The fire crystals piled up in the brazier reflected a dim light in the eternal night, and the glorious ones gathered together in twos and threes, invariably keeping silent, alienating the crowd like wounded lone wolves, licking the wounds that had not yet scabbed in the faint corners, and only the fire streak amulet on their necks reflected the tired and restless faces, revealing that they were not at all as calm as they appeared.

The waves are surging under the sea.

Perhaps the best way to describe this.

After entering the municipal building, Joshua O'Neiense's gaze subconsciously looked around, and after finding that there were a few fewer familiar faces, his vision was even more dim.

The circle of the Glory is actually very small, there are only one or two thousand Glory Ones in the whole of Hemtica, and maybe even less, as long as they are not isolated like Amy Ulysses, not to mention the most of the Glory Bearers who know Hemtika City, at least they will not be unfamiliar with the faces of their peers.

After all, in a place as big as the academy, who doesn't look down and don't look up.

Even if he has never put much effort into communication, it is not difficult to find someone who can talk at this time.

Like what......

Forget it, there's nothing like that.

Touching his nose somewhat awkwardly, Joshua noticed that his barely able to speak familiar faces were either buried in their knees and had not responded for a long time, or they were leaning against the pillars or walls, staring blankly into the distance, like broken dolls, without the slightest anger in their bodies.

He was too embarrassed to bother them, especially since he couldn't tell the difference between despair from adversity and grief from the news he had just heard from his relatives or friends.

So, after much hesitation, he didn't speak.

Just silence.

Then sit down and wait.

Waiting for the passage of time, waiting for the big names of the city councils to come up with a final solution.

He, or rather, they, need an answer, and even more so a direction.

However, silence alone did not help solve the problem at all, and in the oppressive and pessimistic atmosphere of the hall, the silver-haired and red-eyed Glory Man felt his heart gradually clenched, and a sense of psychological suffocation arose—nervousness, impatience, anxiety, restlessness...... It seemed as if a hundred ants were crawling in his heart, and as if a steam bomb was about to explode, and the torment of an uncertain future made it difficult for him to continue to waste time on useless waiting.

So he got up, and his red pupils swept through the dimly lit hall.

The atmosphere is getting more and more agitated.

Joshua noticed the change in vibe, and after a brief hesitation, he cleared his throat and said in a rather serious tone, "We can't afford to do nothing anymore, we have to find something to do, or sooner or later we will be killed by a bad mental state." ”

He doesn't and doesn't say big words, he just tells the truth that everyone knows.

However, few of these inspiring speeches were answered.

But even if there are few, there is a difference between there and not, a qualitative difference.

"But what can we do," said a voice in the corner, speaking of a middle-aged honorable man who had lost an eye in battle, holding a cigar in his unbandaged and still able to move in his hand, puffing on a smoke ring, "the fire has been extinguished." ”

Like a bombshell thrown into the deep sea, the surging dark tide begins to intensify in an instant.

"How is this possible...... yes, how could it be ......"

Someone immediately raised a question, but the voice became smaller and smaller as the thinking gradually became clearer.

- Logically, it makes perfect sense.

- And, what do the thirteen bells represent...... Go without saying.

"No, it's possible, and it's very likely. Joshua noticed that a voice sounded beside him, and it was a girl of about sixteen or seventeen years old, who looked a little familiar, but could not remember the name for a moment, "You must have also noticed the big explosion before, and I was one of the witnesses to the incident, which was near Greenlanda Avenue at the time, and saw the rising mushroom cloud with my own eyes—I am sure that the center of the explosion was at the Temple of Hephaestus, where a rather violent battle broke out." ”

"I can testify to that. Another Honorable One took over, "I passed by there on my way back, the Temple of Hephaestus...... It's gone. ”

"What's the matter with disappearing?" the atmosphere finally stopped being lifeless.

"What else," replied to the question, a nonchalant voice, apparently not the same person as before, but also "passing by" the temple of Hephaestus, seeing the crystallized land, and seeing the battlefield that could only be described as terrifying in any way, "and was razed to the ground." ”

"What a joke! That's Hephaestus," the tall man leaning back against the pillar slammed the floor, and a pair of brown eyes as terrifying as a brown bear scurried around the crowd, as if trying to find the man who spoke, "Nearly a hundred Glorious Ones are guarded, and Hephaestus is in the seat of the Edgarns!"

"As regrettable as it is, they are telling the truth. A third person came forward to confirm the absurd news.

The tall young man was silent and did not say the word "I don't believe it" until the end.

"Any other news?" Although the gloom has not been swept away, the atmosphere is clearly much better than it was at the beginning, and Joshua does not want this momentum to be curbed, "Maybe none of us have a comprehensive and intuitive understanding of what happened in Hemtika City, but I believe that as long as we can make good use of the intelligence fragments in everyone's hands, the truth of the matter will come to light." ”

He proposed, somewhat inspired by what he had just done.

But apparently not everyone thought so, and almost as soon as the words fell, someone muttered discontentedly: "But so what? Anyway, the fire has been extinguished, and there is no end to the quarrels and quarrels of the big guys, so what can we do alone?"

"At least it's better than doing nothing. Joshua looked him in the eye and answered word for word.

He didn't know what other people thought, and what the big guys considered, but he really wanted to do something, and he didn't want to waste time waiting for nothing.

"Yes. More people agreed.

"Speaking of which......" A slightly weak-looking young man said a little timidly, and when he attracted nearly half of the attention in the hall, he shrank his head like an ostrich, and said in a voice comparable to that of a gnat, "Do you have any strange dreams......

After a pause, he added, "After the darkness falls. ”

There was a moment of silence, and the world seemed to be plunged into a silent hell.

"Strange dreams...... "After a few seconds of silence, an old man at the edge of the hall with frosty white hair broke the deadlock, "perhaps it would be more appropriate to describe it as bizarre, everything is shrouded in eternal darkness, some kind of crazy and noisy whispering haunts the ears all the time, walking in that treacherous world, and in the end I don't even know if it is you or the world who is crazy." ”

"I feel the same way. "There were seconders, and there were quite a few of them.

And then, more and more people joined the discussion, and in the midst of the cacophony of discussion, the expressions of the glorious ones became more and more cautious and deeper.

Not an accident.

Joshua did the same, his brow furrowed as the puzzle of truth became complete.

All of us present had fallen into a dream shrouded in darkness and emptiness after darkness fell, heard some grotesque murmur that could drive ordinary people crazy, and glimpsed the terrible nature of the indescribable flow, and in the madness that bordered on madness, the blood of the ancestors flowing in the body boiled, accompanied by a hysterical noise, and suddenly woke up from the nightmare.

Mind you, not one, two people, but everyone!

That said, all of the Glory Ones have been affected, no—maybe not just the Glory, but everyone, including the Chaos Cultists!

Not without evidence, it's just that no one thinks in that direction until the puzzle of truth becomes complete.

"Speaking of which, I was fighting a band of Chaos cultists. The tall man leaning back against the pillar gave him a look of remembrance, and he scratched his head like an orangutan, "and then ...... I fell into a dream, and when I woke up, I didn't find the enemy—I thought it was the darkness that had come down to make them retreat, but now that I think about it, they may have been in a similar situation to us. ”

"Maybe worse. Another added, "I'm in a similar situation to Rhodes, but I followed their tracks when I woke up, but in the end I found nothing, they seemed to have vanished out of thin air, leaving no trace of their existence." ”

"At first I thought it was something wrong with my memory, but now it seems that the fate of the dream is more treacherous and terrifying than any of us thought. The man who spoke was a middle-aged man with a fat figure and a well-dressed man, to whom Joshua was no stranger, and this middle-aged gentleman, despite his modest appearance, was a rare psychic person, and was also the number one person in the circle of the Honored, "I was sleeping in a private house when darkness fell, and when I broke free from the dream, the owner of the house was nowhere to be found, and there was no trace of blood or a corpse, so that for a moment I could not tell whether I was real or illusory. ”

"Does anyone know about the sword-wielder's side?"

The Glory Ones did not discuss what would happen to the vanished Chaos cultists and the civilians of the upper districts, but whether the sword-wielders of the Order were able to break free from the terrifying darkness under the erosion of the illusion was of great significance to the situation in Hemtika.

Even the most arrogant of the Honorables had to admit that the Order, even a branch in Hemtika, was not far less powerful than the Glory.

Under the erosion of chaos, if they can join forces, whether it is to hold the city or break through the darkness, the chances of survival will be greatly increased - even if it only moves five or more decimal places forward, the light of hope is still slim.

"It seems to be no different from us," said a mature woman in her thirties, with a gray face that could not hide her beauty, "all of them woke up from their nightmares with palpitations, only slightly surprising, and the stigma on their bodies shone in the darkness. ”

"Do you have a way to contact them?" asked Joshua.

"No," the Female Glory said, holding his chin in his hand, the tip of his index finger touching his red lips, "but I don't think the big men of the Council will lack the means and means to contact the Order. ”

"Yes. ”

The silver-haired and red-eyed Glory can only echo at this time, although he is not very able to agree with the other party's subtle dependence on other people's choices, but now is not the right time to criticize the leadership - in the midst of danger, the glorious descendants of Hemtika need a backbone, even if after Duke Goldsworthy is unconscious, that backbone is not very reliable, but in the end they need a unified voice, a unified will.

Only a clenched fist can hit someone, even the five fingers can't be concentric, and the strength can't be used in one place, no matter how many people there are, it is just a mass of loose sand that can be crushed with one blow.

"So what is the result of the deliberations of the big guys?" But not everyone has Joshua's big picture, although the Glory Ones generally receive the elite education of the academy, based on different personality traits, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses - the tall strong man with his back against the pillar clenched his fists, and then swung vigorously in the air, "Wait, this damn waiting, I'm tired of waiting!"

"Rod!" a glorious man familiar with him grabbed him, soothing him like an angry lion, "Exercise restraint and don't let the fire of anger consume your heart." ”

Then, the scene fell silent.

For a moment, the city hall could only hear the strong man's suppressed heavy breathing.

But once the conversation box is opened, it's often not so easy to close — after about twenty to thirty seconds, the anxious silence is broken again.

"I think we have to plan ahead. ”

In the faint light of the fire crystal, someone opened the forbidden chatterbox.

"It is not an option to wait like this, just as the sun sinks into the mountains and the stars begin to shine, and while Duke Goldsworthy is unconscious, the great men of the council may not be able to get a result even if they argue for another ten thousand years. "And now, assuming that the fire has been extinguished, the demons in the deep night will probably not leave us much time to prepare. ”

"Hmm. ”

No one refutes it, because it is true.

Although none of the people present had experienced the war that raged around the Misty Region hundreds of years ago, the bloody cruelty can still be creepy through the ink left on the history books today!

And if the fire is really extinguished, the situation they face will only be more sinister than it was then!

What to do?

All of them were suspicious and hesitant, and the reason why they were gathering here after the bell was simply because they needed a voice to guide them in the direction and guide them in the way forward.

Tell them –

The world has not lost hope!

And then...... A voice sounded, a voice sounded in the hall, and it only took a moment to drown out the noise in the hall, causing the glorious ones to subconsciously look away and close their mouths.

"It's quite lively. ”

The silver-haired and black-eyed nobleman stepped forward without hurry, condescendingly examining the scattered Glory, as if he were examining his kingdom, his army, and his people.

"But it's so unseemly!"

He frowned deeply and said in a calm tone.

And then—

Under the shock, shame, and all kinds of emotions floating on their faces, the glorious ones who were scattered as if they had suffered defeat rose from the ground one after another, as if they had been inspired by some kind of inspiration, straightened their backs, puffed out their chests, and proudly and enthusiastically like a group of soldiers waiting for the lord's review.

However, the visitors, who were neither young nor old, were not moved.

He just walked down the atrium of the staircase at his own pace, his gaze wandering around the familiar and unfamiliar faces, bowing slightly.

"I'm back. ”

He said that there was extraordinary courage in his calm eyes.

There is no reason, and there is no reason, just because he is ...... Duke, Duke Goldsworthy.

The Glory One at the very top of Hemtika!