Confused, Gabriel moved over to the next Statue, only to notice the Holy Symbol of the Church of Flames.
"Holy Symbol of the Church of Nature."
…
"Holy Symbol of the Church of Earth."
He went through one statue to another, realizing that all the books had the symbol he recognized.
His suspicion was becoming stronger that all these people were carrying the Holy Books!
In the end, there were only three statues left, including the broken statue.
The broken statue stood at the end of the hall. On the left of the statue, there stood another statue. On the right, there was the third statue.
It appeared as if those three statues were supposed to show more influence since they were standing near the center, especially the broken statue, which was in the exact center.
Gabriel started from the statue of the Woman on the left of the broken statue. The woman had two beautiful wings on her back that were spreading wide.
"Holy Symbol of Light," Gabriel stated in a gruff tone. The Holy Symbol of Light in his left hand shone brightly in the presence of the lady's statue.
He skipped the broken statue in the middle and moved to the statue on the right, which belonged to a slender young man. The man held a staff in his hand, which had the smallest gem out of all the staff here, yet the man appeared to be one of the strongest here for some reason.
Focusing on the book in the statue's hands, Gabriel recognized the symbol.
It was the symbol that he had seen many times in the books. The more well known Holy Symbol of Darkness!
Gabriel couldn't help but look at the symbol on his right hand, which didn't match the symbol of Darkness. Even though both the symbols were pitch black in color, the symbols at the core were different.
Unfortunately, no one had seen this symbol before. The people outside only focused on the pitch-black color to believe it was the Symbol of Darkness.
That left only one statue in the entire place. Unfortunately, by now Gabriel had covered all the Elements he knew about. And he hadn't seen any symbol that matched his. He wondered if the last statue was going to be the one.
He finally moved over to the statue in the middle. The statue appeared to be broken badly and was missing the head. Some more marks of damage could be seen on the statue.
Gabriel kept his focus on the book, and just as he expected... There it was! The Symbol that was on his right hand!
"So this isn't the Holy Symbol of Darkness. That means I'm not a Dark Mage... But then, what am I? I'm able to use undead and spirits?"
"And why is this the only statue that is broken out of all?"
There were many questions floating in his head. He had come to terms with the fact that he was a Dark Mage who awakened the Element of Darkness, but now it turned out that he was wrong. He hadn't awakened the Element of Darkness but something else entirely.
It didn't matter. He still couldn't explain this to the people outside who were going to consider him a Dark Mage Variant. Whatever he was, he needed to embrace it fully.
He turned around and observed the entire hall. Other than the statues, there was nothing here. There wasn't even an exit other than the place he came from, but that wasn't an exit at all. That was a dead end as well since it led back to the river outside.
"Does this place really have no exit? Am I trapped here for eternity?"
As he worried about his future, he stood with the support of the broken statue, lost in thoughts. Not only was he hungry, but he was also at a dead end. For a moment, he even wondered if this was his personal hell?
As soon as Gabriel touched the broken statue, the ring in his hand started shining. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice it.
His attention was only attracted when he heard a creaking sound coming from behind.
Gabriel straightened up and looked behind the broken statue from the gap between the two feet of the statue.
"This..."
There was previously no opening in the entire place. However, now there appeared to be a door-shaped opening in the wall right behind the broken statue.
Gabriel subconsciously gazed at the broken statue, wondering if this guy was helping him somehow. In any case, he couldn't ignore this opportunity. No matter where that opening took him, it was better than being stuck here.
He ran to the opening and entered the dark chamber.
As soon as Gabriel stepped inside, the opening that had appeared in the wall closed behind him.
Gabriel found himself in an even smaller room, which was only ten meters wide. However, this room was what surprised and excited him the most.
The room was lit in a blood-red light that illuminated this place.
In the middle of the room, there appeared to be a small pond that was only a few meters wide. The pond appeared to be filled with the same dark water as outside.
Right in the center of the pond, something appeared to be floating mid-air. Seeing the floating object, Gabriel's lips curled into a smile.
He stepped closer to the pond. Unfortunately, to get to that object, he could see that he needed to get inside the dark water.
For some reason, he didn't even think twice before jumping into the small pond. The object was more important to him than anything else at this point. No matter what, he believed he couldn't leave it behind.
Unfortunately, he was in for a surprise. As soon as he stepped into the pond, which previously didn't appear to be more than a few feet deep, he found himself being pulled inside into the endless depths of the pond.
It was unclear what was pulling him, but Gabriel struggled as much as he could to free himself.
He struggled with all his might to free himself, but his body only kept submerging in the water. Before long, most of his body was inside the dark water, and he could feel thousands of hands holding on to him and pulling him down into the deep abyss!