At the end of the day, the Filomina in the inner world wasn’t Wayne’s High Reverend. Confirming that Wayne was entering the underground catacombs, she decisively put him before her and volunteered to stay behind to keep watch. In case someone ambushed them from the back, she would watch the entrance and wait for his victorious return.

She put it nicely, but in truth, she simply didn’t want to die with him inside.

Wayne didn’t waste his time on her. Scouting ahead with his thoughts, he soon vanished from Filomina’s eyes.

Filomina had promised to guard the entrance and not let a single mouse in, but after Wayne got far enough away, she snuck into a nearby sewer and controlled her energy, making her effectively invisible.

She was only effectively invisible, while Wayne was actually invisible. He had retrieved his father-in-law’s gift from his personal storage and put it on.

Shadow Cloak!

The cloak could conceal the wearer’s thoughts and form to blend in with the surroundings, achieving true invisibility in both optics and magic. Of course, it wasn’t without flaw. It couldn’t make the wearer vanish physically, and magical wards would still be triggered.

Good enough!

Wayne knew the value of the cloak. Ivan had fooled his thoughts with it and caught him and the Goddess of Darkness red-handed. Though things didn’t end well, the process before the ending was impressive, and Ivan had looked quite cool before he dropped to his knees.

The underground catacombs consisted of well-connected, winding tunnels like a massive maze hidden in the city center. Millions of remains were buried here, including renowned figures from different fields. The place was the Headless Knight’s masterpiece, constructed under the Goddess of Death’s order for reasons unknown. There seemed to be a great mystery involved.

The Headless Knight had settled down after the construction of the catacombs and never left afterwards, ignoring the seal in the Frozen Land.

“I wonder if the seal of the Frozen Land exists in this world. The ancient god’s vassal is more powerful than a demigod, so probably not...”

“The underground catacombs exist, but the Headless Knight isn’t around...”

“The inner world replicates the surface world at the point of its inception, so the memories should’ve been replicated, too...”

It had been a long time since Wayne had done any detective work, but he hadn’t lost his touch. Based on the information he had extracted from Filomina and the observations he had made in person, he deduced that there was more to the emergence of the inner world.

If it were only supposed to serve as the surface world’s trash can and carry its negative information, the mirror shouldn’t exist. It had accelerated the inner world’s crumbling, shortening the time it could be used to store negativity, which didn’t make sense.

Wayne believed that the world had been artificially made more as a massive laboratory rather than a trash can. As for what experiment was being conducted here, Darienne might know something. He had to find White Night Creed and reintroduce himself!

“Strange. The chosen knights are demigods, so they cannot exist in the inner world, yet the divine artifacts exist. That guy I met before had Shadow Nightmare and Julia...”

“What are the divine artifacts in the inner world? The projections of the real artifacts? Are there male and female artifacts like male and female connectors?”

“Would the White Night Creed of the inner world recognize me?”

“Have the goddesses been paying attention to the world...?”

Not only did all the questions not make Wayne anxious, but they actually provided him with the thrill of problem-solving. He loved a good mystery to explore, be it the hidden history or the unknown truths.

The underground catacombs were massive, far more than Wayne had imagined. He was in no rush to seek out Garville, instead focusing most on exploring the map.

He had a feeling that he would sooner or later enter the underground catacombs in the surface world and confront the Headless Knight fair and square. He would be wielding a sword and riding a horse while the Headless Knight walked on foot and fought with his fists. Yes, that was indeed fair.

Two hours later, Wayne approached the heart of the catacombs. He had more or less explored all the surrounding areas, leaving only the center unexplored. As he approached, there were more and more magical wards. He might trigger them if he wasn’t careful.

Wayne wasn’t particularly good at math. Though he had accumulated a solid knowledge base, he relied on brute force just like the other chosen knights. Rather than solving math problems, he would rather take down the math teacher. In this case, the Shadow Cloak would only slow him down. It was more convenient to move on his own.

Putting the cloak away, he disintegrated into white sludge and attached himself to the piles of remains on the left, writhing through the gaps between the corpses.

***

On the throne constructed with a mountain of bones, the Headless Knight’s seat was occupied by a handsome elven man. Wearing a white fitted armor with his long silver hair running down his shoulders, the elf had elongated ears and androgynous, beautiful features. He would more than pass for a woman if he dressed up.

He was the Moonlight Knight in the inner world and the Pope, Great Sage, and Holy Maiden in one—Garville!

Yes, he had also killed the Holy Maiden of the Church of Moonlight.

Under the bone mountain, space had been cleared out to fit a long meeting table. Elites of the Church of Moonlight, all with crimson eyes, sat in two lines. The men and women were at least Gold-ranked mages, and there were also Legendary-ranked masters among them.

Just like Filomina, they looked sickly and wasted due to the torment of the negative information, and since they hadn’t been as stunning as Filomina had been to begin with, they looked even worse in this lesser form.

Wayne checked the door plate. Yes, this was the Church of Moonlight’s ghetto rather than Hell’s office in Palis. In the surface world, on the other hand, demons had occupied the underground catacombs.

“Sir Knight, the Pope of the Church of Nature killed our messengers. She rejected a peaceful negotiation and demanded our immediate surrender...”

A Gold-ranked mage in a black robe stood up to describe the humiliation he had suffered at the Church of Nature. “Pope Senna said that you’re nothing but a thief of the divine artifact and have no right to be her equal. Ridiculous. She’s picked up Elemental Mantra by chance as well. Without it, she would’ve never become the Nature Knight, much less taken over the entire Church of Nature.”

The unkempt elites joined in on cursing out the Pope of Nature for her transgression.

(ꉺ)

Wayne stared from his hiding place. Senna of the inner world had become the Nature Knight and violently taken over the church. It was absurd, but not surprising. Senna hadn’t been a woman of integrity before his corruption. She spent her days scheming and vying for supreme power.

He remembered the fortune teller in the Frozen Land. Senna was prophesied to have a bright future.

Looking at the clamorous meeting table below, Garville remained silent. Closer inspection would reveal that while his sclera was also red, it was noticeably a clearer shade rather than a deep crimson.

“How about the Church of Darkness? What did the other churches say?”

“Pope Evan of the Church of Darkness was killed by Senna. Now, Holy Maiden Anastasia is in charge. She sees Senna as her mortal enemy and agreed to sign an agreement of temporary alliance...”

“The Church of Sun has been wiped out by the Church of Nature, leaving the Sun Knight fighting a lone fight. He’s not Senna’s match and has gone into hiding. No one knows where the knight is.”

“The Church of Death hasn’t been heard from for a long time. Perhaps as the Church of Nature claimed, it has been vanquished by Senna as well.”

“As for the Church of Heavenly Father, they have been holing up in the Papal State as usual, conducting summoning rituals for angels every day...”

Wayne eavesdropped on their conversation and found to his surprise that Senna had been doing well. Not only had she taken out the Churches of Sun and Death on her own, but she had even crippled the Church of Darkness.

It was a surprise for her to kill Anastasia’s father and Pope, though. How was that bestie behavior? Did they stop acting in the inner world?

Moreover, there were the summoning rituals for angels in the Papal State. Perhaps Hesione/Mona was there, chasing after His Horniness. Mona might not hold a grudge against His Horniness, but Hesione harbored a burning hatred and would want nothing more than to cut him to pieces.

Wayne entertained the thought for his enjoyment. Then he wondered what the situation with the current chosen knights was. The churches didn’t matter; the chosen knights and their divine artifacts did.

“The Church of Heavenly Father is still holding onto its dreams. If gods truly care about the inner world, it wouldn’t have met destruction repeatedly. What a bunch of useless believers who know nothing but praying. They haven’t realized that we can only rely on ourselves,” said Garville, dressed in the Moonlight Armor.

He didn’t make Wayne wait for long before mentioning the other knights with a frown: “The Sun Knight is missing. What about the Darkness Knight and the Death Knight? Has a victor been decided?”

“No, they’re still fighting in Londan,” said the Gold-ranked mage. “The Death Knight attacked the Londan head office of the Church of Nature and killed the Darkness Knight’s wife, even refining her remains into a puppet. That is not something that could be reconciled. Only one of them could live.”

Wayne, you bastard!

Hearing that, Wayne snarled and cursed up a storm in his mind, using the harshest words he knew. That arsehead bastard of a dog and useless prick of a wanker...

He used up all the insults in his vocabulary.

He knew from the fortune-teller in the Frozen Land that if the future had not changed, Silvia would have been killed by the Death Knight, but his transmigration had changed the future, and he didn’t pay it much mind.

Silvia hadn’t taken it seriously, either, continuing to treat Wayne like her own son, much to Veronica’s annoyance.

Wayne didn’t expect the Death Knight to do the same in the inner world.

He gritted his teeth, swearing that he would kill the other Wayne with his own hands before returning to the surface world. He suddenly remembered the family photo they had all taken. The Auston in this world had to be in so much pain...

“What does that have to do with me? I’ll just let him have the last hit when I kill Wayne,” Wayne mumbled to himself. He couldn’t imagine the kind of madness Auston must be in right now.

“Get ready. We’re retreating toward Londan,” Garville said.

The Nature Knight was too strong! Garville didn’t want to admit it, but Senna was far more talented than he was. While they had acquired their divine artifacts at the same time, Senna had surpassed him substantially. If they came head-to-head, he might become the first chosen knight to meet his death. It was better to go to Londan, where the Darkness and Death Knights were. If he could ally himself with one of them, Senna would surely lose in a two-on-one fight.

Actually, Garville hoped to resolve the differences between the Darkness Knight and the Death Knight. The Darkness Knight had just lost his wife. Was that really a reason to fight the killer day and night for so long?

This was the inner world, facing an impending doom. A wife could be replaced by another, while a life lost could never be recovered.