Shammus had hardly much time at all to talk with his party since getting into this tower, so he would during this faint moment of downtime shortly after Shadowing was slain. It seemed like a more optimal time to slowly shed off his general’s armor.

  The future of this group was a separate issue that wasn’t necessarily on him to keep close tabs upon. But, it was a job he’d take over if he ever thought the rest of the group were overworking themselves.

  And so, Shammus started to talk with Judine, more specifically on what she seemed to find out from the tower. “Judine, I may be a man of a time ancient, but what may your works be about?”

  Judine flinched at the random question, so Shammus took a light note that they weren’t all too observant, and he’d accidentally slipped up with sneaking up on them. “Ah, well, it’s about the tower, and more specifically my personal theories on the system.”

  “Oh?” Shammus beckoned out more of a response; his eyes widening as he looked at Judine’s notebook. It was cleanly organized on one side, and messy on the other. One side was probably taken on the field.

  “Yes,” Judine flips along the notebook and stops upon the first two pages. It was certainly interesting to see these thoughts laid out into words, even if it was a special writing system Judine had made. “These writings are with a writing system I made based off Primordial’s.”

  Shammus nodded as he noted the similarities, it was truly curious to be led through a foreign lens like this, as Judine took on more of a… professor-like tone. “It’s faster to write than the common lettering, but that’s besides the point. They are also encrypted such that the System can’t catch onto my writings.”

  Judine seemed excited to tell him all about this, but the slow blink Shammus let out gave Judine the sign that she lost him. “Ah, apologies, my theory is that the System; especially with how it acts around us, is that it’s fully conscious, just split up as though multitasking.”

  Shammus took a moment to think then he snapped, “So in otherwords, you feel the System is working as a sort of orchestrator of deeds? Actions following a set path?” Shammus asked, trying to get a better look at Judine’s works.

  Judine simply nodded and continued on.

  62 - Falling

  Shammus had never used his random healing abilities he got from dungeons, and what he just did was heal Bariton from the hit Pallad done, giving him a thankful nod from Bariton. He smiled lightly at Bariton, but then he looked on at the doorway to their room.

  The only room with religious symbols. Odd for a church. “You two, halt.” Shammus signed it, to avoid being audible. He heard Linore-- No, Insanity, if what Bariton said was true, praying. To a god whose name rooted a deep dread in his stomach. The killer of Sornid, someone Shammus hardly even knew, but his death clearly affected everyone else in this party.

  Heavenly Dealer of None. This god seemed to be growing more frequent in appearances, whether physically or with words. Insanity did avoid the question, but from the few religious books Shammus read.

  “It’s talking to its god.” Shammus signed, and Bariton and Pallad looked at him confused. “Do you two not know sign language?” He put his hand to the bridge of his nose, and the lack of response simply let Shammus know just about all he needed to.

  Shammus bit back some swears, like always. He’d always watched his tongue, either from threat of violence or from the envy from everyone else. Nobody else got his privileges so he refused to use them.

  A simplistic method to avoid jealousy, and another method he employed was glaring at those two to ensure they knew they did something bad. “How do you two not know sign language?” The voice of Shammus was full of venom, and potentially even hate.

  Bariton looked at him in sorrow, apologies, and Pallad’s mirrored his. Shammus just made a sigh as he looked over at the divinity who quit the prayer. Not even at a filled altar, the new statue had yet to be erected.

  It was still four days before the system killed them, so it was still a fresh world; and it seems the preparations started a day ago. “Alright, ignoring that, let’s begin evacuating the area. We can’t have more deaths than necessary, I don’t know if Clara could take it." Shammus shifted the blame despite who couldn’t actually handle it being the one speaking.

  The hatred boiled over under Shammus’s skin. He couldn’t let more people die under his command, it was a waste of power to do so. And so he set up an evacuation plan, regarding this area and 50 kilometers across as too dangerous.

  And so Pallad and Bariton were sent into action, and Shammus sat down against a wall as they walked off to set the plan in motion. Those two were to do the easier part, apply a perimeter and mark down an easy path for even non-awakened’s to travel. It’d take about an hour for that part.

  And now, Shammus had to do the tougher part. Start a rumor that would lead the people to want to leave, from the idea that something terrible was going to happen in 4 days. Said efforts had to be done quickly and swiftly, and Shammus stood up as slowly as he could.

  He still broke the sound barrier, but thankfully it was more of a pop than a boom with how light his body had been. He flinched at the sound still, but he walked to where he believed the people gathered for food.

  Shammus walked calculated, between different cliques, and like a good rumormaker, he hadn’t been the one to learn it himself. He slipped down hints for the group that seemed most conversational, then began talking with a group of heavier drinkers.

  A good sample group to see if people believed him, since nobody would believe them had he been at too low on the believability scale. “Have you lot heard, that supposedly this was being used as a test site for a weapon for use against Kermany?”

  Shammus formed this rumor himself, but it was somewhat believable since at this world the war between Forsivo and Kermany was practically a matter of if instead of when, and who better to test a weapon on then one’s own civilians? Also worked as a false flag to allow Forsivo to push into a war.

  And so he went along with that lie. “And didn’t you see? They even set up a border 5 kilometers out, it’s so clearly planned.” The drunkards looked annoyed, but one of them looked more worried. They’re words were slurred and certainly did not have wings, “Well if we put in the effort to mark all that…”

  Shammus nodded along with the drunkard. “Exactly my-” Shammus bit his tongue before he revealed his age to this group. “-friend. Spread the word as much as you can, you lot need to get out of here before then.”

  The drunkards all sorta babbled in agreement while nodding their heads, some of them looking at Shammus with a gaze of incredulity like he’d solved a math theorem that’d been troubling the world for centuries. He looked uncomfortable and wandered off to spread a similar story, enough that the basis is the same, the very truth that everyone was in danger and that evacuation was in order.

  The precise details, other than the provable that is, were varied. What caused the barrier to be set up by the Kingdom of Forsivo; whether this was a trap to lure the Sower of Death, or even an attempt to kill a god, it proved to the people in the church that danger was swift approaching.

  The provable facts were enough, all that was needed was someone to jump the conclusions for them. The effort of jumping the conclusion marks both the difference between madmen and regular people, and inventors and saviors from the average.

  That’s what made Shammus’s plan so great. He had arguments for every story he made, and since he always said ‘I heard from…’ and blamed another for the inconsistencies in his own story, the source was confused as the few who checked it were led down a line that led nowhere.

  Those people probably wouldn’t evacuate, but they would when the second part of Shammus’s plan was activated. The friends had finally arrived back, and Shammus looked back at them. “You placed the tape?”

  “Of course!” Bariton was the first to respond to the general’s question. Unfortunate to redon the personality after shedding it so long ago in his years of seclusion. And Bariton looks up at Shammus, with a dumb grin.

  “Alright,” Shammus begins the next mission. Stealth in finding Judine and Clara. They were both missing. “We shall hunt for both Judine and Clara, it’s highly likely that neither of them are dead. Especially Judine, and Clara’s healing is so obscene that nothing can slaughter her without leaving this location completely destroyed.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Pallad nods at this, but he clearly had something to say. Shammus hands him the seat of the metaphorical table with a look. “Well, that may be true, it doesn’t mean they aren’t in danger. We still need to move fast but not carelessly.”

  Shammus gave a small sound of agreement, and Bariton simply seemed lost in thought. Shammus tried to grab the bards attention, “What are your thoughts on this matter?”

  Bariton made a small sound of thought, but it was clear he had already been thinking of this for a while. He filled his speech with filler words, but it was so clear that it was placing his idea into words. “We need to find them right?”

  “So why don’t we just…” Bariton thinks for a second. “Use our demigod forms? Especially mine can find their songs.” His speech was simplistic, but the drawing out of this plan was what gave it the depth that showed credibility and reliability.

  Shammus thought of it for a minute. “However, to do that…” He found a major flaw despite the plausibility of Bariton’s ploy, “We can’t reasonably stall Insanity while you find it and still avoid the people’s deaths. There’s a reason they stay, rumors aren’t enough to cause everyone here to just pack up and leave.”

  Bariton fell silent at the shutdown of his plot, but he seemed to take it in stride when the drawing board was brought up. And the plotting process was long and arduous. As the sun fell in the sky, they came up with a final plan.

  Shammus, with the highest Agility of those three, would try to find where Judine and Clara were being held. Bariton, would ensure to keep Insanity distracted by causing general mayhem, and Pallad will help people find a true reason to evacuate, and to help them with it.

  With the plan a go, Shammus took a deep breath as the moon stared down from the stars. It was a usual night, and the party had returned to their room to plan. And now the halls were dark. He would cast a usual light spell, but at level 99, it kind of got annoying.

  So he was in the dark, and it was fine to be in the dark, as he could move just fine. He avoided being seen as his movement practically melded with the wind of the open windows pushing the curtains, and his body seemed to melt into the shadow.

  It was naught but an illusion of good stealth however, his face concealed in a cloak, and he was even sort of merging with the void as he moved. The void melded around him, and he avoided being seen with useful positioning on top of it.

  He heard footsteps approaching a door, and he listened for where they were when the door opened and closed. He awaited for the sounds to die within the room; and for the door to open once more. His hearing was much better when he was able to move at such a pace that the system slowed the world down.

  Shammus quickly moved, at the same pace as the wind, using the very darkness of the void to help him move with it. He felt his class ability level up, which while never heard of before, neither was a quest that risked worldly destruction coupled with a death quest in the same dungeon.

  [Void Tear -> 1]

  The void spoke back secrets to Shammus as he moved through it as well, but he couldn’t understand the language it was speaking. Sounds like a mix between Draconic, Common, and Primordial. Shammus felt himself speak in his mind, not fearing the idea of Psychomancy.

  It’d appear that moving through the void brought out flaws in thought, Shammus kept thinking as he moved through the darkness to not open the door he was to enter. Rather he cut through reality into the void using the sword Shadowing dropped, and then used the amulet to let him better see the abyssal area that the room was stored within.

  The void was an awful environment. No light let in, yet everything was as bright as daylight. No light reflected into your eyes, things that were typically shadow were flat as though it were noon at the equator. Shammus kept hearing the whispers grow more intense as he slipped into the room.

  When he entered, it was an odd room, bathed in impossible red light. The walls were covered in small paper talismans? He couldn’t be too certain before he grabbed a loose one and read the system message of it.

  [Talisman of Insanity]

  [Quality: Rare, Handcrafted]

  [Durability: 1/1]

  [Upon employment stops people from having coherent thoughts when bound by them, and prevents even other divinities from seeing the inner workings of a room covered in them. Is destroyed by being dispelled by caster or the God of Insanity.]

  Shammus practically spat out an obscenity at the talisman as he burnt it with a base [Firelight] spell. The fire burnt impossibly bright and Shammus had to close his eyes for a second as the talisman screamed out in pain.

  In a similar voice to Insanity’s as well. Before Shammus could argue with that, he noticed the layout of the room was similar to a prisoner of war internment camp. Definitely sounded nicer than it was, with all the tools being familiar to Shammus.

  They were heavily used too based off the rust on the blades and the pliers having a dent of a tooth imprisoned on the sides. Definitely odd, to have the same tooth removed over and over so often to leave an indent.

  And they didn’t fit his hands comfortably either. These were personally made pliers, and he quickly closed the system message as it tried to open. That meant these things had a history. Especially based off the mana imprisoned within.

  A divine item these torture devices all were, and he heard a whimper of pain from the corner of the room. It was muffled, probably under a talisman as Shammus let his eyes be drawn from the bloodied talisman on a wall.

  What stood there was a terrible sight to see. She wasn’t injured, thank Ruler, but she was in a terrible state, Clara was. And Judine was in a worse state, looking more beaten than Clara.

  Clara was covered in scratches that were all leaking an inky black substance alongside someone else’s blood. Shammus rushed up and burnt away the talismans without the help of the system. He couldn’t risk a skill when they were likely not similar.

  The screaming of Insanity filled the room as the last talisman was removed, causing Shammus to flinch with every slip of paper removed. Clara’s eyes snapped open and she searched Shammus’s face with her pink eyes.

  Shammus was just about to ask if she was okay when a loud bang was heard outside the church room.

  ******

  Bariton’s job was simple. Cause light chaos and stuffs over the night that didn’t mess up the other two positions of this attack. And Bariton could do that! He was good at it even after his years on the streets as a homeless unawakened.

  And so he acted. He found Insanity pretty quick, with the divinity being the only one on patrol. He was moving just fast enough for only Insanity to notice his movements without falling into Insanity’s clutches, and rather he began a song in front of Insanity.

  “What a beautiful song, Bariton.” The divinity spoke, the scars lighting up under the candle he held. “Although, I daresay if I’m not keeping watch, then who’ll ensure the safety of the civilians here?”

  “Do you not trust my friends to do that?” Bariton faked being hurt, playing a light piece in the Minor key on his lyre to mimic the idea of sorrow. “We are quite capable of it, I’m sure you noticed that yourself-” Bariton caught himself before he said the creature’s true name. “-Linore.”

  Insanity smiled lightly, the scars seeming to spread alongside his lips. Especially the one painting the divinity’s throat. “Apologies, I didn’t mean to offend,” his words of honesty slipped past his lips of venom, but his eyes betrayed the venom seeping into them.

  “So just stay for a few songs! Pallad’s got it covered, and you seem so hard at work Father Linore!” Bariton ignored the venom though, and didn’t let Insanity come up with more excuses to continue moving along the church. “Please, I’ve tried really hard and I’d love for a god to hear it!”

  Insanity stopped as Bariton mentioned his dreams. Bariton noticed a few scars that didn’t quite align with scars of battle, especially the ones beside the eyes. Those looked more purposeful, being shaped like wings.

  Insanity finally spoke back up. “Alright, I suppose I could stay for one or two songs.”

  *******

  Shammus burnt away the talismans on Judine as well, although there was one more based on her mutterings about the system. They were terrible to hear, especially paired with the screams of a divinity.

  Clara flinched at every single scream, and Shammus hesitated between the slips of paper. These screams were real, he’d heard them few times. They weren’t the screams of the release of death, these were the screams of torture.

  Agonizing torment without any hope of freedom. Or maybe the screams of losing the hope of freedom, and the way the screams were all different, Shammus began theorizing the ideas behind the talismans creation, and the scars all over Insanity.

  He killed that thoughtline as he kept slowly removing them from Judine’s body, and Clara was scrunched up against the wall. He wished he had some skill in psychomancy that wasn’t led by the system at that moment.

  Especially if Judine’s theories were accurate, that it was ran by one consciousness splitting and fraying all the time. He shuddered as he thought of their most clear thinker, being reduced to this mumbling mess by one of these papers.

  They were unreasonably powerful, but it was clear they were attached with unreasonable magic, and they were bound to this world through anguish. Agony capable of scarring the mind of the concept of Insanity.

  That’s Shammus’s working theory, and when Judine finally opened her eyes after one last shrill screech from the paper burning; Judine stopped muttering. She looked around the room with the same terrified expression Clara shared.

  Her eyes were dilated at an absurd level and Shammus stood in the center of the room and stared at the door. If Insanity broke in now of all times, they’d be in absurd danger. Clara cast a healing spell over both herself and Judine, closing all injuries and cleansing all bruises, but the door was looming above them.

  Only Shammus could stand being in the void, especially with however long those two were under the effects of the magical seals, and the door didn’t open from this side. It was a terrible idea, but they were stuck for now.