Chapter 1921: Chapter 1921: The Monster of Green Lake

When Shard, embracing Luviya, opened his eyes on Wednesday morning, the first thing he thought wasn’t "a strange ceiling," but rather that he had finally reached this day.

Get up, let out the cat from the cabinet, wash up, go home to get goat milk and newspapers, and head to the hotel for breakfast.

Today, Priest Augustus and Dr. Schneider did not have breakfast with Shard. They had left early in the rain; Priest Augustus had to meet with Mr. Nicholas Green, the Old Ghoul, one last time. The doctor, upon hearing of the existence of such a highly intelligent ghoul, wanted to see him too—he seemed to think the individual’s mental state was quite an interesting research topic.

In a rare occurrence, Dorothy, who should have still been sleeping at seven o’clock, was already awake. She had breakfast with Shard and Luviya at the same table. While Shard perused the newspaper, Miss Writer asked Luviya:

"Did you stay overnight at his place last night?"

She wasn’t upset about it, just curious:

"Shard locked the cat in the wardrobe again? Why didn’t he let Mia stay with me? Wouldn’t that be more convenient?"

Shard tilted his head to look at her from behind the newspaper:

"I spent the night with Luviya, and then asked you to take care of Mia. That would make me seem even more like... what’s the word?"

"A libertine?"

The violet-eyed girl said with a smile, and as the cat meowed once, they laughed even more happily.

Tonight marks the night banquet of the Edwards Family, and every action taken over the past two months has been in preparation for this night. Tonight’s enemy is headed by traitor of the Prophet’s Society, diviner transcending Thirteen Rings, Laplace Klein Howard, leader of the Edwards Family.

Aside from the Edwards Family, the low-profile Cult of the Abyssal Drowned, the recently defeated Tyranny Club, the mysterious Truth Society which has yet to show its face, and other alliances of diviners that Shard has not yet identified, all serve as obstacles to his quest on the island.

Beyond the diviner himself, the sinister items such as the sixth of the Death Angel’s skull, Poetry Cards, Soul Storybook, Envy Edwards the transcendent Firstborn spanning time and space, and the Ancient Evil Entity known as the Door in the Bottle, pose immense dangers that ordinary Circle Sorcerers find insurmountable.

This day is destined to be anything but peaceful; after breakfast came news that the waters of Green Lake had turned entirely green. Shortly afterward, just past eight in the morning, the fissures in the sky, revealed by the retreating rain clouds, were surprisingly noticed even by civilians within the city.

Moreover, beyond Green Lake, the area of the sky where fissures appeared has already occupied a third of the Old Continent. According to its increasingly rapid spreading characteristics, by tonight, this peculiar celestial phenomenon should be observable throughout the entire Material World.

Within the city of Green Lake, there were hardly any people on the main streets. Although it was a Wednesday workday, due to City Hall’s advance issuance of a "city flooding disaster warning," the city was essentially on a complete halt. The citizens didn’t know what had transpired, yet generations of inherited instincts regarding danger still compelled most to remain cooped up at home on this rainy day, waiting for the storm to pass.

The phenomenon of spatial fusion is intensifying, and to the eyes of Circle Sorcerers, more and more scenes from opposite cities appeared in Green Lake City and Mikaela Ironworks City. Despite the Prophet’s Society’s advance warning, and the church having arranged rituals to stabilize space, by ten in the morning, two incidents of spatial fusion had occurred within the city, turning nearly a hundred people into freakish fusion hybrids.

Although the number of affected citizens due to the Green Lake incident so far is still far less compared to the Petrified Plague in Randall Valley, the Petrification Curse could be remedied, whereas ordinary people facing spatial anomalies are almost certainly doomed.

At half-past ten in the morning, Shard, who was discussing with Miss Aphrola in the basement on how to safely depart from the island tonight if all went well, learned of an anomalous elemental reaction occurring in the alley east of the Green Lake Hotel.

He set off immediately and upon arriving with Miss Sylvia, discovered that the alley—originally over a hundred meters long for passage—had visually shrunk to merely five meters.

This wasn’t the Trash Alley where Little John used to stay. Besides the Green Lake Hotel, there were other buildings on both sides of the alley, but those structures were undamaged; only the alley’s space itself was compressed.

"A minor issue, not serious; I can handle this myself."

Miss Sylvia set down the umbrella to prepare for spellcasting, and Shard stepped forward to shield her head with his umbrella.

The witch smiled, chanted spell words softly, and the power from the Witch’s Secret Arts gradually influenced the surrounding space. The two stood still at the alley entrance but saw the alley constantly lengthening until it returned to its original length.

Miss Sylvia did not relax, instead looked around seriously:

"Did you feel it?"

"Yes."

Taking out the Magic Potion made by Megan from "Seven-Color Mushroom," she controlled a drop into her eye. With just a blink, she saw inside the gradually stabilizing space rift the emerging monstrous creature composed of three wolves, a sheep, and a gigantic fly.

These beings weren’t simply interspersed together, but rather fused in a way that completely defies normal human logic and aesthetics, with animal parts embedded together bit by bit. Even though Shard had encountered quite a few monsters over the past year, he still felt an instinctual discomfort from the appearance of this creature.

At this moment, he even felt that those Wraith Spirits lingering in the Interstice of Life and Death at Midshire Fort were so cute and charming. Realizing his own thoughts, Shard further understood what kind of opponent he was up against this time.

"Let’s do it together."

Also feeling nauseated by the monstrous appearance in front of them, Miss Sylvia softly said, then both took a step forward and disappeared into the rain.

The four animal heads of the space-fused monster looked in all directions of its body, while the compound eyes of the huge fly head, with its thousands of tiny eyes, simultaneously monitored every aspect.

Shard’s figure appeared first in front of it, right foot stomped—

"Spatial Stabilization Aura."

Leaning forward, he wielded the Moonlight Greatsword he held in both hands and slashed down.

"Buzz~ Buzz~"

The strange sound emanated from the terrifying monster’s body. It tried to initiate Spatial Movement, but the ripples from the rainwater being pushed indicated the Spatial Stabilization Aura had already activated. Thus the creature’s emitted sonic wave became increasingly low-pitched. The sound waves propelled enormous energy which evaporated the rainwater from its surface, while Shard felt as though the sword he swung was stuck in mud-like sluggishness.

Soon after, Miss Sylvia appeared behind Shard.

The Witch’s palm landed on Shard’s shoulder, instantly causing him to stop the stabilizing Arcane Technique. The Witch behind him grabbed Shard’s right arm, then held his arm and swung the sword together with him.

Invisible light flashed from the rainwater, swiftly transforming into a dark blue sword mark that slashed down. Arcane Technique - Dimensional Slash, wielded through the Witch’s hand and Shard’s sword, twisted space and merged with moonlight, splitting the creature that had just arrived in the Material World in half.

It didn’t possess the ability to separate into two individual entities after being slashed apart. The left and right halves fell onto the ground’s puddle and then disintegrated amidst the strange light and shadows into a puff of white powder, vanishing. Miss Sylvia took out a test tube, allowing those glass-like powders to fly into the container.

These powders are identical to the ones collected with Dr. Schneider when they killed a space-fused creature while Shard was searching for Lecia on the island. Confirmed by Granny Cassandra, it’s an extremely rare "Spatial Dust" that can substitute spellcasting materials for most space-related rituals and Arcane Techniques. As such, when Shard uses [Lagre’s Leap], it can completely replace "Wind Vane Bluegrass Extract" with a small quantity of this powder.

This is precious material, and like the source creatures—mermen from Coldwater Port, undead from Midshire Fort, plant monsters from the depths of Pantanal Swamp, and rock Giant Spirits from Randall Valley, it will become a nightmare the Green Lake Region can’t escape from for hundreds of years.

Although the operation commenced at dusk, to prepare in advance, the group left for Megan’s yacht after a hasty lunch. They intended to sail that yacht, currently docked on Duin River, upstream.

Compared to the Green Lake Hotel, the yacht’s defense isn’t strong, but the advantage lies in its decent mobility, even capable of taking off on the water. Therefore, even though there are only Miss Benanis with Twelve Rings, Granny Cassandra with Ten Rings, and Sister Delphine with Eleven Rings on board, the safety there is not inferior to the Green Lake Hotel... especially considering Grace and Helen are with Granny Cassandra.

Although the sisters’ power mostly remained sealed due to the "Sleeping Princess," how much their power has recovered over the past six months is something even Shard can’t completely ascertain.

Guests renting in the Green Lake Hotel had gradually left for various reasons, either voluntarily or involuntarily, temporarily. After lunch, the hotel’s servants and kitchen chefs and helpers also left together.

The Witch’s followers finally fully moved into the hotel, while Lecia and Angelina also arrived this afternoon with Miss Galina’s many maids.

The Day of the Red Butterfly began here; Dorothy even pulled Shard to the ground floor to welcome Lecia. Although they regretted not being able to invite Shard for an intimate three-person date on this Day of the Red Butterfly, they both knew the matter was of great importance. So they held hands, hugged Little Mia, and took Angelina upstairs to the room processed by Miss Sylvia, waiting for Nightfall.

Little Mia was held by Angelina; she would spend the whole night with her sister, as theoretically that would be the safest place in the entire hotel, while the cat and the Little Princess were the weakest creatures in the hotel.