Chapter 561: Undercurrents
Nick ended up sitting off to the side, watching Ember and Adrian face off.
"So you’re a believer of Erebus too? No... your rank is probably even higher than that. Then what was all that before?"
After a brief pause, Ember fixed Adrian with a piercing stare, his voice turning icy. "Was all of it a lie?"
Sitting nearby, Nick couldn’t quite explain why the scene felt strangely familiar. It was probably just his imagination.
He turned away on purpose, deciding not to watch the two of them anymore.
Meanwhile, Adrian’s eyes widened at Ember’s words, his face the picture of astonishment. A moment later, he pressed his lips together and simply stared at Ember without saying a word.
Ember: "..."
Watching Adrian’s blue eyes grow increasingly watery, as though the sea itself might spill from them at any moment, Ember unconsciously clenched his fists and instinctively looked away.
"Cut the act." Ember knew perfectly well that Adrian was deceitful to the core—cold-blooded, unreadable, a consummate liar. Yet even so, he still couldn’t bring himself to face Adrian when he looked like this.
"Have you forgotten what you said that day?" Adrian suddenly asked.
Listening to their exchange, Nick felt goosebumps rising all over his arms. The atmosphere between the two of them was oddly sticky and intimate.
Ember looked like the kind of person who solved everything with a single punch, so why was he dragging things out like this?
"What did I say?" Ember genuinely couldn’t remember a thing he’d said that day. By the end of the battle, he’d been so exhausted that he had barely been able to speak at all.
Seeing Adrian’s eyes darting about, the veins on Ember’s forehead throbbed. He grabbed Adrian by the collar and growled, "Just spit it out. I don’t have time to waste."
Adrian looked at Ember before finally letting out a helpless sigh.
"Because from the very first time we met, I saw you as an exceptionally promising candidate."
"So that was the only reason you approached me?" Ember frowned.
Adrian looked puzzled. "Did it really seem like I was approaching you? I was simply acting normally."
Without waiting for Ember to respond, Adrian continued,
"Besides, only by becoming believers of Erebus can we become teammates. Weren’t you the one who wanted to be friends with me so badly, Ember?"
This time, it was Ember who fell silent. He stared at Adrian, just in time to catch the other man’s eyes blinking innocently.
Ember pressed his lips together before abruptly shoving Adrian away.
As if he had no strength in his body at all, Adrian simply let himself fall backward.
Ember frowned instinctively and reached out to catch him.
But at that moment, a massive snake tail appeared, dragging a nearby chair into place.
Adrian landed safely in the chair. He even leisurely wrapped his tail around himself twice, his eyes brimming with amusement as he looked at Ember.
Ember: "..."
Adrian decided not to tease this overly sentimental fellow any further.
Turning to Nick, he said, "Although believers of Erebus are scattered throughout the universe, not everyone is qualified to join the Guild. You two were personally chosen by the Priest, which means you also bear the important responsibility of spreading Erebus’s faith across the universe."
Nick had turned back by then. Looking at Adrian, he asked, "So what exactly do we have to do?"
"Take part in guild-exclusive dungeons," Adrian replied. "Make a name for yourselves and defeat those so-called top guilds."
He spoke as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Isn’t that simple enough?"
"It is," Nick admitted, lowering his gaze. "But actually doing it won’t be easy."
Ember remained silent as well.
Hearing that, Adrian burst into laughter.
"Hahaha... You two are adorable."
He rose to his feet, his enormous tail lightly tapping the ground, each gentle movement sending faint tremors through the room.
When he looked at them again, the amusement had vanished from his eyes, replaced by unwavering seriousness.
"Just remember one thing: there is no one stronger than the one you worship. Got it?"
At that moment, it felt as though if either of them dared to say anything that displeased him, he would swallow them whole without hesitation.
"I understand." Nick nodded, but in the end, he couldn’t help asking, "Will Silvanus be joining us for the guild missions?"
Adrian shrugged. "Unfortunately, I can’t tell you in advance."
Nick said nothing more.
After joining the Erebus Guild communication group, he took his leave as well.
Ember looked at Adrian and suddenly asked, "Where are you going?"
Adrian waved him off. "You worry too much." As he spoke, he bent down to tidy up the things his enormous snake tail had knocked over.
The room itself wasn’t large. It contained only a long table and ten chairs, with almost nothing that could be called decoration.
Adrian couldn’t help sighing in frustration.
"When will we finally get to make this place look nicer?"
"What kind of decorations do you want?" Ember asked as he followed behind Adrian.
The moment the words left his mouth, Adrian spun around so abruptly that the two of them nearly collided.
Looking into Adrian’s sparkling eyes, Ember couldn’t shake the feeling that Adrian had been putting on this whole act just to hear him ask that question.
A liar.
Ember thought to himself. Even so, he still said,
"Go on. How do you want to decorate it?"
"I love you the most, Ember!"
The cheerful atmosphere inside the office failed to reach the outside world.
Far above, on the highest floors of the Guild Tower, lay the domains of the oldest and highest-ranking guilds.
These were the true overlords.
The three greatest guilds, each belonging to the council of believers serving one of the three only gods who protected humanity within the dungeons:
Themisia, the Goddess of Justice and Balance.
Abyssus, the God of the Deep Sea.
And finally, Vaelthor, the sovereign who ruled over all things—the embodiment of absolute power, whose decrees no existence could defy.
At that moment, inside the office of Abyssus Guild, Natalia examined the report her subordinate had just presented. One hand remained raised to cover her mouth, while the long sleeve of her robe concealed the lower half of her face. A glimmer of interest flashed through her eyes.
"So you’re saying... a new god has appeared?"
"Yes. With only a handful of believers, they’ve already rushed to establish a guild. Rather reckless, if you ask me," the subordinate commented calmly.
Natalia’s eyes curved into a smile.
"That has nothing to do with us. But I really can’t wait to see those fledgling believers face off against Vaelthor Guild. How long has it been since we’ve had such an entertaining spectacle? Just thinking about it is enough to excite me. Hahaha... Do you remember the last time—"
"Master..."
The subordinate couldn’t help interrupting with a reminder. After all, the dungeon system had explicitly forbidden any discussion of that matter.
Natalia looked somewhat displeased, but in the end, she said nothing further.