hotmtlnovel Chapter 118: The Eldritch
Chapter 118: The Eldritch
There is nothing a single elven volley cannot solve. If there is, then send another.As a race, the elves’ mastery of both archery and art surpasses humankind by several eras. One could even say, without exaggeration, that if not for the birth of firearms, humanity would never have surpassed the elves in long-range or even beyond-visual-range warfare. They simply do not belong to the same age.
The daemon of Khorne was blown apart by a heavy explosive arrow, reduced to fragments that could not be pieced together.
The elves seemed very satisfied with their performance.
From the depths of the forest came a few crisp, birdlike notes of an ancient tongue, and the rangers who had been perfectly hidden within the shadows of the woods disappeared at once. Just as they had come without sound or trace, they left in the same manner. Their vanishing perfectly reflected the arrogance of their kind and their unwillingness to mingle with the outside world.
The battle had ended, though its ripples lingered.
Whether it was Miss Maria, wounded by her sword clash, the agents of the Black Coats who had no chance to intervene, or the two clergy, Arthur and Liline, who stood under divine patronage, all of them now needed to talk.
Yes, to talk properly.
In this whole incident, Maria could not shake the feeling that she had been played for a fool by Archbishop Mark. Without knowing anything concrete, she had only sensed something vague, and before she could grasp it, the matter was already over. If she were to believe there was nothing suspicious behind this, Miss Maria might as well laugh at herself.
She seriously suspected that she had been sold off without even realizing it.
“Heh heh, heh heh heh.” Liline, radiating her usual playful charm, responded to Maria’s cold expression with a silly grin, pretending not to understand.
At ordinary times, Liline performed her role as the adorable, busty mascot to perfection.
“Heh.”
Maria replayed the whole Lord of Cinder incident in her mind. After two dry laughs, she fixed her gaze on Pastor Arthur. The mute priest shuddered at once, suddenly taking on the roles of mute, blind, and deaf all at once, pretending as though Maria’s stare simply did not exist.
They were in a temporary tent built by the army.
The Black Coats, who seemed to know more than they had said, had politely invited them here after the daemon of Khorne was slain. The battlefield was cleaned up, and tarps were drawn to cover what should not be exposed.
One clever subordinate had been left to serve the three of them.
His name was Leon.
This extraordinarily lucky player was beside himself with joy. Never in his dreams had he thought that, during the final phase of the closed beta, he would be able to record a battle of such magnitude on his Memory Crystal, one never before seen on the forums. Whether it was the clash between the Lord of Cinder and the Black Coats, the duel between the Lord of Cinder and the silver-haired nun whose sword danced like a wolf, or the moment when the mutated Lord of Cinder was struck down by an invisible power, every scene was enough to shake the entire world of virtual gaming.
Real. Brutal. Magnificent.
Especially that silver-haired nun, whose graceful ferocity in battle made Leon fall head over heels, worshipping at the hem of her habit.
Upload it. Once I get out, I’m uploading it for sure. Let everyone witness my goddess.
Thinking that, the guard outside the tent could not help grinning from ear to ear, impatient to boast to his friends. The NPCs and players passing by gave him strange looks, as if they were watching a cheerful lunatic.
“Ah…”
Seeing her companions’ refusal to speak, Miss Maria could only sigh softly.
At least this served as a harsh lesson.
Dozens of clergy from the Radiant Sun Faith had died in vain during the Lord of Cinder incident, among them several transcendent beings. It was obvious they had been trapped and sacrificed. Worse still, it seemed Archbishop Mark had known all along. The players were nothing more than catalysts, accelerating the process.
The gods of the Sun pantheon had probably been under watch from the other true gods for some time.
The move was coming soon.
Before that happened, cutting away the wandering forces of the Sun Faith outside their main power was the right decision. It was like a great hunt. The frenzied followers of the Sun Faith saw only the cold restraint of those they provoked, not realizing that this indifference was the gaze one gives to the already dead. When the strike came, it would mirror the early days of the Fractured world’s open beta, when the Radiant Sun Faith became nothing more than fodder for player growth.
Gods… The thought chilled her.
Divinity is merciless, divinity is cold, divinity looks down upon all life. She remembered how her father, Pastor Lynn, had cursed Radiant Lord, The Lord of Sunlight after the loss of her mother, Ruth. Now, Maria understood his rage a little better.
To see human life treated as worthless grass and ants, that was what bred fear.
In her previous life, she had never faced such profound and maddening thoughts.
But in this one, Maria, who had unconsciously placed herself high above the mortal world, now perceived problems her past self had never seen. Questions about divinity, about chaos, about the players.
Divinity: the divine order that governs all priesthoods.
Chaos: beyond reason.
Players: chaos in another form.
Maria: NPC, former player.
Her thoughts drifted far, far away. Suddenly, she felt her consciousness tremble. An urge welled up within her to cry out against the gods themselves, a defiance born from talent and pride, as though she could take their place if she chose. Yet just as quickly, another emotion dragged her back down, cold and detached, void of purpose or ambition, merely watching.
That strange force rippled through her mind, gently nudging her before fading away, as though nothing had happened.
The power of a Great One.
It was not her first encounter. When she came to her senses, Maria felt as though, for a brief moment, she had ceased to be human, becoming some transcendent creature drifting beyond mortal sight. In that state, everything was meaningless, nothing could stir her again.
So this is what it means to touch the eldritch.
Maria’s inner turmoil went unnoticed by the others. That patient, ancient power which had always stood in silent opposition to chaos now reached out to her, not with temptation or promise, but with quiet invitation.
No allure, no bargain, no benefit, only the simple suggestion of what she could become, if she wished. Neither forcing nor rejecting her.
Of course, that was only the thinnest of disguises.
It had simply found the perfect moment to slip in and tempt her. Unlike chaos, it was patient. It could wait. For the great ones above all else possessed infinite patience.
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