Chapter 533: Mercury Trojan Horse

With a thunderous crack of his footfall, Tahmas shot toward Silver Lamp at high speed, hurling his hand axe ahead of him.

At that moment, Silver Lamp knew her Miracle had failed.

During their brief exchange, she had already cast the Doppelg?nger Doll upon the Blazing White Tiger, masking her own appearance beneath the guise of a Blue Flame Squirrel. Enhanced by the subtle tricks of an Illusion spirit, even a Sacred Realm sorcerer would have been fooled by the deception.

Yet the Crowslaughter had lunged directly for her real body. In fact, she had maintained the decoy throughout her Dragonblood cultivation ritual. Still, he had ignored the feint entirely, driving a lethal shockwave toward her vital points. Twice now, her illusions had proven useless. This was no coincidence.

After failing twice in a row, Silver Lamp abandoned any remaining hope that the crow-masked man had merely been lucky. She dodged his incoming hand axe and tried to re-establish her spiritual link with the squirrel. Before she could, four distinct voices echoed in her mind. Without hesitation, she called softly, "Strength. Wisdom. Life. Joy."

The authority of the Four Pillar Deities surged through her limbs, granting her power beyond the mortal realm. She lunged toward Tahmas, knowing that a single graze of her fingers would be enough to break his dream and erase his very existence.

Just as they were about to clash, Tahmas dropped into a low slide.

He isn't targeting me! He's after the ground!

His heel gouged a crater into the concrete. Silver Lamp stepped right into it and lost all balance, forced to pitch forward by her own momentum.

Meanwhile, his slide also left him directly beneath her, entirely at her mercy. She prepared to strike, confident her palm would drive straight through his flesh and blood.

At that exact moment, he raised his elbow to aim a strike at her head. In a split second, Silver Lamp caught a trace of dull gray light on his elbow. Her mind raced, and she abruptly shifted from offense into defense.

BOOM!

The ground shattered beneath her blow, kicking up a blinding cloud of dust. Tahmas escaped from the haze with only a few minor scratches, otherwise completely unharmed.

Silver Lamp stared down at her palm. A bloody hole had been punched straight through it, but the flesh was already healing rapidly.

If she had not defended herself just now, that hole would have been in her forehead, piercing straight through the back of her skull.

She asked, "Gray Fox?"

Tahmas raised his arm, revealing a dull gray blade protruding from his elbow. "Something like that. "Probably. It was a gift from my mentor. So far, I haven't encountered anything it couldn't pierce."

Silver Lamp looked at him and fell silent for a moment before slowly backing away.

"Trying to run?" Tahmas sneered. "I really am getting old. I almost mistook you for a human, but I suppose that's what happens when you're nothing more than an unevolved beast."

Silver Lamp offered no reaction to the taunt. Keeping her gaze locked on him, she continued her careful retreat. "I have heard of the Crowslaughter Sect twice in my life. The second time was when the sect became the first casualty of the Four Pillar Deities. As for the first time... it was when your order produced a legend.

"A legend far rarer than a Legendary, stranger even than a Grand Law. They spoke of a warrior rejected by the Virtual World itself. He could not commune with the realm, nor could he be touched by spirits. No matter how refined his martial skill, he could never summon a single spirit. And no matter how minor his wounds, no Water Therapy spirit could ever mend them.

"By rights, someone like that should have remained tucked away within his sect, living out a quiet, forgotten life. Yet he chose the path of a warrior and carved his name into history. Even the Temple of Calamity Fire spoke of his feats, marveling at a man who slaughtered wicked sorcerers using nothing but a mortal body.

"A Virtual World-Insulator. The Crowslaughter Madman. No wonder the Dragonblood Cultivation System failed to influence you.

"Judgment Warrior, Tahmas Crowslaughter."

Tahmas offered a faint smile. "A pleasure to meet you. And what might your name be?"

Silver Lamp replied, "I do not share my information with others."

"Unfortunately for you, whenever I meet someone, I make sure to tell them my name. If they are good people, I want their Sorcerer's Handbooks to remember my name, so that my ideals may resound throughout the Virtual World. If they are evil, I want them to gnaw on my name in hell with nothing but hatred in their hearts, so that my infamy may shake the depths of Hell."

Silver Lamp suddenly broke into a smile. "The Virtual World is the eternal future. Reality is but a fleeting illusion. You understand what is truly real after all."

"Do not dare lump my grand ideals together with the delusions of a wicked crow like you," Tahmas's voice turned ice-cold. "Pearls and filth do not belong in the same breath."

Silver Lamp prepared to step into the darkness of night, while Tahmas still found no opportunity to launch another surprise attack. He narrowed his eyes. "Are you certain you're a Candle Lord, capable of crossing the darkness and enduring Twisting Green?"

"You are strong," Silver Lamp said. "Being cut off from the Virtual World does nothing to diminish your power. Someone as formidable as you could not possibly understand.

"The weak have always lived in darkness. Twisting Green has always tainted them. This is neither my first time entering the darkness, nor my first time being contaminated by it."

Silver Lamp gently raised both hands. "Precisely because I have crossed beyond all of that, I was able to become a Candle Lord."

Not a single flaw could be found in her logic. Tahmas retracted the flying blade into his sleeve. His distorted voice remained calm and cold. "You'd better pray to the Four Pillar Deities that you don't run into me again."

"The next time I meet you, the Crowslaughter will become a thing of the past," Silver Lamp disappeared into the darkness. "And besides... you'd better start thinking about how you're going to survive with your 'friend.'"

Tahmas turned around and saw Alice carrying three helpless Sacred Realm sorcerers over, setting them down on the ground.

He then glanced toward the direction where Silver Lamp had disappeared before lowering his head to apologize. "I am sorry. I let you down."

Ashe and the other two were surprisingly more spirited now, almost like people experiencing a final burst of vitality before death. Their faces, however, were so deathly pale that no amount of makeup could mask it.

Harvey said, "I never thought I would die here. Life really is a box of chocolates with a flavor you can never predict."

Iger frowned. "Are you saying we are all dogs?"

Ashe suddenly asked, "If I unleash my Sacred Realm now, can it at least hold off the ritual for a little while?"

"The ritual is not the only problem anymore. It is the night." Tahmas watched as the darkness devoured the camp until only the area around the campfire remained. "We have a few minutes at most. Then everything will be extinguished. Only a Candle Lord can continue burning in this darkness."

Ashe said, "If that's the case, then as long as Harvey finds a way to make up for his lost vitality, there is still a good chance he will survive. I have never met anyone with ideals more steadfast than yours. Your devotion to the Necromancy Class burns hotter than my passion for looking at lewd pictures. You are practically the reincarnation of that Haagen-whatever guy."

"It is Haagen-Dazz," Harvey corrected him. He then added, "If you two die, I will not keep living either."

Ashe and Iger stared at him in surprise.

The necromancer gazed up at the pitch-black sky. "Besides, I would not exactly call myself devoted to the Necromancy Class. It is like sitting down to a meal and finding nothing good on the table, except for one barely acceptable dish. So you keep eating that one dish. Does that count as devotion?"

Ashe asked, "Then why did you keep recommending that we study the Necromancy Class?"

"Because you are eating garbage."

Ashe felt a thousand weeds sprout in his heart. The necromancer's logic had formed a perfect circle, leaving no way to refute it.

Harvey continued, "Now that you two are leaving the table, why should I stay behind and continue eating disgusting garbage with people I hate? Besides..."

He looked at Tahmas. "I overheard your conversation just now. 'The Virtual World is the eternal future. Reality is but a fleeting illusion.' Those words actually make a lot of sense. After all, we will all eventually sink into the Virtual World and remain there forever. Compared to continuing to cling to this illusion, I think it would be more interesting to cross the Six Hells with you two."

"That is merely a weakling's escape and a coward's self-consolation," Iger spoke with absolute certainty. "Even if those words are true, they are not a reason for you or me to abandon reality. Giving up is certainly easy. But Harvey, you used to have people to eat with, did you not? Now you have us eating with you. How do you know you will not meet someone else in the future to share a meal with? How do you know you will not find another dish you actually like?"

Tahmas nodded repeatedly. "Exactly. Even if eternity truly exists, it must be built upon greatness. The eternity of a coward is as worthless as this darkness."

This time, Ashe and Harvey were the ones staring at Iger in surprise. Harvey said, "I always thought you were the very embodiment of nihilism, Iger. What happened to you? How did you become so positive?"

A thought suddenly flashed through Ashe's mind. "I get it! Is it Anphel? The moment you think about Anphel and the Belldets waiting for you to return, it is like the sun rising over a graveyard in your heart. Even the coldest tombs are warmed by it, right?"

Iger stared at him, completely speechless. "Then what about you? Can you guarantee that you will become a Candle Lord?"

"I don't know," Ashe's voice was soft. "I really do not have any grand ideals. I just have people I want to see, a life I want to live, and a place I want to return to."

Iger looked toward Tahmas.

Tahmas shook his head. "I am not sure either. I do not even know if I can survive. At most, I can judge good and evil. I have no way to determine what your ideals should be."

The fraudster's expression shifted slightly. After a moment's thought, he finally made up his mind. "Ashe, you still owe me a wish."

Ashe looked at him calmly.

Iger began, "Ashe, I command you—"

His words were cut short by the sudden sound of footsteps that came from behind. At that, both Tahmas and Alice immediately stood on guard.

By now, the darkness had drawn extremely close, less than five steps away from them. It seemed ready to seize their ankles at any moment.

Has the Evil Crow returned to finish us off once and for all?

They soon got their answer. A figure emerged from the shadows: a woman carrying a sniper rifle on her back, a complete stranger to all of them.

Tahmas stared at her suspiciously. After a moment, realization struck him, and even his distorted voice could not hide the fury clenched in his teeth. "You... Tahnom!"

"Greetings. I am Mercury Trojan Horse," the woman said. "How did you recognize me? This is not even my real body."

Despite the intense hatred in his voice, Tahmas did not attack, knowing this was merely an avatar. "I would recognize you even if you were reduced to ashes!"

The woman ignored him and looked at the three dying sorcerers on the ground. Her gaze shifted between Iger and Ashe before finally settling on the latter.

"Hello. I am Mercury Trojan Horse, the former Sense of the Four Pillar Deities."

Ashe's interest piqued. "Former? Can a person resign from that job?"

"You cannot resign, but you can be fired," said Mercury Trojan Horse. "The Four Pillar Deities dismissed me just a moment ago. Each kingdom can only have one Sense, and they decided to replace me."

"Replace you with whom?"

"With the woman making you suffer right now."

Ashe had expected as much and sighed. "The Four Pillar Deities certainly know how to recognize talent."

"Are you not angry?"

"How could I not be angry? I would love nothing more than to pin her to a wall with my sword, but I cannot even move a finger right now," Ashe looked at her. "Unless you have a brilliant solution?"