Chapter 264: Hellfire

"That's far enough."

The old Knight released his grip on Yun Mu's wrist and looked around.

This was a dirt road on the edge of the small town. Beside the two of them stood a wooden sign with a line of small text written on it, which appeared to be in the language of the Ancient Northern Continent.

"Emerald. It means emerald, right? The name of this town is Emerald Town?" Yun Mu barely managed to recognize the characters on the sign.

Although the modern Frost Kingdom language was itself derived from the North Continent language, the difference between the two was as vast as that between Chinese and Japanese, with only a few places being exactly the same.

Coupled with the fact that Yun Mu's own grasp of the Frost Kingdom language wasn't particularly good, recognizing the two characters for "emerald" at the beginning was already her limit.

"Take this chance and leave along this path quickly. The affairs of this town have nothing to do with you." The old Knight did not answer Yun Mu's question, but instead pointed toward the dirt road in the distance.

"And what about you?" Yun Mu looked at him with some curiosity. "Do you intend to stay here and keep fighting the townspeople?"

"... That is none of your concern." The old man was silent for a moment before answering in a somewhat stiff tone.

"Explain it to me in detail." Patting the dust off a stone by the roadside, Yun Mu sat down, hugged her right knee, and rested her chin upon it. "The affairs of this town."

"Will you leave after you hear it?" the old Knight asked.

"Well, I don't know. I'll decide that after I've heard it."

"... Sigh, alright." The old Knight named Tangjiked sat on the ground, somewhat dejected, and began to tell her the story about himself and this place called Emerald Town.

During this time, Yun Mu was multitasking, taking the opportunity to claim the spoils of war from the battle that had just ended.

The Desire Dice roll was 15, a decent enough number.

Added to the passive skill Pickpocketing, the effect resulted in a 23% bonus in earnings.

The total came to 2,276 Gold Coins.

Counting the Gold Coins opened from the Treasure Chest after the Dungeon ended seven days ago, her current Gold Coin balance had reached 9,114.

Surely, with just one more battle, the number of Gold Coins would break through to ten thousand! Ugh, although these Gold Coins might, probably, maybe... only be enough to level Lucy up three times. Sigh, money is hard to earn.

Yun Mu sighed helplessly in her heart, then began to listen to Tangjiked in earnest.

"Everyone in this town has been transformed by ghosts, only they don't know it themselves. I have seen many outsiders come here; their final fate is either to become a part of the town or to be torn to shreds by those ghosts."

"While there is still time and the town residents haven't yet Revealed True Form... you all should leave here quickly."

"Hmm." After hearing the old Knight's words, Yun Mu lowered her head and pondered for a moment. "The town repeats the Ghost Festival every day, but the residents within the town don't notice?"

"Whenever the bell tolls at ten o'clock at night, the town residents reveal their ghost True Form and then kill the travelers who are still alive..."

"I have a question." She looked at the old Knight. "Since all living people are attacked, why are you fine?"

"Also, the residents in the town forget what happened the day before when the next morning comes. Why are you still able to remember?"

"Finally, if the Ghost Festival is held every day, where do the supplies in the town come from?"

"The town residents are ghosts and don't need to eat, that's normal, but what about the outsiders?"

"Surely the food used for the banquets can't all be a Hallucination."

"..." Faced with Yun Mu's questions, the old Knight chose silence.

After a long while, he shook his head bitterly. "These questions of yours, I... I don't know."

"In fact, I don't even know who I am or when I started appearing in this town."

"Apart from the name Tangjiked, I have nothing."

"But," he paused, and the old Knight said with a resolute expression, "the Knight Spirit in my heart is guiding me. It makes me move forward, makes me save those innocent people!"

"Don't you lack memories of before you came here?" Yun Mu looked at him with some confusion. "Without past memories, where did you learn the Knight Spirit?"

"This... haha." A look of slight embarrassment appeared on the old Knight's face, and he chuckled. "Do you know Little Knight?"

"When I first arrived here, I had no memories. Aside from my own name, I couldn't remember anything."

"It was Little Knight who came to take care of me every day, even though he would forget me every time the next morning arrived..."

"Come to think of it," a look of recollection appeared on the old Knight's face, "actually, at the beginning, the town residents treated me as an outsider."

"But as I stayed here longer, gradually, starting with Little Knight, almost everyone began to treat me as a member of the town..."

"Perhaps I have been gradually assimilated by this town, or perhaps, the memories of the town residents aren't actually completely erased?"

"No, that's impossible." Yun Mu retorted without hesitation.

"If the town residents really retained partial memories, they could never be as normal as they are now."

"Repeating the Ghost Festival every day, even if only a slight instinct remained... over such a long span of time, anyone would be driven insane."

"Wait..." Yun Mu suddenly realized something.

How could she be so certain that the residents in this town hadn't gone insane?

Although they all looked normal, one had to know that even in a lake with a perfectly calm surface, there were often deadly undercurrents hidden beneath.

The surface of extreme madness might just be calmness.

Yun Mu suddenly felt a chill run down her spine because she suddenly thought of something.

If the residents in the town went insane in their day-after-day repetitive life, then what about Tangjiked, who could retain all his memories?

Weren't his symptoms much more severe than those of the ordinary townspeople?

Could it be that he had actually gone insane long ago? This thought had only just appeared when it pierced into her soul as if taking root, and then grew wildly.

Think carefully, what was the other party doing when she met Tangjiked today? Holding an iron sword, hacking at the town guards, and before she arrived, he seemed to be... killing people at will? Damn it, why hadn't she thought of this sooner! Was it because of a preconceived notion that she had treated him as a mental patient suffering from hysteria?

Or was it because she thought the people being hacked to death were just NPCs, so she didn't pay special attention? She should have thought of it long ago.

"Pfft!"

A bright red short sword pierced Yun Mu's heart from behind. Only then did she realize that the three question marks in the race column of the other party's attribute panel were not there for nothing.

Because he was not a human at all! Not only could her Blood Perception ability not detect him, but he didn't even possess the aura that a living being should have.

This kind of existence, as if it were nothingness, reminded her of only one person... that was the professional from the Dark Night Church, the Faceless One Dunn.

Completely eliminating one's own presence, shielding all Perception and aura—this guy was a genuine monster wearing a "human" skin.

Hmph, I'll just play dead for a while. With a cold snort in her heart, Yun Mu simply closed her eyes and let her body fall to the ground.

Previously, when in the fog, Tangjiked had only pulled her away, but had not brought along Lucy, the Scarlet Knight, the Goblin Brave, or Xiaoqie.

At the time, out of caution, she had specifically used the active skill of the painting 【Mechanical Heart】 on herself.

After the Mechanical Heart was pierced, as long as the painting's effect was dispelled, the heart would return to normal.

Even without using the Mechanical Heart's skill, possessing the trait 【Blood Core】 meant she would not die, and she wouldn't even fall unconscious for a few seconds.

After all, it was just being pierced through the heart by a long sword; for her, the area of damage was not large.

Relying on the two traits 【High-Speed Regeneration】 and 【Blood Core】, she would be able to recover very quickly.

In fact, as long as the Blood Core was not destroyed, she could recover even if her head were cut off; of course, she certainly didn't want to try that out personally.

But then again, this seemed to be the first time she had received a non-turn-based attack in a game 【Dungeon】.

Does this count as progressing the plot? Ah, it hurts! Yun Mu was dragged along the ground by the old Knight, her head colliding uncontrollably with stones on the ground.

Although she was a 【Transcendental】... forget it, endure it, let's see what this guy wants to do first.

With a belly full of anger, Yun Mu used her intent to open the 【Game Panel】.

At this moment, her teammates were all in a resting state; as long as she wanted, she could summon them at any time.

"Everything is for justice; 【Evil】 must be eradicated."

The old Knight muttered to himself, dragging Yun Mu all the way into the small town.

At this time, the fog had not yet dispersed, and one could barely see a figure beyond about three meters; the other party dragged her the whole way, and not a single townsman discovered them.

Subsequently, Yun Mu was dragged into a wooden shed in the town; she guessed this was likely where the other party lived.

When the two were chatting earlier, the old Knight had said that for some reason even he himself was not clear about.

The items he carried with him could be brought into the next day intact; this was also the source of the armor and iron sword on his body. Although it was unclear how much truth there was in these words, she would provisionally treat this as true for now.

So what did this guy want to do by dragging her here? Just as Yun Mu was puzzled, the old Knight threw her into the wooden shed, covered her with items like straw, then picked up a new long sword from the corner of the shed and walked out.

Yun Mu naturally could not just lie there like this; she immediately stood up from the debris and quietly followed behind him.

Because the fog was thick, and because she could not sense the other party's aura at all, she found it quite difficult to track him, only being able to vaguely see that he seemed to be arranging something.

After finally waiting for the old Knight to leave, Yun Mu immediately arrived at his previous location.

A pungent smell of alcohol rushed into her nasal cavity; besides that, there was a smell of soil mixed with dry grass, which was particularly sharp to the nose just by smelling it.

"This is..."

Looking at the scene before her, Yun Mu was lost in thought.

However, seeing that she was about to lose the target, she could only temporarily keep this matter in her mind and hurried to catch up.

As time passed, the old Knight went to more and more places, and every time the other party left, she would lean in to take a look.

Dry grass, alcohol, or perhaps animal fat—the old Knight very skillfully found the most suitable substances to ignite nearby, then gathered them together.

By now, Yun Mu had completely guessed the other party's intentions.

He was going to commit arson!

A fire that could ignite the entire 【Painted World】!

What was his goal? To burn all the townsmen to death? Why? Did doing this have any benefit for him?

Yun Mu could not think of a reason for him to do this for the time being; perhaps there was no reason at all, just as she had said earlier, the old Knight had gone mad.

And for someone who has already gone mad, no matter what they do, there is no need for a reason.

"This is the last location."

Tangjiked placed a large amount of dry grass in the optimal position after his many experiments and calculations, silently waiting in his heart for the bell chime he had heard countless times to ring.

Except for that outsider, everything was within his plan.

Attacking the guards to cause a disturbance, causing casualties to create flaws in the guards' patrols; at the same time, because of the news of his 'madness', most townsmen would choose to act in groups rather than alone... using the evening fog to escape, dealing with the outsider who might bring variables, and then setting up multiple ignition points.

Next, he only needed to wait for the most suitable moment to ignite the entire town and let everyone be buried in a sea of fire... such a level of destruction, even the 'World' could not repair.

When that time came, he would be free!

Whether it was 【Emerald Town】 or that damned 【Ghost Festival】, everything would be over.

Even if it meant returning to nothingness, this endless cycle, this prison with no day of peace... it was time to let him end all of this!

"Dong—dong—dong—"

The ten o'clock evening bell rang right on time; Tangjiked's mouth curled up, and he casually pulled a box of matches from his pocket.

"Ah—holy flames that cleanse sin, burn this town, along with the sins of this world, to ashes."

"This is punishment from the gods, and also salvation; when the karmic fire covering the sky is extinguished, everyone will return to peace."

Swish, swish, whoosh! An orange-yellow flame danced in his hand; Tangjiked tossed it casually, and the lit match fell into the dry pile of grass.

However, before the flames could spread, Yun Mu stepped forward.

She injected 【Spirituality】 into her pen and quickly wrote the character for "【Rain】" on the card she carried with her.

At this time, the fog had only just dispersed, and a large amount of moisture still lingered in the air.

Under the effect of the "【Rain】" character, the water vapor in the air nearby gathered together, fell from the sky, and in the blink of an eye, extinguished the small flame that had just ignited.

"Sorry, I seem to have accidentally extinguished your holy flames."

A triumphant smile hung on Yun Mu's face, as if she were avenging the wound of being pierced through the heart.

"Oh, or should I say, is this the karmic fire that cleanses filth?"

Plop.

A foot wearing a leather boot lifted lightly, stepping Tangjiked's heart into the wet, soft mud along with it.

(End of chapter)