Chapter 167: The Gothic Sage

The dashing and upright Ninte did not care about the Grand Duke’s anger.

Ever since he became the youngest Spellbreaking Knight in the Dulan Province, he had served as the leader of the local Demon Hunting Knights.

Purge the darkness, pity the weak, and fear nothing!

This twenty-eight-year-old young knight strictly followed the knightly maxims passed down by the holy knights, refusing all extravagant aristocratic luxuries and dedicating all his energy to "cleansing evil."

"Respected Grand Duke Lington, I heard you have a sage named Goth among your staff. I wish to see him immediately!" Ninte stood straight before the Grand Duke, ignoring the fierce glares of more than a dozen fully armed guards behind him, and stated his purpose directly.

Although phrased as a request, coming from his mouth, it carried not the slightest hint of one!

The Grand Duke’s expression instantly turned ashen. Angrily waving the exquisite scepter topped with a massive ruby in his hand, he roared, "Goth is the tutor I hired for my youngest daughter. He is no sage, let alone the spellcaster you people are searching everywhere for! You have no right to investigate a Grand Duke's estate..."

Unfortunately, the Grand Duke's roar was directly ignored by Ninte. Staring coldly into the Grand Duke's eyes, he said word by word, "I did not come here today to gather evidence or investigate, nor do I intend to make things difficult for Sage Goth. Perhaps..." Ninte paused slightly here, "Perhaps I still need to enlist the power of this Sage Goth for certain matters!"

Seeing the rare look of hesitation on Knight Ninte's face, Grand Duke Lington could not help but be momentarily stunned. Before he could refuse again, a clear and crisp young female voice rang out from the corner of the hall.

"If you want to see Teacher Goth, come with me!"

Hearing this familiar voice, the Grand Duke blurted out, "Aini, why is it you? Hurry back inside, this place..."

A beautiful young girl wearing a light yellow dress walked out of the small door in the corner of the hall. Only sixteen or seventeen years old, she was none other than the Grand Duke's youngest daughter, Elena.

"Father, do not stop Knight Ninte! This is actually Teacher's wish as well."

The Grand Duke frowned and said, "Since it is Goth's wish, then take him there! However, these Demon Hunting Knights must remain here."

Ninte nodded, turned back to give a few low instructions to his companions, and followed Elena into the inner manor.

The dwelling of Sage Goth was a tall spire, and the only way to the top of the tower was a narrow, spiral stone staircase. Ninte's build was quite robust, and his armor was exceptionally heavy, so as he climbed the steps, his metal armor occasionally made strange scraping and clashing noises against the stone walls.

Watching the light-footed young daughter of the Grand Duke walking ahead of him, Ninte could not help but sneer inwardly.

As soon as I arrived at the estate, that Goth already knew. This title of "Sage" is truly well-deserved!

However, his visit to this Goth "sage" was under orders from above to seek assistance. Even though the fellow before him had already revealed a hint of the essence of an "aberration," he still needed to endure, silently waiting for a better opportunity to fulfill his vow.

Halfway up, Ninte finally could not help asking, "Miss Elena, what is it that you are studying with that Sage Goth?"

"Language, writing, and history!" Elena replied without looking back. Her tone was stiff and cold, giving the impression that she did not wish to talk further.

"I'm afraid it includes astromancy as well!" Ninte could not help adding.

Elena's slender, frail body trembled slightly. Still without turning her head, she said, "Not all knowledge is evil! Astromancy is highly valued even by His Majesty the King. What, Knight Ninte, do you intend to slaughter everyone who has ever studied astromancy?"

Ninte remained coldly silent.

The stone spire was five stories high, and Sage Goth was waiting for them on the fifth floor.

This was a wise old man wearing a red robe and a pince-nez pinched on the bridge of his nose. His flowing hair was completely snow-white, his face aged, and his loose skin piled up into dense wrinkles. His eyes were brownish-tan, and his pupils were turbid and dim, yet the sharp glare flashing at the depths of his eyes suddenly made him appear somewhat transcendent and otherworldly.

Ninte glanced around the cramped room. Although books, scrolls, and sheepskin parchment were strewn about everywhere, it unexpectedly gave a sense of orderly chaos. In a large bookcase reaching up to the ceiling in the corner, various types of books were packed tightly.

In the Demon Hunting Continent, while books were not exceptionally rare, they were certainly not something ordinary people could lay their hands on. Judging by the scale of the collection here, Ninte even doubted whether the public library in Hedulan City could compare to the abundance and value of the books here!

"You must be Goth! I am Ninte, I am under..." Ninte stepped forward, tapping his chest to introduce himself loudly. Unfortunately, before he could finish, he was interrupted by the old man.

"Of course it was Wales who sent you, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to see me!" A strange smile appeared on the old man's face. "He probably sent you to ask me whether the nightmares that have been plaguing him for over a month are true or false?"

The muscles on Ninte's face involuntarily twitched slightly.

The messenger pigeon carrying the dispatch from the Ailanbao Demon Hunting Knight headquarters had barely landed in his hand an hour ago, and this fellow living in solitary seclusion in the stone spire already knew?

Ninte asked coldly, "Is this the special ability you awakened? Precognition or divination? Or perhaps necromancy?"

His tone was full of disdain, for he had judged and punished more than a few similar aberrant wretches.

Precognition allowed aberrations to perceive the arrival of crisis in advance, thereby evading the pursuit of the Demon Hunting Knights. However, the biggest drawback of this ability was that it could only foresee matters related to oneself and could not be used to help others.

Divination was slightly better than precognition, capable of sensing the future destiny of a certain matter through ritual tools such as animal bones, cards, or crystal balls. Unfortunately, the divination results obtained were usually vague portents of fortune and misfortune, failing to provide the clear visions of the future that precognition offered.

As for the last one, necromancy, it was an extremely cruel and terrifying evil magic. Spellcasters who awakened this ability could detain the souls of the dead, making them serve their own ends. Whether it was gathering information, prying into privacy, or draining the life force of the living... no matter which it was, it was an evil act that Ninte detested most deeply!

Facing the sarcastic mockery of the young spellbreaking knight before him, Sage Goth smiled slightly, completely unconcerned. Instead, he pulled an egg-sized crystal ball from his wide sleeve and handed it over.

"Everything Wales wanted to know has already been etched into this crystal ball. You only need to deliver this crystal ball into his hands."

Elena, who had been silent beside them, suddenly opened her eyes wide, looking at her teacher with a panicked expression. Protected by the Grand Duke, as long as her teacher adamantly denied possessing special abilities, those Demon Hunting Knights had no way to verify her teacher's identity as a "medium."

Yet now, her teacher had taken out the divination crystal ball with his own hands, which was equivalent to admitting his identity right before that spellbreaking knight, Ninte.

This...

Sure enough, upon seeing the crystal ball, despite carrying a special mission from headquarters, Knight Ninte still could not help drawing his long sword, pointing the tip at the old man's chest.

"Hmph, you really are an evildoer! I think you had better come with me in person and go see our Lord Wales!"

"No..." Elena screamed beside them, wanting to rush forward to protect her teacher, but she was stopped by the old man.

Although a long sword was pointed at his chest, Sage Goth's face showed not a shred of fear. Instead, he calmly retorted, "Indeed, Ninte hates evil like an enemy! But Knight Ninte, let me ask you, how old do you think I am?"

The other party's composure and calmness made Ninte somewhat confused.

This Sage Goth had been specifically named by the sole Tier 4 Holy Knight at headquarters—whom all Demon Hunting Knights revered as a deity in their hearts—to be brought before him. If he truly possessed precognition, why didn't he flee upon sensing his arrival, instead waiting here for him?

A hesitant look appeared on Ninte's handsome face as he tentatively asked, "Eighty years old?"

In the Demon Hunting Continent, where the average lifespan was seventy years, this number could already be considered quite a longevity.

Sage Goth shook his head with a smile, his tone suddenly turning desolate and low.

"Twenty-seven! I am only twenty-seven years old this year!"

At this, let alone Knight Ninte, even Elena could not help covering her mouth in exclamation.

Although they had spent five years together, she had never known her teacher's secret.

"Ever since I awakened the ability of a medium at the age of thirteen, I have aged several times faster than ordinary people. Every use of my precognitive ability consumes my life force! Especially in these past five years, I have had the exact same nightmare every single night. A group... a group of powerful demons descending upon our world, stripping away everything we possess, turning everyone into slaves..."

"This is not something I foresaw, but something our world wanted to tell me! That is why I used certain means to transfer my dream to your Lord Wales. Perhaps in this world, only a powerhouse like him can lead the people to jointly resist the terrifying demons in the dream..."

Knight Ninte's face turned pale.

The events unfolding before him clearly exceeded the scope of what he could control. He could not even tell whether what this detestable evildoer said was true or false. Although his hard-forged willpower told him not to trust any evildoer, deep down in his heart, Ninte vaguely felt that Sage Goth might still be trustworthy.

While Ninte was hesitating, Sage Goth shoved the crystal ball into his hands, then turned, spread his arms, and threw himself against the narrow window, crying out loudly to the heavens.

"Mother World, I have accomplished what you entrusted to me. Ever since you led me into that terrifying dream, I have wanted to ask you, does our world still have a future? Mother World, if you have heard my words, please tell me..."

As he cried out loudly, a divine milky-white light began to emerge from his body. Yet Sage Goth seemed completely unaware, stumbling as he immersed himself in a certain terrifying dream.

"No... no... no... It shouldn't be like this! Our world shouldn't be like this... Mother World, please let me see the appearance of that terrifying demon..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sage Goth's body trembled.

"So this is what you look like! Demon... I see you..." Sage Goth suddenly turned his head back, his face filled with excitement. "Go quickly and tell Wales, they are in the ea—ah..."

Ninte saw it very clearly. Just as Sage Goth was fanatically trying to say something, his eyes were suddenly gouged out by someone, leaving behind two huge bloody sockets.

A strange voice suddenly echoed in the stone chamber.

"To think this world still has a prophet capable of connecting with plane consciousness? Hmph, pathetic bug, since you dared to pry into this lord, then go die!"

As the voice faded, the flesh and blood of Sage Goth's entire body began to wither rapidly, turning into a skeleton almost in an instant. Then, under the horrified gazes of the two, it weathered into gray dust...

Meanwhile, in the distant wizard vanguard camp where the two could not peer, the humanoid phantom bound by heavy chains of law suddenly opened its eyes, gently poked twice in the void before it, and blew a breath.

Yet such a slight action had already triggered the backlash of the laws.

The humanoid phantom muffled a groan and spent a great deal of effort to finally stabilize its form and prevent it from collapsing.

After a long while, it closed its eyes once more and plunged back into eternal silence!