Chapter 80: Traces (Fourth update, seeking monthly votes)

Lu Mian was startled and couldn't dodge in time, so he could only let the invisible power fall on him.

He instantly felt warmth, and his body was filled with courage, as if he had finally welcomed the sun in a winter lacking clothing.

Other than that, he had no abnormalities, exactly the same as his experience at the castle yesterday afternoon.

Eh, as a "Dancer," I didn't suffer damage? Lu Mian couldn't help but turn his head to look at the short Ryan and the terrifying Franca, finding that there was no black mist or green smoke rising from them either.

Immediately after, Valentine, who existed in the form of a light man, created holy water and dripped a few drops on Franca and Ryan respectively. However, these two still maintained their changed appearance without any improvement.

"Purification and exorcism have no effect?" Lu Mian asked.

He hoped to figure out why it could and why it couldn't, so that he, who had already accepted the "gift," would know what situations to avoid and what situations he could pretend nothing was wrong in.

Ryan explained to him simply:

"Purification and exorcism aren't omnipotent. They need the corresponding power to belong to the evil category. For example, fallen aura and all undead. The latter aren't necessarily evil, just uncoordinated and incompatible with the real world, needing to return to the Spirit Realm, so they can still be purified and exorcised."

"Just like our definition of evil gods is mainly based on their style of doing things, the power of evil gods isn't necessarily evil."

Lu Mian roughly understood a bit. He asked thoughtfully:

"Inevitable, uh, power, doesn't belong to evil, nor does it represent falling?"

So it can't be purified and exorcised?

"Correct." Valentine had already confirmed this through the attempt just now.

Looking at it this way, it's normal that I can withstand that halo. But why could holy water stimulate the black thorn symbol on my chest and let me hear that terrifying voice? Because the pollution inside the seal doesn't belong to me currently and is uncoordinated and incompatible with me, making my body no longer pure, so it needs to be purified? Lu Mian guessed in his heart.

He originally wanted to use people like the shepherd Pierre Bery who had already accepted the gift as examples to ask if the mutation of the body also belonged to the evil fallen category, but the current situation was relatively urgent, and he couldn't discuss it slowly.

Lu Mian tried to walk toward the basement entrance.

After walking two steps, his ears suddenly buzzed, and he vaguely heard that terrifying sound that seemed to come from infinitely far away yet seemed close at hand. But it wasn't clear, very vague, just making his chest slightly hot and his spirit appear a bit chaotic.

This was very close to the state he was in when he saw the "Noodle Man" dancing.

This confirmed to Lu Mian that the black thorn symbol on his chest was semi-stimulated.

He busily turned his body to look at Ryan, Franca, and Valentine, finding that they had no abnormal reactions.

Lu Mian was somewhat disappointed. He had originally thought that the two major symbols on his chest could also have a certain degree of suppression and weakening on Beyonders. Now it seemed they could only target monsters in the dream ruins, especially those who had received the gift of the owner of the black thorn symbol.

Of course, he wasn't sure if fully stimulating the symbols on his chest would cause an impact on the surrounding Beyonders.

"Has my state changed?" He asked Franca and the others.

"No." They shook their heads at the same time.

Lu Mian nodded imperceptibly and basically confirmed two things:

One was that the black thorn symbol on his chest, or the evil god pollution sealed in his body, could indeed help him "resist" the abnormalities in the basement;

Two was that his luck just now was really good, and he was affected by the power of the "present."

After waiting for a few seconds, Lu Mian tried to take a step diagonally forward.

The heat in his chest didn't weaken, maintaining the intensity just now.

"Has it changed this time?" He asked Ryan and them again.

Franca shook her head first:

"No."

Lu Mian exhaled quietly and muttered in his heart:

"With the 'protection' of the black thorn symbol, I can move freely here. Shepherd Pierre Bery and the others should be like this too...

"Wait, the assistant parish priest hasn't obtained the gift yet and doesn't have the thorn symbol! How did he reach the altar safely before?"

Thinking of this, Lu Mian vaguely understood something and cast his gaze toward the ground.

Borrowing the light emitted by Valentine, he saw many messy footprints that normal humans couldn't see.

Except for a small part that was everywhere, they roughly followed a certain rule and extended all the way to the front of the altar.

Lu Mian immediately overlapped with the position of the nearest part of the footprints, and the heat in his chest began to weaken slowly.

This meant he had returned to the "present."

As expected, there was a safe route here, walking on the route of the "present"! Lu Mian suddenly became very happy because this was a trace found by him, a small "Hunter," that the three powerful Beyonders Ryan, Franca, and Valentine hadn't discovered.

This made him think of some words Aurora had said:

"Every path has things it excels at. Before demigod, when encountering specific occasions, the Sequence 9 of certain paths might be more useful than the Sequence 5 of other paths."

Lu Mian had originally felt a bit inferior and suppressed because in the explorations of the past two days, he could hardly play any role in front of powerful Beyonders, being in the position of a guide and being protected the whole time. Now he finally regained a lot of confidence.

Finding faint traces in reality is the specialty of a "Hunter." You guys can't do it, right?

Of course, Lu Mian didn't forget that Aurora added one last sentence:

"But some paths excel at everything."

He restrained his thoughts, turned his body, and directed Ryan, Franca, and Valentine.

"You guys take a step toward the direction facing the altar at the same time."

Ryan and the others were clearly puzzled and couldn't fully trust Lu Mian, so they did as he said without asking why.

Lu Mian had to explain:

"Look at the ground, there are many footprints. They were left by the assistant parish priest's group, marking a safe route!"

Ryan, Franca, and Valentine, who lacked corresponding abilities, relied on the illumination of the "Sun" and very barely discovered a bit of traces, believing Lu Mian's statement.

—In the Intis officialdom, there were many Beyonders of the "Hunter" path. They had cooperated more or less and knew that some sequences were very good at finding faint traces.

Following Lu Mian's hint, they walked onto the safe route together.

Almost instantly, Lu Mian saw Ryan grow tall rapidly, Valentine become darker and darker, and Franca's face gradually return to normal.

They returned to the "present," no longer in the "past" and "future."

Scritch-scratch, Lu Mian followed the safe route and easily returned to the team.

He said with a smile:

"Don't walk wrong again. Another change in state might not be salvageable."

He was imitating Ryan's tone, feeling it was very suitable for the current scene.

If it were in the past, given his personality, he would likely have mocked directly:

"Haha, are you guys blind? Such obvious traces can't be seen. If you walk wrong again, there's no saving you!"

Franca touched her face and exhaled:

"We'll follow you."

Lu Mian didn't be humble, carefully distinguishing the footprints on the ground, and approached the altar step by step.

This wasn't as light as when he came back just now, because it didn't matter if he walked wrong, but Ryan and the others couldn't.

This time, the silver bells on Franca's body didn't ring again.

Until the four arrived at the altar, they rang ding-ding-dang-dang, sometimes slow, sometimes intense.

"There's danger, but there's a way to avoid it." Franca, who already had enough experience, gave an interpretation.

Ryan nodded immediately:

"Let's not move anything here for now, just observe."

Lu Mian had already cast his gaze toward the top of the altar.

It recessed toward the bottom, as if to hold something. Inside, gray-white candles, small bottles containing transparent liquid, and closed wooden boxes were placed messily.

Among them, the most conspicuous was a piece of black clothing.

It belonged to a robe, with a hood.

And in front of this clothing, in the middle of the position surrounded by other things, was engraved a ring symbol composed of thorns.

Each part of it was twisted, pitch black, as if painted with some strange pigment, actually giving people the feeling that it was slowly flowing.

As soon as he saw this symbol, Lu Mian felt dizzy and had constant tinnitus.

Ryan "hummed," and points of light like morning mist appeared around his body naturally.

This helped Franca and Valentine suppress the chaos in their spirits.

"Don't look at that symbol too much." Ryan said in a deep voice.

Lu Mian busily shifted his gaze and looked to the side.

His feeling of dizziness and tinnitus weakened accordingly.

The altar seems to be just like this. Let's look around to see if there's anything else... Lu Mian had just wanted to say that when he heard Franca ask Ryan:

"Will your 'Morning Mist' stimulate the altar?"

Ah? Lu Mian busily turned his head, subconsciously looking at the altar again.

Ding-ding-dang-dang, the silver bells on Franca's veil and boots rang intensely and urgently.

Almost simultaneously, the black robe with the hood on the altar stood up with a swish, as if worn by an invisible person.

Woo!

A cold wind blew in a swirl. Lu Mian saw many transparent faces under the hood.

They were all ferocious and twisted, emitting strong feelings of hatred, condensing together in a huddle, forming a strange and terrifying head.

One of the faces was very familiar to Lu Mian; it belonged to Raymond. He was pale and bloated, his eye corners full of blood tears.

Lu Mian didn't have time to look closely and dodged behind Ryan with a swish.

"Save us! Save us!"

Those transparent faces opened their mouths at the same time, their sharp voices like countless fine needles, piercing into the souls of Ryan and the others, stimulating them to the point of wanting to faint.

Valentine was in the best state and opened his arms.

A pure, holy pillar of light wreathed in illusory flames descended instantly from the sky, falling onto the black robe worn by the invisible person.

Light erupted, and Lu Mian and Franca closed their eyes instinctively.

PS: Fourth update, seeking monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 81 =====