Chapter 448 Deep in the Cave
After going forward and doing a quick check and confirming that Leighton was just sleeping and not dead from some unknown curse, Angel felt relieved. She picked up the two used talismans on the ground and left the suite.
Before leaving, she found a small wooden box in the corner of the room with the lid open, which was filled with a lot of copper ores of strange shapes.
This is the "result" of your hard work over the past week... Angel smiled secretly, locked the door, and left the hotel in stealth again.
————
Early Thursday morning, Angel, fully prepared and carrying all the talismans and magical items, arrived at the entrance of yesterday's mine. He was the first to enter the mine before the tourists who mined during the day and mined in their dreams at night arrived.
After summarizing the various clues from yesterday, Angel was almost certain that the source of the abnormalities in the mine and even the town should be the location of the collapse accident half a year ago, and the location where Leighton and others dug pointed to the deep pit that had been filled in.
After seeing the map of the interior of the mine yesterday, she realized that the mine that was dug underground from the other side of the hill outside the city has gradually returned to the vicinity of the town.
After many twists and turns, she arrived at the excavation site yesterday. In the vast cave, a pit that was dug several meters deep was extremely conspicuous in Angel's dark vision.
She reached out and took out the "Lucky" revolver, cocked the hammer and prepared to fire at any time. Then she carefully approached and looked at the stone wall that was pitted by the pickaxe. Apart from some rubble that had not been removed, the inside was no different from other passages in the mine.
No... there seem to be a few cracks deep down?
Angel manipulated the invisible thread into the pit, groping back and forth on the stone wall, which had been cracked by the excavation, and soon reached into the thickest crack. When she reached the limit, she sent a pinch of black flame along the thread into the stone wall, and then...
Flame jumping!
Activating another extraordinary ability of the "Hypocrisy" ring, Angel instantly passed through the crack in the stone wall that was so deep that not even a finger could be inserted, and reached the other side.
At this moment, she was extremely grateful that the new "Faceless Man" magical item had a more powerful fire jump, and she didn't need to use the "Magic Pocket Watch" herself. Otherwise, she would face the dilemma of having an additional fatal weakness in ten minutes.
She withdrew her daydreaming thoughts and looked at the area behind the stone wall.
This is exactly the "collapse area" marked in the accident report in the document room of the Government Affairs Office. The only access to the main trunk of the mine has been blocked, and it has almost been seen again due to the excavation of Leighton and others.
Behind this passage, which was also supported, was an equally wide mine, but in the center of the ground there was a hollow that occupied almost two-thirds of the area. The stone walls around the cave were irregular, as if they had collapsed naturally rather than been artificially excavated.
Whether it was the man in the windbreaker from the dream, or the reason why Leighton and the others kept digging, or even the strange behavior of the residents of Lingang Town, they should all be under the cave...
Angel took out a magic mirror that was smeared with his own blood to strengthen the spiritual connection, and placed it in a corner of the passage as a last resort. Then he jumped down and slowly fell under the effect of "floating".
The cave was about twenty meters deep and about the same width as the mine above. The ground was covered with rubble and rocks, probably because no one had cleaned it up after the collapse. There was a new passage on one side of the cave wall, sloping downward with a very steep slope. Following the slope, she came to the bottom of the narrow cave amid a gradually increasing stench.
This place seemed to be closer to Lingang Town... As soon as this thought came into her mind, she was stunned by the scene she saw.
In the cave, the simple wooden furniture had already decayed, and the uneven ground was covered with dried blood. In the center, there was a mass of flesh that was more than one meter tall, oozing yellow-green pus. It looked decayed and bloated, with a few slender white feathers and some yellow oil stains stuck on it.
Out of control monster!
Angel immediately raised her gun and aimed, and several black flames surged around her. The surrounding environment quickly cooled down under the erosion of the ice under her feet, and even a hazy ice fog appeared.
"You're here."
A somewhat weak voice came from the piece of meat.
"Are you the person in my dream last night in Leiden?" Angel asked hesitantly. She recognized the other person's voice, but couldn't believe what she saw.
"It's me. I'm sorry about what happened last night. That wasn't my intention. I could already sense you were up there, but unfortunately I couldn't pull you into my dream. Thankfully, you found this place." His voice was apologetic, and his tone was slightly lower. "I'm Pierce Turner, a high-ranking deacon of the church. Ha, or at least I used to be. I originally thought you were also a Nighthawk, but it seems you're a witch."
A senior deacon? One of only nine senior deacons in the church?
Angel did not remember the names of all the archbishops and senior deacons, but she could confirm that in the more than two months in Tingen, she had not heard of any senior deacon going missing or out of control.
You have to know that they are at least Sequence 5 Beyonders, and some have even entered the High Sequence and become Saints. The loss of any one of them will be news within the church. Even a traitor like Ince Zangwill will be known to everyone.
【 .】
"I was indeed a Nighthawk, but not a Sleepless One. The reason I can resist nightmare abilities is because of the Saint's blessing."
She answered slowly, raising her right hand that was holding the revolver, and showing the secret holy symbol on her wrist.
I hope this piece of meat that looks like it has no facial features can see... She complained in her heart.
"I see. This is why you are not influenced by me or him."
It seems that Angel's worries are completely unnecessary, Pierce Turner, who claims to be a former senior deacon, said with a hint of relief.
"he?"
"He, he's also Pierce Turner, another part of me that's gone crazy."
Pierce's voice continued to be heard from the "piece of meat", but it became a little muffled, and the skin that was oozing with pus began to tremble, making Angel's eyelids twitch.
"I was once a Sequence 5 on the Corpse Collector path, a Gatekeeper. A year ago, according to the Sanctuary's plan, I was preparing to advance to Sequence 4. Unfortunately, after Ince Zangwill's failed attempt at advancement, potion licenses for the Undead were no longer issued. Under the Sanctuary's arrangement, I turned to... another approach."
"Do you mean jumping to the 'Sleepless' pathway?"
Guessing that Pierce was hesitant due to some kind of oath, Angel took the initiative to tell him what she knew about path swapping.
She had also taken a vow in front of Ms. Arianna, but the vows within the church seemed to be obsessed with "not telling those who don't know." If both parties knew something, there was no need to hide it from each other.
"Yes, you know a lot of high-level secrets, which makes our communication much easier," Pierce said, visibly relieved. "I spent six months preparing the ceremony for promotion to Night Watcher, and the location for the ceremony is right here on Pala Island, in this hidden mine."
"Why here, not inside the kingdom governed by the Church?"
Angel asked doubtfully.
The Rorsted Archipelago and most of the Raging Sea were governed by the Church of the Storm in cooperation with the local garrison. Even after the Backlund Fog, when the Church of Evernight gained more power, it had never laid hands on the many islands in the sea. For a high-ranking deacon of the church to come to this isolated island overseas to complete the ceremony of ascension to demigodhood was simply incredible.
"This is a ritual requirement. To advance to the rank of Night Watcher, one must use nightmare abilities to manipulate the dreams of numerous people, connecting them together. The more realistic the dreams and the greater the number of people involved, the greater the chance of promotion. This isn't difficult for experienced Spirit Shamans, who can utilize their collected spirits to accomplish many tasks. However, for me, who needs to switch paths, it presents the greatest challenge. As you're aware, the Corpse Collector path doesn't have the ability to pull people into dreams."
"So you used spells and seals to complete your preparations. Is that why you chose a sparsely populated island with little mobility?"
"You're very clever," Pierce chuckled and continued, "After completing all preparations, I entered the 'Joint Dream' here through a spell. According to the plan, the dream me and the real me will take the fictional and real potions together, and under the anchor of the dream, advance to Sequence 4, but..."
There was some doubt and anger in his words.
"...Everything went out of control. The dream suddenly shattered. Before I could escape, I had already taken the potion in reality, and my advancement naturally failed. Even more terrifying, I didn't die immediately. Instead, my body collapsed, just like it is now. My spirit was torn apart, part of it stuffed into my body, and part remained in the dream. My consciousness also became my current self, and another completely insane self.
"You must be wondering about the reason for my failure. I was also confused at the time, but now I think back, there seemed to be endless lightning and hurricanes appearing south of Pala Island in my dream. In reality, the mine suddenly collapsed, and the roof of the cave I chose collapsed. Many miners entered the shattered dream and were affected, and I missed my only chance.
"Later, I learned from a traveler's dream that a violent storm had erupted in the Raging Sea that day. After that, frequent storms would hit the nearby islands almost every week. Ha, I just happened to be there that day."
Pierce's tone darkened, as if he was thinking back to the day he tried to get the promotion.
"So, you lured me here so that I could inform the church and ask them to find a way to rescue you from this state?"
Angel asked, interrupting the other party's thoughts.
"No, you should understand that there may be various ways to prevent it before it gets out of control, but after it gets out of control, there is only one solution."
Pierce's voice slowly emerged from the "piece of meat".
"I want you to kill me."
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