A group of four.
The ground beneath their feet was hard, pitted, and uneven rock, while the air was cold and oppressive.
It had to be said that having lived in such a world since birth, they were certainly used to it, yet they still yearned for the world described by their elders.
Theodore walked at the front.
Her thick leather vest was stained with some of the black slime that had just come from Da Mao.
In the leather tool pouch at her waist, the half bottle of goat milk she cherished swayed gently with her steps.
“Tsk, Theodore, you were too rough on him.”
Barak shouldered his war hammer and looked at Theodore’s back, unable to stop himself from grumbling.
Although he didn’t like that brown-maned lion who was always trying to gnaw on his boots, seeing it still limp and unrecovered made him feel a bit sentimental.
A semi-Strange brown-maned lion like that usually had incredibly strong vitality and recovery speed, yet every time, Theodore thrashed it so hard it couldn’t regain its form for half a day.
“Still, are you sure you can take it across? Even if it’s just your hallucination…”
One had to remember that Da Mao was a semi-Strange who had reached the Deep Sea Layer; even Barak found the creature troublesome to deal with.
“Da Mao won’t mind, and I was just playing with him!”
Theodore didn’t look back.
Her voice was muffled and carried a hint of annoyance, but it was mostly filled with resentment over Barak’s lack of trust.
“And I’ve told you how many times? It’s not a hallucination! You’ll know once you see it! That place is truly warm and very bright!”
She couldn’t help but touch the bottle of goat milk at her waist again, reflexively thinking of Grandpa Lutherch.
She was now impatient to find Luther.
This half bottle of goat milk—she wanted to drink it but couldn’t bring herself to—was truly making Theodore feel miserable.
“Warm and bright? Ha, Theodore, I really think you ate some hallucinogenic mushrooms and went stupid.”
Hearing Theodore’s words, Barak couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he balanced the steel hammer in his hand.
“I bet that what we see later will definitely be a ruin occupied by the Strange. The Great Artisan God… maybe he just spoils you too much.”
“Marcus!”
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Fagreim’s low voice rang out with a warning.
As the most experienced person among the four and a Deep Sea Layer powerhouse second only to Theodore, he remained highly vigilant at all times.
His calloused hands tightly gripped his giant hammer and greatshield.
“Stop arguing! Something could rush out of the Black Mist at any moment.”
The fact that it was Da Mao who had appeared earlier did not make Fagreim relax his guard.
No one knew what would charge out of the Black Mist next.
The torch in Marcus’s hand was completely unable to dispel the surrounding Black Mist.
Fagreim’s gaze remained fixed on the rolling Black Mist around them, ready to strike at any second.
He didn’t quite believe the scene Theodore described either, but this was a mission, after all.
With the orders of the Great Artisan God, he couldn’t allow a dispute to cause problems.
Theodore huffed and stopped arguing, simply burying her head and hurrying along.
Once they reached the place, all doubts would vanish anyway.
The group continued forward in silence and vigilance.
Without the bickering between Theodore and Barak, the atmosphere on the road instantly became much more somber.
They bypassed several collapsed pits that emitted an ominous aura and cleared out many Strange that had not yet formed cores.
However, Fagreim’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter, his face reflecting a sense of confusion.
He felt as though the wandering Strange in the vicinity were getting weaker, which clearly did not match their current strength level.
Similarly, the abilities of the Strange had become extremely monotonous.
Furthermore, the further they walked in the direction Theodore pointed, the more he felt an indescribable sense of “thinness” in the environment.
It wasn’t that the concentration of the Black Mist was decreasing, but rather that the ubiquitous, suffocating oppression and decayed malice seemed… to have weakened by a tiny fraction.
Fagreim’s years of experience made him instinctively raise his guard.
Generally speaking, the more abnormal a place was, the more dangerous it became.
“Watch out. Up ahead… something isn’t right.”
Fagreim suddenly stopped and raised a fist to signal.
His voice carried an unprecedented gravity, along with a trace of bewilderment.
Marcus and Barak didn’t doubt him for a second.
They immediately increased their alertness, gripping their weapons and pointing their hammerheads toward the churning Black Mist ahead.
Although Theodore also gripped her massive stone hammer, her heart rate accelerated for some reason—not out of fear, but… excitement.
The brown-maned lion let out a fearful whimper at that moment, unwilling to take another step forward.
“Da Mao, you stay here.”
Seeing how afraid it was, Theodore spoke softly.
Right then, the Black Mist that was normally too thick to part seemed to be torn open with a tiny slit by an invisible giant hand.
That was—light!
The moment he saw that light, Marcus’s hand began to tremble uncontrollably, causing the torch in his hand to shake as well.
It wasn’t a weak, dim yellow or reddish firelight, nor was it the dark red of underground lava, and it certainly wasn’t the glow of crystals.
It was a kind of light they had never seen before—so pure that simply being near it made one feel as if their soul were being washed clean.
“That… what kind of light is that?”
Barak’s voice trembled with disbelief.
He subconsciously rubbed his eyes, suspecting he was hallucinating from some Corruption.
However, no matter how much he rubbed his eyes, the light only grew brighter as they moved closer.
Fagreim’s breathing suddenly became rapid.
He stared fixedly at the light piercing through the Black Mist, his heart shaking violently.
He could clearly perceive that around that light, the malice of the Black Mist was melting and receding as rapidly as ice and snow meeting a blazing sun!
This couldn’t be an illusion!
No illusion could simulate this pure power that directly dispelled the original malice of the Black Mist!
“The Light Church…”
Fagreim’s voice was hoarse and full of shock.
He truly hadn’t expected that what Theodore said was actually true!
The Light Church, which had been on the verge of extinction, had actually broken through the dead end and brought light back to this world!
He finally understood why the Great Artisan God was so concerned about this matter.
He looked at the pack behind Marcus—those were all the supplies they had brought on this trip, the very foundation of their trade with the Church.
“Do you believe me now? Do you believe me now! I told you I wasn’t having hallucinations!”
Looking at the shocked expressions of the others, a surge of uncontrollable pride instantly welled up in Theodore’s heart.
She tried hard to maintain a serious expression, but the slight upward curve of her lips simply couldn’t be suppressed no matter what.