Chapter 285 - 277: Embrace Madness? Ridiculous... (Part 2)

Chapter 285: Chapter 277: Embrace Madness? Ridiculous... (Part 2)

’Hah. Out of all the enemies I’ve faced, you’re definitely in the top five most troublesome.’

’Too bad I was still a cut above.’

Lloyd briefly summarized the situation in his mind, then suddenly found it all rather ironic and amusing.

’This guy stood before the scholar, spouting all that nonsense about ’abandoning Rationality to embrace madness,’ but in the end, didn’t he just devolve into a Demon like any other?’

’No matter how rare the power system, how intimidating "Nirvana" sounded, or how exaggerated his three Attributes and physical functions were, once he truly abandoned Rationality and mutated toward becoming a Demon, he was still pathetically weak.’

’And his so-called ’embracing madness’ was really just harming innocent civilians and making them do the ’embracing’ for him.’

’Heh... Pathetic.’

’He was even worse than a depraved lunatic like the Advisor. Even that guy knew not to abandon his humanity, not to kill indiscriminately.’

At that moment, Lloyd completely agreed with the butler’s assessment of these outlaws in his journal.

’They’re nothing but a bunch of maggots and rats in a gutter.’

Lloyd cursed inwardly.

But then another question popped into his mind.

’I watched the memory fragments to the very end, and I never found that grave-robbing father.’

’Maybe it was just a story these people made up from the start to lure three Tier Three Extraordinary Beings as sacrifices?’

’But my initial Identification Divination and the later Person-Seeking Divination all pointed to a result, didn’t they?’

’And my interpretation of the Omen was spot-on—the matter was indeed resolved quickly.’

’So what exactly went wrong?’

’It can’t be that my Divination is the problem, right? The skill is already level 6; it should be reliable.’

Lloyd couldn’t help but scratch his head. He had been planning to examine the Knowledge Fragments and skill fragments the man had left behind, but just then, Kading, who was beside him, finished his Spirit Communication. He staggered violently, nearly falling over.

Lloyd’s reflexes were sharp; he caught him and asked:

"How is it?"

"That was... terrifying... That guy was actually from the Nirvana system? Aren’t people from that system supposed to have been wiped out long ago?"

"And that Sect behind him, ’Chasing Madness’... I remember it was annihilated decades ago in a joint operation by the Order and Radiant Sects. How did it suddenly make a comeback?"

"And that mysterious entity they believe in... that thing..."

Kading seemed to hesitate, not wanting to say more. Then he shook his head sharply and changed the subject.

"Never mind, let’s not talk about that for now. We need to go rescue Yakson and the others. They’ve all been captured."

Lloyd couldn’t help but recall the snakeskin sacks being dragged by the two workers earlier...

"I think I know where they are. Follow me. Can you still walk?"

"Don’t look down on me, young man. This is just a small-time scene for me."

As Kading spoke, he adjusted the monocle on his face, which had nearly slid down to his nose, and hurried back to the logging camp with Lloyd.

Don’t be fooled by the scholar’s possibly lackluster combat power; his physical stamina was surprisingly abundant. He could completely keep up with Lloyd’s pace and even had the energy to ask questions:

"How did you find me?"

"After wandering around outside, I got a little lost and ended up back at the logging camp. I happened to see two suspicious-looking workers heading deep into the forest. I felt something was wrong, so I followed them."

Lloyd answered truthfully.

He wasn’t lying, he just hadn’t told the whole truth.

"So that’s how it was. It seems my luck was good this time. I was fortunate to run into you, and even more fortunate that I invited you to join on the spot."

After hearing this, Kading couldn’t help but murmur with emotion before continuing:

"That treacherous bastard. He had two workers follow me from the start, claiming they were guiding me. But as we walked, they suddenly pulled out shovels and tried to smash the back of my head... Yakson and the other one must have been captured the same way..."

"Luckily, my reflexes were fast enough. I dodged in time and subdued the two workers. But then the villain himself made a move, and I was no match for him at all..."

"He had the combat power of at least a Tier Five. If he hadn’t wanted to capture me alive, he could have killed me easily."

As Kading spoke, a look of lingering fear appeared on his face, and he added:

"In any case, thank you for saving me. My investigation team and I will never forget your help."

Lloyd, maintaining his usual humility, replied:

"It was nothing. After all, I’ve always been an outstanding young man who enjoys helping others."

Kading was momentarily speechless. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to make a sarcastic comment...

"By the way, you actually subdued those two workers? How did you do that?"

Lloyd asked, genuinely curious.

He had now witnessed firsthand the combat power of the Redemption system.

’It really is just as the butler described in his journal: a system completely unsuited for combat. You almost feel bad fighting them...’

’It’s likely that if they tried to launch an attack with their abilities, they’d ’burn’ themselves to death before their opponent even died.’

This was probably because Redemption was the first Extraordinary System mastered by humanity and had many illogical and imperfect aspects.

When the Redemption system emerged, humanity was still in a precarious, apocalyptic era. As a result, the system’s abilities and effects were geared toward support, healing, and resisting Spiritual Contamination, while its direct combat power was severely limited and frustratingly weak.

So Lloyd was very curious how this scholar had dealt with two able-bodied lumberjacks.

But Kading didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, asking back in confusion:

"Those two were just ordinary people, weren’t they? I’m a Tier Three, you know. How could I not be able to handle them?"

"So how did you handle them?"

"Strength, speed, combat experience, and on top of that, hand-to-hand combat skills."

"Huh???"

"What’s so strange about that? You’ve been in a powerful system like Veto for too long, haven’t you? Do you not even know how Extraordinary Beings normally fight? Speaking of which, don’t even you guys in the Veto system use guns and Spiritual Blades? It’s just that your marksmanship is truly..."

"Ahem, didn’t I already say? The rifling was off..."

Lloyd explained again, somewhat awkwardly.

Kading seized the opportunity to ask in return:

"Right, so how did you deal with that guy? How did he suddenly just stand there motionlessly and then start losing control and devolving?"

Lloyd didn’t speak. He simply undid a button on his uniform, revealing the pendant and small vest underneath, while also casually showing the Square Ring on his finger.

Kading sensed the Spiritual Energy emanating from them, and his eyes widened slightly.

"You’re carrying three Holy Artifacts? No wonder..."

So Lloyd didn’t need to explain at all. He just had to show off his equipment, and others would understand.

With high-end equipment like Holy Artifacts, no matter how abnormally he behaved, people wouldn’t overthink it.

Kading also had the tact not to press for details about the Holy Artifacts’ specific functions. That was a very private matter, touching upon an Extraordinary Being’s ultimate trump cards, and asking about it would be a highly taboo and offensive act.

He simply changed the subject, saying:

"I really can’t believe how much I underestimated you. With just these three Holy Artifacts, your combat power is stronger than all three of us combined. No wonder you were confident enough to come here all by yourself."

As he spoke, an unconcealable look of envy appeared on his face. He said:

"It seems you must be a very outstanding young man, held in high regard by the Holy Judgment Court. As for trump-card-level equipment like Holy Artifacts... I’ve been in this line of work for twenty years and haven’t managed to get my hands on a single one. It really makes one envious..."

"It’s alright. I’m just hardworking, that’s all. I let people know how outstanding I am."

Lloyd replied, as humble as ever.

Kading was, for the second time, rendered speechless.