Elvia was stunned for several seconds.
Then she stood up abruptly and practically ran to Lin Gui's side.
She grabbed his hand.
She gripped it very tightly.
So tightly that Lin Gui felt as if his finger bones were about to be crushed by her.
"Thank you, lady."
Her voice still carried a tremble, but she spoke very earnestly.
"Thank you for not killing me."
Catriona looked at her, the corners of her mouth curling into an extremely faint arc.
She said nothing, only raising her hand to give a light wave.
Like shooing away a small animal.
Lin Gui led Elvia toward the door.
After taking two steps, he came to a halt.
He turned his head.
He looked toward Catriona.
"Lady, I have a question."
Catriona raised her eyelids to look at him.
Those golden eyes flickered slightly in the dimness.
"Speak."
"Why didn't you go to retrieve the Lord Hero yourself?"
Lin Gui watched her.
"With your strength, that shouldn't have been an obstacle."
"In the tomb within the Withered Rift, apart from the activated mechanisms, I didn't see any other enemies."
Lin Gui himself had been able to bring out the Hero's remains.
There was no reason that Catriona, whose strength was equal to Peak Shadow Blade Lynn, couldn't do it.
She could have even sent Caleb, a High-tier Legendary assassin with formidable speed and concealment abilities.
The location of the tomb beneath the Withered Rift wasn't that far from the Carter Royal Capital.
Catriona watched him.
A flicker of something subtle passed through those golden eyes.
"Did you... truly not encounter anyone else?"
Lin Gui was taken aback.
"What?"
Catriona stated plainly:
"How did John's Holy Knights die?"
Lin Gui's brow furrowed.
John's Holy Knights?
Back in the Carter Royal Capital, when he heard from Fal that John's Holy Knights had been entirely wiped out, he hadn't thought much of it.
The threats of the wilderness were everywhere.
He had assumed that John's Holy Knights were simply unlucky, encountering a demon riot or some other accident on their way back that led to their total annihilation.
This wasn't rare in Akara.
Though John was a Mid-tier Legendary.
In the wilderness, there were countless demons far more powerful than he.
But after that...
Images suddenly flashed through Lin Gui's mind.
The Wall of Sighs.
Mirror-Shadow City.
Those corpse knights wearing black armor.
Those monsters that couldn't be killed no matter what.
That empty-eyed Knight John, controlled by Modo.
His pupils constricted abruptly.
His body stiffened slightly.
John's Holy Knights hadn't died in the wilderness.
They had been killed.
Then they were converted into corpse puppets controlled by Modo.
And Modo was in league with Jesse.
Jesse...
Lin Gui's thoughts raced backward.
The Withered Rift.
That Primeval Era tomb.
That strange trio who called themselves the "tomb guardians."
Jesse, Carl, and Isaac.
They had been there at the time.
Was it they who killed John's Holy Knights?
Was it after they had left the tomb?
Given Jesse's strength to suppress Gusion, they could indeed have done it.
Then why... why hadn't they made a move against him back then?
Catriona seemed to have guessed Lin Gui's thoughts.
"Perhaps it was out of wariness regarding your concealment ability."
Lin Gui raised an eyebrow.
Would people like them, capable of suppressing the Demon King Gusion and his party, be wary of his Shroud of the Gloomy Night?
Catriona watched him.
For the first time, a strange expression appeared within those golden eyes.
It looked like... admiration?
"Do not look down upon that spell of yours too much."
Her voice remained very faint.
"I am a mage as well."
"At least in the long years I have lived, I have never heard of a Mid Rank magic spell capable of exerting a concealment effect at the Peak Epic tier."
Though Catriona hadn't actually witnessed Lin Gui's concealment magic.
The fact that Caleb, a High-tier Legendary assassin, admitted he was inferior to the other party was proof enough.
And one must remember, at the time, Lin Gui was only a Mid-tier High Rank.
She paused.
"In the realm of concealment magic, your spell is just one step away from the very top."
"There are only two things that can surpass your concealment magic."
"One is an Epic Rank concealment Forbidden Spell with numerous restrictions; the other is a concealment-type divine artifact."
"And according to Caleb, you can perform that concealment magic with chantless casting."
"That alone is enough to make those people wary."
As the creator of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night.
Lin Gui naturally understood its advantages over other similar concealment spells.
He was also naturally aware of the Forbidden Spell tier magic Catriona mentioned.
Spells of the Epic Rank were extremely rare existences in the magical world.
While possessing immense, world-destroying power.
The mana required to release them—and the restrictions involved—were also numerous.
The most common restriction was the chanting time.
As the rank of magic increased, the magical incantations grew longer and longer.
Therefore, they were also called Forbidden Spells.
Magic forbidden in standard combat.
This wasn't because Forbidden Spells were so terrifying in power or cost that they were disallowed.
It was simply because, by the time a Title Rank mage finished the preparation for a Forbidden Spell, the opponent would have already attacked countless times.
And even if someone protected the mage until the Forbidden Spell was complete, the preparation time was long enough for the enemy to slip away.
Lin Gui recalled correctly that the minimum chanting time for a Forbidden Spell for a single person was four hours.
Yes, it was that exaggerated.
Of course, if there were mages of the same rank to assist, the time could be greatly reduced.
But... the entirety of Akara couldn't even scrounge up more than a handful of Title Rank mages.
The City of a Thousand Towers, hailed as the Holy City for mages, only possessed six Epic mages.
So, although Forbidden Spell tier concealment magic was stronger than the Shroud of the Gloomy Night.
In terms of applicability, it was more than enough to completely crush Forbidden Spells that required an Epic Rank to cast.
Lin Gui understood all of this, but he hadn't expected it.
That Carl and his party, who even Catriona was wary of...
Would decline to take action against him due to their wariness of his concealment magic.
No matter how powerful the Shroud of the Gloomy Night was, he was ultimately only High Rank.
At the time, Theia was heavily injured and unconscious, and Elvia had almost lost her combat capability.
Their strength had been completely crushed by the other side, yet the other side had let him go.
So, was it just good luck that he happened to hit a point where they were unwilling to face a concealment expert?
Lin Gui lamented.
"Truly, without even knowing it, I walked right past the gates of hell."
Lin Gui slightly regretted diving deep into those undeveloped ruins to save Rona.
But who could have known that he would run into the Church of the Final Reincarnation, which even the higher-ups of the Central City-States feared?
And he had run into them twice, no less.
Once in the Withered Rift, and once at the Wall of Sighs.
Catriona watched Lin Gui and said earnestly:
"Stay away from them."
"They are the only ones who have survived the final calamity multiple times."
"No one knows exactly how deep their foundations go."
Lin Gui fell silent for several seconds.
He recalled the conflict he'd had with them at the Wall of Sighs.
And Lin Gui had personally killed one of those undead Vampires.
The conflict seemed to have already occurred.
Lin Gui could only pray that the Church of the Final Reincarnation wouldn't notice him because of it.
He nodded solemnly.
"Thank you for the reminder, lady."
Then he led Elvia, turning and walking out of the antique shop.
Behind them, no further sound came.
Rate on N.U.
