Summoning the Holy Sword

Now that Gillian had mentioned it… This scenery was on the 8th floor of the Infernal Abyss: a landscape of burning purgatory. The indistinct, visible tall building was the symbolic Atonement Tower. Actually, Rhode wasn’t any stranger to that place as he had led his men and ransacked the region before killing the Void Dragon. However, he subconsciously believed that this scenery should have been in the Dragon Soul Continent and didn’t think of that place as hell. Now, it seemed like this was exactly the same as what he remembered.

“Huhuhu, this is getting interesting, Master.”

Gillian let out a chuckle and lifted her head. She winked at Rhode playfully. He knew what Gillian meant because no matter what, Christie had never been to hell and even if it was based on the little girl’s imagination, the depiction was too similar. If he didn’t learn about Christie’s past, he would have thought that she had been there before. However, that was totally impossible, as the burning purgatory belonged to the deeper levels of hell. Volcanoes erupted and flowed with magma while the air was filled with pitch-black billows of smokes and ash that danced like snow— Beautiful, yet deadly. No humans could survive there; not even players like Rhode. He was only able to survive due to him securing equipment that was immune to fire elements. If it was Christie, she would have turned into ashes immediately the moment she entered.

That was why Gillian thought this was getting interesting.

Accordingly to Marlene, Christie didn’t seem to be aware when she painted these sceneries and only when she finished them would she get a huge shock. So what did all this mean?

Rhode rubbed his forehead, feeling a little fatigued as another difficult problem rose before his eyes before he could even get a good night’s rest.

“What did the others think about this?”

“Miss Anne wasn’t interested and Lize was worried. As for the rest… they aren’t aware of this yet. I don’t think Christie would go around talking about it either.”

Christie was popular among the mercenaries, mainly due to her appropriate behavior. Maybe it was due to her harsh childhood that she didn’t have the willfulness of girls of her age. She was obedient, clever, and everyone adored her cute appearance.

Even if it was Rhode, he was bound to be fatigued after going on an adventure for several days. It was almost evening when he woke up. The sun had almost called it a day as it lit up the horizon and white clouds were painted in a warm redness. Rhode stood and while he tidied his clothes, someone knocked on the door. Marlene’s voice sounded.

“Mr. Rhode, are you awake?”

“Marlene? Yes, come in,” Rhode said. The maiden pushed the door open and made her way in. Rhode quickly noticed her unusually gloomy expression. “Did anything happen?”

“Yes…”

Marlene thought for a moment.

“Lize, Anne, and Christie haven’t return since they went out this morning to buy some painting materials. They should be back by noon, but…”

“You’re saying that they are nowhere in sight?”

Rhode glanced out of the window subconsciously. The sun had fallen below the horizon. This should be the time mercenaries returned, unless they went out to have a drink or two. However, Lize, Anne, and Christie clearly didn’t have such a habit.

“Yes. I dispatched someone to search for them, but…”

Before Marlene could finish her sentence, rapid footsteps could be heard from the hallway. In an instant, Joey barged into the room with a head full of sweat. He panted and pointed his shaky finger out the window in a pale expression.

“Miss Marlene, Leader, n-n-no