Chapter 87: Crisis in Clearwind Village
Chapter 87: Crisis in Clearwind Village
Upon entering the game, Su Yu's figure appeared in the central square of Golden Finch City.
Morningstar, his feline companion, immediately jumped out from his pet space and perched on his shoulder.
The central square of Golden Finch City was bustling with players, many of whom were setting up stalls to sell equipment, materials, potions, and various other peculiar items.
Seeing Su Yu appear, the players lit up and greeted him enthusiastically:
"Hello, Mr. Ke!"
"Mr. Ke, you're back in the game!"
"Mr. Ke, all the players above the sixth tier are offline. Is something big happening?"
...
Su Yu had urgent matters to attend to and didn't have time to chat with the players.
He nodded amiably at them, then quickly took out the Planar Communication Badge from his backpack and infused it with a bit of magic.
Soon, the badge responded, and Su Yu used it to quickly pinpoint Alyssa's location.
With a wave of his hand, a silver-white portal appeared in front of him, its destination being Alyssa's location.
The next second, Alyssa stepped out of the portal, walking briskly.
"These portals are really convenient... Let's go to Clearwind Village."
"Sure."
Without hesitation, Su Yu and Alyssa walked into the teleportation array near Golden Finch City's central square.
Two silver flashes, and they vanished from the array.
As Su Yu left, the surrounding players began to chatter:
"Is Mr. Ke taking the Empress back to the beginner village?"
"Given their anxious expressions, something major must have happened!"
"Should we go to the beginner village to see what's going on?"
"Don't waste your time. Just focus on selling your stuff. We probably won't see anything even if we go."
"You're right. We shouldn't cause any trouble for Mr. Ke."
The players' discussion soon died down.
...
Back to Su Yu.
The silver light of the teleportation faded, and Su Yu, Morningstar, and Alyssa appeared at the teleportation array in the entrance of the beginner village.
However, as soon as they arrived, they realized something was seriously wrong in the village!
The village square was completely empty, with no NPCs or players in sight.
From the mayor's house, where Bernelle Tide resided, a dark aura rose into the sky, piercing through the clouds!
A massive wave of spiritual energy radiated from Bernelle's house, covering the entire village and continuing to spread outward.
Although each house in the village was engraved with various defensive magic arrays, they were no match for such a powerful spiritual energy surge.
Most of the buildings in the village were now in ruins, though the one good thing was that Su Yu saw no signs of the villagers' bodies.
...
Apart from the dark aura rising into the sky, another point of interest was the several god-tier figures in the sky.
In the main plane of the Evolution world, there were a total of twelve god-tier powerhouses. Six of them were now present, with the two human god-tier beings, Kevin Golden Finch and Bard, standing in the most prominent positions.
Upon seeing Su Yu arrive, Kevin Golden Finch immediately greeted him on behalf of the other god-tier beings: "Ke, you're here! It's best not to make any rash moves. The situation is very complex."
Su Yu and Alyssa soared into the sky, reaching the same height as the god-tier beings.
He performed a mage's salute and immediately asked, "What exactly happened here?"
"We're not sure either," Kevin Golden Finch said, his gaze fixed on the dark aura rising from below. He shook his head:
"About half an hour ago, we sensed something was wrong with Bernelle Tide. We rushed over immediately, and by the time we arrived, it was already like this.
We tried to use our mental powers to probe what was happening inside, but the dark aura completely blocked our perception. We can't sense anything inside.
That's why we're as clueless as you."
"Right."
"That's correct."
The nearby god-tier beings echoed in agreement.
"Is that so?" Su Yu, Morningstar, and Alyssa also used their mental powers to probe the dark aura.
However, as soon as their mental powers touched the edge of the dark aura, they felt a strong repulsion, as if they had hit a solid mental barrier, preventing them from making any progress.
"Hmm~" At that moment, the Planar Wanderer Bard spoke up.
Although it was just a hum, everyone present immediately understood the meaning behind it.
Bard's message was clear: "My mental probing should be more advanced than yours, after all, this is my area of expertise. Just now, I delved five meters into the black mist and will share the images I captured with everyone."
After saying this, Bard used his mental power to transmit the images he saw to all the present deities, including Empress Alyssa.
Upon receiving Bard's transmission, the deities immediately began to analyze the images with their vast experience.
Su Yu closed his eyes and carefully examined the details of the image. However, he could only sense two dark, indistinct masses entangled, tearing, and fighting. As for the rest, he couldn't discern anything.
But at that moment, Kevin Goldenflower's expression suddenly changed drastically!
Seeing Kevin Goldenflower's change in expression, everyone immediately knew he had figured something out, and all eyes focused on him.
Kevin Goldenflower didn't intend to hide anything and addressed the surrounding deities: "If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the 'Fusion' spells. Bernelina Tide is currently fusing with an alien creature! Whether Bernelina Tide is actively or passively fusing, I'm not sure."
"Fusion?!" The other deities were all visibly shaken.
They had seen some fusion abilities before, but this was the first time they encountered one that produced such a terrifying disturbance.
A Alyssa calmly analyzed, "My lords, I have read some books on 'Fusion' spells and have a basic understanding. Based on what I've read, I believe Bernelina Tide is likely being forced into a fusion. An alien creature is forcibly fusing with her, and she is completely powerless to resist."
Morningstar licked her paw and said, "Jiajia is right. If Bernelina Tide were actively fusing with the alien creature, she wouldn't have devastated her village like this. I also believe she is being forcibly fused with it."
"That makes sense." Kevin Goldenflower, the Elven Empress, and the other deities all agreed with Alyssa's assessment.
"Then what is this 'alien creature'?" Su Yu looked down at the black mist with concern.
If Bernelina Tide was indeed being forcibly fused, they would have even less of a chance to intervene. More importantly, Tina in the real world was also affected. What should they do?
At that moment, the Star Wandering Deity Bard hummed again.
Hearing his voice, the deities all lit up, "What a great idea!"
Bard suggested using a time-rewind spell to see what had happened in the village over the past hour.
Understanding the sequence of events would help them come up with a better plan to rescue Bernelina Tide.
However, casting the time-rewind spell would require a massive amount of mental energy. Bard needed the cooperation of all the present deities to cast it as quickly as possible.
Hearing Bard's suggestion, no one objected.
After everyone agreed, they each extended a portion of their mental energy to Bard.
Bard wasted no time and immediately used the vast amount of mental energy transmitted by the deities to begin the spell.
A golden clock appeared in front of him, slowly turning.
The clock emitted a brilliant golden light, which grew brighter as Bard continued casting. Accompanied by the dazzling golden light, a blurry image appeared in front of the clock.
After about two minutes, with all the deities having expended a tenth of their mental energy, the image finally took shape.
Seeing the image form, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
However, no one spoke, and they all focused intently on the image.
...
The scene in the image was from about an hour ago.
In this scene, Clearwind Village was still sunny and peaceful as usual.
The new player village was long empty of players; at this point, even the lowest-level players were striving to reach the third stage. There were no new players in the village.
Because there were no new players, the village chief and the other NPCs were sitting on the benches in the square, chatting and enjoying their leisurely time.
The first ten minutes of the image didn't reveal anything particularly valuable, so Bard skipped ahead at ten times the speed.
But when the image reached the eleventh minute, something valuable finally appeared! Bard returned the playback speed to normal.
The scene progressed to the 11th minute when a figure in a black cloak appeared on the teleportation array.
The person in the black cloak made no attempt to conceal their face. With just one glance, Alyssa and Kevin Lancaster immediately recognized her.
"Good heavens! It's Cecilia Nightblade!" Alyssa exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock.
She had never imagined that the mastermind behind the entire incident was none other than this person!
"It's her!" Kevin Lancaster narrowed his eyes, his expression one of disbelief.
Bard and the other deities had heard of Cecilia Nightblade but knew little about her.
Hearing Alyssa's exclamation, Bard paused the scene and asked, "Your Majesty, Queen Lancaster, who is this 'Cecilia Nightblade'?"
"Well..." Alyssa replied, "Time is of the essence, so let's continue the playback. I'll immediately share all the information about Cecilia Nightblade with everyone using my mental powers."
"Alright." Bard resumed the playback while simultaneously receiving all the information about Cecilia Nightblade from Alyssa.
Cecilia Nightblade was one of the eight 7th-rank powerhouses in the Lancaster Empire, but she wasn't human; she was a Dark Night Elf.
About 300 years ago, she founded an assassin organization in the capital of the Lancaster Empire, named "Secret Thorn."
Over 300 years, this organization grew to become the largest assassin network in the world, with over 500,000 members, more than half of all professional assassins being part of it.
Due to its immense size, the organization posed a significant social threat and was difficult to control, which was detrimental to the government's rule.
Therefore, 100 years ago, the "Secret Thorn" organization was officially incorporated by the government, transforming it into an official assassin guild.
Cecilia Nightblade also had close ties with the Lancaster Royal Family. With her 7th-Rank power, she became a significant figure in the core circle of the Lancaster Empire, one who couldn't be ignored.
However, Alyssa and Kevin Lancaster never expected that Cecilia Nightblade would appear here, as the mastermind behind the incident!
...
After learning about Cecilia Nightblade, the deities continued to watch the playback.
As soon as Cecilia Nightblade appeared on the teleportation array, she walked straight toward the village chief, who was leisurely chatting.
As she walked, she said, "You must be the village chief of Clearwind Village. I am Cecilia Nightblade, a 7th-Rank assassin of the empire. I have a matter of importance to discuss with Lady Bernina Tide."
The sudden appearance of this powerful figure startled the village chief.
He immediately got up from his reclining chair, his large body moving with surprising speed, and politely replied, "I'm sorry, but Lady Bernina is currently in meditation and cannot receive any visitors.
Not only you, but even the Lancaster Empress or a deity would not be able to see her. Please return."
After saying this, the village chief added, "If you truly have something urgent to inform Lady Bernina, you can tell me, and I will pass the message on. I am her avatar, so you don't need to worry about any secrets being leaked."
"Really?" Cecilia Nightblade crossed her arms and smiled meaningfully.
Then, she took something out of her backpack and waved it in front of the village chief. "See this? Go and inform her."
...
At this moment, Su Yu asked Bard to pause the playback. Bard quickly agreed and stopped the scene.
After the scene paused, Su Yu immediately pointed to the center of the screen and asked, "Sir Bard, why is this part completely pixelated?"
The center of the screen showed Cecilia Nightblade waving something in front of the village chief, but the object in her hand was heavily pixelated, making it impossible to identify.
Not only Su Yu, but the other deities were also puzzled.
They all turned their questioning gazes toward Bard, as if asking why he had pixelated the object.
But Bard could only smile helplessly, "Everyone, to be honest, I didn't pixelate the object in Cecilia Nightblade's hand. The pixelation seems to be inherent to the object itself.
I swear on my name, I don't know what this object is, and I'm just as curious as you are. I have no intention of hiding anything from you."
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
