Gero

Lin Gui sat sideways on his staff, suspended in the shadows of the cathedral dome.

His gaze was locked tightly on Jesse and the others below.

He knew things were looking bad.

His move just now had been a split second too slow.

The opponent's bizarre Blood Tracing spell had undoubtedly already captured Rosa's trail.

Although under the protection of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night, Rosa had vanished from their perception.

But since they knew she was inside, they would not leave easily.

Sure enough, Jesse nodded slightly.

The silent, gray-robed figures beside her immediately scattered into motion.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized, carrying a cold efficiency.

Two gray-robed men slid silently toward the cathedral's main entrance.

Instead of closing the doors, they stood side by side on either side of the doorframe.

Raising their hands, viscous black threads seeped from their fingertips.

The threads rapidly interwoven and extended, weaving a dense net within the doorframe in the blink of an eye.

The mesh was fine, gleaming with a metallic, matte finish.

Another two gray-robed men walked toward several broken high windows on the side.

The window frames had long since rotted, leaving large gaps.

The gray-robed men raised their hands, similarly spewing black threads.

The black threads clung to the window frames like living things, crisscrossing over one another.

They quickly sealed off every gap that a person could possibly pass through.

The final two gray-robed men walked straight behind the altar deep within the cathedral.

There was an inconspicuous low door there, a secret door leading to the underground storage room.

It was now also firmly sealed by the black threads.

In an instant, all possible exits of the abandoned cathedral—

doors, windows, and even ventilation gaps—

were completely blocked by that cobweb-like black substance.

Once the gray-robed men finished sealing the area, they stood silently at key positions,

like lifeless statues.

Lin Gui could see everything clearly from above.

Those black threads did not just block the paths; they also faintly emitted energy fluctuations,

forming a thin but resilient barrier.

His heart sank.

No matter how advanced a concealment spell was, it could not directly pass through physical barriers.

The 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 could hide one's figure, breath, and energy,

but it could not turn a person truly incorporeal to pass through solid obstacles.

The enemy clearly knew this well.

This was the crudest yet most effective method against all concealment magic:

using a physical dragnet to completely trap any potential "rats" inside.

However, such sealing methods were not unsolvable for Lin Gui.

He could think of at least two ways to escape.

The first was a decoy tactic.

He could use objects hidden by the Shroud of the Gloomy Night to break several cobweb blockades,

creating chaos to draw their attention, then slipping away in the confusion.

The second was much more brutal and direct—

collapsing the entire abandoned cathedral.

He could escape amidst the chaos, dust, and debris of the collapse.

And in his heart, Lin Gui leaned toward the second option.

The reason was simple.

He was merely a High Rank weakling.

The other side... was a group that could beat a Legendary Rank Demon Hunter like a dead dog.

He really did not expect to disrupt their formation with the first minor trick.

Just as Lin Gui was quickly weighing his options,

Jesse below had already turned her head and spoke to the man beside her.

Her voice was cold, carrying an unquestionable command.

“Bill, find her.”

The pale man called Bill smiled.

He took a step forward, the playful look in his eyes gradually fading,

replaced by a focused coldness.

He raised his right hand and gently sliced his left palm with his fingertip.

A tiny cut appeared, but what seeped out was not bright red blood.

Instead, it was dark, almost viscous blood.

The blood did not drip; rather, like a living thing,

it slowly floated and rolled above his palm.

Bill muttered obscure syllables in a low voice.

The blood clump in his palm trembled and elongated,

eventually transforming into countless extremely fine, blood-colored threads.

These bloody threads were even denser than those used for tracking before.

They did not shoot toward any single spot, but instead spread out silently.

Like a spreading mist, it moved slowly yet firmly,

filling every inch of space within the cathedral.

The bloody mist brushed past the dust on the floor, the broken pews,

the outer edge of the bonfire, and even tried to seep into the cracks in the walls.

This was an ultimate physical detection method.

It did not rely on energy perception or soul tracking.

Instead, it used almost imperceptible, physical bloody threads woven into a net.

Any tangible object, as long as it existed within this space,

would have its outline exposed the moment it came into contact with the threads.

Lin Gui's Shroud of the Gloomy Night could hide energy and breath,

but it could not make Rosa's body truly vanish.

Once touched by these blood threads...

the consequences were obvious.

In the shadows of the dome, Lin Gui's gaze darkened completely.

He knew he could not delay any longer.

His figure drifted silently through the shadows of the dome, avoiding the spreading bloody threads below.

He reached the highest point of the cathedral, looking down at the entire hall from above.

His gaze, precise as a ruler, quickly swept over the massive stone pillars supporting the dome.

Although the cathedral had been abandoned for many years, its main structure was still relatively solid.

However, under the erosion of time, many of the joints had long since loosened and weathered.

Although Lin Gui did not have powerful offensive magic,

destroying a balance that had fallen into disrepair did not require much strength.

After identifying several key fulcrums, Lin Gui immediately calmed his mind.

His mind quickly recalled a spell he had almost forgotten.

A dark-element High Rank spell—【Shadow Pierce】.

He chanted in a low voice, the syllables strange and brief.

Rings of dark purple magic quietly took shape around his fingertips.

Under the concealment of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night, these rings drifted out,

landing precisely at the bases of the core load-bearing pillars below.

The rings touched the ground and silently merged into the shadows.

Sharp black spikes composed of pure shadow

began to slowly "grow" from the magic circles.

They aimed at the weakest parts of the connection between the pillars and the foundation,

poised to strike.

At this point, Lin Gui did not really care about Rosa hiding below anymore.

Jesse's group was far too bizarre.

Especially this Bill, who used blood as a medium.

It reminded him of a legendary race—

Vampires.

One of the Seventy-Two Pillar Demon Kings' subordinate races.

Lin Gui did not know what they were doing here.

And he had absolutely no interest in finding out.

He just wanted to hurry to Avalon, get the system reward,

and then deliver the reply and return to New Covenant City.

He did not want to get involved in any strange or dangerous business at all.

Especially since there was no system reward for this.

These people came here, beat up a Legendary Rank Demon Hunter, kidnapped his son, and hunted down his other daughter.

What did that have to do with him?

Whether they were here to destroy the world or just on a tour, as long as they didn't drag him into it, he didn't care.

Just as Lin Gui was fully focused, about to finish the final verse of his chant

and unleash the magic,

an accident occurred.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps and Ryan's tearful cries echoed from the cathedral entrance.

“M-My lord, everything I said is true!”

“It really was the ghost of Lord Shadow Blade Lynn who forced us to come here to find you!”

“She wants you to go to her burial site to help set her free!”

Immediately after, a somewhat helpless middle-aged male voice sounded.

“Sigh, how many times do I have to tell you...”

“I am not the black-haired, black-eyed person you are looking for.”

“My black hair was dyed by my wife, and my eyes are brown, not black.”

“...”

Before the words could fully fade, a figure stepped into the cathedral, leading a weeping Ryan.

It was a handsome middle-aged man with a gentle temperament.

He raised his hand and casually grabbed the tough black cobweb at the entrance.

Clenching his fingers, he gave a hard tug.

“Riiip—”

Amidst a grating tearing sound, the cobweb that was strong enough to withstand slashes and cuts

was actually ripped open by his bare hands like ordinary cotton thread.

The man stepped into the firelight, his gaze sweeping over the bizarre scene inside the cathedral—

the captured Cass and his son, the solemnly standing gray-robed men, and Jesse's group at the head.

He raised an eyebrow, a strange and playful smile spreading across his face.

“Oh, quite a lively gathering here?”

“Are you guys... having a party?”

The gazes of Jesse and the others instantly locked onto him.

Bill's brow furrowed, a bloody light faintly appearing in his eyes.

For the first time, a clear ripple of emotion flashed through Modo's hollow eyes.

Meanwhile, in the corner, the bard's eyes lit up.

She smiled and waved at the man by the entrance, her voice cheerful.

“Hey! You bastard Gero, did you get lost again?”

Suspended in the dome, Lin Gui's chanting came to an abrupt halt.

He stared at the relaxed, smiling man below who had torn open the cobweb with his bare hands.

Hearing the bard's name for him, he couldn't help but daze.

Gero???

This name...