The explorers who returned from the ruins of the temple temporarily lived on the outskirts of the city, while everyone who had followed Chief Colin Inliat into the secret chamber to meet the statue of the god was transferred to the dungeon at the bottom of the round tower.
This is a shelter for residents who are showing signs of losing control. Silver City has been looking for ways to save them for thousands of years, but most of the results are mental death and physical mutation.
Derrick Berg, who entered the bottom after detailed inspection, was sandwiched between two knights wearing heavy armor and walked through the long, dark and dark passage. He felt cold for no reason.
As long as he didn't try to communicate, there would generally be no problem... He silently recited the warning given to him by the elderly member, staring at the gap in the floor tiles in front of him, and moved slowly under the push of the two knights.
This was an effective way to escape. Along the way, he heard many vague calls for help and wailing, but the criss-crossing and irregularly distributed gaps in the floor tiles in front of him successfully diverted his attention.
winter.
The heavily armored knight pulled open a seemingly heavy stone lock, and the rusty iron door creaked open under the knight's pull. Another knight patted Derrick on the shoulder.
"You will stay here during this period. We will deliver food on time. If you need it, you can also ask for medicine."
Derrick looked at the "Dawn Knight" whose face was hidden behind the visor. When he heard "provide potion", his breathing became a little heavier unconsciously.
"But don't worry, someone will pick you up every two days and undergo examination by a 'psychoanalyst'. If you are in good mental condition, you should be able to return to your normal life soon."
As he spoke, the knight took out another iron-black vial.
"This is a potion that every prisoner in the dungeon must take. Its main ability is to suppress your extraordinary abilities in order to cooperate with the 'Crown of Glory' to eliminate the influence of occult factors."
Another knight who was alert to the surroundings turned his head and patted the knight holding the vial, signaling him to hurry up.
"Well, although you didn't have any adverse reactions, this is an underground rule."
Derrick looked at the vial made from the remnants of black-faced grass, nodded numbly, and took it.
He knew how to open the bottle cap made of straw, and Gulu drank the liquid inside, feeling a coolness slipping through his esophagus and into his stomach.
Under the influence of the power of the herbal medicine, the extraordinary power instantly decayed in his body. Silence infected his thinking. Even the wailing and cries for help that originally echoed in the passage became much duller, making it difficult to affect his spirit.
Watching him swallow the potion, the heavily armored knight outside the cell pulled the stone lock again. The rusty iron door locked with a clang, and a burst of silvery white light flowed through the fence, as if it was connected to the earth.
The light source gradually became farther away as the two knights left. Derrick, who was familiar with the special environment of the God-Forsaken Land, instinctively wanted to find something that could be ignited. However, after wandering around, he discovered that inside this stone house,
Only a low candle made of animal fat was slowly swaying, without any extra fuel.
Under the influence of the "Crown of Glory", the darkness underground is not dangerous... The old man's words echoed in his ears again. Derrick forced himself to calm down and actively catered to the suppression of the medicine, curiosity.
Dissipated in loneliness, he lay on the wooden bed in the corner without any curiosity, staring blankly at the mysterious occult symbols on the ceiling.
After an unknown amount of time, Derrick, who was about to slip into his dream, suddenly heard the violent slamming of the door. The instinct given to him by his long-term fighting life drove him to jump up, his hands habitually holding swords in front of him.
The violent banging sound continued, and the one next door to Derrick's cell persisted in trying to shake the iron door that was comparable to the "Guardian" defense barrier.
This hysterical venting was even mixed with thin, sharp and mournful sobs. The hair on Derrick's whole body suddenly stood up when he heard it, and his back felt cold.
Without any warning, an inexplicable light swept across the entire corridor. Under this strange light, everything that happened in the cell next door, whether it was the despair of the long-term prison life or the last struggle before the transformation went out of control, was absolutely reflected in this.
The smoke disappeared under the power. Through the gap in the fence, Derrick vaguely caught a glimpse of a crimson color spreading out of the cell next door. At the same time, the fishy rusty smell of blood also squeezed into his nostrils.
Dead... In the strange environment that seemed to be absolutely quiet, Derrick's ears were keenly aware of the passing wind. He turned sideways as if he had a premonition. The next moment, the wall he was looking at once again appeared.
There was a muffled sound.
Only this time, the muffled sound was much gentler.
The residents on the other side of the wall were beating rhythmically, and the familiar sound of winter made Derrick feel an inexplicable familiarity.
It was as if someone was tapping the table like this all the time... Derrick cautiously moved closer to the corner, covering his temples.
Under the power of the potion, it was difficult for him to recall the unimportant parts of these memories.
"Who?" Derrick raised his voice, but there was no trace of panic mixed in it.
The rhythmic tapping sound immediately stopped, and after a few seconds, a deep but rather old voice came over.
"This time it turned out to be a young guy."
"Are so many young people in Silver City out of control now?"
Old man Derrick's inner guard suddenly dropped by half.
In Silver City, it is not uncommon for old people to enter the bottom of the round tower. Almost all residents of Silver City are extraordinary people. In old age, it is almost inevitable that the risk of losing control will increase.
"Who are you?" Derrick leaned half of his body against the wall, his ears pressed against the cold metal.
"Just a person who has lived here for a long time." The old voice laughed and then talked about other things.
"Oh, poor Moloch. He was injured when he was out and was pushed to the edge of losing control. Doctors on the ground tried to save him several times, but to no avail. He finally couldn't stand it tonight."
The fishy smell of blood was still lingering in his nose. Derrick took a deep breath and asked in a low voice:
"The sealed artifact here...'Crown of Glory' will execute these out-of-control people, right?"
The old voice behind the wall paused for a moment, then sighed:
"A very smart boy."
"But this may be a good ending. After all, it may be an easier ending to accept than living a peaceful death as a monster without humans or ghosts."
"I have been here for forty-two years and have seen many people struggling and finally being executed in a state where their consciousness was basically swallowed by monsters."
"To be honest, it would be better to give up the struggle in the first place. It's too painful."
"But living in Silver City is also very painful. According to what you said, we should avoid birth, so that we may not have to face the curse of parricide."
Listening to the complaints of the old voice, Derrick thought for no reason that he seemed to be living in another world, with sunshine, pure food and water, and other people protected by great gods such as the "God of Mystery" - Mr. Fool. The members of the Tarot Society sighed secretly as sadness surged out of their instincts suppressed by the herbs.
A strange silence fell in the cell again. Derrick leaned against the steel wall. The old voice on the other side of the wall seemed to be shocked by his words, and actually made no sound.
After an unknown amount of time, the familiar knocking sound sounded again. After knocking a few times, the old voice became much duller.
"Thankfully you spoke your mind here. If you were on the ground, the elders would definitely banish you and let you fend for yourself in the wild."
"We are already the last human beings. Thanks to the light of the Lord, we can survive in this darkness. Isn't this a gift?"
But the Lord... Listening to the sigh of the old voice, Derrick clasped his hands and widened his eyes.
Although he is naive, he is not a fool... Although Mr. Fool has been avoiding some things, she has never shied away from her alliance with the true Creator.
In fact, Derrick lied during the Tarot meeting. While exploring the temple, he took a peek at the murals that could be seen everywhere. The murals that had peeled off to the Mo Lake basically described the same thing.
The Lord was betrayed, and she fell because of it. She bore the curse for all sentient beings and turned into the "Hanged Man" in the shadows!
"Why were you sent to the dungeon?" After a moment of silence, Derrick abruptly changed the topic in order to conceal his emotions.
"me?"
The old voice paused for a moment, then hummed for a while, like most old people recalling history.
"I was the captain of an exploration team."
"During an outing for exploration, we discovered the city-state half a month away from Silver City."
"Like us, they were also a city-state that was once ruled by giants, and was later saved by the omniscient and omnipotent Creator, but they fell."
The old voice suddenly became serious, and his tone became serious.
Fallen? Derrick vaguely grasped the key words in his words and stood up.
"They tried to change their beliefs and believed in some illusory gods that only existed in their own imaginations, so they perished, and the entire city was left in ruins."
This sounds a lot like me exploring that city... Derrick rolled his eyes and tried.
"True Creator?"
The old voice behind the wall paused again and said with some surprise:
"You actually know this name."
However, he did not delve into it, but continued to tell his story, his voice became much softer.
"Although I don't know where you learned this name, you have definitely never experienced our feelings."
"In that city-state, we found a living person, an outsider that Silver City has never seen in more than two thousand years."
"Outside Silver City, in the endless darkness, there are still living people!"
Derrick, who already knew Mr. Fool's profile and that Loholid once protected a city, was not too surprised.
But after he was silent for a moment, he suddenly realized that the atmosphere was abnormal and tried to cater to it:
"Really, are they the survivors of that city-state?"
The old voice coughed, a little surprised.
"Did the six-member council announce the news, or did someone spread the news? Don't you look surprised?"
"During my recent exploration, the chief and I witnessed a creature that was not affected by madness. Although it was not a human being, he did prove that there are other creatures that can live in the darkness." Derrick made a casual excuse.
However, if the other party went to the same city-state as himself, then he might have seen traces of Roholid. After all, the vessels engraved with three giant dragons were found on the edge of the ruins.
...The old voice seemed to be stunned by the news thrown by Derrick. After a while, he spoke again:
"You mean, you and Colin saw other intelligent creatures?"
"Are you sure what you saw was not some fantasy disguised as a monster?"
The old voice paused for a moment and said with some evil humor:
"After all, you are locked up here now."
"Of course not, we fought with him." Questions came one after another. Derrick couldn't keep up with the other party's thinking, so he patiently explained:
"That is a giant dragon, an extremely powerful dragon. He can communicate rationally, but because of some other reasons, we are forced to fight."
"Dragon..." The old voice chewed on the word and fell silent again.
"Let's talk about the foreigner who was discovered."
The weird ethereal feeling disappeared, Derrick blinked and his breathing became much easier.
"At that time, we wanted to invite that person to Silver City as a guest. After all, he was the only living person we met in the dark. But when we monitored him returning the same way, he suddenly disappeared."
It seemed that he was recalling that bad memory, telling his team members that they lost control one after another in the darkness. The crazy old voice gradually became a little excited and hysterical, and even the flood of emotions made Derrick always feel that the next second
, that strange white light will come again and take away the poor man who is communicating with him.
"Anyway, after that, I was thrown underground by the six-member council and have been detained ever since."
In the darkness, the old voice barely regained its calmness.
Derrick touched the goosebumps on his body and exhaled heavily.
"Do you remember what that person looked like?"
In his opinion, if it were an outsider like Miss Justice, she would definitely dress differently from him.
Although no one has proven it, since Mr. Fool has proven the existence of the outside world, there must be a way to escape from here.
"Looks like..." The old voice behind the wall rummaged through that painful memory, struggling in his tone, "He looks very ordinary, unremarkable, and his clothes are no different from us, except that I remember that he is a young man.
Male, I can’t remember the rest at all..."
Are they really survivors from other city-states, but they just believe in a god with a bad mental state like the True Creator...?
Derrick thought for a while, imitated Mr. "The Hanged Man"'s tone, and said after careful consideration:
"Then do you remember his name or where he came from?"
"Has he mentioned this to you?"
In the darkness, the old voice groaned in pain.
"He told us that his name was..."
The strange misty feeling came over again. Derrick, who was anxiously waiting for the answer, looked at the flickering candlelight in front of him, and his vision suddenly blurred.
"he is......"
In front of the low table, the phantom that existed in the misplaced time looked down at the young man. The ordinary man pushed up the monocle on his right eye, smiled at the corner of his mouth, and nodded gently.
"My name is...Amon."
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Phew, I took a look and found that I still owe twelve additional updates. Basically, I can only pay it back during the exam depending on the situation, and the rest will be left after the exam.