Chapter 94 - The first flame (1)
Surrounded by crows, Negary walked towards the entrance of the cave.
Inside the cave entrance was a relatively spacious flight of stairs that led all the way down with no end in sight. Both sides of the stairs were inlaid with luminous stones to provide lighting.
At the same time, as soon as Negary entered this place, his perception field was immediately suppressed by a certain force and couldn’t extend too far.
〖 No wonder the Ghostmen broke contact after entering this place. In this environment, it would be difficult for me to contact the outside world even through the Soul’s blood 〗
Negary continued downward without hesitation.
Along the way, more corpses could be seen, most of them were assassins of Sacred Valley, there were also a few Crowmen and Dragonmen corpses, and even a single Ghostmen who fell here, but no Hales members at all.
But if one gave it some thought, most Hales members had the Black Abyss trait, and now that the Black Abyss was coming closer, they would most likely acquire a part of the Black Abyss power and turn into those mud monsters much more easily.
While becoming a mud monster made you very strong, the price for that was the complete loss of sentience and turning into an irrational monster. Even the people of Hales could not control them, only setting them wild on the continent and further weakening the flame.
The Hales members who attacked Sacred Valley most likely only included the 3 members of the ‘four sides of God’ who had returned to their positions, and a few people who did not possess the Black Abyss trait.
『 Ahahaha, mortals covered by the ashes, you can’t resist God. I have transcended mere appearance and have become the face of God! 』 the sound of a huge impact came from below, accompanied by a loud noise.
〖 So they are fighting below? 〗
Negary walked down at a steady pace that wasn’t too fast nor too slow. By what the voice just declared, it wasn’t hard to guess whose voice that belonged to, one of the four sides of God, but the one fighting against him was unclear.
…
Idain, one of the few Blood Burners of the Sacred Valley, was burning with flames of red vitality, illuminating his surroundings.
Around him were several spots of white light, he understood at a glance that they were the people of the Church of Divine Grace who were fully supporting him with their Graces.
The world was impermanent, not too long ago, they were still clashing swords against one another, but now they were on a united front against a common enemy.
And the enemy in question was a shroud of darkness that had completely engulfed them, the Dazzled who represented the ‘unseeable’ side of God.
If someone was exposed to this darkness, they would be completely swallowed up by it. If not for the red light of vitality around himself, he would have already lost his life long ago, but besides this devouring power, there was something else inside the darkness that was constantly attacking him as well.
With a groan, one of the spots of white light near him slowly faded away. Obviously, another person from the Church was unable to endure and was swallowed up by the darkness.
『 Tsk tsk tsk, what are you still persevering for? 』 the voice in the darkness sounded again: 『 Life is nothing but a scam, the flame used emotions as chains to bind you. By breaking away from those shackles, you will see the true face of the world 』
Damn it, what should I do?
Idain was keeping this light up through burning his life force, so he was very anxious. Although he remained here voluntarily to keep the enemy busy, that didn’t mean he was willing to die like this.
Feeling a breath of danger around him, Idain reflexively rolled to one side, but was still a step too late. His left hand was sliced off by an unknown object or entity and the pain numbed his mind. Right away, the life force stored inside his heart surged forth to stop the bleeding at his wrist.
But this was meaningless, healing his wounds caused his life force to run out even quicker, slowly extinguishing the light of vitality around his body. As the darkness crept in closer, he could feel his everything being devoured by the darkness.
I couldn’t even retaliate, defeated without being able to do anything, I truly am weak.
Idain collapsed to the darkness, the red light around him gradually faded away. Perhaps it was his imagination, but before he completely lost his life, he could feel a sound and the pain of his entire body being torn apart.
〖 Jliost! 〗
The irresistible force surged forward, ripping the darkness that lingered inside the cave to shreds.
But the people struggling inside the darkness were also struck by this power. As they were barely able to resist the power of the darkness, their bodies and lives were ripped to shreds together with the darkness by the power of the [Dracotongue].
Negary slowly walked forward, glanced at the bunch of collateral damage before he turned to the Dazzled inside the darkness: 〖 These people could never stall you, so what are your plans by stopping here? 〗
『 Negary! 』 the Dazzled hiding in the darkness shouted with gnashing teeth. Before Hales found him, the ideal Dazzled was supposed to be Negary, which made him feel like he was only a substitute.
And now that the ‘original’ had appeared before him and even ruined his joy of hunting, the Dazzled only felt more hatred towards Negary.
『 It’s good that you’re here! I will kill you and prove that I am definitely stronger than you are! 』the Dazzled declared full of malice, his darkness surged forth like a tidal wave that crashed down towards Negary.
『 The closer the Black Abyss approaches, the stronger my power will be. Negary, you are limited to the power of Evil Spirits and could never win against me who has obtained the power of the Black Abyss! 』the Dazzled’s voice echoed in the darkness, quickly surrounding Negary.
〖 How unsightly 〗 Negary said mockingly as he felt the darkness constantly absorbing his power and when he heard the Dazzled’s words. This so-called Dazzled, before becoming the Dazzled, was nothing but a new-born rational Evil Spirit.
His current power was only obtained through Hales’ piling resources on him, so compared to Negary and Eldridge, his willpower was pathetically weak. Like a castle in the sky, everything about him was built on the basis of that bestowed power.
The cluster of white light in Negary’s hand lit up, became stronger and stronger, then swiftly repelled everything around him. Including the darkness, the stairs beneath his feet, even the air around him was driven away.
The Grace of ‘Justice’, in the Church of Divine Grace’s description, was the ability to reject all entities that one believed to be unjust. In essence, it was the ability to turn one’s willpower into repulsive force and excluded everything they deemed to be wrong.
And no one knew for sure exactly how powerful Negary’s will actually was. The darkness itself was powerful, but the willpower of the one controlling it was insignificant.
As the light dispelled the darkness, Negary walked straight forward with his ‘Justice’ in hand and directly grabbed the Dazzled who was hiding within the darkness.
〖Caught you, bug! 〗 the thing in his hand was a deformed humanoid Evil Spirit. After the darkness was dispelled, he kept trying to retreat, waving his hands to conceal his ugly appearance.
Putting just a bit of force into his hands, he crushed the Dazzled to pieces, but just as Negary was about to absorb its Soul Essence to obtain more information, those things disappeared following some sort of power.
〖 The Black Abyss? 〗 Negary put the original Evil Spirit away and continued to move forward.