Whether the bell monster truly was Gordon, Rosacer did not know. For now, he did not want to stay and find out.
"I better move," he muttered after resurrecting completely.
Putting pressure on one knee, he stood up and straightened his back.
Slowly, he began to walk, then soon changed his pace into a run. His steps echoed as he moved, already nearing the vicinity of the Southern Sector, where heavier mist curled slowly before him.
For a brief second, he conjured several eyes using the Grafted Sigil.
Seeing from multiple directions at once overwhelmed his mind, but luckily, he didn't spot anyone.
There was no danger around him.
He exhaled in relief and let them disappear. With his blood running low after using Gewehr, he felt slightly dizzy. For now, he only wanted to rest inside the Southern Sector.
"Nothing is easy around here..." he whispered to himself.
A cold, sweet drift of air from the south struck his face, chilling him to the bone. His eyes wavered. His body relaxed as he saw his destination within reach.
But just before he could touch the boundary of the Southern Sector, a bell chimed.
Clang.
Clang.
Rosacer's blood froze. He turned around.
Black hair, like threads, enveloped the entire maze. Some of it had already wrapped around his legs.
His instincts screamed for him to run. He tried to flick his wrist to use Ananta, but his eyes dulled before he could act. Power drained from his body. He felt weak, unable to move.
In desperation, he tried to burn himself again, even though the pain still lingered. But even that was beyond him now.
As his eyes closed and his body gave out, the tangled hair slowly pulled him back toward the maze, dragging him away from the entrance of the Southern Sector.
With a jolt, his consciousness returned, and immediately he was flung onto the cold, damp floor. Shadows wove themselves around him as silence settled over the surroundings.
He groaned as a few of his ribs cracked, but before he could use his ability—
His gaze fell on something large and intimidating.
A towering figure in front of him spoke, "You were still alive." Its voice was hoarse, echoing inside his own throat, yet it was clearly human.
The bell monster stood before him, wearing a wicked smile that dripped with mysterious psychopathy.
Rosacer stood in silence, his eyes wide.
From the corner of his eye, he could take in his surroundings.
He seemed to be inside a village. A village where shadows danced and watched the intruder from bushes. Every hut, every tree shared the same shade, the darkness of black.
In fact, the village was so dark that he alone stood in contrast to it—a unique creature in the shadowed village.
'Shadow Village...' he thought to himself, still frozen in place, drained by weakness and stunned by the shock.
The monster moved, its bell chiming again. The whole village changed. Now they were inside a small hut.
Inside, there was only a shallow, dark, dingy bed-like structure behind the bell monster, and nothing more. Occasionally, strands of darkness would creep out from the bed, but nothing else stirred.
Setting his bell aside, the figure spoke, "Human, are you alright?"
Finally, the dazed effect of the dark hair-like strands faded. Rosacer shook his head. "Who are you?"
A smile still perched on his face. "I am… the sheep keeper, Gordon Shepherd."
I knew it… but who is ruling the Northern Sector now? A deep realization struck Rosacer.
Inside the small hut, surrounded by absolute silence, he felt an eerie tingling crawl along his skin.
Internally, he called the system to check his status. To his surprise, it was blocked, just like the Mist Village had done when he first arrived.
He sighed inwardly. He had half expected this.
"What happened to you?" he asked instead of cowering into fear.
Gordon, towering before him, looked menacing. His smile stretched unnaturally wide, yet his voice was calm and human.
"Ah… so you have not heard the tale. Perhaps you are new." He let out an old man's sigh and began.
Something in the darkness seemed to be moving, but with no change in the shadows, Rosacer couldn't tell if anything was actually different.
"Gordon was betrayed by the Shepherds. My own people, for the seat of a throne of a kingdom long lost to us. They still wanted to tie their names to it."
'Don't tell me they were Ackerman,' Rosacer thought, making a wild guess in his head.
He looked directly at Rosacer.
"Do you know about the great Kingdom of Shepherd?"
Rosacer shook his head.
"Ah, that is quite a shame for us."
Gordon paused. For a second, his animalistic instincts surged from within. Rosacer's hair stood on end as he felt the deadly aura seeping from him. For a moment, he thought he would be enslaved again, or worse.
But the calm, hoarse voice returned, echoing inside its own throat.
"With the Dream God gaining power after the fall of the Nightmare God, we worshipped him. Perhaps that was the sin we committed."
His voice turned grim.
"The Nightmare God came back. Though weak, he was able to regain his might and challenge the Dream God, and at last, slay it."
Inwardly, Rosacer corrected the facts.
'The Nightmare God did not regain his power. Instead, he chose a successor and was eventually killed by the Dream God. It was that successor who took revenge and finally ended the Dream God Era.'
Of course, information about the gods was never shared with mortals. So it was natural for Gordon to understand events only through their effects, rather than knowing what had truly happened. It was Rosacer's uniqueness that allowed him to learn such truths, knowledge that would normally be reserved for the highest ranks of the gods' religions.
Gordon leaned back onto the bed behind him and sat down. His figure now appeared a little less towering, yet the aura around him was still deadly.
"I need some help, human…"
'Here it comes... the price of not killing me... or rather, not enslaving me,' Rosacer sighed inwardly.