Chapter 140: Haze Extermination Dead City (Part Two)
“Xi… Er… Miss…”
He’s calling me, his voice raspy, like his throat has been roasted over a fire. To be honest, he looks like he’s just been through a barbecue himself—half his body is charred and dry, lying in a mud puddle, practically unable to move, and under those tattered clothes are gory rotten wounds.
Just one glance, and I knew this wasn’t the result of a fiery mishap, but rather evidence of being gnawed at by the Abyss.
He’s about to kick the bucket.
It’s painfully obvious from that sorry state that Ramiel’s consciousness is hanging by a thread.
“…Do you know him?”
Carlos points at him, asking. I nod, “Ramiel, part of The Choir of Saints, Voice Minister.”
“Xi-er…”
The man is still calling out to me. Even though his gaze is all over the place, perhaps he doesn’t even realize Carlos is there, but he recognizes me right off the bat. “Quick… stop…”
“What’s going on?” I step closer to his feet, lowering my head to look at him. “I thought you’d change your mind once you got to the Holy City. What happened to you?”
Then it suddenly dawned on me what Ramiel just said.
…Stop?
Stop what—~
A spark of thought flickers in my head, just as the question is about to slip out, I hear him continue, “That thing… is… evolving…”
“Mother Deity…”
“Underground… prison…”
“Stop… it…”
“Sto—”
Ramiel’s murky red eyes suddenly widen, his mouth agape, and a surge of black smoke spews from his rolling throat. Carlos, noticing this, hastily steps back, while I take a step forward to block the spot he was occupying.
In my line of sight, Ramiel’s body convulses violently, suddenly turning to flying ash, but one slender strip of pale blue smoke spirals around my head a few times before, after a brief hesitation, dashing toward the Holy City, vanishing into the rising golden light.
“……”
Carlos and I lock eyes, remaining silent. At this moment, there’s no need for words; we can see the worry and heavy confirmation of our suspicions reflected in each other’s gaze.
Then, in unison, we look up at the Holy City.
Above the city, amidst the holy light barrier, a gargantuan crack is steadily releasing black smoke, intertwining with beams of golden light and flashes of white lightning, creating a bizarre yet magnificent spectacle, truly a sight for sore eyes.
“He ran out of the Holy City.” Carlos suddenly says, “Clearly, something was chasing him, but he failed to escape.”
“Ramiel has been inside the Holy City.” I reply, “And he seemed to mention the Mother Deity just now. You heard it too, right, Castrong?”
“Ah.” Carlos responds, “Loud and clear.”
He then takes a deep breath, exhales, and places his hand on the hilt of his sword, pulling it out a bit, glancing at the blade before sheathing it again.
“So, what now?”
The man turns to me, sporting a lazy grin. “Wanna take a peek inside?”
“I’ll handle it.” I shake my head. “You stay out here and back me up if anything goes south.”
“Why?”
Carlos raises an eyebrow, loosening the half-tied mess of gray hair behind his head and retying it again. “Think you’re all grown up now? Thinking you can disrespect your life coach?”
“Life coach??”
Hearing his shameless words, my face twists up in disbelief. “Are you talking about the one who taught me how to eat Morlm sausages?”
d*mn it, that grudge has been hard to shake, and it just slipped out.
So embarrassing…
I then pretend I didn’t mean anything by my word choice, feeling my face heat up. I clear my throat twice, deliberately avoiding Carlos’s expression. “I’m just suggesting! If you insist on following, that’s on you.”
“Tsk tsk.”
Carlos clicks his tongue, seeming a bit irritated by my reply. “You remember my title, right?”
“Silver Flash?”
I frown and ask, feeling like Carlos is not really catching the drift of my earlier ambiguity—no, wait, he definitely is, and is just pretending not to so he can tease me later. After Viki’s side comments, I’ve pretty much figured out what kind of guy he is.
“Nope.”
As I ponder this, Carlos waves a finger at me. “I’m talking about another one.”
Another one?
Ah…
“Abyss Stalker?”
“Bingo!”
The man snaps his fingers, looking a tad smug. “So, do you know why they call me that?”
Right, why is that?
“Because Dead Smoke’s speed could never catch me, no matter whether it’s back then, or now with you, or that thing in the Holy City they call the Mother Deity. You all stand no chance.”
“……”
He looks so confident, it’s almost infuriating.
But if I’m being honest, if push came to shove, I can’t be sure I could actually keep up with him in terms of speed—thinking of this, I felt a bit relieved.
After all, if things get serious, I’ve still got branches from the White Tree I can use, and I could also stash Carlos in the Land of Dragons—though I’ve never tried it before, and I’m not sure if any living being besides me and the Dragon would work, but hey, there’s a first time for everything, right? I’d figure it out on the fly.
Boom—
A flash of Thunder Light crackles, and within less than half a minute, Carlos and I make our way around the city, reaching the high slope closest to the massive crack.
From here, that crack looks way larger than I imagined, probably about ten meters wide and soaring a hundred meters high, a striking gash in the dazzling golden light barrier, through the thin smoke rising constantly, showing a glimpse of the Holy City’s interior, which is in utter disarray.
“Over here, more bodies.”
Carlos glances at the crack for a bit, then looks down at the ground. Within about a kilometer radius outside the city, there’s a disordered pile of corpses, with the nearby ruins of the Holy Angel Fortress faintly visible, which seems completely ruined without a hint of life remaining.
“It looks like they were trying to rush in…” I say, “But there were also a lot trying to escape—clergy, those fierce claw guys… and the Pope Knights. They all were.”
“Too bad, they all died here. And not because of the Abyss; if the Abyss had killed them, there wouldn’t be so many bodies left. They died from infighting, chaos, and ambushes.”
Carlos says, shifting his gaze back to the crack intently. “The Dead Smoke drifting out isn’t as thick as I imagined, which indicates the city isn’t totally engulfed in smoke; there are gaps. Getting in shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Shall I go first?”
He’s asking me, but before I could respond, he disappears amidst the rising electricity, a twisted streak of blue lightning moving at a speed my human eyes can’t possibly catch, dodging the swirling smoke, and in the blink of an eye, he darts right into the crack.
“Wow, so fast.” I can’t help but exclaim, “Flash Gordon, huh…”
The next moment, Moon Step erupts, and I become several afterimages, charging straight into the approaching Dead Smoke without hesitation, swept up by the mist as I leap into the crack, the scene in front of me flickering blurry a few times, and when it finally clears up, the ruined Holy City and countless wrecked buildings are already right beneath my feet.
