Eldritch Horror Theatre

It just went to show that Excellency Serpent of Destiny had no shortage of methods.

The Witch’s words undoubtedly carried a massive amount of information. At that moment, however, Fu Qian wasn’t surprised—only gratified.

There was a science to disposing of hazardous materials; the target couldn’t just be picked at random.

The reason the burden ultimately fell to Excellency Serpent of Destiny had nothing to do with their past friendship. It was simply because He was so outstanding.

There had been subtle signs earlier that Excellency Serpent of Destiny was in poor condition, leaving Him largely inactive.

But Fu Qian had always held great respect for the concept of ”destiny,” especially after witnessing Excellency Destiny Serpent’s methods firsthand.

If he took the gloves off and went on a killing spree inside The Corridor, and had to pick one character who could survive until the very end, he would still bet on this entity.

So, even though The Prisoners were somewhat intertwined with one another, Fu Qian had ultimately hurled that Destruction Nova at the door with the highest concentration of the Serpent of Destiny.

Of course, from his perspective, even if the Golden Sphere couldn’t be instantly neutralized, he could still have tried to weaken it somewhat.

However, Fu Qian had still chosen to deliver it in its original, unadulterated form.The reason was just as he had mentioned: he had entirely too much confidence in Excellency Destiny Serpent, both in His abilities and His scheming.

Was that entity truly inactive because He was wounded?

Even if that were true, was it really so severe?

...

Don’t forget that his previous mission was theoretically cleaning up a predecessor’s mess, which meant the execution event had passed quite a while ago.

At such a critical moment, if Excellency Destiny Serpent still wanted to conserve His strength, what was it for?

To fight for a chance to escape later?

It sounded reasonable at a glance, but with their scapegoats running away before they could even be caught, that step would never even happen.

Or perhaps He was still crafting a very high-level escape plan?

If the trap succeeded and the Witch was trapped inside the Nightmare Corridor, unable to leave, it would certainly be an excellent opportunity for everyone.

But if the trap failed, and the Witch and the Tyrant ultimately escaped, was it possible He could still profit from it?

For example, by tagging along and leaving with them.

Destiny was secretive and unpredictable. Having witnessed His method of distributing damage last time, who was to say He wouldn’t steal a bit of luck from their side this time?

Even if the situation developed unfavorably, still managing to reap benefits from it—that was the true scheming of a higher entity.

In short, it was precisely because of his confidence in Excellency Destiny Serpent that Fu Qian had ultimately handed the heavy responsibility of neutralizing the madness over to Him without any discount.

And sure enough, He had not disappointed him.

The conclusion provided by the Witch proved that, in the event of failure, that entity truly had prepared a backup plan.

It was just a pity that the Gift of the Tyrant was too heavy; under the ensuing pressure and entanglement, He was exposed anyway.

”You noticed and kicked Him back?”

Recalling the painstaking efforts of Excellency Destiny Serpent, Fu Qian couldn’t help but sigh that heaven envies the talented.

”I actually didn’t expend much effort at all. I just started it, and that bunch did the rest.”

The Witch, however, still refused to claim credit.

...

”Reasonable.”

The scene the Witch described was incredibly vivid, and Fu Qian nodded.

He had just mentioned earlier that a brother’s success was even more painful to watch.

Regardless of whether the Serpent of Destiny’s act of betting on both sides had affected His efforts in their trap...

...falling short by a single basket of earth and watching helplessly as the Two Titans of the Dark Moon came and went as they pleased, losing an opportunity they had waited an unknown number of years for—The Prisoners couldn’t possibly be in a good mood.

To discover at such a time that someone was actually trying to sneak away, it made perfect sense that their unity of will forms a fortress as they dragged Him right back.

Even stripping away emotional factors, it was obvious that if the Serpent of Destiny escaped, He absolutely wouldn’t care about camaraderie enough to come back and save the rest of them.

Furthermore, even with five of them, they still needed to secure a scapegoat just to attempt an escape; if they lost a person now, wouldn’t it be even harder in the future?

Purely from a standpoint of self-interest, they had to drag Him back.

Moreover, given the current special connection between The Prisoners, the process might have been exceptionally effortless for them.

”They were still quite troublesome. Their plan was meticulous, and their little tricks were deeply hidden.”

The Witch didn’t underestimate the difficulty of this trip, still toying with the scroll in her hands.

”If you hadn’t turned a disadvantage into an advantage, something would have likely gone wrong at the final step.”

The gaze she cast his way as she spoke hid absolutely none of her admiration for the Knight.

”I faintly felt something was a bit off, but the situation was urgent and I lacked the time to confirm it. This was clearly the effect they wanted to achieve.

”They didn’t just block our retreat; they imperceptibly laid down a sensory misdirection. It was all for this moment, to make it difficult for me to distinguish the true Anchor Point from the false ones.

”If I had chosen the target I locked onto initially, I’m afraid we wouldn’t just have failed to get out—we would have actively plunged even deeper.”

...

”I simply had quite a bit of confidence in those old friends, as well as their thirst for freedom.”

The Pope had offered the utmost praise, and Fu Qian showed no sign of feeling unworthy of it, smiling as he pointed at his own eyes.

”Since we dared to come, we definitely prepared some ways to escape, and they definitely thought of that too... I just put myself in their shoes and wondered if there was anything they could do.

”Then, seeing as I’m effectively disabled right now and can’t do much anyway, I figured I might as well fully utilize the advantage of being blind.”

That was right—a disadvantage could also be an advantage.

For someone with zero Transcendent Perception, it was undoubtedly a massive handicap in a contest of this level.

However, while he couldn’t perceive anything useful, there was also a disguised benefit: he couldn’t perceive anything wrong, either.

While holding his hand, the Witch could certainly share her perception with him to some extent.

Yet, the moment the signal was sent and the Pope initiated the Descent, he hadn’t reached out to support her like he did last time.

There was a reason for that: a control group.

The Prisoners were definitely opponents worthy of attention, and their experience was vastly richer than his and the Witch’s. It wouldn’t be surprising if they had any bizarre methods up their sleeves.

But on this trip, on one hand, it was an open scheme against an open scheme, fighting speed with speed to make it as hard as possible for them to pull any little tricks.

On the other hand, Fu Qian chose to maintain his pure ”blind” state to provide a point of reference for the Witch’s final judgment.

This was to avoid any hidden misdirection that might still exist under such a high-intensity confrontation.

The facts proved that this caution was worth it. The Prisoners appeared to be steadily losing ground, and their final blockade was forcefully pierced through by the Witch, but in reality, a certain sensory influence had already taken root.

Even though the Witch had expended effort to capture the remaining Anchor Point, she was still affected by this misdirection.

To the point that if she had activated it directly, it would have had the opposite effect.

It was a pity for them that the Pope was so modest and cautious, and trusted him so much.

Even after finding the target, she had still chosen to confirm it with him through a look first.

And he, too, had reached out at the right time, offering a brain unpolluted by knowledge so she could feel it again through his perspective.