Super Righteous Player
Chapter 354 - 351: The Separation of the Crowd_1

Chapter 354: Chapter 351: The Separation of the Crowd_1

"So this is goodbye, Tan Juan," Louis said calmly, nodding to Annan.

Confronted with the sudden liberation from his lengthy duties, he showed no particular excitement or resentment towards Annan for meddling.

He simply accepted the fact calmly and felt grateful to Annan.

"I knew this day would come," Louis had said when Annan first approached him.

In fact... Louis had never expected Annan to clear the Nightmare in one go at the beginning.

That Annan, without having experienced "Nightmare: Gallery" before and only relying on the not very detailed walkthrough from Louis, could succeed.

From that moment on, Louis knew... his return to the Royal Capital would probably be much sooner than he had anticipated.

Before coming to Frostwater Harbor, Louis was prepared to "purify Nightmares in Frostwater Harbor until the age of forty"... even the mental preparation to fail to dispel the Nightmare, dying miserably here, was made long ago.

The Church’s internal ranking of Nightmare difficulty used a "ten-tier ladder," with lower numbers representing increasing difficulty—not ranked by the class of Nightmares, but calculated by "the efficiency and stability of purifying Nightmares while possessing Divine Arts."

For a priest, the difficulty of a Nightmare may not necessarily match his rank—and even for priests of different faiths, the difficulty of the same Nightmare can vary greatly.

A Bronze-rank Nightmare could completely be within the top three tiers; a Gold-rank Nightmare could theoretically be less difficult than the seventh tier.

For example, Louis had once purified a Silver-rank Nightmare that was only ranked at the seventh tier.

In that Nightmare, he appeared as a Silver-rank Wizard in a prison specifically designed to control Transcendents. He wore a binding suit, a shock-proof helmet with an eye mask, was shackled by manacles, had his nails torn off and wrapped with bandages, and had been deprived of his vessel along with having guards watching him around the clock in three eight-hour shifts.

The objective of that Nightmare was to kill or subdue at least one guard within eight hours, find and retrieve his vessel, and then escape from prison successfully.

—There was no doubt that it was a very difficult Nightmare.

At least Louis had not yet figured out how to solve that puzzle.

But as soon as he had entered that Nightmare... he was restrained, tied to a chair by one of his wardens.

...And his warden was playing cards with another warden and two prisoners.

Just then, Louis heard the sound of silver coins clashing.

He immediately used the Divine Art "Enumeration of Wealth," and without sight, he forcibly locked onto the location of the currency on the table, made it visible to him, and thus deduced the specific positions of the other four people.

Then he directly used "Assessment of Tribute"—and unsurprisingly marked all four people. This was followed by "Compulsory Levy," aiming for two silver coins on the table to fly towards him... and he transformed one into a "Sharp Object" and the other into "Silver Dust."

The remaining fight ended in less than ten seconds.

Afterwards, Louis went on his way with the Sharp Object in his right hand and five silver coins in his left, killed his way out in a dignified manner, snatched his vessel, and rushed out swiftly.

Although the warden immediately reacted and called for a crossbow turret, by the time Louis rushed out of the prison, the Nightmare had already been purified successfully.

And it was a potent purification that resolved all remaining attempts in one go.

The process did not exceed three minutes.

Louis’s specialty was this kind of Nightmare.

His greatest advantage was that he was always fearless and calm, with unwavering determination.

In many cases, a priest’s failure to clear a Nightmare wasn’t because the Nightmare was too difficult. After all, a priest is essentially cheating—by directly borrowing power from the gods through the Holy Sigil in Nightmares where Transcendent powers are unusable.

It’s like obtaining powerful equipment and plenty of consumables from a veteran at the start of a new phase when a feature or recipe is not yet available, through mail or face-to-face transactions.

In this scenario, a priest’s failure is usually not because they can’t do it or because the difficulty increased, but simply due to a decisive mistake or just a basic personal error.

But Louis was different.

He always followed his instincts, never hesitating or doubting his decisions.

When an ordinary person sees a bullet coming, they might instinctively think "should I dodge to the left or to the right?" and end up frozen in place. But Louis would evade in some direction the moment he realized he was under attack—whether or not it was the best choice.

It was precisely because of this personality that Priest Louis took on this grueling and thankless task.

Yes, this assignment was not a punishment.

But it was a task he had taken on willingly.

A nightmare that had not been cleansed for fifty years... Any failure would result in memory loss, making it impossible to leverage the advantages of a clergyman to fight against it. Even the representatives of the Hand of Silver hesitated at this.

Louis was the first, and the only one, to sign up.

It was not out of recklessness or a desire for a promotion through this deed. He simply thought he should step in when he heard "no one is willing to come"—and even when he arrived at Frostwater Harbor and truly realized it was a dead end, he did not regret his choice but stayed there peacefully, continuing his physical training and methodically cleansing the nightmare.

Compared to Annan, who had lost the sense of "fear" completely, Louis, who was free from any Curse Binding, might be the true "warrior."

It was for that reason he could become friends with Salvatore.

My mentor’s standards in choosing friends are quite high.

"Farewell, Priest Louis. You are a true knight,"

Annan whispered softly, "Next time we meet, I will have to address you as Knight Louis."

"According to the rules of the Silver Knights, you are now my senior. Just call me Louis,"

Louis replied earnestly, "I also admire your wisdom and courage—when you reach the Royal Capital, please be sure to inform me through the Silver Baron Church."

He stood before Annan like a substantial mountain, Annan could only reach up to his chest.

Annan smiled warmly and nodded, "I will."

And with that, Louis, without looking back and carrying his baggage, started jogging away.

He still did not take a carriage from Frostwater Harbor in the end—since there was no rush and it was even earlier than Louis had anticipated, he decided to leave the Beihai Province by running to condition his body and restore his stamina, and then to follow and assist the merchant caravans, hitching rides directly to the Royal Capital.

"He’s a good kid,"

Bishop Daryl appeared silently behind Annan and sighed, "It’s just a shame that such a character is not particularly favored among the Silver Baron’s ranks..."

"Are you speaking ill of the Silver Baron?"

"That’s called being pragmatic. Besides, the Silver Baron does not shy away from his own reputation—he only recognizes money, or should I say, interests. If you are particularly capable, even if you curse him to his face with solid reasoning, the Silver Baron won’t get angry but instead will happily invite you out to eat."

Bishop Daryl continued to share the secrets of the Silver Baron as if it were nothing.

He sighed, "Someone like Louis who is silent and sticks to his guns might be more suited to the characters of Bone Mother and Lady Silence."

"Just like Bone Lord?"

Annan blurted out.

At the mention of that name in Frostwater Harbor, Daryl suddenly froze, turned his head, and looked back at Annan.

But nothing unusual happened.

Only then did he finally realize... The Gallery had been cleansed.

The old baker couldn’t help but laugh out loud, "Yes, it’s already over. I almost forgot..."

"There are no more issues here, once I report back to a certain man with the final results, Frostwater Harbor won’t need anyone to keep watch anymore."

Annan casually replied, "How do you plan to travel? I should mention beforehand, Yi Yi is a Transcendent, she can’t take a ship to leave the country directly."

"Then we’ll head to Gemstone Island first. We plan to take a carriage down south tomorrow, spending a week to reach Southern Fort. Then we’ll take the subway to the underwater city, and from there, transfer to Gemstone Island, which should take about a day. Once we’re inside the United Kingdom, travel becomes a lot easier... It should take just two or three days to reach our destination. We can also take the opportunity to fulfill Miss Yi Yi’s advancement requirements."

The plump bishop said casually, squinting his eyes.

Annan calculated for a moment, "So you’re saying approximately eleven days?"

"Let’s count on two weeks. In two weeks, the news should be out,"

Daryl calculated the timeframe, "Assuming you leave within five days, by the time you get to the Royal Capital, I should still be transferring or on Gemstone Island. You settle down in the Royal Capital first and look for the Paper Princess... By then, I will be able to give you the intelligence within three days."

"Then it’s agreed."

Annan nodded.

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