Kotar likely used the "concealment" authority inherent to the "God of Fear" to hide the fact that He had long ago turned Muer into a marionette. Since I had never delved deeply into this town’s nightmare before, nor met Him face to face, I never noticed.

And the reason the "Dark Demon Wolf" Kotar made Muer decisively "commit suicide" was probably to better conceal His own existence...

If I didn’t have the "Omniscient Eye," He would have almost succeeded!

Heh, as expected of Kotar—so cautious and prudent in the original story. He could even resist the temptation of Sefirah Castle, got scared once by the seal near Moon City and never dared approach again, and in the end even managed to escape successfully from Klein... truly steady!

But why would He place a marionette here to monitor the City of Silver?

As his thoughts turned, Ebner quickly left the dream that was gradually collapsing due to its owner’s death and returned to reality.

He glanced at the river channels around the town, which had almost instantly dried up, and knew that this place would no longer have "nightmares" in the future—it was now just an ordinary ruin.

"But the plan to find ’snacks’ for the ’Dream Tapir’ is completely ruined... do I really have to go to the ’Church of War’ and kill a high-sequence ’Nightmare’?

"That doesn’t quite align with my principles...

"Looks like I’ll have to wait until the war begins."

After muttering silently to himself for a few moments, Ebner stopped lingering here. After determining the direction, he continuously "blinked" toward the location of the City of Silver.

...

City of Silver, inside one of the twin round towers.

After being announced, Derrick Berg met the Chief of the "Six-Member Council," Colin Iliad.

"The ’oracle’ you received says that Mr. ’Tower’ will soon arrive at the City of Silver and temporarily take you to the outside world?" Colin, whose face still bore many old scars, looked at the not-so-tall young man before him and asked calmly.

Derrick gave a salute and responded frankly:

"Yes, Chief. For my advancement to ’Priest of Light,’ I need to be in pure darkness. But entering darkness is extremely dangerous... I consulted Mr. ’Tower,’ and he suggested I go directly to the outside world. The darkness there is very safe, and he will also prepare a pure dark environment for me."

Colin Iliad already knew about this matter, but he still listened carefully before nodding:

"It’s good for you to go out and take a look... However, this also counts as owing that gentleman a favor. After you successfully advance and return, you may choose a demigod-level Sealed Artifact from our City of Silver to give him.

"Yes, I will give you a list of the items later.

"But correspondingly, after you advance to Sequence 5 and become an ’Elder,’ you will lose the qualification to choose items."

Derrick had no objections to this and instead felt it was only proper.

He was about to reply when he saw Colin Iliad suddenly stand up, his hands gripping the hilts of the two straight swords crossed behind his back.

At the same time, a voice of admiration sounded from behind Derrick: 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"As expected of the Chief—just a slight leak of my aura and you noticed!"

Hearing this familiar voice, Derrick quickly turned his head and indeed saw Mr. "Tower" standing not far behind him.

"Mr. ’Tower,’ you’re even more impressive—to be able to enter the round tower silently without being detected..." Colin withdrew his hands from the sword hilts, but his expression remained highly vigilant.

"I merely borrowed the power of a deity. On my own, I wouldn’t dare guarantee I wouldn’t be discovered," Ebner said modestly.

This was also the truth. Without the "black gemstone" bestowed by the Goddess, Ebner wouldn’t be able to maximize the effect of the secret technique "Ivans’ Concealment Barrier," and there was a high chance he wouldn’t be able to hide from the several "Grade 0" Sealed Artifacts inside the round tower.

Especially the "Crown of Glory"—as the former crown of the Giant King, both its defensive power and perception were beyond doubt.

Divine power... Colin nodded thoughtfully, assuming the other party referred to Mr. Fool. While speculating about the scope of His authority, he took out a gold bar and handed it to Derrick:

"Derrick, take this and exchange it for some currency from the outside world... according to the records, this metal should be quite valuable."

Derrick originally wanted to say that Miss "Justice" still owed him 1,000 gold pounds for materials and had promised to give it to him personally once he reached the outside world... but after thinking about it, he realized that having more money would allow him to purchase more supplies needed by the City of Silver, so he readily accepted it.

In fact, the Chief intended to use this to test the exchange ratio between gold and currency, so that when the entire City of Silver could eventually go out, they wouldn’t be easily deceived.

Seeing that their conversation had ended, Ebner smiled and asked, "Are you ready?"

Derrick patted the pocket he carried with him, indicating that everything he needed—especially the potion ingredients—was inside, and said firmly, "I’m ready."

"Then let’s set off!" Ebner didn’t waste any more words. He removed his hat in salute, then pulled out a projection of the "Staff of Stars" with one hand while grabbing Derrick’s arm with the other.

Using some "divination" techniques, he outlined in his mind the scene before the "passage" when he last left the Forsaken Land of the Gods:

A great door covered with dense symbolic patterns and strange designs.

As detail after detail rapidly filled in, the corresponding gemstones on the black staff lit up.

In Ebner’s mind, the oil-painting-like scene suddenly expanded, intertwining with reality until the two became indistinguishable.

In the next moment, he and Derrick descended into the dream beneath the tower beside the church in Afternoon Town, arriving before rows of illusory black doors arranged like torii gates.

However, this "transportation passage" relied on the residual "network" left behind by the dried-up "Chaos Sea" underground, allowing it to bypass the blockade of the "True Creator."

Even though the "Chaos Sea" here had been "relocated," its "pollution" still remained. While it had little effect on Ebner, Derrick—who had not yet reached Sequence 5—clearly couldn’t resist it.

"Pray to Mr. ’Fool’ for angelic protection," Ebner said to the somewhat dazed "Little Sun," who had suddenly arrived in an unfamiliar place.

Hearing this, Derrick obediently began to pray silently. A few seconds later, with the descent of a "Paper Angel," he opened his eyes and nodded to Ebner.

Seeing this, Ebner reassuredly transformed into his mythical creature form centered on "Worms of Stars," wrapped up the "Little Sun," and "blinked" into the passage. Within seconds, they passed through countless torii-like black doors and arrived before the "wall" on the other side.

Next came continuous "Spirit World Traversals." By the time Derrick reacted, the two of them had already returned to the rooftop of the viscount’s mansion in Beldan.

Since Ebner hadn’t spent much time in "Nightmare Town" or the City of Silver, Beldan had only just entered dusk.

The moment Derrick stepped out of the Spirit World, he saw the orange-red sun on the horizon—

The true sun!

(End of Chapter)