A church... just as I predicted... Klein gazed at the ruins ahead and muttered to himself silently.
At this moment, the crimson Moonlight, piercing through the accumulated fog, shone on the half-collapsed buildings, becoming much denser than before and increasingly resembling the color of blood.
Klein maintained Gehrman Sparrow's signature stoicism, speaking without any emotional fluctuation:
Where did you explore before?
As he spoke, Klein glanced at the lantern in the " The Hanged Man's " hand, which had endured many hardships but remained unbroken. The light reflected from the flames made him subconsciously tense his muscles and skin.
Although the flames were always kept out by thick glass and metal fences, he was still somewhat afraid.
Alger, oblivious to Gehrman Sparrow's subtle change, raised his right hand, which held the short blade, and pointed to the most intact and magnificent building in the ruins:
"There."
Only the main structure of the building remains, making it impossible to know what its original floor plan looked like. Judging from the remaining parts, it was characterized by thick walls, a grand and massive size, and narrow windows. It also once had a tall tower and a clock tower, and its exterior was simple and its form ancient.
"This is an architectural style from the early Quaternary period, recorded in the Church of Storms's scriptures. It's said that during that time, major churches widely adopted similar forms to build their churches." Alger was deeply impressed by this site, having read many books over the years and gained some understanding of it. "Its most distinctive feature is that the temple is above the tomb, unifying life and death. However, I cannot be certain that the interior of this ancient church is as I described, because I haven't explored it thoroughly."
This might be an architectural style left over from the Tertiary period... Klein made a certain guess, and walked first toward the ancient church ruins with the unusually tall doorway, leaving the lantern behind, enjoying only the light and not the flame.
The two quickly ascended the exaggeratedly high, gray-white stone steps to the doorway, where they saw the remaining classical stone pillars and concentric multi-layered arches.
Klein didn't rush inside. He reached into his pocket with his left hand, took out a gold coin, and let it tumble and bounce between his fingers, seemingly muttering something to himself.
Suddenly, he flicked the gold coin up with a clang, and while opening his palm to wait for it to fall, he turned to the " The Hanged Man " and said:
"What criteria did you use to determine that there are items in the depths of this church that are at least as valuable as the ' Card of Blasphemy '?"
After saying that, he glanced at the gold coin that had fallen into his palm and casually put it away.
Alger pointed inside and said:
"As I said, my strength at the time was not as good as Qilangos's, and my depth of understanding was naturally not as good as his. I couldn't know what he had seen. I could only judge from some of his words that there were very precious and important things in them, and that it would be possible to obtain them at least at the true Sequence 5 level."
"However, the murals and marks on the ground near the entrance might shed some light on the matter."
Klein nodded and stepped into the dark doorway where the crimson Moonlight could not directly reach, his black trench coat billowing slightly backward. Alger followed behind, carrying a lantern and gripping a short blade.
Passing through the doorway, Klein, using the crimson moonlight cascading from the opening in the dome, could clearly see that ahead lay a large hall, its classical stone pillars mostly collapsed or broken.
Its end was neither an altar nor a staircase leading upwards; it was pitch black, with little detail visible, seemingly descending deep into the earth.
It's not a temple above a tomb... Are both the temple and the tomb underground? It's impossible to tell; we have to go down to find out... Klein subconsciously glanced to his left and right and found a side door on each side, but the areas they led to had completely collapsed, leaving no way forward.
The murals near the entrance and the marks on the ground... He remembered what the " The Hanged Man " had just said, took two steps to the side, released the invisible " Wraith " Senor, and used his night vision to examine the remaining murals on the wall.
The background of the mural is a majestic mountain peak, with a huge cross covered in layers of light at the top.
In front of the cross stood an exceptionally majestic figure, surrounded by Angel with two, four, or six wings.
This... Klein only glanced at it briefly, but he already felt a strong sense of familiarity.
He had seen similar murals before, in the tomb of " the Blasphemer " Amon!
Upon closer inspection, Klein quickly noticed the difference: there were no two infants representing Amon and Adam, nor were there twelve-winged Angel. Instead, a majestic figure bathed in divine light stood before the cross, his hands clasped to his chest, holding a simple, ancient stone slab.
The stone slab was drawn in a very blurry way, yet it had a feeling that was both ancient and young, both sacred and sinister, with extremely contradictory connotations.
The stone slab... Klein's pupils dilated slightly, and a technical term flashed through his mind:
" Blasphemy Slate!"
This must be the Ancient The Sun God, the Lord Who Created Everything worshipped by City of Silver... Indeed, the " Blasphemy Slate " is closely related to Him... I wonder if this is the first " Blasphemy Slate " or the second... Klein roughly understood which one this church belonged to, and began to believe that there might be something very precious and important hidden deep within these ruins.
He withdrew Senor's gaze, causing the " Marionette " to turn its attention to the ground.
Besides being covered in cracks, the stone slabs also bore some strange marks. They were dark red, about the size of a human forehead, and sometimes overlapped, extending all the way to the end of the hall.
At that moment, Klein naturally imagined a scene in his mind:
Devout believers crawled on the ground, each time striking their foreheads hard against the earth, drawing blood.
Seeing that Gehrman Sparrow's gaze had shifted and he was no longer looking at him, Alger tentatively asked:
" Ancient The Sun God?"
At the same time, he inexplicably felt a cold wind blowing from Gehrman Sparrow's side, suspecting that there were lurking Specter or Wraith around him.
Thinking back to the strange control over the mutated curly-haired baboon, Alger vaguely guessed something, but didn't say anything.
Upon hearing the question about the " The Hanged Man," Klein initially wanted to chuckle and reply, "You can also call Him the Lord Who Created Everything, the Omniscient and Omnipotent God," but he immediately realized that the tone and wording were closer to " The Fool " than to Gehrman Sparrow, so he restrained himself and simply nodded slightly.
"That's not hard to see."
Alger breathed a silent sigh of relief, his anticipation for the object buried deep within the church growing ever stronger.
The two made the same decision at the same time and walked together to the end of the hall.
As he got closer, Klein finally saw clearly that there were layers of steps leading down to the ground.
"The underground area?" he asked succinctly.
Alger shook his head and said:
"I can't be sure I didn't go down there."
"Although Qilangos attempted to go deeper, he returned here in less than ten minutes, his breathing becoming quite weak."
Klein nodded thoughtfully and said casually:
"You and he seem to know each other very well."
If someone else had said that, Alger would have pretended not to hear and wouldn't have responded directly. But in his heart, "The World" Gehrman Sparrow was Blessed of " The Fool," and his question might represent the meaning of that being, so it had to be treated with care.
After a few seconds of deliberation, Alger said in a low voice:
"He and I are from the same hometown and worked as servants in the same small church."
"The priest there was an irritable and short-tempered man who liked to punish his servants. Qilangos couldn't stand it, so he secretly ran away and became a pirate."
There's such a past... Mr. " The Hanged Man " also has a story... Klein didn't ask any further questions, and walked down the stairs one by one in the extremely quiet ruined church.
Although his footsteps were very faint, they were still clearly audible and carried far in this environment.
Soon, the two climbed the stairs and saw an arched doorway.
On either side of the doorway stood two dark figures, standing silently, motionless, and unchanging.
Klein and Alger stopped in their tracks and looked at the two dark figures, only to find that they were two stone statues.
They were all male, grayish-white in color. One wore a full-body, Bucket -shaped suit of armor, while the other wore a jacket with a more modern style. Their expressions were full of pain, and their eyes bulged out, as if they were staring at something.
Seeing this, Klein suddenly shuddered, recalling his previous experiences in the outside world:
He and Alger also showed signs of petrification, but fortunately they managed to escape the effects in time and didn't actually turn into statues!
Could there be other humans who have suffered the same fate? If we were petrified just now, would we also be "moved" into the underground of this ancient church, guarding a doorway for hundreds or thousands of years without changing? Isn't the petrifying power afraid of this ruin? Klein felt a strange fear, and his scalp tingled slightly.
He controlled his expression, glanced at the " The Hanged Man," and noticed that the burly seaman's pupils had also dilated, and his grip on the short blade had tightened considerably.
"Mr. The Hanged Man " had the same guess, so I don't need to explain further... Klein pointed to the doorway and said:
There may be more stone statues inside.
Alger nodded, half worried and half joking, and said:
"I just hope we don't see them."
If we firmly believe we've escaped the petrification effect, yet simultaneously see our own statue in the underground region, that's a horror story... Klein thought for two seconds, then said to the " The Hanged Man ":
Do you have night vision?
What he really meant was that the light from the kerosene lamp was very conspicuous in the completely dark underground, which could easily cause unnecessary disturbances, so if one had night vision, it would be best to extinguish the light.
He believed that Mr. " The Hanged Man " would be able to discern this hidden meaning.
Alger answered frankly:
"Have."
A " Sailor " pathway Sequence capable of Deep Diving must possess the ability of "night vision".
Klein glanced at him, said nothing, but his meaning was very clear:
Then why do you still need a kerosene lamp?
Alger responded solemnly:
"Firstly, it's about misleading the enemy. When they see me using a lantern for illumination, they'll instinctively think I lack night vision. Once they destroy the lantern and create a dark environment, I can give them a surprise."
How insidious... Klein was momentarily speechless.
Alger continued:
"Secondly, we must guard against a situation similar to City of Silver; extreme danger may lurk in the absolute darkness."
That makes sense... Klein didn't signal the other party to turn off the lantern again. He stepped past the two stone statues and, with their eyes frozen in pain, entered the doorway leading to the underground area.
Since he didn't know what the petrified statues represented, nor whether the people petrified were truly dead, Klein didn't try to break them to obtain Beyonder Characteristic or magical items that might be present.
P. S.: Another sacrifice—no, I'm recommending a book, Marvel: I Am a Saber-Toothed Tiger, written by a fellow reader. Feel free to check it out. Mobile version URL: m.