Chapter 4910: There Is No Batman Here (15)

Shiler pulled the same old trick again, quickly kicking open the door of another house, where he found a flute made of bone. The thing looked extraordinary at a glance. But the game Brainiac set up had a flaw: it didn't tell you whether a prop you found was actually the one used in this mission. It might just be a simple occult item, usable in later raids, or it might be the mission's key prop — but you had to judge for yourself.

Shiler originally thought this should be the mission prop, but soon enough, in another room, he found a stone tablet engraved with a special symbol. The symbol was a bit unusual, but Shiler had never seen it before. This should be an important prop too.

Then in yet another room he found a tattered book. Shiler naturally didn't dare read it, because books appearing in this kind of place were mostly copies of certain forbidden texts. There was writing on it, but Shiler didn't recognize the script.

By rights, he could only take a gamble now — worst case, wait for the door to open and try them one by one. But Shiler truly had no capital to gamble with; he had no occult means of banishment, and if he failed, he might drop dead on the spot.

So Shiler chose to return to the cathedral, then log out right there and head to Arkham Asylum to find Brand.

Several hours had passed; the water had mostly receded. Only the waterlogged areas needed cleaning, so work hadn't resumed that quickly. Patients and medical staff had all gone back to clean up — naturally including Edward and Brand.

"Got something to ask you." Shiler looked at Brand and said, "What is this thing?"

Shiler drew the symbol from the stone tablet on a piece of paper. Brand's eyes widened slightly: "Where did you get this?"

"In the game." Shiler said, "What symbol is this? What's it for?"

"It's an Old Seal." Brand said, "Simply put, it's something that can banish Ancient Gods and Outer Gods."

"Afraid it's not that simple." Shiler wasn't fooled; he narrowed his eyes and asked.

"A specific Ancient God and its kin require the corresponding symbol for banishment; using a different Old Seal won't work."

"Who does this seal correspond to?"

"This should be fictional." Brand said, "I've genuinely never seen this thing, but it's definitely not something that counters me."

Shiler sighed: "Brainiac's pretty cunning." He thought a moment more and said, "What do these characters mean?"

He wrote down the text he'd seen on that tattered scroll for Brand. Brand looked and said: "A fragment of 'Cthaat the Water God' — best not to read it."

"Then I have to take a look." Shiler said, "Where is this thing in reality?"

"You want to read it in reality?" Brand was somewhat shocked, "You've got it backwards, shouldn't you read it in the game?"

"Reading it in the game I'd die, but in reality I have the Nameless Mist." Shiler said, "Even if it recorded your true name, I'd be fine."

"I'm not a demon, where would I have a true name?" Brand shook his head and said, "Gotham University Library, what you're looking for is around the 6th document. If it's not there, go ask the people in that Pen Pal Club — they might have it. If they don't either, then it should be in Atlantis."

Shiler went to Gotham University Library first. Since work hadn't resumed, there was no one in the university. He searched for half a day but only found the 1st and 2nd documents, which recorded matters of Ancient Gods and Outer Gods.

But he didn't contact the Pen Pal Club; instead he called Jason directly. Jason had been a librarian here for a long time; he should know where some books went. Sure enough, Jason told him the 6th document had neither been borrowed nor was in Atlantis — it was preserved in a museum in Germany.

Shiler contacted the museum online, using the identity of an arrogant professor to obtain a scanned copy of the classic. How else to say humans are impressive? Even this kind of book has a scanned copy.

Shiler took a look and found the 6th document spoke of a group called "the Drowned," especially an Old Ruler among them named "Bog Shas." He was described as a cousin of Yibb-Tstll, with a humanoid body covered in black slime, transforming living dead servants through kisses.

It mentioned the Drowned seem to fear light, especially explosive light and sound — encountering intense bright light makes them explode on the spot, then reform elsewhere.

Shiler immediately thought: if what was in that house really was kin of the Drowned, then flashbangs or flash-fragmentation grenades could deal with them. Pity, neither he nor Constantine had those.

Of course, he also knew who had the most of that stuff. After logging back in, Shiler had Charles ask for the Agent's location.

Deathstroke and the Agent, though belonging to the North District, were in the northeast corner, actually not far from the East District. And to do missions they'd moved south some more, not far from the alley Shiler was in.

"What mission are they doing?" Shiler asked.

"Clearing a nightclub." Charles said, "They only take combat missions, can finish one in under half an hour, already done three."

"Being able to fight is nice." Shiler said, "Help me set up a meet with them, I'll trade some gear with them."

Soon they met on a street in the East District. Deathstroke stopped the car; the Agent got out and asked: "You want flashbangs? Using flashbangs on Outer Gods?"

"This one just happens to fear light." Shiler explained, "How many you got?"

"Not many. Deathstroke kills people without needing to flash-stun them first. I only brought two small ones; as for frag grenades and incendiaries, don't have those either." The Agent shook his head.

Shiler sighed, but soon the Agent pulled out something and said: "If you just want sound, light, and explosion, this might work even better."

In his hand was none other than "Diana's Blessing" — named following the artifact naming convention: whichever god forged it, it's named that god's Blessing — the tank-main-cannon revolver Diana forged for the Agent.

Shiler froze, but he had to admit: compared to flashbangs or incendiaries, the sound and light this thing produced could be called bombardment-grade. No other flaw — just loud.

But precisely because it was so strong, Shiler worried the Agent might need it too. Then he realized the Agent was probably sick to death of this thing. Agents specialize in silent, undetected infiltration; this thing specializes in killing every enemy so no one knows you infiltrated.

And it comes with self-injury: one shot at minimum causes Grade 2 hearing damage, definitely causes wrist contusion. The Agent doesn't want to spend that much time recovering, and they don't have any especially good instant-healing methods.

But the Bishop's different. Constantine has many healing methods, and later should be able to make some healing arrays — so using this gun would be no burden.

Moreover, the thing in the house was a zone boss, proving that whole zone might be the Drowned's territory — even the final boss, that suspected Joker guy, might be related to the Drowned — so this weakness is universal. With this gun, it's half the effort for double the result.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony." Shiler said, "But I brought you some good stuff too."

Finished speaking, he handed over the fishing net, bone flute, and Old Seal to the Agent, saying: "Don't know what they can banish yet, but if you run into something, they should be useful."

The Agent took them and looked; their squad truly feared mental attacks most. Though the North District seemed not to have such monsters, the Lighthouse leaned on the sea — hard to say if a few Old Rulers might crawl up from the ocean; keeping them as a precaution was wise.

They parted quickly. Shiler returned to the back alley; he stood before the door, looked it over, then said to Brainiac: "Give me a Strength, I'll just kick the door in and go."

Brainiac didn't say much, tossed him a die. Unexpectedly it came up a critical success. Shiler kicked the door in with one foot; the door panel slapped the monster's face, stunning it for an instant.

Shiler didn't even look — *bang*, one shot.

This one shot fired, and even Brainiac was shocked. Because *boom* — the shabby wooden hut shattered directly; the monster standing in the center was blasted into the sea with one shot.

This wasn't sound-and-light intimidation anymore; this burst fired, sent it straight back to R'lyeh.

"Stop stop stop." Brainiac said, "This is a dice-throwing game."

"Guess why Nya loves throwing dice so much?" Shiler laughed.

*Bang! Bang! Bang! *

Shiler fired three shots in a row; the monster let out a piercing shriek, exploded into a mass of black mud on the spot, and vanished completely. To the end Shiler never got a clear look at what the monster looked like.

But he himself was badly hurt too. Blood flowed from his ears; his head throbbed with dizziness. Wrist cartilage contusion was certain; forearm and upper arm likely had hairline fractures; even the scapula was affected to some degree.

However, Shiler made perfect use of his own injuries. He began kicking doors one by one on the nearby streets.

"Comprehensive Check 1, throw successful."

"Comprehensive Check 1, throw successful."

"Comprehensive Check... mission over, stop throwing."

Shiler smiled. This gun would injure him, and he just happened to be able to let Morbidity take over. The heavier Morbidity's injuries, the stronger his power; the stronger his power, the lower the dice roll requirement — until finally there was no requirement at all, any roll would get him in.

Before Brainiac's patience ran out, he successfully searched three streets; basically all usable supplies were taken by him. These magical materials should be enough for Constantine to use for a while.

After completing the mission, I was also given a pile of construction materials, plus an everlasting magic lantern, and a clue to the final boss.

As a teammate, Constantine heard the notification when the mission was completed. At the same time, the church doors opened, and the smell of blood entered before Shiler did.

Constantine stood up and looked solemnly in that direction. Shiler walked in with his gun lowered, head down, blood dripping from his ears soaking his entire shoulder. His other arm's wrist was severely swollen, making it hard to lift.

"God." Constantine hurried over, "How did you end up like this? If the fight was tough, why didn't you call me?"

Shiler lifted his eyes, his desolate gray irises falling on Constantine's face as they slowly came into focus.

"Stay away from me, Mr. Constantine." He gave a faint smile, "I think I need to maintain respect toward you."

Strange-colored flash, Kang!