Lord of the Mysteries

Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the pitch-black city walls.

Carrying a leather bag on his back and the Axe of Hurricane in hand, Derrick Berg stood outside the doorway to a cave with nearly ten of his teammates.

Lifting his eyes up, he saw that, between the stone cracks of the city wall, the dry and hardened black soil was crusting, but a bunch of tenacious weeds had grown out; they were densely packed and resembled human hair.

At that moment, he hurriedly withdrew his gaze and looked towards the city gate when he heard light footsteps.

As the lightning and darkness alternated, a tall figure slowly walked over, carrying two straight swords which were crossed on his back.

Then, his pale, disheveled hair; his ancient eyes; his twisted, deep; old scars; and his perennially-unchanged brown coat and flaxen-colored shirt entered Derrick and the others’ sight.

The approaching person was the Chief of the six-member council of the City of Silver, Colin Iliad, a powerful Demon Hunter.

After greeting him, Derrick subconsciously looked at the Chief’s waist. There was a leather belt divided into many compartments, each with a different metal bottle inside.

This was a symbol of an experienced and powerful Demon Hunter.

Derrick had previously heard his parents mention that Demon Hunters were good at discovering the weaknesses for different monsters, identifying the uses of various materials, and were able to use their special Cogitation state against the former. With the latter, they could concoct corresponding magical medicine, holy ointments, essential oils, and special imprints. Then, through consumption, smearing, and using these items, they could achieve the effect of restraining the target.

In a sense, experienced, knowledgeable, well-prepared, and sharp Demon Hunters were the nemesis of the vast majority of monsters. The amount and variety of small metal bottles at their waist represented their “experience.”

Of course, this was only a portion of the Demon Hunters’ Beyonder powers. Just by relying on these, they couldn’t be called demigods or Saints.

Collin looked around and confirmed that all the team members were present. He then said in a low voice, “Light up. Let’s go.”

Two team members immediately lit the candles in their lanterns, letting the faint yellow light shine through the extremely thin leather.

During “daytime,” when the frequency of lightning was relatively high, there was no need to use candles in the City of Silver as there was “illumination” every two to three seconds. Furthermore, the monsters in the nearby area had been cleaned out again and again. However, once they left the City of Silver and entered the darkness, they had to maintain sufficient candlelight. Otherwise, once the lightning failed to illuminate the skies, causing a dark environment that exceeded five seconds, there was a high chance for the team to suffer from an assault by certain monsters.

Intense fighting wasn’t the most frightening development. What Derrick remembered so vividly was a story his parents had told him.

Once, while they were exploring the depths of the darkness, because of a previous battle with a horde of rotting corpses, the candles couldn’t be replaced in time. This led them to endure being engulfed in darkness for as long as eight seconds. When the lightning flashed again and the candlelight appeared, they were stunned to see that only five of their original eight teammates remained. The other three had vanished in silence, never to be seen again.

Taking a deep breath, Derrick gripped the Axe of Hurricane tightly and walked in the middle of the team, following the Chief in a predetermined direction.

A bolt of lightning flashed, causing the plains covered in tall black grass to appear like an eerie oil painting.

The exploratory team of 10 Beyonders walked along the path filled with craggy gravel, venturing deep into the black grass.

The lightning subsided, and the dense darkness instantly swept over them, almost completely engulfing them.

The yellow candlelight pierced through the leather and, weakly, swayed to and fro, guarding the surrounding area.

…

Borough, in a greasy

appointment, Klein found Old Kohler, who was applying butter to his

crumpled cigarette on

“Newly bought?”

the past. I haven’t smoked since, but I would always carry it with me, occasionally taking it out to sniff at it. Heh heh, this will remind me of that vagrant life of mine. Back then, I really felt like I could die at any moment.” Old

he had changed earlier, and pushed it

satisfied with the information

reply, he turned his head and looked towards

two slices of toast, a block of butter, a serving of beef stew with potatoes,

Old Kohler was stunned for a moment as he held

his

very busy later and might not have time

was active and serious; after all, he had received a hundred pounds

questions. He looked around cautiously while stuffing the notes

few gang leaders and some intelligence dealers. Well, I don’t know who entrusted the

MI9… Klein nodded.

enough. There’s no need to delve deeper.

hotel on Golden Cloak Street saw someone

“…”

palpitated as he smiled instead of showing

that the moment I prepared to try for

that clue, quite a number of bounty hunters rushed over, but they didn’t find anything. Well, they said that there were traces of a fight in the room.” Old Kohler tried his best to recall

wonder what the outcome was… Klein took a glance at the boss who was coming over with a plate. He pretended to mutter to himself and said to Old Kohler, “Take me to

Borough, and there

Kohler agreed

The boss placed Klein’s breakfast on the table. There wasn’t much beef with the potatoes, but the stew was very overcooked. It was obvious that it had been prepared beforehand. The thick aroma tantalized Old Kohler’s taste

fork and spoon and

for the believers of The Fool anymore, except for a few stubborn bounty hunters… Many unemployed textile women, including some male workers, left East Borough…” Old Kohler

swallowed the beef and

must’ve found some other job. As for where they went,

aren’t aware?”

while others had come alone from outside the city to search

and continued to eat while he listened to Old Kohler talk about matters that had happened in

put down the cutlery, wiped his mouth, picked up

…

budget hotel on Golden

and Old Kohler to the room which was suspected

made me earn quite a bit, so I have maintained its original state.” The hotel owner opened the door with