Chapter 1093: 80. Eerie Form
The group quickly got moving, and their division of labor was clear. Evidently, they had prepared a plan long ago.
One of them went to higher ground and watched the village not far away, ensuring that if there were any movement over there, they would notice it at once.
Another person crawled along the edge of the forest district and gently brushed away the soil on the ground bit by bit. Before long, he had dug out several threads as thin as iron wire.
The third person took out some strange instrument and swept it wildly over those threads.
Not long after, two of the threads were singled out.
"These two. They've been infused with magic. Once touched, they'll trigger an alarm. Tsk. As expected of Meg Mace. How sinister. Out of seven warning lines, only two are actually real."
"It seems the news that the only mage in their village died is true. Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to conserve magic this much."
The eyes of the person in the lead flickered.
"Those old bastards in the village are all troublesome. It would be best if we could avoid confronting them directly. Can these warning lines be undone without alerting the guards?"
"Yes. Meg Mace is already old too, so these lines are actually only very simple trigger-type mechanisms based on magic circuits. Once the magic circuit pauses or fluctuates, they will immediately sound the alarm. In other words, as long as the circuit is kept stable the whole time, there won't be any problem."
After answering, the person responsible for digging out the lines knelt on one knee before the two lines, stretched out his left hand, and grabbed the left side of the upper line. Then he stretched out his right hand and grabbed the right side of the upper line.
Then... he stretched out a second left hand and grabbed the left side of the lower line, then stretched out a second right hand and grabbed the right side of the lower line.
Magic poured in at the same time.
"Quick. I've covered these two lines with my own magic. It shouldn't trigger the alarm now."
That person's head was covered in sweat. The sweat dripped onto the ground, hissing as it fell.
"Good work."
The person in the lead stepped into the forest. Sure enough, no alarm was triggered.
But he still could not relax his vigilance.
He waved toward the other side.
Up on higher ground, the person keeping watch patted his round belly. That belly immediately trembled, letting out a hoarse sound like the cry of insects. The sound seemed to echo through a valley, first traveling far away, then rebounding back, conveying the message that everything was normal.
"Very good."
The person in the lead nodded in satisfaction. He had long heard that Forest District Three was guarded with extreme strictness, but fortunately, their own preparations were also quite thorough. Those qualified to participate in this operation were all elites of the cult.
And as the leader, he was naturally the most elite one.
"I'm going to begin. Continue standing guard."
"Yes."
The person in the lead searched inside his robe a few times. Several stones engraved with runes were taken out one by one and placed before him.
These stones looked extremely ordinary. Aside from the strange runes on them, their material was completely no different from broken rocks that could be found anywhere. Yet he treated them with great reverence. He almost held every stone in both hands and gently placed it on the ground.
"Goddess who governs secrecy and night, I shall follow Your guidance..."
The person in the lead began to pray.
"Please send down the calamity of punishment, and for us... cleanse sin!"
Buzz.
As that person's prayer sounded, the runes began to light up. Some terrifying wave of destruction gradually released from those unremarkable stones as well.
The eyes beneath the black robe of the person in the lead grew brighter and brighter. Five eyes blinked and blinked, filled with anticipation. That destructive wave clearly meant complete death even for him, yet he was so delighted.
Because he was about to witness a miracle!
The miracle of the Goddess of Night!
These sinful people who had abandoned faith and deceived themselves would all repent for their stupidity and naivety in hell beneath the Goddess's wrath!
"Come!"
Click.
The stones suddenly trembled, and the destructive aura inside them was released even more clearly.
It was here!
The delight of the person in the lead reached its peak. Those ignorant fools thought they had protected everything so well, but in the end, there was no way they could stop—
Click.
But as the stones trembled again, the destructive aura did not truly release.
"..."
The expression of the person in the lead stiffened slightly.
Did it need to charge?
No matter. For such a great miracle, needing a little more time was normal.
Come!
The stones trembled again.
The destructive aura still did not release.
"..."
S-So that was how it was...
As expected of the Goddess of Night's miracle. Just the charging alone took this long. He truly did not dare imagine how powerful it would be when the time came.
But charging should still have an end.
Now!
Come!
The stones trembled again.
...The destruction still never happened.
"..."
He refused to believe this evil.
Continue!
Come!
This time the stones trembled several times in succession.
But those scenes that should have appeared still showed no sign of appearing at all.
There were only the few people beside him silently watching him...
Watching this most elite captain.
"..."
Amid a deathly silence and embarrassment, the person in the lead widened his eyes and finally realized something was wrong.
Even if the miracle of the Goddess of Night really did need to charge for a while...
It could not keep charging forever.
And the rune stones kept trembling back and forth... but in the end, no matter how they trembled, the destructive aura inside them was like a difficult birth. It just could not release.
In fact, in the end, under his disbelieving gaze, the runes that had only just lit up not long ago... actually dimmed one after another.
"What is going on?"
The person in the lead was dumbfounded.
"The runes malfunctioned?"
The others looked at one another, equally lost.
Malfunctioned? How was that possible? This was a miracle left behind by the great Goddess of Night!
How could a miracle have a problem?
Then... could it be that his prayer was not devout enough?
The person in the lead hurriedly prayed again.
"Goddess who governs secrecy and night, I..."
As the prayer sounded, the runes lit up again, and he also let out a breath of relief.
It seemed what had happened just now was only an accident...
Click.
But at this moment, along with the stones violently trembling once more, the runes that had just lit up... dimmed again, as if they had been stopped right before release.
Everything was futile.
The person in the lead was completely stunned. Back when he had received this god-given object from the High Priest, he had never heard that it would have a day when it went on strike.
"What exactly is going on?"
The person in the lead hurriedly picked up the stones and examined them. Very quickly, he discovered that whether it was the stones serving as the carriers or the runes on them, there was no problem at all.
The only problem was that the stones... seemed to be missing one?
That was even more wrong. How could he possibly have brought one less? This was a complete set! In order to prevent them from being lost, he even stuffed them inside his clothes when he slept!
The person in the lead hurriedly searched. The plan had already been carried out to this point. If it failed because of this kind of reason, then forget the Goddess—he himself would be unable to forgive himself.
...Fortunately, the thing was found very quickly.
Not far away, beneath a crooked-necked tree, a certain yellow-haired bastard who looked extremely punchable was tossing the rune stone he regarded as his very heart and liver casually up and down in his hand.
"Are you looking for this?"
Noticing his gaze, the yellow-haired man raised his head and smiled faintly.
"Sorry. As criminal evidence, this is temporarily being confiscated by me."
"Who... who are you?"
The person in the lead was both shocked and furious, because he had not sensed at all when this person had appeared, and he had not sensed at all when this person had taken the rune stone... from his hand.
"Why are you here? Also, what do you mean by criminal evidence?"
"Everyone, don't be afraid, and don't be nervous. I'm only an ordinary yellow-haired passerby. I don't intend to take the initiative and get into conflict with you. As for this so-called criminal evidence..."
The yellow-haired man... or rather, Muen, examined the stone in his hand while saying leisurely,
"Isn't there a saying? Set fire to a mountain, and you'll sit in prison until the bottom drops out. And you people actually dared to place this kind of dangerous thing that clearly explodes... wouldn't that mean sitting in prison until the seas dry up and the rocks rot?"
"..."
The cheek of the person in the lead twitched.
What the hell?
Where was there such a rule?
And why did they have to obey this inexplicable rule?
"Hurry up and return the rune stone!"
"Of course, I'm not a police officer. I have no qualifications to arrest you and send you to prison."
Muen shrugged, then caught the falling rune stone in his palm.
"It's just that you actually dared to disturb my sleep. I have to have a good chat with you about that debt. Don't you know I have a bad temper when I wake up? Generally speaking, without a beautiful girl kissing and hugging me, I refuse to get out of bed."
"...I don't care whether you have a bad temper or athlete's foot."
The voice of the person in the lead was almost a roar.
"You dared to obstruct our great undertaking. Looks like you're also in league with those ignorant people. Riftfang, do it!"
Clang!
Almost the instant the person in the lead's voice fell, a cold gleam suddenly emerged from the dark night. In an extremely tricky posture, it stabbed straight toward Muen's back!
The black robe snapped and fluttered. Although his premonition of death had not begun to warn him yet, Muen had already instinctively entered a state of vigilance.
"The fifth person... huh?"
On the surface, this group seemed to have only four people. But with Muen's sharp senses, how could he not have discovered the fellow who had been hidden in the dark the entire time?
He had been guarding against this fellow all along. Just now, the time delay had only taken away one rune stone. He had not directly dealt with that leader.
After all, these fellows were most likely evil believers worshiping some Evil God. In every aspect, he had to be a little cautious.
"The technique of your attack isn't bad, but... aren't your movements a little too slow?"
Muen drew Elizabeth, turned back, and blocked. Amid scattering sparks, he vaguely saw a startled, pale face.
This fellow's body type was somewhat strange. Its height was somewhere between an adult and a child, but it was especially wide. Under the cover of that tattered black robe, its height and body width had nearly reached the same proportion.
At the same time... its arms also looked far too thin.
Muen lowered his eyes. That arm gripping the dagger and thrusting violently at him seemed dehydrated. Its rough skin was completely pasted tight to the bone. He had probably only seen such withered limbs on a certain old king who had been drained dry by an octopus.
"Huh? You can actually block Riftfang's sneak attack?"
The person in the lead froze for a moment, but then let out a mocking laugh.
"No wonder you dared to come alone and recklessly obstruct us. You do have some ability. But don't tell me you think that successfully blocking a sneak attack gives you the capital to be smug! Let me tell you, although Riftfang is skilled at sneak attacks, among all its moves, sneak attacks are actually the weakest!"
"Oh?"
Muen raised an eyebrow. The blade trembled, and he tried to force the other party back.
But although even the dagger had clearly been knocked away, the strange fellow before him called Riftfang did not retreat at all. On the contrary, it actually took the initiative to rush toward Muen, completely unafraid of the blade pointed directly at it.
The already-tattered black robe on its body was suddenly torn apart.
Two rows of pale bones appeared in Muen's field of vision. They looked like ribs, growing out from Riftfang's shriveled chest.
But aside from the way they were arranged, these two rows of bones had not the slightest relation to ribs. Their outer ends and edges had all evolved to be extremely sharp. Rather than bones...
They were more like teeth.
Riftfang's chest also suddenly tore open vertically, split apart, and turned into a writhing mouthpart. The mouthpart and the sharp teeth formed a hideous giant maw that bit toward Muen!
Pfft!
The giant maw closed violently. The sharp collision of tooth against tooth was almost enough to make one imagine the cruel sight of a fragile body of flesh and blood being completely crushed inside it.