Nie Hong, who had been kicked away, crawled back, clutching the Night Worship Sword. He glanced at the fallen giant spider monster and couldn't help but click his tongue.
"What exactly is inside your body, Mithra?"
"A lot of things...I can't even count them all."
"Let's get you out first."
"Give me the sword."
"Uh...wait? You want me to stab it back in?!" Nie Hong was immediately at a loss.
He had come on this adventure with a teammate, and during their first major crisis, his biggest contribution had been chopping off his teammate's arm!
He even got to experience pulling a sword out of his teammate's body and then stabbing it back in!
But he still did it.
After the first time, the conflicted feelings lessened. He hoped that in the future, betraying a teammate wouldn't weigh so heavily on his conscience.
Of course, if his future teammate was always Mithra, that was another story.
After freeing Mithra, they used Control Object to climb and successfully reached the bottom of the tunnel.
The spider monster's corpse was nearby.
Mithra gathered some information.
[Gross Tunnel Giant Cursed Collective: The cursed creatures in the Gross tunnels perfectly embody the phrase "unity is strength." After absorbing the sense of several believers, they even gained the power of the eye. But they didn't know how to use it.]
[—Jungo is pleased, but didn't have time to write a signature.]
"Write a proper introduction, don't change the wording!" Mithra cursed under her breath.
But this Jungo seemed like a friendly guy.
Mithra silently thanked him.
Putting that aside, Mithra noticed the information mentioned that the giant spider monster was partly formed from believers...
Nie Hong glanced at the monster a few times before looking away. He still couldn't bear to look at it for too long.
They had successfully reached the bottom of the tunnel. Mithra pulled the stone hammer from her body and activated Ignite, using it to light the surroundings.
They could see the shape of the ruins in the distance.
As they approached, the towering silhouette of the structure gradually materialized before them.
The ruins seemed to be built in the shape of an altar, surrounded by pillars. It was originally a grand structure, but time had taken its toll, and many of the stone pillars had collapsed.
"It feels ancient," Nie Hong commented.
Mithra was looking for Safin's silver pendant.
They didn't get too close to the ruins, following Safin's instructions. They simply searched around the perimeter, but for a while, they found nothing.
To make the search easier, they found several pebbles. Mithra activated Ignite on each one and had Nie Hong use Control Object to lift the fireballs into the air.
Instantly, the surroundings of the ruins were brightly lit.
It was almost festive.
"Still nothing? Mr. Safin said it was right in front of the ruins," Nie Hong said after a while, still empty-handed.
"There's nothing here," Mithra confirmed.
This area was mostly inhabited by cursed creatures, and they weren't interested in human objects.
Mithra's gaze fell on the ruins themselves.
Seeing this, Nie Hong said, "You want to go in? But didn't Mr. Safin say we should avoid going inside?"
Mithra stared at the ruins. "You wait here. I'll take a look."
"Hey, hey, hey! Are you listening to me?" Nie Hong called out.
"I have my own strength. You just worry about yourself. Wait here. If there's any danger, just shout. I'll come and save you," Mithra waved her hand and walked into the ruins with the stone hammer, leaving a stunned Nie Hong behind.
...
As Mithra entered the ruins, she felt a burning sensation deep within her eyes, gradually intensifying into pain.
Rubbing her eyes, she didn't stop but continued forward, ignoring the discomfort.
Strange pillars appeared within the ruins, and to each pillar was bound a strangely shaped statue.
The statues resembled werewolves standing upright, their limbs and bodies covered in armor, their exaggerated forms completely bound and restrained by chains.
The statues' eye sockets were also empty, yet they seemed to be watching Mithra.
Beasts?
Seeing the werewolf statues, Mithra couldn't help but think of the beasts of this world.
According to Safin's recounting of Dreamland's history, the beasts of this world were once ferocious. Intelligent, bipedal beastmen had even developed a miraculous civilization that was more magnificent than that of humans.
But now, the beastmen's reign had fallen. Pure beastmen were highly discriminated against by humans, hunted and killed whenever they were found.
However, traces of the once great beastmen civilization still existed in various corners of the world.
Were these ruins related to the intelligent beasts?
But these chained werewolf warrior statues didn't seem to be a good sign.
Night Eyes, activate!
[Imprisoned "Night Hunter" Statues: These statues represent a lower form of the ancient, stubborn Wandering God. They symbolize humiliation, weakening his external influence. That notorious hunter, his body and obsessions stemmed from lowly beasts.]
[—Lower-class werewolves that are not well-bred are often unwelcome among their kind. Stronger werewolves like to call them "dogs."]
After reading the description, Mithra continued forward.
She seemed to have reached the center of the altar, where there was a table and a weapon rack.
However, there was nothing on either of them.
Safin had said that even if they entered the ruins, they shouldn't touch anything inside. But there was nothing to touch.
The table and the weapon rack should have had items on them.
But now they were gone.
So Mithra didn't hesitate and walked forward to investigate.
This time, Night Eyes couldn't extract any useful information.
"The items have been taken," Mithra turned and looked around the ruins.
The cursed knight they had encountered earlier, the believers that formed the giant spider monster, and the missing items in these ruins...
Mithra left the ruins and saw an anxious Nie Hong waiting.
"How was it? Did you find anything?"
"I didn't find the item, but I've confirmed a clue."
"What is it?"
"The cult in town has been here and taken some things," Mithra said.
"Including Mr. Safin's pendant?"
"Cursed creatures wouldn't touch the pendant. Only humans would be interested in silver items."
"So the pendant is in town?" Nie Hong frowned.
Mithra nodded. "It's worth looking for. Also, there's another issue. Safin has basically stayed in the shallower levels of the tunnels. If the Night Hunters church had entered the tunnels through the main path, he would have noticed. But he said he hadn't seen them."
"They must have another entrance!" Nie Hong immediately added.
Mithra nodded. "We are outsiders after all. We don't know these complex tunnels very well. But the cultists could use the townspeople to guide them."
"What should we do next? Go back and tell Safin?"
"Let's look for their hidden path first. It would be a waste of time to go back now," Mithra said.
The wooden walkway they had come down was destroyed by the giant spider monster. Returning to the tunnels would mean navigating the maze again, which would take a long time. It wasn't worth it just to report the bad news to Safin.
With that, Mithra activated Stabilize.
Nie Hong rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit troubled. The consumption of sense power was giving him a headache. He also activated Stabilize.
Nie Hong felt like Mithra was influencing his habits.
Having replenished their Stabilize, the two-person team continued their exploration.