After passing through a long slope and a small town with no living people left, only many rough human figures embedded in the ground and mountain walls, the exploration team entered a valley covered with strange black stones.
The entrance to the valley is secret, hidden in a large area of "plant" debris that grows like thorns, but the information in Shirley's "memory" clearly points out the specific location of the entrance.
The black rocks in the valley are hideous and rugged, presenting an unsettling, weird and complex appearance. They do not seem to be the result of natural weathering, but they are obviously not the product of human carving.
They were more like many deformed monsters struggling to be "born" from the earth and cliffs, and suddenly turned into stone in the last step of their growth. On some of the black rocks, one could even see almost differentiated claws, tentacles, and even eyeballs and mouth and nose structures. After noticing these details, even an experienced judge like Vanna couldn't help but frown. The weird and terrifying feeling seemed to penetrate into her bones, making her extremely alert.
The flowing mist is pervasive and fills this quiet valley.
"These stones give me the feeling that they are alive..." A Marine wearing a black hoodie and the triangular holy emblem of the God of Death muttered quietly, "Some kind of living thing is trapped in these black shells... I always feel that they will move at any time."
"Control your imagination and don't let such an impression come to your mind." The Death Priest from the Restless, who had hardly spoken since landing on the island, immediately interrupted the muttering of his soldiers.
Duncan took a look at the taciturn priest of the God of Death—he was a tall bald man wearing a black robe, and all the exposed skin was covered with intricate black rune tattoos. Those dense runes even covered his eyelids, making the priest look weird, gloomy and scary.
Perhaps due to the awkward situation between the Church of Death and the Lost Homeland, the leading priest did not communicate much with Duncan on the way. However, after noticing the latter's gaze, the strange-looking bald man turned around and nodded politely: "What do you want to ask?"
"I remember your name is Norm," Duncan nodded and said, "After the Frost Incident, a large number of 'Element' samples collected from the Frost Pipeline System were sent to the headquarters of the Church of Death. Did you know about this?"
"I've seen those specimens up close," Noam replied casually, "and was impressed."
"What do you think of these 'traces' on this island?"
"...same source, but gives me a different feeling." Noam thought for a moment. Although his expression was a little unnatural when answering Duncan's question, he still spoke seriously, "The 'samples' sent from Frost are a disgusting and cold substance. They are completely in a 'static' state and no longer change. But here..."
He paused for a moment and picked up a small stone from the ground next to him.
"Others may not be able to see it from the surface, but I can feel it... It's still 'operating' inside, and slowly 'changing'. This feeling is hard to describe. It's a 'feeling' that only us believers of the God of Death can have. If I have to say it... Just like what Miss Shirley said, this whole island is 'alive'. Even though it has calmed down again, every part of it is still 'alive', just in a state of near death."
Duncan nodded slightly and said nothing for a moment.
According to the existing information, this entire island was transformed by the power of the Lord of the Deep, and based on the information Shirley saw from those "illusions", it can even be regarded as a piece of "flesh and blood" separated from the Lord of the Deep - if it is really the flesh and blood of the ancient god, then it is not unimaginable that it still retains its activity thousands of years after being separated from the main body.
The only thing that makes people feel incredible is... it has evolved into this appearance on the border of reality - trees, stones, soil, streams flowing through the mountains, and various resources and minerals that can be collected on the island.
The Annihilation Cultists even used the island's resources to build towns and docks.
This made Duncan wonder what kind of "individual" the so-called "Lord of the Deep" was? Before becoming the "Ancient God" of the deep sea era, what was the essence of this "Pilot Unit No. 1" numbered LH-01
What about "God of Wisdom Lahem", who also has the LH number and should be called "Pilot No. 2"? He looks completely different from the Deep Lord in terms of power and "form"... What is the nature of this difference? Why is there such a difference between LH-01 and LH-02
For some reason, Duncan always felt that he had overlooked something. In addition to the two numbers LH-01 and LH-02, there seemed to be another issue that he had never paid attention to...
But his thoughts did not continue.
Shirley, who was leading the way, suddenly slowed down.
"... I've 'seen' this place before," she blinked, standing in an open space covered with gravel, looking around at the misty valley, recalling the scene she had seen in the complex illusion before, "The cultists gathered in this open space. When the sun went out, they gathered here and screamed wildly, thinking they were 'enlightened'... The digging point of those idiots should be nearby... This was originally a closed place. I don't know why they didn't dare to get close to it, but when the sun went out, their minds were all abnormal, and they were afraid..."
Amber, who was standing near Shirley, frowned slightly.
The priestess turned her head slightly and looked at Vanna: "... I seemed to hear Miss Shirley say something very rude just now..."
"Did you just notice that?" Vanna was surprised. "She's always been like this."
Amber: “… ?”
Shirley paid no attention to the conversations of the people around her. Her attention seemed to be completely attracted by the fragments of memories that kept emerging in her mind and the familiarity brought by the valley in front of her. She took two steps forward, her eyes with a faint bloodshot light slowly swept through the surrounding mist, and soon she sensed a familiar breath coming from the front.
A profound breath.
“This way,” she blinked and her eyes recovered. She immediately raised her hand and pointed to a narrow entrance between the cliffs in front of her. “They dug down from here!”
It was a rock crevice that was roughly large enough for two people to enter side by side. It seemed to be part of a natural crack in the canyon, but deep inside it one could vaguely see traces of artificial excavation and expansion. There were also some digging tools scattered around the entrance, but the users of the tools had apparently been swallowed up by the surrounding rocks and soil - those traces of excavation were the last proof that they had ever existed in this world.
"… It's narrow down there, and the situation is unclear, so it's best not to all go in." Amber poked her head in for a look, then quickly stepped out and turned to the others and said, "I suggest that most people set up camp around the cave entrance, and a few elite troops go down to take a look at the situation."
"I'll take the others down first," Duncan said casually, "Alice, Shirley, Agou... and Morris, the rest of you follow me. Vanna, you, Amber, and Norm will camp outside and monitor the situation on the island."
His arrangement made sense - first of all, one of the purposes of his coming to this holy island was to confirm the connection between Alice and the Lord of the Deep, so he naturally had to bring the puppet with him, and Shirley and Agou would be his guides after he went down. Morris was knowledgeable and was an explorer of secret realms, and this kind of exploration was his specialty.
But Vanna obviously had other ideas: "Don't you need to take me with you? We may encounter enemies down there, and you'll need some fighting power..."
"We may encounter enemies outside," Duncan said. He then looked into the low and narrow space inside the crack, turned his head and looked at Vanna seriously, "and it's very low down there, so we can't jump up."
Fanna was stunned when she heard this. It took her two or three seconds to react. She was a little embarrassed: "... I don't only know that one trick..."
But she only muttered this and nodded quickly, "Then I understand. We will stay here and set up camp while we do a simple search of other areas of the valley."
Duncan nodded slightly: "Well, very good, remember to keep in touch, and call my name immediately if anything happens."
"Yes, Captain."
Then, Duncan led Morris, Alice, Shirley and Agou towards the dark entrance that seemed to be slanting towards the depths.
Vanna watched several figures disappear into the darkness, and then saw a faint green fire appear in the depths of the passage. She breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around and saw Amber standing aside, staring at this side with a subtle expression on her face.
Vanna suddenly felt awkward: "…Why are you looking at me?"
Amber thought about it, but couldn't help it: "... Under normal circumstances, shouldn't we call the goddess' name immediately when encountering a situation?"
Fanna was stunned: "..."
The judge fell into deep thought.
But she quickly reacted and looked at the young junior in front of her seriously: "You can call both of them at the same time."
This time it was Amber's turn to be stunned: "... Is it okay?"
"Can."
"…The goddess allows?"
Vanna said with a pious look: "I asked, and He did not object."
Amber continued with a blank expression: "... ?"
Gnom stood next to the two of them, expressionless the entire time (mainly because his face was covered with paint and no expression could be seen). After a long while, he reached out his hand and silently outlined the triangular emblem of the god of death in front of his chest, and let out a long sigh that no one noticed.
At the same time, in the narrow passage that kept sloping downward, Shirley and Agou were moving forward cautiously.
The dark green flames slowly spread over the rock walls on both sides, illuminating the way ahead. Shirley held the chain connected to Agou with one hand and the cold and smooth stone on the side of the road with the other hand, with a nervous expression on her face.
A faint blood-red light floated in her eyes.
(End of this chapter)