'t yet know what mission the Platinum Dragon assigned him, it seems unlikely to be related to the frontier. It’s more probable that he headed south towards the Empire."

The priest stroked his chin thoughtfully and spoke.

"Agel Lan or the Empire... If he headed south from here, he would end up in the western part of the Empire."

"Even if that’s not his destination, he will probably pass through Racliffe. It\'s a central hub in the western Empire, where many roads intersect."

"Then let’s split into three groups. Two will head west, two will head south, and two will come with me. I’ll return to the homeland to uncover the identity of that black knight."

The priest gestured to organize the situation. The two assigned to go west clicked their tongues briefly and withdrew, and the two assigned to accompany the priest did the same.

The reactions of the two heading south were quite different. One retreated with satisfaction, while the other hesitated for a moment. The one who hesitated had not spoken a word while the other purifiers were talking.

The priest, pretending not to notice, added while glancing at the two groups.

"Our goal is to retrieve the idol and the cursed sword. Do not antagonize him. He is the agent of the Platinum Dragon, the Northern Superhuman, and a warrior admired by many in the Order."

"...."

The purifiers\' breaths quieted. The eyes visible under their hoods were cold.

The priest added calmly, "Abandon any personal feelings. Disguise your identities. It would be problematic if it seemed like there was internal strife within the Order."

"...."

"Then you may all leave."

The purifiers turned away. The priest watched their retreating figures for a moment. He knew they wouldn’t fully follow his orders. If they found Ian Hope, they would try to kill him in some way. But that didn’t matter. In fact, it was what he hoped for when he added those words.

Of course, he didn’t expect them to kill Ian Hope. It was more likely that Ian Hope would kill them. It was enough to create a rift between the Order and Ian Hope. For now, he was a figure attracting attention from various gods and the Order.

Repeated conflicts and the resulting sacrifices would eventually categorize him as a threat to the Order rather than a blessed superhuman. That was when the priest would truly take action.

“It\'s a shame to part ways... but you continue to be helpful to the end, Empress,” said the priest, who had closed his eyes after surveying the ruins.

Soon, a subtle golden light appeared over his closed eyelids, and soon his entire closed eyes glowed golden. The priest lifted his head towards the cloudy sky. His closed eyes were observing an aspect invisible to the naked eye. A faint smile spread across the priest’s lips.

“...Even the cracks you left behind.”

He then took something out of his pocket. It was a neatly folded, smooth handkerchief. The surface featured dense embroidery of golden inscriptions.

The priest unfolded the handkerchief. Revealed between the cloth was a black fragment, seemingly the remnants of something. The fragment, once exposed, flickered with a faint purple light. The next moment, the fragment turned to ashes and scattered into the wind.

Woosh.

The priest watched the sight for a moment, then opened his eyes again and turned around. The light subsided in his eyes, and a look of satisfaction gleamed.

Despite numerous variables, the council finally achieved its desired result. Now the continent would face new trials and darkness.

“Then ultimately... more desperately...”

Suddenly, a flash of dark clouds cast a long, dark shadow before the priest. Boom, dry thunder echoed afterward. The priest, who was walking away, didn’t look back even once.

***

Through the darkness, Charlotte’s figure became clear.

She had found a cave that looked like a ripped cliff. As she exited the cave, dark blue fluid dripped from her face and the ax in her hand. It was the fluid of a cave troll that was being dragged by her left hand. Judging by its smaller size, it seemed to be a young one.

“There’s nothing left inside now, Ian,” Charlotte said as she tossed the creature among the pile of troll corpses stacked next to the cave.

There were six in total; it was quite a large family even among cave trolls. Ian, leaning against a tree across, nodded.

“Good job.”

“No problem. It\'s a deep cave, so it should be enough.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Smiling, Ian moved. Contrary to expectations, they had barely found a suitable cave after a week. If they had come up empty-handed again, he would have had to risk performing the marking ceremony in Imperial territory.

“Thank you for your hard work, Charlotte.” Philip, who ran ahead of Ian, offered a cloth while speaking.

With the bandage removed from his left arm, his movements were much more natural. While Charlotte wiped the ax blade with the cloth he handed her.

“Don’t even think about it.” Ian spat, glancing at Thesaya, who had subtly sidled up.

Thesaya smiled. “I haven’t said anything ye—Ow!”

Charlotte, who had rushed over, wrapped her arm around Thesaya\'s neck and lifted her.

Ignoring the struggling Thesaya, Charlotte looked at Ian.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let her come near the cave.”

“I’ll set up camp next to the carriage,” Philip added, picking up the ax Charlotte had thrown.

Ian nodded and walked away, turning his back on Mev’s worried gaze. The cave entrance, as if painted with a brush, drew nearer.

Whoosh—

A torch in his hand ignited.

Contrary to the rather narrow entrance, the winding interior of the cave seemed endless. The high ceiling suggested that the trolls nesting there had simply cultivated a naturally formed cave.

“Excellent...”

Ian finally stopped in a newly discovered cavern. The entrance was not visible, and the space was adequately spacious. Holes, presumably dug by the trolls, punctured the rough and uneven walls.

Just as Charlotte had said, there were no signs of life, neither inside nor outside the cave. This meant there was no need to worry about the group being possessed by the whispers of the void.

Thunk.

Ian planted the torch between some rocks and sat on the shadowy ground. His hand, which had entered a pocket of his pocket dimension, retrieved a magic-infused container. The intricately carved spell circuits on the box\'s surface emitted a soft glow. Ian opened the box without hesitation.

“....”

Inside was a small skull with four eye sockets connected by several pieces of bone. The torchlight dimmed, and the surrounding darkness seemed to deepen. The abyss within the eye sockets, staring at Ian, appeared to writhe as if alive. Incomprehensible whispers echoed around. Geometric patterns and horrific scenes from another world flashed before his eyes.

As expected, this is a real pain.

Ian grasped the skull firmly. Amidst his wavering vision, an information window became clear.

[Skull of the Walker of the Rift]

It was an artifact-grade talisman. There was no time to examine its stats?. His vision distorted, and the abyss within the eye sockets seemed ready to swallow him whole. Without further thought, Ian summoned his chaos power.

Fwoosh—

But the sticky darkness that burst from the skull was faster. The flickering torch went out instantly, and pitch-black darkness descended. Before long, the surroundings were entirely dark.

Ian, undeterred, channeled chaos power into the skull.

There was tremendous resistance. Inside the skull, he felt a familiar magical power—engraved with the Empress’s magic. Even amidst the chaotic hallucinations, Ian did not stop pushing the chaos power.

Crack.

The sound of something breaking echoed in his ears at that moment. This was no hallucination. A spiderweb-like crack had indeed formed in the midst of the darkness.

Crack-crack-crack—

As rapidly spreading cracks shattered and scattered, his vision cleared.

He was still standing in the middle of the cave. However, everything was black and white, and even with no light source, he had no problem discerning his surroundings.

A similar scene he had seen before flashed through Ian’s mind—the illusion of the Vampire Empress. Then Ian realized he could not move at all, and the skull in his grip had vanished without a trace.

Not this again.

Crack—

Another cracking sound echoed in his ears. Ian could see the source without turning his head. A long rift had formed right in the middle of the path leading to the cave entrance. Beyond the crack, a purple hue shimmered.

The void...? Then where is this place?

As he pondered, something glossy burst through the crack. It was the top of an enormous head. With a crunching sound, the creature raised its head. Randomly placed, blood-red eyes glistened on its gray, pear-shaped head. Its face split vertically down the middle, and its mouth opened wide to reveal crimson flesh and several rows of jagged teeth.

“Kii... rrrr—”

The creature let out a wail infused with magic as it thrust its head forward. Its neck gleamed like an insect\'s shell, and below it, small heads hung like clusters of fruit. Although smaller compared to the top head, they were still larger than a typical human\'s head. Long, spindly legs resembling those of insects protruded and twitched between the heads.

How disgusting.

All Ian could do was think.

His body couldn’t move, and neither could his magic. He could open the status window, but he couldn\'t allocate points. The same went for skills; they were all deactivated.

At that moment, a quest window appeared before his eyes.

[Rift of the World.]

Closing the quest window, Ian felt a sense of relief. This must be some sort of event cut scene.

Are events for the corrupted ones all this twisted?

Scratch, scratch—

The grating sound felt like it was scraping his eardrums. It was the sound of the void creature. It couldn’t force its way through the rift any further, only pushing its head through.

The sound he heard now was the creature grinding its teeth in a desperate struggle. Soon, the creature’s head drooped, seemingly giving up.

But that was only for a moment. The creature\'s numerous heads turned towards Ian simultaneously. The many red eyes, with their horizontal pupils, stared at him, and the void magic captured Ian\'s consciousness in an instant.

“...!”

What surprised Ian was the internal resonance that began to spread at that moment. It was a sensation he had become quite familiar with. The shards of chaos were resonating as if resisting the spell.

It’s becoming more uncontrollable.

Even as Ian thought, the resonance of the shards grew stronger. His entire vision shook. He could feel the spell binding him, disintegrating.

The resonance of the shards subsided briefly.

Fwoosh!

The chaos power contained within the shards leaked out, unlike the usual way it coursed through his veins. It spread as if to consume his entire consciousness. His vision instantly turned a deep purple. The sticky, tar-like sensation enveloped his entire body, threatening to drown his awareness.

“....!”

The eyes watching Ian flickered at that moment. Then, one of the legs, which had been randomly sprouting between the heads, moved swiftly. The sharp leg neatly severed one of the smaller heads hanging below.

Thud—

Down to the ground went the head. The remaining heads spewed out purple slime from their mouths. The slime slithered toward the severed head.

Crrr, crack—

The cracks that had formed narrowed immediately afterward. The head, which had been peeking through the rift, started to retreat back.

“Phew....”

It was at that moment Ian regained consciousness. His vision cleared, and his senses returned. Not just returned, but they were sharper, as if he had shed a layer of skin. He could even move his body.

However, the feeling of being covered in tar remained. A sticky sensation, but one that felt powerful and pleasant. It was no illusion. Looking down, Ian saw a long hand covered in what appeared to be a purple exoskeleton. Materialized chaos power wrapped around his entire body like fibers.

Perhaps the chaos power itself had formed his body, holding his consciousness within. He could clearly feel the chaos power within him and flowing through the air. As Ian chuckled, he realized his lips were literally splitting down to his ears. His tongue, now much thicker and longer, licked the rows of sharp teeth.

I think I’ve seen something like this in a superhero movie before...

As he thought, Ian opened his status window. His stats had increased arbitrarily, as had his skills. All the magic was gone, replaced by new skills he had never seen before. Blood Blade, Hunting Time, Soul Shackles, and so on.

Could it be that these are from the things the shards devoured...?

“Ki... rrreee—”

A piercing sound broke Ian’s train of thought. The nearly closed rift now shimmered faintly with a purple hue.

Fsssss—

A dark creature rose.

Its form was revolting, a mix between a mantis and a centipede. The head that had been severed earlier was embedded in its center. It seemed the slime had reconstituted its body. As Ian faced the numerous eyes staring at him, he once again curled his lips into a grin.

Crack, crack—

Sharp claws sprouted from the tips of his hands, now hanging down.