Eldritch Horror Theatre

Although their condition was concerning, Elena and Brother Overcoat were indeed alive, which undoubtedly proved that Fu Qian had not lied.

Unfortunately, neither of them uttered a word upon seeing the reinforcements, plunging the atmosphere into an eerie, awkward silence.

”Montes?”

In the end, Sybil was still the first to speak, attempting to call out to Brother Overcoat on the ground.

Compared to earlier, however, her demeanor and tone had completely shifted once more. She had already reverted to her ethereal, saintly air, her voice dripping with that distinct pretentiousness.

She was truly efficient at this rapid flip-flopping!

”I have recovered some mobility, and those strange Feathers haven’t appeared again.”

While Fu Qian marveled at this inwardly, Montes, half of his face paralyzed, responded in a gentle tone without a single trace of pain on his features.

He had clearly seen the Feather in Sybil’s hand, which was why he specifically brought it up.

After explaining his own condition, he pointed to the side.”Elena is in poor shape, though. She might need help.”

”Look after him for a moment.”

Sybil nodded, issuing the order to the few people beside her before walking over to Elena and calling out.

”Elena?”

Unfortunately, even when addressed by her Demigod leader, Elena’s reaction was incredibly wooden. She merely looked up with completely unfocused eyes.

Her condition had stabilized somewhat, but her mind seemed to have taken a massive hit.

As Sybil carefully examined the girl from head to toe, Fu Qian silently offered his own assessment from the sidelines.

In the brief time since they entered, those eerie patterns hadn’t resurfaced on Elena’s body, and her aura had steadied considerably.

At the same time, however, she had only grown more sluggish and unresponsive.

The formerly corrupted Saintess was practically an inanimate doll by now.

Up to this point, it was safe to say that everyone here had been influenced by the Mirror, but her reaction was undoubtedly the most unique.

As for the reason, Fu Qian could hazard a pretty good guess.

Based on the information he had gleaned from the Sin Deathmatch, her state of mind had always been highly unstable, making it difficult for her to control her own Transcendent power. This was likely what had caused the death of her poor old father.

And after being injured, she had completely succumbed to her dark side, causing a drastic shift in her temperament.

Although he still wasn’t entirely sure of the exact effects the Mirror had, it seemed capable of dispelling people’s negative emotions.

During her corrupted state, her dark side had clearly taken the upper hand. Under such a forceful purification, her mind might have simply been wiped completely blank.

”Are these the bugs you mentioned?”

Kelsen, however, paid no mind to these trivial details. His eyes were locked onto the insect corpses littering the floor.

”Yes. They were originally resting at the top of the pillar. We must have disturbed them, causing them to all light up at once,”

Fu Qian said with a nod.

On the pillar...

Kelsen tore his gaze away from the insect carcasses and looked up to scan his surroundings.

He made no attempt to inspect the corpses. As a Demigod, Kelsen could clearly see that they had lost all their spirituality and held no valuable information.

The next moment, a whirlwind materialized out of thin air, enveloping his entire body.

Lifted by the gale, Kelsen’s body slowly ascended until he was level with the top of the pillar.

After a brief glance, he stepped forward and stood directly on the pillar’s summit.

For a moment, everyone, including Sybil, tilted their heads up to watch his movements.

Unfortunately, the Demigod studied the surface for a long time without uttering a single word.

It seemed he had found nothing.

Fu Qian silently judged.

However, a blinding cluster of electrical light suddenly flared to life at the top of the pillar the next moment, shining just as fiercely and brilliantly as the insects had earlier.

Fu Qian could see it clearly: the source of the radiance was the countless electrical arcs leaping across Kelsen’s body.

His blue hair stood on end, and lightning seemed to flash within his eyes.

Are all electricity users this explosive-tempered?

While Fu Qian mused over this, Kelsen drew in a sharp breath as the lightning frantically converged upon his right arm.

Pushing the energy to its absolute limit, he viciously slammed his palm down onto the pillar.

For a split second, Fu Qian thought he was going to go deaf.

Confined within this enclosed Underground space, the explosive roar of the thunderclap was truly deafening.

Following Kelsen’s strike, the bursting lightning blasted the pillar so hard that it teetered on the verge of collapse.

It didn’t end there. The lightning continued to ripple outward, continuously splitting into tiny electrical arcs that wove into a massive net, instantly blanketing the entire hall.

Such heavenly might was undeniably brilliant and domineering, but the Demigod seemed to have overlooked one crucial detail—his allies were caught right in the blast radius.

The group at the base of the pillar clearly had no time to flee.

Based on Fu Qian’s estimation, very few of them would be able to withstand the full-powered strike of a Demigod.

Just as a tragedy was about to unfold, a sound like roaring tides echoed from Sybil’s position.

Raising both of her hands, she opened her mouth and let out an eerie, otherworldly roar, causing the people around her to visibly freeze in place.

The next moment, the descending net of electricity crashed into what seemed to be an invisible barrier in midair. Every last spark was blocked, completely prevented from touching the ground.

A breath later, the raging thunderstorm finally vanished without a trace.

”Kelsen, that was incredibly dangerous.”

After weathering the indiscriminate bombardment, Sybil lowered her hands and addressed Kelsen atop the pillar.

”Too light of a probe might not have yielded any results.”

Kelsen’s voice drifted down from above. Even though he had nearly obliterated his own teammates just a moment ago, his tone was entirely devoid of emotion.

What a bizarre conversational atmosphere.

Fu Qian shook his head. The tones the two Demigods were using were vastly different from how they usually spoke.

In fact, it wasn’t just them.

Even after narrowly escaping a catastrophe, the group of Mid Tiers—Montes included—all wore plain, unbothered expressions. None of them showed the lingering relief or terror typical of surviving after a catastrophe.

They were the true embodiment of not batting an eye even if Mount Tai collapses in front of one. It was as if the very concept of fear had been surgically removed from their minds.

Crash!

While he was lost in thought, a rain of rubble descended. The pillar beneath Kelsen’s feet, which was thick enough to require two people to wrap their arms around, disintegrated into fist-sized chunks of stone and poured down in all directions.

But since the falling debris wasn’t a lethal threat, Sybil seemingly had no intention of intervening.

The remaining able-bodied Mid Tiers quickly hoisted Elena and Montes up, scurrying out of the way to avoid the fate of being buried alive.

The fierce wind kicked up once more as Kelsen was gently lowered to the ground.

”It looks like there’s nothing else here besides those insects.”

He gave Sybil a slight nod, summarizing his findings.

”Indeed.”

Sybil agreed with Kelsen’s assessment, a pleasant and agreeable expression on her face.

She showed absolutely no intention of holding him accountable for his earlier stunt.

”I’ll have them gather the insect carcasses and take them back for our specialists to examine.”

”Ah—!”

But just as the two of them were talking, a shrill, high-pitched scream echoed from the distance.