Chapter 93: The Shadow World and Bestowed Powers

“You clearly know what’s happening here and understand that the villagers’ condition is growing increasingly bizarre, yet you choose to ignore it and deliberately put on that facade in front of any adventurers who wander in. Is that really the behavior of a Village Guard Captain?”

“Thinking this through, I can basically confirm that you are, more likely than not, the eyes and overseer left here by the mastermind, tasked with ensuring this place operates normally without anyone discovering or spreading the information.”

“You’re just too confident, or rather, too overly assured about the power constituting this space. You never considered we might break through its limitations, returning here with the memories from the day before. That’s the real reason you’re exposing your identity~”

Enrique and the others exchanged glances, seemingly taken aback by the fact that this seemingly innocent priestess was secretly harboring so many thoughts, even locking onto the biggest suspect through some barely discernible details.

As for those village militias, they were even more bewildered, staring blankly, because from their perspective, even after hearing this, they couldn’t fully grasp the entirety of the situation, let alone realize they themselves were considered “missing persons.”

Only the beleaguered Captain Marcelo narrowed his eyes, his breath heavy.

“Is that all? Such subjective assumptions that barely even qualify as reasoning cannot be used to accuse someone anywhere. Little girl, are you perhaps overestimating things? Do you have any evidence?”

“Evidence? What a joke, of course not.”

“Exactly! Our boss has never—hey?”

Just as Miss Le Qiao Qiao was about to shout encouragement, the black-haired girl smiled and shook her fingers playfully.

“Please understand, Uncle, I’m not accusing you, nor do I need evidence to prove your guilt. For me, as long as I can accurately lock onto my target, the rest of the work is as easy as pie.”

“Hmph, does that mean you’re going to take action? You seem rather confident in yourself, I’m curious where that comes from.”

The Priestess maintained her smile.

“Wasn’t that guy named Ryan already telling you everything? With your identity and experience, you should be able to easily guess what the adventurer badge with special engravings represents, right?”

As soon as she finished speaking, a glimmer flashed in the single eye of the Bear-Human.

“I see, a legendary adventurer team… I didn’t expect to encounter such significant figures. I can’t believe even you guys were alarmed.”

Hearing him say that, Enrique naturally understood the implication hidden in Marcelo’s words and couldn’t help but furrow his brow slightly.

“So it really is you causing trouble? Mr. Marcelo, as the Guard Captain of a village, why would you cooperate with evil-doers to do something like this?”

Yet, the Bear-Human merely reached behind for the sword strapped to his back, slowly drawing it from its sheath.

“Adventurers, you’re meddling too much. You have no idea… what kind of power you’re facing.”

“Huh? You’re the one being stubborn! There are so many of us against just one… ugh!”

“Boom!!!”

In that instant, the atmosphere around them changed dramatically!

Like a beast disguised as a normal human suddenly tearing off its disguise, the magical elements in the air went haywire, and the entire world seemed to spin in an indescribable manner. Alongside this transformation, “abnormal” changes began to emerge in waves!

This was the true appearance of the world in which they currently found themselves!

Miss Le Qiao Qiao, who had just dismissively retorted, suddenly found a spear thrusting from behind at lightning speed, prompting her to roll away just in time to narrowly escape the direct attack aimed at her vital spots.

“What’s going on!? Are you all idiots? This guy’s clearly up to no good, yet you’re still helping him… uh, are you alright? Ah, can you understand what I’m saying?”

Just as the Thief Miss got back on her feet, covered in dirt and catching her breath while realizing the situation, she quickly noticed something was amiss.

The militia who had just tried to stab her now had faint wisps of ash-like mist rising from his head, his eyes dimmed, mumbling incoherent words, clearly in a distressing mental state.

Startled by this scene, Miss Le Qiao Qiao hurriedly gathered with her teammates.

“Boss… what’s happening to them?”

Miss Vilyric gave someone a light smack on the head.

“Idiot, all the people in this village went missing two months ago. They’ve been trapped here for so long, you don’t seriously think nothing happened to them, do you? Remember how that Grandma Shalin looked? Not recognizing that situation already shows their mental issues are evident.”

“…A cult’s sacrificial ritual.”

As if he had realized something, Enrique looked at the surrounding individuals under the night sky that no longer concealed the truth of the abnormal space, frowning.

“This must be some kind of special sacrificial ritual. These villagers, including other missing persons, are trapped in this bizarre space, becoming some sort of sacrificial offerings.”

The Tree Bow pulled back its string, grimly pointing at Marcelo.

“Speak! What is your true purpose? What kind of force stands behind you?!”

In response, a gust of blade wind rushed towards him.

“Boom!!!”

With a loud crash, Enrique unhesitatingly gave up on retaliating, leaping sideways with Qionghua, the weakest in terms of actual combat power. The others each employed their abilities to avoid or block the wide-area slash from the Bear-Human, astonished by his sudden display of true form and unexpected strength.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

Several arrows flew down from the watchtower, blocked by the vine barrier activated by the Tree Branch. Mid-air, Miss Le Qiao Qiao was already in disbelief, exclaiming loudly.

“Hey hey! Seriously? He’s just the militia captain of a small village, right? This is way too over the top!!”

“Has he been bestowed with power…?”

Standing still and casually warding off the residual attacks, the Priestess raised an eyebrow. Although she had anticipated Marcelo, as the overseer here, would likely gain some degree of environmental enhancement, this extent was truly beyond her expectations.

His recent slash of light didn’t even dare provoke the Tree Bow, a legendary adventurer, but instead opted to dodge immediately; the shockwave even left a huge pit several meters away in the ground. This level of power was fearfully beyond that of a true legend.

Perhaps this power wouldn’t last long or might come at an exceptionally hefty cost, yet to Vilyric, he wasn’t an overly problematic enemy. However, the real aura he initially emitted was only around the level of a typical gold-tier, and such a leap was not something casually achieved.

At some point, the Bear-Human had removed the cloth wrapped around his other injured eye, revealing gray mist swirling within the hollow eye socket, gradually covering Marcelo’s entire body with a similar eerie and terrifying aura, yet there was an indescribable sense of weird sanctity about it.

“I told you, you’re meddling too much. A mere adventurer’s power cannot stop this torrent, not even a legendary one. If you had chosen to escape using that unknown force to leave the [Shadow World] during the day, maybe it would have caused me some trouble, but…”

“Boom boom boom boom boom!!!”

The gray mist surged, seemingly like flames wrapping around the Bear-Human’s robust figure. The mechanical arm armor whirred vigorously, pumping more powerful energy into his wrist as Marcelo raised his blade, seemingly ready to unleash a devastating strike!

“Ahhh! Why is he getting even stronger!?? This is so unfair!!!”

“Whew!”

A green signal soared into the sky, bursting like fireworks against the night backdrop. Enrique drew the string of his blade bow to its limit, the green short arrow glowing, as if prepared to counteract the incoming slash.

“Everyone, I’ve already sent a distress signal to Sophie and the others! Currently, our team is incomplete; to be safe, let’s hold our ground first and wait for the others to arrive together…”

“Ah, there’s no need for all that fuss! Let me handle him!”

   

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