Chapter 165: Golden Rays of the Long Night (Part One)
“Mr. J, you’ve broken our agreement.”
Miss Meiser looked down at the completely n*de Jester and opened with a question that sounded more like a statement, her tone indifferent, as if she wasn’t angry that her plans had been derailed.
She calmly elaborated, speaking rather quickly, “You’ve complicated things. This won’t benefit either of us or the Gate of Truth. Why did you do this?”
“Because it’s fun?”
The man, known as the Jester, retorted, a flicker of fire in his eyes. He stood up from the ground, brushed off the dirt from his body, and wore an ever-so-slightly creepy smile.
“Fun? Everyone you brought is dead. Is that really fun?” Miss Meiser pressed on.
“Well, that was their choice.”
The Jester flicked off some mud from his shoulder and chest but gave up when he realized it wouldn’t come off. Standing before a woman who looked like a goddess from a painting, they locked gazes, and neither seemed to care about his appearance.
I stood a short distance behind the woman, hesitated for a moment, and then decided against stepping forward. I adjusted my ragged dress and tugged at my messy hair, leaning against a broken tree stump, quietly observing, my mind whirring.
If that woman hadn’t deceived me earlier, she intended to k*ll the Jester right here… But suddenly, someone from the town shows up. They must think we’ve been having some fun… Is she ready to make her move? Or is there some other scheme…
Right, that pearl!
I hadn’t seen it, and it didn’t seem like the Jester had it on him…
“So, you brought almost all the flawed ones, daringly crossed the Ipos Sea, and defeated the Church’s Third and Sixth Knight armies, and now we’re at the border of Woodward Forest, just to send them to their deaths?”
The woman continued to speak, her tone cold. Since she faced away from me, I couldn’t see her expression, but I could see the Jester’s face. He didn’t seem bothered by her questions; he shrugged, “What’s the problem? As long as everyone has fun, who cares? Anyway, whether they d*e tonight or not, they don’t have many days left to live.”
…What?!
Flawed ones? Is she talking about those weak bl**d sacrifices? Not many days to live?
My frown deepened as I held back the urge to step forward and ask questions.
It looked like they really didn’t get along. Instead of diving headfirst into a confrontation with both of them, I decided to wait and see what the woman would do…
By the way, what on earth is the Church doing? They boast that the town’s matters are all under control… But how did they let this woman waltz over here… Did something happen to them…
“Well then.”
Hearing the Jester’s reply, the woman who called herself Meiser shook her head lightly, then said, “Give me the Tear of the Goddess, and you can continue enjoying your nonsense.”
“Ah, almost forgot about that.”
The Jester acted as if it just dawned on him, twitching his mouth nervously like he was trying to smile, then pointed at his abdomen: “It’s inside me. Right here.”
Huh?
Earlier, I had instinctively avoided looking at his private parts since he was totally n*de—not out of modesty, but because it was just gross. Now, following his finger, I looked over and, with the dim firelight and moonlight, spotted a gruesomely long scar on his abdomen, measuring about ten centimeters!
The wound appeared to be sliced open, but with the Gate of Truth’s Infernal Fire, that kind of injury should’ve healed long ago without leaving a trace. Yet, that wasn’t the case. The scar was still a vivid red. It wasn’t bleeding, the wound was tightly shut, but it hadn’t healed. Upon closer inspection, I could faintly see tiny bits of flesh wriggling at the site, like a bunch of writhing worms.
“But, you know…”
The man pointed at that grotesque wound and smiled at the woman, “If I’m not mistaken, the Church has been keeping an eye on you; they already know who you are, right? So I think it’d be best not to take it out here for security reasons. It should stay safely inside my body for now… Wouldn’t you agree, Miss Silvya?”
The Jester shot me a glance, his eyes dancing with mischief.
?
Why are you looking at me… weirdo…
My frown deepened again. Miss Meiser also turned to look at me, but I remained silent, contemplating that the pearl must be inside the Jester’s stomach. I was pondering whether to snatch it once he let his guard down when I heard the woman speak again.
“Give it to me. Now.”
She turned back, seemingly unconcerned about my presence—or treating me like air—as she focused on the Jester with a serious tone, “I don’t want to do this myself.”
“Huh? You don’t want to? I thought you were ready to k*ll me… You scared me there.”
The man, acting like a startled girl, pat his chest lightly, “Are you sure you want to do this here?”
The woman didn’t respond, just fixed her gaze on him.
After a short while, the Jester scratched his hair, “Actually… there’s something I should probably tell you…”
He stared at the woman’s face, taking two steps back, grinning weirdly: “Originally, our purpose in the southern region was to k*ll quite a few people; the more dead, the better. Ideally, we wanted an entire city or two out, so those crazies we brought along would all be wiped out. Once I got the Tear of the Goddess, I’d use their bl**d to nourish that damned pearl… You said if the bl**d wasn’t enough, we wouldn’t be able to use it to open the Land of Dragons, and I remember, I really do remember…”
His smile widened: “I’ve done that! You know the news; many people died over there… Our knights, they all died… I executed it, and the process was truly delightful… I had so much fun that later, oops… I accidentally forgot to use their bl**d to nourish the pearl… hehehehe…”
The man bowed his head, bursting into crazed laughter, his shoulders shaking violently, “Well, this is a disaster. What do we do now? I suddenly feel like I owe you something, hehehe… I’m so sorry, truly sorry… but I have to go to the Land of Dragons, and I need to go, you can’t leave me behind! But what should we do now… Can’t you think of another plan?”
The Jester lifted his head again, his bl**d-red eyes locking onto the woman, his expression full of excitement and madness: “Otherwise, why don’t we just k*ll everyone here? You and I, plus that old man Sebastian—does that sound good? It’s either we d*e or everyone else dies. Seems like the only option we have left, huh?”
“Ah haha haha—”
!!
I widened my eyes, staring at the Jester who was laughing like a lunatic, my anger surging, I couldn’t help but step forward.
d*mn—
“d*mn it!”
Before I could speak, the woman named Meiser beat me to it.
In the next moment, she suddenly extended her slender right hand, fingers curled like claws, crimson flames burst to life from her palm, swiftly spreading up her arm. The speed was such that neither I nor the Jester, who was laughing madly in front, could react in time. Suddenly, the Jester’s laughter stopped, his body froze in a bizarre position, trembling violently.
“What’s—this…?”
Like flowing water, red light burst forth from the woman’s burning palm, dozens of streaks quickly spiraling toward the immobilized Jester. Gradually, his feet left the ground, hoisted up about a meter into the air, his limbs shook even more vigorously, veins bulging on his forehead, his face frantic: “You… you… woman…”
What does she want… to k*ll the Jester?
The scarlet light enveloped him like serpents gliding through the night sky, flexibly curling up, a few streams plunged into the ugly wound on the Jester’s abdomen and ripped it open again, the burning bl**d erupted forth. In the next instant, blinding red light bloomed from within the wound.
“If it weren’t for Sister Teresa being gone, if I had no one left to use, a thing like you… has no right…”
“Ha, ha, ha…”
Hearing the woman’s words, the Jester struggled to contort his mouth, his hoarse, eerie laughter pierced through the light and fire: “Aren’t you also trying to k*ll me? We’re even now… ah-ha…”
“Miss Silvya.”
Suddenly, the woman who called herself Meiser shouted my name.
She didn’t turn around: “Just now, I felt an extremely unsettling aura, a dark chaotic power… Do you know what that is?”
“……”
I was momentarily flabbergasted, my brain still reeling from the shocking situation, and I couldn’t respond right away, instinctively answering, “I don’t know…”
In the next moment, the woman swung her other arm, and scarlet flames erupted before me!
Boom—
In the blink of an eye, I barely had time to raise my arm to shield my face, and a scorching, massive shockwave hit me, my feet left the ground, and I flew backward, smashing through the frozen bushes, tumbling almost twenty meters before crashing into a large tree. I quickly got back up, coughed lightly, feeling a slight pain in my back. I shook my head and widened my eyes, looking at the spot where the attack had just occurred—
Flames were burning, soaring over a meter high, and the woman in the red dress stood in the sea of flames, her graceful silhouette flickering. In front of her, the Jester’s body lay on the ground, while amidst the chaotic fire, a bright bl**d pearl floated toward the woman’s outstretched palm…
…It’s the pearl!
My eyes widened even further.
It’s that pearl!!
The one made from the innocent children’s bl**d, refined with strange spine bones, known as the Tear of the Goddess!!!
I can’t let the pearl fall into the hands of a heretic—
Bang!
In the blink of an eye, I made my decision, activated Moon Step, and darted through the forest like a ghost, charging into the sea of fire, arriving behind the woman, throwing a punch while simultaneously reaching out with my left hand toward her palm where the bl**d pearl rested!
However, in the next moment, the woman spun around gracefully as if dancing, evading my attack. My fingers brushed past the pearl but couldn’t touch it. Still airborne, she kicked out from the side, and hastily, I raised my arm to block, only to be sent flying by the tremendous force, spinning in the air several times before narrowly landing on my feet, lifting my head.
Buzz—
It felt like I heard the sound of a divine miracle ringing in my ears.
