Chapter 837

Chapter 67: The Abyss of Cognition – Part Four

“Someone’s coming!”

Bang—

Zzzz!

Both the Lady Swordsman and I reacted quickly. At the sound, she leapt into Moon Step while I turned into lightning, disappearing in an instant into the ruins. The female swordsman moved slightly slower than me. Seeing me land on the roof of a partially collapsed shack, her lightning finally settled beside me, and we both crouched behind a tilted board.

She then glanced at me, hesitating for a moment before asking, “So why are we hiding?”

“Because it’s the Church people.”

Feeling uncomfortable squatting, I looked down and pressed my foot on the nearly collapsed roof. Though simple, the wooden planks seemed sturdy enough to hold two people for a short time. I sat cross-legged, placing my cloak underneath me for comfort.

“How did you know?”

In her peripheral vision, the female swordsman frowned slightly, not understanding how I could tell who was approaching just from the hoofbeats.

“I guessed.”

I didn’t feel like explaining further.

Soon, with the sound of hooves growing closer from afar, a small squad of Church knights, accompanied by the neighing of horned horses, gradually appeared from the south. There were about thirty of them, quickly advancing amidst the chaos of iron hooves. They reached the camp’s perimeter swiftly, their disorganized formation undiminished, seemingly unaware of any anomaly as they marched straight in the direction we came from.

“It’s them…”

As she recognized the armor and uniforms, the bewildered Lady Swordsman finally realized, “The Second Knight Order that escorted the gold coins… Those out on patrol? They didn’t escape…”

“Mm-hm.”

I hummed absentmindedly, not really caring to respond.

Though they didn’t escape…

Why would they rush in so recklessly when the outside of the castle has become such a hellish scene? They seem completely oblivious to what’s happening here…

Are they blind or did they already know?

While my mind raced, my eyes scanned the rapidly passing group, quickly spotting four horned horses being led by knights in the rear. One, two, three, four… there were four in total. These horned horses had no riders, only heavy-looking burlap sacks tied to their backs, carrying the bags…

…Oh.

Those bags contained the gold coins from earlier.

Taxes…

Under these circumstances, are they still delivering them to the castle!?

“Move aside—move aside!”

The galloping horned horses swept past the narrow, blood-stained path in front of the shack, breaking the “roots” entangled in the ground with their iron hooves, which then flew up and quickly turned to ashes, dispersing with the dust in the air—perhaps many were inhaled by the knights, but everyone seemed to ignore this. The lead knight waved his hand, shouting loudly ahead, “Second Knight Order on urgent mission, make way! Don’t block our path!”

But looking around, there was no one in sight.

“What are they doing?!”

The Lady Swordsman’s voice rose, clearly puzzled by this scene, “Apart from us, there’s no one else here…”

“Maybe there is in the knights’ eyes.”

Perhaps…

I think I understand what’s going on.

Tap tap, tap tap, tap tap…

As the chaotic hoofbeats faded towards the castle, I stood up, brushed off the dust from my cloak, turned around, and looked at the Lady Swordsman, still crouching in confusion and shock next to me.

Two seconds later, she noticed my movement and hurriedly stood up, her mouth opening and closing, full of questions but unsure what to ask. Her head was in a mess, her knuckles white from gripping the sword hilt.

I gently patted her shoulder.

Then I jumped down from the shack and walked slowly towards the direction the knights had left.

“Are you still going forward?!”

A few steps later, I heard the female swordsman’s shout from above the shack.

I stopped and thought for a moment, not turning back, “Yes.”

“…Why?” She asked again.

“Let’s go see.”

I answered calmly, quickening my pace.

“I want to leave here—”

The female swordsman jumped down from the shack. Lightning flashed, and she

Already at my front, the voice grew louder as it approached, echoing with the thunder from behind and reaching ahead. The short man had a serious look in his eyes, clutching his sword and spreading his arms, attempting to block my path: “If I go, you go too.”

I stared at her for a moment.

Then, the corner of my lips curled slightly: “You’re quite clear on that, aren’t you? Knowing that if I don’t go, neither can you?”

“Mm-hm.”

She nodded honestly.

But then she immediately shook her head: “…I don’t know why, but I want you to be alive too.”

“Hah.”

I couldn’t help but let out a derisive laugh.

What is this…

Is this false kindness?

“You needn’t worry about me.”

I waved my hand at her and stepped past her: “You don’t know what I’m capable of, so it’s normal to be afraid…”

There were more things I wanted to say, like “Choose between going with me or being killed by me,” but the words turned in my mouth, and I didn’t feel like saying them anymore.

The female swordsman did not make any further attempts to stop me, letting me pass slowly beside her. After a while, I heard her turn around, her gaze fixed on my back.

At this moment, I was somewhat hesitant.

If the female swordsman tried to escape now, I would definitely beat her again until she was completely submissive, making her follow me to catch up with those knights, see their true state, and where they were heading… Although I wasn’t planning to kill her, I certainly wouldn’t let her out of my sight, and I wouldn’t allow her to spread news of my survival to the church or anyone else.

—This thought, for some reason, suddenly seemed less firm at this moment.

So, while I quickened my pace forward, I listened carefully to the sounds behind me. Soon, I heard her footsteps follow again after hesitating for a moment.

Hmm…

“I’m not afraid,” she said, walking silently to my side, holding her sword and glancing at my face. Seeing my puzzled gaze, she quickly looked away and stared ahead: “I just want to survive and seek revenge.”

“Heh…”

She doesn’t even want to run…

This girl is strange.

“Only revenge?” I asked casually, suddenly becoming interested in her.

“Mm-hm…”

As I glanced sideways, the female swordsman frowned and pondered for a long time: “…Since we’ve seen it, we can’t ignore it. Because something even more terrifying might happen afterward, so we should try to prevent it.”

“Hmm?”

“I just thought that although you don’t speak and seem indifferent, your true thoughts must be this.”

“Oh…”

I was somewhat surprised: “Why do you say that?”

“Intuition.”

The female swordsman paused: “The battle in Woodward Forest proved that you are such a person.”

Heh…

“That has nothing to do with your choice to follow me… And stop pretending you understand me. We don’t know each other well, thank you.”

This little dwarf…

Is her intuition always so accurate?

Forget it…

Let’s first figure out the current situation.

“Since you don’t want to run, come with me.”

I waved my hand, suddenly feeling less inclined to guard against her: “Stay alert, stay clear-headed, don’t let anything distract you. Let’s first deal with what’s inside the castle… We’ll talk about the rest later.”

“…Do you know what it is?”

“Not sure. Maybe I can guess a bit…”

…………

Following the direction the knights left, we passed through countless abandoned tents. Our pace was slow, just trailing far behind the hooves of the beasts in the distance, maintaining a safe distance where we could still see them without being noticed. Soon, we left the southern gathering area and arrived near the southern gate of the castle.

The blood-red hue of the land here became more intense, and the air was filled with an indescribable but pungent odor. When our gaze focused on the castle above, even the clouds in the sky turned blood red.

The southern gate was still empty, with no knights or guards stationed there, nor on the walls. An eerie atmosphere permeated everywhere, yet the knights remained oblivious. They lingered on horseback outside the gate, seemingly negotiating with someone, with one knight even raising a token towards the dark archway, but there was no one there.

Soon, they all entered the city.