Chapter 402

Chapter 402: Pervading

After spending some time adapting to life on the ship, Nina had gotten used to the little problems that came with reading and studying. Those problems included, but were not limited to, shadows surfacing from the Spirit Realm, demons appearing from the Abyssal Deep, and strange changes in the books themselves. On top of that, thanks to all her hard training, her control over her own power had greatly improved.

Specifically, even when she lifted her leg for a 6,000-degree flying kick, she could now make sure she did not set the bedding on the nearby bunk on fire.

A flash of blinding light swept past. Demons from the deep layers of the world turned to ash in an instant under the power of the Sun. The air did not even have time to pick up the stench of burning. There was only the warm smell of blankets that had been dried in noon sunlight.

The last Abyssal Hound that the book had attracted was left alone in the middle of the room. Even though it was a Abyssal demon with a chaotic, almost brainless mind that acted on pure instinct, this terrifying creature still seemed to fall into a brief daze. It could not seem to understand why it had suddenly lost two companions. Now, in front of it, Dog was bending low with the chain in Shirley’s hand and growling. Behind it, Nina walked forward step by step, wrapped in light like a blazing sun.

The terrible pressure from behind it was far stronger than the strange “kin” in front of it.

The Abyssal demon turned its head on instinct and met a gaze as scorching as the Sun.

Nina lowered her head a little. Her hair was now fully dyed with a golden sheen. Harsh light leaked from her seven orifices. Within this Human shell, the power of the Ancient Sun burned. When she turned her gaze on the demon, the bones in the creature’s body began to burn under her eyes.

Shirley was frightened. She had never seen Nina angry before. She had even thought that this friend, who was always as bright and cheerful as sunlight, never got mad at all. Now she knew she had been very wrong. Nina was clearly very angry.

Her fury rose like a solar prominence. Even though she held back the heat that was leaking out, the light still felt so bright it could burn a person’s soul.

As Shirley grew more and more nervous and finally could not help wanting to speak, Nina at last opened her mouth. Searing plasma flames leaked from the corner of her lips. Her voice boomed:

“My homework!” Her voice even carried grief and rage. “My test papers! My reference books! And Shirley’s homework! These mutts tore them all to shreds!”

The wrath of the Sun scared the demons so badly that they lost all ability to move. When Shirley heard what Nina said, she was even more shocked. She almost laughed out loud. “Really? My homework is gone too?”

But in the next second she came back to herself. She hurried to stop Nina, who was about to avenge the homework with a flying kick. “Ah, wait! Leave this demon alive for now! Dog has questions!”

Nina already had her leg raised, but when she heard her friend shout, she still stopped on instinct. She glanced sideways at Shirley. “What is there to ask? It’s just a Abyssal demon that sneaks in to make trouble when people are reading. We’ve already killed a bunch of them on the ship…”

“But it’s daytime!” Shirley shouted.

Nina froze for a moment. Then she suddenly realized.

It was daytime. Even though a thick fog had risen outside and the sky had grown as dim as dusk, in terms of time it was still daytime. It was still the time when Vision 001 covered the world.

At this time of day, the city-states were safe. Reading would not draw in invaders from the dark. So why had these Abyssal demons appeared?

Nina’s gaze (6,000°C) instantly locked on the last Abyssal Hound.

Bathed in the light of a star at point-blank range, the bones all over the demon’s body began to smoke. It struggled on instinct. It seemed to want to open a rift and flee back to the Abyssal Deep. But its instinctive escape was cut off at once.

Dog disrupted the half-formed crack that had just appeared beside the demon.

“Can you get anything out of it?” Nina pulled back some of her power and looked at Dog with curiosity. “Didn’t you say normal Abyssal demons don’t have much mind at all and can’t be talked to?”

“Brainless is still brainless, but if you really investigate, you can still dig out a little,” Dog said as he shook his head. It looked like his head was still buzzing a bit from headbutting the other Abyssal Hound earlier. “They do have memories. And now and then their chaotic thoughts hold a few connected pieces. Don’t worry. Abyssal demons have their own way of ‘talking’.”

“What way of talking?” Nina and Shirley asked at the same time.

“…Not a very pretty one,” Dog muttered. He slowly walked toward the Abyssal Hound that had almost stopped struggling under the blazing sun. Then he lifted his head and glanced at Shirley. “Close your eyes, Shirley.”

Shirley paused for a second, then obediently shut her eyes.

There was a short growl and the sounds of a scuffle. Right after that came the noise of bones being torn, crushed, and chewed. In the tooth-aching creak and crack, the demon’s violent struggle lasted only a brief moment.

After a while, Shirley cautiously opened her eyes again. On the floor in the center of the room there was nothing left but a small pile of black dust that was fading away fast. Dog stood next to the pile. Nina stood across from him, staring blankly for a moment. Only after quite some time did the blazing sunlight around her slowly fade. Then she let out a low gasp: “Wow…”

Shirley guessed what had happened while her eyes were closed. She gave Dog a slightly complicated look. “Actually… I don’t really…”

“You’d have nightmares. I know you,” Dog said, shaking his head. Then he ground his teeth and spat to the side with open disgust. “Ptoo.”

“Did it hurt your teeth?”

“Chewing on a demon that can’t even read is like chewing on a rock. I couldn’t squeeze even a full sentence out of it,” Dog said, clearly disgusted by his illiterate cousin. “And this fellow even ran out chasing after knowledge.”

He grumbled as he showed all the confidence and pride of a cultured dog. Then he lowered his head, as if he were carefully feeling out the information he had just gained from that “talk.”

A moment later, he raised his head again with a puzzled look and glanced at Shirley and Nina. “Strange… The last memories left in this Abyssal Hound say that it has never once felt the suppression of Vision 001…”

Shirley and Nina stared at each other in shock.

“But right now… it’s clearly daytime…”

Shirley muttered under her breath. She slowly walked to the window and leaned out to look.

The ever-thickening fog had already covered every street. The heavy fog and the clouds high above hung over Frostholm like layer upon layer of a Veil. Within that heavy Veil, the daylight had already dimmed to dusk. In the distance, they could not even see the stores on the far side of the main street.

But there was still a patch of light in the sky. That was where the Sun was.

It was clearly daytime. It was clearly Vision 001.

“Nina, look.” Shirley raised her hand and pointed at the sky. “The Sun is right there…”

She suddenly stopped.

Deep inside the thick fog and cloud, that bright patch of light trembled a few times. Then, like a reflection on water, it spread outward and blurred.

It seemed that from the very start, that had not been the Sun at all. It was only a visual afterimage left above the city when the Veil had risen.

Above Frostholm, the Sun vanished.

…

At the same time, in the center of the city-state, deep under the ground right beneath the Boiling Gold mine, lay the ancient, sealed Second Waterway.

The fog in the city had not spread down here. The small changes on the surface did not affect the exploration teams. In this deep, abandoned underground world, the Church’s Guardian troops were busy and orderly as they strengthened the forward base they had just built.

Spider-like Steam Walkers slid through the wide sewer corridors. Their high-powered searchlights swept over every dark corner. The multi-barrel guns on the turrets at the “spiders’” sides shifted their aim by small degrees, ready for any Shadows that might lurk in the side tunnels. Silent Monks in black robes sat behind cover at the crossroads, praying in silence as they rested and gathered strength for the next push. Veteran elite Guardians held the posts and doors at each junction. consecrated lanterns hung at their belts. One hand held a Gatekeeper’s cane. The other gripped a specially modified shotgun or a large-caliber revolver.

Darkness had ruled the Second Waterway for far too long. Working here in this dim place was less an “investigation” and more a declaration of war on a twisted, monstrous kingdom.

The enemy could be anything. The enemy was the darkness itself.

A strange hissing came from a branch corridor in the distance, mixed with the sound of some huge limbs crawling and writhing. Two Steam Walkers stood guard at the junction. They reacted at once. Four powerful flash grenades shot from the front of the spider machines first. Right after that, the Guardians on the walkers swung the rotary guns toward the source of the sound and opened fire in a sweeping burst. In the deafening thunder, that patch of darkness swelled sharply. It seemed something inside had been hurt and was about to show itself.

Twelve Silent Monks in black robes stood up from behind their cover. As one, they raised the Sacred Tomes in their hands. Their bandaged arms stretched out toward the darkness, and they let out a fierce shout.

Pale flames burst out in the dark. Together with the barrage from the Steam Walkers, they burned whatever the formless darkness had been breeding into ash.

The restless darkness fell quiet again. The branch corridor slowly went from pitch-black to dim, then from dim to bright. The lamps pushed their normal light forward to reach the junction and showed what was there.

There was nothing. Only pits and craters of all sizes in the walls.

And a faint, foul smell in the air that quickly faded.

Agatha drew back her gaze from the distant junction.

One branch had been reclaimed. The Guardian troops had driven back another patch of darkness in this underground world. Yet in the vast Second Waterway, this was only a tiny corner.

She was not here to deal with those “junctions.”

“Take me to that door.”

The Gatekeeper turned her head a little and spoke to the subordinate at her side.