CHAPTER 586: CHAPTER 395: THE AREA SEALED BY THE POPE

Time came to seven days later.

The events in Anor Londo had already spread throughout the areas covered by Sain Dungeon.

"What do you think that group of Dark Moon Swords will come up with next?"

"You mean those people who believe in the Shadow Sun? I think they’ve reached their limit."

In a tavern in Bed City, a few idlers sat around drinking and discussing the recent major events at broad daylight.

They were people on the fringes of society, working odd jobs, drinking, chatting, and not deeply involved in any events, thus becoming a hub for all kinds of rumors.

"I heard they were supposed to defeat that... Aldrich guy to save their god, yet until now, they haven’t won, and recently they only broadcasted once, shutting it down immediately after losing. Honestly, I feel a bit sorry for them," said Idler A, shaking his head.

Idler B took a sip of his drink and said, "Apart from fighting that Eating God guy, I heard those Dark Moon Swords are up to many other things."

"Like what?"

"For example, someone recently tried to warn the still-alive Shadow Sun in the Painting World, some stayed in the Painting World claiming to guard the Royal City, others danced a sacrificial dance in front of Gwyn’s statue hoping for divine help, and some stopped a group weighing over three hundred pounds from attacking Aldrich, thinking they could pull off the Shadow Sun’s body when Aldrich was busy eating them."

"Why over three hundred pounds?"

"Because the heavier they are, the slower Aldrich eats."

At these words, Idler A looked at the roast meat in front of him, having lost his appetite.

"So what’s the result? With so many believers, there should be some success, right?"

Idler B shook his head, about to say something when suddenly the tavern door burst open with a loud noise, attracting everyone’s attention, as if someone was here to cause trouble.

However, it was just a few despondent, dejected adventurers at the door; they weren’t intentionally crashing the door, just out of energy, they pushed it open with their swaying bodies.

When people saw the Dark Moon Sword insignia hanging on the adventurers, they turned back indifferently, continuing their conversations.

Weighed down by the Dark Moon Oath, the adventurers sat listlessly at an empty table. It took the owner several times to decide on ordering a pile of strong drinks, intending to numb themselves with alcohol.

Idler B pointed at them, made a grimace, shrugged, and the unsaid words were self-evident.

All that the Dark Moon Swords had done ended in failure.

When disaster struck, people thought of becoming heroes, only to realize after failure that they couldn’t do anything.

In any tavern in Bed City or even the Royal City, you could find disheartened Dark Moon Swords. People didn’t find their behavior exaggerated. If you told Holy Light believers that the Holy Light God had died, those folks might do something more extreme, dragging a few others along in martyrdom.

Currently, the Dark Moon Swords just drink away their sorrows without disturbing others, and in the eyes of residents, they are seen as a relatively decent group.

"Speaking of the Holy Light Church, you know about the Holy Light God’s revelation, right? Finally, a god we know has started to act."

"I’ve even met that blessed Lica before. That sickly person has now become a high-ranking official in the Holy Light Church. I’m so envious! Why wasn’t I blessed?"

"You don’t even believe in the Holy Light... But I’m thinking of joining the Holy Light Church recently. Now, whether it’s Starfire, Dark Moon, or other churches, they’ve all been overshadowed by it, and its recent actions clearly show it’s intentionally suppressing other churches."

"No wonder it’s the traditional church deeply rooted in the kingdom. It looked like it was declining over the years, but as soon as it acted, it turned back into the historical giant beast."

A drunken Idler C shouted, "In my view, you gotta believe in these big churches. If you believe in those small ones, who knows when the fun will end."

Idler B hurriedly coughed twice, covering C’s mouth with his hand, as Dark Moon Swords around the tavern were looking over, not too friendly!

Idler C, who wanted to talk drunkenly, was scared, falling to the ground, swiftly crawling under the table.

"Let’s go..."

Someone among the adventurers said, and they slammed their meal money on the table, ready to leave. One of them vented anger by kicking the idler’s butt outside the table.

"Tap tap tap——"

Suddenly, the sound of running came from outside the tavern, chaotic. What happened again?

An adventurer poked his head out, seeing a familiar figure, a Dark Moon Sword buddy who used to join in joyful invasions with him. He also found the runners somewhat familiar, and they seemed to be heading towards the Sain Dungeon Teleportation Gate.

"What’s going on, why are you running?" he shouted.

"Gwyndolin!" the person shouted, "Fingrie discovered Gwyndolin’s message, it’s being broadcast live now, go check it out!"

Upon hearing this, the adventurers hurried towards the Teleportation Gate.

Time rewinds an hour back.

Fingrie’s live broadcast appeared on a screen set up near the Teleportation Gate, which people had become accustomed to.

The new invention, the Transmission Stone, was intriguing to people, but it was still fraught with many issues. Before hitting the market, it required numerous improvements. The version used by Fingrie was already the best, yet sometimes it would frequently black out or have delays.

People gathered batch after batch in front of the screen, but there was already no expectation in their eyes, only watching to see how long these adventurers could hold on.

At this moment, deep in the dungeon, Fingerley also didn’t know how much longer he could endure.

The battle with Aldrich had resulted in nothing so far. Several times victory seemed within reach, but they all fell short due to minor issues.

Even paying repeated attention to these issues, there was no way to fully resolve them. The best attempt only forced Aldrich into the body-sparkling second stage, which was slightly weaker than the Ember King-form Fran Undead Team.

However, Fran Undead Team’s ordinary form and Ember King form were counted separately. Defeating the ordinary form counted as a victory for the adventurer, but Aldrich’s two forms were factored together!

This left the adventurers unable to triumph despite their fullest efforts.

At this moment, he and his companions stood before the Fog Gate of Yanor Londo, inside which resided the enemy he had challenged dozens of times without victory. If he went in this time, he estimated he still wouldn’t stand a chance.

Elderly would charge an attack called Dark Moon Arrow Rain, which would sweep the entire field, killing the adventurer instantly. Apart from interrupting the charge in time, Topps Force Field was surprisingly effective against it, a fact he discovered during his previous battle.

In the end, he still lost that battle, wasting a rare Silver Shield.

Now Fingerley felt a deep exhaustion, worse than when he had exhausted all his efforts to try and save the little boy from Yilushier.

"Forget it, I’m not going in this time," he suddenly said, turning around to leave.

The spectators outside, seeing this scene, thought he had finally given up and showed expressions of disappointment.

However, the live broadcast was not turned off, and Fingerley turned to explore inside the castle, causing the originally departing crowd to stop.

Whoever enters Yanor Londo comes to fight Elderly, and after losing several times, they leave in despair, neglecting to explore the castle.

Primarily, because everyone familiarized themselves with the architecture of Yanor Londo, and the rewards placed on the journey from the castle to Elderly’s Fog Gate were very similar to the Painting World, misleading adventurers into thinking the subsequent regions were no different.

Following Fingerley’s perspective, people watched the decaying Royal City covered in ice and snow, finding it hard to feel any positive emotions, perhaps less so than fighting Elderly.

Those who have been to the Painting World observe the details and suddenly murmur to themselves:

"Why does it feel like the structure deep inside the castle has changed? The position of rewards has shifted too...."

The items Fingerley picked up in the hidden corners of the castle stunned these people even more.

[Key to the Rotating Mechanism]

[Insert it into the rotating mechanism to reach the area locked by Pope Shalivan]

The rotating mechanism refers to that rotating staircase, can it lead to new places? Why didn’t we see it?

And the area locked by Shalivan...

Fingerley suddenly thought of something, waved to his companions, and hurried towards the rotating mechanism outside the castle.

Much of Yanor Londo’s architecture had crumbled at this point, and the places the rotating mechanism could reach only included the mid-level and lower levels of the Painting World, corresponding to the road leading to the castle and Gwyn’s tomb, the place that once had Gwendolin’s Fog Gate.

The adventurers had come to check Gwyn’s tomb, finding neither the helpful Sun Warrior nor the Gwyn statue disappearing, even if wearing the Dark Moon Priest Ring was useless.

After searching for a long time at the rotating mechanism, Fingerley really found a keyhole near the lever!

Because there was no such setup in the Painting World, they instinctively didn’t look closely here!

Inserting the key, the rotating mechanism slowly ascended, and the staircase reached the upper level, no, higher than the upper level.

Matilda saw her captain clenching his fists with an expectant look; she hadn’t seen him so nervous since learning about Elderly.

Even she began to speculate what might lie beyond, could it be that Gwendolin isn’t dead but locked up elsewhere?

"Boom..."

The mechanism slowly stopped, but the scene before them left everyone bewildered.

The staircase faced.... an empty cliff?

A hundred meters ahead stood a solitary tower, and it seemed that a bridge should have connected the staircase to the tower.

However, the bridge was broken, with both ends severed, leaving a large gap in the middle; falling would surely result in a grisly end.

"Try using Flying Skill?"

"Aren’t you afraid Sain will mess with you?"

"Hiss...."

While the two hesitated, some straw came over to poke them, and turning around, they found it was Aleya.

"What’s up?" Fingerley asked.

Aleya didn’t speak, just pointed below her feet, and the body of the straw man she controlled sprouted a lot of straw, wrapping around... the air!?

"It’s an Invisible Bridge!"

Fingerley realized suddenly; it had been a long time since he’d last seen an Invisible Bridge in Sain.

Aleya walked ahead, her vines wrapping around the invisible bridge as she went, revealing its shape, and Fingerley and Matilda followed steadily behind.

As they approached the tower, an indescribable sound effect appeared along with the name of the place.

[Tower of Prisoners]

"Prisoners..."

Matilda muttered the word, looking up at Fingerley, who had a "just as I thought" expression on his face, saying:

"If I’m not wrong, here should be—"

"Who are you, and why do you linger here?"

A strange young woman’s voice appeared in everyone’s ears.