Sword of Dawn

"Attack..." Selena whispered, looking at the huge sun that had sunk to the horizon, "It's getting dark."

"Yeah, it's getting dark. The previous exploration team encountered mental backlash after dark," Gao Wen nodded. "In the sandbox world, 'night' is a very special concept. It seems that as long as night falls, There will be many changes in this world, we have already explored Nim Sandro in the daytime, and next, maybe we can look forward to what it looks like at night.”

As Gao Wen said, he walked towards the edge of the high platform and was about to return to the temporary station, but Selina's voice suddenly came from behind him: "Haven't you considered the truth of the words at the entrance of the temple and on the pulpit?" ?”

"The god is dead?" Gawain stopped on the edge of the platform and shook his head slightly, "I don't believe it."

Night fell at last.

The moonless night sky enveloped the desert city-state of Nim Sandro, and strange stars twinkled in the sky. In an abandoned house near the temple, Selina summoned her lantern and gave the house to whoever it belonged to. Brings bright and warm lights.

The house has been cleaned up, and Yuri waved his hand at the long table in the center of the main room, and created a sumptuous banquet out of thin air——All kinds of barbecues were evenly brushed with sauces, glowing with tempting flavors. Color, desserts and vegetables are dotted around the main course, bright in color and delicious in appearance, and transparent wine glasses, candlesticks and other things are placed on the table, embellishing the feast.

"Enjoying delicious food and exploring the city-state are not in conflict." Yuri sat down at the long table with a polite smile, looking very graceful, "Although they are all manufactured dream products, this place itself is a dream world. Enjoy it."

"It's so boring, we don't need to eat or drink here," Magnum mocked casually, "Should I say that you really deserve to be born in a noble family? To create some illusions in this ghostly place to deceive yourself is to put on Typhon's 702 Su Tim wine and silver candlesticks—"

While talking, the short red-haired, short-sleeping archbishop sat at the long table and cut a piece of barbecue for himself: "...It's quite delicious."

Selena looked at the two people at the long table, and couldn't help but reminded with a slight frown: "Be more vigilant—it's the night of the sandbox world, and this world is not very safe after nightfall."

"Of course, so I'm waiting for the damned upper-level narrator to come to the door," Magnum's loud voice rang out from the long table, "only creating vague dreams and illusions, and still in the temple Leaving some words of 'the god is dead' to scare people, now I am curious about what He will do next—couldn't it just knock on the door?"

As soon as Magnum's loud voice finished, the residential house that served as a temporary foothold suddenly fell silent.

"Tuk Tuk Tuk-"

A rhythmic knock on the door reached everyone's ears.

In this already empty world, in this empty city-state, under the silent night——

There was a knock on the door.

With half a piece of roast meat stuck in his mouth, Magnum glared and swallowed hard after two seconds: "...Damn...I'm just talking..."

At the same time, the gentle knock on the door was still ringing out one after another, as if the person knocking outside had great patience.

The eyes of Yuri and Selena fell on Magnum at the same time. The red-haired archbishop stared at him, and finally waved his hand vigorously: "Okay, I'll drive..."

Gao Wen stood up one step earlier: "I'll go."

While talking, he came to the door made of unknown wood, and at the same time separated a ray of spirit to perceive the things outside the door.

There was a human breath outside the door, but it seemed to be just a human being.

Gawain put his hand on the doorknob, and at the same time, the steady knock on the door stopped, as if the outside visitors expected someone to open the door, and began to wait patiently.

As the door hinge squeaked to break the silence under the night, Gawain pushed open the door, and he saw an old man in a shabby gray-white robe standing outside the door.

The other party was tall, with white beard and hair, and the wrinkles on his face showed the traces left by the ruthless years. He was wearing a robe that had passed for an unknown number of years. Some decorations could still be vaguely seen, and the old man was holding a simple paper lantern. The light of the lantern illuminated a small area around him. In the hazy light produced by the simple lantern, Gawain saw Another figure appeared behind the old man.

It was a young girl in a worn-out white dress with long white hair that almost reached her ankles. She stood barefoot behind the old man and looked down at her toes. Therefore, Gawain couldn't see her face clearly, but could only roughly judge her appearance. Young, thin, and handsome.

An old man and a young girl visit late at night with battered paper lanterns, seemingly harmless.

But in this No. [-] sandbox, in this already empty world, their existence itself is a kind of weirdness! !

Gao Wen didn't relax his vigilance because of the harmlessness of humans and animals on the surface of the visitor. He already assumed that the other party was some kind of temptation from the "upper narrator". It's late, what's the matter?"

"It's been a long time since there were lights in this city," the old man said, with a gentle expression on his face and a very kind tone. "We were very surprised when we saw the lights in the distance, so we came over to check the situation."

So natural, such a normal way of speaking.

However, the more normal he behaved, the weirder Gao Wen felt.

Footsteps came from behind, and Selena came to Gao Wen's side.

She glanced at the old man and the girl at the door, nodded slightly, and her tone was also very natural: "Is it a guest?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you at night," the old man said, "Can we go in and have a rest? It's not easy to see lights in this city again."

It is undoubtedly a very risky behavior to receive visitors on a night when no visitors should be there.

However, Gao Wen suddenly smiled after looking up and down the two people at the door, and said generously: "Of course—the desert area is very cold at night, come in and warm up."

Selena looked at this scene with a slightly weird expression, and some strange associations inexplicably arose in her heart:

The Upper Narrator knocks on the Explorer's door, and the Outer Wanderer pushes it out, welcoming the former as a guest—and then, things get interesting.

Of course, she didn't have any evidence to prove that the ordinary-looking old man and girl in front of her were the incarnations of the upper-level narrators, but since they appeared under such strange circumstances... even if they were not "incarnations", they obviously wouldn't is a normal person.

In the abandoned residential house, the warm lights illuminate the room, the long table is filled with mouth-watering food, the fragrance of wine is floating in the air, and the guests who come from the cold night are ushered to the table .

Yuri and Magnum looked at the stranger in front of them with curiosity and alertness. The old man smiled back gently, while the white-haired girl in a white dress just sat aside quietly, staring down at his own face. On tiptoe, it seems that he is deaf to what is happening around him, and he seems afraid to communicate with the strangers around him.

"My name is Duwart," the old man in shabby clothes didn't show any abnormality, he just sat down politely at the long table and said with a smile, "I'm a priest who is still walking in the world , huh... probably the last one."

priest……

Gao Wen caught the word, but didn't express anything.

The old man who called himself Duwart then pointed to the girl next to him, and continued, "Her name is Naritel."

He only introduced the girl's name, and then there was no more to say. He didn't introduce the other party's identity and the relationship between the two as Gao Wen thought.

It was Yuri who was on the side who took the initiative to speak: "Naritel... a nice name, is it your granddaughter?"

"No, I just happened to be traveling together," the old man shook his head, "In today's world, it is not easy to find a companion."

The girl named Naritel looked up cautiously, pointed at herself, and said softly, "Naritel."

This seems to be an introduction of myself.

Magnum pouted, but said nothing.

"We are a group of explorers, and we are curious about this city," Gao Wen saw the two "people" who came out of the deserted night and introduced themselves so normally. He didn't know what they had. He didn't take the initiative to make trouble when he planned, but introduced himself with a smile, "You can call me Gawain, Gawain Cecil. This is Selina Gerfen, and the one next to me It's Mister Yuri Chalevin, and this one, Mister Magnum Kerabol."

"It feels so good to see the traveler appearing here again," Duarte said in a gentle tone, and glanced at the sumptuous food on the long table next to him, "Ah... what a sumptuous dinner."

"You can eat something together," Yuri said politely. "Sharing food is a virtue."

"The food is really good," Magnum continued, sniffling vigorously, "Alas... unfortunately, it would be better if there is no such stench everywhere."

The entire Nim Drow and the surrounding areas that have been proven are filled with a weird rancid smell, and this spreading smell has obviously affected the mood of the archbishop.

Hearing Magnum's complaint, the old man Duvalt showed a gentle smile: "Is the rancid smell...it's normal."

Gao Wen immediately frowned, and subconsciously asked, "Why is it normal?"

"The god is dead," the old man said in a low voice, putting his hand on his chest, with the palm facing down, his tone became lower and lower, "Now...he is finally beginning to rot."

Chapter 0810 Between Virtuality and Reality

The god is dead... and now he is finally beginning to rot...

The old man in front of him uttered a seemingly normal sentence in such an ordinary and natural tone, but everyone present felt an indescribable strangeness.

Magnum's hands were already on the table, they were faintly crossed, and his eyes were fixed on the old man who called himself "Duwart": "Which god is the god you speak of?"

The old man smiled and said very calmly: "Who else? Of course the upper-level narrator."

When the suspicious old man uttered the word "upper narrator", the pupils of Yuri and Magnum shrank obviously, but the scene did not appear any abnormality as they imagined, as if everything was just normal The conversation is average.

At this moment, Gao Wen finally discerned some details from the damaged pattern of the worn-out robe on the old man's body. It was the fragmented earth, covered with a symbolic palm...

"You are the priest of the upper narrator," Gao Wen said calmly, "but why do you say that the god is dead?"

Duwart didn't answer immediately, but first took a pastry from the rich food on the table, and put it in front of Naritil. The white-haired girl didn't speak, but just took the pastry and lowered her head, quietly but calmly. Eating very quickly, as if I have been hungry for a long time.

"The gods have been dead for many years. Before the world was destroyed, the gods had already begun to die." Duarte spoke slowly, as if there were traces of the vicissitudes of time in his words. "After realizing the truth behind the world, the gods Just go crazy, when God goes mad, He dies... He spent a century dying, and another century decaying, after that, the world became like this."

While talking, Duarte raised his arms and tidied up his overworn robe. Gawain vaguely saw that the edge of the robe was not only tattered and dirty, but also had some spider webs hanging on it—this indicated that The owner of the robe has not only visited many dilapidated places, but even stayed in a certain ruin for a long time not long ago.

If the No. [-] sandbox is regarded as a post-apocalyptic world, then how long has this upper-level narrator priest named Duarte been wandering in this post-apocalyptic world?

The other party seemed to just want to chat with someone. Although the situation was somewhat weird, Gao Wen still planned to take this opportunity to get more information, so he continued the topic: "In this world, there are other people besides us. people?"

"People? It's long gone..." the old man said in a low voice, "The world has ended, civilization has ended, there are only ruins here, and Duvalt and Naritil wandering in the ruins."

"Is everyone dead?" Yuri asked, "or...disappeared?"

"I don't know, probably all returned to the Lord's side." The old man vaguely gave an inexplicable answer, and took another piece of food from the table and handed it to Naritil, who still spoke very quickly and quietly. While eating, it seemed that the conversations happening around her had nothing to do with her.

"How many years have you been wandering here?" Selena also joined the conversation, asking gently.

"I can't remember. I have been stuck here since the end of the world," the old man said calmly. "I still remember some vague things. I remember what this city looked like when it was bustling and bustling. At that time, many people lived in the city. In these houses there were merchants in the streets from the swamps, forests, plains and coastal cities, there were festivals and heroic plays, there were speeches and debates of philosophers on high platforms, and the temples in the cities were bright and spacious, and the sun would shine through the clean The windows spilled over the pulpit, the believers calm and joyful...

"I still remember news from the south that scholars have created devices that can gaze at the stars, sailors from the west coast are discussing in taverns the strange fish they caught from the deep sea, and a dancing girl from the oasis area has come to town , people in half the city are talking about her beauty...

"Ah, it was such a good time... except, it's all over."

The old man shook his head, picked up the glass of fine wine that Yuri handed him, tentatively took a sip, and made a voice of surprise: "Oh, this is really an incredible taste... Naritel——"

The white-haired girl who was burying her head in eating the cake raised her head, glanced at the wine glass in the old man's hand suspiciously, took the glass after receiving a positive look from the other party, and took a sip cautiously.

In the next second, she vomited all the wine, and vomited for a long time: Obviously, she didn't like the taste very much.

"...I'm curious," Gawain suddenly broke the silence as he looked at the old man with a calm tone and the strange young girl in front of him, "What were you eating before we arrived—is there any food in the city? "

"We haven't eaten for a long time," Duarte shook his head with a smile, "That's why Naritil is so hungry."

……

In the territory of Typhon, in the Orlandle region, the night has already fallen, and the stars light up the night sky, reflecting the sparsely lit countryside below, as well as the "Throat of Orlandelle" in the center of the region.

In an unnamed village, a shepherd who just fell asleep was tossing and turning on the bed, as if he was struggling with an invisible dream, but soon he calmed down, his breathing became steady and low, as if the dream was suddenly stripped away, and the whole person had entered Deep, dreamless sleep.

Outside the window, a hazy figure flashed by.

In the village where the lights were turned off and everyone was asleep, two figures in black robes slowly walked across the street, bathed in starlight, walking from one end of the village to the other.

A young male voice came from under the hood of one of the black-robed figures: "The dream control of the last village has been completed. They will have a good night's sleep. No one will sleep tonight."

The figure next to him nodded, and a calm female voice came from under the hood: "Even so, we must patrol all night to prevent anyone from breaking through the control and falling asleep again—His Holiness has asked us to create an absolute '' Dreamless vacuum', and as long as there is one person in this area who is still dreaming, his dream may become a springboard, leading to accidents."

"Can such a 'dream barrier' really work?"

"Whether it is useful or not is something that His Majesty the Pope and wanderers outside the territory need to consider. Whether we do it or not is up to us," said the calm female voice. Do not use our arrangement."

"That's true..." said the young male Priest of the Eternal Sleeper, walking towards the outskirts of the village under the light of the stars. Occasionally, there were some sounds of wind and grass in the quiet village, but it seemed that the world became more and more silent.

"It is said... the dream priests 700 years ago were responsible for doing these things." The male priest said suddenly.

"whats the matter?"

"To walk in the night, to soothe disturbed dreams, and to heal those who have been traumatized, as we are doing today."

"Sounds...really similar."

"I didn't expect that I would come out of the underground palace to do such a thing one day - my great-grandfather once kept a dream priest's amulet, but it was destroyed in my father's generation," the young male said. The priest shook his head, "It is said that after this incident is over, we will have the opportunity to obtain a new identity, and we can act openly—but correspondingly, we will have to move to a new place."

The woman walking beside was silent for two or three seconds, shaking her head as a reminder: "Don't talk about this outside."

"...It's true."

The male priest seemed to smile, and while agreeing, he raised his head, looked at the vast wilderness outside the village, and looked at the end of the wilderness.

A crooked earth slope with broken edges undulates under the far-away night, and the starlight illuminates the edge of the earth slope, revealing that there seems to be a rift or a deep pit there.

Orlandelle, the former imperial capital of Typhon, was quietly buried at the bottom of the huge pit at this moment.

……

In the ancient and deep underground palace, Archbishop Semler, with a serious and gloomy temperament and thinning hair, was inspecting the deepest layer of the containment area.

The newly installed magic net device drives the magic spar lamp, illuminating this once darkest and deepest area, and the bright light seems to be able to dispel the oppressive and gloomy atmosphere brought by the narrators on the upper floor. Sammler walked through the assembly at the bottom In the hall, a priest who seemed to have just arrived came to him quickly, bowing his head slightly to pay tribute:

"Archbishop, the control of dreams on the surface has been completed, and the scope of the dreamless vacuum zone has covered the entire Orlandle area."

"Very good," Semler nodded, "Continue to monitor the dreams of the Orlandle area, and send out the reserve team of the Spirit Knights to support any gaps at any time."

"Yes, Archbishop."

"In addition, send an order to send additional personnel to guard the connection channel at the bottom of Orlandle's Throat. If there is a 'zero-level' leak here... if necessary, blow up the dome."

Faced with such an order, the priest hesitated a bit: "Archbishop, in this case, irreparable damage may occur in the upper part of the palace, and the entire underground palace may be exposed..."

"The upper area can be abandoned. All our important facilities are in the middle and lower areas. These two areas have elemental blessings and reinforcement spells, which can resist the collapse of the dome. We can slowly solve the problem after sealing the underground palace. As for the exposure...then It doesn't matter anymore."

"Yes, Archbishop," the priest nodded slowly, but couldn't help asking, "But... just blowing up the dome, can it really block the 'Upper Narrator'?"

"How can a pile of collapsed stones stop the invisible gods?" Semler sneered and shook his head, "However, it is enough for the collapsed stones to stop the 'believers' of the upper-level narrators." gone."

The priest who delivered the order felt an indescribable pressure, but he quickly took a deep breath under the pressure and nodded vigorously.

The priest left, and Sammler stood in the empty and quiet corridor of the containment area, stood quietly for several seconds before shaking his head slightly, and walked towards the area where the psionic choir members were housed.