After defeating the first Apostle of God, Germain obtained two more Teleportation Lanterns.
With this, the number of lanterns in his possession had reached twenty-one.
That was already quite a substantial amount.
Soon after, his Hunter Badge and Resentment Badge absorbed the lingering resentment (Post-Mortem Nen) of the Collector.
Although it didn't result in the formation of a resentful memory like it would with larger species, it still gave birth to a Rare Item.
"Collector's Head: Consuming a type of grudge-infused offering (Gift of Resentment) allows you to imprison a corresponding lifeform into the Rare Cabinet. The duration depends on the target's strength."
It was quite a powerful sealing ability — practically an enhanced version of Knuckle's "Hotel Rhapsody".
After examining the newly gained item, Germain walked over to the Collector's scorched remains, now reduced to ashes.
He looked down at the ritual formation beside the body — a stone array similar in style to the Ancient Labyrinth, the Coastal Fortress, and the Gate of the Deep Sea.
Yet within this formation pulsed three entirely different forces.
In that instant, as Germain stepped closer, the ritual stone array began to glow.
He focused his mind and allowed his thoughts to resonate with the formation.
Looking down at his Hunter Badge, he noticed the subtle shift.
"Special Teleportation Point: Ritual Formation of the Collector."
Another Special Teleportation Point had been unlocked.
At this point, Germain had already activated eight out of the eleven known fixed teleportation points.
Only the Mistborn Bay of Gaseous Lifeform Ai, and two other unknown locations, remained.
But now, having come this far, Germain had a good idea where the last two were hidden.
Without hesitation, he gripped his Burial Blade, gathered all the Nen within his body, and summoned a terrifying force.
With a single slash, he brought the blade down upon the ritual formation beneath his feet.
Boom—
With a deafening roar, the ritual array cracked and shattered.
From the ruins surged a horrifying wave of Nen and soul-wrenching wails.
Invisible energy rippled outward, sweeping across the land again and again.
The already scarred ground broke apart even more, layers of rock lifted and torn into the air.
Nearby Flesh Monsters — creatures of blood and meat — froze.
Their writhing, gnawing, merging, and transforming all ceased.
After sensing the strange fluctuations from the ritual stone circle, the beasts seemed to regain a brief moment of rationality—enough to feel fear.
The crimson monsters suddenly began to stir.
They let out panicked screeches and fled in haste, retreating from the direction of the ritual site like a receding tide, quickly vanishing into the pale morning mist.
In less than fifteen minutes, the grotesque creatures that had filled the area were completely gone, as if swept away meticulously by an invisible broom.
After destroying the first ritual stone formation, Germain replaced it with a teleportation lantern, just like before.
"Standard Teleport Point: Collector's Ritual Site"
Some time passed.
A golden light flickered in the distance, bouncing closer and closer, until it stopped in front of him—revealing Ging.
He looked a bit worse for wear.
His hat was gone, exposing his signature spiky hair—unmistakably from the Freecss bloodline.
His clothes were torn, and several deep red wounds were scattered across his body.
"Looks like you've defeated the first Apostle of God and destroyed the first ritual formation," Ging said.
"No wonder the flesh monsters surrounding me fled like they'd seen a ghost. Still, even if they had stayed, I could've handled them just fine."
Germain didn't hide anything from his comrade.
He briefly explained the battle in its entirety.
Ging rubbed his palms and smiled. "That makes sense. Not long ago, a bizarre gust of wind swept through."
"It actually helped me a lot—cleared out a chunk of those incoming monsters and eased the pressure on my end."
"By the way, where the hell did Don go?"
"If he were here, at least one of us would've had backup. Things might've gone more smoothly."
Germain found it strange too.
Don's absence didn't match what he had promised earlier.
That alone suggested two possible scenarios.
The first possibility — maybe they had all misjudged Don.
After all, they hadn't known him for very long.
Even if Don was Ging's ancestor, that didn't necessarily mean he was trustworthy.
For all they knew, he could be a liar.
The second possibility — something had happened to Don on the way here.
Something that delayed him.
Maybe he couldn't make it to the rendezvous point on time.
Maybe… he was dead.
Still, the first scenario didn't seem very likely.
After all, it was thanks to Don's map and his instructions that they had successfully found the first ritual stone formation.
Germain and Ging decided to wait here for a while, hoping they could still meet up with Don.
But even when the morning mist cleared, the sun rose, and the earth glowed with golden light — Don never appeared.
"Let's go," Germain said at last.
He swept the area one more time with En, his aura stretching far around them.
Still no sign of Don.
"No matter what's happened to him, we need to move on to the next ritual site."
Time was pressing.
"Alright," Ging nodded.
"Let me leave him some markers first."
He had been sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Now he stood, brushing dust from his pants, and walked toward the ruins of the damaged ritual array.
There, he left behind symbols and written messages.
If Don made it here, the signs would catch his eye immediately.
With a bit of clever decoding, he would be able to understand where they had gone.
Ging wasn't worried about the difficulty of the puzzle.
With Don's intelligence, solving it should be a breeze.
Neither of them was particularly worried about Don's safety either.
On the entire western coast, there were only a few beings who could truly pose a threat to his life.
Even if he couldn't win, he would at least be able to escape.
Clack—Clack—
A four-wheeled carriage pulled by two horses conjured before them, the result of Germain's Nen.
The two of them got on, and the vehicle creaked into motion.
Inside the carriage, Germain sat in silence, resting his body while mentally monitoring the teleportation nodes he had activated.
Ancient Labyrinth castles… coastal fortresses… Greed Island…
All seemed calm.
Everything was progressing in order.
Everyone was moving.
He slowly… truly fell asleep.
As mentioned before, Germain no longer needed sleep in the usual sense.
His body had become almost one with nature itself — life energy flowed through him, inside and out, in perfect harmony.
But in this moment, the fact that he truly drifted into slumber made Ging open his eyes in shock and suspicion.
Sharing the same train car, it was impossible for him not to sense something unusual coming from Germain.
He looked over.
Germain was indeed still sitting right there.
However, from a sensory perspective, it felt as though Germain was no longer present — as if he had vanished completely, or was far, far away.
This abnormal state persisted the entire time Germain was asleep, sending a cold shiver down Ging's spine despite himself.
It was… anti-intuitive.
Ging held on for a while, scalp tingling and body chilled, until he couldn't take it anymore.
He rose quietly.
Doing his best not to make contact with Germain, he slipped out of the train car and took a seat near the front.
Even here, he could still faintly sense that bizarre state — Germain being both present and absent — but it was far more tolerable from this distance.
Ging hesitated for a long time.
But he didn't turn back to look.
He simply sat at the front of the train, eyes fixed on the scenery outside the car.
*******
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