Chapter 401: Traveling by Water
Chapter 401: Walking on the Waterway
Agatha instantly put away the cane, and then stared at the “fake” monster that was slowly raising its head in front of her with wide eyes, shocked and alert, and in this instant, she realized …… that this monster made of the original element “mud” had changed. She realized in that instant that this monster made of primeval “slime” had changed.
Some kind of power or will had descended into it and instantly changed its nature – it had become a medium and was releasing terrifying power in the dark sewers.
Layers and layers of noise resounded, transforming into countless unintelligible murmurs and hisses in her mind, and Agatha felt the edges of her field of vision filled with trembling black shadows, which seemed to open up into uncountable eyes in an instant, a sign that her spirit was being tainted – the accumulated exhaustion and mental damage from the continuous battles had weakened her protective ability, leaving her almost powerless to resist.
However, this contamination only lasted less than two seconds, and it seemed that the owner of the power had consciously exercised control, restraining the mighty energy that escaped from this body – Agatha’s senses regained clarity and stability, and in this moment of clarity, she realized the “identity” of the person in front of her. “.
“You are …… the one who descended ……” she spoke hesitantly, rubbing her forehead.
“It is I,” the avatar spoke, the body made of primordial slime still writhing and contorting, as if unable to carry too much power, it was never able to present a clear and stable image, “Just call me Captain… -that’s what my followers call me.”
“Captain?” Agatha frowned, the aftereffects of the mental contamination had slowed her thinking a bit, she found the title a bit odd, but soon gave up on this aspect – there were countless “Captains” in this world, a higher level transcendent of unknown origin might be It wasn’t worth looking into the fact that a superhuman of unknown origin might call himself “Captain” out of mere interest.
“Why are you here?” She asked suspiciously.
“I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” Duncan said, “and when you suddenly disappeared into the city-state, I decided you’d had an accident.”
“You were looking for me?” Agatha was a little startled, and then immediately looked up and looked around quickly, “How are things ‘out there’?”
“If you’re referring to the ‘frost’ of the real world, then it’s business as usual, normal to the point of abnormality,” Duncan shook his head, “Do you have any idea what you’re stuck in?”
“I …… am not sure,” Agatha propped herself up on her cane and slowly leaned against the wall next to her, she had been given a precious few moments of safety and had to take advantage of it to regain her strength, “This is another Frost, a Frost controlled entirely by ‘fakes’, there is no sun here, and the connection to the gods is very weak, but there are clues to the activities of those Annihilation heretics, and I’ve been tracking one of them all the way here …… “
She paused, panting slightly, and turned her head to look at the ‘Captain’.
“A mirror image,” the makeshift avatar said, “You’re trapped in a mirror image of Frost.”
“A mirror image?” Agatha was stunned for a moment, then lowered her head with a thoughtful expression, “I can’t believe it’s this …… a mirror image ……”
“They may have replicated the entire Frost, including an area of the sea around it, and this mirror image is the source of all the ‘fakes’,” Duncan continued, “The bad thing is that there are indications that this ‘mirror image’ and the real world are coming closer together – and that should be the real plan of those Annihilationists.”
Agatha snapped her head up, “You mean ……”
“The frequent appearances of ‘fakes’ in the city-states, the duplicated Haiyan ship, the disappearing Dagger Island, and even your entrapment, are all the result of the ‘Mirror Frost’ constantly approaching the ‘Reality Frost ‘ The result – the purpose of the Annihilationists from the beginning was not to invade or destroy the city, Agatha, what they wanted, was to transform the whole city into that ‘kingdom’ in the prophecy. ”
“…… At some point, the ever-approaching mirrors and reality will collide …… ” Agatha muttered as she drew a soft breath, the possibility having occurred to her that “No wonder, no wonder that heretic said that when the Guardians find the ‘Sanctuary’, that’s when their plan will succeed …… That moment, that’s the moment when the mirrors come into contact with reality! ”
“It looks like you’ve got your mind made up,” Duncan said, “Did you just say that you found a clue to those cultists here and are tracking them down?”
“Yes, I caught their scent – deep within this ‘second waterway’,” Agatha raised her head and looked in a certain direction deeper into the corridor, and after a short rest Having regained some of her strength, she fought the urge to stand up straight again and slowly walked forward, “There is a heretic, he has been thwarting me, but the longer he pesters, the more he is revealing his whereabouts, and I have a feeling that it is very close ……”
The avatar under Duncan’s control followed in Agatha’s footsteps.
“I’m terribly sorry.” Agatha, who was walking ahead, suddenly said.
“Why apologize?”
“Just now …… I nearly attacked you.” Agatha’s tone seemed a bit embarrassed.
Duncan froze slightly, and then immediately recalled the sight he had just seen when he entered this incarnation – the pewter cane in Agatha’s hand was only a few millimeters away from his head.
But he thought about it for a moment and decided that it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Better than Vanna’s jumping chops at the time.
“I don’t care, and I’m used to it.”
“…… Used to it?”
“One of my followers uses jump splits out of nowhere when she’s startled – sometimes the target is me, though she doesn’t do it anymore.” Agatha: “……?”
The young gatekeeper was greatly shocked, and could hardly restrain himself from speculating about how such a suspected ancient god usually got along with his followers, and what kind of outrageous, bizarre, and evil beings His followers were.
After thinking about it for half a day, the san value was almost empty and he still couldn’t figure it out.
Duncan, however, didn’t care about Agatha’s sudden frothing and pondering, he just continued to walk forward and carefully observed the situation in the corridor along the way.
This was the second waterway of the Mirror Frost – obviously extremely different from the second waterway in the real world.
He stopped in his tracks and looked thoughtfully ahead at the sewer corridor that stretched on and on in the dim light.
“What did you think of?” Agatha stopped as well and turned around to ask suspiciously.
“In the real world, this is a collapsed area and the roads are impassable,” Duncan said, his tone thoughtful, “It looks as if in this Mirror Frost, the second waterway is intact, and even presents itself as being in constant use.”
“…… Perhaps it presents itself as it did in the Queen’s time,” Agatha said in a raspy voice, “I’ve noticed that many of the details of this Mirror Frost… . are plausibly unlike the sights I’m familiar with, unlike the modern look.”
Duncan listened to Agatha’s analysis and didn’t say anything for a moment, and it took a few more seconds before he broke the silence, “It looks like I may not be able to accompany you to finish the road behind you.”
Agatha looked back unexpectedly.
She saw that the “Captain’s” incarnation was gradually disintegrating, the black mud that kept flowing and deforming seemed to be carrying too much power, and was now peeling off a little bit, and left crisscrossing, spiderweb-like cracks on the surface of the body, and between the cracks, there were green flames jumping, as if they were going to escape uncontrollably, flow.
She subconsciously exclaimed, “Your body ……”
“No need to care, this inferior replica can’t carry my power stably, it’s only a matter of time before it collapses,” Duncan, however, just shook his head and spoke in a calm tone, “It’s already quite surprising that I could last until I finished talking to you so much.”
He then waved his hand again, stopping Agatha’s attempt to speak.
“You’re in a terrible state right now, you need more help, I’ll leave some fire here, that fire will strengthen the connection between me and you, take it with you and continue to track down those cultists’ lairs – I’ll continue to help you.”
Agatha subconsciously stepped forward, as if to ask something else, but before she could speak, the avatar, already on the verge of collapsing from too much power, reached its limit.
In the midst of a violently rising pale green flame, the primordial mud that made up the avatar instantly stopped flowing and was engulfed in flames and split apart, with countless fragments of ash scattering.
And in the center of the black primordial debris that had been burned to ashes, only a small, finger-sized flame remained in the end.
That flame floated in midair near the ground out of thin air.
Agatha stared blankly at the fire floating near the surface of the ground, its ghostly green appearance made the Gatekeeper wary, she instinctively felt intimidated and nervous, yet after a moment’s hesitation she took a step forward and slowly bent down.
“…… I hope this is the right choice.”
She whispered softly and recited Bartok’s name in her mind, then she reached out her hand, as if making up her mind with great courage, and touched her fingertips to the tiny flame.
The flame was like a weightless mass of petals, held in her hand.
“…… Surprisingly, I can actually pick it up.”
Agatha looked at the fire that had been held up in her hand in dismay, and it was at this moment that she felt a connection between herself and this flame.
Faint, marvelous, but it did exist – after a brief trance, she came to her senses and carefully shielded the flame in the palm of her hand, lifting the already scarred cane with her other hand, and stepping towards the deepest part of the second waterway.
(End of chapter)