A stretch of churches… Just as I judged… Klein looked at the ruins ahead, muttering silently to himself.
At this moment, the faint crimson moonlight piercing through the accumulated fog fell upon the half-collapsed buildings, much denser than before, increasingly approaching blood red.
Maintaining Gehrman Sparrow’s trademark coldness, Klein said without any emotional fluctuations:
“Where did you explore before?”
As he spoke, Klein glanced at the well-worn but unbroken lantern in the Hanged Man’s hand, and the reflected flame light made him instinctively tense his muscles and skin.
Although the flame was always isolated by thick glass and a metal grille, it still made him somewhat fearful.
Alger didn’t notice Gehrman Sparrow’s subtle change. He raised his right hand holding a short blade and pointed at the most intact and grand building in the ruins:
“There.”
That building also had only its main structure remaining, giving no clue of its original floor plan. One could only tell from the remaining parts that it had thick walls, was vast and huge, had narrow windows, and once had tall towers and a bell tower, with a plain appearance and ancient form.
“This is an architectural style from the early Fourth Epoch. It’s recorded in the scriptures of the
This might be an architectural style from the Third Epoch… Klein guessed, and walked first toward the entrance of the ancient church ruins, where the doorway was exceptionally tall. He left the lantern behind, enjoying only the light without bearing the flame.
Soon, the two ascended the gray-white stone steps with exaggerated height and arrived at the doorway, where they could see the remaining classical stone pillars and concentric multi-layered arches inside.
Klein didn’t rush inside. He reached into his pocket, took out a gold coin, made it flip and jump between his fingers, and seemed to mutter something.
Suddenly, he flung the coin up with a clear ring, then spread his palm to await its fall, while turning to the Hanged Man and asking:
“Based on what did you judge that the depths of this church contain items worth no less than a ‘Blasphemy Card’?”
After speaking, he glanced at the coin falling into his palm and casually put it away.
Alger pointed inside and said:
“I said that I was not as strong as Zerlings at that time, so of course I didn’t go as deep as he did. I can’t know exactly what he saw; I can only judge from some of his words that there are very precious and important things inside, and at least a real Sequence 5 level is needed to possibly obtain them.
“However, the murals near the entrance and the marks on the ground might indicate some things.”
Klein nodded, walked into the deep doorway where the crimson moonlight couldn’t directly reach. The black coat on his shoulders lightly fluttered back. Alger followed behind, carrying the lantern, gripping the short blade.
Passing through the doorway, Klein, by the red moonlight falling through the broken ceiling, saw a large hall with considerable depth. Many of its classical stone pillars had collapsed and broken.
At its end was not an altar, nor steps leading upward, only a darkness, difficult to see details, seeming to descend deep underground.
Not a temple above with a tomb below… Are the temple and tomb both underground? Can’t tell; must go down to know… Klein instinctively looked left and right, noticing a side door on each side, but the areas they led to had completely collapsed, with no path possible.
The murals near the entrance and the marks on the ground… He recalled the Hanged Man’s words, took two oblique steps, released the invisible “Wraith” Seniol, and using his night vision, examined the remaining murals on the wall.
The background of the mural was a majestic and magnificent mountain, with a huge cross covered in layers of holy light at the top.
In front of the cross stood an extremely imposing figure, surrounded by angels with two, four, and six wings.
This… Klein only took a rough glance and felt a strong sense of familiarity.
He had seen similar murals before, in the tomb of the Blasphemer
Focusing to look again, Klein quickly found differences. There were no two infants representing Amon and
The slab was drawn very blurry, but it gave a feeling of both ancient and young, both sacred and evil, a highly contradictory meaning.
Stone slab… Klein’s pupils slightly dilated, and a proper noun flashed through his mind:
“Blasphemy Slate”!
This should be that
He withdrew Seniol’s vision and made this “puppet” look at the ground instead.
On the stone slabs, besides being full of cracks, there were some strange traces left. They were dark red, about the size of a human forehead, sometimes overlapping, extending all the way to the end of the hall.
At this moment, Klein naturally imagined a scene in his mind:
Pious believers prostrated themselves on the ground, crawling forward, and every so often, they slammed their foreheads heavily against the ground, drawing blood.
Seeing Gehrman Sparrow’s gaze return, no longer looking around, Alger tentatively asked:
“Ancient Sun God?”
At the same time, he inexplicably felt a cold wind coming from beside Gehrman Sparrow, suspecting that there were hidden shadows or wraiths nearby.
Thinking of the strange control over that mutated curly-haired baboon, Alger vaguely guessed something, but didn’t say it.
Hearing the Hanged Man’s question, Klein almost laughed softly and replied, “You can also call Him the Creator of All, the Almighty God,” but he quickly realized that tone and wording were closer to “The Fool” than to Gehrman Sparrow, so he restrained himself and only nodded slightly:
“That’s not hard to see.”
Alger sighed silently in relief and became more expectant of the item buried deep in this church.