Chapter 174 The Soulless Hunters

In the shadows at the end of the broken stairwell, a faint aura had appeared without anyone noticing. Bai Huo immediately became alert as Vivian voiced her warning. She held a holy silver short sword in one hand, while a small white flame danced from the fingertips of her other hand. Tutanin gestured to the other demon hunters, and they all quickly hid behind a nearby low wall, masking their presence.

The aura in the shadows grew closer. Finally, a figure in black slowly emerged from the darkness. The figure walked forward unhurriedly, seemingly unaware of the dozens of demon hunters lying in ambush nearby. Only when she was close enough did Hao Ren recognize her as a short woman: she wore the demon hunter's signature black attire, her hair obscuring most of her face, and she carried no visible weapons. Her steps were slow and light, swaying slightly as if sleepwalking, and the skin visible beneath her hair was pale, reminiscent of the dead.

The female demon hunter in black walked vaguely towards the direction where the others were hiding, but halfway there, she turned in another direction, as if she truly hadn't noticed their presence. Just as she turned, Bai Huo suddenly saw the woman's entire face and couldn't help but cry out in a low voice, "Elder Andahr!?"

The other demon hunters recognized the absent-minded woman as Andahr, who had been captured by the Elder Council some time ago. Their expressions changed, but they remained still. Bai Huo and Tutanin quickly communicated using secret techniques. "Elder Andahr was captured by the Elder Council shortly after the start of the war, right?" "Her condition is a little strange..." "She's the only presence ahead." "You and the others stay here and be ready to react. I'll go test her."

After Tutanin and Bai Huo finished their discussion, Tutanin quietly left their hiding place and approached the elder from behind. When they were only a few steps apart, Andahr finally reacted. She hesitated and stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Elder Andahr," Tutanin said in a deep voice, ready to be attacked at any moment, "What are you doing here?"

Andahr's gaze flickered for a moment before finally landing on Tutanin. She looked quietly at her colleague, her empty and indifferent eyes showing no emotion, and it wasn't until a few seconds later that she responded. She nodded slightly, "Tutanin, long time no see."

Her voice was calm and indifferent, like a normal greeting, completely unlike the reaction one would expect in this situation!

Tutanin also sensed that Andahr was in a strange state, but he continued to ask, "Elder Andahr, do you know what happened to the Saints?"

As he asked, he gestured to the others to come out of hiding. Bai Huo led the other demon hunters out of their hiding places, and finally even Hao Ren and Vivian came out. However, Andahr's face showed no change in expression at the sudden appearance of these people. Her voice remained calm, "The Saints? The Saints are well. Ah, have you seen Gordon? Saint Bedoris is holding a lecture..."

Tutanin didn't answer Andahr. He just looked at her quietly. She stopped speaking and stood there like a wooden doll.

Andahr - Hao Ren had met this elder once before, during the Ankarot incident. She was one of the few survivors of the Shadow of Chaos attack and was a rationalist among the demon hunters who held a relatively rational view of the act of "hunting the heterogenous." After the demon hunter civil war broke out, Andahr, who had returned from the Ankarot territory with Hasson, was also attacked by the Elder Council and was arrested at the beginning of the civil war, imprisoned in the Spirit World Clock Tower with an uncertain fate.

He hadn't expected her to appear before them in this state: she seemed to have lost her soul.

Interestingly, Hao Ren remembered that the last time he saw Andahr, she was in a similar state - except that last time, she had been temporarily turned into an idiot by his "Mind Shackles" spell. What was the reason this time?

He wasn't the only one who thought so. Vivian murmured beside him, "Why does she always look like an idiot whenever we see her... Is it mind control?"

Hao Ren took out the data terminal from his pocket and scanned Andahr a couple of times. The terminal then reported, "Not mind control, but her mental activity is very low, and... her soul doesn't seem to be completely here."

Andahr just stared blankly at what was happening in front of her. Even though Hao Ren and Vivian weren't demon hunters, she didn't seem to think anything was wrong with them being in the Spirit World Clock Tower. And she could even recognize Hao Ren: "...Long time no see, Hao Ren, and Countess Vivian."

Bai Huo reached out and waved his hand in front of Andahr's eyes, "Elder, where are you going?"

Andahr's eyes looked at Bai Huo, but her gaze seemed to be focused on some distant place. "Saint Bedoris is holding a lecture... Ah, right, the lecture. I have to go there first. If you see Gordon, remember to bring him."

As she spoke, Andahr turned and walked away, ignoring the demon hunters around her.

Hao Ren exchanged a look with Bai Huo and immediately followed Andahr - as expected, she didn't react at all.

The scene that followed was bizarre: a pale-faced female demon hunter with a blank look in her eyes walked in front, while dozens of fully armed, murderous warriors followed closely behind her a few meters away. The whole group didn't make a sound. In the dim and eerie stairs and corridors of the Spirit World Clock Tower, they walked silently like a group of ghosts.

Andahr's condition was strange. Tutanin doubted that the absent-minded elder would lead them to a safe place, and he was even more worried about encountering other awake and hostile demon hunters along the way (although, as far as he could tell, this place was eerily quiet). Therefore, he assigned some of the warriors to the rear, letting them follow discreetly at a slightly greater distance from the main group. That way, if anything went wrong in front, these hidden battle masters could be useful.

Vivian was also constantly releasing her little bats to scout the surrounding area. She was very careful to keep the bats moving along the shadows of the corridors and stairs, and to avoid the large open areas between the building structures - according to Tutanin, the open spaces in the Spirit World Clock Tower hid vortexes of space-time contradictions, which were more dangerous traps than spatial rifts. Once trapped in them, survival was nearly impossible.

But Andahr didn't react to any of this. She walked ahead like a puppet acting according to a program, leading everyone onto a narrow stone staircase, and then through a series of intricate suspension bridges and aerial corridors, finally arriving at a heavy black door.

The door was set in a broken wall, which stood alone at the edge of a platform. From a visual and spatial perspective, there couldn't be anything behind the door.

However, when Andahr opened the door, Hao Ren saw a spacious and bright place filled with warm light.

Since these buildings of the Creation Goddess were designed with the size of the guardian giants in mind, the rooms in the Spirit World Clock Tower were also particularly large. Behind the ten-meter-tall door was a place that could be described as a hall. It was probably once a personal rest room for a guardian giant, but now it was large enough to be a gathering place for a large number of demon hunters. Hao Ren saw a long table in the room – this table must have been added later by the demon hunters. There was a neat row of candlesticks on the table, emitting constant and bright light: although the demon hunters also used modern things, they seemed to be very fond of these ancient and primitive gadgets in this holy place.

On both sides of the long table, dozens of demon hunters in black clothes were sitting.

Tutanin immediately became nervous when he saw so many demon hunters in the room, because he found that some of them had the Elder Council's signature silver trim on their collars. But he quickly realized that all the demon hunters were in the same state as Andahr: sitting there like puppets, without any awareness of their surroundings.

As if they had lost their souls.

The scene in the room was like a horror movie. As Hao Ren watched, he felt his hair stand on end.