The low humming noise of the air passing through various vents to the underground cellar of the monastery was nacing to so levels. Sylvester looked around himself and noticed the room didn't have much to call ho. There was rely a bed in a corner, a table and chair, and so books on it.
The most reassuring thing, however, was the church symbol hanging on the wall near the door. This did show that at least Archpriest Aiden was a believer in Solis. But why was the other archpriest so hateful towards him?
"Felix, co in." He called his friend, whom he could consider a brother at this point. Over the years, he could only count on Felix to go to any lengths for him. The reasons were plenty, but above all—he was crazy.
"Keep an eye on the entrance to the cellar. I have a feeling that there is sothing hidden under the floor. I shall have to look around to find the entrance to it." He requested.
Felix noticed the seriousness in Sylvester's gaze, and being a Sanctum Inspector as well. He knew this was ti to work, not goof around. "Got it, but don't go in there like a buffoon and call ."
"I won't."
Sylvester then started looking around. As known, the monastery in the town was not a small one. It had multiple floors and wings of corridors spread around, and that ant that the cellar was huge, too, since it held a lot of storage space and also rooms. But how big was it going to be, whatever was underneath it?
"Chonky, you start looking around too and try to find a keyhole where this thing could fit in. Or maybe so sort of a trap door… or any part of the wall from where you feel the air is coming out." He made the furry boy work as well.
"Aye aye, Maxy."
Sylvester reckoned the key the archpriest referred to was the key he found from the town's chief's son, the one that got him possessed. The key was purified now since he had already killed the demon attached to it, so it was still in his possession.
He looked around at the various corners, any stone in the wall that seed out of place or furniture that had no reason to be there. He looked behind every single thing that blocked the view of the wall or a carpet. There was even an underground well full of water, it was understandable as they were in the desert and water levels were indeed very deep underground.
But, he could not find anything, and he was slightly frustrated since the place was too big to see every single inch of every wall. It was impossible.
'Is there any type of magic that can help ?' He wondered and thought hard.
Runes could help him unlock the doors, but there was no such things that could find the door for him. 'Hmm, I should use the fire magic and see if air hits the fire from any direction.'
So, he created a small fla on the tip of his finger and started moving around close to the cellar's walls. Since it was underground, the entrance could have been at any place.
'If the place is underground and so nicely kept as a secret, then it does not make sense how the Chief's son found this key. How did the key co out… or was it outside forever?'
"Maxy! Look!"
Hearing Miraj's voice, Sylvester rushed to see him in another part of the cellar. "What happened, Chonk… ah!"
"Hehe, I found so many bananas." Miraj appeared standing on top of a pile of goods. Sylvester reckoned that this was where the monastery kept its supplies.
"Chunky, do you want to get angry? We are working right now, and I told you not to goof around when working." He warned.
"Work? Ah! The keyhole? Yes, I found it, Maxy. Follow !"
Miraj kept a banana in his mouth and started running away. Sylvester followed behind, and soon they ca to a dead end. "What's here?"
"Here, sit down and look at ," Miraj called him with his paws and showed a crack on the floor where four stones had their edges intersect. The key's end was shaped like a plus sign with hooks at the end too.
At one glance, Sylvester felt this was not the place, and it was a simple joint. But the more he looked at the other parts of the stone floor. He found they didn't have such cracks. 'No wonder I missed it. Only Chonky, with his low point of view, could have seen it."'
"Okay, step aside. I will try to put the key in it." He took out the strange but long tal key and inserted it into the gap. At first, he didn't have many expectations because he couldn't see any chanism inside it.
Click!
"Does this sound like I earned one more banana?" Miraj cheekily asked.
Sylvester chuckled and ruffled Miraj's head. "Yes, one more. But where did the sound co from? The ground has no door, however, sothing did open up."
So yet again, their hunt for the location began. This ti, however, it didn't take them long as Sylvester noticed sothing strange. "Wait, all the water in the well is gone… and there… seems to be a hole at the bottom?"
He called Felix quickly and told him they were to go inside the well. But the consistently strong knight seed to have double thoughts about it. He kept looking at the deep dark well that seed like a hole to hell.
"No, absolutely not! Look at it, man, it's so dark and deep, we don't even know how wide that hole is and where it leads to."
Sylvester, however, knew he had to go in to see whatever Archpriest was telling him about. And the key was unique. There was no way that it was all for nothing.
"I have light magic, so we can see everything easily. Besides, I know it's wide enough… trust ." Sylvester argued.
"How? Did you go in there?"
'Not , but Chonky did.'
"I'm going in. You can either follow or stay here and wait for ." Sylvester jumped into the well and soon disappeared into the darkness like a candle diminishing slowly.
"This guy… now my clothes will get dirty again." Felix sighed and also jumped in. However, soon his loud screams echoed throughout, and also so unholy words left his mouth. "Aaaa… fuck you, Max… fucking lantern… son of a…"
Turns out, at the end of the well was a slimy slide that took them deeper down. For him, it was all darkness as he didn't have light magic.
Splash!
A few seconds later, he fell into waist-deep water. But thankfully, it was not all dark anymore as Sylvester was also there with his hand shining bright light all around. At a glance, they realized they were in an underground cave system as the ceiling appeared to be covered in stalactites all around. They were as big as horses and houses. They were also covered in algae due to humidity.
But, the place was not at all small, as they could not even see the end around them. But the sounds of water and air flowing around linger a hint of fear in their minds.
"Man, how are we going to get back up?" Felix asked.
Sylvester was indeed worried about that, but at the sa ti, they were wizards, and there was nothing to fear. They could always use Earth elents to create a way for themselves.
"Let's first look around and worry about returning later. Be careful; however, there could be holes in the ground as I'm sure so of those rocks from the ceiling fall regularly." He warned and started moving in a random direction, with each step being taken with care.
The water appeared to be black, however, so there was no way to look at the bottom. 'Ugh, don't like it… this is a cave.'
"What if a bloodling is here?" Felix asked.
Sylvester shrugged. "Then we fight… don't worry. I ca prepared."
'The cat on my shoulder is my preparation.' He thought. Miraj was angered right now, though, as he had fallen into the water as well.
As they moved around in search of an end to the giant cave, they saw many natural wonders in the form of patterns on the ceiling.
"How deep underground are we?" Felix wondered.
"Likely a few dozen ters below, at least. We were already in the basent." Sylvester answered.
'Did the people who created the monastery know about this giant cave beforehand?' He wondered. 'Did the clergy place that keyhole or was it soone else?'
"Ah! Look there, Max!" Felix pointed in the opposite direction they were moving in. There appeared to be a dot of light far away in the distance. "Quick, stop using your light magic."
Sylvester did so and looked—and their jaws dropped. To call the place beautiful was an understatent as the patterns on the cave ceiling were shining in dim white light—a pure delight for sight.
He noticed sothing strange, however. "Let's go in that direction, Felix. The bright patterns on the ceiling appear to be brighter in that direction."
So they moved—and kept moving. They did not know how much ti had passed, but they could feel they had been walking for a long ti, and still, no end was in sight.
"How in the hell is this place so big? Does it span the whole town?" Felix complained.
Sylvester didn't speak. However, he was starting to feel strange all of a sudden. It was like a long-lasting buzz in his head that kept increasing.
'It seems we're on the right path.'
"Finally!" Felix exclaid.
Sylvester stopped in his tracks, too, and again used his palm to spread the light magic all around. In front of them appeared to be ruins of a giant gray building structure… likely a castle. But it was in a broken state—covered in overgrown algae.
"Keep your sword ready!" He ordered Felix.
They then proceeded closer to the giant structure that seed to touch the ceiling as well. 'It seems the structure was etched into the ground instead of being built with pieces.'
Sylvester kept his spear in his right hand, prepared to defend against anything that may co his way since the existence of a structure ant soone used to live there.
There was no door to the entrance, just an arch into the giant walls. They entered carefully and looked around.
Crunch!
"Ugh… did I step on sothing?" Felix looked down in disgust.
Sylvester knelt, however. "A skull? It does not appear to be of a human."
The skull appeared strange with horns and an elongated jaw, but Sylvester was reminded of the similar skulls he had seen so months ago.
"Let's look around more." Sylvester had a hunch about where he was, but he needed more proof. To find it, he decided to go near the walls of the building that were giving him a buzzing sound in the head. And sure enough, he noticed sothing etched on it. "The sa crescent moon as the ruins we found in the Vine Forest—what does it an?"
"Max! What language is this?" Felix exclaid from a few ters away, staring at a wall with the help of a light crystal.
Sylvester rushed and took a glance. There were so etched letters on the walls. They were big and deep enough to have survived the corrosion of ti. But they were shocking nonetheless, as he had only seen them once in his school days.
"This is… the Elder tongue!"
___________________
400 GT = 1 bonus chapter.
1 Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.
APE TOGETHER STRONG!
Reviews
All reviews (0)