Chat group, if you have anything to say to my Holy Sword,

Welcome to Moonlight Town

Xiling stepped into the town. The moment he crossed the town's boundary, Xiling's magic surged out like an invisible tide, instantly covering every inch of the town's land and every house. His spiritual tendrils meticulously scanned, searching for any trace of life, any fluctuation of magic, any remnants of battle...

However, the feedback was... deathly silence.

There was no sign of life, no animal whimpering, not even the faintest trace of a mouse or a flying insect. The entire town seemed to have been thoroughly wiped clean by some invisible cloth, leaving only the buildings themselves. The dozen or so entities emanating magic or aura were scattered, clearly belonging to other investigators who, like him, had accepted the mission and arrived earlier. Apart from that, there was truly nothing else.

"Tsk..." Xiling withdrew her senses. "How do we investigate this situation?"

Looking around, the streets were clean and tidy, the doors and windows of the houses were tightly closed, and clothes that hadn't been taken down were hanging on the clotheslines. There were no signs of fighting, no signs of struggle, no bloodstains, and no remnants of magical conflict. Tens of thousands of people had simply vanished into thin air.

Xiling stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Let's go check out the water source first, since that's where everything originates."

Xiling walked towards the ancient well she had sensed earlier. Several people had already gathered there, each with a different posture, but all were examining the bottomless well with solemnity and vigilance.

Among the group, Xiling spotted two familiar faces and looked up to greet them.

"Hey, Aaron, Phoebe, I didn't expect to see you two here."

A young man and a young woman standing beside the well turned around; they were two of the four-person team that Xiling had encountered back then.

The other party was an adventurer team. Xiling met them by chance during some missions. It just goes to show that the world is both big and small.

When the two saw Xiling, they were taken aback at first, but soon smiled.

Aaron spoke first, "Xiling, I didn't expect to meet you here."

Phoebe shook her head with amusement. "It's more like it's normal to see Mr. Xiling here."

"You mean I have to come with so many points for this commission?" Xiling said irritably, hands on her hips, as she approached the two of them.

They both smiled.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Xiling got straight to the point, spreading her hands and asking, "So? You arrived early, did you find anything? This whole town... wasn't there tens of thousands of people? Where are they? Did they all just disappear like that?"

Aaron's smile vanished quickly, and he shook his head heavily. "No. Not a single clue." His gaze swept over the silent houses and empty streets, his tone filled with deep confusion. "Everything's too normal... so normal it's unsettling. The furniture isn't overturned, the doors and windows aren't broken, it's like..."

“It’s as if everyone disappeared without a fight at the same moment.” Phoebe continued, her pretty face filled with solemnity. “We carefully checked the houses near the square, and there were no signs of struggle or departure. We also went to the mayor’s house. The defensive barrier was intact, but the house was empty. Even… the armor in the knights’ barracks was neatly arranged, and the weapons were still on the shelves.”

It's important to know that there are a large number of extraordinary individuals in this world. The mayor of Moonlight Town is a very powerful magician, and there are also more than a hundred knights from the Holy Grace Kingdom in the town, which means that there are at least more than 100 extraordinary individuals in the entire town.

Every knight of the Holy Grace Kingdom is at least rank 6 or higher, and each of them has a captain who is at least rank 4.

This was already a very powerful fighting force, but even so, they still left no trace of battle.

Therefore, Phoebe's guess is very likely correct.

But until there is any evidence, all possibilities are just possibilities.

“What you said is indeed very possible. By the way, what are you all doing gathered around that well?” Xiling tilted her head and looked towards the well.

Just then, a figure that had been facing the well turned around. It was a handsome young man. He had a perfectly timed smile on his face as he met Xiling's gaze: "After all, this is the origin of everything, isn't it? The villagers' illness, the disappearance of the advance investigators, even the emptiness of the entire town right now... the source may lie in this well. Is that why Mr. Xiling came straight here?"

“That’s right. My name is Xiling. What’s yours?” Xiling held out one hand to the other person.

The man gracefully removed his top hat and placed it in front of his chest, bowing slightly in greeting: "Reinham, a magician who studies the occult."

"Oh, I forgot I have to introduce my profession," Xiling thought to herself, feeling a little embarrassed.

When working together on missions within the All-Knowing Society, it's generally necessary to introduce your profession upon first meeting so that you can investigate together on subsequent missions.

Xiling added somewhat embarrassedly, "I forgot to mention earlier, I'm a magic swordsman."

Reinham put his top hat back on, his smile still impeccable: "Mr. Xiling's name is already well-known in Calso. It is my honor to be able to carry out this mission with you. Please take good care of me."

Xiling, feeling a little flattered by the praise, smiled and said, "You're too kind, you're too kind. Let's all work hard together!"

As soon as Xiling finished speaking, the others by the well turned around and focused their gazes on Xiling with curiosity and a hint of surprise.

One of the girls, dressed in a simple white nun's habit, with rare pure white hair and golden eyes, asked curiously, "Are you Xiling? The legendary 'trouble terminator of Karso'?"

"Huh?" Xiling blinked in confusion. What was the other person saying?

Looking at Xiling's expression, which showed she didn't understand.

A burly man standing nearby, clad in heavy plate armor and wielding a massive warhammer, explained in a deep voice, “Don’t you know? You’re a ‘legend’ in our city of Karso right now! In a single day, you single-handedly wiped out a second-tier lava dragon entrenched in the western suburban caves, destroyed the cult ‘Blood Moon Embrace’'s stronghold in the south of the city, captured their second-tier bishop alive, along with a second-tier vengeful spirit, and finally, on your way back, you packed up the second-tier wanted criminal ‘Shadow Rat’ Jamie and threw him into prison! The most outrageous thing is that after doing all that, you still managed to go to the mission hall to eat Vera’s junk food, and then went to the library to help a group of students study until late at night! This isn’t just ‘awesome,’ it’s practically… inhuman!”

The white-haired nun covered her mouth and chuckled, "In short, Mr. Xiling, you are now a very prominent figure in the extraordinary circles of Karso City. With you here on this mission, everyone can feel much more at ease."

The nun gracefully performed a church salute. "Let me formally introduce myself. I am Karena Augukash, a priestess serving the Lord of Light, and a nun of the White Church. Like you, I am a third-order priest."

The burly man patted his thick breastplate, making a dull thud: "Doguo Rado, a third-tier warrior, defense and taking hits are my strengths!"

After introducing themselves, Xiling walked to the edge of the well, peered down, and saw that the well was deep and dark inside, with only the faint sound of dripping water that could be heard.

Xiling looked at the others: "So...you've been standing here for so long, have you discovered something?"

Dogoo sighed heavily, tapping the stone on the well platform with his thick fingers: "We really wanted to find something! But the truth is, apart from the fact that there's definitely something wrong with the well water, there's not a single other clue! This godforsaken place is as clean as if it's been licked clean!"

Karena's expression was unusually serious. Her fingers traced the edge of the well, her fingertips shimmering with a faint, pure holy light: "This well connects to Moonshadow Lake upstream and is the town's main water source. I have tried to purify the well water with the White Holy Flame, but the effect... is very weak. The water contains an extremely stubborn, unknown pollutant full of twisted life force, with strong mental inducement properties. It is almost inevitable that the villagers will undergo physical and mental changes after drinking this water for a long time. This should be the source of the original disease."

"So that's how it is." Xiling's gaze pierced through the clear well water, and the magic power within her body, like invisible tentacles, followed the veins of the well water and the underground currents, tracing back to the source!

A smile curved Xiling's lips as she turned her gaze toward the back of the town, toward Moonshadow Lake.

"We've found the source."

"Huh?!" The crowd gathered around the well exclaimed in astonishment almost simultaneously.

The impatient Dogoo was the first to lose his temper, striding up to Xiling. "You've found the source already? What is it? Tell me!"

Xiling didn't answer directly, but turned around and strode towards Moonshadow Lake with a smile on her face: "It's a living corpse. Want to come with me to take a look?"

Karena murmured, "A living corpse?"

Reinhardt followed Xiling's lead almost without hesitation, and Aaron and Phoebe exchanged a glance and followed as well.

"Anyway, there are no other clues now, so there's no point in just staring at each other here!" Dogoo muttered, and strode after them.

What could Karina say? She followed after him.

The group followed Xiling through the desolate town and soon arrived at the shore of Moonshadow Lake.

The sight before them made the newcomers hold their breath slightly. Moon Shadow Lake lived up to its name; its vast surface shimmered with a grayish-silver light under the overcast sky, as boundless as an inland sea. A gentle breeze blew by, bringing with it a moist atmosphere and an indescribable sense of tranquility.

Moon Shadow Lake covers an area of ​​more than 50 square kilometers.

The lakeside was not deserted.

Just as Xiling had sensed before, more than a dozen investigators who had also accepted the mission were scattered around the lake shore, carefully examining the area. However, their expressions were all filled with confusion and solemnity. Clearly, like the people at the well before them, they had found nothing.

Xiling's arrival and the small group following him immediately attracted the attention of the others by the lake. But when their eyes fell on Xiling, many recognized this "trouble terminator of Karso," and their eyes flashed with surprise and a hint of anticipation.

Under the curious gazes of the group, Xiling walked onto the lake.

Xiling's magical perception told him that there was something very strange beneath the surface of the lake.

The other party was clearly dead, but their body gave Xiling the feeling of being alive. Moreover, when Xiling sensed the other party, a certain corrupting force tried to corrupt Xiling through her magic, but unfortunately, the corruption was too weak.

"I'd like to see what you really are."

Xiling stood by the lake, slowly raising her right hand with her fingers spread and her palm facing Moonshadow Lake.

next second!

The invisible magical fluctuations, like a tangible tidal wave, instantly swept across the entire Moonshadow Lake!

The calm lake surface was violently stirred up as if by an invisible, towering hand! The lake water roared deafeningly! Even more terrifying, the massive amount of lake water defied the laws of gravity, as if scooped up by an invisible giant bowl, and began to rise wildly upwards!

In just a few breaths, Moon Shadow Lake, which is tens of kilometers in diameter, was forcibly lifted up from the ground!

The entire Moon Shadow Lake basin instantly transformed into a massive, dry crater tens of meters deep!

Under the watchful eyes of countless people, Xiling took a step forward, walking on the invisible ground in the air, heading towards the depths of the lake.

What might appear to a superhuman as merely a patch of mud was, in Xilingrui's perception, a completely different scene!

The ground in the center of the lake was not silt, but a huge, suffocating corpse.

It appears to be forcibly pieced together from some twisted, wrinkled, dark flesh, its shape bizarre and blasphemous, vaguely revealing a huge, twisted, humanoid silhouette, yet also bearing the eerie characteristics of a marine creature.

The strangest thing is that a visible energy, like a thick black mist, is continuously emanating from the corpse. If I'm not mistaken, this is the root cause of the pollution of Moonshadow Lake and, consequently, the town's water source!

Around this enormous corpse was a strange barrier that blocked outside prying eyes and prevented the aura of what was inside from leaking out.

Xiling approached the unseen corpse, glanced at it briefly, and said with disgust, "This thing is disgusting. Could it be some kind of Cthulhu?"

"There's even this kind of barrier, and it looks really high-level... Could someone be plotting something?"

Xiling felt that this was most likely the case, but she didn't know what kind of conspiracy the other party was plotting. However, it didn't matter anymore. As countless people tried to approach Xiling, she placed her hand on the Holy Sword.

next second!

The Holy Sword is drawn!

Xiling felt as if she had struck an extremely hard rock, but... that was all!

"Open it!"

It was as if two magical forces were impacting countless people who tried to approach Xiling, and the huge impact blew them backward.

"Hey, what's going on?" someone asked, puzzled.

Click…click…

Just as everyone was puzzled, a crystal-clear cracking sound came from where the tip of Xiling's sword was pointing!

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound...

The air in front of Xiling, which had been empty, was now covered with a dense web of cracks! The cracks no longer contained the muddy bottom of the lake; instead, a malicious, chaotic, and insane aura poured out wildly through the cracks!

Just by being swept by this leaked aura, everyone by the lake felt as if a cold, giant hand had gripped their hearts.

Almost everyone is certain that there's something terrifying inside!

The next second—

The entire space trembled violently! The cracked barrier turned into countless scattered fragments!

The curtain that had been obscuring the view was completely torn away!

The enormous, twisted corpse was completely and nakedly exposed before everyone!

Almost at the same instant the corpse appeared, more than 90% of the people by the lake coughed up a mouthful of blood! Their eyes instantly became bloodshot, and excruciating pain felt like red-hot steel needles piercing their brains! This was not a physical attack, nor was it mental pollution; it was a soul-shaking tremor brought about by an absolute crushing on a life level!

Mortals must not look directly at gods! Even... the body of a dead god!

Perhaps others didn't recognize what it was, but Karina did!

That was clearly the corpse of an ancient god!

It exists but is not recorded...

He is a god, but also a monster...

Chapter 104 The Ancient God is About to Descend

In ancient times, humans were not the rulers of this world.

Humans are incredibly weak. So weak that they are like dust, like insects, at the mercy of other, naturally powerful, extraordinary races.

"That era was one in which dragons soared through the skies, Titans traversed the land, monsters whispered in the abyss, and fairies danced in the forest. It was an era in which extraordinary beings ruled the world."

Among these terrifying races, there will always be a few individuals who transcend the limits of mortal understanding.

They are like stars fallen from a higher dimension, completely different from their kind, existing at a higher level in the essence of life. They are the rulers of their race, the embodiment of the race's will, and the very laws governing the world.

They are—the ancient gods.

You must not utter their names. For they will cast their gaze upon you, and you cannot bear it.

You cannot look directly at their bodies, because there is a difference in your lives.

Your inability to listen to their language will cause you to break down.

Do not touch their bodies, as this will assimilate you.