Eldritch Horror Theatre

"The Sin Seeker..."

Fu Qian ignored the implied question and forced a change of subject. Elena stared at him with bloodshot eyes for a full half-minute.

She had already sensed there was something special about this guy, but he was far more mysterious than she had imagined.

Under the scorching of the Fire of Sin, her mind was already beginning to fray, torn by a bizarre, grasping greed.

In the end, however, she took a deep breath and suppressed the chaos welling up inside her.

"The Sin Seeker doesn't appear right away," she said. "He will only descend upon this place after someone finds a Goddess Statue and purifies their Fire of Sin."

"As for my condition..."

She examined her hands, then glanced at the remains on the floor.

"It isn't too bad yet. As long as Patrick hasn't been slacking off, my Sin Fire shouldn't be burning as fiercely as his."

The thing on the floor clearly harbored an extreme thirst for flesh and blood. By disguising itself as the Goddess of Sins, it was likely trying to coax the unwitting into "shaking hands" with it.

If Fu Qian hadn't beaten him to it just now, Cross would have been the one to fall into the trap.

Cross didn't possess the ability to conjure an arm out of thin air. If he had been caught, he most likely would have lost all Combat Power.

Let alone play a dirty trick on the creature, tossing it right into an ally's line of attack to finish it off.

The Sin Seeker only answers the summons once someone finds the Goddess Statue?

If I were Patrick, I'd definitely hope no one ever finds the statue.

Hearing Elena's explanation, Fu Qian merely gave a light nod, saying nothing.

When his task hadn't updated earlier, he immediately realized the statue in front of him was a fake. That was why he had manifested a prosthetic hand to grasp it.

As it turned out, the monster wasn't particularly bright.

It was also comforting to see that Elena clearly grasped the consensus of their cooperation.

Her brief hesitation earlier hadn't just been out of shock; she had been weighing whether to seize the opportunity and outright eliminate her potential rival.

After deliberating, she had concluded that saving him—rather than letting him die so early—was far more advantageous to the overall situation.

As mentioned before, this shared consensus in judging the situation was the sole foundation of their partnership.

As for when they should inevitably turn on each other—they would naturally know when the time came, without needing to exchange a single word.

"There's nothing else."

Amid this tacit understanding without words, it was Cross who broke the silence.

Taking advantage of their pause, he had scoured the entire room but found nothing.

"Do we head back the way we came?" Elena asked, looking at Fu Qian.

"We can, but wait a moment."

Under their bewildered gazes, Fu Qian stepped forward and crouched down.

Before the fake goddess died, its body had thoroughly warped.

The wreckage now coiled across the ground, looking like a gigantic, withered flower blooming right out of the stone floor.

It was disgusting and grotesque.

Fu Qian grabbed the dried flower and gave it a forceful yank.

Clatter!

The withered carcass was uprooted in a single motion, bringing a shower of crumbling rocks with it.

What are you doing?

Elena and Cross both frowned, but in the next second, they stared at the ground in sheer disbelief.

Where the remains had been pulled up, the stone tiles had long been sliced to pieces by the creature's webbed membranes—hence the loose rubble.

It wasn't strange that the monster had tried to burrow into the ground while thrashing in its death throes.

What was truly unbelievable was that a faint sliver of light was currently shining through the center of the rubble.

There's something underneath?

Cross instantly understood and brought his Heavy Hammer down to smash the area.

A small hole caved in, revealing a clearly structured space below.

"This really is a Shattered Land," Fu Qian muttered to himself as he stared at the newly opened hole.

He had noticed the creature trying to escape underground earlier, which was why he had decided to take a look.

As it turned out, looting corpses was an excellent habit.

"It should be a specific spatial overlap. The inside of another building is beneath us," Elena said in a low voice, having recovered her wits as she stared at the scene.

"The reason this forbidden zone is called the Shattered Land is because it's a convergence of chaotic, highly unstable spaces."

"And it's only worse in here. Finding something like this isn't actually that strange. Shall we go down and take a look?"

"Whatever you want. Just proceed according to your experience."

Fu Qian's attitude was exceptionally laid-back.

"Then let's go down."

Elena quickly made the call.

Having been forced into fighting a massive monster just now, she was undoubtedly in a dangerous state. Finding the Goddess Statue as soon as possible would definitely be a good thing.

The professional vanguard, Cross, clearly understood this as well. At her command, he stepped up without hesitation, slamming his Heavy Hammer down in rapid succession.

The hole soon widened enough for a person to pass through. After verifying the drop, Cross jumped down first.

Elena followed closely behind, leaving Fu Qian to bring up the rear.

The space below was remarkably spacious, and the drop from their entry point to the floor wasn't very far.

Yet, the instant Fu Qian's feet touched the ground, a faint metallic ring echoed.

Showing no surprise, Fu Qian shifted a step sideways, narrowly dodging a vicious flash of a blade.

Confronted with this sudden ambush, Elena and Cross were visibly shocked. They hadn't expected anyone to be hiding down here, lying in wait.

"A sneak attack from behind isn't something a swordsman would do," Fu Qian remarked casually, looking at the figure standing a short distance away.

With his strike failing, the ambusher neither pressed the attack nor fled. Instead, he simply withdrew his stance and stood perfectly still.

It was a tall figure clad in a tight black bodysuit, covered from head to toe.

He even wore a black hood over his head, leaving only a pair of blood-red eyes exposed. A curved Long Blade was cradled in his arms.

But the most conspicuous thing of all was the terrifyingly thick crimson fire wreathing his body.

Just how many people did this guy have to kill!

For a moment, Fu Qian couldn't help but marvel.

The facts had proven that Elena's worries about the Sin Seeker were entirely misplaced. There was absolutely no chance she would be the one getting hunted.

"When dealing with rats sneaking up behind me, there's no need to stick to a frontal assault."

The black-clad swordsman's tone was completely devoid of emotion.

The three of us appeared too suddenly, so this guy thought we were trying to ambush him and simply decided to strike first?

Even though it was just a single sentence, Fu Qian understood instantly.

"What should I call you, good sir?"

"Yun."

The black-clad swordsman spat out a single syllable.

Now this is the demeanor of a true master!

While Fu Qian was sighing in admiration, Cross could no longer hold himself back.

Even with the horrifying Sin Fire burning on his opponent, he gritted his teeth, gripped his Heavy Hammer, and shielded Elena.

However, the swordsman named Yun never once moved his gaze away from Fu Qian.

"You are strong."

He spoke up after a long while.

At least you have a good eye!

When he dodged that blade just now, he hadn't exhibited any exaggerated speed, yet the angle, the positioning, and even the engagement of every single muscle fiber had been absolutely perfect.

Only someone who had mastered their physical body to its absolute limits could pull off such a reaction.

"Yet you still haven't run. It seems you're already prepared to die."

Fu Qian rolled his wrists, loosening up.

"It doesn't matter."

The black-clad swordsman's tone remained utterly unflappable.

"This was destined to be where I meet my end."

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