Chapter 405 Two People
After the fog dissipated, the mountain next to Bansy Harbor revealed its true appearance. The crimson moonlight allowed Klein to quickly find the cave on the top of the mountain.
Before this, he had discovered traces of a battle. There were more than a dozen headless zombie "corpses" lying on the ground. Some of them were burned by lightning, some died from purification bullets, and the remaining half were swallowed by the cursed black flames.
The lightning and extraordinary bullets belonged to the Mandated Punishers, and the black flames were naturally Angel's masterpiece. It seemed that she had briefly cooperated with the Mandated Punishers to deal with the cultists together... Klein analyzed and looked into the cave.
He didn't have dark vision, and his clairvoyance didn't reveal anything, but the divination rod he used to search for Donna a few minutes ago did point him to the cave. So Klein didn't hesitate too much. After making all the necessary preparations, he held up his lantern and cane and entered the narrow cave.
Fortunately, although the cave was winding, there were no forks in the road. He quickly followed the smell of blood and the sound of conversation and came to an open cave.
Under the light of several ritual candles, a bloody and bizarre scene unfolded before Klein.
In the center was an altar stained with blood, surrounded by complex dark red symbols and patterns, the ground was covered with headless monsters and their heads separated from their bodies, in the corner were several corpses covered with windbreakers, a girl was sobbing with her head down, and three men in shirts and vests.
The three men heard the footsteps and turned around at the same time, pointing their revolvers and wooden sticks flashing with lightning at Klein.
It's the Mandated Punisher... Seeing the uniform attire and the seal that could obviously release lightning attacks, Klein didn't try to resist. Instead, he raised his hands obediently to show that he had no weapons in his hands.
"I am Captain Ireland's man, Ireland Kage."
Before leaving the White Agate to support Angel, the captain told him that if he encountered doubts from the Mandated Punisher, he could hint that he was in cahoots with Ireland.
This means I'm an informant for MI9, and the Loen military, especially the navy, has a good relationship with the Church of Storms... Klein observed the expressions of the three Mandated Punishers and saw that the middle-aged man leading the group looked a little more relaxed, and the wooden staff he was holding dropped to his side.
"I heard his ship docked in the evening. I'm sorry you had to deal with this, but thankfully, it's been resolved." The middle-aged man took a few steps forward and said in a deep voice, "My name is Dodge, and I'm the captain of this team."
"German Sparrow."
Klein lowered his raised hands and responded, his eyes scanning the entire cave again. He recognized Cecil lying on the ground but still breathing, and Donna squatting beside her, but did not see Angel.
"Irlan should have told you not to know things you shouldn't know. It's good for your life."
Seeing Klein looking around, Dodge became dissatisfied and his tone became serious.
"Sorry, I'm just here to look for them," Klein pointed at Donna and Cecil. "Also, there should be another young woman who arrived at the top of the mountain ten minutes ago. She has blonde hair, a long trench coat, and is about eighteen years old..."
Halfway through his speech, Dodge showed a look of understanding.
"She did come and we worked together briefly to resolve the issues here."
"Where is she?"
Klein demanded.
"This is the biggest problem right now," the captain of the Mandated Punishers revealed an embarrassed expression. "Five minutes ago, she and... the corpse of the cult leader disappeared from the altar."
————
"The Pious Chamber, the Lamp Chamber... Over there is the Chapel Chamber, one of the largest chambers on this floor."
Holding a white candle in one hand and pointing to the darkness in the distance with the other, Pierre introduced the tombs he passed by one by one in Intis.
Angel discovered another difference between the current corridors and stone chambers and the ones she had just arrived: they all had their own names, engraved on rusty metal plates. Some were in Intis language, and some were simply simple drawings expressing the names. For example, the tomb with the symbol of thorns and shields had the sign "Tomb of the Thorn and Shield Wall" written on it.
Yes, there are road signs here.
Angel followed Pierre silently, like a tourist being shown around a tourist attraction by a tour guide. He walked with him through tombs with different names, large and small, passed by corpses of various shapes, and walked towards the exit along the direction marked by the black line above his head.
This place is much larger than I imagined. Just walking along the road, there are at least a thousand corpses in the tombs and corridors. But Pierre said that this is just a corner of the third floor. It would take more than a day and a night to see the whole thing...
The more she looked, the more shocked she became. At first, she didn't know how she got from Bansy Port to Trier in Intis, but soon she was amazed by the scale of this underground cemetery.
"Why--"
The Trier student who was leading the way suddenly uttered an exclamation and fell straight forward.
Angel was quick-witted and quick-handed. He grabbed the careless Pierre and pressed down the candle that he was about to drop from his hand.
“Thank…thank you!”
Pierre first expressed his gratitude, then looked down and found that he was tripped by a hand bone that had been extended into the middle of the corridor. He was about to kick it away angrily, but then he remembered that there was a beautiful girl staring at him, so he suppressed his anger and gently pushed it aside with his leg.
How did you make it to the third floor alive, being so careless... Angel had a feeling that if he didn't follow Pierre, he would quietly disappear into this catacombs within half an hour, just like his forgotten companions...
No, were they really just two people? Could it be that… there were actually more people there originally, but on the way to the third floor, some carelessly fell or accidentally extinguished their candles, and the number of people was reduced along the way, and then forgotten, until only two people came to me?
This thought couldn't help but pop up in Angel's mind.
She subconsciously looked at the hand bone that tripped Pierre, and was surprised to find that it had returned to the middle of the road, as if it had never been stepped on or kicked away.
This place is so weird...
"We'd better get out of here as soon as possible. Your candle is already half burned."
She stopped Pierre who was trying to continue explaining the tomb and said.
"Okay," Pierre said, a little reluctantly, but he didn't refuse. "The exit is not far away."
This time, the two of them quickened their pace and soon followed the black line to a small square. Unlike the corridors and other tombs that were filled with bones, the floor paved with gray bricks was extremely clean, without even a trace of dust, as if someone cleaned it regularly.
There are two stone pillars standing in the center of the square. Their surfaces are mottled due to their age, but the abstract strokes of the sun and the triangles filled with gear levers engraved on them are still clearly visible.
The Holy Emblem of the Sun and the Holy Emblem of the Triangle... the symbols of the Church of the Eternal Sun and the Church of Steam. This is indeed Intis... Angel further confirmed his location through the stone pillars.
Unlike the Kingdom of Loen, which worships the three major churches of Night, Storm, and Steam, the main beliefs of the Intis Republic are the God of the Eternal Sun, Steam, and Machinery.
"Praise the sun!"
As Pierre walked past the Pillar of the Eternal Sun, he stood at attention, opened his arms and raised them upwards as if embracing the sun, and uttered a prayer that was not particularly devout.
"Be careful with your candles."
Seeing that his movements were somewhat performative, with the white candle in his hand almost horizontally and the flame flickering, Angel quickly reminded him.
"It's okay. The gatekeeper said candles are not allowed to go out or fall. But I've never seen anything happen to my classmates or acquaintances."
Pierre was a little unimpressed.
That's because when the candle goes out, the person disappears, and you immediately forget about them, so naturally you don't think anything happened to them...
Angel shook his head slightly, no longer trying to reason with the man.
I just hope he doesn’t get into trouble before he gets me out of the catacombs… She prayed to the stone pillar of the god of machinery and steam as she passed by, without any sincerity at all.
————
The White Agate was docked tightly at the pier at the foot of the mountain. The hurricane lantern hanging on the mast swayed slightly in the breeze and waves, like twinkling stars.
Klein glanced expressionlessly at the edge of the cliff before turning and walking down the mountain.
Donna, her dress stained with blood and tears still on her face, followed him closely, but soon slowed down and fell behind.
He had to suppress his anxiety and stopped to wait for the girl to catch up.
After learning what happened from Captain Dodge of the Mandated Punishers, Klein didn't stay in the cave for too long. He was eager to return to the White Agate and enter the gray fog space to perform a more detailed divination, or directly find Angel's location through the connection of the Crimson Star.
Ordinary divination has no effect on her with the secret holy symbol and magic pocket watch... Why does she carry so many magical items... Klein complained in his heart.
He knew that this mentality was wrong, so he quickly adjusted himself.
Because he was traveling with ordinary people, Klein didn't use "fire jumping" to hurry up the mountain like he did. Instead, he walked down a path covered with gravel and weeds.
"Uncle Sparrow, Miss Siren, have you returned to the sea?"
When they were almost at the foot of the mountain, the girl who had remained silent all this time asked in a low voice.
"I don't know either."
He replied coldly.
Frightened by his tone, Donna's eyes filled with tears again.
Only then did he realize that he wasn't facing a pirate worth 3,000 pounds, or an adult who could put aside his emotions and extract the key points. Instead, he was facing a sixteen-year-old girl who had just witnessed the cultists killing her peers and even nearly died herself. Klein forced a smile and added:
"She's just tired and went back to rest. Maybe tomorrow morning when you get up, you'll see her on the White Agate."
I hope so…
He turned around and continued walking towards the dock.
Donna also wiped away her tears and followed closely behind.
Two men, one tall and one short, one in front and one behind, quickly approached the White Agate until the candlelight shining through the portholes made the sailors patrolling on the deck clearly visible.
Klein suddenly noticed a figure slowly walking out of the sea on the beach next to the pier.
Under the moonlight, this figure seems somewhat familiar...
His heart tightened and he quickened his pace towards the White Agate, even shaking off Donna behind him and running.
Hearing footsteps, the figure turned around, and the dreamy scales on his face gradually disappeared, revealing a face that Klein was extremely familiar with.
"Ms. Siren!"
Before Klein could speak, Donna behind him recognized him, cheered, and ran over quickly, ignoring her dripping wet clothes, and threw herself into his arms.
Angel, whose strength could overwhelm Klein, could not withstand the girl's impact at this moment. She took a step back to steady her body. She first slowly hugged Donna, and then looked over here with her purple eyes, looking at Klein.
"Why are you here?"
Her tone was not one of joy, but of confusion.
Hey, I changed the last two paragraphs a bit.
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