Goblin Heavy Dependence

Chapter 364 Beam of Light, Birdcage

Giethoorn town center.

church.

The cool, icy moonlight filtered through the vine-like window frames, casting dappled, distorted shadows on the floor.

The warm, gentle atmosphere of the daytime, with its floating dust and gentle warmth reminiscent of a barn, vanishes into nothingness as night falls, leaving only a chilling silence.

The wall lamp went out, and the candle that should have been lit fell silently into the depths of darkness.

In this enormous church, the only source of light was the pale, silvery moon seen through the skylight in the dome.

And it was under the silvery moonlight that shone down from the dome like a spotlight.

The hunched, thin, and aged figure, just like those more than 20,000 nights before, knelt at the feet of the goddess, offering her his devout and humble faith.

Unlike his usual simple appearance, Pastor Moen solemnly donned a brown-green ceremonial robe that he typically only wore on major holidays or celebrations tonight.

The hem and collar of the robe were embroidered with gold thread, and the silky smooth texture made the moonlight falling on it seem as if it were draping the priest in a veil of light and mist.

He bowed his head deeply, his pale hair resembling withered, frosty grass;

Her lips moved as she recited a hymn, her large, thick hands, like those of a farmer, clasped together in front of her chest. But instead of the goddess's rose emblem, her palms revealed only a touch of beautiful pink.

Pastor Moen slowly opened his palm, and a fleeting pink glow appeared in the air, revealing a crystal-clear pastel gem in his palm, its interior seemingly filled with viscous pink mist.

Rough fingers caressed the surface of the gemstone with an almost obsessive gentleness, the flickering pink light in the air seeming to respond, or perhaps to tempt.

Beyond the moonlight, in the deep shadows.

The towering stone sculpture of the goddess of agriculture can only be vaguely seen as a blurry outline, with only occasional flashes of pink light illuminating her face for a fleeting moment.

Still kind and serene.

But those eyes, silently gazing from the darkness, held an even deeper, unspoken sorrow hidden beneath the shadows.

Suddenly, as if realizing something.

Moen suddenly looked up.

His aged, cloudy eyes looked up, meeting the lifeless, frozen gaze of the goddess stone sculpture.

The devotion remained, but beyond that, there was a complex mix of emotions: exhaustion, struggle, disappointment, resolve, and pain.

After countless days and nights of prayer, Moen said nothing, simply gazing at the great being to whom he had once sworn to give everything.

And it is impossible for "Shangtia" to bestow divine grace upon such a lowly and insignificant clergyman in the sect.

Time seemed to freeze.

I don't know how long it lasted.

Suddenly, a loud bang came from the darkness of the night, somewhere in the town outside the church.

Immediately, the pastel gem in Pastor Moen's palm flickered twice, as if conveying some kind of message.

Only then did he slowly lower his head with a somber and resolute expression.

A barely audible murmur echoed softly in the air:

"Great and benevolent Mother of all things... why do you turn your back again..."

Kara -

A crisp, abrupt cracking sound suddenly rang out inside the church.

With fingers clenched tightly, cracks appeared on the surface of the gemstone as it was squeezed by a powerful, fleshy hand.

"Boom!!!"

A dazzling pink light shot into the sky, transforming into a massive, blinding beam of light that devoured the moonlight, rising from the church dome and penetrating deep into the clouds.

Then it slowed down again, gathering brilliant light and spreading it outwards as it fell.

At a speed that seemed slow but was actually too fast for ordinary people to react to, it transformed into a hemispherical light shield that enveloped the entire town of Goat Horn in just a few seconds.

It looks like a pink glass bowl turned upside down on a table.

……

……

Although Xia Nan and Margaret's speculations about the innkeeper during dinner lacked concrete evidence, the strange atmosphere in Giethoorn made Horaco and the others more vigilant, and they planned to adopt a more aggressive defense strategy.

They subtly changed the room occupants, taking turns on night watch, while trying to avoid leaving Horak alone. Even when the caravan was resting at night, a professional was left to look after them until the caravan finished resupplying and left the town.

But to their surprise, they reaped the rewards on the very first night of the plan.

For Xia Nan, who needs very little sleep, keeping watch for the first half of the night is very easy, and there is absolutely no possibility of him dozing off.

Perhaps due to environmental limitations, training such as [Spinning Slash] and [Fang Hunt] is not possible, but simply sitting in a chair and practicing [Gravity Control] with coins is also a very effective way to pass the time.

It was precisely because of this that he, who was clear-headed and even quite alert, noticed the footsteps that were well hidden on the surface but were actually very clear to him almost immediately.

Using the stealth techniques he learned from the Dream Corridor, which weren't particularly sophisticated but were sufficient for most people, he hid in a blind spot in the room.

He suddenly appeared a second before the hotel owner could make a move and repelled him.

Considering that he might be interrogated later, Xia Nan deliberately spared the man's life, leaving the hotel owner's head intact, but kicked him out of the room.

He believed he had excellent control over his strength.

Without killing the other party outright, it should be enough to render most ordinary people unable to stand up again, almost to the point of fainting.

To be on the safe side, he even resorted to some special methods, secretly applying gravity control to the hotel owner.

Unexpectedly, this obese ordinary townsman suddenly unleashed a strength far beyond that of ordinary people, raising his right hand, which was holding a short dagger, and bringing it down heavily.

The tip of the knife collided with the pastel gemstone on its chest, causing a burst of energy to spread outwards.

The good news is that this energy poses no harm to the human body, especially to adventurers who have already achieved a professional level. At most, it might cause a momentary lapse in concentration, which is not even worth controlling.

Xia Nan didn't even need to endure this level of mental control; the energy affecting his body was already absorbed and recharged by the [Dream Corridor].

The bad news is that the hotel owner's actions were most likely not motivated by a desire to die together with his family, but rather by a desire to confirm something in the final moments of his life.

Considering the other party's probing of Horak during the day, Xia Nan guessed that the other party wanted to test which member of their team had the ability to free Horak from the charm state.

This is reflected in the actual performance of several individuals in the face of energy shocks.

Compared to the other adventurers who were momentarily dazed, Xia Nan, who showed no reaction to the shockwaves of the pastel energy, undoubtedly solidified his identity in the innkeeper's mind.

Kara -

The seemingly solid pastel gemstones proved remarkably fragile when struck by a knife.

The pink energy bursting from the crack surged instantly, tearing the linen clothes apart and revealing the hotel owner's naked upper body.

The pink gemstone seemed to be embedded deep within his flesh, like some kind of special heart, with only a thin layer showing on the surface of his skin.

The blade that pierced the gem seemed to have struck his heart as well.

A person's vitality is visibly diminishing.

Strangely, this usually hospitable middle-aged man, who only turned hostile when the topic of gemstones came up, showed no sign of pain or despair as he faced death. Instead, as if he had completed some task, his eyes were fixed on Xia Nan at the doorway, a look of satisfaction and a sense of honor on his face.

In just two or three seconds, it truly turned into a corpse.

"Get a medical checkup! Is everything alright?"

As she approached the stairwell, Margaret quickly checked her body for any signs of the impact from the powerful shock, while simultaneously issuing a warning to the group.

Xia Nan shook his head, looking at the hotel owner's corpse on the ground in front of him. Just as he was about to say something to them, a burst of pink light suddenly erupted behind him.

He turned around and quickly walked to the window of the room.

A massive beam of light, identical in color and energy fluctuations, shot into the sky from the direction of the church, transforming into a gigantic light shield at an exaggerated speed from which there was no escape, enveloping the entire town of Goat Horn below.

"What... what the hell is this?" Holak, who had finally managed to break free from the mental daze caused by the energy shock, stared in astonishment at the shocking scene outside the window.

Even her round face was flushed with pink.

Snapped--

A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.

Turning his head, he saw the young, black-haired adventurer in the group staring at him with a serious expression.

"Urgent situation."

"Now you need to gather your men and take a headcount."

"We'll meet in the lobby on the first floor."

"quick!"

……

Horaco, or rather his assistant Afo, was very efficient.

When Xia Nan and the two members of the Blackwood Squad finished examining the innkeeper's body and returned to the lobby on the first floor, the entire caravan, including the drivers, guards, and servants, had already assembled.

Although they looked uneasy and insecure, at least under Afu's control, they maintained a basic level of order and did not appear chaotic.

He nodded slightly to the team manager, whose clothes were disheveled and who hadn't even had time to change out of his pajamas, wearing only a coat.

Xia Nan frowned as he looked at the crowd in front of him.

"only these?"

Afu quickly stepped forward, wiping his sweat:
“Mr. Xia Nan, all of our caravan members have arrived, not one is missing.”

“No.” Xia Nan turned around and glanced at the empty staircase ahead. “What I mean is…”

"Are we the only people in the entire hotel?"

Upon hearing this, Afu was immediately startled and became serious, his voice becoming intermittent.

"This...this...I'll take men to look for it right away!"

Giethoorn was just a remote and dilapidated town, and although "Cashmere Rusty Nails" was one of the best hotels in town, business was only so-so on weekdays.

But no matter what, they could still find a few guests.

Even if things don't go perfectly, there are still staff members on night duty, such as waiters.

With such a commotion upstairs and outside, even the soundest sleeper would have been woken up; how could they not have reacted at all?

Feeling increasingly uneasy, Xia Nan strode to the hotel entrance and abruptly pushed the door open.

What came into view was a huge light shield that had enveloped the entire town, and the eerie pink light it emitted that dispelled the darkness of night and made the world seem to be immersed in it.

In contrast.

The hotel was located on what should have been the busiest street in the entire town, but it was deserted at the moment.

Not a single resident was awakened by the loud noise and strange light coming from the outside and went to investigate.

Without a doubt, this is a scenario that cannot be explained by common sense.

I heard hurried footsteps behind me.

While he was outside observing, Afu had already led his men to survey the entire hotel.

“Mr. Xia… Mr. Xia Nan…” Sweat soaked his clothes, and he gasped for breath, “No, nothing.”

"There's not a single person in the entire hotel except for us!"

The more this situation unfolded, the calmer Xia Nan became.

He nodded, closed the inn door behind him, and discussed the next steps with the caravan members.

"First of all, what can be confirmed is..."

"Everything that happened tonight, whether it was the attack on the hotel owner or the light shield currently hanging over our heads, is related to the 'Pastel Gem'."

Although the innkeeper's body had been blasted with a large hole by the energy impact, the group consisted of seasoned adventurers who had seen far too many corpses.

However, a simple examination easily revealed that the other person's physical structure was different from that of ordinary people.

The pastel gem embedded in his chest seemed to have become some kind of organ, replacing the heart as the source of his life.

That is precisely why the opponent was able to suddenly unleash such power at the moment of death.

Although it is unknown how this gemstone was combined with the human body, considering the fanatical, almost insane fervor the other party displayed at the end, it was clearly not a good thing.

Horako felt a lingering sense of unease.

If Xia Nan hadn't helped him break free from the allure of the gemstone, would he have ended up looking like the hotel owner?

"Secondly, everyone saw that beam of light, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"It came from the direction of the church and spread throughout the entire town."

"I think we can head towards the town's exit first and check if the light shield can be deliberately damaged."

“If it’s feasible, we can’t worry about supplies now. Even if we have to hunt for survival every day, we must leave here, find other human settlements, and report the situation in Goat Horn to the church and the local sheriff.”

"If that doesn't work... then we'll reconsider."

"Of course, if you feel that going out is dangerous, you can stay in the hotel."

"There are plenty of supplies here. If there are no other dangers, we should be able to hold out until we are rescued."

After listening to Xia Nan's explanation, Margaret nodded in agreement, and after a moment of contemplation, added:
“Giethoorn is only so big. I don’t believe the town’s residents could just disappear into thin air in half a night.”

"Perhaps...we could go into a private house and check the situation?"

“And the church!” the dwarf Soldin said in a muffled voice, his prism creaking as he gripped it tightly.

"I had a feeling that old man was suspicious before. If we can't get out later... I'll go to see him. Maybe we can find a solution."

(End of this chapter)