[Vol. 7] Chapter 105: Stay Right Here, Don’t Move…
“Snap out of it, you idiot.”
As soon as the little dragon girl landed back on the ground, she flicked Lenka’s forehead without hesitation. A golden spark flashed at her fingertip as it made contact with the girl’s smooth skin, shaking her out of her daze. The fog and emptiness in her brown eyes faded, and clarity returned.
“Ow! Stop that! I won’t steal food anymore, Mom… huh? Where am I?”
The leader of the ritual had been attacked and restrained, causing the magical barrier around the ritual space to weaken to some extent. On top of that, the little dragon girl had infused her flick with extra power. Thanks to this, and Lenka’s naturally strong physique and mental resilience, she was the first to break free from the divine power’s influence.
Seeing her little companion holding her head in confusion, the blonde girl lazily rolled her eyes. She couldn't be bothered to argue about the nonsense Lenka had blurted out in her half-asleep state, so instead, she casually held up two fingers.
“How many fingers?”
“Huh? Uh… two?”
“And now?”
“Five… wait, no! Sister Light, what are you doing? I’m not stupid!”
“Hmph…”
Satisfied that Lenka had fully come to her senses, the blonde girl’s expression became a little more serious.
“So, what did it feel like?”
“Um… well, first of all, my head hurts from your flick! Ugh… okay, okay, I get it! How do I put it…? It was like my mind was completely blank, as if I was floating in the clouds, dreaming. I could vaguely hear someone talking to me from far away, but before I could make out what they were saying, you smacked me awake…”
“Pfft, what a cheap trick.”
Xiao Guang scoffed.
“A god relying on this kind of deception to manipulate believers? How pathetic…”
She showed no mercy in mocking the unknown deity behind all this. Then, she turned her gaze toward the distant altar. There, the vampire girl known as Lucine Constantius was already locked in a fierce battle with the hidden leader of the Church of Truth.
Colorful cards fluttered through the air, their dazzling lights shifting unpredictably, turning into weapons, elements, and even living creatures that surged from the cards to attack the vampire princess. But she cut them all down with a single spear strike, scattering them into glowing fragments.
For now, it seemed like neither side would gain the upper hand anytime soon.
Earlier, during her investigation, Xiao Guang had already noticed the presence of another unknown force secretly infiltrating this space, doing something similar to what the little dragon girl was attempting. She had no idea who they were or what their goal was, but it was clear that they would eventually make a move. It was just a matter of when.
So, rather than waiting, she took action first, forcing all the hidden players to reveal their cards. Now, everything was out in the open…
After observing for a moment, Xiao Guang understood the situation.
That vampire girl, Lucine, had a straightforward objective, to destroy the already activated ritual magic, thereby interrupting the descent of divine power and even dealing some level of damage to the Church of Truth’s god, who was far beyond this world. Meanwhile, the cult leader was doing everything possible to stop her while also using the descending divine power for their own unknown purposes.
A divine force field surrounded the altar, making it difficult to break through, even for Xiao Guang at her current level. How the vampire princess had managed to enter was unclear, but it was likely related to her disguising herself as a victim.
The little dragon girl couldn’t pull off the same trick. Not that she planned to bother with something so complicated.
“I’m going to ask one more time. Have you mastered the technique I taught you earlier?”
Without turning her head, Xiao Guang suddenly spoke. Lenka, who was still rubbing the sore spot on her head, blinked in confusion before realizing that the question was directed at her.
A strange sense of unease crept into her heart, but the little horned girl hesitantly nodded.
“I-I only got the basics… Sister Light, why are you asking this all of a sudden?”
Still not looking back, the little dragon girl simply raised a hand and pointed ahead, toward the growing number of staggering, zombie-like figures rising to their feet and shuffling toward the altar.
“This ritual magic… it’s meant to summon something. If they reach the altar, one of two things will happen. Either they’ll be torn apart because their bodies can’t withstand the power, or they’ll become vessels for the summoned being, losing both their souls and identities completely. Tell me you understand what that means.”
“Huh!? That sounds terrifying! Isn’t that basically the same as dying!?”
For once, Lenka wasn’t acting clueless, and the blonde girl smirked slightly, as if finding that amusing.
“That’s right. Do you want to save them?”
The brown-haired girl nodded without hesitation.
“Of course! But how do I—WAAAAAHHHH!!!”
Before she could finish, her vision spun wildly as she let out a scream. It took her a moment to register what was happening. She was flying through the air.
Or rather, she had been thrown.
The culprit? A certain little dragon girl, who had grabbed the back of her collar and hurled her toward the altar like a javelin.
“Sister Light!! Where are you going!?”
Flailing midair, Lenka barely managed to catch a glimpse of the blonde girl with small dragon wings, soaring off in the opposite direction against the backdrop of the darkening sky. Her voice echoed distantly.
“If you want to save them, use that not-so-bright brain of yours and figure it out. Those two inside aren’t getting out anytime soon, and all the cultists in the ritual are already dead. If you still manage to get yourself killed after this, well… that’s not my problem.”
“Huh!?!?!”
……………………………
Meanwhile, in the real world, inside the manor.
“What the hell!? It’s already nightfall for the second time, so why haven’t we gotten in yet?! Don’t tell me there’s actually no Shadow Realm here at all!?”
In the vast front yard of the manor, a certain thief girl was sitting by the campfire at their temporary base, clutching her head in frustration. She looked utterly exasperated, clearly annoyed that they had spent an entire day searching without making any progress.
Across the fire, Enrique glanced at the priestess sitting calmly, slowly seasoning skewers of meat and occasionally turning them over, ensuring they were evenly coated in oil and grilled to a perfect golden brown. She showed no intention of joining the conversation.
Left with no choice, Enrique sighed and tried to comfort Le Qiaoqiao.
“I don’t think we got the wrong place. It’s not just because of Miss Violet’s judgment… This manor is completely deserted, yet it’s clearly well-maintained, that alone is suspicious. And then there’s the vampires we encountered earlier. It all points to something being here. Maybe we just haven’t found the right way in yet.”
Hongyan added a few more dry logs to the campfire and calmly, concisely stated,
"Clearly, day and night are not what separates the Shadow Realm from reality. At least, not here. Since this place is a key stronghold of the 'Church of Truth,' there must be a more precise and controlled way to enter and exit."
"That makes sense and all… but how are we supposed to find that method? We can’t just sit around waiting for someone inside to come out and grab them, right?"
Sophie bit into a skewer of glistening, fragrant roasted meat, shaking her head as she chewed.
"Do you have a better idea? The reinforcements from the main city are going to take some time to get here anyway, so we’re stuck waiting either way. Even Violet isn’t in a rush, why are you?"
"Well, I just—"
"Shh! Listen."
The one who interrupted was [Tree Monkey], who had been silent the entire time, quietly listening to their surroundings from the shadows. He raised a hand, signaling for silence. Le Qiaoqiao immediately stopped talking, straining her ears to listen.
Just as he said, a faint sound had begun echoing from somewhere nearby, a "crack, crack" noise. It was like a rat digging furiously through the dirt in its burrow, or the slow, creeping fractures spreading through solid ice.
Yet, when they looked around, the pitch-black night revealed nothing. The area they occupied was completely flat, with no cover, everything was in plain sight.
"What the hell… don’t tell me this place is haunted…?"
Le Qiaoqiao’s voice was quite loud, but no one responded. Instead, everyone stood up cautiously and began moving toward the source of the sound.
Being the most experienced in this kind of work, [Tree Monkey] was the first to pinpoint the exact location. He drew a short dagger and, under the dim light of the campfire, subtly signaled to the rest of the group.
The sound was coming from an empty space in the manor’s front yard, about a meter above the ground. There was nothing there but air and residual magic. It wasn’t far from their temporary camp, but the noise had an eerie hollowness to it, as if it were coming from another dimension, like something tapping against the other side of an invisible mirror.
"Crack, crack… crack, crack…"