lord of the mysteries Chapter 399 - The Corrupted

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

In the Berg household in the City of Silver.

Looking at the bloodstained scalp, Derrick suddenly recalled what it previously looked like. It was a beautiful and alluring mushroom, one that he almost couldnt control himself from swallowing.

The Doom fruits, that Darc had shared with him and produced crisp, crunchy sounds when they were bitten into, were actually bloody pieces of human fingers with slightly pale skin!

At that moment, Derrick had a violent spasm in his stomach before a gush of acid surged to his throat.

Resisting the urge to vomit, he quickly croaked a line of lyrics, God, please have your kingdom descend upon this land. Your enemies will disperse, and your followers will relish in joy!

There was a touch of warmth and holiness in the song, and Derrick felt all the discomfort in his body weaken. His spirituality also became full and lively.

His courage, his strength, and his agility were all greatly enhanced by this song.

That was the Beyonder powers of a Sequence 9 Bard.

Darc stared at his former classmate and teammate singing with an increasingly dark expression. The way he spoke became more and more inhuman.

What is that thing on your body...

What is that thing on your body?

What is that thing on your body!

All of a sudden, Darcs clothes were stretched out in bugling strips, as though a nest of slithering venomous snakes was underneath them.

Whoosh! Bloody strips of flesh pierced through the black skintight clothing, and its surface had rough skin covered with hair.

Strands of meat began to flail outwards, causing Darc to look like a bloody, furry hedgehog!

With a swoosh, the meat strands surged towards Derrick, who was still standing at his original location.

Derrick was a patrol squad member who had seen quite a number of monsters, so he wasnt too flustered by this situation.

He twisted his waist, raised his arm, and swung the Axe of Hurricane that he was already holding in his hand.

Oof!

The Axe of Hurricane hacked down at a few bloody strands of flesh, directly splitting them in half and causing them to fall to the ground.

However, because it was nighttime in the City of Silver, this strike didnt bring about any lightning. Even more bloody strips of flesh began to surge forward, wrapping themselves around the Axe of Hurricane over and over again as they relentlessly clung to it.

Seeing that his weapon couldnt be pulled back, a pure light suddenly lit up in Derricks eyes. It was as if two small suns had descended into the room, and his other hand was holding something close to his mouth and nose as if he was praying.

Without a sound, a fiery pillar of pure light descended from the sky, striking the bloody flesh that was wound up into a ball.

Darc let out an uncontrollable scream, and many bloody strips of flesh fell to the ground, charred black.

They squirmed, struggling as if they were alive.

The spirituality contained within these bloody strips of meat was no longer under the control of its original owner, and gradually, they merged with the natural power derived from the sacrificial rituals incantation, forming an increasingly bright pink wave.

This wave surged into the dim yellow candle flame, causing the light to suddenly burgeon, forming an illusory and mysterious door.

Derrick had long drawn The Fools secret symbol on the candle!

This was all prepared in advance.

All of this constituted a simple but complete sacrifice ceremony!

Kacha!

As the seat shattered, Darc lunged at Derrick while flailing the bloody strips of meat. There was no fear or tension in his eyes, only the purest, most fervent desire.

At this moment, Klein, who was above the fog, responded.

With a creaking sound, the illusory door that had many strange patterns on it opened a tiny crack.

Behind the crack was a deep darkness in which countless transparent and indescribable shadows resided.

High above these shadows were seven pure lights of different colors that contained endless knowledge.

Above the brilliance was an endless grayish-white fog, and above it was an ancient palace that overlooked the gray fog.

Suddenly, a shadow leaped out from a dark corner, covering Darc who was closest to him.

Darcs flailing strips of bloody meat were all wrapped up by pitch-black, viscous liquid as he seemed to turn into a cat who had entered an opaque bag.

The shadow didnt stop, and it quickly extended across the ground, rushing towards Derrick, who had already dodged to another location, and shouted sternly, Stop! What are you trying to do!

As an observer, his original plan was to watch from the sidelines and record the corresponding anomalies. He would only take action to stop the two strange parties when the situation became unmanageable.

But when he saw the illusory door covered with strange symbols open up with a crack, he felt intimidated by the deep, mysterious, distant, and majestic scene inside. He instinctively believed that this was related to a terrifying evil god, so he could only take hasty actions, giving orders in an attempt to forcefully interrupt Derricks attempts at performing a sacrifice to that being.

However, Derrick had already chosen his location to be as far from the shadow as possible; therefore, to stop the boy who was possessed by the mysterious Amon, the shadow observer had to bypass or take down Derrick Regence first.

However, his choice was the latter. Because of the obvious abnormality with Darc. Leaving his back to this being was an absolutely stupid move.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Derrick took out the iron box from his concealed pocket and threw it towards the illusory door conjured by the candle flame, towards the crack that presented a magical scene.

As the iron box disappeared, the door, that was covered in strange symbols and characteristics, closed with a clang, before quickly vanishing.

At this moment, Derrick remembered Mr. Hanged Mans words, and he deliberately warped his facial muscles and savagely moved towards the shadow.

Before the shadow blanketed him, he suddenly coughed violently and covered his mouth with his hand before falling to the ground.

The pitch-black shadow emanated and completely covered him.

The room returned to silence, but there were now two huge black chrysalises on the ground.

After a while, the pitch-black, viscous liquid withdrew and reformed into a shadow.

With the chrysalis, the silhouettes of Derrick and Darc appeared once more.

The former lay there unconscious, but a tiny, strange worm with twelve transparent rings dropped from his hand. The latter had already turned into a lump of flesh, squirming and roaring as it prepared to attack.

Faced with this situation, the observer had no choice but to spare some of his strength and once again wrapped him up, using his shadow-like black liquid to envelop Darc Regence, who had transformed into a monster.

Glancing at the scattered pale fingers and the bloody scalp with short black hair, the observer couldnt help but take a deep breath. Using his Beyonder powers to control the shadows outside, he created tidal waves to inform the Chief inside the spire.

Only after doing this did he carefully examine Derricks situation and saw the strange, translucent worm.

This... the avatar that Amon hid in Derricks body is dead? the observer muttered in surprise.

As he recalled Darcs strangeness, the terrifying mutation, and the mushroom and Doom fruits, he began to have a rough idea of what had happened.

Perhaps Amon was archenemies with the mastermind behind Darcs corruption. In order to foil the other partys ploy, Amon was willing to sacrifice his avatar. Derricks visit to the training field to observe the exploratory team and his report of them to the Chief were both Amons attempts to rid his enemy without exposing himself.

The mastermind behind Darcs corruption had noticed Derricks strangeness, so he sent Darc to take control of him. The bloody scalp and fingers were props to achieve his goal.

As he thought of this, the monitor suddenly agreed with the Chiefs concernthe apocalypse or an even greater disaster was about to befall the City of Silver. That was why the City of Silver would repeatedly encounter so many strange events and mysterious existences that lurked deep in the darkness.

Inside the Chiefs room at the spire.

The shadow recounted everything that had happened.

The grizzled, facially-scarred Colin Iliad nodded gently after hearing the recount.

Derrick or should I say, Amon, had really prepared ahead of time.

The candle with the symbol engraved on it, the evil object that can expose Darcs problem, and Derricks excuse of pouring water to whisper a prayer, as well as finally sending away the item in a sacrificial ritualall of this indicates that the entire situation developed according to his plan.

Two questions. One, who does the hidden symbol on the candle refer to? Amon himself or the god behind him? Two, why is Amon willing to expose the exploratory teams abnormality at the cost of his avatar? Is it because hes archenemies with the mastermind? Then, why did he stay in the City of Silver for forty-two years?

Could it be that he foretold this matter ahead of time, which is why he specifically met with the exploratory team from forty-two years ago and planted his avatar in them so as to foil the plans of that mastermind? He waited forty-two years for that single moment?

Upon hearing the Chiefs questions, the shadow observer suddenly said in enlightenment, Maybe thats how it is!

Your Excellency, think about it. Why would Amon patiently wait for forty-two years before making Uddel lose control when Derrick was imprisoned beside him? Its because the foretold time was approaching, and he was in desperate need to switch to a free person that he can latch onto so as to foil the plans of that mastermind!

Indeed... We were only thinking about what was different with Derrick, and we didnt pay attention to the timing, the City of Silvers Chief Colin answered in thought.

The shadow observer immediately said, Your Excellency, please immediately lock down all members of the exploratory team. Theyre definitely problematic! Also... Elder Lovia, she has a nontrivial possibility of also being corrupted!

Colin frowned and said, Before you reported this matter to me, and even before Darc went out, Lovia came to me and told me that she suspects that the members of the exploratory team had been contaminated by something. She recommended that we secretly monitor them and if necessary, have them guard Elder Hawicks inverted mausoleum.

Hawick was the former Chief of the City of Silver, and he had built himself a mausoleum. After that, he lived in that mausoleum, and his appearances began to slowly decrease. Finally, the doors were closed, impossible to open again.

Elder Lovia had long mentioned of an abnormality? the shadow observer asked in surprise.

After receiving a positive answer, he muttered to himself, half-doubtful and half-relaxed, Its good that Elder Lovia doesnt have any problems...

... Ive already sent people to lock down the members of the exploratory team, but we cant ignore any other possibilities. Chief Colin let out a sigh. Let Aiflor come to me. Ill interrogate Derrick Berg together with her.