Lord of the Mysteries

After setting up the candles, Colin Iliad found a piece of pure silver and picked up a carving knife beside it. With steady strokes, he carved out a palm-sized charm vessel.

Then, he followed Derrick Berg’s description, drawing the secret symbol of The Fool on both sides of the silver piece.

The entire process was completed quickly. If an observer was watching, they wouldn’t have been able to discern his actions. Yet, the final product didn’t show any flaws. It looked like a piece of art that had been slowly carved out.

Right on the heels of that, Colin Iliad found another bottle of mercury. Directly using his powerful spirituality, he guided the liquid inside to trickle into the charm and fill all the patterns. He prevented the mercury on the side facing down from dripping due to gravity.

Repeating the process, he made a second charm. Colin Iliad placed them in front of the candles and placed a translucent ringed worm on each of them.

Compared to him standing up silently, the present Colin’s every move was stable, calm, and firm. He didn’t show any signs of hesitation, just like how he faced powerful monsters that came out of the darkness.

After finishing the ritual, he took two steps back and removed the crossed swords that were hanging from the wall. He stabbed them into the crevices of the floor tiles at the door.

He then closed his eyes and muttered. Pure and thick beams of light emerged out of the void as they enveloped the two swords with a holy and glorious feeling.

The light beams increased in quantity, slowly transforming into liquid water that flowed across the cracks in the floor tiles and the walls, forming a “cage” that isolated him from the outside.

As a senior Demon Hunter, Colin Iliad didn’t wish to take such precautionary measures when holding a ritual. This was because there was a tiny chance of angering the target, bringing about dangerous developments. However, he had no choice but to do so because he needed to be certain that even if the ritual failed, even if The Fool was an existence filled with malice, and even if he were to die at the altar, he would not bring too much harm to the City of Silver.

In regards to the defensive power of the “cage,” Colin was rather confident because this directly stemmed from a god-like Sealed Artifact—a crown which the Giant King Aurmir wore: “Proof of Glory!”

This was one of the main reasons why the City of Silver could survive wave after wave of monster assaults in the Dark Ages.

With all his preparations completed, solely using his spirituality, Colin Iliad used his desk as an altar and created a sacred and clean environment that no one could disturb. He then lit the three candles.

The pale yellow light flickered as they reflected in his eyes. He bowed his head and scattered the plant powder, monster hide, and fur into the candle flame or lit them and threw them into a cauldron so as to please the secret existence he was about to pray to.

Such acts weren’t rare in the City of Silver. Known to all, there were rituals held that targeted the Creator, but from time to time, certain residents would be enticed by unknown existences during their patrols or exploration, tempted to hold all kinds of rituals.

Most of the latter was a passive act, but there were a few that were done proactively. On the one hand, the cumulative despair of not receiving any response from the Creator had made them eager to grab onto any other existence to rely on, and on the other hand, many generations of the six-member council had come to a common consensus that the Creator who had abandoned the land might very well not return again. Seeking out other alternatives was something that had to be expedited, but unfortunately, such attempts only led to nothing or death, nothing else.

how many times they discovered cities that were destroyed because of “evil gods,”

sense of surprise and hope. The encounters when they explored Afternoon Town and the prophecies of the

of the apocalypse, as Chief of the six-member council, senior demigod and powerful Demon Hunter, Colin Iliad had no choice but to attempt to dance on the edge of a knife. He had

exhaling, Colin took a step back and chanted with a weather-worn tone,

above the gray

of Yellow and Black who wields

you, praying for the strength that stems from mystery, and praying for the bestowment that stems

as Colin spoke with a cadence of mystery, he saw the altar in front of him immediately turn dark. It was as though an

candle’s flame instantly burgeoned, but it failed to light the surroundings. Instead, it made everything

lustrous brilliances of different

above these seven lustrous brilliances, there was an endless grayish-white fog, and sitting above was an ancient

something that only existed in books

likely the

abandoned this land, it was easy to observe and enter the

spirit world now only existed in the City of Silver’s textbooks and various records, but no

that overlooked the gray fog and spirit

the heels of that, Colin saw the unformed charms in front of the candle produce a grayish luster. Their patterns were then “lit

dark world above the entire altar also

to normal as two strange black crystalline charms appeared on the altar.

taken aback as he retracted his gaze and bowed his head. With a deep voice, he said, “Thank you for

“Praise you.”

immediately ended the ritual and removed

returned to the desk and picked up the two charms made from

still fixated on

believed to be close to that of deities, but none of the

was staid, mysterious, and

had a close parallel in the records of

Demon Hunter Colin suddenly closed his

youngest son, daughter, and oldest grandson whose

old Chief remained silent for a