Although Rosa's words were mostly spoken in a desperate bid to save her father, the information she revealed sent a cold shiver down the spines of every hunter present.
Many of the details she mentioned aligned perfectly with what they had seen and heard recently.
For instance, after Gusion's sudden movement, the Demon Hunter team's route had indeed undergone a rare and drastic change.
They had abandoned their westward exploration and abruptly headed north, pointing directly toward that uncharted territory where no one dared to set foot.
Yet, even though they knew Rosa's words were highly likely true, and even though they understood that their homes outside the wall were in imminent danger, the bounty hunters present quickly came to a consensus after a brief commotion and a moment of calculation.
Their final decision was surprisingly unanimous.
“Let's go!”
“Pack your things! We're leaving Blackwater City immediately!”
“We need to get our families out of the corridor before the Dark Tide erupts!”
Someone yelled first, and the crowd instantly surged into motion.
No one spared another glance at the pale-faced Rosa standing in the center.
The hunters roughly kicked aside the clutter on the floor, quickly packing up their scattered weapons, bags, and sleeping bags.
Some stamped out the bonfires, sending showers of sparks flying, while others rushed to the corners of the cathedral to shake awake their dozing companions.
Rough shouts, heavy footsteps, and the clattering of gear instantly filled the vast, hollow cathedral.
Within less than ten minutes, the cathedral that had been packed with people just moments ago emptied out.
Only a few smoldering embers and a scattered mess remained on the floor.
Along with the only four people left behind.
Gero remained where he was, his expression calm.
The bard cradled her lute, quietly leaning against the wall.
Weak from blood loss and consumed by despair, Rosa sank to one knee, her breathing heavy and ragged.
And finally—in a nearby corner, Ryan stood with a constantly shifting expression, locked in a fierce internal struggle.
Rosa turned her gaze toward Ryan.
Ryan immediately raised his hands, shaking his head in a panic.
“Don't look at me! I have absolutely no intention of going with you to throw my life away!”
He paused, a sheepish and pleading expression squeezing onto his face as he turned his eyes toward Gero and his black hair.
“I only stayed behind because of... this gentleman.”
Gero let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“I told you, I'm really not the person you're looking for.”
“My hair is dyed. I'm telling you, it's dyed.”
The bard blinked, stepping closer with curiosity.
“What kind of riddle are you two playing at?”
Gero gestured helplessly toward Ryan.
“This young fellow says his team ran into a ghost on their way here.”
“And not just any ghost, but that of the famous Night Elf—Shadow Blade Lynn.”
The curiosity on the bard's face instantly froze.
Gero continued, “The ghost ordered him to come to Blackwater City and find someone with black hair and black eyes.”
“She wants that person to go to her resting place and help free her soul.”
“Otherwise... she would make sure his entire team remains inside the wall forever.”
After hearing the explanation, the bard's expression became incredibly strange.
“Shadow Blade Lynn's ghost?”
“That annoying woman who almost kicked my door down?”
“Didn't she die in the north? It's been so many years.”
“If she really turned into a ghost, how come we've never run into her?”
She turned to Ryan, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
“Are you sure you didn't just inhale too much mist and hallucinate?”
Ryan shook his head vigorously, his emotions flaring.
“Impossible! All four of us in the team had taken our elixirs!”
“And I wasn't the only one who heard her—the other three did too!”
“She... she was even able to silently churn up a patch of earth!”
“There's no way that was an illusion!”
He clutched his head in his hands, his voice carrying the weight of a long-suppressed breakdown.
“You have no idea what we encountered on our way here!”
The bard crossed her arms.
“What did you encounter? If I recall, you are the leader of Blade's Edge.”
“You took the conservative route along the wall starting from the Fifth Node.”
“That path has been used for years. What danger could there possibly be?”
Ryan looked up, his eyes rimmed with red and his voice trembling.
“On our way in...”
“We didn't hear a single sigh!”
“Every single spectral demon... was gone, as if they had all vanished!”
“Can you even comprehend that kind of terror?!”
Ryan growled, on the verge of a total breakdown.
For people like them who risked their lives making a living inside the wall year-round, every journey deep inside was like dangling their lives from a thin thread.
Any unusual sound or sign could be a death knell.
Let alone an anomaly that hadn't been heard of in over a decade.
After listening to Ryan describe the deathly silence they had encountered along the way, both Gero and the bard knit their brows in unison.
If Ryan was telling the truth, this situation was indeed bizarrely abnormal.
But if all of this was truly the work of the so-called “ghost of Shadow Blade Lynn”...
No matter how powerful a specter was, could it really drive away every single spectral demon along the way?
Even an Epic Rank spectral lord might not be able to achieve such a feat.
Meanwhile, hovering near the cathedral ceiling, Lin Gui had been listening in silence.
He was completely stunned.
Not encountering any spectral demons along the way... was that not because of his role as a guide?
Why did they make it sound as if “not encountering demons” was an extremely abnormal, even terrifying thing?
In a flash of insight, he suddenly recalled the bizarre scene when he had first entered the Wall of Sighs.
Those spectral demons had barely caught sight of him before screaming and fleeing in sheer panic.
At the time, he had assumed it was just an illusion or a coincidence.
But looking at it now...
it was highly likely that they were terrified.
Terrified of him, or perhaps... Eve.
He quietly made a mental note of this and turned his gaze back down.
Rosa was currently dragging her heavily injured body, gritting her teeth as she limped toward the cathedral exit.
She was clearly intent on pursuing Jesse and the others.
The bard suddenly spoke up.
“My dear human lady, do you... know where to find them?”
Rosa paused in her tracks and looked back.
A cold, mocking sneer appeared on her pale face.
“Why? Do you want to 'help' them too—”
She paused, emphasizing each syllable.
“...you half-demon... no, you demon lady?”
The bard was slightly taken aback.
Then, the corners of her mouth slowly curled into a wicked smile.
“Impressive. As expected of the child of the Demon Hunter Cass.”
She raised her hand and gave a gentle wave in front of her face, as if tearing away an invisible veil.
Her long, pale-gold hair rapidly turned dark red starting from the roots.
Two slender, curved, pitch-black horns grew from the sides of her head.
Her eyes, which always carried a hint of a smile, saw their pupils bleed into a crimson red.
Most eye-catching of all was her back, where a pair of folded, leathery, dark-red bat wings quietly unfurled before gently folding back in.
Her previously warm and friendly aura as a bard vanished without a trace, replaced by a deep, ancient, and majestic demonic pressure.
Ryan, who had been hesitantly thinking of stepping closer, was struck dumb, stumbling backward to collapse onto his backside on the floor.
He pointed at Hannah, his voice cracking from sheer shock and terror.
“M-Miss Hannah?! You... how can you be...”
Hannah shrugged helplessly, her bat wings trembling slightly with the motion.
“I've never harmed you, and I even played music for you for free for so long.”
“Do you really have to fear me just because I'm a demon?”
“Just as there are good and bad humans, there are good and bad demons too, you know? And I happen to be one of the good ones.”
“My beloved Holy Knight can attest to that.”
Having said her piece, Hannah giggled and leaned against Gero's chest, nudging him with her elbow.
Gero could only offer a helpless smile.
Rate on N.U.
