The City of Silver's exploration made slow headway

The Forsaken Land of the Gods, an open area directly opposite the Giant King’s Court.

A fierce battle is raging on the magnificent straight road leading to the Royal City gates.

"May the glory of the Lord endure, to defeat our enemies as the wind blows away the dust..."

Derrick clenched his fist and pounded his chest while chanting loudly.

Centered on his body, a pure and clear radiance spread out, giving people a feeling of comfort as if they were soaking in hot water, while filling their hearts with Courage. His comrades were inspired by this light, their spirits lifted, and they faced the Distortion Monster before them with even greater momentum.

The Monster, clad in tattered armor, roared, wielding their weapons with sharp, whistling sounds, while simultaneously unleashing their Beyonder Ability.

The City of Silver exploration team members who were able to enter this area were all elites. They faced the siege of a large number of Monster with considerable composure, and blood splattered frequently as some Monster were successfully killed.

However, there were simply too many Monsters. They emerged from the shadows of the city walls and vanished completely after they died, clearly indicating that they were not actual beings.

Monster kept appearing, but the team members' Spirituality was being steadily depleted, and it was only a matter of time before they couldn't hold on any longer.

"Is it ready yet?"

Derrick thought to himself, looking concernedly further ahead on the straightaway.

There, Colin Iliad, the chief of City of Silver, was battling a colossal Giant. The Giant was incredibly imposing, a towering figure even in City of Silver where the average height was only two or three meters. His entire body was concealed within a tattered Corrosion suit of armor.

The brilliant golden light of Twilight reflected off the armor of Royal City Giant, giving him a Desolation yet magnificent and cruel beauty.

The Giant held a huge, rusty longsword in both hands, and each swing stirred up an astonishing gust of wind.

"Clang!"

Colin Iliad crossed his two straight swords upwards, blocking the heavy, terrifying Greatsword. At the same time, the strange ointment coated on the Twin Swords began to work, channeling the illusory, burning fire of the Sun along the Greatsword into the Giant's hand opposite him.

"Lovia!"

Seeing the Giant being injured by the flames, Colin immediately shouted.

"Brush!"

Suddenly, a dark, Abyssal Greatsword emerged from the shadows beneath the Giant's feet. The blade was sharp and powerful, piercing through the Giant's body in a single strike!

The shadows surged upwards, and a knight clad entirely in black armor emerged. The visor of her helmet flipped up, revealing her face—Elder Lovia, whose eyes glowed with a terrifying Red Light.

"Grazing!"

After successfully piercing the Giant, Lovia didn't stop. Instead, she opened her palm and let out a cold shout. "Whoosh!"

Amidst the cold, howling wind, a transparent soul was forcibly torn from the Giant's body and floated toward Lovia's palm, about to become her Lamb and be driven by her.

"Did we finally succeed?"

Derrick watched this scene with excitement in his heart.

They had been stuck at the gates of the Royal City for a long time. The Monster here were numerous and possessed strange abilities that resonated with the status of the Royal City itself, which had slowed down their exploration of the Royal City.

Fortunately, a breakthrough has finally been achieved. Once Elder Lovia Grazing the Giant, their progress can continue...

Unfortunately Derrick was too optimistic.

"Brush!"

Just as the Giant's soul was about to be completely ripped out, the Twilight light that had been condensing and constantly emanating from the sky above the Royal City suddenly shone on the Giant. That golden, brilliant light seemed to possess an invisible magic, actually reversing the Giant's state, not only restoring its soul that was about to be ripped out, but also completely healing the wound on its abdomen.

In the blink of an eye, the armored Giant once again stood before the Royal City, completely unharmed!

Colin Iliad gave the Giant a deep look, then glanced around at his explorers who were locked in a fierce battle behind him.

"... Everyone, retreat first." He calmly gave the order to retreat, his eyes deep.

Everyone was immediately discouraged.

They had heard this command far too many times during this exploration.

"Well..."

Derrick couldn't help but sigh. He and his teammates skillfully set up a defensive line to cover the rear and orderly withdrew from the plain, once again returning empty-handed.

After returning to the camp in the Afternoon Town, Derrick crawled into his semi-permanent tent.

He lit the stove, placed three or four meat-flavored Mushroom and rye bread on it to bake slowly, and then sat down to rest for a while, enjoying the delicious aroma.

After a brief reply, Derrick pulled out several books made of animal hide from his backpack under the bed. Using his "Sun" Pathway ability, he made light emanate from his fingertips and read by the light.

This was certainly not because he had a love of reading, but because he was responding to Mr. Temperance's request.

The fellow member of the Tarot Club asked me to research the history of the City of Silver and find out which god they worshipped before the Great Cataclysm.

Logically, we should worship the Creator. However, since Mr. Temperance has this need, I'll look it up for him—with this thought in mind, Derrick went to the City of Silver library before the exploration team set off, borrowed a batch of relevant books, and planned to browse through them during his rest time. "Hmm, this book is called... 'City of Silver Chronicles City'... It records major events in City of Silver before the cataclysm... Let me see... There's the visit of a large merchant caravan, the construction of new roads, harvest Ritual, celebrations of the successful brewing of new wine..."

Derrick read the Record from those distant eras, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. Just by looking at these Record, one could tell how glorious City of Silver had been back then. The golden age before the cataclysm was truly captivating.

He hadn't forgotten his mission and focused on the accounts of deities. He discovered that everything corroborated the knowledge he'd learned in his general education courses, such as his Oldest One faith in the Giant King Aurmir, and his later conversion to faith in the Creator after the Creator's return...

"Absolutely no problem."

Derrick thought to himself, and then turned the pages one by one, checking them all, but still couldn't find any problems.

If I really had to nitpick, it would probably be that this book isn't an original ancient text, but rather a copy.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Derrick turned the book over and examined the cover.

The book's cover clearly Record that it was copied strictly from the original text by a clerk in a certain year, and that the clerk was responsible for its contents.

Could it be that the scribe covered up some content during the copying process?

Derrick thought to himself, half-jokingly.