Upon hearing Gwen's words, Magnum and Yuri were both stunned.
The boundless fog was still surging around, and invisible malicious minds seemed to be everywhere on the plain. Amidst the low murmurs and mental corruption everywhere, Gwen said without turning his head, "Something is trying to bypass the protection of Sandbox No. 1. If I'm not mistaken, the Narrators from above have already begun to infiltrate the real world."
Whether it was the spider-form Duwalter, the boundless fog, or the mental corruption, all these things that could be seen on the surface only took half of Gwen's attention. The other half of his attention was actually focused on the changes of the 'boundary'!
This boundary was the boundary of the mental network. It was the 'boundary' formed by the countless hidden doors, springboards, and hidden ports that Gwen and Daniel had set up in the mental network. These things covered the entire network, covering all the nodes except for Sandbox No. 1. They were once tools that Gwen used to hack the mental network and monitor the actions of the Eternal Sleepers. At this moment, these things had become a hidden line of defense for Gwen to monitor whether the network was normal or not.
With all the nodes of the mental network carrying out dream control and all the computing power concentrated in Sandbox No. 1, any unlabeled information that appeared in the network was 100% contaminated by the Narrators from above!
Just a moment ago, Gwen vaguely sensed the contamination. He sensed that part of the hidden ports set up in the mental network had 'sniffed' suspicious information. Without a doubt, there was an anomaly in the network outside the sandbox. It was very likely that there was an anomaly in the real world as well!
Magnum's eyes widened. While being vigilant of the shadows in the fog, he quickly said, "But there's no warning signal from the real world … Wait … Damn it!"
He suddenly realized what was going on, and his face instantly turned awful.
"Yuri, let's get out of here immediately!" Magnum suddenly turned to Yuri Chalvin, and then looked at Gwen and Selena. "What about the two of you?"
"Selena can't 'return to the real world.' She and I will stay here. We will find a way to deal with the Narrators from above. Before that, you have to find a way to find the infiltration point in the real world, plug the loophole, and don't let it escape," Gwen said. "If we can solve the problem at the source, all the problems will be solved."
"I understand." Magnum nodded hard and looked to the side. "Yuri, why aren't you ready?"
"I can't get out of here." Yuri's hands quickly drew golden runes in the air. Layers of illusory light spread out with him as the center, but it was blocked by an invisible barrier. "It's interfered with it … I can't locate the boundary of the real world!"
In the boundless fog, Duwalter's hoarse voice was heard again. "The real world … there is no real world here …"
The shadow in the thick fog suddenly shrunk, and a thick limb with sharp barbs abruptly chopped down. Gawain raised his longsword and blocked the sudden attack with a clang. However, even more attacks surged in from all directions!
Selina nimbly dodged the attacks that were aimed at her. She casually stroked the air around her, and invisible waves rippled out. The black limbs were instantly covered in translucent foam, and then quickly dissipated as if exposed to sunlight.
Gwen took advantage of the short gap created by Selena and took two steps back to Yuri and Magnum. "Come closer, I'll send you back to the real world."
"You can …" Magnum stared at Gwen in astonishment. Just as he was about to question how Gwen could send them back to the real world when they could not perceive the boundary of the real world, he remembered the strangeness and horror of the extraterrestrial wanderers. His tone suddenly changed. "Tell me what to do!"
"You don't have to do anything," Gwen said as he locked the mind of Yuri and Magnum through the pre-set secret door in the system. "It's just that the process may be a little uncomfortable —"
Yuri asked instinctively, "What do you mean —"
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a torrent of memories that was so vast that it was beyond human comprehension and so violent that it was impossible to resist surging into his mind. The torrent was so huge that it even made him afraid. Everything he knew and saw in the past half of his life, all of his memories and knowledge, was washed away by this torrent, as insignificant as sand on the beach.
The surface of his consciousness went into shock, his mind was melted, and he was forcibly disconnected.
Yuri and Magnum did not even have time to see what was in the torrent of consciousness before they were forcibly disconnected.
As the two archbishops suddenly disappeared, the endless fog surrounding Gwen and Selena suddenly stopped for a moment.
The master of the fog seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then all the thick fog shrunk, piled up, and once again condensed into Duwalter in his tattered robe.
"You're more … dangerous than I thought." Duwalter looked at Gwen quietly, his voice was strangely calm.
"You've always been dangerous to me." Gwen swung the longsword in his hand and looked calmly at the old man not far away.
Duwalter took a step forward and took the initiative to take a step toward Gwen.
After taking a step forward, Gwen suddenly felt that the environment around him had changed again. A feeling of being watched by countless pairs of eyes and being enveloped by an invisible net welled up in his heart.
And behind Duarte, by the side of the spiral hill, the gigantic spider that was originally dead and silently lying on the hill suddenly began to show signs of "life" when he took that step.
Duwalter took a second step. Behind him, the surface of the Narrator's corpse rippled like waves. The layers of runes quickly turned from dim to bright. The appendages that clung tightly to the rocks like huge pillars also slowly moved, causing countless boulders to roll down the hillside, causing a loud rumble.
"God is already dead …"
Duwalter spread his arms and seemed to form some sort of resonance with the giant divine spider behind him. He announced loudly, and the giant spider's head suddenly lit up with red light. It was as though countless pairs of eyes were looking in the direction of Gwen and Selena at the same time.
"'He' died for all life …
"'His' death brought the world back to its origin. All things return to their cocoons, and the cocoons return to all things …
"And today, 'He' will also …"
Layers of ripples had already appeared under Gwen's feet. He turned into an afterimage like a cannonball and instantly charged at Duwalter with his sword. In the next second, he stabbed the dark red Pathfinder longsword into the latter's chest.
"I can't wait for the villain to finish his sentence." Gwen gripped the hilt of his longsword tightly and calmly looked into Duwalter's eyes. An illusory flame had already ignited on the longsword's blade, rapidly devouring the body of the elderly cleric. "This is experience."
However, there was no pain on Duwalter's face amidst the raging flames. He even had a strange smile on his face as he continued to speak in a calm and unperturbed tone.
"'He' will be born for all life.
"You must finish what you have to say. This is courtesy."
After a soft sound like a bubble bursting, Duwalter's body shattered silently under the Pathfinder's sword. A sudden darkness rose in front of Selena and Gwen's eyes. This darkness seemed to have emerged from their own hearts, and there was no way to dodge or resist it. The two of them were completely engulfed in an instant.
In the darkness, Selena heard an ethereal voice, "Have a good dream, our 'Creator' …"
…
Magnum suddenly opened his eyes. The scenery in his vision shook wildly and reorganized, finally forming the familiar furnishings of the room.
The next second, he suddenly jumped out of the magic circle that had layers of protective spells. He almost lost his balance and fell to the ground. After hanging on to a nearby pillar by a hair's breadth, he began to feel dizzy and nauseous.
This terrible state lasted for a full half a minute before the powerful Archbishop of Eternal Rest finally caught his breath. As he cursed and adjusted his state, he turned back to take a look.
Behind him, the magic circle that had many protective spells had dimmed by more than half. Almost all the protective runes had melted and extinguished.
Magnum gasped and muttered in fear, "The power of an extraterritorial wanderer … Is his understanding of 'a little uncomfortable' different from us humans …?"
Then, he calmed himself down and turned to look at the entrance of the sealed chamber.
There was no unusual movement outside. What he saw through his mind's vision was very normal as well.
But he did not feel relieved. Instead, he expanded his range of perception until he was sure that there was no abnormality in the entire diocese. He then stepped to the door, pushed the door open, and left the room.
Almost at the same time, another door on the other side of the corridor was pushed open. Yuri Chalvin, who looked a little pale, appeared in front of Magnum.
"Magnum." Yuri looked at him and shook his head with a wry smile. "I suspect that the extraterritorial wanderers have a different understanding of 'a little uncomfortable' from us humans …"
"I almost thought I was dead." Magnum frowned and shook his head. "How are you?"
"I'm fine." Yuri nodded. "We'd better find Archbishop Semler, who is in charge of the temple. Hopefully, the infiltration of the upper level narrators has not opened up an irreversible channel."
Magnum nodded and walked quickly to the central area of the temple with Yuri. While walking, he muttered, "The situation is terrible … For today's operation, we have shut down many ports of the mental network. In order to maintain computing power in this situation, many bishops and archbishops who were originally scattered all over the world have returned to the Aurandale area … If there is a leak between us, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"Think on the bright side." Yuri shook his head. "If there is a leak between us, at least the leak will be contained in this underground palace. As long as the upper dome collapses, all the problems will not spread to the surface."
"… Most of the time, I don't understand your optimism," Magnum muttered.
Almost at the same time, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the corridor ahead, and the two archbishops stopped at the same time.
Yuri instantly pressed his hand on a magic book at his waist, while Magnum raised his arm slightly, ready to cast a spell.
This was the base camp of the Eternal Sleepers, the headquarters they were most familiar with, and the safest place in the hearts of every Eternal Sleeper for many years.
But tonight, it was no longer the case.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and finally, a familiar figure appeared in front of Yuri and Magnum.
It was Archbishop Semler in a black robe, with a gloomy and serious temperament, and sparse hair mixed with a few strands of gray. He was the person in charge of the underground palace tonight.
Behind the archbishop were several fully-armed high-ranking clerics, as well as more than a dozen "spirit knights" who were wearing heavy armor and wielding "Nightmare Cutter" blades.
This fully-armed posture was not the usual state of a normal patrol.
The two sides, who suddenly met each other, stopped almost at the same time. The priests, who were compatriots not long ago, were suddenly shrouded in a nervous mood.
"Yuri, Magnum," Semler stared at the two in front of him and said, "Didn't you enter the sandbox to carry out the mission?"
"The extraterritorial wanderers asked us to come out and warn them that there may be undetected infiltration in the real world," Magnum said in a deep voice. "Semler, what's the situation on your side?"
Archbishop Semler was obviously relieved after hearing Magnum's words, but he still frowned and said, "I'm afraid your warning was a little late … Something has happened."
Yuri's eyes widened. "Something has happened!?"
"The containment area has been contaminated, and some of the Spirit Knight have been controlled. Archbishop Venti risked her life to break out of the encirclement and reported it to the police. Then, there were different degrees of chaos in the dogmatic area, the wine cellar, and the lower priest area," Archbishop Semler said quickly. "Now we're stopping the contaminated priests in each area, and I'm leading a team to patrol the middle area of the temple."
The situation seemed to be very clear, but the vigilant expression on Magnum's face did not change at all.
"This doesn't eliminate you as a suspect. I hope you can understand, Semler." He stared at the people not far in front of him. "Although we are friends, I have to suspect everyone now."
"We all need to prove our innocence, Magnum." Semler also nodded, indicating that he understood.
"I have a suggestion, faster than any theurgy," Magnum raised a hand and said solemnly. "Now read it with me:
"The upper narrator is a son of a bitch."
Yuri's eyes widened. After a moment of shock, he looked at Magnum with disdain. "Vulgar!"
"Vulgar but effective," Magnum glanced at Yuri. "I used to be a war priest, and I was ordered to eradicate heretical beliefs. I know how to quickly screen devout believers, especially those who have been converted by spiritual contamination. They can't use reason to control their words and actions, so …
"Everyone, read it with me …"
(End of Chapter)
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