The black stone door slowly opened amidst rough and heavy grinding sounds. As the light from the lantern shone into the room, Klein began to see the interior, bit by bit.
There was a few meters of open space at the entrance; also paved with dark stone tiles, and a platform nearly a meter high. Klein cautiously moved forward, holding up the lantern to illuminate the item on the platform.
A few seconds later, a fiery radiance formed the outline of a huge statue. It was about four to five meters long and almost filled the entire room. It was an extremely beautiful lady with a hazy face. Her right hand supported her head as she laid down on the platform. She wore a layered black classical dress that wasn't overly complex.
There was a circle of radiating rays at the bottom of her head. On this lady's dress, there were sparkling specks of radiance. They were pieces of bright and resplendent gems.
At first glance, Klein felt as though he was seeing the night and the stars. This was outlined against a circular shape under the lady's head that resembled a full moon.
'This,' Klein's thoughts seemed to freeze, but a guess immediately ploughed its way from within.
"Evernight Goddess?" Miss Bodyguard's voice carried a rare hint of puzzlement. Be it the symbolism or the actual form, it seemed to be a sculpture of the goddess! Klein's guess finally took shape, echoing loudly in his mind.
He remembered asking Captain Dunn Smith about one of the differences between an evil god and a true god. The former was said to have an image that resembled that of an intelligent lifeform, but the latter only had Sacred Emblems formed by symbols!
But today, at this very moment, in this ancient and bizarre underground structure, he saw a statue that looked like the Evernight Goddess. What did this mean? Just thinking about it made Klein shudder.
'Could it be that the goddess was once an evil god? No, maybe it's some other evil god that falls into the night domain. However, the Dark Sacred Emblem by the door is no different from the one that is being used presently. Or perhaps, having the image of an intelligent being isn't a standard method to distinguish between true gods and evil gods?'
'After all, the Captain's level wasn't high enough, and his understanding of the situation wasn't necessarily accurate enough. It was also possible that the Tudors were deliberately blaspheming the goddess! Yes, it could also be a way of setting up some strange ritual!' Many thoughts flashed through Klein's mind.
It left him feeling puzzled, nervous, and tense. However, he also felt a strange feeling which couldn't be described.
After looking around, Klein, who didn't see anything else, took a deep breath and said, "Let's go to the other doors and take a look."
'I wonder what the other six doors correspond to. Would it be equally strange and evil?' He thought gravely.
Miss Bodyguard nodded slowly.
…
Following that, Klein found the symbols and subsequent statues of Mother Earth, the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun, the God of Combat, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
Apart from the God of Steam and Machinery, there were six humanoid statues of the orthodox Gods in this strange hall. Considering the weak position of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery before the appearance of Roselle, there seemed to be some sort of explanation regarding this problem.
"This is really strange," Klein exclaimed with a sigh, partially because he couldn't stop it, and partially because he was testing Miss Bodyguard's reaction.
'This grand hall, which was a hundred meters deep, actually had six of the orthodox gods collected within it. This was something unimaginable in the current era! How could the Church of the Six True Gods allow their gods to live in the same structure as the other gods?! This was a custom that only existed during the Fourth Epoch. Also, what's with those humanoid statues?'
'Although they look normal, unlike the sinister Primordial Demoness and the True Creator statues, they still give off weird vibes. Just what had happened to make the images of the six gods evolve into abstract symbols in this day of age? No, perhaps it's been like this all this time, but the master of this place, a noble who's suspected to be a member of the Tudor family, purposely created statues of the six deities for some purpose. Hmm, I thought of an item from a novel from my previous life, the Six Soul Banner.'
While he waited for Miss Bodyguard's reply, Klein's mind wandered. Miss Bodyguard didn't answer his query and instead said blandly, "There's another door."
'That's right,' Klein suddenly felt fear. From his point of view, doors placed in the middle often had a special meaning, perhaps the core region of this ancient structure.
Of course, this also likely implied the highest amount of danger. In his opinion, doors placed in the centre often had a special meaning, perhaps the core of this ancient building. Of course, this also meant that the situation was most likely the most dangerous.
"What are your thoughts on that area?" Klein hesitated for two seconds and directly asked.
Under the situation of not being able to use the grey fog to eliminate any interference, he felt that Miss Bodyguard's spiritual perception and spiritual instincts were more reliable than his divination means at present.
After all, she was in a very special state, close to that of a spiritual body, allowing her to communicate with the spirit world without any obstruction to gain revelations.
Miss Bodyguard closed her eyes and replied a few seconds later, "Very dangerous. But the danger is subdued. Once you venture deeper, don't touch anything."
'Subdued danger. Is this equivalent to having something sealed inside?' As Klein guessed, he and Miss Bodyguard walked to the central stone door and stepped onto the dark floor.
The light of the lantern seemed to dim a little as though it found it difficult to drive out the darkness ahead. Klein had his left hand in his pocket, holding Azik's copper whistle and a few charms. After about thirty steps, Miss Bodyguard suddenly stopped.
Klein raised the lantern in his right hand and saw that the road ahead was blocked by boulders and dirt. On the left and right were two stone doors in the same shape as the ones in the main hall. The right side was ajar and filled with mud and stone.
"Perhaps this ancient structure was aboveground back then, but for some reason, it eventually sank and collapsed," Klein mumbled, "there's only one direction we can choose from."
Before he could finish his words, he saw Miss Bodyguard float ahead, stick to the huge rock, fuse into it, and disappear. Klein's mouth twitched, and he began to patiently wait. After a few minutes, Miss Bodyguard came out from the mud on the right, her body completely free of dust.
"It's completely collapsed," she concluded flatly.
For a moment Klein was speechless and could only smile. Following that, the two of them simultaneously looked to the left where the ajar stone door was. There was a tiny crack. Klein went closer and carefully looked through the three-centimetre gap. His Spirit Vision, which had originally been blocked by the stone door, immediately discovered something.
There were at least four bright and powerful spiritual lights inside, two that were close to dark gold in colour, and two that were dark blue like the sea. After using his Spirit Vision, a "narrow" scene appeared in Klein's normal vision.
The firelight that entered the room illuminated the black stone tiles. On top of the tiles were piles of bones covered with rotten clothing, and a few of them emitted dark gold and dark blue light.
'Condensed Beyonder characteristics? Mystical items?' As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Klein swept his gaze to the ends of the room.
Along the dark wall stood a bifold door. A bloody pair of bifold doors!
There seemed to be remnants of fresh blood on the door. They continued sliding down as they reflected the light. Klein had wanted to let Miss Bodyguard scout the way ahead when he suddenly felt a change in Azik's copper whistle that he was holding in his hand!
The originally cold and mild whistle suddenly became bone-piercing. It was a profound feeling of death!
'This!' Klein narrowed his eyes and instinctively took a step back. Then, he noticed that his right forearm was numb and itchy and that it was beginning to swell. A scene flashed through his mind as he immediately took out a tarot card with his left hand and slashed it across his arm. What surged out from his wound wasn't blood, but tiny black squirming worms!
*Sizzle*
When these worms fell to the ground, they eroded into smoke. They struggled and huddled, but in the end, they melted under the glow of the lanterns. After a few seconds, all the black worms in Klein's wound finally flowed out, leaving only crimson liquid.
He wriggled his muscles to control the small wound and prevented the blood from flowing further. Miss Bodyguard watched this scene quietly, her pretty eyebrows creasing into a rarely seen frown.
Klein was just about to speak when he discovered the coldness and deadliness of Azik's copper whistle hadn't abated. At the same time, his gaze landed on Miss Bodyguard's shadow. She never had a shadow, to begin with!
"Run!" Klein shouted and immediately ran towards the hall. Miss Bodyguard quickly floated up, and the two of them saw the lantern light in front of them gradually being swallowed up by a black shadow.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
Klein ran like a hurricane as fast as he could while the light around him faded away.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
The shadow grew bigger and bigger, closer and closer, thicker and thicker. The light from the flame was about to be completely engulfed, and at that moment, the door was still a few meters away.
At that moment, Klein instinctively rushed forward and then rolled across the stone door. The light from the fire suddenly brightened, and the uneasiness in his heart instantly disappeared. Azik's copper whistle also returned to its mild and cold state.
Miss Bodyguard floated beside him as she turned around and looked at the passageway which had once again sunk into darkness. She said with an uncertain tone, "Evil spirit..."
'Evil spirit?' Klein almost drew a deep breath when he heard that. Fortunately, as a Clown, he was good at controlling his expression and reactions.
In the field of mysticism, evil spirits were extremely terrifying monsters. The best of them could even be said to be on the same level as High-Sequence Beyonders!
'An evil spirit is wandering within this ancient structure? For some reason, it's bound or imprisoned within that room? Hmm, if it was an evil spirit, that explains why Mr. Azik's copper whistle responded. An evil spirit can be considered as an undead creature,' Klein stood up and also looked at the path which was now submerged in darkness.
He felt as if there was a pair of cold eyes staring at him!
…
Klein quickly left after instructing Mr. Millet not to enter or allow others to enter, and that he would return after being more prepared to deal with the incredibly large amount of snakes inside.
While leaving, Klein couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Millet, who was the servant you sent over to accompany me?"
"Servant? All my servants as busy organising the workers and making sure the work is done correctly."
The man then turned to his head butler and questioned seriously, "Is there anyone who is not working currently?"
"No, sir. Everyone is at their positions and have been since morning sir," the butler bowed slightly.
"Alright. Continue the work then," he then turned to Klein with a helpless smile, "As you saw, everyone is accounted for."
Klein felt another chill run down his spine, and he placed both his hands in his pockets. One of his hands touched Azik's copper whistle and his other Beyonder artefacts and trinkets, while the other, which should not have touched anything, felt something smooth.
Klein froze and pulled out the object. It was a card, much like a tarot card. However, instead of a design on the back, it had an odd shape on it. It looked like a symbol he had seen before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Turning the card around, a pale skeleton knight in pitch-black armour riding on a white horse was revealed. The knight was holding a black flag with the same symbol as the back of the tarot card, and all around the knight were countless dead bodies.
'Death…'
Suddenly, Klein recalled where he had seen the symbol at the back of the card, but he did not dare to think of this being right now and instead decided to return home first before anything. This place was definitely not safe.
As Klein left, a figure walked out of the shadow to the side. He pulled off the brown-hair wig he was wearing and revealed his lustrous silver hair and a smile formed on his face.
It was really funny seeing Klein scurry around in fright like that. It felt like he was watching a clown performing… Suddenly, the smile on Max's face vanished.
'He is a clown right now. And he is acting like it… he is advancing really quickly. I need to also begin my plans for advancement. Plus, I need to get the ingredients for the next potion. So much to do, and not enough time to do it.'
Max sighed before turning to the closed door behind which lay the 'evil spirit' as Klein called it. In reality, it was something far worse. It was Sauron-Einhorn-Medici, the buy-on-get-two-free package deal of utterly insane angels… or at least former angels.
"Medici… Sauron… Einhorn… I have come to bargain."