What… ah…
Little Mist was thoroughly terrified.
It had no idea what kind of madness Truth was experiencing; it only knew that it needed to nod its head frantically.
What was all that about sharing Authority? Was she staking her claim?
And what did that last sentence, “You can only be close to me,” even mean…
That sentence made Little Mist feel that Truth was somewhat paranoid and seemed to have an especially strong sense of possessiveness.
If that were true, could she have said those things because she discovered Little Mist had secretly communicated with Ariel today?
The reason Little Mist hadn’t given up on this world yet was entirely because Ariel had shown it kindness back then, letting it know that there was still love in this world.
Unfortunately, Ariel couldn’t have much effective dialogue with Little Mist because she didn’t recognize a single thing Little Mist wrote on the ground.
The latter only felt that Little Mist’s language looked somewhat familiar, like an ancient script.
“You are very smart and very cute. Maybe I can bring some books from my era for you to study, so you can learn our characters and we can communicate happily!”
As a 7th Rank Natural Disaster Believer, Ariel could see Little Mist’s extraordinary nature at a glance.
Moreover, the Pet of a King Rank Blood Demon was certainly not simple; perhaps she could coax some information about Demons out of its mouth!
Thus, Ariel promised to bring back a few books to teach Little Mist how to read and write after finishing Truth’s Task.
After Ariel left, Little Mist was left all alone inside the Mist Core.
Later, Little Mist tried to negotiate with the Adventurers inside the Mist a few more times.
Unfortunately, every time it showed its face, the Adventurers would pursue it relentlessly as if they had seen a Flash Pokemon.
This forced it to control the Mist to hide and retreat back into the Core Region, only to be seized by the throat of fate by Truth the moment it stepped out.
Now Little Mist was panicked. Facing Truth, all it could do was lie down obediently and let her toy with it.
If Truth were even slightly normal, it would be fine—at least it would know that the conflict between them was over the Mist Authority—but Truth’s behavior was not normal at all…
Exactly what did “You can only be close to me” mean? Little Mist couldn’t for the life of it figure it out.
“Hmm? What’s the situation? How is someone already falling into the Punishment Stage? I haven’t even finished preparing it yet!”
On the way back to the Cathedral, Truth discovered through her God’s Perspective that an Adventurer team had suddenly stumbled into the Punishment Stage she had placed beneath various Dungeons.
Only Adventurers with abnormal DPS could reach the Punishment Stage.
In other words, the levels of this four-man squad were all higher than Level 15.
Furthermore, Truth discovered a very familiar face:
“Isn’t that Ma-whatever-his-name-is, that narcissist second-generation rich kid with no limits?”
Inside the Punishment Stage, because the place was not yet finished, Mailun and the others had been trapped in a cramped secret room.
The only exit was an iron gate that could not be opened.
They had tried to use force to open the iron gate, but it remained motionless.
In reality, even being able to open the iron gate would be useless.
This place wasn’t finished yet, after all, and it was underground.
Even if they could open the gate, they wouldn’t see an exit; they would only see clean, tidy walls.
“So what the hell is this place? Is it a trap or some kind of hidden stage?”
Having been locked up for an unknown amount of time, Mailun punched the wall, his expression serious.
The Dungeon they had entered was called “Flower Demons’ Back Garden.”
At first, everything went smoothly; they only needed to prevent various plant-type Monsters from ambushing them from the bushes.
Plus, their team’s strength far exceeded the Dungeon’s level limit, so they killed six Monsters in less than five minutes.
Then, they successfully triggered Truth’s Anti-Smurfing Mechanism.
What kind of squad with an average level of fifteen can kill six First Rank Monsters in five minutes?
Thus, the Dungeon where Mailun’s team was located suddenly began to collapse over a large area until the four of them fell underground into the secret room, at which point the Dungeon returned to normal.
At first, the four of them thought they had accidentally triggered a trap and needed to complete a specific condition to leave.
But until now, they didn’t even know what the condition was, and there wasn’t even a hint.
During this period, the four had tried many things: summoning Rituals, chanting incantations, searching for hidden buttons, and so on, but all to no avail.
This was almost driving them crazy:
“Maybe we can try Black Magic. I know a Black Magic ritual that can seek help from the outside through the Spirit World. The only problem is that this Black Magic requires consuming a complete Soul, so we need one of us to contribute theirs.”
“What kind of garbage Black Magic requires consuming a Soul? I know a better one. Actually, we can also try inviting certain hidden existences from the Spirit World to possess us. Most creatures in the Spirit World are very knowledgeable; they must know how to escape this secret room. We just have to hold a wicked Bread Slice Ritual to invite them.”
“That’s way too disgusting!”
“I **, how can you come up with such a disgusting method? That’s even worse than sacrificing a Soul!”
Mailun immediately rejected the proposals of these two and turned to look at Paris, who had been chanting the names of the six Gods in hopes of gaining their gaze.
Paris was kneeling on the ground with a focused expression, and in front of him were various small peripheral items of the Five Great Cataclysms and the Beast God.
These were all things he had casually bought from a roadside stall near the Church last week:
“Please look upon us, please look upon us, please look upon us…”
“Is it a bit too late for you to start having Faith in the Gods? For that matter, do you even know how to pray?!”
Mailun wanted to punch the guy, but what if he actually attracted the gaze of the Gods?
“Wait, it seems you don’t need to attract the gaze of the Gods.”
Mailun suddenly realized a key point, which was that this place was the Mist of Calamity.
There was a book by a Mage that said the five disasters of the world all had independent consciousness…
“Paris, maybe you can try praying to the Mist.”
“That works too. Ahem, please look upon us, Mist. Please look upon us, Mist. Please look upon us, Mist…”
Paris turned around and began to act like a broken record toward the thin mist creeping out of the corner.
And this method actually did work, except that both of the Mist’s current Masters chose to ignore it.
Paris’s obsession quickly reached the Mist Core area, forming a small bright spot.
At the same time, Little Mist felt it and curiously clicked on the spot, and then its face filled with disappointment.
It thought some loyal disciple of the Mist had come to find it, but it was Adventurers again! Were they trapped by Truth’s Dungeon and wanted its help?
Hmph, I’m not helping!
Little Mist was smart now. No matter how long Paris prayed, it wouldn’t help.
As long as the other party was an Adventurer, it would absolutely not go near them, because Adventurers were all a bunch of profit-seekers!
Who was to say they wouldn’t stuff it into a sack the second after it helped them?
As for Truth, even more need not be said. She was currently set to ‘Do Not Disturb’; ordinary passersby couldn’t contact her at all.
“Please look upon us, Mist. Please look upon us, Mist. Please look upon us, Mist… Fine, looks like this won’t work either. Mist, I **** you!”
Paris, whose voice was hoarse from shouting, leaned against the wall in despair. The next second, a change occurred.
The entire secret room suddenly shook violently, scaring Mailun into hiding in the corner.
“Paris, did you offend the Mist?!”
The other two also hurriedly shirked responsibility and prayed on the spot:
“Great Mist, the person who cursed you was only Paris! We haven’t said anything bad about you!”
“That’s right, it’s all Paris’s fault!”
“Holy crap, how can you guys be like this?!” Paris looked at the three of them in disbelief.
He didn’t expect these three to distance themselves from him without a second thought.
They could at least help plead for him! A bunch of fair-weather friends!
Click!
After the violent shaking, suddenly, the iron gate in the secret room that could not be opened actually opened on its own.
A narrow and pitch-black passage appeared before the eyes of the four.
“Shh, be quiet! The door is open!” Mailun shouted.
The four immediately calmed down and looked outside the iron gate.
Inside the passage, ball after ball of round organisms were constantly wriggling. Upon closer inspection…
They were countless huge Slimes.