Whoosh—
The gale whistled towards him, and Li Ang swung the Tyrant Halberd, positioning it vertically in front of him. He also tapped forward with his toe, stepping onto the invisible stairs ford by the Cloud Ascending Ladder skill, and using the recoil force, his figure violently retreated.
Clang!
The sharp, ear-piercing sound of tal clashing resounded intensely through the corridor,
a heavy steel blade slashed at the center of the Tyrant Halberd's shaft, bursting out with sparking sparks,
the violent force transmitted along the halberd's shaft even causing Li Ang, who was suspended in mid-air, to accelerate again, flying towards the far end of the corridor.
Step.
Li Ang's feet touched the ground, his toes scraping two long cracks in the dusty marble floor tiles.
"..."
Li Ang slowly straightened his body, the Tyrant Halberd in his hand trembling incessantly, the shaft and blade vibrating with a buzzing sound.
His indifferent gaze looked forward, only to see an eerie figure holding a heavy steel blade slowly step out from the hidden door ahead.
The figure's appearance was quite similar to the mutant creature from before, with the upper body being a spherical arm aggregation.
The only difference was that the new mutant creature had only two exposed arms, each extrely robust, holding a thick, rustic, rusted steel blade.
It gave the impression that the previous mutant creature was a "farr" or "servant,"
whereas this one was a "soldier" or "guard."
"Does it also have a unique race?"
Li Ang casually shook his arm that had been shocked, the [Mystery Delver] title skill also being effective on the new mutant creature,
and the secret in its mind at this mont was [kill the intruder].
The combat power of the farr-type mutant creature was relatively low, so it intentionally led
to the guard?
I wonder if the secret's [intruder] refers solely to those intruding into the area behind the hidden door, or stepping into the Sacred Mountain—the likelihood of the forr may be slightly higher,
for if it's the latter, then for the Sacred Mountain's guard to grow like this is sowhat too weak.
Li Ang absentmindedly pondered while the new mutant creature was not as leisurely,
its strong arms gripping the blade handles silently, causing the heavy steel blades to scrape against each other, spraying sparks.
Boom!
The guard-type mutant creature stomped heavily forward,
the marble floor instantly cracked and exploded in all directions,
the dust scattered on the floor flying into the air, temporarily obscuring Li Ang's vision.
Within the dust, a gale filled with murderous intent whistled again.
Slash!
The simple steel blade pierced through the fog, slashing towards the top of Li Ang's head,
Li Ang slightly sidestepped to the left to avoid the steel blade, his right hand gripping the Tyrant Halberd heavily striking the ground, positioning the halberd's shaft obliquely,
causing the trajectory of the blade's slash to be deflected by the angle of the shaft, heading towards his lower right.
Block.
Li Ang's right hand, holding the Tyrant Halberd, pushed sharply to the right, pushing the steel blade towards the wall, forming an angle with the wall,
firmly clamping the blade in the middle, immobilizing it.
At the sa ti, holding the Colt Revolver in his left hand, without thinking, he pulled the trigger repeatedly into the dust, firing three bullets, accurately hitting the mutant creature's knees,
then imdiately holstered the revolver, forming his left hand into a fist, suddenly punching upward,
striking precisely at the mutant creature's right wrist holding the steel blade.
The sound of cracking bones echoed loudly,
the wrist of the mutant creature's strong arm was forcibly broken, the entire hand limply dangling like a boneless snake, causing the steel blade it wielded to fall to the ground.
The entire process was smooth and seamless,
by the ti the dust settled, the new guardian mutant creature was already kneeling on the ground, its knees and right arm severely injured.
Bang!
Li Ang lightly kicked again, hitting the mutant creature's left wrist clamped in the wall,
shattering the wrist bones completely, rendering it incapable of movent.
"Strength is sufficient, agility is lacking."
Li Ang nonchalantly remarked, kicking the two steel blades on the ground far away to fall against the wall—these blades were of ordinary material and roughly crafted, only acceptable as usable weapons, having no collectible value whatsoever.
But the mutant monster itself...
Li Ang glanced down at the arm aggregation,
after having its wrist bones broken by brute force, and knees pierced by bullets, it still remained lively, as if unemotional to pain, violently struggling,
trying to break free from the Tyrant Halberd's binding.
Li Ang casually released a [Paralysis Hint] to the mutant creature, whose limbs imdiately stopped moving, collapsing backward with a thud,
the arm aggregation serving as the upper body also limply sagging down.
[Paralysis Hint] is a Level-One Superpower within the ntal Ability Enchantnt Series, its effect causing the recipient to mistakenly believe they are paralyzed, particularly effective against targets far weaker than Li Ang,
or those with undeveloped intellect or fragile ntal state.
In different circumstances, Li Ang might be interested in stopping to ticulously study this arm aggregation's physiological structure,
but at present, there are more important matters to attend to.
He stood up, retrieved the Tyrant Halberd, and reached to push the movable hidden door embedded in the wall—the hidden door's shape identical to the wall, with the sa color and pattern tiles affixed outside,
if not looked at carefully, one wouldn't notice any difference.
Opening the hidden door, the light behind was much more abundant,
the area roughly arranged in the structure of a bedroom, with nurous white candles laid across the floor, a small portion burning,
corners of the ceiling adorned with sculpted vents, beneath which was an extinguished fireplace, the stone bricks outside charred black and gray from long-term exposure to smoke and fire.
Beside the fireplace was a wardrobe,
near the wall was a large wooden bed with posts and a pale golden mosquito net.
The arm aggregation of the farr-type mutant creature stood in front of the wooden bed at this mont.
It held no weapons, its body seemingly trembling all over from fear and timidity,
yet sohow from nowhere retrieved an iron rod seemingly used for adjusting fireplace firewood, blocking between Li Ang and the wooden bed, obscuring his view.
In places the arm aggregation's body couldn't block, Li Ang could see,
a pile of dining plates on the floor beside the wooden bed, filled with the sa mashed potato-like food the arm aggregation previously consud, entirely untouched, emanating a moldy stench.
The refreshing result of the [Mystery Delver] title skill showed its current secret was [Should not have brought the enemy here].
Should not have co?
Could it be that this farr-type arm aggregation, as well as the one in the corridor,
are both guarding so existence on the wooden bed in the castle?
Because it led Li Ang to the secret door room, intending for the guard to kill Li Ang, but not expecting Li Ang to easily counter-kill the guard, so it is particularly regretful?
Thoughts raced in Li Ang's mind, and he casually took a step forward,
the arm aggregation trembled all over, yet still endured the intense fear, swinging the iron drill at Li Ang.
[Paralysis Hint]
Li Ang didn't slow the step of his pace in the slightest, casually casting a psychic ability,
the arm aggregation swinging the iron drill imdiately seed to be struck by lightning, went limp, and collapsed to the ground,
the iron drill also fell to the ground with a "clang."
With no obstruction, Li Ang strode towards the princess bed with four wooden posts,
pierced the mosquito net with the Tyrant Halberd, flicking it open with a foot.
The imaginary tantalizing scene did not appear,
what lay on the bed was not a living princess,
but a corpse that had dried and withered long ago.
The corpse was mostly just a skeletal structure,
with gray-white long hair left on the scalp, dressed in old female clothing, the upper body leaning against the headboard, the lower body covered with a silk quilt filled with velvet.
[Detect Thought], [Inflict Pain], [ntal Lock]
Li Ang did not move, but first cast a few psychic abilities at the dried corpse, only stepping forward half a step after confirming the other party was completely dead, carefully examining the corpse.
Judging from the shapes of the various bones, the deceased was female while alive, relatively old, with no obvious fatal injuries, the cause of death likely natural causes.
Li Ang, from a distance, extended plant fibers, penetrated into the skeleton, and explored it with divine power.
The corpse's organ structure was consistent with a normal person, not the ghouls under the Sacred Mountain,
A necklace was tied around the corpse's neck, with a small wooden cross hanging at the lower end, appearing much older than the corpse itself.
Wooden cross?
Li Ang raised an eyebrow, seemingly thinking of sothing, severed the plant fibers, allowing them to dissolve on their own, left the bedside, and began to search the entire room.
There wasn't much in the room, only a few places to put things,
Li Ang made a round and found so pieces of female clothing in the wardrobe,
found so pieces of paper almost entirely burnt to black in the crack of the fireplace, the writing on them illegible,
and found three books on the nightstand.
The first book was a collection of essays, with so poetic essays recorded in it, the authors differed, and the back of the book was marked with a publisher—proving that this world had a publishing industry, and it seed to be doing quite well.
The second book was a diary, with a beautifully written signature on the title page.
"Thelisa?"
Li Ang glanced at the skeleton on the bed, frowning slightly, "Is this the deceased's diary..."
The third book was much thicker, and the paper material used was clearly superior to the first two books.
Casually flipping through the contents inside, he found it was a religious scripture, recording so philosophical holy words and parables.
However, strangely, the cover of this scripture had very obvious scorch marks,
the edges were charred and cracked, as if soone had thrown it into a fire.
Moreover, many pages within the scripture were torn, or blacked out, with nurous marks of small blade incisions left on them.
Li Ang took out the few pieces of charred paper he found in the fireplace crack earlier, compared the shapes,
and discovered that these pieces of paper were indeed from the torn pages of the scripture.
"What does this an?"
Li Ang frowned, "The old wooden cross worn by the corpse shows clear signs of long-term fondling, indicating the deceased was fairly devout during their lifeti,
but this religious scripture was clearly attempted to be burned—and partially, not completely incinerated.
I don't know if it was rescued by soone else in ti, or if a sudden sense of regret erged during the process of burning..."
Li Ang's gaze fell onto the dried corpse on the bed,
In this script task, unlike the clear target of the underground palace phase, the village chief was vague about the trial on the Sacred Mountain, not explaining it in detail,
But judging from the task goals and hints, it seems to require players to go to each room, solve puzzles, find paths, and complete the upward trial—the hero teams of successive generations probably followed this process too.
So is this female corpse on the bed
a forr mber of a hero team,
or an NPC spawned for the Sacred Mountain trial segnt?
And what is her relationship with those two grotesque arm aggregation creatures?
Why do the latter persistently guard a corpse, as if unaware she has already died, farming fields, continuously providing food?
The mystery before him,
does not have a compulsive causal relationship with completing the trial,
but Li Ang's intuition tells him that this corpse before him can solve many of the script task's perplexing points.
So...
He lowered his head, looked again at the diary belonging to Thelisa, and slowly started to read through it.
[Goddess Calendar 1021, January 1. Today is the festival commorating the goddess creating the world, it is also my first day, Thelisa Caslana, being baptized as a nun. The old lady at the Saint Mother's Church gave
this diary, telling
to record my insights serving the goddess from today onwards, I will definitely work hard.]
Thelisa Caslana?
Is this the na of the diary's owner? A nun?
Li Ang raised an eyebrow and continued reading.
[Goddess Calendar 1021, January 13. Life at the Saint Mother's Church is... quieter than I imagined? The old lady and the elder sisters need to till the land themselves, water and irrigate, plant crops. According to the scriptures, farming is the first skill taught to humans by the goddess, even clergy must rely on their labor to sustain themselves, rather than amassing wealth from believers under the guise of being closer to the goddess. But... drawing water from the well is really tiring. The good news is, nuns studying at the Saint Mother's Church receive a modest amount of money every week. The old ladies save this money, and the nun sisters send it to their families far away—like them, I send money back ho, so mom and dad might not have to work so hard, maybe my younger brothers can even go to school...]
Li Ang skimd through,
The first half of the diary is roughly about Sister Thelisa Caslana's life from age 10 to 16.
During these six years, she was an apprentice nun at a monastery in a small town called Nordhan, studying religious scriptures and serving the goddess.
The human civilization in this world generally worships a goddess with an unknown na and appearance, who created the world and humans, and bestowed civilization upon humanity,
which is the main religion in this script world.
"Strange."
Li Ang frowned, according to the village chief of the Guardian Village, the human civilization in this world is spread across isolated islands, each with vastly different tech trees.
In such circumstances, how could the sa mainstream religion develop simultaneously across different nations...
Could it be that a creation deity truly exists in this world?
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