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Inside the cave, there was a long, broad stone corridor sloping downward into deep blackness. Copper lamps were embedded in the surrounding stone walls every ten meters, though most were unlit — the occasional dim yellow glow only made the corridor appear paler and more sinister.
The moment Lucian stepped into the corridor, he deftly and calmly dodged into a dim corner, melting into the shadows. Nearly crawling, without a sound from his footsteps, he pressed forward at an eerie, swift pace.
…………
In the temple, another High Priest wrapped in silver robes was methodically checking the other entrances and exits, worried that it might be a deliberate ruse — that someone might sneak in through one of the other passages.
As for this particular entrance, since the fierce battle had occurred right outside and Anga was stationed there, the High Priest subconsciously dismissed it as safe and left it for last.
This was a deliberate exploitation of a mental blind spot!
…………
After ten seconds of advance, the corridor leveled out, and numerous slightly aged and dilapidated doors appeared along the stone walls.
Hiding in the dimness outside one of these doors, Lucian refrained from using Bat's Scream to scout. Instead, he focused his attention, relying on his increasingly keen hearing to listen for movement within, since he was concerned that this underground palace might contain Magic Circles or Divine Arts arrays designed to detect large-scale Arcane Magic fluctuations.
"No breathing sounds, no conversation, no movement." Based on this feedback, Lucian concluded that no one was inside. After all, the battle outside was still raging — if there were people, or strange beings that didn't need to breathe, hiding in the Silver White Horn cult's refuge, it certainly wouldn't be this quiet.
He gripped the door handle with his right hand and applied gentle pressure. The door swung open slowly. After a quick sweep of the interior with his eyes, Lucian slipped inside.
Only now did Lucian allow himself to relax slightly. The tension, the oppressive dread of being discovered by a powerful expert, finally eased somewhat — otherwise, he suspected he would have started suffocating involuntarily.
"So most of the capable cultists in this underground city have been pulled out to fight, and those who remained are mostly guarding key locations. Uncle Joel's family are commoners — their imprisonment probably isn't very tight." Lucian realized his initial plan had succeeded. "But there really is a ruin down here."
The numerous pieces of rotting furniture in the room made it abundantly clear that this was an underground relic.
After calculating that the cultists were hiding within a hundred meters of the forester's cabin, Lucian had guessed there might be an underground ruin or subterranean cave — each with roughly a fifty-fifty chance — so his claim about the "Emden" magic ruin hadn't been entirely made up.
After a brief adjustment, Lucian opened the door again and continued deeper into the corridor. Time was of the essence — the cultists held an overwhelming advantage in strength, and he was certain the battle would end soon with them returning.
Lurking in the corridor, Lucian used visible traces to judge where the core area was, while also searching for cultists inside the rooms.
After listening outside three consecutive rooms, he finally heard voices.
Behind another slightly aged door, two people were conversing with a tinge of nervousness:
"What's going on out there? The Lords Cleric all went out?"
"I don't know, but you can hear the explosions outside — they're really loud…"
Lucian assessed their strength, quietly turned the door handle, and burst in, his body becoming an afterimage.
The two cultists were preoccupied with the situation outside, never expecting to encounter danger. Lucian struck one with each hand, knocking them both unconscious.
He closed the wooden door, then revived the younger of the two cultists.
The moment the cultist awakened and recalled what had just happened, he was about to cry out for help — but before him appeared a pair of deep, dark eyes, as though flickering with a dreamlike starry sky of scattered stars.
Instantly, the cultist became lost in that starry expanse, feeling that the person before him was the "Silver White Lord" to whom he devoted his entire faith.
"Do you know where the captured commoner family is being held?" Lucian asked softly.
Eye of Stars used in this manner was essentially a hypnotic technique, producing virtually no Arcane Magic fluctuations — it relied instead on direct spiritual and mental power.
Through his "conversation" with the cultist, Lucian obtained a general picture of this level of the ruins. The core temple was on the western side, housing the High Priest, priests, clerics, and Dark Knights. Joel's family and some other common hostages were locked in a remote room in the northwestern section of the ruins, guarded by a single ordinary Dark Knight and a handful of knight attendants.
Moreover, the ruins spanned more than one level, though the lower floors had been completely destroyed. This level alone had five exits, located in different parts of the Melzer Black Forest.
Without daring to waste a moment, Lucian wrung the necks of both cultists, left the stone room, circled around the core area of the ruins, and slipped toward the northwest in silent, rapid stealth.
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The silver-robed High Priest inside the temple finished inspecting the other entrances. He then began casting dark arts to examine this entrance that should have been perfectly safe, while ordering the remaining priests, clerics, and Dark Knights to focus their inspection on the area surrounding the temple.
…………
Now possessing knowledge of this level's layout, Lucian — though still careful and cautious — felt much of his concealed tension dissipate. He moved forward with greater calm and composure. Combined with the fact that the vast majority of the capable cultists had already left, he soon arrived without incident at the location the captured cultist had described as the "prison."