The next day, William brought Xiyan, Burned Cinder, Old Leather, Lautner, and the ten players to the Kerenza Grand Duchy.
Considered to be a vassal state of Lion Kingdom, Kerenza was situated to the south of the Lion Kingdom and north of East Sea Metropolis. It was thought of as a coastal city and had a small area in contact with the East Sea.
The Grand Duchy was founded more than six hundred years ago, and its royal name was Kerenza.
Most of the countries’ names on the Gods’ continent were given by the founding emperors.
William and his companions walked through the portal and arrived at the capital city of Kerenza. It was then that the players recognized the differences between the City of Dawn and a Human city.
The capital city of Kerenza had a Gothic architectural style, which had not changed over the centuries. The buildings had pointed arches or ribbed vaults.
There were very few green belts in this royal city, along with a few magic lights on both sides of the roads.
At dawn, a thick mist covered the city. Even the professionals with the best eyesight could not see anything beyond tens of meters.
In particular, they noticed that the commoners on the streets were panicking. When they noticed an outsider like William-although they were amazed by his charming appearance
—they did not dare to take a second look. Instead, they rushed home.
“Something isn’t right. These people are afraid of something!”
“Tsk, tsk, there are so many guards in this royal city. In the 500 meters that I have walked, I saw only three groups of patrolling guards.” Forever Alone surveyed the surroundings to look for more clues.
But Changli Jiuge suddenly stopped and adjusted his glasses. He placed his left hand in his pocket while his right hand pointed at a Blood Moon diagram that was not completely wiped off. “It’s obvious. The picture created by the believers of the ‘Blood Moon Dark Witch’ is the real cause of fear in the city.””
“Pa!” Xiao Ayin slapped Changli Jiuge until he almost tripped.
“What’s that for?” Changli Jiuge asked, rubbing his head.
Xiao Ayin rolled her eyes and pointed toward the Half-Elf NPC, who was about to disappear into the mist. “Prince William is leaving. We already know that the ‘Blood Moon Dark Witch’ is the key issue. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have come here.”
“Let’s keep our cool. This place is rather scary.” Changli Jiuge gulped.
The city was filled with a strange silence. Whether they were patrolling guards, commoners walking on the street, or street peddlers, everyone was extremely wary. They did not dare to raise their voice as if something was eyeing them.
Just when Changli Jiuge and Xiao Ayin had caught up with William, they heard a shocking scream coming from a dark alley on their right.
A middle-aged woman covered with blood ran out. Her eyes looked full of fear and despair, but she showed a strong will for surviving.
Changli Jiuge unsheathed his sword and moved forward.
But in a blink of an eye, numerous black tentacles rushed out and dragged the woman into the darkness, leaving only the bloodstains that indicated her hands desperately clasping on the ground…
Her sense of helplessness and despair touched the heartstrings of two of the party members immediately.
But Changli Jiuge and Xiao Ayin swallowed hard. It was as if they had heard some weird sounds that made them stop in their tracks.
They had activated their insights just now.
Apart from question marks, there were only two warning words: (Extremely Dangerous).
William and his companions had also heard the voice. When they turned around and walked back, Xiyan could not help but cover her nose. “It smells bad.”
“It’s the smell of dark creatures. This stench would have attracted a lot of attention” Lautner narrowed his eyes.
They did not have a chance to investigate the alley.
A patrol team had arrived in haste. These cautious professionals immediately blocked the alley but did not send anyone inside.
Some kind of crystal clear powder was sprinkled at the junction of the alley and the main street. Two frightened sentries were arranged to stand guard, and nothing more was done.
Burned Cinder glanced at the powder and was surprised. “This is the Holy Light Exorcism Powder, only available at the Temple of Light. It’s very expensive. It can be used to stop the invasion of dark creatures below the Advanced level for a short period. But there’s a problem…”
“What’s the problem?” The players were befuddled. They had not seen such expensive powder.
As a little Angel whose identity was not exposed, Xi Yan frowned as she explained, “The main use of the exorcism powder is to prevent the dark creatures from invading the continent.
“These guards used the Holy Light Exorcism Powder on this street. It indicates the street in front of us…
“Doesn’t belong to the real world. Rather, it’s a portal to the Dark World.”
“Gosh!” Changli Jiuge and Xiao Ayin glanced at each other. Fortunately, they had not rushed into the alley. If they were to die in the Dark World, they were not sure they could be revived in the City of Dawn.
The players felt scared, whether it was Chu Liuqiu, Lucky Dream, Forever Alone, or Fatty, who was live-broadcasting.
They looked at William, their gazes filled with questions. Why was this S+ mission so scary?
The Blood Moon Dark Witch was indeed powerful. She could reduce a Human grand duchy to such a state, creating various portals to the Dark World.
“This mission is suicidal…” The players had nothing to say. It was indeed a very dangerous mission, as mentioned by Prince William.
If the situation continued, they might die again and again, without getting a chance to revive in the City of Dawn.
“Who are you?” William and his companions were discussing when they were noticed by the captain of a patrol team.
William raised an eyebrow and replied, “Lord of Dawn, William Blackleaf.”
“You are the Lord of Dawn? My respects to Prince William!” The patrol captain hastily saluted and said, “Prince William, are you bringing reinforcements for the Sixth Demon-Hunting Squad? Your residence is not far away. Shall I bring you there now?”
The Sixth Demon-Hunting Squad?
And it was an S+ mission?
When the players heard the words, they felt they were in hot soup.
The commenters in Fatty’s live broadcast started discussing how these boot-lickers would meet their doom…
The Grand Duchy had Grandmaster professionals. Establishing a grand duchy with hundreds of years of history required an Epic professional.
It was not known if there were any professionals with the Epic title, but they would not be weak.
When powerful Epic professionals guarded the city, and the city was still reduced to such a state, the problem must be grave.
The players started discussing the bleak situation. Was Prince William sending them to their doom?
No.
Of course not. William found no reason to explain to the players. He looked at the captain of the patrol team and asked, “Are we the sixth squad’s reinforcements? How many professionals were in the previous five squads, and what are the casualties?”
The middle-aged captain turned serious. With William’s Thunder God-like eyes gazing at him, he did not dare to tell lies and quickly replied, “There are 113 professionals, 67 of them have died. 3 casualties were Grandmaster level while 33 were Advanced level.
“Of the 67 casualties, 43 corpses were not found. It should be…”
“Well?” William stroked his chin and patted the captain’s shoulder. “I’m not going to the gathering point yet. I will explore around.”
When the captain was about to leave, William turned his head and asked, “Is there an additional demon-hunting squad?”
“No! You’re the last demon-hunting squad.” The patrol captain bitterly smiled, and then, left looking very solemn.
While the players trembled in fear, Chu Liuqiu lifted his head to look at the gray sky. He closed his eyes and said, “Time… has stopped.”
Everyone followed suit and looked at the sun that had not moved for some time. Gray mist shrouded them. Many players were enlightened, and they seemed to have remembered something.
At this time, William smiled as he walked away and said, “Kerenza has been drawn into an alternate dimension. Grandmaster professionals are not able to enter.
“We are the last batch of reinforcements to arrive. After we entered this world, the teleportation portal was closed.
“This alternate dimension is unable to connect to the real world.
“What we have to do now is to bring this city back to the real world.”
The ten players were in shock. What the f**k?
Even Lautner, who was not aware of the facts, was also bewildered. He did not know what William intended. Even if the reward for such a difficult task was high, there was no need to risk his life.
William was the Lord of Dawn.
He had a bright and unlimited future. Why had he come to this place to die?
William noticed the dismal expressions of his companions and explained again, “This is a game, a game of a Legendary Devil Lord.
“The devil’s words can never be trusted!
“But if he wants to continue playing, he must also abide by the rules that he himself had set, as someone had asked him to adhere to the rules. I shall not mention who this person is.
“In short, we are here, and we must win this game. We have to bring this city, which has fallen into the abyss, back to the Legendary continent.
“Or we shall see the city being trapped in the Dark World forever.”
“Don’t tell me that you are kind-hearted and are here for the commoners in this city.
“Such a big thing has happened to Kerenza. I don’t believe that the Human empires are not aware of it.” Xiyan could not resist asking. The Human empires had never been afraid of the devils. Where was the Human’s dominance? Perhaps, the sages should destroy the devils.
William stretched out his paws to touch the little Angel’s head, but Xiyan refused the gesture. William explained, “There are many portals to the Dark World in this city. In other words, the city has fallen into the Dark World. If the Legendary Devil Lord wanted darkness, the entire city would be engulfed in darkness.
“This was a scheme that the Blood Moon Dark Witch had previously hatched. Nobody had discovered it, so it couldn’t be reversed.
“Even if Human sages were to come here and help, it would be useless. The sages could only play the game with this Legendary devil to see who wins in the end.
“Don’t worry! We are the reinforcements. As long as we are not accidentally killed and the city has not fallen into the abyss, the Human sages can still rescue us.
“Do you think I’m not afraid of death?”
“You know quite a lot …” Lautner winced.
William raised his eyebrows and said, “From now on, all of you are to follow me very closely. Although the time here seems to be stagnant, after a few hours, the day will immediately turn into night.
“The sun will vanish, and the night will fall.
“We will make our move when the Blood Moon appears.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
“Look for the reviving Blood Moon Dark Witch and kill her again. I’ll look for my old friend too.”
Everyone was speechless. Nobody knew how to kill the witch. Kerenza must be at its wits’ end, and the Epic professionals in the city must have teething problems to seek reinforcements.
Time slowly went by, and night fell.
The city became engulfed in a thick fog. Except for those magic lamps slightly illuminating, no other light sources existed.
But the gigantic Blood Moon seemed to be very close.
Darkness and fear continued to infest in the hearts of commoners…
