Chapter 126: Worship
In one particular area of the Viola Territory, mainly at the Viola’s main residence, they are three Shepherds currently inside a room.
One them had an exhausted expression on his face after his mist-like forms has been seen while the other White Shepherd which was trying her best to help, couldn’t help but be worried but all of them looked at this one particular man. With these two was a woman with purple eyes, Sylvia.
And these three White Shepherds were currently looking toward a person leisurely sitting on a grand chair while reading through the file reports in front of him.
"So this was your plan all along. To isolate me and kill me while you create a mess on my territory?"
This man was no other than the Lord of Viola, Khalish Viola.
Exuding the confident aura of a Lord of a great family, Khalish never batted an eye at the three White Shepherds who had killed all the people in his residence just to meet him here. At least almost the half of his manpower had been directed toward the search for Arthur Potter after Scott, his General Strategist, informed him of the situation.
However, it seemed everyone was already dead by the hands of these White Shepherds.
Maybe everyone related to Viola is already gone.
’My son, where is he—’
Just as he was about to continue thinking, one of the White Shepherds answered him.
"Nope, this is actually her plan all along, not us."
The White Shepherd, who appeared cheerful and was someone Cillian had met in the Academy, answered on his behalf with a slightly exhausted tone. His hands appeared bloody, and beneath his robe, he was smiling happily.
Then, Khalish moved his gaze toward the woman sitting in front of him, her purple eyes coldly gazing down at him after hearing the words of the other White Shepherd.
Their gazes locked into each other.
Sylvia remained quiet for a few seconds before she started speaking.
"Khalish Viola, you’re going to die tonight."
Her words didn’t feel like a threat but rather a confirmation that it was about to happen. Then, she followed with a question.
"Do you know why you’re going to die tonight?"
Khalish let out a small sigh.
"I don’t know..."
Khalish’s eyes flashed dangerously as they began turning white, reflecting the three Shepherds within them.
"...you tell me."
...
Cillian gazed around the area, where stone walls covered in markings filled the path, before turning his gaze toward Aster, who was just as confused as he was.
’How should we proceed now?’
Cillian pondered inwardly before looking around once more, only to see four paths leading somewhere. Like Aster, who was also entering the Ancient Ruin for the first time, Cillian was no different. Even though he had taken this mission from Eve through the Whisper Broker, he had no idea what this ruin contained.
’Something as big as this is just beneath Viola? Wait, wait, wait. There are also other ruins like this spotted across Viola. Don’t tell me all the Ancient Ruins are connected together, and this is just one massive place stretching across the land?’
Cillian couldn’t help but be surprised when he realized that this place might stretch as far as the eye could see, possibly covering almost the entirety of Viola. He was willing to bet that, since other Ancient Ruins had also been discovered and excavated, what they were witnessing was merely a part of it rather than the whole.
’Does that mean we’re really that ’separated’? Just as we’re about to enter where that stupid Heretic is, we might be somewhere else entirely from who knows where?’
Just thinking about it made Cillian even more convinced that the Shepherds were truly taking this invasion seriously.
’Arthur probably needs some time to summon the "God," or it would have already been done, just like Aster suggested. But I don’t want to gamble on it taking much longer, considering that over two hours have already passed.’
Cillian pondered inwardly before asking Aster to put him down. He needed Aster to be prepared for sudden ambushes, and being carried by him would only be a hindrance.
Even so, there was a single glimmer of hope in their situation, and it was the fact that Cillian could still see Arthur’s location using the Flag Mark. Losing track of his objective would never be a problem.
"Let’s go."
Removing the pacifier from his mouth and putting it inside his Inventory, Cillian signaled Aster, who began wielding his sword.
Aster didn’t ask Cillian anything.
For some reason, Aster never felt that they were truly lost. Seeing Cillian take the lead again, just like back in the Academy, reassured him.
That’s why he merely followed behind, ready to attack whenever Cillian ordered him to or whenever they encountered an enemy.
"Nearby Flag Presence."
The two began exploring the Ancient Ruin of the past era while keeping their footsteps quiet. Thankfully, the path ahead was providing light from the light stones attached to the walls.
As they went deeper along the path, Cillian curiously looked around the walls of the Ancient Ruin and discovered strange markings or peculiar drawings that seemed to have been made by someone who was not very skilled at drawing at all.
Still, Cillian, Aster, and Mouthful Eye could still make sense of these drawings by understanding what they implied based on common sense.
From the point where they landed to the area they were currently exploring, there were three things that somehow made sense.
There were people of all shapes, strange creatures of different sizes, and all of them were prostrating themselves before what seemed to be the Moon.
Aside from these three things, everything else was either too strange to look at or too incomprehensible to even put into words.
"This... This world also have this?"
Mouthful Eye reacted quite suspensefully, which made Aster watch the thing on Cillian’s shoulder as he also listened attentively.
"These drawings are something I have also seen while traveling through the Worlds. They usually signify a group of individuals worshiping the ***."
Aster couldn’t help but frown, not because of the message, but because Mouthful Eye’s last words sounded so erratic that he almost felt the urge to scratch his ears.
Even with that censored appearance, Cillian, who was unaffected by it, was still able to understand the context using the knowledge he had gained previously, especially because it was Mouthful Eye who had revealed it when they were searching for the word meant for Arthur.
Aside from Heretic, there were three more that are censored, which are Lamb, Clock...
One of them is...
"Worshipping the Moon?"
Mouthful Eye nodded.
"That’s right, they look like they were worshipping the Moon. I don’t get why the Shepherds censored this word as well, the same way they did with *** and ***. It’s not even the information I was trying to tell you about back then in the Academy. I don’t know... I wouldn’t have even discovered this without you. But now that I think about it, these strange drawings from the ruins have all appeared throughout the Worlds. Maybe... just maybe... they meant something?"
Cillian couldn’t help but remain silent. He tried looking toward Aster to see if he had any idea what these strange drawings implied, but all he could see was the deep frown plastered across his face, as if he wanted to break something.
Then, Aster complained.
"Why the fuck do that Artifact’s words sound so annoying though? Can you please stop saying whatever that is? It’s pretty irritating."
Cillian slightly widened his eyes, seeing Aster talk like this as if he were genuinely annoyed. It was almost like the first time they had met, only this time, with a dialogue.
If not for the fact that they were in a serious situation, Cillian would’ve already told Mouthful Eye to annoy the shit out of him just by uttering those words, and it might have made his tiring day.
"Right, you didn’t know. Well, only Cillian is somehow immune to it. My apologies. I will refrain from speaking about this when I’m around people."
Aster massaged his temples before nodding once. By the looks of it, it wasn’t intentional, since they had only been talking about Mouthful Eye’s discoveries.
The trio continued their journey while keeping their focus on both the strange drawings and their surroundings.
This steady pace of their journey, however, soon came to a halt when Cillian urged Aster to stop.
"Wait..."
[Death Flag]
[Death Flag]