Those time travelers that year

"Yes!" Medea replied calmly. "This train was contaminated by the barrier's power from the very beginning. However, this barrier's power has little effect on those with magic resistance skills or those whose magic power is already strong enough."

'Master's previous loss of composure was merely a result of being caught off guard and slightly affected by the power of the barrier, but afterwards, you immediately broke free from the mental interference.'

"Well! Looks like the guy who caused this doesn't want anyone on the train to survive!" Charles sighed. "I wonder if it's aimed at me or that lady from the Sanctuary. Hmm, but it probably isn't me... In other words, I got caught in the crossfire. Damn it, I really shouldn't have used my E-rank weapon at the last minute!"

'Master, the power of the barrier has begun to converge.'

"Hmm!" Just as Medea had said, the scene before them was becoming increasingly distorted. At this moment, the pale red mist gradually dissipated. However, this did not mean the end; rather, it was only the beginning. At that moment, the compartment beneath their feet shook, and the sound of the train outside grew fainter and less frequent. "She cut the affected carriages in half? Hey, that means some parts of the train managed to escape! It won't really become a ghost train..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Charles suddenly strode toward the twisted spot.

'Master?' Medea asked in confusion.

“Medea, now that you share my senses, you can see the source of energy in this mist!” Charles stepped inside, passing through the pale red mist. As soon as he entered, the scene behind him was completely distorted until it disappeared, replaced by a stone wall with burning torches hanging on it, illuminating the dim passageway.

"Yes, resentment, curses, fear, death... this mist... no, even the energy source of this barrier originates from various negative emotions. Countless dead humans, their negative emotions and souls are the source of this barrier's power." After Charles's questioning, Medea reached her conclusion in just three or four breaths. "A massacre, no, perhaps not just a massacre, but the accumulation of negative energy and dark magic over many years. But I can't understand who it is, and what they want to do? A train only carries a few hundred people; for this barrier, it's clearly not worth it!"

“It’s definitely not worth the risk, so I’m now very interested in asking the guy who created this barrier what he was thinking,” Charles said. “By the way, Medea, the source of this barrier is negative energy, which means…”

'Yes, Master, you can completely devour everything within this barrier using your Reality Marble. Once you deploy the Reality Marble, the Abyss will absorb all the negative energy within it, while the Primordial Flame will ignite the barrier and destroy it entirely.'

“But I’ll have to ask the master here for his opinion first, after all, I’m a visitor! You all agree, right?” Charles turned his gaze to the other side of the corridor, where a dozen or so rotting figures, drooling disgusting saliva and roaring, were charging toward Charles.

Then they were completely engulfed by a huge ball of fire.

The intense heat directly burned the bodies of these undead into charcoal, and then the shockwave from the explosion tore their remains to pieces.

After blasting the unfortunate train passengers who had been caught in the crossfire into dust with fireballs, Charles didn't immediately leave. Because behind the rolling flames, some new dark figures appeared.

After the impact and flames from the Eight Fireballs subsided, the dark figures approached Xia Er with a rustling sound of footsteps. They were also undead, but unlike the zombies that collapsed after death, these approaching figures were real shadows, with black and red smoke rising from their bodies. They could be vaguely identified as a group of soldiers wearing leather armor and carrying spears.

After taking a few steps, the soldiers suddenly brandished their weapons and charged towards Xia Er at lightning speed. They were incredibly fast; in the blink of an eye, they had covered more than ten meters, all ten spears thrusting towards Xia Er simultaneously.

Clang!

Unfortunately, all the spears struck the invisible barrier, making sharp sounds.

"This reminds me of the specialties of Skyrim that were common back in Skyrim." He opened his palm, and a blazing flame burned within it, quickly expanding and engulfing everything around it. "Unfortunately, you're just like those specialties... except, you're not so easy to burn!"

“?? ???, ? ??? (Sulfur fire, burning everything)”

[Burnout - Sulfur Fire]

Flames shot out in all directions, burning fiercely and filling the entire passageway...

82. The impending arrival of the devil baby (1)

There's nothing a fireball can't solve. If there is, it's just that your fireball isn't powerful enough. Or, you could try throwing five fireballs at once. On this point, Charles genuinely felt that the words of the Five Fireball Cult leader were absolutely true! At least, while wandering through this gloomy castle, there really wasn't any demon or monster that a single fireball couldn't handle.

Yes, that's right, a castle. The barrier created within is a vast castle, and its inhabitants are incredibly hospitable. Often, a whole host of them will suddenly appear out of nowhere, their composition quite complex. Some are simply unfortunate train passengers; it seems all these ordinary people caught in the barrier are dead. But that's understandable. Although the pale red mist only slightly affects Xia Er, he quickly ignores it, recognizing that it's indeed eerie. He doesn't care about Beijing's smog, so why would he care about this?

However, it was obvious that the other ordinary passengers on the train could not withstand the effects of the smog and collapsed one after another. Then, both their bodies and souls were controlled by the power of the barrier and turned into tattered zombies. But even if they turned into a terrifying-looking zombie, it did not change the fact that they were weaklings.

Of course, the castle also had other hospitable residents, various soldiers, such as soldiers in leather armor wielding spears, archers with longbows, guards with swords and shields, and fully armed knights. Oh, and there were also some commoners dressed in linen clothes from hundreds of years ago, holding pitchforks, sticks and other odds and ends.

"This feels like something out of Tormented Souls! Or Bloodborne, but these mobs are totally weak!" A fully armed knight charged towards Charles, followed by dozens of spearmen and archers. Seeing their dense formation, Charles couldn't resist and casually tossed an enhanced fireball at them. "Weren't those two games supposed to be full of developers' cruel jokes? How come everyone here is a bunch of pushovers?"

With a deafening roar, the fireball exploded, unleashing a raging inferno that engulfed the entire squad of dozens. Such a dense, ancient formation could be wiped out with a single area-of-effect attack.

"Alright, this place is only similar." He opened a barrier, deflecting over a dozen arrows. These arrows, capable of piercing iron armor with a single shot in the outside world—comparable to the power of gun bullets—were completely meaningless to Sharl. Even the barrier's defense couldn't be breached; instead, a large ball of fire was thrown back at him, instantly killing all the distant monsters. "Me, a max-level player, dealing with a bunch of monsters that are at most level 4 or 50? It's really tough on them, considering they're just casual mobs in a dungeon."

After clearing away the swarm of monsters rushing towards him, Xia Er went straight to a courtyard, a courtyard overgrown with weeds. The only thing that made this courtyard special was the pond in the middle, but unfortunately, the water flowing in it was not clear, but a blackish-red liquid, and it was filled with a foul smell.

"Ugh, damn it, luckily I didn't eat before boarding the train..." Charles covered his mouth and nose, saying with a disgusted look, "...After boarding the train, I got caught up in this soon enough and didn't have time to eat, otherwise I would definitely have thrown up my dinner from the night before." Seeing that this courtyard didn't look like a good place, Charles immediately decided to leave.

However, before he could take more than a few steps, a dog emerged from the foul-smelling pool filled with a dark red liquid. Yes, a hunting dog as large as an elephant, with three heads, its entire body a dark red color, and six eyes that were empty of pupils, appearing to be blind.

However, the three-headed dog, which appeared to be blind, wasn't actually blind. At least, the moment it appeared, it looked at Ciel, who had a disgusted expression on his face, and then, after howling, it lunged at Ciel like a vicious dog.

"Cerberus! This theme has been overused in many worlds. Not to mention, even in low-magic worlds like HP, there are Cerberus. I didn't expect there to be something like this in the main world!" Using Apparition to dodge Cerberus's attack, Ciel teleported to a position dozens of meters away.

Awooo!!!

The three-headed dog barked loudly. Sang'er looked around and immediately spotted Shire, who was already dozens of meters away. Then, it spread its limbs and continued to charge towards Shire, seemingly determined to entangle him.

But Charles had no desire to get entangled with this disgusting thing; the stench emanating from the dog was quite unbearable for him.

"So the most important thing about raising a dog is to bathe these silly canines regularly, so they don't smell awful!"

"So, you dead dog, how about I give you a sauna?"

Flames rolled and roared, accompanied by waves of heat that swept in all directions. Beside Ciel, raging flames rose from the ground, obscuring his figure. Then, from within the flames, a gigantic arm reached out and grabbed the middle head of the charging Cerberus, slamming it to the ground.

Roar! ! !

The roaring Balrog stepped out of the flames, placed one hand on the three-headed dog, and then ignored the three-headed dog's other two heads biting at its arm, because the three-headed dog could not bite at all, and instead the two heads were burned by the flames on the Balrog's body.

Awooo! The three-headed dog suddenly howled in agony as its middle head was severed by the flaming greatsword wielded by the Balrog's other hand. Immediately afterward, the flaming greatsword swept across, shattering the three-headed dog's remaining two heads, already ablaze with flames, into dust.

"So, you have to consider the owner before you beat a dog!" Standing at the feet of the Balrog, Charles said with a relaxed expression. "However, the owner here is indeed a bit too shy! We still haven't seen him..."

“Or is it that!” Charles raised his head and looked up at the top of the castle. At the very top of this castle, which looked very large and was indeed very large, a huge platform could be vaguely seen. At this moment, looking up from below, some white and red lights could be seen flashing above.

"Only serve ladies? Honestly, that's incredibly rude!"

The Balrog, which had shattered the city with its three-headed hound, bent down, its lava-like left hand outstretched, allowing Charles to leap onto it. Although the flames and intense heat emanating from the Balrog's body could easily incinerate a person, it had absolutely no effect on Charles; even his clothes remained intact.

"According to the traditional approach, I should have to fight my way up layer by layer to be a hero and rescue the damsel in distress, but I prefer driving a TCL!"

Rumble, rumble, rumble... The Flame Demon strode to the end of the wall, then grabbed it and carried Sharl up to a platform dozens of meters above.

83. The impending arrival of the devil baby (2)

A bright streak flashed through the air as a sharp blade easily sliced ​​through a soldier's body. The white light on the blade clashed with the soldier's black and red mist, producing a hissing sound. The mist on the soldier appeared no match for the white light; it was easily suppressed and routed…

Iris sidestepped, narrowly avoiding two incoming arrows. Then, she stomped her foot, transforming into a white flash that instantly pierced through the ranks of sword-and-shield guards, arriving before two archers who were about to draw their bows again.

The longsword thrust out, and two streaks of sword light swept towards the two archers. Faced with the sudden attack, the two archers quickly dropped their longbows and drew either a dagger or a short sword, attempting to parry Iris's longsword.

But before they could even hand over their weapons, they collapsed, their heads pierced by the blades almost simultaneously.

After killing the two archers, Iris turned around and swung her sword behind her, slicing the short swords of the two sword-and-shield guards with a clang, then splitting them in two along with their shields.

Having annihilated the archer who posed the greatest threat, Iris also killed two sword-and-shield guards before rapidly retreating from the spot. The moment she left, a heavy warhammer slammed down with a whooshing sound and a powerful gust of wind.

The ground was smashed open by the heavy hammer, creating a crater nearly half a meter deep, the resulting shockwave sweeping across an area of ​​several meters. The knight was fully armed, wearing a dark brown cloak and a full suit of sealed armor, his features completely concealed by his helmet. Wielding a two-handed warhammer, the knight was tall, easily over two meters, making the then-short and thin Iris appear in comparison.

The towering knight roared as he lifted his warhammer, which had been smashed to the ground, and launched another attack on Iris. The warhammer, imbued with a savage aura, relentlessly pounded into Iris.

The petite Iris nimbly dodged the warhammer's attacks, weaving left and right. Then she swung her sword, but unfortunately, her attacks seemed to inflict little damage on the towering knight before her; his armor firmly blocked the blade's strikes. Neither slashes nor thrusts seemed to have any effect, except leaving a trail of sparks and white marks on the armor.

Leaping backward, Iris dodged the knight's heavy hammer and looked at the knight wielding the warhammer with a solemn expression.

"Troublesome, if there are more of these monsters..." The blackish-red mist swirling around the knight was something that enveloped every humanoid creature in the castle, except for those who had strayed in. It had to be said, this mist was indeed causing Iris trouble. These soldiers were only slightly stronger than ordinary people, which shouldn't have been a problem for Iris, but with the blackish-red mist, each soldier possessed formidable defensive and offensive capabilities. Iris realized that without exerting full force, she couldn't cut through their bodies.

Even the blades themselves were of little use. Unless the blow was fatal, such as to the neck, head, or heart, the dark red mist could heal the soldiers' wounds. Even severed limbs would be repaired by the mist.

As for attacks, the fact that ordinary bows and arrows can produce bullet-like effects and near-bullet speeds speaks volumes.

The knight before her was even more outrageous; both his defense and attack were extremely troublesome for Iris. She couldn't easily defeat him; instead, she had to be careful of the knight's warhammer striking her, even a single blow would severely injure her.

"Quickly finish this!" Fearing that more knight-like monsters would appear in the castle, Iris decided to deal with the current opponent as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if the number of them increased, she, who lacked area-of-effect attacks, might be trapped in a human wave and unable to escape.

"In the name of the Lord, grant me the sword of light to cleave through darkness." As Iris murmured this, white halos of light illuminated the blade of her one-handed sword, encircling it. Then, she raised the blade against the knight who was charging at her, wielding a warhammer.

Then he slashed at the knight, and at the same time, the knight wielding his warhammer also swung his heavy hammer down towards Iris's beautiful face. A flash of light passed by, and the two crossed paths. A white light streaked across the void. Iris, standing behind the knight, sheathed her one-handed sword and walked away into the distance without looking back. Behind her, the knight wielding the warhammer was torn from his torso, fell to the ground, and, like the other slain monsters, gradually melted and disappeared into the ground.

——————————Divider Line——————————

On the rest of the journey, Iris encountered no other knights; instead, the ordinary soldiers grew increasingly dense. There were even instances of dozens of soldiers clustered together, forming a unit. While this caused some trouble, none of the knight-like monsters posed a threat to her through sheer strength. Therefore, the ordinary monsters only caused her a little trouble before falling to her blade.

However, after hundreds of humanoid monsters fell to her blade, even with her superhuman physical abilities, Iris couldn't help but feel a wave of fatigue. Hundreds of sword swings and more than ten battles, without any area-of-effect attacks, had indeed made things difficult for Iris.

"Trying to wear me down?" Having slain the last sword-wielding guard at the top of the stairs, Iris took a few deep breaths and looked up at the long staircase leading upwards. She then took a box from her right pocket, opened it, and retrieved the only remaining test tube. After uncorking it, she drank the clear, transparent liquid inside, which shimmered with tiny white lights, in one gulp.

She tossed the box and test tubes aside, feeling her strength and spirit rapidly returning. Iris gripped the sword in her hand and resolutely walked up the stairs leading to the top.

As he walked, he took off the cross pendant from his neck with his other hand and wrapped it around his right hand, which was holding the sword.

This is a long staircase, wide and long, with towering demon statues of all shapes and sizes along its edges. The higher you go, the higher you get from the ground. Looking out from the staircase, you can see a dark night sky, and beneath that darkness, outside the castle, a city ablaze with flames.

The stairs came to an end, where there was a spacious platform. However, upon stepping onto the platform, Iris discovered that it was surrounded by a thick, pale red haze, making it almost impossible to see anything.

Crack, clatter... A series of clattering sounds came from behind. Turning around sharply, Iris discovered that a huge iron gate had appeared where the stairs and platform met, blocking her escape route...

"Welcome, welcome!" Just then, a voice rang out. As the voice spoke, the surrounding mist slowly dissipated. A middle-aged man, appearing to be in his forties or fifties, with eyes gleaming red, clapped his hands and appeared before Iris. "Welcome to the Holy Temple's hyena in this castle, although our guest is a young and beautiful lady..."

"Heretic...who are you?" Pointing her sword at the middle-aged man before her, Iris demanded, "Did you cause this disaster?"

“Of course, of course, in order to hunt a beautiful she-wolf, there must be some fresh blood to eat.” The middle-aged man grinned menacingly. “As for who I am, my name is Grandet Gelru, the high priest of the Dark Corner.”

As the middle-aged man finished speaking, the surrounding smog completely dissipated. However, upon seeing the scene after the fog cleared, Iris's gray pupils constricted...

On Thursday and Friday, depending on the situation, if nothing unexpected happens, I'll update once a day. I need to stockpile some drafts... Sorry everyone, um, I'll see how efficient my writing is over the weekend. If it's good, I'll try updating five times a day. That's all! After the book is published, please continue to support this still one-handed author... Every time I think about this, I feel like crying 5555555555 My roommates all have partners, and I, the eldest in the dorm, haven't even held a girl's hand yet... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

It's up for sale... um... I don't know what to say!?

My editor said I expect to release the book at 10 AM on Friday... Many authors have release notes, but I don't know what to say! I can't exactly promote the FFF group here! 2333333...... Anyway, thank you all for your support. The author thanks you all. Tomorrow... I'll try to release all my drafts, four or five chapters should be enough. I hope you will continue to support my book after it's released. Thank you, everyone! (bows)......

84. The impending arrival of the devil baby (3)

After the smog dissipated, the platform revealed its true scenery. However, what sank Iris's heart was the rows of knights standing quietly behind the middle-aged man who called himself the High Priest of the Dark Corner.

Two-handed swords, sword and shield, spears, warhammers… each knight wielded a variety of weapons, their entire bodies sealed within thick armor. Their appearances and builds seemed to be molded from the same template. Blackish-red smoke seeped from the gaps in their armor, enveloping them in a mist.

There were ten knights of each weapon type, meaning a total of forty knights, standing in four rows behind Grandet. A single monster of this type could pose a deadly threat to Iris, and here, there were forty times that number.

"Fourth tier... How is that possible?" Faced with this situation, even Iris, who was used to maintaining a cold expression, could not hide a hint of...

A look of fear crossed her face. "Each one of them is at the fourth tier of power..." Within her sight, each of those silent knights possessed power equivalent to the fourth tier, meaning they were on par with her. Although, after fighting another monster with this knightly appearance before, Iris had prepared herself for the possibility of encountering more monsters like this here, the forty-fold difference in strength still struck her as a stark contrast...

“Phew, impossible. You say you're the High Priest of the Dark Corner, but…” Iris took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing and eliminating the tension and panic in her heart, and questioned Grandet, who claimed to be the High Priest of the Dark Corner. “As far as I know, the High Priest of the Dark Corner is only of the fourth rank, and your age doesn't match up either. Who exactly are you?”

"Hahahaha, how could a mortal like you possibly imagine the power left behind by the gods!" Grandet laughed dismissively at Iris's barely suppressed, fearful questioning. "You sluts of the Holy Temple, always thinking of controlling everything in the name of God, what, you feel fear now? I am the true victor who has mastered divine power..." Grandet held the demon statue in his hands. The increasingly cracked statue shimmered with blood-red light, exuding an eerie and corrupt aura.

"Behold! This is one of the true gods' powers: the creation of life!" With Grandet's wild and fanatical shouts, blackish-red mist overflowed from the cracks in the demon statue, which glowed with crimson light. This mist spread out and coalesced into human figures, and with a whooshing sound of footsteps, knights emerged from the mist. "The power of the fourth tier is merely something I created arbitrarily. If I dispersed this power, I could even summon thousands of second and third-tier soldiers at once."

"Moreover, this power can help me gain immortality!" The blackish-red mist overflowing from the statue swirled and coiled around Grandet, seeping into his eyes, mouth, and nose. "Aaaaaaaahhhhhh..." With a series of low growls, the blackish-red mist completely entered Grandet's body. Then, amidst the cracking sounds of his bones, Grandet's appearance grew younger and younger, transforming him from a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties into someone in his thirties in the blink of an eye. "...Hehehe, you see! This is divine power. The creation of life, the granting of immortality, and even this castle were all created by the power of the gods. And now, this power is in my hands..."

Grandet shouted frantically, "I am now God!!!"