ALL NOVEL Chapter 1267
Chapter 105: Don’t Move from Here…
“Snap out of it, you fool.”
As Little Dragon Daughter landed back on the ground, she mercilessly bonked Lenca, who was still dazedly staring at the altar, on the head with her finger, sparking a subtle golden light that cleared the confusion from the brown-haired girl’s eyes, returning her to her senses.
“Ouch! Stop hitting me, Mama, I promise I won’t sneak food again… Huh? Where am I?”
The Pope, overseeing the ceremony, felt the pressure and quickly strained the magic circle enveloping the ritual space. Thanks to the earlier boost from Little Dragon Daughter and Lenca’s own impressive physical and mental prowess, she was the first to break free from divine control.
Seeing her little underling rubbing her sore head with a dazed expression, the golden-haired little girl lazily gave her a look, not bothering to scold her for her earlier half-asleep rambling, and playfully held up two fingers.
“How many is this?”
“Ah? Umm… two?”
“And this one?”
“Five… no, wait, what do you mean, Xiao Guang? I’m not stupid!”
“Hmph…”
Noting that Lenca was fully awake now, the golden-haired little girl got a bit serious.
“So, what did you feel just now?”
“I felt… it hurt when you hit me? Ugh, I get it now! I don’t know how to describe it, it was like my head was empty, floating on a cloud while dreaming. I could faintly hear someone talking from a distance, but before I could catch it clearly, you hit me back to reality…”
“Tsk, such a low-class trick.”
Xiao Guang smirked, her mouth curling in disdain.
“As a god, relying on such means to manipulate your followers is really pathetic…”
Mocking a certain deity she had never met, Little Dragon Daughter raised her head to look at the distant altar, where a blood clan little girl named Lucini Constans was already clashing with the hidden Pope of the Church of Truth from afar.
Colorful cards soared through the air, countless shifting lights transformed into weapons, elements, and even beings that surged forth from the cards to attack the Prince, but were all ruthlessly struck down, bursting into motes of light.
For the time being, it was hard to determine a victor between them.
Earlier during her investigation, Xiao Guang had already discovered that some third-party force had also secretly infiltrated this space, doing something similar to Little Dragon Daughter. She didn’t know who they were or their intentions, but it was evident that they would also be involved in this affair; the only difference was the timing of their entry.
So she took the initiative to act, directly opening up the situation, forcing the lurking trump card to come to light, and thus…
After observing for a moment, Xiao Guang began to grasp the gist of it.
That guy named Lucini had a very direct aim, which was to destroy the initiated ritual magic, interrupt the descent of divine power, and even to some extent injure the distant god of the Church of Truth. Meanwhile, the Pope was doing his utmost to thwart this and was seizing the opportunity to utilize the power of the divine descent for his own ends.
A force field formed by divine power surrounded the altar, making it difficult to break through even with Xiao Guang’s current capabilities. She didn’t know how that blood clan prince got in; perhaps it was related to her disguise as a victim.
Little Dragon Daughter couldn’t do the same now, of course, she didn’t plan to complicate matters.
“I’ll confirm again, you’ve learned that trick I taught you, right?”
Hearing the golden-haired little girl suddenly speak without looking back, Lenca, who was still rubbing her sore head, paused for a moment, only then realizing that the other was likely talking to her.
For some reason, a sense of foreboding briefly surfaced in her heart, but the horned little girl could only stammer in response.
“Um, just a little… why are you suddenly asking this, Xiao Guang?”
Still not turning back, Little Dragon Daughter pointed at the increasing number of little creatures rising and staggering towards the altar like zombies.
“This kind of ritual magic is meant to summon certain entities. If they completely enter the altar’s range, they’ll either die from being unable to match that power or become containers for the other side, having their insides and souls completely devoured… don’t tell me you still can’t understand that.”
“Eh!? That’s terrifying! Isn’t that pretty much like dying?”
Noting that Lenca wasn’t being foolish for once, the golden-haired little girl smirked slightly, with a hint of delight.
“Exactly. Do you want to save them?”
The brown-haired girl nodded vigorously without a second thought.
“Of course I want to, but how… UWAHHHHHHHHH!!”
Suddenly, the scene before her began to whirl and shrink rapidly with a scream, as Lenca took a considerable time to realize—she was flying.
It was Little Dragon Daughter yanking her by the collar like she was a javelin, powerfully tossing her toward the altar.
“Xiao Guang!! Where are you going!!??”
In the air, the brown-haired girl panicked and glanced over, catching sight of the golden-haired little girl speeding into the twilight sky, but heading in the exact opposite direction, leaving just a distant voice.
“If you want to save them, use that not-so-bright brain of yours and figure it out! The two folks in there can’t come out for now, and all the cultists in the ritual are dead. If they can still get killed like this, it’s not my concern anymore.”
“Eh!!!??”
…
At the same time, in the real world, in the estate.
“What’s going on!? It’s already the second nightfall; why haven’t we gotten in there yet? Could it be there’s no so-called shadow world here at all!?”
In the wide front yard of the estate, a certain Miss Thief was sitting by a makeshift campfire, frustratedly exclaiming, seeming particularly concerned over their futile search nearby after a whole day.
Across the campfire, Enrique casually glanced over at the Priestess, who was slowly sprinkling seasoning on skewered meat, occasionally turning it to coat with oil, and focused solely on grilling the golden, tender meat to perfection, showing no intention of joining the conversation, prompting him to comfort her helplessly.
“The location should be right; it’s not just because of Miss Vilyric’s judgment… This estate is clearly deserted, yet it is obviously well-maintained, which is quite strange. The appearance of the blood clan duke and prince serves as a further indirect confirmation. Perhaps we just haven’t found the correct method to enter.”
Hong Yan added a few logs to the fire, calmly and succinctly contributing her thoughts.
“Clearly, daytime and nighttime are not the boundaries between shadow and reality; at least not here. As a critical nest of the Church of Truth, this must contain some more rigorous and meticulous method of entry.”
“That’s true… but where are we supposed to look for such a method? We can’t just wait for them to come out and catch them, right?”
Sophie took a bite of the glistening, aromatic grilled meat on the skewer, shaking her head in uncertainty.
“Do you have any other ideas? The reinforcements from the nearby main city will take some time to arrive. We’re just waiting anyway; why are you in such a hurry when Vilyric isn’t?”
“Oh come on, I’m not…”
“Shh! There’s a sound.”
The Tree Monkey, who had remained silent and quietly listened to the surrounding sounds from the corner, suddenly raised his hand, signaling for silence. Le Qiao Qiao quickly stopped talking and listened nervously, trying to discern the surroundings.
Just as the former mentioned, from somewhere not far away, a faint “crack crack” sound began to echo, resembling a mouse desperately digging in a hole, or solid ice gradually cracking under impact.
But when one tried to use their eyes to see, all that met them was a pitch-black night; in reality, the space the group occupied was flat ground with no cover, almost entirely visible.
“What’s going on? Are we being haunted…?”
The Miss Thief’s voice was almost a whisper in the darkness, but no one paid her any mind as they each rose up, carefully moving towards the source of the sound.
The Tree Monkey, most familiar with such tasks, quickly found the target. He pulled out a short knife and raised his hand, signaling to the others in the dim light partially illuminated by the campfire.
That was a spot in the estate’s front yard, about a meter off the ground, free of anything but air and magical energy, not too far from the temporary camp set up by the adventurers. The hollow sound echoed as if emerging from a different-dimensional world, from the other side of the mirror.
“Crack crack… crack crack…”