Whispering Verse

After bidding farewell to Old John, Mia would certainly not be able to be brought along for the group operation, so Shade and Priest August returned to No. 6 St. Teresa Square together, and then the two went to have dinner before heading there together. Tobesk train station is located in the north of the city.

The priest changed out of the clergy robe he usually wore, while Shade was still dressed in his usual black coat.

As the sun set, the five people who came with missions and secrets met at the entrance of Tobesk train station. After looking at each other, they divided into two groups and entered the train station.

The light at the street entrance quickly dimmed, causing the shadows of people passing by to lengthen. Under the dim sunset, the gas street lights flickered a few times, and were quickly lit from far to near, and then straightly outlined the horizontal and vertical interweaving of the interior of the Northern Pearl under the night sky.

Trains come in and out one after another, and travelers pass by strangers. Although they may never meet again in their lifetime, they still don't know how to cherish the miracle of meeting at this moment. The police officers on patrol during the special period walked around the station, but no one noticed the two women sitting on the bench on the far west side of the platform, and the three men waiting at the edge of the platform.

The night is getting darker. The spring nights are not very cold, but very gentle. It's just that the dust in the train station is a bit heavy and the smell is unacceptable, but these make the scene more realistic at this time.

The dim yellow gas lamp illuminated the five people waiting. The slowly passing train blew the clothes of the three men. However, they at the end of the platform did not join the train that was preparing to leave the station. People's joys and sorrows.

The speed of the steam train that had just started was not very fast. The levers on the wheels made a rhythmic sound, and the whistle sounded long, as if it could make the land where people have lived for generations tremble.

Bill Schneider, wearing a brown coat and a black hat, looked at the passing train ahead. After the last carriage passed by, he looked down at his silver pocket watch. There was a crisp sound of the watch cover closing, causing the two people around him and the two ladies sitting on the bench behind him to look at him.

"It's seven o'clock, there's still one hour left. According to the academy's requirements, I can now tell you the information about the relic and the trouble we may encounter."

He said softly, leading Shade and Priest August to the bench. Dorothy, who was wearing a black gauze skirt, and Luvia, who was dressed in men's clothing, both stood up and asked Dr. Schneider to sit down. Luvia herself had short hair, tied into a short ponytail, which made her look more neutral.

The doctor opened the briefcase he was holding and confirmed that the silence spell was still taking effect, and then said briefly:

"Tonight's pick-up target is an angel-level relic [the remains of the Nameless One]. The coffin is a specially made storage container for the academy. The first requirement of the mission is that the coffin must not be opened under any circumstances."

He passed the black-and-white photo of the coffin to four people for review, and then continued:

"The earliest extant record of [the remains of the Unknown One] comes from the stone tablets of the Third Age. Its original origin was the early Second Age. The relic was lost in the late Fifth Age and was suspected to be used as a seal of some kind of confrontation. About three years ago , the archaeological team of St. Byrons discovered its traces in the New World, and successfully obtained it half a year ago, and completed the containment a month ago. Passing through Tobesk is part of the containment measures. What we need to do is to preserve the coffin until the next Once the sun rises.”

He paused and said to everyone:

"I've rented the carriage and the warehouse in Tobesk West, where we need to stay one night."

Tobesk West District is the industrial area of ​​Tobesk, and most steam factories and warehouses are concentrated there.

"What is our enemy?"

Luvia asked.

"Two parts. One part comes from the characteristics of the relic. We cannot know all the characteristics of the relic itself. What we can know is that after night falls, the relic itself will be in a relatively active state. During this period, its power may break through the constraints of the coffin and create space. Dislocation, and attracting monsters beyond human comprehension.”

"Is it okay to kill monsters?"

"No, you still need to sprinkle salt on the coffin to strengthen the seal."

"That sounds like a weird superstition."

Priest August whispered.

"Another part of the enemies came from the New World. In addition to the academy, there were other people who also discovered the remains. They did not dare to directly confront the professors of the academy in the New World, nor did they dare to fight the academy's fleet at sea. But After entering the hinterland of the civilization of the Old World, the academy was constrained, which gave those ring warlocks an opportunity."

The doctor handed this information to the other four people:

"But don't worry too much. The power of the academy cannot directly affect Tobesk. It is also difficult for those ring magicians from the New World to act in Tobesk. After all, this is the most important parish of the Five Gods Church. Therefore, the academy will only Recruiting a team of our Ring Warlocks to participate in the operation represents the academy's trust in us."

Dr. Schneider is very optimistic:

"The enemies this time do not belong to the same organization. They may come together, but they may also be alone. After entering the northern realm of the Old World, Tobesk is the last place where they are likely to succeed, so there is still some pressure tonight of."

He let everyone read the documents, and after five people signed the documents, the doctor passed the documents to the college through the poem manuscript pages he carried with him to prove the formality of the process.

The next step is to wait. As the fortune teller in the team, Luvia also conducted fortune-telling for tonight's action. The results were rather confusing and difficult to decipher since they were related to angelic relics, but at least she didn't think it was bad news.

At 7:50 p.m., three loud gunshots at close intervals rang out from the east of the train station. Shade turned around and looked in that direction. Seeing that no one else cared, he pretended not to hear.

For tonight's action, not only did he bring the black time key, he even brought out the [Night Watch]. It was difficult to hide a long sword, so Shade wrapped the scabbard in a cloth and carried it as a long stick.

He couldn't go home all night, and he wasn't worried about little Mia. Lesia has agreed to take care of the cat tonight. Dorothy has just given Shade a hint. Her Royal Highness the Princess has met Mia at No. 6 St. Teresa Square and successfully used Shade's coat to remove the cat. A very unhappy cat was brought to Yodel Palace.

"Attention, the train has arrived early!"

The noise in the distance attracted Dr. Schneider's attention. He raised his right hand and spoke, so Priest August and the two ladies went to different directions to guard. Shade and the doctor, who were the highest in the team, continued to stand. On the platform.

Not long after, the roaring train stopped smoking, and white steam rushed up to the platform from the bottom of the carriage. This is a freight train, so there aren't many people picking up the train. In the steam, the door of the first carriage was pushed open by Karala from the inside. The huge carriage was quite empty, with only a wooden crate placed in the middle of the carriage, and six ring warlocks who seemed to have lacked sleep surrounded the wooden crate. Box, looking at the platform quite warily.

They are all in the middle ring, and two of them are even in the eighth ring. Shade wasn't sure who these people were, but they were certainly not correspondence students.

The group of people in the carriage nodded to the doctor, so the doctor took the lead in boarding the carriage to confirm his identity. After a while, he made a gesture to Shade below, so Shade also entered the carriage neatly.

"Finally confirm the cargo information."

Said the bald man wearing a black hat who was leading the carriage. He was tall and extremely strong. The two lowest-level five-ring warlocks opened the top lid of the wooden box that was not sealed. When the lid was lifted, there was hay inside. When the hay was removed, a dark metallic coffin was revealed.

It was illuminated by the hand-held candle, the carried kerosene lamp, and the dim light on the platform outside the carriage. The light was obviously weak, but the extremely smooth black metal could reflect an extremely conspicuous light. The coffin lid can even be used as a mirror. To put it simply, this is a very high-end coffin that has been polished.

Of course, Dr. Schneider didn't know what Shade thought about what was in front of him. He winked at Shade, and then Shade, who had the strongest sense, stretched out his hand to touch the surface of the coffin. Although this coffin and the coffin on the central island of Green Lake are both black metal, the feeling after touching them is completely different.

Peng~Peng~Peng~

Even without closing his eyes, [Heart of Stone] was automatically triggered at this moment, allowing Shade to feel the sound of his heartbeat, which was even more obvious than the noisy sound on the platform. At the same time, he was originally unable to detect any elements, but immediately sensed the whisper after contact.

【should be no problem. 】

"She" said softly, so Xia De nodded, and the doctor came to the head of the coffin. After pushing aside the weeds, he saw with the help of the kerosene lamp carried on the side that there were densely packed 30-year-old scum on the surface of the coffin. slots, but at this time there are only seven slots containing diamond-shaped gray crystals.

He picked out one of them and threw it to the bald man wearing a hat, who let out a long breath:

"It's finally over. I won't take on this kind of mission again next time."

Each time a different team receives the coffin, one of the crystals needs to be taken out and given to the previous team. This was part of the containment ceremony, but Shade didn't feel any changes in the coffin after the crystal left.

The bald man took a step back and away from the coffin, then threw the gray cloth salt bag tied with a string in his pocket to the doctor:

"You can keep it for use. Never use coarse salt, be sure to use refined salt. There is no need to save this money."

Then he didn't say anything more to Shade and the doctor. Instead, with a smile, he greeted his companions and jumped out of the carriage and left. From their conversation, it seemed that they wanted to stay there for a few days for sightseeing, and they rarely came to Tobesk.

After the group of people walked away, Shade closed the lid of the wooden box and covered the polished black coffin. The doctor waved his hand in the distance, signaling to the priest Augustus who was on guard outside to fetch the porter he had found in advance.

In fact, even Shade can lift the coffin by himself, but now the workers in other carriages are unloading. If he carries a coffin out, it is equivalent to delivering goods directly to the church.

There was no incident in transporting the wooden box and the coffin inside out of the station. The carriage rented by the doctor was parked outside the station.

Speaking of which, the style of that carriage was also very familiar to Shade. On the first day he came to this world, when the corpse carrier carried away Detective Sparrow's body, he used a similar style of carriage, but this time the carriage did not have the holy emblem of the [Church of Creation and Destruction] hanging on it.

The coffin was placed in a narrow and closed carriage, but the carriage had no driver. Dr. Schneider drove it himself for safety and insurance. The coachman's seat was wide enough for two people, and the priest Augustus sat beside him.

Shade and Dorothy entered the carriage together. Because there was a coffin inside, there was no room for them to stay on either side, so they stayed at the back of the carriage.

In order to prevent danger, the five of them were restrained together because they were too concentrated, so the last Luvia did not get in the car. She would follow the carriage from a distance shortly after it left. In this way, no matter what happens, she can take care of the four of them.

Of course, Luvia was not running to follow the carriage. She borrowed the bone whistle from Yin Luna that could summon a skeleton horse that could move on any terrain. The bone whistle could only be used by Yin Luna herself, but after she gained wisdom in the Pantanal and modified the bone whistle, she was able to lend it out for a short time.

Thaumatology will summon the power of shadow and death to hide Luvia's whereabouts in the night. This highly maneuverable mount will be very helpful in tonight's operation.

"Then we'll see you later!"

Shade waved to the purple-eyed girl, and Luvia turned and left. After everything was ready, Schneider told him to grab the carriage, and the carriage carrying the four people and the coffin set off. Shade and Dorothy held on to the side walls of the carriage, and looked back at the night and the street scene as the night and street scenes continued to recede from the rear door of the carriage, while Dr. Schneider, who was sitting on the coachman's seat in front, looked around with great vigilance.

Tobesk at night is more peaceful and peaceful than ever. This seems to be another ordinary night in the city. The arrival of spring has made people's nightlife longer than usual. However, as the night becomes darker, there are almost no pedestrians on the road.

The fog in Tobesk tonight is thicker than in the past few days, and the carriages running on the streets are like ghosts in the fog. The starry sky was obscured by heavy fog, but three rounds of the moon could still be seen. Today in March is the waning moon phase, which is suitable for performing physical and mental healing spells. Of course, although the lunar phase cycle has an impact on a ring warlock like Shade who uses the "moon" as the core system, Shade has always only felt the enhancement of the moon phase, and has never felt certain spellcasting abilities in different moon phases. of suppression.

"Speaking of which, Dorothy, did you know there's a lunar eclipse at the end of this month?"

Although the atmosphere was tense, Shade still felt a little strange that he had been silent. Therefore, while the eyes are still paying attention to the rear, the mouth is already open.

The carriage was very small, and although there was a strange smell inside, the smell of Dorothy's perfume could also get into Shade's nose. The perfume used by Miss Writer is very high-end. Although Shade can't tell the name, he can feel that it is very similar to Lesia's perfume.

"A lunar eclipse? Yes, I heard what 'she' said. Regarding celestial phenomena such as lunar and solar eclipses, the church must communicate with the kingdom in advance to prevent incidents that attempt to disrupt social order due to astronomical phenomena."

Although she lowered her voice, Dorothy was still worried about being overheard by doctors and priests, so she did not mention Lesia's name directly. She moved a little closer to Shade, and noticed that Shade's nose moved a few times, and a smile appeared on his face.

"It's like this. I'm going to learn a powerful thaumaturgy called [Black Moon Talisman] during the lunar eclipse. The book says that during the lunar eclipse, except for the [Black Moon Talisman] and a few other lunar magic related to destruction and ending, Outside of surgery, most lunar thaumaturgy will be suppressed, which is the low point of power for a ring magician like me. I very much hope that I can stay at home safely that day."

The writer's green eyes turned towards him slightly:

"Generally speaking, it means that you will definitely not be at home that day. Speaking of which, the last Red Butterfly Day was the closing of the City Riding Competition, which was the third day of this month. 21 days later, it will be around the end of this month. It’s better to postpone it until the day of the lunar eclipse..."

Starting with the phrase "The Day of the Red Butterfly," Dorothy's voice was almost a whisper:

"Lecia and I are both curious whether we can 'defeat' you when you are at your weakest... Oh, Lecia, don't laugh, don't you think so too?"

It seems that she is using her new power to communicate with Lesia at any time.

The "she" in Sha De's ear chuckled for some reason, like the gentle wind blowing in the long night, which made Sha De's energy more concentrated:

"Dorothy, to be honest, I don't think the eclipse has a big impact on me. However, people I know in Randall Valley, including a nun who wears an eyepatch, think the eclipse is important to me. ..... Of course there is no problem with the day of the red butterfly, but the specific date of the lunar eclipse cannot be determined yet. Luvia told me that it will take a few days to determine... Oh, why are we talking about this now? ? Now he’s on a mission.”

Hearing Shade say this, Dorothy immediately laughed again. As soon as the smiles appeared, the two people who were close to the coffin immediately saw that the scene outside the carriage suddenly changed from a night street scene in the city to a dim moonlit path in the forest.

The whole transformation process was extremely smooth, as if the street really connected to the forest.

"Doctor, the scene has changed!"

Shade reminded hurriedly and threw the salt bag to Dorothy. The doctor's steady voice sounded from the front:

"The power of the relic has been leaked. According to the information given by the academy, we are now located in Tobesk and the forest at the same time, in a state of spatial overlap. I will slow down now to prevent hitting the wall. You solve the problem as soon as possible."