Agatha suddenly stopped.

At the end of her sight, something strange at the intersection of the alley interrupted her wandering thoughts.

In that corner shrouded in darkness, mass after mass of disgusting black substances were surging. They seeped out from the nearby ground and walls like sticky grease overflowing from pipes. Amidst the sticky and disgusting sounds, the muddy substances began to take on human-like shapes almost in the blink of an eye, and cast hostile glances at Agatha.

"It's really haunting..."

Agatha couldn't help but sigh softly, but her body movements did not hesitate at all - before the mud had time to completely solidify, she had already raised her cane and pointed it at the closest mass to her.

Pale flames ignited out of nowhere and instantly devoured the squirming "element". The power of cremation directly turned it into ashes. The next second, another gray whirlwind rolled up in the alley, whistling through the human-shaped fakes that were crawling up one by one, as if carrying a powerful devouring and weathering force, turning them into dry, corroded dust.

However, more and more muddy substances seeped out from the nearby walls and the ground, and more and more humanoid monsters appeared at the intersection, blocking Agatha's actions.

A gray wind blew by, and Agatha's figure condensed in the wind. There was a trace of fatigue on her face, and after sensing a strange smell suddenly appearing in the mud, her eyes became even more solemn.

She looked in the direction where the breath came from, and saw a "fake" made of elements rapidly wriggling and mutating. Within a few seconds, the thing turned into a smiling young man with short blond hair, wearing a white shirt and a black vest.

"Miss Gatekeeper, you have great stamina," the young man nodded slightly, speaking in a very polite tone, "I wonder if you are enjoying your exercise here?"

"If you want to tire me to death here through this attrition tactic, then you are too naive." Agatha stared at the young man's incarnation with cold eyes and calmed her breath. "Death means nothing to me. I can still fight after death. The soul of the gatekeeper will never get tired, and I will find you one day."

"Of course, of course, it's not that easy to really kill a saint of Bartok," the young man laughed, a very bright smile, "I never thought about killing you, I just want to keep you here as long as possible, these empty shells for you to kill are just a treat, a pastime for you when you are bored."

"Then you heretics have a unique way of entertaining guests." Agatha knew that the other party was trying to delay her in various ways, but at least at this moment, she didn't mind saying a few more words to restore her strength. "I suddenly feel a little curious, is your real body also so leisurely now? I can feel that I am gradually approaching your hiding place. Every time I kill a monster controlled by you, I can feel your position more clearly... How many places do you have left to hide?"

The smile on the blond young man's face finally froze for a moment, but it was only a moment, and he smiled happily again: "Ah, it seems that I have overlooked that Bartok's guard dogs have always had a good sense of smell. How about we just make a bet?"

He raised one hand as if in invitation.

"The bet is whether you find my body first, or whether Frost becomes the first earthly country where the Holy Lord descends. The bet is your soul and the lives of everyone in Frost..."

A pale flame exploded and suddenly swept the direction where the young man was standing before he finished speaking. The next second, Agatha had turned into a whistling gray wind. The strong wind slammed into the intersection. The gathered fake freaks immediately rushed up and tried to stop the gray wind, but they disintegrated and shattered under the power of the wind of death. In the blink of an eye, the gray wind hit the blond young man who was entangled in the pale flames, and knocked him directly onto a low wall across the street.

After a loud bang, the flames were blown away by the strong wind, and Agatha appeared from the gray wind. She held the cane flat in her right hand, and the front end of the cane directly pierced the blond young man's chest, nailing him to the wall.

"Sorry, no gambling." Agatha looked into the other person's eyes with a calm look in her eyes. "Clergy are prohibited from gambling."

"Interesting..." The cultist who was nailed to the wall by a cane pulled the corner of his mouth, and said while dirty black mud flowed out of his mouth and nose. This body was dying quickly, but he seemed to have no fear or pain. "I hope your calmness and confidence can last a little longer..."

Life flowed away from the body, and the body of the blond young man quickly disintegrated and melted, turning into a sticky black substance that flowed down and quickly dried up as it hit the ground. The remaining fake freaks around him that were under his control also stopped moving and turned into piles of lifeless "elements".

Agatha pulled her cane from the wall, shook the dirty substance on the tip of the cane with some disgust, then raised her head calmly and looked in a certain direction of the upper city.

Another incarnation was destroyed, and as life passed, the connection between the gatekeeper and the heretic hiding in the dark was further strengthened.

It feels... closer.

"Calm and confident... I do always believe in myself..."

Agatha muttered to herself, then took a few deep breaths, supported herself with her cane, and slowly walked in the direction she perceived. In a puddle behind her, a cluster of green fire was emerging from the reflection on the water, quietly illuminating the dim alley.

The puddles in the alley, the windows of nearby buildings, the metal lamp posts of distant street lamps... all the smooth mirrored surfaces reflected the tiny shadows of the flames.

※※※

The candles were bright in the silent cathedral. The sound of canes and heels tapping on the ground broke the tranquility of the meditation cathedral. A tall figure in black clothes walked through the dark gate and came to the high platform where the black "coffin" was placed.

Bishop Ivan's hoarse and old voice came from the coffin: "Agatha, you are back - how is the situation of the second waterway?"

"The first batch of talents have just arrived at the west entrance. It will take a whole day just to clean the connecting shaft and send the equipment down." Agatha shook her head and said helplessly, "You have to be patient, Bishop Ivan."

"Oh..." The voice in the coffin was silent for a moment, then asked, "What about the situation at the west entrance?"

Agatha: “…”

After a moment, she sighed. "What else can an underground facility that has been abandoned for half a century do? I mobilized twelve heavy machine guns and three steam walkers. All bullets were blessed by holy oil and fire, and one hundred and fifty fully armed silent monks to dispel the darkness there. The good news is that we have successfully established the first stronghold at the intersection below the shaft, and restarted the electricity and lighting in several connecting passages. The next exploration may be smoother than expected - if there are no more collapses and poisonous gas leaks."

"No trace of the heretic?"

"Not yet," Agatha shook her head, "but the situation deeper down is still unclear - the second waterway is too large, and the collapsed areas are isolated from each other. We are only now gaining a foothold in the first channel of one of the areas. But there is one situation that is more worrying..."

There was a rustling sound of cloth rubbing against each other from the coffin, and then the dark coffin lid was pushed open from the inside, and Bishop Ivan, who looked like a mummy, sat up from inside.

"A matter of concern?" The Mummy asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

"At the end of some ancient pipelines, we found traces of repair and modification, as well as some suspicious branch pipelines that extend into the depths of darkness," Agatha said with a frown. "We checked the original blueprints in the archives and confirmed that those pipelines were not on the original design drawings."

Bishop Ivan was silent for a while, then asked, "...What do you think?"

"It looks like someone has continued to maintain the Second Waterway after it was abandoned, and has made some modifications to it," Agatha said. "This maintenance is not continuous, so many areas are still abandoned after several years of maintenance. But deeper in the sewers, there may be things that are still functioning."

Bishop Ivan listened quietly. After a long while, he slowly spoke: "The Second Waterway... It is a huge underground kingdom, large enough to hold countless secrets. Even if you put all the defenders in it, you still can't fill all its corridors and intersections. So don't pay too much attention to those insignificant traces of transformation - concentrate on searching for those heretics, and leave the rest to the people in the city hall."

Agatha glanced at Bishop Ivan, then nodded thoughtfully.

Bishop Ivan noticed the fatigue in the gatekeeper's face and said, "You don't look like you've had enough rest. This level of exploration shouldn't make you so tired. Are you not in good condition? You seemed to be worried since you came in just now."

Agatha opened her mouth and hesitated for a few seconds before speaking: "I am a little... uneasy."