Lord of the Mysteries (Web Novel)

They’re gone?

There’s only darkness?

Faced with such a sudden change, Derrick’s first reaction wasn’t horror; instead, he clasped his hands together and pressed it to his mouth.

Pure light was emitted out of his body as he dispersed the surrounding darkness, illuminating every corner of the underground chamber.

In Derrick’s living environment, darkness was the most terrifying existence. Once they left the City of Silver, they had to constantly maintain the existence of light. Even a brief loss of light couldn’t last for more than five seconds.

When Derrick first joined the exploration teams and lacked experience, he had nearly killed himself because of such a mistake. Thankfully, the Chief was standing nearby.

As the light slowly and continuously radiated from him, Derrick raised his tightly-gripped Axe of Hurricane and carefully observed his surroundings.

He discovered that apart from Haim and Joshua—teammates who had entered the underground chamber with him—vanishing, the stone slabs and tufts of black hair on the walls had turned blood-red at some point in time. They were moist as though they had just been sprayed on.

This calmed down Derrick, who was well-versed with exploration materials, to realize a possibility. The problem didn’t stem from Haim or Joshua, but himself!

All I did was approach the altar and silently read three names… Typically speaking, even angels will require someone to read or write down an accurate honorific name in its complete form before they can receive “prayers.” And it’s supposedly limited by range… I wonder if the Kings of Angels require the same conditions…

Uh, one of those three names was the key to activating the hidden powers in the altar. I triggered the problem by using Jotun which can stir the powers of nature? No, that’s not right. It needs to be said out loud. Even if these are the true names of the Kings of Angels, I’ve never faced such problems in the past… Derrick anxiously turned his body while feeling perplexed. He returned to the altar and came to the stone table.

He was surprised to see that the words and symbols on the stone table were a lot more complete and clearer than before. It was as though the host of the ritual had just drawn it.

The words were written in three languages. They were in Jotun, Dragonese, and a language that Derrick couldn’t recognize. However, he suspected that it was the ancient Hermes previously mentioned by Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man. This was because he had a basic understanding of some words from the conversations during the Tarot Gathering. They were rather similar to the words used on the stone table.

The content expressed by Jotun and Dragonese were identical. They repeated the three names and their corresponding titles.

Angel of Fate, Ouroboros;

Red Angel, Medici;

Dark Angel, Sasrir.

Following these names and titles was an entity Derrick was very familiar with.

Rose Redemption!

Sasrir really is a King of Angels, one known as Dark Angel. “He,” Angel of Fate, and Red Angel are the founders of Rose Redemption? I wonder if Mr. Fool knows anything about “Him”… “He” definitely knows a lot… The words in ancient Hermes should likely be the same content… In Afternoon Town, which had already converted to the faith of the Lord that created everything, there were residents who were secretly worshiping the three Kings of Angels beside the Lord… Upon having this thought, Derrick suddenly felt a chill run down his back. He felt as though he was close to the reason why the Creator had abandoned this land.

When he looked up again, he saw that the walls remained red, but Haim and Joshua were still nowhere to be seen.

Silently repeating them didn’t do a thing. Perhaps they don’t produce any effects on their own… Derrick drew a breath as he raised his Axe of Hurricane. He carefully walked towards the entrance of the underground chamber, hoping to find the problem at its roots, so as to determine what led to his present situation.

One step, two steps, three steps. Like a gigantic candle, he returned to the hall upstairs.

There were rich shadows here, making it gloomy and eerily silent. The rotting chairs and the remnants of stone tables remained sitting there in silence, no different from before.

Failing to find Joshua and Haim, Derrick could only walk towards the window while he felt high-strung. He wanted to see if he could encounter other members of the exploration team.

Thud… Thud… Amidst light footstep sounds, he approached a huge hole that should’ve been a window sill. He leaned forward and looked outside.

Countless dark buildings spread out, either tall or short, as they extended outwards like steps.

The lightning in the air happened at a very low frequency as many windows had candlelight emitting out of them. The dim yellow flames danced but weren’t extinguished.

This… Derrick couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva. He felt as though all the residents were still living in peace just before Afternoon Town encountered its cataclysm.

…

Haim, who was carrying an animal hide lantern, didn’t need to bend his back to enter the underground chamber. He jokingly said to Joshua, “This house must belong to a human, but their family definitely has giant’s bloodline in them. They’re probably my height. Tsk, the last time we went to that ruined city, we had to bow our heads when using the main doors!”

Having a giant’s bloodline didn’t necessarily mean that they had giant blood flowing in them. Instead, it referred to a physical characteristic that was inherited by descendants thanks to the consumption of the pathway’s potion. Being tall was one of its manifestations.

Joshua looked up at Haim and scoffed.

“That was you. I didn’t need to.”

“But you won’t take long before you can advance. When the time comes, you won’t be shorter than me,” Haim said with a smile before glancing at Derrick via the corner of his eye. It was to prevent any accidents from happening when Derrick approached the altar.

Joshua thought before saying, “Actually, I’m very curious. Chief is a Sequence 4 Demon Hunter. He should be like an ordinary giant with a height of three to four meters. Why does he look very ordinary, with him being only half a head taller than me?”

Haim subconsciously surveyed the area and said, “Rumor has it that the Chief has a giant form.”

“A giant form? Will his clothes tear when he becomes a giant?” Joshua asked with a laugh.

“Unless his clothes and pants are mystical items.” Haim and Joshua exchanged a knowing smile.

They were just about to turn their heads to share the joke with Derrick when they realized that the youth was gone!

Derrick, who should’ve been standing before the altar, had vanished!

Haim’s and Joshua’s expression instantly turned heavy. One of them raised his huge broadsword, while the other raised his red-gloved left hand.

They carefully approached the altar and did a careful inspection, but they failed to identify anything suspicious.

Joshua was just about to attempt to identify the words on the stone table when Haim patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t look at it. I just recalled that Derrick was looking at those words before he vanished.

“Let’s bring the Chief here.”

“Okay.” Joshua nodded.

They didn’t leave in a fluster. They surveyed the surroundings before one of them rubbed his index finger with his middle finger to light the remaining candle on the altar.

This was to protect Derrick so as to prevent him from falling into true darkness!

In the past, the exploration teams of the City of Silver had similar encounters in the ruined cities. A teammate might appear to have suddenly vanished, but they had actually been concealed by some kind of power. He stood in his original location, but with his teammates eager to seek help, they would leave the area with their lanterns. Hence, the poor bastard would be devoured by the true darkness, never to be found again. If it wasn’t for another teammate finding themselves in another similar situation and having been rescued on the spot, the others wouldn’t have known the actual reason for the previous person’s death.

With the candle lit, the dim yellow light spread outwards. Haim and Joshua immediately left and arrived at the alley where they released a spirituality signal that everyone carried.

They didn’t wait too long for Colin Iliad who had jumped off from the roof of another building before landing firmly.

“What happened?” the Demon Hunter asked in a deep voice.

The silver sword in his hand was already covered with a layer of light gray oil.

Haim immediately recounted what had happened. Finally, he said, “We didn’t discover the reason for Derrick’s disappearance.”

Derrick… Colin nodded in thought, walked past them, and headed straight into the corresponding building.

…

Despite the candles alight outside and the warm yellow color, Derrick felt as though he had fallen into a frozen abyss. A chill at the bottom of his heart kept spreading.

He clenched the Axe of Hurricane with his right hand and retracted his gaze from the town. He turned to return to the underground chamber and stood in front of the altar again.

He had already determined that he was the one with the problem!

However, he didn’t have the urge to explore the strange Afternoon Town. He didn’t even dare open the door.

Derrick wasn’t nervous, nor did he show any obvious signs of flusterness. This was because he didn’t believe that he had encountered something severe.

As long as it’s not an immediate threat, it’s nothing severe… Derrick took a silent breath, bowed his head, and reverently whispered, “The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era.

“The mysterious ruler above the gray fog.

“The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck…”

Klein, who had been admiring the scenery of the battlefield of the gods, had no choice but to enter the bathroom, set up the disruptive items, and take four steps counterclockwise to head above the gray fog.

He sat at the high-back chair at the end of the long bronze table. He stretched out his right hand and emanated his spirituality, touching the crimson star which represented Little Sun.

Suddenly, the prayers turned abnormally clear as the corresponding scene appeared before Klein’s eyes.

He first saw the still-hazy Little Sun, before discovering that the environment around him was abnormal!

Swirling around The Sun was an unspeakable darkness, and in the darkness there were eyes of different shapes silently watching him.

The eyes were densely packed and hidden in the darkness. They were like unwelcomed observers which Little Sun hadn’t noticed at all.

Afternoon Town is that dangerous? Klein was very aware of what dear Sun was up to lately.

He thought for a moment and instinctively believed that the darkness was extremely strange and surreal. Therefore, he abandoned the option of using the Sea God Scepter to respond to Little Sun. Instead, he switched to pulling him up above the gray fog.

Klein extended his spirituality, but he felt as though the crimson star seemed to be in a quagmire, making it rather difficult for him to pull him over.

Which King of Angels has he crossed this time? With a thought, Klein made the mysterious space and the gray fog beneath him produce ripples.

After advancing to Sequence 5, he could stir some of the powers above the gray fog, without the use of the Black Emperor card and the corresponding rituals!

Silently, Klein easily completed transporting Derrick as his figure appeared on the high-back chair belonging to him.

Meanwhile, Klein saw the strange darkness swirling around Little Sun’s body shatter.

…

The Demon Hunter entered the underground chamber in high alert, followed closely by Haim and Joshua.

They saw that in front of the dim yellow candlelight, Derrick Berg’s figure was quickly outlined like a picture.