The underground palace, the road leading to the deepest level.
The endless steps seem to lead to the abyss of hell. The ancient and deep black stone walls seem to seal the original malice of the world. Rows and rows of magic crystal lamps are embedded in this sloping downward path. On both sides of the stairs, however, the bright light seems unable to fight against the darkness entrenched in this passage. The light emitted by the magic crystal can only illuminate a small part of the walls and steps. In places where the light cannot reach, it will never It's a terrifying darkness.
A sound of rubbing vines and roots sounded between the stairs and the corridor. Bertila walked slowly in the passage leading to the abyss of flesh and blood, faintly murmuring madly. Echoing in her mind, her figure moved forward in the powerless light of the magic crystal, while the darkness continued to close behind her.
The stairs leading to the deepest part of the palace are divided into several levels. Basically, after every long sloping slope, there will be a gentler corridor. These gentler corridors seem to be going down continuously. The stairs provide some kind of buffer, allowing people walking on the slope to take a break and relieve the crazy psychological pressure - but in fact Bertila knows very well that the best way to pass this ladder safely is Just don't stop anywhere.
Each gentle corridor has two stone doors. Every time you pass through such a "pair" of stone doors, the traveler will be affected by a deeper influence, such as crazy murmurs and the feeling of being constantly surrounded by darkness. The devouring fear will become stronger and stronger. Every minute you stay on this road means one step closer to madness and death.
A particularly heavy and ancient stone door appeared in front of Bertila. The surface of this stone door depicts twisted flesh, plants, and a mysterious starry sky that does not exist at all in this era: this is the door to the "secret chamber" "The last barrier.
In front of the stone gate, two tall figures bent down slightly and silently saluted Bertila.
Those are two formidable creatures - although human characteristics still remain on them, they can no longer be described as "human". They have swollen and deformed heads covered with growths. Their eyes and ears have been severely degenerated and turned into sinuous and wriggling tentacle-like structures. Their limbs are thicker than humans and are wrapped in layers of bandages to prevent those who get out of control. Flesh and blood are separated from the body - they are the "caretakers" of the underground palace.
These guardians cannot speak, see, or hear, and even their thinking and perception methods have mutated into an inhuman state.
Before becoming the Watchers, they were the most fanatical and loyal members of the Society for the Death of All Things. They paid an unimaginable price for humans and even mutated into this chilling state, just for the sake of being able to Guard the deepest secrets of this underground palace for a long time - because ordinary human guards cannot hold on in this passage for long.
Thinking of the Grand Priest who had been staying in the "Secret Chamber" seven hundred years ago, even Bertila couldn't help but feelTrembling slightly, she nodded to the watcher, and then walked forward with a solemn expression.
The heavy, ancient stone door built by an unknown person opened automatically in front of Bertila, and a small hall with three forked paths appeared in front of her.
The fork in the middle leads to the real "Abyss of Flesh and Blood", the left leads to the "Sacrifice Field", and the right is the secret room where the Grand Priest is.
Bertira walked forward. The moment she stepped through the door, countless crazy murmurs suddenly intensified, echoing in her mind as if they were about to devour people. The female dean endured this. He couldn't help but frown, and then walked towards the Grand Priest's secret room amidst the entanglement of crazy murmurs.
The "Watcher" standing in front of the secret room was still silent and saluted Bertila, and helped open the door of the secret room.
The moment she walked into the secret room, all the crazy murmurs disappeared instantly, and the chaotic mental pressure that had always been on her body disappeared. Bertila breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that this was The power of that great patriarch.
The secret room is not big. There is no extra decoration except for some stone tables, chairs and furniture. The awe-inspiring Grand Priest is located in the center of the secret room. He is sitting on the stone. Behind the quality desk, he was flipping through a large, thick, ancient book.
Bertila couldn't help but take a look at the book. A strong spiritual attraction immediately held her tightly, but she was completely attracted by the "ultimate book" that could never be finished. "Before taking control, she forcibly averted her eyes and bowed to the fuzzy-faced Grand Priest in black robes behind the desk: "Grand Priest."
The Grand Priest's voice came from the hood. A hoarse voice came from below: "I heard that your actions were exposed and you were injured?"
"...Yes," Bertila hesitated for less than a second. But he still nodded and confessed, "I was careless."
"It doesn't matter, it's just a small matter," the Grand Priest said calmly, as if he really didn't care about this failure, "We won't have to cover up soon." Covered up, those elves can't cause much trouble. Compared with this, how is the progress of the investigation I ordered you to do?"
"The Eternal Sleeper calls Gawain the "outside wanderer", and they seem to get it. Some intelligence, and based on this, they judged that Gawain Cecil's resurrection was actually an illusion. They believed that some external 'evil spirit' or 'unspeakable person' had taken over the body."
"Wanderers from outside the territory..." the Grand Priest murmured to himself, and then seemingly casually brushed his hand over the "Ultimate Book". The latter immediately made a buzzing sound, and the pages of the book automatically flew quickly. It turns over and stays on a certain page.
The Grand Priest glanced at the page and shook his head slightly: "There is no information about wanderers from outside the realm in the Ultimate Book."
Bertila said cautiously: "Then... ...Is this information false?”
“It may also be beyond the understanding of mortals and involves the secrets of gods,” the Grand Priest closed the Ultimate Book and said indifferently., "Gawain Cecil cannot be resurrected, you know this."
"Yes," Bertila lowered his head slightly, "Then what will we do to Gawain Cecil in the future? What is the action to be taken?”
The Grand Priest opened the Ultimate Book again and lightly brushed his hand over the pages. This time, the pages of the Ultimate Book turned at an even more crazy speed and amplitude. , and stop on a certain page after a few seconds.
"The answer to the Ultimate Book has not changed," the Grand Priest said calmly, "No contact, no interference, keep distance."
"Yes."
The Grand Priest nodded slightly, and his deep voice came from under the hood: "Have our arrangements in Anzu and Typhon been activated?"
"Follow your orders. , the war will come in a false peace."
The Grand Priest was silent for a long time and sighed slightly: "...This is the price that mortals must pay to escape their fate."
"One thing is very concerning, Grand Priest," Bertila suddenly said, "The Holy Light Church's recent activities are becoming more and more extreme. In the name of fighting heresy, they have begun to suppress other sects everywhere, and Absorbing shallow believers and new believers on a large scale, their size has doubled in a short period of time..."
"Shallow believers... want to rely on numbers..." the Grand Priest said to himself He muttered to himself, and finally shook his head, "Searching for death... If they continue to develop, sooner or later they will be swallowed up by the holy light of their faith. All their efforts at the moment are just weaving a noose for themselves."< /p>
"But if they really succeed, the God of Holy Light will probably become an existence that cannot be competed with..."
"Other sects will not sit still and wait for death. The stronger the power of Holy Light, the more powerful the Holy Light will be. The resistance it will face will be stronger," the Grand Priest shook his head slightly, "In any case, it is not the time for us to intervene yet."
"Yes."
Dozens of minutes later, Bertila left the bottom floor of the underground palace and walked through the deep corridor filled with crazy murmurs and darkness and terror. After leaving all the auditory hallucinations behind, the female dean exhaled slightly.
Looking at the brightly lit underground palace corridor in front of her, she whispered to herself: "Is there an 'outlander' that even the Ultimate Book can't answer..."
Shengsu Neil City, there is an endless stream of visitors in front of the Cecil House at No. 4 Crown Street.
Since the Cecil family hit rock bottom overnight, this is the second time in a century that this mansion has become so lively.
The last time was Gawain? When Duke Cecil returned to the royal capital.
The multiple recruitment messages sent by Santis have indeed had an effect. Even if people still have doubts about the Dark Mountains, there are still many people who will take a look at the situation to find out - but Most of the people who responded to the recruitment could only meet and report to the contacts left by Santis in the Craftsmen's Association and Scholars' Association. Those who were qualified to come to No. 4 Crown Street, at leastYou must be a member of the Mage Association with an official transcendent level, or have a letter of recommendation from a big shot.
But even with such a "filter", No. 4 Crown Street still received dozens of visitors during the day.
It makes sense that there are so many responders - half a year ago, when Gawain first released recruitment information in the royal capital, the development of the Southern Territory was just a piece of paper. Apart from an development plan, people There are no guarantees or prospects, so naturally there are no responders. But now, more than half a year has passed, and the pioneering team in the southern border has at least firmly established a foothold. This is equivalent to breaking the big picture about the Dark Mountains. There are some bad rumors. At this time, Santis, a member of the Mage Association, took the Duke's order and led a glorious team to conduct a formal open recruitment in the royal capital. The situation would naturally be different.
At least this time, the scholars, mages, and craftsmen in the royal capital can see some practical guarantees.
Those who have achieved something and are not worried about survival may not be swayed, but among those who are already in a state of poverty and are just trying to survive, there will inevitably be those who are tempted.
Among all the people who responded to the recruitment, the largest number were rune craftsmen and machine masters who signed up in the Craftsmen Association, followed by down-and-out scholars and scribes who signed up in the Scholars Association, and the smallest number were mages. And quite a few of them just maintain a wait-and-see mentality.
"Witch" Jipri stood in the living room on the first floor of the mansion, receiving visitors wearing mage robes or short robes with a smile, and observing everyone's expressions calmly. subtle changes.