Batman's willpower was beyond question, but this was a different matter in a game like this. Although Schiller thought he would have assigned himself enough points in willpower, it would be useless if he was fighting enemies above his level, no matter how high he had raised it.
Judging by Batman's condition, he must have come into contact with some higher-level entity, one at least above the Deep Ones, and had carelessly fallen victim to it.
But Batman could not have been completely defenseless or unable to resist. Otherwise, he would not have displayed abnormalities so frequently and drawn Schiller's attention.
If Batman had truly acted normally, Schiller could not say he would not have been deceived. But Batman's behavior had been far too strange, as though the words "Something is wrong with me" had been written across his face. Schiller did not think he had been controlled. Something might have affected his mind instead.
That reminded Schiller of the strangely behaved little girl, Jeff's daughter. She had looked perfectly normal on the surface too, yet there had always been something odd about her.
Schiller recalled finding the Book of the Water God in Jeff's cellar. The several boxes stacked over it had all been empty, except for the topmost one, which contained a few scraps of fodder.
The feed stored in the cellar was meant for raising animals. Though Schiller had never worked in animal husbandry, he roughly understood the principles involved. Livestock raised for food usually could not simply be left on a mountain to graze.
Generally speaking, no matter how abundant the pasture grass was, ranchers would still stockpile feed. Sometimes the weather turned harsh, and sometimes the grass could not provide enough nutrition for the animals to reach their target weight, requiring additional supplements.
Schiller calculated