Dead Nerds Society: What Do You Mean My Guild Was Also Isekaid? Chapter 60: The Eclipse Hall

Cecilia used the sa thod as the other day to transfer her newly created rune in Drakenhof to Marya, then used Mina’s rune to teleport.

Marya had gotten used to it already, but she still marveled at how much teleporting made life easier.

As usual, when Cecilia activated the rune for her teleport, a twisting void engulfed her. But, this ti, sothing was different.

[User batch 03 - Error: Anchor saturation at 72%.]

[Warning: External influence detected in sector x00198d4.]

The two ssages flickered with red font in the corner of her vision and were followed by a bunch of other debug ssages. But then the world went black, and in the following instant, Cecilia was in her room in Aelindra’s house, before she could read them.

((What the fuck was that?))

According to ga lore, teleportation in Hyperborea was less like moving and more like being rewritten in the new location.

((Is the isekai-ing of people to this world using the sa core principles of teleportation, so the systems intersect? That would explain the debug log appearing during that brief mont. So, there’s an error with this new batch...))

Cecilia’s heart got heavy thinking about the possible consequences.

((If Helen is coming in this batch, I hope that she is alright and the error didn’t affect her. Well, at least now Martin’s theory is basically proved. Also, Aelindra’s call should have sothing to do with dealing with it.))

Mina appeared at her side, followed by Maria, interrupting her train of thought.

"That felt... rougher than it usually is."

Mina’s ears flicked in a catlike show of discomfort.

"That’s because it actually was rougher. Sothing wrong is not right here."

The Brazilian slang sounded weirder in English, and Cecilia imdiately regretted saying it, but the other two didn’t notice.

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and a knight entered.

"Lady Morielen. Lady Mina. Miss Marya. Her Majesty awaits you in the Eclipse Hall."

"Thank you. We’ll be going right away."

They followed the knight out of the mansion and made their way to the Obsidian Keep.

Marya was looking at everything with shining eyes, but Cecilia was walking in front, silent. So it was Mina who explained the layout of the city and the aning of the most noticeable buildings.

((She even sent a knight to wait for us. Things must really be in a precarious state.))

:::

The Eclipse Hall was the throne room from which Aelindra reigned. It was famous throughout the kingdom and was usually bustling with officials, the people who were waiting for the appointed ti of their audience, and random people who went to watch the wise queen in action.

Attendance was open to any citizen of the kingdom. Every worker had, by law, a set number of days per year they could skip work to go to the Eclipse Hall. Of course, it was only valid if they presented a letter that proved attendance.

In tis of crisis, though, it was closed off. And that was the case today.

When the trio entered the long, high-vaulted chamber, there were only four people inside. They were around a table at one corner of the hall, looking at so papers.

They were Aelindra herself, Siraaeniel, Ephyrael, and Jules.

Cecilia hurried to their side, but Marya was a bit slower.

She stood behind, marveling at the beautiful mosaic of obsidian and moonstone in the ceiling, depicting the phases of the moon in endless cycles. Light flickered on them, giving the impression that they stood underwater, surrounded by slow-moving stars.

"Mother."

Aelindra said softly, her voice cracking a bit, revealing the distress she was under.

The weight of that word snapped Marya out of her ceiling-gazing and back to reality. It was a word spoken in an intonation that made her throat tighten. The Wise Queen sounded less like a ruler and more like a daughter who had just woken up from a bad dream.

"Aelindra. Jules sent your ssage. What happened?"

Cecilia lowered her head and gulped, resisting the urge to cross the distance and just hold her daughter tightly. But that daughter was the queen, and this was her throne room. She had to show proper etiquette.

"It seems that your friend was right about his theory. There is another wave of player-related sightings around the country."

Cecilia didn’t tell her that Martin was back, because she knew that the shadow it would provoke in her daughter’s reign was exactly what he wanted to avoid. Yet, she felt the need to speak about the theory, just saying that it was from ’a player she had t.’

Siraaeniel adjusted his glasses with a faint motion of his fingers, eyes flicking between the maps and notes scattered over the table.

"The frequency of the sightings matches the early patterns of the first and second manifestations. Except this ti, they’re concentrated in the north. Near the ruins of the Eclipsed Sanctuary."

Ephyrael exhaled, his voice a low hum, slow and mournful.

"That’s where Aenoth used to go to pray."

Jules didn’t know who Aenoth was, but he sensed it was soone important. Yet, he decided to add another important piece of information.

"The reports say the northern sky’s been flaring like a bad shader. Sothing big’s stirring up the mana flow."

Nobody else understood the reference of a ’bad shader,’ except for Cecilia. She rembered her own experience in the forest, where the ancient algorithm had been still active, and a shudder ran down her spine.

"Is it that bad?"

"I don’t know the danger level, but... Check opening your UI and turning towards the north."

Cecilia did that, and then she noticed the screen glitching slightly.

"It’s glitching."

"Yeah. And it’s only in that direction. But it seems that only our own UIs are affected..."

Siraaeniel complented, in a cold, logical speech.

"My UI wasn’t affected, nor Aelindra’s or Ephyrael’s. My hypothesis is that it only affects players."

Marya had been having her eyes out of focus, but she heard the last comnt and focused back on the others.

"I was just checking mine, wondering why I couldn’t see anything different. But that makes sense, I think. I assu you are another player, then?"

Her excited eyes had for the first ti acknowledged Jules’ existence. It wasn’t like she was ignoring him or sothing. She was just too overwheld by the place, the people involved, and the information being discussed.

She felt completely out of her depth there, and there was too much information for her little brain to go through.

Yet, she still wanted to help in whatever way she could. That’s why she dared to say sothing in that eting, adding her little piece of information.

Jules chuckled at Marya’s sudden enthusiasm and answered a bit embarrassedly.

"Yeah... I’m not nearly as aweso as the others here, though. I was a low-level player."

He knew that he was still at a very high level for today’s overall standards. He was a big fish, but the pond he was in right now had only galodons swimming. In a sense, his own self-worth perception was even more broken than Marya’s.

But Aelindra, having recomposed herself and gotten back to her professional mood, brought the conversation back on track.

"Mother. There have been rumors... Hunters have been claiming to have glimpsed a woman walking beneath the auroras. Pale, silver-haired, barefoot on the snow. They say that the cold follows her and that animals bow their heads when she passes."

Cecilia froze, already getting where this conversation was heading. Aelindra continued talking.

"She hasn’t co near any settlents. No attacks. No ssage. Only... those disturbances. As she had seed harmless, we left her to her own devices. But that is probably Aenoth.

And she seems to have gained so sort of power even higher than ours, even if the three of us combined them together. If she is able to ss with the return of players like that..."

Aelindra couldn’t get herself to finish the phrase, the implication of what she ant hanging in the air like knives.