Chapter 184: Directly Facing the Abyss

Niumu, Moon God Church.

"Things are no longer something we can handle."

Isidore's expression was serious, the surface of his solemn and exquisite priest robe still remained with strands of silver-white sacred radiance, under the illumination of the moonlight, giving people a sense of divine beauty.

But if it were matched with his pale, bloodless face at this moment, the fingertips that couldn't stop trembling slightly, and the layer of fine sweat on his forehead, it appeared exceptionally contrasting.

"You immediately take your men to seal off the nearby streets, evacuate the civilians, and at the same time send someone to the City Hall to contact Mr. Wickliffe."

"Although it is not something that can be solved just by adding numbers, we need a large number of guards to maintain order in the city and deal with the possible turmoil."

Regarding this, the middle-aged man dressed as a sheriff who was standing in front of him right now, with sleepiness still on his face, couldn't help but frown:

"At this juncture, wanting to mobilize the city defense..."

"This is a state of emergency!"

Sensing the other party's concerns, Isidore didn't wait for him to finish, and shouted directly to interrupt.

The cold moonlight shone quietly on his face, and the dazzling brilliance refracted by the glass fragments on the ground flashed instantly.

The sheriff subconsciously glanced at the broken glass stained window behind the priest.

His body shuddered suddenly, his brain, which had been a bit confused after being suddenly awakened in the middle of the night, instantly cleared up.

Realizing he had said something stupid, he couldn't help but raise his hand and pat his head hard.

"Understood, I'll go right away!"

Compared to the undercurrents in the city during this period, the Moon God Church, which had high-level professionals sitting in town, encountering such a change, and even possibly affecting the entire city district, was undoubtedly the highest priority.

He was confused in his sleep, only thinking about not getting involved in the games of those big shots, and ignored the seriousness of the situation now.

If it were really as the priest said, it might be "Evil God Descending"...

If it were not handled well, not to mention himself, the residents of the entire West City District would suffer.

Thinking of this, the sheriff felt empty in his heart.

Considering whether to go home and let his parents and wife hide outside the city for a few days.

His steps moved, his body half-turned, and he stopped suddenly:

"Excuse me... is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

As a senior sheriff who had already obtained a professional level, even if the priest's guess was not accurate, the character who could make such a thing happen in the Moon God Church was clearly not something he could deal with by bringing a few ordinary guards who hadn't even killed anyone.

Before setting off, it was inevitable to be uneasy.

His gaze stared at the silver-white light mist wandering and lingering above the church auditorium.

Isidore, who heard the sheriff's voice, couldn't help but sigh imperceptibly.

"I have already told you the specific image, an elf with long golden hair."

"If you really run into him... don't block him, it's best to avoid close contact, just send a signal to your superiors."

"Otherwise, it's just increasing casualties in vain."

"I have already contacted Deepwater City, the church will send people over immediately, as for the rest... you don't need to think too much."

Speaking of this, Isidore's voice paused, and his originally somewhat hurried tone became solemn.

"If possible, please maintain order in the city with the guards, and I will also provide you with corresponding help here."

This kind of event involving the level of gods, even Isidore, who had many years of priest experience, was the first time he had encountered it.

But the examples recorded in the church scriptures and the experience he got from a few colleagues when he was studying in Deepwater City made him know.

For large cities like Niumu, encountering such malicious events, many times, the direct harm caused to the city itself and the residents in it is not the attacker himself.

But the chaotic civilians and low-level professionals under the unstable order afterward.

Knowing the strength of the sheriff in front of him, Isidore didn't pin his hopes on the other party having any substantial influence on the development of the event; being able to maintain order and protect those innocent residents was already very good.

Hearing the priest say this, the sheriff didn't waste any more time.

Saluted neatly, and then rushed out of the church with a team of guards.

At this time, it had been only a few dozen minutes since the resurrection ritual ended.

——This even included the time when both people on the field fainted and were awakened by the clergy who heard the movement in the inner hall behind.

On the street outside the church, there were hurried and dense footsteps, shouts with dirty words, and the sound of metal colliding while marching.

The originally pitch-black houses in the residential areas on both sides of the night were also lit up by lights of unease.

His inner heart, which had been fluctuating due to the sudden change in the situation, became increasingly undulating due to the restlessness in the air.

His lips moved, reciting two prayers, before slightly easing.

His gaze looked at the figure sitting motionless in the shadow of the corridor in the front row of the auditorium.

Isidore walked forward slowly:

"How is it, are you okay?"

Cornell sat alone in the corner, his head lowered, one hand supporting his forehead, his face pale and scary.

His teeth were clenched, the veins on his neck stood out, as if he were enduring some kind of pain.

"It's okay, just a bit of mental power exhaustion."

"But I suspect there might be some other influences, after all, that thing..."

"Let's check it in detail after returning to Huancai City."

Isidore nodded, his right hand covered gently on the holy emblem on his chest, his eyebrows sank slightly, and a silver-white radiance fell from the dome, sprinkling on the mage.

In a breath, Cornell's complexion was much better.

His chest heaved, and he breathed with great difficulty.

He stretched out his left hand, palm facing his face, mental power flowed and took effect, and the surface of the iron ring worn on his thumb flashed with magic brilliance.

It could be clearly seen that the brilliance itself was not stable, as if it had been interfered with, flickering and dimming, as if it would collapse completely in the next second.

It lasted for half a minute like this, before it suddenly rose, condensing a small glass bottle the size of a finger filled with fluorescent blue crystal liquid in Cornell's palm.

Struggling to pull out the bottle stopper, he drank it in one gulp.

Accompanied by the sudden increase in the concentration of magic particles in the surrounding air, the mage's originally somewhat ferocious complexion finally eased.

Regarding this event itself, compared to Isidore who was protected by the Moon Goddess "Selene", he, who had faced the "suspected evil god" directly, adapted faster.

As a conjuration mage who had quite a wide range of knowledge and spent most of his time in his mentor's mage tower conducting various experiments apart from going out on adventures.

The strange situations during experiments, and the ability to accept new things that are essential for the profession of mage.

Made him feel lingering fear, but not anxious or uneasy.

He was just a passerby, and would leave soon, not caring about the impact on Niumu City next.

Right now, what he felt most deeply was the pain like a knife twist.

An ordinary, simple association mission that could be called tourism, cheated their team to this border of the kingdom.

After so many days, not a single gold coin was earned, he even paid for a few spell scrolls, and even the half-orc teammate who had finally adapted to team combat died completely, needing to be recruited again.

He wanted to stay in Niumu for a few days, contact old friends to maintain feelings, and by the way, use the other party's channels to hold a resurrection ritual for the elf teammate who also died in the adventure.

The result?

It was resurrected, but who was resurrected... no one knew.

Not only did he consume a huge amount of money, the ritual materials he saved were wasted, and the elf "Fengxian" also almost had no possibility of resurrection.

Different from the temporary position of the half-orc "Volga" who could be recruited at any time, this meant that their team lost a core member forever.

Too late to be sad.

The magic particles escaping from all parts of his body made Cornell feel even more headache.

Two pieces of magic equipment used for protection, just one glance from the other party, were completely scrapped and lost the possibility of repair;

The transfer rune, which was personally assisted by his mentor and optimized after years of ancient rune improvements, which could not be bought with any amount of money outside, was also completely consumed.

Even the other magic equipment on his body were affected to varying degrees.

For example, the special silver ring on his left thumb that was enchanted with space-type spells and used for storage.

Now it was difficult to communicate with mental power and take anything out of it.

When the time comes, repairing various items will be another huge expense.

After such a trip, no money was earned, two teammates died, all his equipment exploded, and his family fortune shrank significantly.

Cornell only felt his heart was bleeding.

"Where did the problem go?" He couldn't help but ask the priest Isidore in front of him. "The materials used for the ritual, you and I have checked many times, what else could be missing?"

"It's not a material problem." The priest shook his head, his eyes pondering, recalling the scene when he cast the resurrection spell just now.

"From beginning to end, everything went smoothly."

"I also indeed established contact with 'Fengxian's' soul and brought him back from the Outer Plane."

Hearing this, Cornell nodded slightly.

"I saw his soul at the time, that's right, it's him!"

"But..."

The priest's face showed helplessness and a deep sense of dread.

"If any evil god really used his body to descend to the Material Plane, just relying on the two of us, we can't see any clues."

"The most critical problem now is how He used this method to resurrect and descend in the Moon God Church under the nose of the Goddess."

"Perhaps..." Cornell hesitated for a moment and expressed his point of view.

"He, came from outside the Crystal Wall System?"

The encounter in the goblin lair a while ago made him subconsciously connect the two.

But it was actually just a casual remark, just thinking about it carefully, he knew that there was no similarity between the two, and it couldn't be such a coincidence.

The reason for saying this was just to cover up the blasphemous thought that rose in his heart the moment the priest raised the doubt.

As a mage, Cornell's knowledge base could be said to be very extensive, and he also had a certain understanding of the gods above his head.

【Moon Maiden】 Selene, perhaps her divine power level was not in the strongest row, but as one of the oldest gods in this world, the authority and ability she mastered were far beyond ordinary people's imagination.

With this as a premise, in a church protected by such gods, at the very special time point of the "Moon Feast", in a special resurrection ritual that required borrowing divine moonlight power throughout the process.

Wanting to bypass the Goddess and forcibly take away the half-elf's body...

At least within Cornell's knowledge range, the existence that could do this operation was no more than five fingers.

And he didn't think that a character of this level would need this method to descend to the Material Plane.

Therefore, in his view, there was only one situation left.

The Goddess discovered this evil god who descended through the elf corpse.

But for some reason, She chose not to intervene.

And just watched silently.

At that time, the moonlight that lit up on the priest and protected him in it after the elf was resurrected seemed to be able to prove this point.

"Why?"

He didn't know.

And out of some caution, Cornell didn't choose to ask his old acquaintance in front of him about his doubts.

And at the same time, on the other side.

Looking at the mage whose face was still somewhat pale, Isidore's calm gaze actually had some concealment.

As the most devout believer of the Goddess, how could he not know the power of the Lord.

And the few divine decrees received in the "fainting" state.

Also let him know.

Regarding the event that happened in the church before.

The Lady's attitude was somewhat ambiguous.

This was also the reason why Isidore didn't choose to use the few trump cards specially prepared for emergencies after waking up, but found the sheriff to let the other party handle it.

As for the others, after people from Deepwater City came, there would be colleagues closer to the Goddess's radiance to handle it.

"I should go."

Cornell's voice suddenly broke the slightly stagnant atmosphere in the air.

"Now?" The priest's expression was surprised, "Not rest for two more days?"

Regarding this, Cornell only showed a somewhat weird smile on his face.

"Even if I count from the time I arrived in River Valley Town,

"Staying a few more days?"

"I'm afraid I'll even have to pawn the staff in my hand."

Seeing that he had said as much, Isidore stopped trying to persuade him and sent him out of the church.

Before leaving, he had just thought of exchanging a few more pleasantries.

Yet, on the street ahead, a somewhat familiar figure suddenly walked past.

"Xia Nan?"

The greeting that suddenly came to his ears made Xia Nan snap back to his senses.

He shifted his gaze away from the attribute panel before him and looked toward the other side of the street.

What came into view was the white-robed priest who had hosted them when he accompanied Jeff and the others to the church for refuge two days ago.

And...

That spellcaster he had once met briefly at the Adventurer Association on Hunting Day?

"Why is he in Niumu too?"

He wondered inwardly.

Xia Nan's expression remained unchanged as he greeted them and walked over.

At the same time, the shift in his attention caused the attribute panel floating in the void before him to gradually dissipate from his sight.

【Stare into the Abyss】

Category: Feat

Effect:

1. When resisting mental control spells such as charm, fear, or hypnosis, you gain a bonus to your saving throws (influenced by the Constitution attribute);

2. When you successfully resist a mental control effect, the caster is forced to make a saving throw; if they fail, they fall into a 【Brief Stun】 state and take a certain amount of psychic damage.

Description:

The experience of staring directly into the "Abyss" has made your will as tough as steel.

Note:

"I saw Him."

——Abyss Watcher · Shadow Lurker · Fallen

(End of chapter)