Chapter 198 - Weak And Helpless

When Ivan and Nyoka were swallowed into the world of eternal darkness, the two immediately tried to escape out of this eerily world, however, they were in for a surprise as, no matter how hard they tried, not a single of their fingers flinch. It wasn't as if they lost control of their entire body, but more like something powerful is interfering with their brain, or at least that's what Ivan noticed. Such an absurd thing should've been impossible normally yet, knowing their opponent was a person who can escape and freely enter a base surrounded by powerful formation, which is something even they couldn't do without enough preparation and fund, it was then that he realized it wasn't as improbable as he initially thought.

Although they couldn't see each other in the world where light has been disintegrated into nothingness, Ivan and Nyoka could still sense each other presence with their extraordinary sixth sense. Honestly, both of them couldn't help but had to admit that staying in a place like this where they could do nothing and only stare at the endless darkness can be quite torturous. To make it worse, they couldn't move their body at all. It was at this point that Ivan started to regret underestimating the masked guy, Shiro. If he had gone all out from the very beginning, he wouldn't have caught up into the trap.

With his entire body immobilized by an invisible force, he couldn't even fight back if he wanted to.

"As expected of a priest, huh? You only panic for a moment due to the unpredictable situation you have come across but calmed down soon after. Amazing."

While the two were pondering deeply on how to escape the world of shadow, they were suddenly jolted from their thought by a voice that sounded as if he was whispering near their ears, which caused them to flinch for a moment due to shock. However, upon spreading their sense to their surrounding in an agitated manner, they were surprised once again that no other presence was pick up other than themselves.

"It's useless. You won't catch me with just that. In this world, I am everywhere yet nowhere. I could be touching you on the shoulder right now but at the same, staring at you from the distance. That is if you can see in this pitched black world of mine, however."

'It's not my world though. I just brought them here normally with my shadow manipulation skill, that's all. As for the reason why their body couldn't follow the command of their brain, that's simple. It was the work of a unique item I received a while back after wasting a lot of gold on the hell known as gacha, [Invisible Shackles]. And though I spoke so profoundly like a certain wise sage, I don't have any powerful abilities like that at all. It was all illusion, made by the formation.' Some of these abilities could only work within the said formation. If she goes further from the heart of the formation, which is her home, the abilities also grow weaker as a result. 

Furthermore, just as the name said, [Invisible Shackles] is literally invisible. It could only immobilize someone for ten minutes at most, and depending on their strength, it might not even work. She was initially worried that they would easily saw through her illusion, but it seems that her caution was all for naught. When she realized their teamwork has improved for the better the more time passed, Sheila immediately put an illusion on herself before masking her real presence to her illusion and jumped into her shadow soon after once she was given a chance while her illusion-self continues fighting against them.

This wouldn't have worked if she was too far from her house, however. Also, it wasn't easy to trick someone who got a sharp sense like these two. If she had made a tiny mistake at that time, she would definitely die there and then. Even so, that is if she didn't use all of her trump cards, of course. After all, she could easily teleport herself into the Trial Tower once the situation becomes tricky for her.

"Now then, I wonder what should I do with you two?"

Sheila knew that they were here to kidnap the students and turn them into experimental rats for the Mad Scientist. She didn't know what sort of experiment requires so many humans' lives, however, one thing she's sure of is that it is definitely not a good one. 

Although she believes that Rodrick won't lie to her when he was in such a pathetic state, she still wants to acquire more information, especially from these two. Since they are the priest of the said church, they should have plenty of useful information for her without a doubt.

Even so, looking at Ivan with a serene expression on his face, Sheila judged that it might take longer than Rodrick before he gave in. It didn't take Rodrick a half an hour before he gave in as he couldn't handle her torture anymore. 

Nevertheless, she was still unsure whether he is speaking of the truth or not, and so, she decided to go on until he literally, broke apart mentally(his physical body has long been broken apart by her countless tortures). At the end of it, she realized she was wasting time since the information remained the same, but she won't admit that. At least, she learned something from it, such as which torturing method works efficiently. 

'Hmm? What's this?' Nyoka appeared calm at first glance, but if she looks closer, Sheila can tell the woman is starting to feel uncomfortable even though the latter tries to hide it. Well, she's a woman after all. Even Sheila personally doesn't want to stay long in the shadow world unless necessary. As for the reason? it is obviously due to the surrounding is literally nothing but pitch black. If you're in space, at the very least, there's a sun, here's however, there is no such thing as light.

Sheila bet that even a person with the strongest will would eventually give in to the invisible pressure. If not for the fact that human needs nutrients to live, she might have left them to their own device. 

"Oho? What's this? Are you perhaps, scared?"

With a wicked smile on her face, Sheila whispered her words directly next to Nyoka's ears. Though the latter couldn't move because of the shackles on all of her limbs, Sheila could clearly see her flinching for a moment, which goes to show how surprised she is at her little prank. Though she appeared to be calm on the outside, that isn't the same internally, however. 

As for Ivan, he didn't react much since he wasn't her target to begin with. And though he was curious why his partner's emotion suddenly escalated so much, he couldn't do anything in the current situation other than making use of his sharp hearing yet, he couldn't hear anything which causes a frown to appear on his otherwise serene expression.

Ivan didn't know what Sheila had whispered into Nyoka's ears for the latter to react as if someone had told a little kid that Santa didn't exist on Chrismas. However, he did know that the reason for the latter's sudden change must be the doing of Sheila, without a second doubt. As a priest, he has ample experience facing all sorts of situations that could be said abnormal from ordinary lives. However, he never experiences something as absurd as now. As such, it couldn't be helped that Nyoka feels quite alarmed and panic by the situation she find herself into.

'Hmm? This is...' Upon noticing the chance of obtaining a good deal of information from Nyoka, Sheila didn't waste any time as she quickly brought a small cube-like item out of her inventory before pressing the trigger on top of the said object, which immediately triggered it to isolated any sounds within ten meters around them from spreading outside. This was a countermeasure in the case that Ivan might overhear their conversation, and if he did, there's no way he would permit Nyoka to spout the information she needs.

Furthermore, the item Sheila had just used, Noise Cancelation, actually cost quite heavily on her expense. If not for Ria, she wouldn't want to waste any expense just for information which she doubts a person like Nyoka to know much. 

Nevertheless, upon recollecting what had happened to Ria a moment ago, the sleeping rage inside of her couldn't help but started to ignite once again. Realizing that her emotion might get in her way, Sheila took a moment of silence to take a couple of deep breaths to calm down her raging emotion. If she had let it slide, the rage might overwhelm her rational thought with nothing but an intent to murder them on the spot. That won't do if she wants information from them.

At first, Nyoka was pretty stubborn keeping her mouth sealed despite her whole body trembling due to Sheila's chilling presence and the fact that she couldn't move any of her limbs. For the first time in her life, Nyoka feels helpless and weak. If this had happened in reality, she wouldn't have been so shaken. It wouldn't be exaggerated either to say that both of their life is on Sheila's hand as even an idiot can tell that they are like a sitting duck waiting to get slaughter. 

Due to the silence in his surrounding, Ivan couldn't help but ponder, shouldn't the latter attempt to extort information from him by now? At least that's what Ivan thought. When he found himself in this unfortunate circ.u.mstance, he quickly concluded that Sheila must have some other intention in mind by bringing them to this place and even went as far as immobilizing them with an invisible force that he didn't know of. If she wanted them dead, Ivan didn't think that they would still be alive by now judging at how careful she is.

After a few minutes of pure silence, Ivan couldn't hold himself back anymore and just as he was about to voice out of his mouth, Sheila finally spoke to him.

"Sorry for the wait. I'm honestly surprised, very much so. I didn't expect her to give so much information despite just recently becoming a priest."

"What?"

As if he couldn't comprehend what she was talking about, Ivan muttered with confusion.

"I'm talking about your junior, what was her name again? Nyoka, was it? Well, it doesn't matter what her name is, just know that she has exposed everything she knows to me, and when I said everything, it is what it is."

Sheila calmly replied.

"You're lying."

"Is that what you truly believe?"

"Of course. Though she had become a priest quite recently, it doesn't mean that her previous teaching went to waste. She's also pretty disciplined. If you didn't do anything to her, she won't be opening her mouth anytime soon."

As soon as he finished his words with confidence in his tone, a burst of laughter resounds quite loudly as it reverberates through the surrounding.