Liszt swiftly directed the puppets to close all the windows of the Floating Castle.
Hill was profoundly grateful to the Crystal Flower ancestor for being both germaphobic and fond of quiet. Far less sound could reach the room now, and his eardrums could finally endure it.
Slightly irritated, he walked to the window and looked toward the source of the noise over the sea. He had so many formations against mental harm and sound intrusion, so why were they completely useless? What the hell was that thing?
It was a dark gray whale floating above the harbor. Several figures in black robes and hoods stood inside its open mouth, one hand pressed against a sphere that alternated between magical energy and shadow, while the other held an instrument to their mouths, made of twisted pipes and tiny bellows.
"An Otherworld Whale?" Hill muttered. "Controlled by negative energy? It has even been corrupted! They really aren't afraid of dying!"
"Sir, I think you should be paying more attention to the other two things. That black sphere looks like a Divine Artifact. And those are instruments, I assume? They don't seem very powerful, but how did their sound pass through the defensive formations?" Liszt said helplessly as he floated beside him.
"That shadowy black sphere did it. It neutralized every formation meant to intercept sound.
Who would go out of their way to set up a soundproofing formation in their own home strong enough to withstand a Divine Artifact? What a ridiculous idea.
I can sense powerful, twisted souls bound inside it. Just looking at it makes me sick.
A Divine Artifact that evil people can use together..." Hill said indifferently. "It can only be that damaged, corrupted mythallar core. They call it the Shadow Core, don't they?
I never expected it