Eldritch Horror Theatre

'So this is what it feels like to be valued!'

Receiving the exact same treatment as Old Man Sage left Fu Qian feeling his worth had been deeply affirmed.

True charisma simply couldn't be hidden. An outstanding man like him was bound to be a target wherever he went.

Of course, the two people who had previously been looked down upon—Charlotte and Scrooge—didn't show any misplaced pride this time. Instead, they wore identical expressions of pure existential doubt.

They seemed quite shocked that he had actually survived.

The torrent of information in his mind rapidly receded as Fu Qian savored their peculiar reactions.

'This isn't the petty malice of wondering why I haven't died yet. They seem genuinely shocked.'

In their estimation, it should have been impossible for him to survive.

'Interesting.'

Still frozen, they hadn't recovered their ability to speak and obviously couldn't answer his unspoken questions.

"There is no more danger."

In the end, Old Man Sage's voice broke the silence first, his tone carrying a soft sigh.

"They... were actually... alive?"

Ais, her heart still pounding with lingering terror, finally forced the words out. Her gaze remained unfocused.

"They are dead now."

Old Man Sage's voice, however, had practically returned to normal.

"They walked the wrong path and became filthy reptiles. They should have died a long time ago."

"But the Holy Grail certainly squeezed every last drop of value out of them. A hidden ambush, followed by using Knowledge Infusion to delay our reactions once discovered, and finally replicating abilities for a one-hit kill."

"Unfortunately for them, not everything requires firsthand experience before it can be countered. That is precisely why I let you experience the torrent of 'knowledge' earlier."

Having finished his explanation, Old Man Sage's gaze finally settled onto Fu Qian's face. His expression was unreadable.

'So they really did do resistance training in advance.'

Fu Qian marveled inwardly. Sage's words had undoubtedly confirmed his suspicions.

At the same time, he suddenly understood why everyone had been watching him so closely. Not everyone had undergone that resistance training. It was likely an exclusive perk for VIP members of The Society.

Fu Qian could even understand why they operated that way.

It wasn't that the lives of the others were meaningless. Rather, in this kind of expedition, if the entire team possessed too much resistance, they might actually fail to mount the optimal response to certain anomalies.

In short, according to their calculations, he should have failed to react in time and been roasted alive.

The proof that this wasn't just a malicious assumption stood right in front of him. Ever since the attack, the ever-diligent Brother Round Shield hadn't moved a muscle.

Remaining silent, Fu Qian stepped forward and patted Brother Round Shield on the shoulder.

The Golden Shield held before the man's chest finally fell as his body slowly turned around.

Sadly, that once-resolute face was now utterly vacant.

Not everyone could withstand an overload.

Shaking his head under the watchful eyes of the four behind him, Fu Qian unfastened the Golden Shield from the man's arm.

'It really is heavy!'

After silently inspecting it, Fu Qian slipped the Golden Shield onto his own arm. Only then did he turn back around, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

"Sage won't blame me for taking a peek at things I wasn't supposed to see, right?"

...

That single sentence contained a massive amount of information, even if all of it was deliberately misleading.

Ais and the other two listened with profound alarm. In unison, they turned to look at Sage.

His implication was obvious: he had long suspected his status as cannon fodder. Unwilling to accept that fate, he had done everything in his power to prepare, which included building a resistance against this specific Knowledge Infusion.

But the real question was, without Sage's help, where could he possibly have gone to build up that tolerance beforehand?

...

As the subject of this scrutiny, Old Man Sage was in no rush to explain himself. However, the rapidly spinning wings on his Golden Staff were absolute proof that he was comprehensively evaluating Fu Qian.

"Left Hand's performance this time was a pleasant surprise. We'll be relying on you moving forward."

In the suffocating silence, Sage finally made his stance clear.

It seemed that after using his Insight, his evaluation of Fu Qian's threat level—and the necessity of eliminating him early—remained optimistic.

"Of course."

Having offered his own brief reply to Sage's assessment, a peculiar smile crept onto Fu Qian's face.

"There is nothing quite as beautiful as the pursuit of knowledge."

That slightly fanatical declaration successfully fleshed out his chosen persona to a certain extent.

The persona of a second-class citizen who knew his place, yet remained utterly obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge.

Though instinctively wary of lunatics, the rest of the team felt their previous suspicions about Fu Qian's actions dissipate just a little bit more.

Even his blatant act of equipping a second piece of gear failed to raise any further alarms.

"So if they're deploying tactics like that, does it mean the Holy Grail isn't far off?"

After a brief silence, Ais, having rapidly recovered her mental state, finally took the initiative to steer their attention back to the mission.

"It's closer than you think."

Sage chuckled deeply at the question. However, in an immensely punchable manner, he didn't elaborate further and simply strode forward.

Fortunately, after their overly stimulating brush with death, nobody felt inclined to complain about his awful behavior.

In silence, the group filed into the chamber and walked right up to the base of the stone statue.

However, just as Old Man Sage reached out to touch the stone statue, his movements suddenly froze. He looked up at the ceiling.

The eyes carved into the domed ceiling, which had previously calmed down, were actually blinking in rippling waves. Every single one of them.

"Retreat—"

In that split second, a shock that normally seemed entirely foreign to him finally cracked through Old Man Sage's voice.

Even as he shouted the warning, he spun around without a second's hesitation and bolted back the way they came.

Only then did Charlotte and the rest of the group react, awaking as if from a dream. Realizing an unexpected crisis had occurred, they immediately scrambled back.

However, while the chamber wasn't massive, it wasn't exactly small either.

Just a split second before the group could sprint back to the entrance, a woven net of laser-like beams instantly washed over them.

In the span of a single breath, not a single intact limb could be found among Sage and the other three.

'So, in the end, did evil climb ten feet higher?'

Witnessing this brutal scene, Fu Qian fiercely resisted the heavy blows bombarding his willpower, while ripples undulated across the Golden Shield held securely in front of him.

He had indeed taken Brother Round Shield's Golden Shield earlier, and of course, it hadn't been out of any sense of mourning.

After slipping the Golden Shield onto his arm, Fu Qian had done two things.

First, he quietly removed his Glove to prevent their abilities from clashing.

Second, relying on the patterns of the Golden Shield he had repeatedly observed, he used a previously verified method to rapidly brainstorm at full capacity. He pushed himself to the limit to instantly master its "knowledge" and establish a connection with the item.

Indeed, even though Old Man Sage had acted like an absolute professional—and even if their ultimate objective was close at hand—Fu Qian still didn't fully trust him. He refused to believe their surroundings were truly safe.

As for why, aside from his own professional habit of doubting absolutely everything, there was also one very simple reason.

'Can someone really just breeze to an effortless victory in a Grade 1 mission? I don't buy it for a second.'

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