Chapter 201 Black Monastery

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After entering the safe road on the right, Agaritu walked a few hundred meters forward and saw an open door.

The gate was made entirely of bronze, had no spiritual luster and was an ordinary object. It is thick, ancient, and engraved with abstract running demon wolves (but it is painted like a spider because it has too many legs), giants wielding huge stone sticks and weapons, humans only the size of giant palms, and a sun bigger than giants. , thunder and lightning and clouds floating in the sky.

The sun is at the top, occupying a large area, with radiating straight lines to express the light. There are many patterns with the characteristics of the past era in the gaps, which are filled to the full.

The door opens from the middle, and the sun is divided into two symmetrical halves. The part engraved with humans happens to be separated from the side with giants and magic wolves. The exquisite design contains hints about the history of that time.

This bronze door is quite well preserved. If placed outside, it would be an important cultural relic that could shock the archaeological community. Its status may be comparable to that of the "Simuwu Ding" in the ancient civilization. It is a cultural reference to the ancient era. Research from scratch. And judging from the performance of the sculpture, the sun occupies the supreme position, and the eternal blazing sun may be the biggest winner.

Of course, it is more likely that the item was blocked by the major churches as soon as it was put on the market, or that it was destroyed on the spot because it did not have the characteristics of a sealed item.

The spirit, which inherited the main body's preference for "lost things" and the instinct to explore, also became very interested in this carving. He raised the lamp in his hand higher, studied the carvings carefully in a ritualistic manner, and put them All recorded in one's own memory.

There is an inconspicuous mechanism on the ground behind the door. As long as you step on it, the door will slowly close.

After carefully reading all the carvings on the door, Agaritu was about to enter when he suddenly noticed that the light in his hand illuminated a hidden mural. He wasn't sure if the mural had just appeared, because his attention was entirely on the gate itself.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he turned around, raised the lamp in his hand, and approached the mural.

This mural is connected to the mural outside, but it should not be by the same person. The one in front of you is obviously more refined and more freehand, while the one outside is more similar to symbols, or even expressions of words.

He saw the mural clearly.

Above the mural was a sea of ​​burning flames, which split from the middle and created a road.

On the road, there is a long procession, the members either bow their heads piously or kneel on the ground, aiming at the depths of the sea.

Their leader was a tall and thin man with long silver hair, soft features, closed eyes, and layers of wings on his back.

Agaritu's expression remained unchanged. A name came to his lips, but was not spoken.

Then, he said: "Do you understand?"

There was silence in the dark and narrow passage. After a few seconds, a foot appeared silently on the edge of the light, then two legs, and finally a person walked into the area covered by the light, bowing slightly.

"I understand, my dear captain."

Anderson spat out a mouthful of blood and said with a bright smile: "This is the pilgrimage road to a certain god in the legend of the ancient era. The right side is for people, and the left side is for sacrifices. The sacrificial flocks Go in front, so you’re the last to disembark as a pilgrim.”

He was wearing a blood-stained white shirt and a torn black vest. There was a lot of blood on his face and body. He had injuries on his abdomen, but they were not serious.

This answer was barely adequate, at least not illiterate... Agaritu turned to him: "They are all dead?"

Anderson moved into the light, then sat down on the ground, tore off a long piece of cloth from his clothes, and bandaged the wound on his arm that he had been covering with his hands. He bit the piece of cloth in his mouth and said vaguely:

"Yes, dear Captain."

“We were attacked by an extraordinary item and an extraordinary creature. Our Dawn Knight failed to block the sealed object that was stronger than him, and our wizard also failed to correctly identify the extraordinary creature that would turn into someone else. And captain, your subordinates have no idea of ​​united fighting. With all due respect, he is stupid and arrogant. He sits back and watches us being killed and retreats, but does not think about who will cooperate with them after we die. So in the end they all died."

Agaritu was surprised, but not surprised.

A sealed object used to slaughter livestock does not need to be of a high sequence. If it is higher than the "Warrior"'s sequence 6, it will most likely be sequence 5. The "human skin shadow" he saw on the road that had been harassing the team was just a piece of material corresponding to the "Soothsayer" sequence 6. The team of adventurers and sailors includes two Sequence 5s, Anderson and Gilsea, and two or more Sequence 6s. They are all experienced Beyonders, and their overall strength is much higher than that of their opponents. They are almost equal to each other. A punch can defeat sealed objects and extraordinary creatures to the point where they are no longer prototypes.

However, just because they were caught in the darkness and unable to grasp the situation immediately, they were all killed by the enemy with an overwhelming advantage in a short period of time with almost no defense.

It's a pity that their extraordinary characteristics will probably be used as part of the sacrifices and taken away by the Aurora Society's pilgrim team.

He already knew who had been here before.

Along the way, there are mural signs, carvings from the ancient Sun God era, cross emblems, and modern products. There is a high probability that they came here because they went on a routine pilgrimage to the Eastern Continent in October last year, but for some reason they suddenly lost contact with the Aurora Society pilgrimage team!

"Be happy, Gilcias is dead, and no one wants to kill you now." Agaritu said, "How did he die?"

Anderson smiled in an extremely honest and kind manner.

"When I heard the Dawn Rider finally calling us to run, I knew it was over and immediately turned around and ran."

"He ran away too."

"He ran with several other people, and the sealed object was chasing after him. If he got close to five meters, he would trip someone down."

"In the end, he also tried to trip me down, but I was faster than him!" Anderson smiled and made a fist gesture. "He fell, so I ran out as hard as I could, and then ran out of the sacrifice passage. , saw the murals and came here.”

After saying this long paragraph, Anderson let out a sigh of relief and his expression became weak and sluggish.

He said with great sincerity: "Dear captain, maybe there will be a place where I can be useful as a pathfinder, but I am about to starve to death."

Agaritu smiled: "You can live for more than five hours, and the body may also be useful."

After finishing speaking, he looked back at the "Angel of Destiny" on the mural behind him and said meaningfully:

"You walked into the path of sacrifice but escaped safely. Maybe this is also the choice of fate. Maybe you can pray in your heart and pray that fate will choose you again."

Behind him, Anderson, who already knew that it was impossible to get any charity, looked even more ugly. He knew very clearly that both his physical condition and mental state had slipped into an extremely dangerous situation. His eyes were dizzy, but he still forced a smile and said: "Destiny? I'm sorry, Captain, I don't really believe in this. If I believed that fate is real, I should be serving dishes in my hometown restaurant now."

“Has anyone predicted you’d be serving dishes in a restaurant?”

The devil chatted with him casually and walked towards the open door. Anderson didn't dare to hesitate, stood up and followed staggeringly step by step.

"My head teacher, the old man." This time, the hearty smile on Anderson's face, which seemed to be disguised, became a little more real due to the memory. He said with regret, "The old man firmly believed that people like me would have no future. He was afraid that I would starve to death, so he suggested I went to study art, but I didn’t like drawing according to the requirements of those old-fashioned examiners, so I ended up skipping school.”

"It's apostasy." Agaritu said, "It sounds like you are from the Church of the God of Knowledge."

——The word "head teacher" is a special word that can be called Lundborg.

Because it has the meaning of both "professor who manages the class" and "priest", a more accurate translation should be "bishop responsible for the small class system". Only the clergy of the Knowledge Church will have the two responsibilities of priest and teacher at the same time.

Therefore, as soon as this title appeared, it was applied for use by the bishops of Lemberg. They believed that this word was specially designed for them by Emperor Russell. But for some reason, Emperor Russell, who coined the term, insisted on using the less formal "head teacher" as the official translation.

Anderson stepped on the mechanism with discernment, and the thick bronze door slowly closed behind them.

“I have flexible prayer guidelines.”

He didn't say much about his faith, because he didn't have any serious faith at all: "You are right, but in the eyes of the old man, my apostasy was nothing more than skipping school. He was even happy that there was finally no one in the class. I met a man named Anderson Hood who kept his average score at the bottom every week. He opened the door for me the night I skipped school and gave me a map. He said that being a traveler outside to study the local customs was also a good career direction. , so he assigned me a hundred travel essays and told me the route to go abroad, for fear that I would be caught smuggling and embarrass him."

Anderson suddenly couldn't speak anymore. He felt like he was explaining his life, as if the next step was to find a place to lie down, say his last words and pass away with a smile.

However, the Demon Captain turned his head and said, "Hurry up, it's time to hit the road."

Dark corridors, demons with lanterns, murals praising ancient gods along the way... Anderson laughed dryly and quickened his pace, feeling that he was really going to die.

He suppressed his embarrassment and subtle feelings, laughed, and continued in a lively manner:

"On the way out of the country, I met an old man who told fortunes on a bridge. He talked nonsense and the price was very expensive."

"I saw that he hadn't eaten in a few days, so I went to check it out and asked him which country I should go to. He said I should go to the restaurant to serve the dishes."

"In the first few years after I came out, I didn't take this sentence seriously, but after staying at sea for a long time, I occasionally thought that maybe it would be good to serve the dishes. But I didn't really want to serve the dishes. I escaped just for the novelty and excitement. of life.”

After walking a few steps in silence, he laughed lightly:

"This adventure in the Forsaken Land is also very exciting, dear captain."

Agaritu did not answer. The only sound in the corridor was the sound of shoe soles on the ground, echoing continuously in the empty environment.

Soon, a flickering light source appeared at the end, which should be thunder and lightning from the outside world.

In the mural, the believers who are kneeling or advancing are quietly frozen in different postures. In the direction of the exit, walking in front, the leader holding a wooden staff raises his hands to welcome the light after darkness.

——If there were no thunder and lightning and darkness, the long and depressing corridor should be followed by the light of the sun. This is a baptism.

After walking out of the passage, the outside world came into view.

Two dim towers and black buildings are connected to each other by covered bridges, enclosing a wide gray stone square.

The square was covered with holes, with huge arrows stuck in it, and several fires burning, as if it had been attacked.

Looking from a distance, there are lights shining in several windows of the building. There are actually people living in such a place!

The rain here is much lighter, and it is no longer the overwhelming momentum that seemed to submerge everything. The square was very spacious, but the two people's footsteps were not slow, and they quickly arrived in front of the black building in the middle.

The building has many spiers and is followed by residential houses. The style is similar to a Gothic building from the old era, with a cross standing on the top. It looks like a church or a monastery.

Agaritu approached the monastery, reached out and knocked on the door. After a long silence, when he was about to knock on the door again, there was a sound of slight footsteps behind the black door. Then, the door tilted slightly, revealing a gap as wide as a palm.

Behind the gap is a hand holding a candlestick, with a red candle burning slowly.

A tall man was revealed behind the hand. He was a man with a weather-beaten face. There were deep wrinkles on his forehead, corners of his eyes, and around his mouth, but his hair was black and shiny, without a single silver strand.

His linen robe is simple and simple, his expression is serene and calm, and his rare pure black eyes contain curiosity about the guests and the kind smile unique to the clergy.

Agaritu quickly retrieved the corresponding face from his memory - absolutely correct, this is the "Black Saint" who lost contact with the Aurora Society, Leo Master!

However, there is a big difference in temperament between the face in the memory and the current Leo Master. The "Black Saint" has a deep and gloomy expression. Like other secret prayers, he likes to hide himself in the shadows, and his expression is very different. The movements are also marked by the fanaticism and neurosis that is the hallmark of a true Creator believer.

He has reached the middle or even the end of the pilgrimage, but there has been no news at all.

There must be something wrong with him.

"Welcome, everyone who can come here is a lamb guided by the Lord."

Leomaster said with a smile: "But I'm sorry, I can't let you in. The Lord's test is in this monastery. You can join us, practice hard together, witness miracles, and redeem yourself."

"In the monastery?"

"Yes, this is an inevitable test." The ascetic replied, "When we come here, the corresponding demon will also appear. If you are not pious enough, you will die. Only believers with firm faith can be saved and reborn."

Didn't understand it at all. the devil thought.

However, the meaning behind this sentence is probably the reason why the pilgrim team lost contact. It seems that there has been a lot of losses.

He thought for a while, hesitating whether he should reveal that he knew the other party's identity. Finally, he chose to ask directly:

"Who are you?"

Leo Master was not surprised by this question and answered it calmly.

"I am a dervish named Leo Master, from a religious order."

Anderson's expression was strange. He could see that the ascetic monk was relatively reserved, but the black inverted cross on the top of the monastery made the three words "Aurora Society" clearly written on the ascetic monk's face.

"The easternmost part of the Suniya Sea is where our Lord sleeps. His holy mountain is hidden somewhere here. I led a pilgrim team here, was tested by the Lord, and stayed here to practice penance. ."

Agaritu did not react to these words. Although he was a little curious about what the "demon" in the other person's mouth was, Leomaster did not seem to intend to tell this stranger the details of the test, so he asked straight to the point again:

"You can enter the sanctuary through the monastery?"

Leomaster slowly shook his head: "The Lord bore the sins of the world and hung upside down at the end of the world. His sanctuary rejects everyone and will only be opened when the final judgment is approaching."

Does this mean you can't get through it? Agaritu asked again: "Where is the edge of the island ahead?"

Leo Master said through the crack of the door:

"Go around here and go all the way east, crossing the dark abyss, but the long bridge leading to the sanctuary has been cut off."

After getting the information he wanted, Agaritu immediately turned around with the lamp in hand, preparing to bypass the black monastery from the left.

When Anderson saw this, he cautiously came closer and looked at the gentle and kind ascetic behind the crack of the door with a smile:

"Excuse me. As you can see, I am injured. Can you give me some food or water? Although dying at the end of the pilgrimage is the Lord's forgiveness, I feel that I can still make contributions to the Lord while I am alive. More contributions.”

Anderson's honorific title to the True Creator caused all the two demigods present to turn their heads. Leo Master's eyes moved slightly and his smile became more kind:

“We hallow His name.”

"His kingdom come."

Anderson naturally connected the dots four times on his body, made a sign of the cross, and answered skillfully: "Praise the Lord who created all things, the fallen nature of all living things, and may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

“When did you receive guidance from the Lord?”

Anderson solemnly replied: "When I was hungry and penniless wandering the streets of Intis."

He did not say the next words. A devout believer like Leo Master would naturally embellish it into believing that he had received help from his compatriots. The situation at that time was that Anderson sent himself to the Iron Cross Ordering Food while working part-time as a food delivery person. in front of members.

As a low-sequence hunter, he was caught as a young man, and the employee benefits and salary of the Iron-Blooded Cross really made him excited for a while. However, the unique fanaticism and neurosis of the believers of the True Creator soon made him lack faith and have no belief. He ran away with a bucket.

I worked for less than a quarter in total, and when I left, I left a large number of untouched documents and reports.

Leomaster felt compassionate and nodded: "Please wait a moment."

The door was closed and opened again after a few minutes. Leo Master brought a water bag that was still warm and two pieces of dough that looked soft and delicious. Just seeing the pancake, Anderson immediately felt his saliva secrete rapidly, and his hunger could no longer be suppressed.

“This is the Eucharist given by the Lord, His flesh and blood, in whom we partake, becoming fellow-citizens.”

After Leomaster finished speaking, Anderson couldn't wait to take a bite of the cake.

The pancake was also heated, and at this moment it was more delicious than any other food I had ever tasted. But before he could taste the texture of the pancake, a voice suddenly came from his mind:

"Praise the Lord! Praise the great Lord!"

Anderson let out an earth-shattering cough.

TBC

——————

I have been too busy these days, and I was so distracted studying for a driver's license that I had no intention of paying attention to the pain caused by the big dive in my subscription.

Regarding the true creation of the Source Castle mentioned at the end of the previous chapter... it is not in my plan, and even if it does happen, it will be a long, long, long time later.