Chapter 1317 - 716: Lost in One, Missed in Another_2

Chapter 1317: Chapter 716: Lost in One, Missed in Another_2

The second thing was that when the legion reappeared, they were clearly in a slump, the armor on their bodies damaged; it was obvious they had fought some kind of powerful enemy.

Combined with the bizarre situation now, it was hard not to let one’s imagination run wild...

By this time those people had already finished seeing the legion; after they hurried out, Hamlet’s army actually began to muster. Even though no information was released, so many soldiers moving was bound to draw those bastards’ attention.

Most people had thought they were going to be driven out, but the army suddenly turned and marched toward the ruins, disappearing into the darkness.

This move only deepened their doubts, and somehow the news of Hamlet’s meeting with the legion spread, dragging in even more people’s attention.

That’s not right, you yourself said it was dangerous—shouldn’t you be staying put at a time like this?

Why rush to push into the ruins?

The stark contrast between this action and the announcement evacuating those adventurers made them sense that this incident was anything but simple.

But what could they do?

They didn’t know the answer, but the one thing they were sure of was that the secrets in the ruins could not just be abandoned!

Very soon more and more rumors spread among the adventurers, and a strange atmosphere began to seep outward...

Because Lance had spent enormous manpower and resources to build the town, forcefully pushing the front line out to the edge of the wilderness, the chaos erupting from the ruins, while causing great disorder at the front, was ultimately contained within a certain area thanks to the timely response; it did not spread.

It was precisely for this reason that Grendel had been able to pull away at the first opportunity to handle matters in the new town, also out of fear that the situation on the front would deteriorate and backfire onto the city.

If those adventurers had immediately run back into the city, it would have caused even more trouble.

Only, when she left she also took Alviss, the Legendary Mage. With Baldwin gone and Reynard not bringing the Cavalry back according to plan, the actual defensive strength within the city was not great.

The troops garrisoned outside the suburbs couldn’t just take over the city because of a bit of abnormality; that would only cause panic.

Their duties were divided from the police. Without explicit transfer orders, they mainly dispatched scouts outside to guard against possible attacks by evil cultists, as well as those noble Lords trying to fish in troubled waters.

But no one could stop the shroud of darkness from falling and blocking heaven and earth. By the time the people in the city realized what was happening, they were already completely plunged into dimness; even looking toward the horizon they could not see the slightest glimmer of light.

It was only because Hamlet didn’t play by the Church’s script that this anomaly didn’t immediately drag most believers into despair, sending them crashing to their knees, crying and praying to that so‑called god, plunging social order into collapse.

Right now the city still ran as usual. When the black curtain came sweeping in, they simply lit a lot of torches and carried on doing whatever they were doing.

After all, the locals had seen a lot in their day. They found the phenomenon strange, sure, but darkness alone couldn’t scare them; because this was Hamlet!

"Oh~ looks like things just got interesting." The clown at the tavern door stopped his performance, his gaze unconsciously lifting to the pitch‑black sky as he muttered to himself. No one knew what expression hid beneath that mask...

The man hauling bricks at the construction site noticed the anomaly and his expression grew grave. Because of certain conditions of his body, he felt his blood turn boiling hot, that surge of impulse harder and harder to restrain, as though it were about to break its shackles.

Fortunately, the locks hanging from his body did their work, suppressing that power, though the worry in his heart did not lessen in the slightest.

Hamlet was his hope for a cure, his refuge from the Church—there absolutely mustn’t be any trouble...

Similar to him, a large number of outsiders began to feel various strange sensations, especially those Transcendents hiding their identities among them. Their abnormal intuition allowed them to sense more than ordinary people could.

With that darkness came a strange, evil force as well, a corruption that was shaking their reason.

The danger of Transcendents began to show: their sources of power were extremely complex, each one like an unstable bomb, and no one knew how long their wills could hold out.

As the altars deep in the dungeon were activated one after another, the red mist might not have spread this far, but its corrupting influence, like the darkness, was everywhere.

Most of these Transcendents had suffered persecution by the Church; the unaffiliated wanderers even more so. They—they had come to Hamlet seeking Sanctuary.

At first, that had indeed been the case. Here there were no Judges of the Church, and no other stronger Transcendents who would snatch them up as ingredients or sacrifices.

In Hamlet, as long as they obeyed the rules, no one cared about them. They truly gained a brief period of stability.

But it was precisely for this reason that, when the black curtain descended, the pressure it brought terrified them—afraid they would once more be thrown into that constant fear of death hanging over their heads.

Moreover, most of these Transcendents had been persecuted until their minds were no longer normal. The first thing they thought of when faced with an anomaly was that they’d been tricked, and such a mindset was now accelerating the erosion of their sanity.

Finally, one Transcendent could no longer bear it and fell into madness.

"Ah! It’s all a lie—here we will only meet despair!"

"This is not our Sanctuary, it’s not!"

"..."

With those demented screams, a man dashed out into the street. To his eyes it was as if everyone was a monster, all out to kill him.

"Don’t even think about dragging me back."

"No one can stop me."

"There’s no hope left in this world..."

By the end his words had become something no human could understand, his raging Spiritual Essence surging violently around him, threaded with a faint, almost undetectable eerie aura.

At first, the people on the street didn’t pay much attention to this lunatic, until the man, gibbering, suddenly raised his hand and pointed at a passerby, his mouth spilling either curses or incomprehensible wails.

"@￥...*&!"

The power of a Transcendent was not something ordinary people could endure. The curse fell upon those people, and unbearable despair rushed over them at once; anyone with a slightly weaker will was dragged into panic, some even dropping dead on the spot.

Emotions spread, after all; under the lunatic’s relentless curses, more and more confusion and fear broke out.

"Quack! It’s a madman! Everyone back!"

"Hurry, go call the police!"

"..."

Chaos was ready to explode, but with patrols strengthened, the nearby police noticed the anomaly and came rushing over at the first sign.

Since the madman held no weapon and was simply clutching his head and wailing, the officers first tried to subdue that deranged guy, then disperse the crowd.

Under normal circumstances this would have been the right approach, but when dealing with a Transcendent, they should not have been so careless.

In the end it came down to the police’s role; they were used to handling public order issues under the principle of not escalating conflict, and that habit cost them the vigilance they should have had.

When they drew near, they startled the madman. He suddenly snapped his head up, revealing a grotesque, crazed face; everyone who had approached was stunned for an instant, and before they could react, the lunatic raised his hand and unleashed his curse over them.

Doomsday Lament!

An indescribable sound reverberated in the minds of everyone nearby. Horrific visions surged forth together with an overwhelming tide of negative emotions, dragging them into despair in a heartbeat.

But this was fucking Hamlet!

One officer actually broke free from that despairing illusion. He threw himself forward, drew his gun, and pulled the trigger. Bullets howled into the lunatic’s body, forcibly cutting off the curse.

Many might fall into fear and confusion, but not this man—at least not today.

"Fire, fire!"

All of them had listened to the Lord’s lectures; the strength he had left in their hearts was now stirred awake. Almost the instant the lament stopped, most of them regained their senses, raised their guns, and fired at the lunatic.

A few bullets struck home, seeming to bring an end to the madman. As he collapsed, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Only, in places they could not see, that raging Spiritual Essence had never calmed—in fact it grew even more violent.

They had wiped out the lunatic’s last shred of sanity. The one taking over this body would be...