The gods are dead...... Now He is finally starting to rot......

The old man in front of him said a seemingly normal sentence in such an ordinary and natural tone, but it made everyone at the scene feel an indescribable weirdness.

Magnum's hands were already on the table, faintly crossed, and his eyes were fixed on the old man who called himself "Duvalt": "Which god is the god in your mouth?" ”

The old man smiled and said very calmly, "Who else can there be?" Upper-class narrator, of course. ”

When the suspicious old man uttered the words "upper narrator", Yuri and Magnum's pupils narrowed noticeably, but nothing unusual was seen on the scene as they had imagined, as if everything was just normal conversation.

Gawain was finally able to discern some details from the damaged pattern of the old man's shabby robe, which was a fragmented earth, covered with a symbolic palm......

"You're a priest of the upper narrator," Gawain said in a calm tone, "but why say that the gods are dead?" ”

Duvalt did not answer immediately, but first took a pastry from the sumptuous food on the table and placed it in front of Naretir, and the white-haired girl did not speak, but took the pastry and buried her head, and ate it quietly but very quickly, as if she had been hungry for a long, long time.

"The gods have been dead for many years, and the gods have been dead long before the world is destroyed," Duvalt said slowly, with the traces of the vicissitudes of time in his words, "When he realizes the truth behind the world, he goes mad, and when he goes mad, he dies...... It took him a century to die, another century to rot, and then the world became like this. ”

As he spoke, Duvalt raised his arm and straightened out his shabby robe, which Gawain vaguely saw was not only tattered and dirty around the edges, but even some cobwebs hanging from it—a sign that the owner of the robe had not only visited many ruined places, but had even spent a long time in one of the ruins not long ago.

If the First Sandbox is considered a post-apocalyptic world, how long has this high-level narrator priest named Duvalt been wandering in this post-destruction world?

The other party seemed to just want to talk to someone, although the situation was somewhat strange, but Gawain still planned to take this opportunity to get more information, so he continued the topic: "In this world, is there anyone else besides us?" ”

"People? It's long gone......," the old man said in a low voice, "the world is over, civilization is over, and there are only ruins, and Duvalt and Naretir wandering in the ruins. ”

"Is everyone dead?" Yuri asked, "Or ...... Gone? ”

"I don't know, I guess they're all back to the Lord." The old man gave an inexplicable answer, and took another piece of food from the table and handed it to Naretil, who was still eating very quickly and quietly, as if the conversation that was happening around her had nothing to do with her.

"How many years have you been wandering here?" Selena joined the conversation and asked softly.

"I don't remember, I have been here since the end of the world," said the old man calmly, "I remember some vague things, I remember the bustling days of the city, when many people lived in these houses, when the streets were filled with merchants from swamps, forests, plains, and coastal city-states, with celebrations and heroic plays, and with philosophers giving speeches and debating on high platforms, and when the temples of the city were bright and spacious, and the sun would shine through the clean windows on the pulpit, and the believers would be calm and happy......

"I remember news coming from the south, scholars creating a stargazing device, sailors from the west coast discussing in taverns about the strange fish they had caught from the deep sea, a dancer from the oasis region coming into town, and half the city talking about her beauty......

"Ah, it was a great time...... It's just that it's all in the past. ”

The old man shook his head, picked up the glass of wine that Yuri handed him, tasted it tentatively, and let out an exclamatory voice: "Oh, this is an incredible taste...... Naretir—"

The white-haired girl who was eating the cake raised her head, glanced at the wine glass in the old man's hand suspiciously, and only after getting the other party's affirmative look did she take the cup and take a sip cautiously.

In the next second, she spat out all the wine, and spit it out for a long time: obviously, she didn't like the taste.

“…… I'm curious," looking at the old man and the strange girl in front of him, Gawain suddenly broke the silence, "What are you all eating before we arrive - is there any food in the city?" ”

"It's been a long time since we've eaten," Duvalt shook his head with a smile, "that's why Naretir is so hungry." ”

……

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

In the nameless village, a shepherd who had just fallen asleep tossed and turned on his bed, as if he was wrestling with an invisible dream, but soon he calmed down, and his breathing became steady and low, as if the dream had suddenly been stripped away, and the whole person had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Outside the window, a hazy figure flashed by.

In the silent village, where every household had turned off their lights and gone to sleep, two figures in black robes walked slowly through the streets, 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 last village has completed its dream control, they will sleep well, no one sleeps tonight." ”

The figure next to him nodded, and a calm female voice came from under the hood: "Even so, 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' in the entire Orlandelle region, and as long as there is one person in this area who is still dreaming, his dream may become a springboard and cause accidents." ”

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

"Whether it's useful or not, that's what His Holiness and the Wanderers need to consider, it's our business to do it or not," said a calm female voice, "Rather than worrying about this, we should pray that tonight's operation will go well, and it is better not to use our arrangement." ”

"It's ......," said the young male Eternal Sleeper priest, as he walked towards the outskirts of the village in the light of the stars, where the occasional sound of wind and grass sounded, but the silence between heaven and earth seemed to grow.

"It is said that ...... Seven hundred years ago, the Dream Priests were in charge of doing these things. The male priest said suddenly.

"What's the matter?"

"Walking in the night, soothing disturbing dreams, and healing those who have been traumatized, is just like what we are doing today."

"Sounds ...... It's really like that. ”

"I didn't expect that one day I would come out of the dungeon to do such a thing—my great-grandfather once had a dream priest's talisman in his collection, but it was destroyed when my father's generation was in his time," the young male priest shook his head, "It is said that after this event, we will have the opportunity to gain a new identity and operate in the open—but correspondingly, we will have to move to a new place." ”

The woman walking next to her was silent for two or three seconds, shaking her head and reminding: "Outside, don't talk about this." ”

“…… Quite right. ”

The male priest seemed to smile a little, and as he agreed, he raised his head and looked at the vast wasteland outside the village, looking at the end of the wasteland.

A curvy slope with broken edges undulated in the far reaches of the night, and the starlight illuminated the edge of the slope, revealing what appeared to be a rift, or a deep pit.

Orlandel, Typhon's former imperial capital, was now quietly buried at the bottom of the great pit.

……

In the ancient and deep underground palace, Archbishop Semler, who has a serious and gloomy temperament and thin-haired hair, is patrolling the deepest layers of the containment area.

The newly installed magic web device drove the magic crystal lamp, illuminating this once darkest and deepest area, and the bright light seemed to dispel the oppressive and low atmosphere brought by the upper narrator, and Semler walked through the assembly hall on the ground floor, and a priest who seemed to have just arrived walked quickly in front of him, bowing his head slightly:

"Archbishop, dream control on the surface has been completed, and the scope of the dreamless vacuum zone has covered the entire Orlandel region."

"Very well," Semler nodded, "continue to monitor the dreams of the Orlandel region, and send out the Spirit Knight's reserves to support the breaches at any time." ”

"Yes, Archbishop."

"Another order to go down and guard the connecting passage at the bottom of Orlandal's Throat, if we have a 'Level Zero' leak here...... If necessary, blow up the dome. ”

In the face of such an order, the priest hesitated: "Archbishop, in this case, there is a high probability that the upper area of the palace will be irreparably damaged, and the entire underground palace may be exposed......"

"The upper areas can be abandoned, all our important facilities are in the middle and lower levels, these two areas have elemental blessings and reinforcement spells, which can resist the collapse of the dome, and we can slowly solve the problem after the blockade of the dungeon. As for exposure...... That doesn't matter anymore. ”

"Yes, Archbishop," the priest nodded slowly, but couldn't help asking, "but...... Just blowing up the dome really stops the 'upper narrator'? ”

"How can a pile of collapsed stones hold off the formless and insubstantial gods," Semler sneered and shook his head, "but the collapsed stones can hold back the 'believers' of the upper narrator, and that's enough." ”

The herald's priest felt an indescribable pressure coming over him, but he quickly took a deep breath and nodded vigorously.

The priest left, and Semler stood in the empty and quiet corridor of the containment area, standing silently for several seconds before shaking his head slightly and walking towards the area containing the psionic choir.

The Spirit Knight Guard, who was wearing heavy silver-white armor and had many mysterious runes inlaid on his helmet, bowed his head in front of him: "Archbishop." ”

"Is everything OK?" Semler asked in a deep voice.

A muffled voice came from under the Spirit Knight's helmet: "Everything is normal, Archbishop. ”

"Does anyone talk to the outside world?"

"Nope."

"Good."

Semler nodded, and walked past the guarded Spirit Knight to the door of the outermost chamber in the containment area, and gently knocked on the metal door depicted with runes and inlaid with channeling materials such as mythril and copper, and the knocking sound could be heard far through the deep corridor.

Two seconds later, a gentle and pleasant female voice sounded behind the door: "Who is it?" ”

"It's me, Semler," said the stern and gloomy Semler, "Lady Wendy, I'll check your condition. ”

"Ah, Archbishop Semler," Wendy, who was leaning against the corner of the room, boredly observing the spider's webs, stood up, patted the dust from the corner of her skirt, and came to the doorway, "I'm in good condition here—the irritating voice has been absent for a long time. But this room is also a bit boring, only spiders can accompany me to relieve my boredom. ”

"Bear with me a little longer," Semler breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Wendy's voice in the room, calm and sober, "It's a critical stage, and tomorrow the sun rises and everything will be fine." ”

"I hope so."

……

In the only dwelling lit near the temple of the desert city-state of Nim Sandrau, a white-haired maiden named Naretil had fallen asleep in a haystack leaning against the corner, while the old man Duvalt sat like a guard not far away, sitting cross-legged on the ground, as if praying reverently.

Yuri watched this scene and couldn't help but whisper to Selena next to him: "To be honest, I was ready to fight when Duvalt said that Naretir was very hungry before, I really didn't expect her to be really just hungry......"

Selena's answer was very brief: "The more normal, the more abnormal." ”

“…… How long are we going to continue to 'accompany' these two people? ”

"It depends on the extraterritorial...... Gawain Cecil's opinion. ”

Selena whispered, her gaze falling on Gawain, who was not far away.

Gawain stood up and walked over to Duvalt, who seemed to have finished praying.

"The gods are dead," he said to the old man, who is full of vicissitudes, "and to whom do you pray?" ”

"Get used to it," Duvalt shook his head with a smile, "you know, faith is such a thing...... There is inertia. ”

When he said that "faith has inertia", his tone was rather complicated.

Gawain couldn't understand the psychological changes of a person who had wandered in a deserted world for many years, he just shook his head and waved his hand again, dispersing a spider running over a nearby pillar.

"There are a lot of spiders here at night," Duvalt said, "but don't worry, they're gentle and harmless, and they will actively avoid people." ”