Stray

Adrian Cross wasn’t surprised by the warning.

The former Knight of Judgment was unruffled. His fingers that had just released the arrow were still seeping blood. He swallowed the bread that Jesse stuffed into his mouth quietly without showing even a hint of surprise on his face.

After politely and quickly finishing the piece of white bread, Adrian finally spoke. He threw a short question at the uneasy choir member, “A fanatic?”

The young man with abnormal eyes nodded cautiously. He looked extremely nervous, and he was sure that the other party understood what he meant. The young man saluted the four members of Tumbleweed again and quickly returned to the reconnaissance team far away.

Jesse let out a short “ha” but didn’t withdraw the subtle smile in his expression in time.

“A fanatic?” Oliver had a belly of questions, and he decided to start with the clearest one.

Nemo beside him quickly unloaded a package of ham from the goat, and the mage of Tumbleweed used the black shadow as a chopping board to neatly make a simple sandwich. Letting the shadow blade fly up and down on the side, Nemo’s eyes locked on the knight commander…

“Well, I can tell. Since that gentleman made a point to warn us, he should have heard something. Mr. Ramon, has that mage ever bothered you?”

“…Not too much trouble, but that gentleman is indeed not very friendly.” Oliver recalled the contemptuous “sinner” for a moment.

“I don’t think they’re going to make you their primary target because of the way you two behave just now in battle. If they really plan to do something, Mr. Dylan and I are better targets.”

“This is the Abyss, and we are the guards.” Nemo stopped the shadow blade in shock. “Would anyone really choose to cause trouble at this time?”

“Because it is in the Abyss, some things will happen more ‘naturally’.” Jesse glanced at the red-robed mage in the distance, pointed his chin at the person next to him, and touched a freshly made sandwich with his hand. “Look.”

Although the people of the Laddism Church gathered in one place, they were far apart from the believers of the Mooney Sect, but if one looked closely, the believers of the Laddism Church seemed to be faintly divided into two groups. Preceptor Felix was obviously standing far away from the group of mages.

Considering the comprehensiveness of the information, the people of Laddism Church must also be divided into two teams. As a member of the Laddism Church escorts, with Horizon only having two members, and in order to maintain a balance of power, Tumbleweed were destined to move separately.

“If the reconnaissance team succeeds in bringing back valuable information, it will be a great achievement no matter which religion it is. There’s also a power struggled within the Laddism Church. You know, it is the behemoth after all— Do you suppose that there will only be one faction that came to take the credit?” the blond young man snorted.

“Since it’s an internal struggle, why are they coming for us?” Oliver huffed and asked subconsciously.

“Don’t forget, dear captain. We are the guards selected by the Pope himself,” Jesse said with a smile. “That old fox is extremely shrewd. No one likes Black Chapters, but Mr. Bishop’s attitude along the way is very good. He must have been specifically instructed by the Pope not to be enemies of us casually… Ah, even I began to admire that cunning old guy.”

“If our escort succeeds, he will gain enough information and be able to sell us more favors under the pretense of our poor reputation. If we fail— Well, I don’t think that’ll happen, so you’re all basically aware of the actual situation of this team.”

Hearing the disrespectful address of the Pope, Adrian frowned and glared at Jesse. “This is one aspect.”

Having said that, the knight commander pulled the corners of his mouth helplessly. “In addition to interests, there is also faith. The last Pope focused on maintaining the ‘glory of God’ and was extremely strict with heretics. Since Lord Quinn took office, the policy has eased a lot, but it’s all based on ignoring some of the harsher dogmas.”

He let out a soft sigh.

“When it comes to the followers of the last Pope, some people are indeed dissatisfied with what Dylan said about the interests, but there are also some who firmly believe that Lord Quinn is sacrificing Zenni’s glory in exchange for filthy riches.”

Zenni’s glory.

Nemo silently folded the freshly baked sandwich and rolled his eyes in his heart.

Mr. Dylan had no glory to sacrifice. If the so-called glory could be exchanged for gold coins, he wouldn’t be surprised if Dylan would put it up for auction. After all, their diviner didn’t even cherish his own face, let alone such a high-level thing like glory.

But at this point, even he and Oliver, who had little experience, could understand that under the coordination of the old pope, conflicts of interest may be able to be discussed in the long run. Although faith was also related to interests, extreme conflicts of faith were ultimately difficult to reconcile.

Not to mention that attacking comrades-in-arms was a reprehensible behavior anywhere, so the dogmas those fanatics follow shouldn’t allow them to do that. Thus, if they wanted to express their resistance against the current Pope now, there was no moral burden to start with Tumbleweed.

Especially Adrian Cross, who “rebelled” from the Laddism Church but was passively pursued by the Pope.

Nemo took a bite of the sandwich in silence and stuff some chopped ham over his shoulder to the gray parrot who was still intoxicated with itself.

Pope Dawn Quinn should have been able to foresee this, and the knight commander, who was once a high-ranking member of the Laddism Church, knew what he would face. The agreement they signed at the Clementine Cathedral that day may be heavier than they thought.

“Sorry, I didn’t think it through at first.” Oliver took a few deep breaths.

“You had no choice.” The knight’s long tone was steady. “At that point in time, agreeing to the pope was indeed the most favorable decision for the team.”

“If it’s me,” Jesse hooked an arm around the knight’s long neck and changed the subject neatly, “I will do it after collecting the information and successfully returning to the surface. Although the fanatics are crazy, they’re not brainless… If we meet as soon as possible, there shouldn’t be any big problems.”

“Ollie and I are going to deal with the fanatics.” Nemo swallowed the sandwich in his mouth.

“You are also a great target, ‘demon worshipper’ Nemo Light. I think they dislike you no less than me.” The knight commander shook his head gently and took the sandwich handed by Nemo with both hands. “The bishop has the Pope’s entrustment in front of him, so he shouldn’t stare and prick at you. You and Mr. Ramon are less likely to be exposed.”

Adrian’s tone was a little strong leaving no room to refute. “No matter which of you is exposed, the situation will be much worse than me. Dylan is considered a powerful person. If the two of us cooperate, the combat effectiveness will be sufficient.”

“My love, your fiery trust makes my heart tremble,” Jesse pressed his chest and said affectionately.

“And,” the knight commander ignored Jesse who was rubbing up against him, “Mr. Light, if this topic is over, can you explain the situation about the parrot?”

“……”

The reconnaissance team spent a full week investigating the fifth set of arrays, but unfortunately, the situation in the Gravity Maze was special, and they could no longer use the puppet bird to bring out any information. By the time the reconnaissance team arrived at Phantom Throat, this tired team had been in the Abyss for a month.

Only the few members of Tumbleweed still had the spirit to react to the spectacular scene in front of them.

The ground material here was extremely weird; hard and smooth, exuding a hazy white light. The light was very soft and not dazzling, but it could illuminate everything in front of them.

The numbers of demon who choose to inhabit here was unexpectedly low. There was endless darkness above their heads, and only a pearl-white glowing ground was under the feet. The scenery was as clean as an illusion. The pearl-white ground continued to undulate, folding not far from them, separating into two natural passages.

Nemo finally understood why it was called “Phantom Throat”.

“We’ve arrived. Very good, very good,” Commander Rugo said weakly, rolling his one-eye eyeball. “It’s time to divide the team now. One dragon on each side. There’s nothing to argue about. Our people will also be divided into two teams, and the rest of you humans are free to divide as you like.”

He even let out a malicious laugh.

“It’s a balance between intelligence and fate. Everyone, don’t get too far into it.”

The knight commander looked at the young man who had specifically warned them— Sure enough, the member of the choir was assigned to the group of fanatics.

After all, the Pope had been committed to disbanding the choir.

“Let’s go, Dylan.” Adrian hesitated for a moment, stretched out his hand and patted Jesse on the back lightly.

Jesse gleefully grabbed Bagelmaurus with both hands and force it to lock eyes with him. This only made the latter tried to imitate an owl and tried to turn its heard squarely backwards— It even looked like it was close to succeeding.

The appearance of the mutant flat snake in the Gravity Maze flashed through his mind causing Adrian to stretch out his hand and pinch his eyebrows. The scenery in the Abyss was too strange, that even things they knew began to become absurd.

An eight-hundred-meter-long giant demon.

Glancing at the parrot struggling with dissatisfaction in Jesse’s hands, the former knight frowned and shook his head, barely pressing the memories of the dangerous superior demon back to his heart.

Compared with Nemo Light, the situation in Bagelmaurus was at least within common sense. Now it seemed that it had successfully restored its power through its own body, and the arrogance of the superior demon had finally returned— After all, not long ago, even the pure human Ann Savage was able to defeat it.

Business was more important. Adrian retracted his gaze.

One week was enough time for them to make a decision.

After Bagelmaurus made a scene in the Gravity Maze, Godwin Lopez was obviously determined to keep an eye on Nemo. Since the two members of Horizon didn’t plan to split up, Nemo and Oliver tentatively followed Preceptor Felix and stuffed the crying grey parrot to Jesse.

“It’s an important combat power.” The leader of Tumbleweed solemnly instructed.

However, at the moment, Jesse Dylan was holding their important combat power in one hand, and the fuller goat in the other, leaning towards the fanatics with joy.

“Although the environment is not very beautiful, this is our two-person world anyway, Adri.” The blond young man winked his eyes ambiguously at him.

But this couldn’t hide Mr. Dylan’s slightly pale face.

Adrian sighed, walked forward, and touched Jesse’s forehead with his hand. After confirming that the temperature was normal, he put down his hand slightly worriedly. “If you are uncomfortable, please don’t try to tough it out. Passing through the Phantom Throat, it’s not far from the bottom of the Abyss… Anything can happen there.”

“Oh, of course I know.” Jesse instantly let go of the parrot he was holding in his hand, grabbed the hand and kissed it unceremoniously. “Your concern is enough to cure me, my love.”

Glancing at the unusually calm blue pupils, the knight lowered his gaze and retracted his hand.

But at the moment he was about to speak, the tingling sensation of being peeped at by others quickly crept onto his back. Adrian subconsciously took two steps forward, clenched the metal bow, and made a guard posture beside the choir member.

He instinctively looked into the darkness somewhere in the distance. The feeling came and went quickly— The darkness over there was dead, without any semblance of life.

Was it an illusion?

“Oh, your breathing stopped.” In the dark, a voice came from the darkly colored communication crystal. The tone was fantastical. “Someone is watching?”

“Cross has a good intuition,” the demon wrapped in armor said solemnly.

“Do you plan to watch from the sidelines?” Telaranea complained loudly on the crystal side. “You should know, Aurorae, you can’t get too close to the bottom of the Abyss now. Even if the body is connected with magic, my eyeballs can’t withstand the aura of the Demon King, not to mention, the ones that were cut apart by me and given to you— You’d better hurry and settle things and return to the surface.”

The voice of the Sage of the Abyss became a little serious.

“I don’t want to vacate a physical body to do nothing but wait for you exclusively near the entrance of the Abyss.”

“Witherspoon failed to succeed in solving the problem.” Aurorae didn’t answer the other party’s question positively.

“Tsk, I even taught it how to control dolls. What? Was it scared by the aura of the “Demon King” again?”

“After all, it’s a magma wyrm. It’s clear that Light is just a fake, so he wouldn’t flinch just because of a little aura. He was defeated by Bagelmaurus.”

“Interesting. An upgraded corewen flat snake? It is a case worth studying.”

“The parrot is still following them.” Aurorae touched the hilt on the big sword behind him. “At present, I don’t have the terrain advantage to kill them all at once, and it’s not time for me to be exposed. If there’s no problem with the arrangement, the group of people who went to examine the hidden array will die, and I don’t need to make any special move— I’ll continue to follow Nemo Light.”

The line of sight passed through the gap in the helmet, and those orange-red eyes swept towards the reconnaissance team in the distance. The voice of the demon slayer was extremely cold.

“On this side…Well, if they persist and continue to explore unknowingly, there’s still a chance Light will survive alone.”

“And you can’t allow that to happen.”

“Yes.”

The author has something to say:

[Package 1] It is recommended to match it with sweet and sour ketchup.

There’s a copy of the Laddism Church members with a Bishop, and a copy of the Mooney Sect believers with bitter hearts; one red dragon, a few one-eye dwarves.

A combination of the Demon King and the Hero, and two Horizon mercenaries.

[Package 2] It is recommended to match it with fresh red chili sauce.

There is a copy of Laddism fanatics without a Bishop, and a copy of Mooney Sect with super bitter hearts; one blue dragon, a few one-eye dwarves.

A combination of God, a knight commander, a parrot (?), one goat. Attached is an unlucky member of the choir.

——

Destiny’s Menu√