Chapter 1278: Chapter 1278
“The last gathering? Of course, I remember. You said you’d found a Mysterious Realm with a stable entrance and invited everyone to explore it with you. I suggested you sell the information to the Church instead of taking the risk yourself... You didn’t sell it, did you? You actually went exploring and failed?”
Jenkins asked in astonishment, surprised by Silver Flute Miss’s audacity.
“If I had truly failed, how would you be seeing me here now? I entered that Mysterious Realm alone, but I never expected that I wasn’t the only one who had discovered that entrance. A total of six people entered the realm, and it turned out to be one of those rare types with more than one way to leave.”
Jenkins had never encountered such a situation.
“I was the first to emerge from the Mysterious Realm. After I returned to Nolan, the entrance vanished. I thought that would be the end of it, so I went home to rest. A few hours later, I was plunged into this world and encountered that monster in the hallway.”
Jenkins had already told her that the monster was dead.
“After that first time, I managed to escape using certain methods. It was then I realized that even though I had made it through the Mysterious Realm, my five companions must have stirred up some serious trouble, allowing the strangeness from within to bleed into the material world. Yes, I know what this place is. It’s a scene from that realm. The host of the Mysterious Realm called it—the Doomsday Illusion.”
She delivered the long explanation in a single breath and had to pause to recover. Jenkins took the opportunity to interject.
“Wait, you said you left once? Then how could you...”
She spoke with sincere gratitude, but Jenkins felt no joy. While learning about this so-called “Doomsday Illusion” from Silver Flute Miss was certainly useful, her claim that there was no normal way out left him deeply unsettled.
Not long ago, he had entered and left this very illusion, and he had done so simply by walking. He hadn’t felt any difficulty at all. He considered telling Silver Flute Miss this, but she was still speaking.
“From my experience in the Mysterious Realm, I’ve more or less figured out the truth of this decaying city. This place is a conglomeration of countless doomsday memories, a garbage heap piled high with fragments of the past. The yellow moon outside the window, the toxins saturating the air, those foul creatures that turn to ash upon death, and the ever-present whispers and murmurs... they are all memories of past apocalypses. This decay has now truly descended upon Nolan, it just hasn’t completely overlapped with the real world yet.”
“But I don’t know how to leave from here. I’m sorry,” she finished.
“Then how did you leave the Mysterious Realm?”
Jenkins believed this would be an important clue.
“The Mysterious Realm I experienced was vast enough to cover Nolan’s main urban district, the largest one I’ve ever been in. But the rule was quite simple—kill any monster like the one outside the hallway, take its token, and deliver it to the one who announced the rules. That would open a door for you.”
“Even though it was a combat-type realm, it wasn’t that difficult. I despise places like that, so I just killed the nearest creature and left. I imagine my companions must have investigated this decaying Nolan more deeply, and that’s what led to all of this,” she speculated.
So, what Jenkins had now figured out was that this “Doomsday Illusion” version of Nolan was the product of power leaking from a Mysterious Realm and superimposing itself onto the material world. It existed parallel to the real Nolan but was slowly consuming it. The fact that he had simply walked into it by chance was significant proof.
According to Silver Flute Miss, the city under the yellow moon was fraught with danger, but one could still move around with enough caution. The true death trap would be when the yellow moon fell, and the city was plunged into eternal darkness.
“But that’s extremely rare and requires specific conditions to be met, so you don’t need to worry, Mr. Candle. It’s just that the second time I was dragged in, I happened to encounter the yellow moon’s fall. Oh, I don’t even want to recall what I went through then, but that’s why I’d rather be petrified than continue exploring.”
Silver Flute Miss didn’t know the necessary conditions for the moon to fall; no such bizarre phenomenon had occurred in the original Mysterious Realm.
Jenkins understood her terror and hoped to find a way back. But first, he used his lodestone projection to try returning to Ruen, and to his relief, it was successful. It also seemed that placing a phantom in Ruen and then pulling his real body back to it would work without issue.
He was only testing the process, not fully activating his “Real Illusion” ability, to prevent a situation where he left this world and couldn’t return.
“Yes, I felt a bit dizzy just now. It’s my ability acting up,” Jenkins casually explained the momentary lack of control over his physical body during the projection, then glanced out the window again.
“Since neither of us has any clues right now, why don’t you take me to see that rule announcer from the Mysterious Realm? It might still be in its original location. We could find something if we take a look.”
The location where Silver Flute Miss and the other five had entered the Mysterious Realm was Nolan’s central clock tower. The rule announcer had been at the very top.
Under the current circumstances, where they couldn’t travel through the air, getting there from St. George Avenue on the west side of the city would be no easy feat.
In fact, the moment they stepped out of Silver Flute Miss’s home and onto the ruined streets, Jenkins noticed a problem.
“Is that an empty lot next to your house?” he asked, pointing to the spot where his own home should have been. Now, it was a flat patch of grass where several black, human-faced sunflowers swayed in a fetid breeze. They were whispering, but it was difficult to make out what they were saying.
“I noticed that as well. This isn’t the only building that’s vanished. In the Mysterious Realm, I saw that the Sage’s Church in the city center was gone. The first time I fell in here, I noticed the Temple of the Ocean in the dock district was missing.”
Silver Flute Miss explained patiently, her eyes nervously scanning the black, humanoid monsters roaming the street. This time, they resembled tall nuns, wielding heavy staves capped with metal on both ends.
“So, what was originally next door to you?”
Even though he knew it was a sensitive question, after all they had discussed, not asking would have been more suspicious. Jenkins seriously suspected that his house was absent because she, a pseudo-god, lived there, causing the building to be protected like a church and thus unable to appear in the illusion.
“The person living next door to me is Jenkins Williams. I assume you’ve heard of him, the famous young author. But I don’t think his house’s disappearance has anything to do with him personally, but rather with the house’s original owner. Did you know? I heard a rumor that Fifth Queen’s Avenue was cordoned off late last year because my neighbor’s house was actually where the Evil God’s Child was born. That’s probably why the Doomsday Illusion can’t manifest here.”
The explanation was so plausible that even Jenkins found himself convinced. The two left the area and officially entered the decaying city. They waded through filthy water, crossed between damaged buildings on wooden planks, and occasionally, when faced with a monster they couldn’t avoid, coordinated to eliminate it with minimal noise before more arrived.
Most of the monsters they encountered were the type that dissolved into ash upon death. However, a few did not follow this rule and were incredibly powerful, proving to be a challenge even for Jenkins. From this, he surmised that the ash monsters and the others were not from the same doomsday—a theory Silver Flute Miss supported.
The journey was grueling. Although Jenkins was strong enough, he didn’t dare engage the numerous enemies in open battle. They were forced to take frequent detours, making an already long journey even more arduous.
During their travels, Jenkins told Silver Flute Miss that he was able to leave this place. She was somewhat surprised but not troubled. In her view, if the worst came to pass, at least someone could get the news of her demise out.
Jenkins also tried to get help from Alexia, but the petite woman couldn’t enter this place via the spiritual lodestone projection. When she activated the lodestone, she simply appeared at the corresponding location in the real world.
Jenkins couldn’t understand the mechanics behind it. His physical body was already here, so he had never tried projecting himself into the illusion.
The bright yellow moon hung in the sky. It was so enormous that one couldn’t stare at it for long, lest an irrepressible panic drive them mad.
Jenkins and Silver Flute Miss were resting in the attic of a street-side apartment, lying flat because the roof had been torn off. Standing up would have exposed them to nearby monsters.
The yellow glow washed over them, making the two otherwise normal-looking people appear somewhat crazed.
Silver Flute Miss specialized in spells, and in a silent city , they avoided using loud abilities for safety. Thus, the sword-wielding Jenkins had been the primary combatant. Silver Flute Miss had recognized that his blade belonged to the Believers of Lies, but she had said nothing.
“I’m fine,” Jenkins replied with a weary sigh, “but this is the first time I’ve realized just how big Nolan is. We haven’t even covered a fifth of the distance, have we?”
He felt a pang of thirst and had the absurd thought of popping back to Ruen for a drink, but he restrained himself, not wanting to agitate his companion. Get full chapters from ⓝovelFire.net
He raised his head to say more but found that he was suddenly alone in the attic. A jolt of shock ran through him. He activated his Eye of Reality, only to see Silver Flute Miss still in her original spot.
“What... she’s returned to the real world!”