Chapter 312: Chapter 309: This Rorschach Is Different

Inside the brain chamber, the glowing, milky-white fluid within the stone basin had vanished, as if nothing had happened.

Only Rorschach remained standing. He watched the other two enjoying the peaceful sleep of an infant for a moment before walking toward his teacher, one step at a time.

"I... How did I pass out?" Caroline slowly opened her eyes, finding herself still half-lying on the floor.

...

Caroline shot to her feet and took a step back, all her usual composure as a teacher gone. "Rorschach! You... you!"

"What about me?" Seeing Caroline had regained her senses, Rorschach also stood up, his expression unchanging. "You were the one who forcibly broke the brain chamber’s spatial seal. You succeeded, but you fainted from the backlash of the Ancient Elves’ Magic.

"While I’m grateful you were willing to take such a great risk to come in here, I don’t think it was a very rational decision."

Caroline hadn’t expected Rorschach to be so blunt. She frowned. "It was only because you two were taking too long. I was worried something might have happened to you..."

Rorschach nodded and thanked her again.

Then he knelt to cast Su Sheng on Benedict.

Benedict’s head felt like it was splitting apart. He struggled to sit up, lifting the back of his head from the cold floor.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the young Mage’s cold face and immediately said, "I..."

"You received the memories of the Elf Elder inside the brain chamber and learned the secrets of the Shadow Land."

"Yes, that’s right!" The Elf then stared warily at the human Mage. "How do you know that?"

"An unknown mass of light from the stone basin entered your forehead, and then you fainted. While you were unconscious, you were talking in your sleep, as if communicating with someone. I guessed you were speaking with one of your ancestors."

Benedict accepted Rorschach’s explanation and continued, "So, I have to..."

"So you have to open the other rifts from the Shadow Land to the physical world, creating a path from El Island to Storm City. But they are currently sealed by the Lord of Order. We need to open them."

"Right, right... wait, ’we’?" Benedict, whose mind was just rebooting, suddenly remembered he was practically a captive of two hostile human Mages.

Caroline was also confused. "Rorschach, are you planning to help him? He used us, and he colluded with Mother Earth."

"At least he isn’t a follower of Mother Earth anymore. And the other deceived Gray Elves are not beyond saving.

"We open the passages and let the Gray Elf Rebel Army come to the Semi-submerged Area. Let them see for themselves what the Sect has done to their kinsfolk on the shipwrecks, and expose the Sect’s threat for all to see.

"Give the Rebel Army a chance to strike the Istani Royal Capital directly, forcing the Kingdom to abandon its colony on El Island. That way, the Gray Elves can free El Island without relying on a Divine Spirit, and they will no longer need to pray to Mother Earth for power.

"At the same time, we’ll use them to expose Istani’s atrocities on El Island and the truth of the collusion between the Sect and the Knight Order.

"Otherwise, the Rebel Army will remain at a disadvantage. They’ll have no choice but to keep relying on Mother Earth, and the worship of the Evil God will be even harder to eradicate.

"This is the solution I’ve devised."

"How can the Rebel Army defeat the Knight Order on their own?"

"The Knight Order no longer has the protection of Is. Without relying on Mother Earth, you’re just mortals challenging other mortals.

"It won’t be a fair fight, of course, but as long as you can bring the battle to the heart of Istani, you will have already won."

Benedict was still hesitant. "Can we really do that?"

"Just do as I say," Rorschach pressed. "It’s a better option than siding with a Sect that is simultaneously cooperating with the Istani authorities.

"You people think you’ve seen the truth—that the Sect is using you—yet you still cooperate with them, smugly believing you’re the ones using them in return.

"To bargain with a tiger for its hide is to court death."

Benedict fell silent. Rorschach pulled an ancient parchment scroll from his robes. When he activated it with Magic, it revealed itself to be a map.

He infused it with Magic Power and adjusted it with his will. The map was incredibly detailed; he could zoom in and out and even adjust the depth it displayed.

"I found this map in the stone chamber while you two were unconscious. It not only marks a safe path out of the Deep Diving Area, but also shows the routes to the physical world.

Right now, these entrances are sealed by the Lord of Order. We need to unseal them one by one. Doing so will weaken the Shadow City and its curse of erasure."

Rorschach then had the map float before him to lead the way.

A silent Benedict followed behind Rorschach, with Caroline bringing up the rear.

Rorschach twisted the stone platform in the center of the chamber, and an exit to the outside slowly opened. The path led downward, and the three of them emerged from the open mouth of a stone statue.

Enveloped in Rorschach’s Domain, they floated slowly through the dim, murky space of the Deep Diving Area, drifting past other slanted stone statues.

A thin mist of water condensed on the surface of the Domain, and an Illusion Technique similar to Mirror Flower Water Moon was applied to the outside of the bubble. The giant fish of the Deep Diving Area ignored them, brushing past them several times.

Benedict wanted to investigate the other statues, but the young Mage before him had been taciturn ever since he awoke. When he did speak, it was with a tone that allowed no argument, so Benedict didn’t dare to act on his own and simply followed his lead.

Caroline moved past the Elf, her eyes fixed on Rorschach. She felt that something wasn’t right.

"Rorschach, do you remember which Magic you were worst at back at the academy?" Caroline asked, using the Communication Skill.

"The Water Creation Skill."

The answer was correct. But the Rorschach she knew would have said more, something like, "You even suspected me of cheating on the exam," or "Why bring up my past failures now?" In short, this Rorschach was different.

Still using the Communication Skill, Caroline asked, "What if the Rebel Army learns the truth about the Sect but decides to cooperate with Mother Earth anyway?"

"The Shadow Land is about to be destroyed." To Caroline, Rorschach stated this prediction as if it were fact. He then added, "Whether the members of the Rebel Army who enter the Shadow City are buried along with it will depend on their attitude toward the Evil God."

Now that he wasn’t speaking, Benedict’s mind worked faster, and he managed to think of a problem. "Your plan doesn’t seem to account for the Marquis."

"Undoing the Lord of Order’s seals will also weaken the Marquis’s power. I have another way to deal with him. If all goes smoothly, I will defeat him and his Shadow City fair and square—Lord against Lord."

The Domain bubble slowly descended, bringing them to the edge of the Deep Diving Area. The boundary was marked by extremely large, rectangular stone slabs. They were arranged in sets of three to form "∏" shapes, stacked one after another to create an open border.

Ancient Elven Runes on their surface flickered with a faint light. This had originally been the "isolation wall" sealing off the Holy Land.

At the bottom of the Deep Diving Area were dark green, strip-like objects. They swayed back and forth like seaweed, but a closer look revealed them to be writhing tentacles—a product of Is’s power being hijacked by Mother Earth.

Rorschach didn’t touch the ground. He led the two of them toward one of the stone archways. He raised a hand, and the Runes upon it changed, revealing a dim, yellow sky.

"Come on. Let’s go break the first seal."