Hearing Xia De's question, Luvia in the Darkness gave an embarrassed laugh.
Xia De noticed that her two eyes, in this terrifying Darkness, emitted an almost imperceptible purple glow, which was exceptionally obvious in the current lightless environment:
"That's part of the reason, but more importantly, President Stan is not good at direct combat."
She released Xia De's hand, already barely able to stand on her own:
"The President has gone very far on the path of Divination and prophecy, so much so that he has neglected research in other areas."
Xia De nodded in understanding; after all, everyone's energy is limited.
The Society of Truth appeared in this area, probably also for the second Chosen One. As for why they were fighting with the Prophet Association, Xia De and Luvia did not know.
They did not try to intervene in a battle that had little to do with them, but before leaving the Town, Luvia still asked Xia De for help to gather the Diviners who had fallen into Sleep on the streets, place them together in a roadside shop, and set up a ritual around them for protection, to prevent them from encountering demons.
Then Luvia left a letter, informing President Stan that she had left alone after waking up to find the Church Ring術士 team in the nearby area to help. This way, Luvia's sudden disappearance would have a reasonable explanation.
"Do you know where Iluna might be now?"
After leaving the Town, they needed to plan their next direction of advance. Xia De asked the most crucial question, and the female Diviner thought for a moment:
"She should have gone to the core area with the Church's team."
She still carried a map of the vicinity; the records of the Darkness Domain itself would not disappear:
"From what I learned before I fell unconscious, the core area is near here."
Xia De looked at the map by the faint light from his fingertips. The location Luvia pointed to was a forest.
The countryside far from the City was full of farmlands, open fields, and Woods, and this place, named Millwood Forest, was a relatively large timberland in southern Tobesk, supplying the City's winter firewood.
Xia De had no memory of this place at all; after all, when he came to this world, that vicinity had already disappeared.
"Are we going to Millwood Forest immediately?"
Luvia asked for Xia De's opinion, and Xia De frowned and thought:
"Do you still have that 【pirate's blood money】 on you?"
"Yes, I always carry it with me."
"Use your Divination to choose the direction we should go."
The surroundings were pitch black. Xia De only knew that they were currently 1 mile outside the Town. As for what was around them, no one knew.
"The current situation is very complex. We don't know what happened in the core area of the relic, and we don't know what we will encounter if we continue forward. You are a three-ring, I am a two-ring. If we encounter a powerful demon, we won't be able to defeat it at all. So, use Divination to indicate the direction of advance. I only need a direction or a definite destination."
Luvia nodded and pulled out the blood money from her pocket, the one Xia De had obtained from the Fishbone Pirate Ship.
She activated the blood money's characteristic by trading with herself, then closed her eyes and tossed it into the air.
In the pitch-black surroundings, it was easy to see the purple light particles drifting from her fingertips, and the dim pure white glow on her body at that moment.
The coin began to fall from its highest point, quickly decayed, and scattered into dust in the air, which meant there was a conclusion.
"Strange, the Divination shows that we should go here first."
She took out the map again to compare, and this time it pointed to a piece of farmland about half a mile from their current location.
"What does that mean? Can we find help here?"
Xia De frowned and asked:
"But who would help us? Although Miss Jialinna's manor was also swallowed by the Darkness, she would obviously go directly to the core area... It wouldn't be the doctor coming, would it? Or, there's some weapon against demons nearby, but isn't this just ordinary countryside?"
"Why would you think of the doctor?"
Luvia asked in surprise. She had heard about the doctor and demons from Xia De, but she hadn't connected Darkness with the doctor:
"And it's not necessarily help or a weapon. Maybe there's other information there. Let's set off quickly, Xia De, I'm not like you, I can't hold on for too long."
"However, you seem to have never asked how I am able to move around here completely unharmed."
Xia De said curiously again.
"It's normal for anything to happen to you, and compared to what you did during the night of the divine descent in Tobesk and in Coldwater Port, isn't the current situation just normal?"
Compared to traveling alone, being able to move with others in this Darkness gave Xia De a great sense of comfort psychologically.
The surroundings were incredibly silent. When Xia De and Luvia exchanged information, they tried to keep their voices as low as possible.
Luvia's spirit was gradually becoming listless, so to prevent Xia De from having no way to seal the demon if she fell into Sleep again, she gave Xia De all the ritual information and materials she had prepared for sealing demons.
Coupled with god's gift box, even if Darkness was killed, there was no need to worry about the Human Pus demon escaping.
Xia De was also powerless regarding Luvia's condition; he could only have her hold the youth everlasting leaf that he had originally kept.
Now, Luvia being able to continue walking with him already surprised him immensely. This was definitely not just because of the four divine amulets; Luvia herself must also have a way to resist the erosion of Darkness.
It's just that this resistance was not strong. The Darkness was draining her mental power, dissolving her will, and eroding her sanity. Plus, she had just risked using a costly Divination once. Xia De knew very well that in the end, probably only he would be able to go to the core area of the Darkness.
And before that, Xia De needed to find a safe place for Luvia to Sleep.
Because there were no reference objects in the Darkness, even with a map, it took them at least three times longer than normal to find the location Luvia had learned through Divination.
Just as Xia De's eyes had barely observed the black-dyed corn at the edge of his vision, Luvia suddenly pulled him, pointed to her ear, and motioned for Xia De to listen carefully.
Holding his breath, sure enough, an extremely faint singing sound entered his ears from the cornfield in front of them, interspersed with the sound of stones being struck.
The voices making up the singing were from hundreds of high-pitched, sharp sounds. A normal person would probably have to pinch their throat to make a similar sound.
"What's going on? Who is singing in a place like this?"
Xia De wondered, wanting to enter the cornfield and use the tall, black-dyed plants for cover to explore forward.
But as soon as he entered the cornfield, the light on his body suddenly weakened, and at the same time, the headache caused by the singing almost made Xia De stumble and fall into the field.
Luvia's situation beside him was even worse; the four amulets on her body simultaneously made cracking sounds, and upon closer inspection, cracks appeared on all four metal pieces.
She swayed a few times and held onto Xia De's shoulder to keep from falling:
"The power of Darkness here is stronger."
"The singing is part of a ritual. The ritual being performed in this place is enhancing the power of Darkness. I encountered similar situations on the way, but nothing as exaggerated as this."
Xia De helped Luvia sit down in the black cornfield, thought for a moment, took off the metal box on his back, and let Luvia, whose eyes were almost unable to open, hold it.
The golden light illuminated Luvia's face, and her breathing finally stabilized:
"Wait for me here. I'll go ahead and see what's going on."
"These low-wisdom demons should have gathered together to perform a ritual within the Domain to spread and enhance the Darkness."
Luvia pulled Xia De's sleeve:
"This kind of thing has appeared in past records, Xia De, don't go, you can't deal with them."
"How will I know if I don't try? Our goal is in the center of the cornfield. I must see what else is inside besides demons."
Xia De asked with a serious expression:
"Witnessing the thirteen Chosen One, this is your wish. Or, Luvia, are you willing to retreat with me and wait for good or bad news from the Church?"
In the worst-case scenario, Xia De still had two drops of divinity on him. No matter how reluctant he was, if his life was threatened, Xia De would not be stingy with the power of divinity.
"Did you bring your pocket watch?"
He asked again.
"Yes, I have it."
"Set a twenty-minute timer. I will definitely be back."
Xia De promised, taking out the 【Weak Angel Potion】 from his pocket. After a slight shake, the potion itself seemed to sense the surrounding environment, emitting an extremely faint white Fluorescence, but it quickly extinguished.
"You take this, in case there are other dangers."
He stuffed the test tube into Luvia's hand, then turned and bent down, walking towards the center of the cornfield.
Luvia wanted to stop him, but in an instant, Xia De disappeared into the Darkness.
She held the bottle in her hand, at a loss for words for a moment. Wrapped in Darkness, something unseen seemed to be peeking at her.
Luvia tightly hugged the god's gift box in her hands, her heart longing for the distant Xia De.
"It's okay, I'll protect you."
She heard the voice by her ear, a smile appeared on her lips, so she closed her eyes, wanting to rest for a moment.
Behind Luvia, where she couldn't see, a white translucent figure, that more mature Luvia, gently embraced her, resting her head on her shoulder and whispering intimately:
"You've done very well."
The white halo and the golden light of the god's gift box together supported a small safe area.
"Meow!"
And as if due to Xia De's departure, the metal box actually vibrated slightly.
But because the box itself had a sliding lid, even if there was something inside, it couldn't push open the lid by itself.
Luvia had already closed her eyes and fallen into a brief Sleep, so she naturally couldn't hear the sound. The white figure behind her also didn't pay attention to the faint cat's meow, but instead gently hummed a lullaby.
The sound was not loud, but it was exceptionally reassuring.
