Chapter 28: Abandoned Land (this
"To you."
Michelle didn't know when he took a lantern and gave it to Igna.
"Do you want to play lanterns in a dream?" Igna asked Michelle involuntarily.
Of course he remembered what Michelle had said before about the strange phenomena that he would encounter in the darkness of the City of Silver. But isn't it in memory now?
Michelle curled her lips and replied, "Of course it's not necessary. It's just a habit, sir. Whenever I come back here, I want to light up the lights in the dark."
"Because we have the light now," Michelle said, raising her wrist. The glass lantern emitted a brighter light than the animal skin lantern.
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Ignatius and Michelle followed behind the exploration team, passing through ruins that had been destroyed for an unknown period of time, and walked through streets that were quiet and manic.
Finally, at the end of their line of sight, they saw a vast high platform purely made of artificial piles.
Above the high platform, there is a half-collapsed building. It is very similar to the temple in the City of Silver. It is a dome supported by stone pillars.
It's completely different from the other buildings here... Along the way, Igna is also observing the surrounding roads.
So, is this town a "fallen creator" who later converted?
As soon as Ignatius had such an idea, the four lanterns in the team went out at the same time.
Suddenly, the entire exploration team fell into pure darkness. There was no lightning in the sky, there was no candle on the ground, and the breathing of the surrounding humans seemed to disappear.
There is still light around Igna and Michel. But their lanterns could not illuminate any scene, as if they were embedded in the darkness out of thin air.
Seeing this scene, Igna's body was instantly tense, and he still remembered what Michelle said before.
Beware of the absolute darkness in the City of Silver!
At the same time, a young and helpless voice sounded in his ears, fearful and dry.
It was a child whispering: "Save me, save me."
Igna's heart tensed. Where's the voice coming from? Where's the kid from? How can there be human beings in the dark?
Clenching the lantern in his hand, Igna was tensed.
But in the next moment, it was just an instant, and there was a little bit of shimmering dust in the darkness. The dust exploded one after another, igniting wisps of silver-white light, illuminating the surrounding area.
Colin Iliad twirled dust in his hands.
Derrick and the team emerged.
Derrick Berg immediately clasped his hands and put them in front of his mouth and nose, as if praying. Immediately, bright and clean rays of light shone from his body, causing the darkness around him to recede silently.
The other team members hurry up and light the candles again.
The light returns to the earth.
Because the Demon Hunter responded in a timely manner, no team members were missing this time, and no new members were added.
Colin took his eyes away from Derrick, looked at the half-collapsed temple on the high platform, and said solemnly: "From now on, there must be no negligence, and the alert should be raised to the highest level." (Note 1)
Although Igna knew that this was a dream, he also raised his vigilance.
This is not only because of this real-like memory, which gives him a sense of immersive substitution, but also because, when he enters the temple, I am afraid that he will enter the theme of this "adventure".
Following Derrick Berg's memory, they maintained the formation to find the capital and continued to descend into the temple.
In the half-collapsed temple, only a few stone pillars were still intact, supporting the small half of the main hall together.
There is a cracked altar at the front of the main hall, and a dark, huge cross stands in the center of the altar.
Above the cross, hangs a naked man who hangs upside down. His ankles, his thighs, and his body have obvious rust-colored iron nails exposed, accompanied by bright red blood.
Igna was stunned. This was the first time he had seen the statue of the "True Creator".
He knew very well that the "true creator" was the evil god, but he couldn't help but lower his eyes and look at the target's face.
He saw the face, nose, mouth, ears, etc. of the **** statue were relatively blurred, only the eyes were carved very clearly. The "Fallen Creator" closed his eyes tightly, as if suffering guilt and pain.
"Remove your eyes, don't study the statue of the evil god," Colin the "Demon Hunter" reminded in a deep voice.
"Yes, Your Excellency." Several members of the exploration team quickly retracted their sights.
Igna also suddenly woke up from the dream, and withdrew his gaze towards the true God of the Creator.
The remaining part of the temple on the ground is not wide, and the exploration team quickly completed the inspection in groups of two or three, and found no abnormalities.
Seeing this, Colin, chief of the "Six-Person Council", considered it for a few seconds and said, "Go underground."
While speaking, he brushed out one of the two swords he was carrying, and smeared a silver-gray ointment on it.
Immediately afterwards, he took off a metal vial contained in the hidden compartment of the belt at his waist, pulled out the stopper, and Gulu drank the medicine inside.
Igna blinked.
Is this the potion used by witchers? It is rumored that in the Sequence 4 of this path, the "Demon Hunter" is good at discovering the weaknesses of different monsters, identifying the use of various materials, and can make corresponding magical preparations for the former and the latter in a unique meditation mode. Potions, holy ointments, essential oils, and special marks, and then, by ingesting, applying, and using these items, achieve the effect of restraining the target. Of course, these are only some of the extraordinary abilities possessed by "Demon Hunters", and they cannot be called "Demigods" or "Saints" based on these alone. (Note 2)
So what is the potion that the chief drank just now? A potion that enhances darkvision?
Igna observed Colin, and at this moment, he felt that the chief's light blue eyes seemed to light up a little.
The other members of the exploration team made the most careful preparations one after another. Under the illumination of the four animal skin lanterns, they walked along the stairs on the left side of the statue to the underground area step by step.
Igna followed the exploration team down, and he heard footsteps swaying away from the surface of the stone steps, producing echoes of a distant void.
This echo was not disturbed in any way, indicating the absolute silence below.
After an unknown amount of time, Igna and the exploration team finally saw that the road ahead became flat, and they also saw a huge mural.
Those murals exist in large areas on the walls on both sides, simply with some color, they appear ancient, vicissitudes and bleak.
Igna glanced at random, and was attracted by one of the murals: on the front left wall, a white cross stood in the very center, surrounded by sea-like black, submerging many humans struggling to stretch out their arms.
On the cross is the "fallen creator" hanging upside down. The rusty nails and blood stains are indistinguishable from the gods outside.
But in this fresco, the "fallen creator" is being eroded by black, so that the whiteness of the cross has become pitch black in parts.
In addition, the cross supports a hazy earth, and countless human beings are kneeling and praying to the "Fallen Creator".
Around the picture, in the deepest part of the darkness, there are six evil god-like figures hidden.
In the upper left corner is a girl in a black classic dress. Her clothes are layered but not complicated, and are inlaid with many radiance like stars. Her body is relatively blurred, and there are signs of ripples going out. Her face is blurred. , seems to be wearing a mask without facial features.
Around her, darkness was surging, and strange eyes were looming.
Directly above is a young man in a pure white robe, his face was painted pure gold, and he grew a ray of tentacles.
His hands were holding a rotten green book and a spear made of brilliance, and the position of his chest and vest was reversed.
In the upper right corner is a trident-wielding monster with an octopus-like head, round eyes and lightning bolts.
The feathers of countless birds made up its mantle, and the darkness turned into waves that supported its feet.
On the lower right is a plump and beautiful lady, her chest bulging high, naked outside her clothes, holding a baby with a rotting face in her arms, black ears of wheat under her feet, wriggling fleshy lumps. Springs, pus-filled herbs and wildly mating animals.
Directly below is an old man in a hood, revealing his mouth, wrinkles, and white beard.
The old man was holding an open book with an eye symbolizing omniscience above it. At first glance, this old man is the most normal, but the smile on the corner of his mouth has an indescribable wickedness.
In the lower left corner is a giant warrior in tattered armor, with a long sword and a throne, with a bleak twilight in the background.
When I saw these portraits, Ignat's heart tightened suddenly.
And felt deeply offended!
This is blasphemy against the gods!
Igna, who has a strong ability to associate, is very sensitive to the synthesis of elements. How could he not see that these are the six orthodox gods who led mankind out of the cataclysm in the era of disaster?
This smear of the gods made Igna furious.
But soon he calmed down again. This is from Michelle's "soothing".
Igna couldn't help but look back at Michelle, only then did he find that Michelle was very calm, not only Michelle, but all the residents of Silver City around him had no reaction to this picture, and seemed to just feel strange.
"I understand your anger, this is the slander of the fallen creator." Michelle said.
"After coming to the New World, we also learned about the gospel that these gods brought to their people." Michelle drew a prayer gesture from the Church of the Fools on his chest.
"The Lord told us to respect them. They joined forces to protect the world."
Igna nodded. Thanks again for this "tour guide".
Not only does he need to show his dreams, but he also needs to be an interpreter, and when necessary, he needs to be a soothing psychiatrist, which is really hard work.
At this time, Igna was able to calm down and re-examine the picture.
Abandoning prejudice, he can probably see the meaning of this mural is that the cataclysm is coming, the evil gods crawled out of the abyss, and the "fallen creator" has suffered most of the guilt and pain in order to save the world, and as a result, the symbol is eroded. , the image has changed.
However, he is the biggest evil god, right?
Igna knew very well how much disaster the "True Creator" had caused in Backlund.
The famous Backlund Great Smog was attributed to the real creator.
The team did not explore the mural area for a long time. In the dim candlelight, Igna followed the exploration team through corridors, halls, rooms, and deep into the underground area of the temple.
Suddenly, a half-opened grey stone gate appeared in front of them. (Note 2)
Behind the gate is an altar-like place. The area around it that is hard to reach is deep and dark, and I don't know what is hidden.
Above the altar, there is also a black cross and a hanging "true creator".
Ignat, who followed Derrick with the animal skin lantern, instinctively glanced there.
His eyes suddenly froze, because he found that the "Fallen Creator" statue here was different from the outside world.
its eyes are open
The blood-colored whites and black pupils stared straight at the intruder in front of him as if alive.
"Kickkick..."
Igna heard the sound of teeth clashing.
He originally thought it was from which team member, but soon realized that it was himself who was shaking. Although he didn't know enough about the dangers of the evil god, at this moment, his teeth were trembling instinctively.
At the same time, the sound of erratic crying suddenly came from behind the altar. (Note 3)
"woo, woo, woo"
"woo, woo, woo"
"Demon Hunter" Colin calmly ordered: "Derrick, Joshua, you can go around and have a look."
Derrick Berg was obviously also a little scared. However, after hearing the chief's order, he was still a little stiff, and together with Joshua, he walked slowly around the back of the altar.
Ignatius followed.
As the darkness was gradually dispelled by the light, they saw a shadow curled up behind the altar.
Two steps ahead, the shadow showed its original appearance.
It was a seven- or eight-year-old child, with soft yellow hair.
He closed his eyes and seemed a little uncomfortable with the light, and shouted excitedly in his mouth:
"help me, help me"
Igna's pupils shrank, thinking of the cry for help he heard in the pure darkness before.
What kind of human can survive in pure darkness, is he still human?
After experiencing the darkness just now, Igna was convinced that in the pure darkness of the City of Silver, it was impossible for human beings to survive. Even if it was, it is not now.
However, at this time, Colin the Demon Hunter had come to their side. In the dream, his expression was solemn but steady. He stepped forward and asked, "Who are you?"
The child stopped calling for help, and said reminiscently, "My name is, my name is Jack."
"Demon Hunter" Colin's eyes seemed to light up a little, his hand holding the sword clenched tightly, and he asked in a calm voice, "What are you doing here?"
The little yellow-haired boy who called himself Jack replied with a slightly painful expression: "We are looking for the Lord's SanctuaryThe Lord's Sanctuary?" Colin asked.
"Yes." The little boy Jack looked sideways at the pitch-black cross and the hanging figure. "They told me that as long as you go in the direction the Lord's eyes see, and keep going, you can reach His sanctuary."
"They...? You have companions?" Colin's eyes rolled around like some kind of monster, taking all the surrounding circumstances into his sight, "What about them?"
Hearing this question, the little boy Jack was obviously stunned.
Suddenly, he held down his throat and said with a distorted expression:
"I am so hungry……
"I'm so hungry..." (Note 4)
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Note 1: Volume II, The Faceless Man, Chapter 241, Who Am I.
Note 2: Volume II, The Faceless Man, Chapter 232 "Live".
Note 3: Volume II, The Faceless Man, Chapter 242, The Helper.
Note 4: Volume II, The Faceless Man, Chapter 244, Message from the Evil Spirit
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