༺ Entry ༻
An hour later, the prepared group gathered together.
Vera scanned his companions as they stood at the only path leading to the castle at the lake. Everyone had a tense expression, their eyes focused on him.
Vera spoke to them.
“I won’t say much. Let’s go.”
With that, they headed toward the castle.
An army of thousands, guarding the lake with a solemn demeanor, saw them off.
***
The entry team consisted of fifteen members.
Excluding Gorgan, who moved by himself, they traveled in pairs.
Depending on their power, some pairs joined to form groups of three, such as Vargo and the twins’ groups.
They had to add Rohan with the twins, who only functioned well when they were together. As Jenny and Aisha were not yet powerful enough, they had to be paired with Vargo, resulting in six pairs.
Everything that happened after they entered was as expected.
Creak—
As Hegrion said, the interior began to change, and the group started to scatter.
“Be careful, everyone!”
A horrific scene unfolded after Vera’s shout.
Arms stretched out from all sides, separating them and forming walls overlaid with membranes. The floor shook, and the smell of blood filled the air.
The oppressive atmosphere raged.
The laughter of the spirits and the aura of death within revealed the depths of evil that the castle had committed.
After completely separating from the group, Vera spent considerable time clearing away the deathly aura with his divinity. Then, he finally retracted it and asked Renee.
“Are you okay?”
Renee took a deep breath and nodded.
Only then did Vera survey his surroundings.
It was horrifying.
The landscape resembled the insides of a living creature, and the skinless, writhing arms added to the hellish atmosphere.
Vera grimaced and reminded himself of what he had to do.
‘Two things.’
To rescue the advance party that weren’t able to get out and to stop Alaysia, who was expected to be in the depths of the castle.
‘Since the rescue of the advance party is left to a different group, we can head straight deep into the castle.’
He was unsure what Alaysia was up to, but he needed to make as much progress in the shortest time possible.
He wasn’t worried about their lack of power.
‘The Ancient Species will come.’
Alaysia had unleashed the corruption out of the castle.
The Ancient Species surely sensed it and were heading here.
”…Let’s go.”
Renee nodded at Vera’s firm voice.
***
Gorgan, who was by himself, stared blankly at the sight before him.
He wasn’t just looking.
He was seeing the essence of the landscape through a dimension higher than reality, through the world of Providence.
“Grrrrr…”
Hyria growled, and Gorgan stroked her head and spoke.
[Yes, it’s a hideous idol.]
What he saw was the horrific trace of apostasy, and, at the same time, the trace of the day the Age of Gods came to an end.
It was the traces of the souls and flesh of the ones who couldn’t receive salvation, of those who followed the whispers of Alaysia and denied the heavens.
Gorgan felt disgusted.
[Ardain was right. Forbidden knowledge should stay forbidden.]
Since he had existed since the creation of this land, he could guess what all this forbidden act was for.
[So she is finally trying to manifest the Tenth.]
Alaysia’s goal was becoming certain. It was the collapse of order through the advent of the Tenth.
He had hoped otherwise, but the truth he faced was revealing itself in a brutal form.
Gorgan felt deep anger.
It was anger towards the apostates who tried to destroy the order and history that the Parent had built and the one that Ardain and his siblings had built upon.
[Let’s go. Let’s go and stop her.]
“Grr!”
In the dark fortress, the beast began to rise.
***
“Hehe…”
A child’s laughter echoed in his ears.
It was accompanied by a constant, squelching sound as flesh intertwined.
Vargo felt deeply irritated as he watched the scene unfold from within the corrupted fortress.
“It would be easier if we just wiped them all at once.”
[If you want to kill off everyone in the advance party, go ahead.]
The one sarcastically responding to Vargo’s complaints was none other than Annalise.
Cradled in Jenny’s arms, she snorted as she continued.
[It’s just like her, so wicked and grotesque. It’s as if a child slapped together mud and called it a game.]
Annalise had long been called the greatest wizard.
As such, she could accurately perceive what was happening in this space.
[Those chunks of flesh don’t have self-awareness. The constantly changing path is likely due to the spirits playing tricks. Well, spirits aren’t particularly mentally mature, so they’re probably just mixing things up randomly.]
“Is there a way to find the path?”
[If there was, I would have told you. The spirits twisted the paths thoughtlessly in the first place. Did you think there would be an end to it?]
Vargo’s face crumpled.
“You ill-mannered doll. Why do you have to speak so rudely?”
[Kid, you’re the one who has no manners. Wasn’t I already the Tower Master when you were born?]
Annalise’s retort made Vargo shut his mouth tightly.
Indeed, she was right.
Vargo was in his eighties.
Compared to Annalise, who had already lived for more than one hundred twenty years, he was but a child.
His face twisted.
Annalise provoked Vargo with another snort.
Only the young Jenny and Aisha seemed tired amidst the psychological warfare between the two elders.
“…Fighting is bad.”
“We didn’t come here for this…”
The two elders flinched at the rebuke of the two children.
“…Who said anything? Let’s keep walking.”
[Keep heading in one direction, and we should be able to move to a different area. Just go straight from here.]
The atmosphere was oddly relaxed and did not fit the situation, but that was unavoidable.
Vargo was the strongest among those who had entered, and Annalise was the most intelligent, so they weren’t in any danger as long as Alaysia didn’t intervene.
This was something that even the less intelligent spirits could sense, and they were unable to do them any harm.
Thus, the two elders and two children began to walk through the passage as if they were on a casual outing.
***
If there were people who comfortably traveled, naturally, there were also those who faced trials of hardship.
Needless to say, it was the twins and Rohan.
“Hey! Hey! Here it comes again!”
Kwaddddk—!
Rohan yelled as a red hand reached out from a crumbling wall.
Whack!
The twins swung their halberds, destroying the reaching hands with a disgusting squelch.
Rohan breathed heavily and let out a scream mixed with frustration.
“Why is this so damned annoying?”
It wasn’t just annoying.
It was ’very’ annoying.
Ever since they got separated from their group, those hands kept coming out.
There were also magical arrows that endlessly shot from unknown directions.
The fundamental spell of the illusionary realm plus the constant changes to the path were enough to drive Rohan crazy.
“His Holiness said, ’If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.’”
“Right. Marek enjoys it. The hands are asking for a handshake. Marek is popular.”
The twins snorted and gripped their halberds.
Fortunately, the arrows that shot out were deflected by the twins’ abilities.
Rohan wanted to cry.
‘Why did they pair me with these guys…?!’
They were reliable.
However, they weren’t trustworthy.
Rohan’s resentment toward Vera for putting him and the twins together grew, and the path changed once again.
Kuududuk—
“Hehehe!”
They heard the laughter of the spirits.
Rohan felt his blood rising and then emitted an indigo divinity.
“Ugh, damn it…!”
He imbued his power into his divinity.
A refined spell formed into a sphere that indicated a specific direction.
His ability to show the way in any labyrinth finally began to manifest.
“Fine. Let’s see who wins this!”
In the midst of the chaos filled with flesh and blood, Rohan called out to the twins.
“Hey, you guys! Clear the path over there!”
The twins might not be exhausted, but he was different.
If he kept wandering like this, he would undoubtedly run out of energy. That meant the untrustworthy twins might lead him down some strange path.
The thought alone was horrifying, so Rohan mustered up all his strength and wove his divinity.
Kkududuk—!
The wall blocked the sphere’s path.
Then, the twins tore that wall apart.
“Let’s goooooo!!!”
“Rohan is finally enjoying it.”
“Yes. At this moment, even Rohan is young.”
Two idiots and one fool.
This was how Vera described them, and it perfectly described their combination.
Thus, the troublemakers of Elia, just as Vera had predicted, displayed excellent teamwork and headed toward the advance party.
***
“No, shouldn’t we go to the right? The deathly aura is stronger on that side! We should go that way!!!”
“Calm down, brother. Our goal is not to go where the deathly aura is denser, but to seal the spirits that may be somewhere.”
Somewhere in the fortress.
A young man was arguing with the doll in his hand amid the rumbling wall of flesh.
It was Miller and Trevor.
The two, who had been given the special task of ’sealing the Spirits’ before entering, were arguing about the crossroad before them.
Miller felt a headache coming on.
“No… no…!”
He couldn’t understand Trevor’s stubbornness.
“Look here, priest. This castle is filled with corruption. The spirits are the ones moving this flesh, right? See, it’s a perfect match. If the flesh that moves is full of deathly aura, then the spirits moving it must also be full of deathly aura, right? So, to find the spirits, we should go where the energy is dense!”
“You’re not wrong, but you can’t be certain, either. We have to consider the possibility that the spirits are intentionally dispersing their energy.”
“Oh my god, seriously! How would they have the intelligence to do that!”
“The spirits might not, but what about Alaysia?”
“I can’t stand this. Seriously…”
Miller began to scratch his curly hair with his right hand.
Then, he sighed deeply and asked Trevor, who was on his left hand.
“So… what’s your opinion?”
Trevor’s gaze turned to the left path of the crossroad.
“There’s something there.”
“Huh?”
“I have been using my powers since earlier. I am starting to see it now.”
Tap tap.
Trevor tapped his eyes with his fluffy arm, and a grunting sound escaped from Miller’s mouth.
It was because he felt awkward.
‘Why didn’t you say so sooner…?’
He thought, feeling foolish for having lost his temper unnecessarily.
Miller did not consider the possibility that Trevor could be wrong.
That was because Trevor’s authority was the ‘ability to glimpse into Providence that all scholars coveted.
“So what’s in there?”
“I don’t know exactly. This castle is built on a different Providence from the outside world, and it’s too burdensome for my soul to discern that far,” Trevor said sighingly.
“Let’s go and see. Gosh, it feels like we’re being bullied because we’re the only ones the spirits are avoiding.”
“…It’s because of the spell you cast that they can’t come near us.”
What’s he talking about after laying out such a grand spell to suppress corruption and deathly aura?
Frustrated with Trevor’s idle remark, Miller began to move.
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