Chapter 414

Chapter 414: Connection

Boom!

A thunder-like roar exploded in the depths of his mind. Morris almost lost control of himself in that instant. Even with his main consciousness placed under Consciousness Isolation and the shelter of Mind Solidification, his mind was still swept up by the spreading shock. The storm of information that followed crashed over him like towering waves, and he almost fell into it.

In a flash, the “psychological vantage point” that stood behind and to the side of his own body began to spin. The words inside his head vanished from his view. All he felt was endless mist coiling and rising. The lines he had just read turned into a swarm of bees in a runaway state, ramming around in his memory and gnawing at fragments of his personality. For a moment he even forgot his own name. Only one title remained in his mind, the one he had seen in the last second.

Abyssal Lord.

But in the next moment, that spinning, world-turning feeling was suddenly stopped by something. Morris felt his consciousness dragged back by a force of terrifying strength, pulled hard toward the world of the Mortal Realm. During that pull, he saw arrays of flickering lights appear in the thick mist. In the middle of those many lights, one great red light source burned.

For a second, it felt as if God of Wisdom Rahm had cast a single glance at him. Then those arrayed lights quickly faded and turned into a huge wave that crashed toward him.

Right after that, the huge wave broke apart before his eyes and became a cloud of pale dust. The fine, white ash fell around him like the ashes of the Saint.

Then the pale dust began to burn in midair, turning into a falling Rain of Fire. Countless bright, red streams of flame formed inside it, surging toward him as if they meant to burn him to nothing.

But just before the red flames fell onto his body, Morris saw all of the fire suddenly shine with a layer of ghostly green. The raging, exploding fire became gentle in an instant and fell down around him bit by bit. One tongue of flame brushed his shoulder. He at once felt someone slap him hard. The next second, he snapped his eyes open and realized he was back inside his own body.

The effects of Consciousness Isolation and Mind Solidification had been cut off by force. He had once again returned from the state at the madness threshold to this world.

The moment his awareness came back, Morris fought the urge to “take one more look” and slammed the Black Leather Tome shut with all his strength.

He moved fast, but even so, the book still flipped several pages wildly before it closed. Out of the corner of his eye, some trembling words etched themselves deep into his mind with a powerful impression as they flashed past. It was one sentence, filled with a dying kind of stubborn will:

“We will at last return to that pure and holy origin.”

The Black Leather Tome finally closed. Morris panted hard, his mind still filled with the words he had seen at the last second.

Vanna noticed something was wrong at once. She hurried over in just two steps: “How are you?”

“…Just a Scholar’s daily life, dealing with deadly knowledge and then surviving.” Morris caught his breath, then held out his hand to Vanna. “It’s fine. I’m still me – help me up.”

As soon as he stood, he asked: “How long has passed?”

“A few seconds,” Vanna answered with a nod. “I just saw you open the book and glance at it a few times, then you suddenly snapped it shut. At the same time, your Spiritual Insight was shaking non-stop, and strange Shadows started to appear in the fog around you.”

“A few seconds…” Morris pulled at the corner of his mouth. In his mind, he recalled the strange scenes he had seen when he was dragged back from the edge of the runaway state.

In the next instant, a deep and solemn voice rose in his mind: “Morris, what happened on your side?”

Morris froze for a moment, then quickly straightened his expression and replied in his heart: “I was reading a copy of The Blasphemous Tome we seized from an Annihilator just now and got hit by corruption by accident. Captain, was it you who pulled me back at the end?”

“Yes,” Duncan replied. “I suddenly felt your mind under attack, so I used the mark I left on you to check on the situation. You said you seized The Blasphemous Tome? What exactly happened? Are you still with Vanna? Where are you now?”

“Vanna and I are together. We’re still operating in the Upper City. We found that some Annihilators used the fog as cover to enter the Mortal Realm and control a number of replicas to attack the city-state. We just found and eliminated one of the controllers,” Morris answered at once. Then he took a moment to gather his thoughts before going on. “The situation is strange. After that cultist died, his body fused with elements, like some very extreme kind of ‘modification’. He was carrying a Nameless Black Grimoire. The content of the book…”

Morris suddenly stopped. His tone became extra careful, and he kept a tight hold on his thoughts. “The things written in it are disturbing. They are the original text of those Sacred Script accounts that Crow copied earlier. I only had time to read a small part before I suffered corruption. I’m sorry, I can only report this much right now. I can’t let myself recall the details inside yet.”

Duncan was silent for two seconds, then spoke again: “That is enough. Safety comes first. Do not keep recalling what you saw. Bring the book with you and report to me face to face later.”

Morris let out a small breath of relief: “Yes, Captain.”

Just then, Vanna “spoke” from beside him: “Captain, how are things on your side?”

“Alice and I are at the Second Waterway. It is quiet here.”

Deep underground, near the center of the city, at a junction of the Second Waterway, Duncan raised his head and looked down the empty hall ahead.

A thin layer of mist drifted above the corridor, close against the dark surface of the dome. The mist seemed to appear in this space out of nowhere, and it grew thicker as time passed. But compared with the surface of the city-state, which was already covered in heavy fog, the mist here was not serious.

“I am waiting for the Fire Seed to get into position.”

Using the link of the mark, he said this to Vanna in his heart.

“Fire Seed?” Vanna sounded confused.

“The nests of those Annihilators are not in the Mortal Realm. mirror world Frostholm is their real base,” Duncan said slowly. “Whether it is the city-state’s Sea Fog Fleet or the Frostholm navy, and even the Guard Corps and the Guardians of the Church, all the ‘invasions’ they destroyed in the Mortal Realm only slowed the rise of mirror world. Only by acting from the mirror world side can we truly solve this problem.

“Agatha has already gone ahead with the Fire Seed. She will find the cultists’ nest, and then I will help her burn that place down.”

Vanna was quiet for a few seconds before she answered, clearly a bit hesitant: “Then… is there anything we can do?”

“Just keep hunting in the fog. Destroy every replica you see. Find all the controllers behind them. Kill as many as you can,” Duncan said. “Slowing the invasion still matters. You are buying time for Agatha and easing the pressure she will face.”

Vanna answered at once: “Yes, I understand!”

A few seconds later, her voice sounded again: “Also… there may still be one replica ‘Gatekeeper’ moving inside the city-state, and the Church does not seem to be reacting at all. Do you think…”

Her voice held some doubt.

But Duncan already knew about that replica, more clearly than Vanna did.

After all, he had already made contact with the real Agatha.

“Do not worry about that ‘Agatha’,” he replied after a short pause. “And you do not need to try to take her down. But if you meet her and the situation calls for it, you may offer help.”

Vanna went silent for a few seconds on her side. When she spoke again, she sounded shocked: “Offer help?! Help that replica?”

“Do not forget, not all replicas are under the control of Annihilators. The best of them have their own will,” Duncan said calmly. “A Gatekeeper will not easily become a puppet of Heretics. Of course, you will still have to judge the exact situation for yourselves if you meet her.”

“Yes, I understand, Captain.”

This time, Vanna’s answer carried a special kind of solemn weight.

It was as if her sense of duty as an Inquisitor had, in that moment, formed a subtle bond with that “Gatekeeper”.

His link with his followers came to an end.

Duncan let out a soft breath, then raised his hand. A small flame bloomed at his fingertip.

He stared at the flame for a moment, then asked softly: “Agatha, do you really think ‘she’ will act the way you believe she will?”

A cold, hoarse voice came from within the fire: “She will.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“Because I believe in myself.”

“But she is only your replica,” Duncan said calmly. “There will be small differences between you. Those differences might make her choose a different path from yours.”

“But you did not order your followers to wipe out that ‘risk’,” Agatha said. “You also believe in my judgment.”

Duncan stayed quiet for a few seconds before he let out a soft sigh.

“There was once a human named Brown Scott who proved his humanity to me. That humanity still held true in a replica. So this time, I do not mind believing one more time.”

“If… I mean, if my judgment is wrong too, what then? Your trust will be wasted…”

“It is alright. It is a small matter.”

A small matter…

In the cold, damp sewer corridor, Agatha lowered her head and looked at the little flame still burning quietly in her palm.

The faint warmth that came from that flame seemed to be the only warmth she could still feel in this world. Outside the circle of firelight, the whole world felt as cold as a grave.

The Captain’s voice came again: “Agatha, how is it going on your side?”

“I am still moving forward. I am almost there. I can feel it. It is very close.”

“I meant you. Your voice does not sound the same as before.”

Agatha stopped walking.

She lowered her head. All she saw was her own wounded body, covered in scars, and the injuries that no longer bled.

“It is alright,” she said softly, her voice cold as a tomb. “It is a small matter.”