349 Sacrificial Square
His friends had vanished? Lumian, clutching a white candle, watched as the young man dashed over, his eyebrows twitching slightly.
He wasn’t a tomb administrator, nor did he have an angel sealed within him!
Any anomaly that urred meant that something was wrong!
“Stop!” Lumian drew his revolver with his free right hand and pointed it at the ck-haired, brown-eyed, and pale-faced young man.
In the flickering candlelight, thed shook his head frantically and said, “Help! Save me! They’ve all vanished!”
He slowed down slightly but didn’t stop.
Bang!
Lumian pulled the trigger of the revolver, sending the yellow bullet grazing thed’s body into the distance, disappearing into the darkness that couldn’t be illuminated by candlelight.
Sensing Lumian’s determination to stop him, thed finally halted and revealed a pleading expression.
“Save me! Save me!”
Observing H’s silence with no intention of making conversation, Lumian had no choice but to inquire, “What happened?”
As he spoke, he used the yellow candle mes in the trio’s hands to survey the environment on the third level of the catbs.
Unlike the first two levels of the tomb, which were surrounded by white bones and had corpses lining both sides of the path, this level had a small square devoid of corpses.
The square was paved with mottled cobblestones, with no moss or soil in the crevices. It was unbelievably clean.
Two grayish-white pirs made of boulders stood on either side of it. Their surfaces were severely weathered, leaving peeling marks.
Even so, Lumian, with his keen eyesight, discerned the Sun Sacred Emblem and Triangr Sacred Emblem engraved on the two pirs. Surrounding them were symbols like Sun Flowers, crankshafts, and connecting rods.
Around the square, where candlelight couldn’t prate, the darkness was dense, as if countless figures stood there, casting gazes that made Lumian’s skin prickle.
The young man with ck hair, brown eyes, and a pale face replied fearfully,
“I don’t know. We were just about to leave the square where the altars of the Eternal zing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery stand to explore the ancient tomb on the third level. Suddenly, they stumbled over something and fell, one by one. Even the candles in their hands fell to the ground and went out.
“I-I was at the back and saw them vanish just like that!”
To him, the most pressing question wasn’t how they vanished but why the witness still remembered their disappearance.
It’s clear that if you aren’t affected by the strangeness and manage to escape, your faith in the Eternal zing Sun would surge… Lumian couldn’t discern anything amiss with the other party, so he casually posed another question.
“Are you college students?”
Thed nodded again.
“Yes, we’re students from Trier Normal College. We formed a team to adventure here. My—my name is Gérard.”
Lumian couldn’t help but chuckle. He even considered inviting Gérard to join him and H in their search for the Samaritan Women’s Spring. After all, the chances of a student like him surviving until graduation seemed slim. He might be more useful as bait.
As he contemted how to determine if there was anything wrong with Gérard, H suddenly spoke with a cold tone, “We’ll escort you back.”
Surprisingly kind? Lumian turned to H, taken aback.
His impression of thisdy was that even her blood ran cold.
Gérard was so grateful that tears and snot streamed down his face. He continued to thank them profusely as he approached.
Lumian observed his every move. He retrieved a white candle from his canvas bag and tossed it over.
Desperately, Gérard caught it and lit the new candle with the old one, which had only a small segment left.
Seeing the flickering candlelight, the college student breathed a sigh of relief and followed H and Lumian down the stone staircase leading to the second level.
Just as he took ten steps up, Gérard was suddenly stunned.
Lumian looked over and noticed that the lingering fear on his face had disappeared.
“Will it be a problem for you to return to the surface by yourself?” H asked again, but her words were entirely different from before.
Gérard chuckled.
“No problem. Thank you for the candle. Sigh, losing the spare candle is troublesome.”
Uh… Lumian’s heart stirred as he probed, “Did you venture to the third level of the tomb alone?”
Gérard nodded proudly. “Of course, I possess enough courage and experience.”
He has finally forgotten about his schoolmates… Did he not forget because he was at the sacrificial square? Did Madame H notice that, thereby suggesting escorting him? Lumian nodded in enlightenment.
After watching Gérard ascend the stairs and leave through the entrance of the Old Ossuary, Lumian and H returned to the sacrificial square.
This time, when Lumian looked at the two sacrificial pirs representing the Eternal zing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery, his feelings for them were entirely different.
However, even with the deity’s gaze and protection, the two stone pirs inevitably showed signs of weathering and corrosion after countless years in the depths of the catbs.
Lumian believed that more protection meant greater confidence. He wouldn’t lose anything by giving it a try. Facing the sacrificial pir engraved with the Sun Sacred Emblem, he raised his body slightly and spread his arms.
“Praise the Sun!”
H watched silently, not interrupting his prayer.
After Lumian finished his concise praise, the two of them made their way toward the Krismona Night Pir to the north, following the ck line above their heads and the road sign at the edge of the square.
Lumian, holding a white candle, had only taken a few steps away from the sacrificial square when his heart stirred. He cast his gaze forward.
At some point, a skeleton, covered in dark-green mold, had copsed by the road. The bones of its handsy across the road, as if it wanted to grab a passerby’s ankle.
If Lumian had walked faster and failed to carefully observe the environment, he might have tripped over the corpse!
This instantly reminded him of Gérard’s description: The college student’spanions stumbled over something and fell to the ground, extinguishing their candles. Only then were they “swallowed” by the catbs, leaving no trace of their existence!
Did they trip over these fallen bones? Lumian thoughtfully kicked the hand bone away.
Amidst the nking sounds, he and H continued forward. However, after a few steps, they encountered another white skeleton with half its body lying on the road.
Lumian frowned and instinctively looked back at the spot where he had almost tripped.
The dim candlelight barely reached there, but Lumian could barely make out the details with his Hunter’s eyesight.
His pupils dted as he realized that the pale-white hand bone he had kicked had returned to its original position, still serving as an obstacle for passersby!
“They’re still alive? Undead creatures?” Lumian asked, his nerves on edge.
“No, but it’s a possibility,” H replied sinctly.
Seeing Lumian’s puzzled expression, she exined, “They must have been affected by the environment deep within the tomb and are exhibiting certain abnormalities. When the hidden dangers and horrors in the environment erupt, it’s likely that they will all turn into undead creatures.”
All of them turning into undead creatures… Lumian instinctively shuddered as he imagined such a scenario.
Whetherplete or iplete, there were at least a million skeletons on this level. It might even be an order of magnitude more. If they all became undead creatures with a hatred for the living, the situation would be terrifying to the extreme!
Seeing that H had no intention of turning back, Lumian followed. They relied on the guidance of the road sign and the ck lines above their heads to navigate through the bones that were trying to obstruct them and slowly made their way toward their destination.
After an unknown amount of time, they finally reached the Krismona Night Pir without encountering another living person.
It was a colossal pir made of ck marble, its upper end reaching the cave ceiling. There were no patterns or symbols engraved on its surface, nor were there any signs of weathering or corrosion.
Lumian was taken aback.
In the sacrificial square, the two stone pirs symbolizing the Eternal zing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery had been weathered and corroded!
Is this pir more special than the sacrificial ones?
As if sensing Lumian’s thoughts, H spoke coldly, “Krismona is a member of the Demoness Sect, which can also be called the Demoness family.
“She was a Sequence 2 Demoness of Catastrophe. She perished in the War of the Four Emperors in the previous epoch, dying inside Fourth Epoch Trier. However, her characteristics were retrieved by the Demoness family.
“Apart from the Krismona Night Pir, there are also the Marianne Night Pir and Lius Night Pir on the third or fourth level.”
“Who are these two?” Lumian believed they were angels as well. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be on par with Krismona.
“Marianne was the pope of the Church of Evernight back then, and Lius was a Blessed of ancient Death, a Death Consul. Their characteristics were also retrieved by their respective factions. As for whether other angels perished here, I’m not sure, but many of the angels who followed the Blood Emperor must have perished.” After H briefly exined, she pointed at the stone staircase behind the Krismona Night Pir. “Let’s go to the fourth level.”
Lumian tersely agreed, and they quickly reced their rapidly burning white candles before ascending to the fourth level.
…
After attending the mysticism gathering, Franca and Jenna retraced their steps to the underground area corresponding to the arcade of the opera house.
As they turned a corner at a fork of the road, Franca leaned over and whispered into Jenna’s ear,
“Someone’s following us.”
Someone is following us? Jenna’s heart skipped a beat.