Night World Players

Chapter 261 Patriarch: I feel a chill on my neck

As he spoke these words, the Patriarch of the Iron Cross was almost moved to tears.

So many years have passed.

Since the Lord stopped answering the prayers of believers, the Iron Cross Order has nearly fallen apart.

Within the organization, members continued to abandon their faith and leave, taking their talents to other religious groups.

They also faced immense external pressure, and could only eke out a living under the oppression of human nations such as the Granville Empire, hiding like rats in the sewers, and spending most of their time near the border, crossing over to the other side to avoid trouble whenever things got tense.

And now, his perseverance has finally paid off, and the Lord has once again answered the call of His most devout believer.

Farewell, cage!

……

"That evil god who descended upon Deep Blue Harbor in the Sixth Epoch and caused the Iron Cross Plague has now been resurrected once again..."

"And are you preparing to intervene in the present world?"

Inside the capital, watching the scene on the live screen, Ophelia's expression grew serious, and she put away her earlier jokes with Dean Yin.

Although it belonged to the age of mythical creatures, it had already faded away six ages ago; now it is the age of humankind.

But it cannot be denied that even a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.

Those ancient gods who fled to the Throne of the Seraphim after the decline of the Age of Gods, barely clinging to life... in terms of rank, each one was an ancient being among angels and mythical creatures.

If one were to intervene in the mortal world without regard to the cost and complete a divine descent, it would inevitably trigger a catastrophe.

The destructive power of divine intervention can be seen by simply looking at the Iron Cross Plague of the Sixth Era, which swept across most of the western continent and dragged human civilization from a golden age of rapid development into a dark age.

Of course, Ophelia wouldn't show it at all on the surface.

She nodded in agreement as she manipulated the mechanical doll: "Congratulations, Your Excellency."

"Rest assured, now that the Lord has once again responded to our faith, the Iron Cross Order will surely rise again."

"At that time, your Mechanical Flesh Cult will be our Iron Cross Order's best ally."

"And those outdated heretics should be swept into the dustbin of history."

It seems that their prayers were answered, and they rediscovered their faith and support.

The Iron Cross patriarch's back was no longer hunched, his posture was straight, and even his tone of voice had become much more forceful.

Although both are cults suppressed by the Order faction on the Western Continent and forced to hide in the shadows, these cults, which worship different evil gods, are not entirely monolithic.

After all, the power of faith originating from cultists is limited in total. If one cult receives more, another cult will receive less.

Therefore, different cults also have a competitive relationship, and many are even irreconcilable enemies due to the contradictions and conflicts of position between their leaders.

Previously, when the Deep Blue Harbor cult stopped responding to its followers, and the Iron Cross Order was at its lowest point, it was precisely when other cults kicked it while it was down that they were most ruthless—as fellow heretics, they knew all too well when to strike a dog when it was down.

But now, everything is completely different.

One day, I will be bathed in the glory of the Lord and lead the Iron Cross to reclaim everything that has been lost.

"However, before that, we still need to maintain a superficial relationship with the other religious orders for a while..."

"After all, the power of Princess Hiltina von Fresberg, the Holy Sword Wielder of Granville, is too great, and she may very well be promoted to angel in a short time."

"Even before she has been promoted to angel, she has already put immense pressure on the members of the Holy Church, nearly wiping out our strongholds throughout the empire."

"If we wait until that princess officially completes her promotion, everything will be beyond repair."

As he said this, a hint of gnashing hatred flashed in the Iron Cross Patriarch's eyes.

If it weren't for the Empire's relentless pressure, he might still be living a life of luxury in his stronghold in the capital... instead of wandering the desolate border like a rat that can't be seen in the light.

"This child must not be allowed to live. We must kill him at all costs before this princess truly grows up."

"Moreover—the first princess of the Granville Empire, the next empress Hiltina, also publicly announced to the entire continent that the empire would protect that shorekeeper named Rust."

The Iron Cross Patriarch suppressed his restless thoughts and began to analyze the situation rationally.

With the upheaval that occurred in the capital two years ago, and the tomb keepers beginning to walk the world again and actively contacting cultists... the grudges and information about the "shore keepers" and "tomb keepers" are no longer big secrets to the leaders of these cults.

Therefore, as Hiltina's fiancé, the last guardian of the shore, Rust, has also begun to come into the view of the higher-ups of these secretive forces.

His limited combat records and growth history in the Western Continent were unearthed by the intelligence organizations of various forces and repeatedly examined under the spotlight.

In addition, the Iron Cross Order also had some personal grudges with Rast—after all, back in the Sixth Age, the Dark Blue Harbor God had suffered greatly at Rast's hands more than once.

"Although according to intelligence, Rust should now be a bedridden, half-crippled, and non-threatening vegetable."

"But he was, after all, the last shore guard."

"If possible, it would be best to kill and silence that Rast at the same time as dealing with the First Princess Hiltina, and completely eliminate the potential threat by turning him to dust."

As he spoke these words, the Patriarch of the Iron Cross twisted his neck somewhat uncomfortably.

He found himself facing the leader of the Mechanicus, who was staring at him with a strange look in his eyes, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

And that's not all.

The Iron Cross Patriarch even vaguely sensed a strange chill emanating from the evil god sculpture he carried with him—a holy relic bestowed by the Lord.

For some reason, he felt a chill on his neck.

This inexplicable sense of foreboding was fleeting and was quickly suppressed by the Patriarch of the Iron Cross.

That was a token of the supreme Lord; how could he have such a disrespectful thought? He abruptly stood up and walked towards the door.

“I will go and contact the messenger of the tomb guardians to invite us to participate in the action meeting against the Holy Sword Wielder Hiltina.”

……

"interesting."

"As expected of a tomb keeper..."

"Even after repeatedly stumbling in the gutter, the two most important legacies passed down from the Age of Gods—the Library of Fools and the Stone Tablet of Eternal Night—have been lost to us."

"However, this organization still retains a considerable amount of its original foundation."

At the very bottom of the night world, the town of Canaan is reborn.

Through his astral perception and the faint connection between the divine nature of the Deep Blue Harbor Evil God and the present world, Rast received information from the western continent of the present world.

It seems that three years ago, he was tricked by Rast in the echoes of history, resulting in the loss of his entire divine demise.

Having capsized in a ditch and suffered heavy losses, the Evil God of Deep Blue Harbor... perhaps out of a fear of being bitten by a snake once and being afraid of a rope for ten years, simply chose to completely shut himself off at the Threshold of Blazing Heaven.

He relinquished his connection with the world and with the cultists He left behind in the Western Continent.

Therefore, the prayers and calls of those cultists to the evil god of Deep Blue Harbor were intercepted by Rast, who had devoured half of the god's body and also possessed a wisp of divinity, and he himself sat in the position that originally belonged to the evil god of Deep Blue Harbor.

As for the leader of the so-called "Mechanical Flesh Cult" opposite the Patriarch of the Iron Cross, Rust felt a strange sense of familiarity as soon as he saw him.

After careful consideration, he confirmed the other party's identity.

This must be the trick Ophelia came up with.

Unlike her sister, Hiltina, who always advocated solving problems through fair and square means and cutting down all obstacles with her holy sword, she was different.

Ophelia, who possesses traits such as a sister complex and a seemingly innocent but actually cunning nature, has always been very opinionated and has her own ideas... There are some things she never discusses with others, but does on her own.

"It seems that even without my accidental intervention... Ophelia would have discovered the plot to harm her elder sister anyway."

“I didn’t realize it before I had any contact with her or was even unsure of her stance… but now it seems that Ophelia is quite reliable as a teammate.”

Thinking like this.

In the present world of the Western Continent, the Iron Cross Patriarch has also made contact with the messengers of the Tomb Keepers.

Having re-established a connection with the deity of their faith, they gained the status of a favored one of the gods... and thus qualified to participate in the meeting.

This gathering appears to have been hosted by the tomb keeper, using some ancient relic as a medium.

It allows participants located across the Western Continent, thousands or tens of thousands of miles apart, to directly participate in the event through their spiritual bodies.

Last's assessment of this method was—"It's like taking off your pants to fart."

Given the current technological level of the Western Continent, this kind of thing could be easily handled online through an encrypted chat group.

Clean, efficient, and simple... After an online meeting, you can simply delete the record and leave no trace.

However, the gravekeepers went so far as to use a relic to achieve the same effect as a chat group.

All we can say is that this is an old custom passed down from a corrupt organization.

As the relic of "Chat Group (Pseudo)" was activated, Rust sensed that the patriarch of the Iron Cross, along with the Deep Blue Harbor evil god sculpture that contained a wisp of Rust's will... were all instantly sublimated from the material plane of the real world and arrived at a dimension that transcended the material plane.

At the center of the secondary latitude is an ancient bronze long table.

On either side of the bronze table shrouded in black mist, there were blurry human figures sitting on bronze chairs.

Each of them was shrouded in black mist, making it impossible to discern their specific appearances and forms; only the color of their spiritual bodies could be vaguely seen.

"So, these are the leaders of all the remaining cults on the Western Continent?"

"It seems that under Hiltina's suppression, the remaining cultists on the Western Continent are not having a good time... to the point that they have been forced to unite and try to make a big splash."

Last secretly observed the figures on the bronze tables.

Although it seems that because of this relic from the tomb keeper, the identities of each participant were concealed, Rast was unable to directly observe their appearances.

However, by observing the spiritual strength of the other person's spirit, he could roughly determine their status.

It can be confirmed that most cult leaders are not very strong. Like the patriarch of the Iron Cross, most of them are at the fifth or sixth rank below the legendary level. Only a few have reached the threshold of near-legendary, but they have not yet taken the final step to become legends.

This is a self-evident fact.

The so-called "path to legend" does not rely on external factors.

The birth of every legendary powerhouse is a unique and unrepeatable miracle in this world... Even if you copy all the talents, resources, conditions, and experiences of your predecessors, you will never be able to walk the same legendary path again.

Otherwise, legends wouldn't be so rare, considered the greatest barrier among the extraordinary, with the difficulty of breaking through to legend even exceeding that of ascending from legend to angel.

Even Rust himself, in order to rapidly advance to Legendary status by bridging that long period of time... had to pay a huge price: destroying his Nightblade and Sequence Rank, turning himself into a half-dead, vegetative state.

As for ordinary people like Amys who had never come into contact with the extraordinary, in order to contain the Star Grail called Judgment, she endured an entire era of pain and self-sealing, and was almost taken away by the will of the Star Grail of Judgment... Only then did she slowly absorb it and transform it into power that truly belonged to her.

The leaders of those cults may be able to quickly skip the early accumulation and reach the peak of the sixth rank by relying on the power of faith and the blessings and favor of their own evil gods... but the final step to becoming a legend is by no means something that can be achieved by such external forces that do not belong to them.

Of course, besides these cultists with weak spiritual fire, Rust also discovered several beings with considerable spiritual power within the bronze table, who could be vaguely compared to the "Angel of Judgment" that he had just torn apart not long ago.

He knew that these must be the high-ranking members of the tomb keepers, the true angels.

These figures from the Age of Gods have finally awakened from their slumber in the long river of history and stepped into the limelight once more.

(End of this chapter)