Gross Mountain.
Mithra and Nie Hong arrived once again, walking along the winding mountain path. They could see the town in the distance.
Nie Hong gulped nervously. He had been bold in his words earlier, but now, returning to this place, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive.
However, since it was daytime, the pressure wasn't as intense as it had been at night.
They approached cautiously but quickly became puzzled.
Why were there so few people?
Although they chose to go around the town, not wanting to risk entering, it was strange that they couldn't even see a single person.
"This is strange. Are they planning something?" Nie Hong frowned.
Mithra stood up and surveyed the area with her powerful eyesight, but found nothing. Without dwelling on it, she led Nie Hong up the mountain.
They arrived at the tunnel entrance. The open space where they had fought before showed signs of having been cleaned up.
Especially the human corpses; there were signs that they had been moved.
Nie Hong was a little scared, but Mithra sat down beside a corpse, ignoring the stench of decay and the maggots, and reached out. She saw its empty eye sockets.
She clapped her hands and stood up. "Their eyes have been gouged out."
"It seems the cult in town is planning something big," Nie Hong said.
"Hard to say. Let's see how Safin is doing."
With that said, they entered the mine.
The pile of corpses hadn't changed much. Mithra used a wooden stick and Ignite to scare away a group of rather lively cursed creatures before making their way back to Safin's cave.
"Cough... cough, cough!"
Before they got close, they heard a violent cough coming from inside.
Mithra and Nie Hong unconsciously stopped.
But they didn't hide their footsteps or the light from the torch.
"Is that Mithra?" Safin's voice came from inside.
Mithra didn't hesitate and entered the cave. She saw Safin's face, which had become much thinner in just a few days.
"Mr. Safin! What happened to you?!" Nie Hong, following behind, was shocked when he saw Safin.
"Young man, you're back too," Safin smiled, still having the energy to greet them. Then he looked at Mithra. Seeing that she had cleaned herself up and was wearing new clothes, he said, "It seems you succeeded."
"No, I failed," Mithra replied casually. "And unfortunately, I'm still the only one who can help you."
"What about me?" Nie Hong pointed at himself in confusion, then quickly shrank back under Mithra's gaze.
Safin shook his head. "You actually came back. Thank you."
"No need for thanks. You don't look well. Is the curse getting worse?" Mithra asked.
Safin silently nodded. "If you had returned any later, it's questionable whether I could even speak to you."
"Then why did you insist I go back first?" Mithra said, a bit exasperated. He didn't want her to take the risk.
She didn't dwell on the issue, but said, "Then let's hurry up and find what you need. Be careful, something seems wrong in the town."
"They've been waiting for a long time, stationed in this town for years. Their ritual might be nearing completion," Safin said.
Mithra, who had just turned around, turned back. "You know?"
"Because I'm affected by the curse from deep within, the feeling is very clear," Safin said with some difficulty.
Mithra said, "A Sanctuary patrol team will be passing by soon. I've also reported the situation in Gross Town to the city at the foot of the mountain. Someone should come to deal with it."
"Hopefully. Dreamland is vast, and the Sanctuary's influence is limited. Many things can't be fully investigated, otherwise, we wouldn't be in this situation... Cough!"
Nie Hong looked uncomfortable, but Mithra remained expressionless. "Let's go."
This time, she didn't look back. She walked straight out of the cave.
Nie Hong glanced back a few times. He could only say, "Take care," before turning to catch up with Mithra.
The two quickly entered the tunnel in silence.
In the flickering torchlight, their shadows danced together. They could occasionally hear unknown creatures moving in the darkness.
Suddenly, Mithra stopped, pointing the torch down a dark tunnel.
Nie Hong paused slightly, then quickly looked over and said, "Something's there!"
A believer's senses were sharp, especially Ki believers who were more sensitive to living beings.
Scuttling sounds echoed.
Thin limbs scuttled across the cliff face, suddenly emerging from the darkness under the torchlight. It was a "spider" formed from several distorted faces with empty eye sockets.
Nie Hong was startled. Such a creature suddenly appearing in the dark mine was quite a shock.
But he didn't panic, quickly extending his hands to activate Immobilize.
The spider climbed rapidly. It took a moment for Nie Hong to adjust his focus, and by then the creature was almost upon them.
The moment Immobilize took effect, the spider froze. Mithra pulled the stone hammer from her waist and brought it down forcefully on the spider.
A loud thud echoed through the tunnel, and the spider was sent flying, making a strange noise.
Surprisingly, this one blow didn't kill the spider. It was still twitching and struggling on the ground. Nie Hong quickly stepped forward and threw his knives.
After being pierced repeatedly by the throwing knives, it finally stopped moving.
Mithra approached with the torch and saw black spots appear under the light.
[Gross Tunnel Cursed Collective: Weak cursed creatures learning the power of unity. Their collective curse brings more powerful attacks. They no longer fear the light, but they cannot leave areas of dense curse.]
The contrast between these usually timid and small cursed creatures and this relatively large, dog-sized monster with significant attack power was quite stark.
"How do these things even grow?" Nie Hong asked, feeling a wave of nausea after examining the creature.
"Because of cursed miracles," Mithra replied casually.
"This is also a miracle?" Nie Hong was surprised.
"Besides the systematically categorized miracles used by humans, there are many strange and chaotic miracles. They don't require a user, just a conductor to help them activate," Mithra explained.
"Activated miracles..." Nie Hong recalled that piece of knowledge.
Although activated miracles were a mandatory lesson, it was like telling those brats in Dreamland to be careful not to rely on having multiple lives. Without actual experience, it was difficult to truly grasp the concept.
Especially since miracles couldn't be activated on Planet Blue. Education in that area was far from perfect.
They continued forward.
These Collectives were quite common, even becoming the standard small fry in the deeper levels of the tunnels. As long as they sensed the two approaching, they would charge like mad dogs.
After numerous encounters, Nie Hong, who was responsible for using Immobilize first, was starting to feel tired.
After killing another monster, Nie Hong activated Stabilize.
Ding.
Although Stabilize consumed sense power, the cost was minimal. Moreover, under the Stabilize state, sense recovery was accelerated to a certain degree. This was how Stabilize was normally used.
Ding.
Another Stabilize activation sound, this time from Mithra.
Mithra was addicted to Stabilize. She couldn't live without it. Only Stabilize could keep her going.
If she could have any miracle attached to her permanently, it would definitely be Stabilize. She would bow down and thank anyone who made that possible.
As they walked, they saw an opening and emerged from the tunnel.
They found another wooden path built along the cliff face, but this time, below wasn't the usual pile of corpses. It was an ancient ruin!
"Is that our destination?" Nie Hong's eyes widened as he tried to see clearly. Unfortunately, even with the torch, he could only make out its vague shape in the darkness.
As he spoke, Mithra suddenly made a 'be quiet' gesture.
Nie Hong covered his mouth.
Then, they heard heavy footsteps.
Coming from the end of the wooden walkway they were on.
Mithra listened for a while before slowly approaching along the walkway.
Under the torchlight, a figure standing on a large wooden platform came into view.
Seeing that figure, Nie Hong gasped.
Mithra, however, was surprised.
A Night Hunter knight!
The same knight armor as the one they had encountered during the siege when they left Gross Town earlier. But this knight's armor was much more dilapidated, the surface was rough and even rusty, and half of the helmet was cracked.
The knight himself wasn't important. The key was the Night Worship Sword he carried.
Although Mithra had told Nie Hong about the miracle's effect on the sword, that was just talk. Besides the special ability Mithra had activated after her arm was severed, they had no way to deal with "Invisible Blade."
This knight was undoubtedly dangerous, and they needed to be cautious.