Pillar of Yita

On the side of the silent corridor, all of a sudden, a slit quietly split open in the wall. Then it further retracted to one side, producing a squeaky sound, forming a pitch-black entrance.

Next, a figure tentatively emerged from the opening, short in stature with a pair of round, shifty eyes. The figure lowered his head to take out a matchbox, struck it, and a dazzling blaze lit up in the darkness, revealing the chubby face of a Papalarian.

He cautiously looked around and muttered, ”There’s actually a secret passage here.”

The light from the match dimmed and then went out.

”But which way should I go now?” he mumbled, ”What did that Alchemist say again, chapel, basement, central schoolhouse, kitchen, kitchen...?”

”Shoot, not very lucky, can’t remember,” the Papalarian moved his fingers, talking to himself in confusion, ”Did he mention the kitchen? It sounds familiar, must have mentioned it, maybe I should check the kitchen out, it must be a big dining hall—”

”But where is the kitchen?”

Parker sniffed the air with his nose.

”I guess it must be to the north.”

”Dear God, please definitely tell me the answer.”

In the darkness, the sound of rolling dice came, along with the excited whisper of the Papalarian: ”It really is north!”

After thinking for a moment, he opened the Summoners System and sent a message to Fang Hong: ”Respected Mr. Alchemist and Captain, the most outstanding Night Thief in your team has successfully infiltrated the cathedral and is on his way to the destination, all is going well—”

”I’ve entered Hustings Cathedral.”

Red Leaf also sent a message.

Fang Hong glanced at the messages from both people, feeling it was unbelievably smooth. But seeing Parker’s convoluted wording, he felt less certain, and casually replied: ”Where exactly are you now?”

System notification: The other party has turned off the communication system—

”Damn, this bastard!” Fang Hong cursed inwardly.

He had clearly admonished repeatedly that the communication system must not be turned off, because this guy had precedent, claiming that Otherworld Telecom was too expensive!

Fang Hong was seething with anger but still had to patiently ask Red Leaf, ”Red Leaf, where are you?”

”According to the blueprint this should be a side hall, this place is huge, almost like a maze, it might take a bit more time to find Holite’s schoolhouse.”

”Maze?” Fang Hong was stunned. The peripheral area of Hustings Cathedral was indeed large, but the cathedral area wasn’t that big—how could it have been built like a maze.

This wasn’t City Hall, there was no real need for defense or attack, was there? Who would bother attacking Ouli’s Holy Temple, not even the cultists would dare.

As he was puzzled, he saw Hes parting the low bushes, under the cold moonlight ahead, a row of brick walls and a small door appeared.

The girl wiped her hands on her apron, turned to him and said, ”Mr. Ade, we’ve arrived. This is the stable, but since the Holy Temple Knights no longer station here, it’s been a long time since any horses were kept here. The smell might be a bit off, as no one has tended to it since then.”

As she spoke, she opened the door, and indeed, a strange smell hit Fang Hong right in the face, not the stench of excrement but a smell of decay and mold.

Hes carefully peeked inside the door, softly cautioning him, ”Be careful, Mr. Ade, there are some dirty things inside the church.”

”Dirty things?”

Hes shook her head, falling silent.

Such places might have some monsters, either undead or some other bizarre things. Fang Hong, seeing this, was not surprised and simply took out the technologically advanced device to open a Light Gate and release a Type III Walker.

After some basic repairs, the ’Sword Bearer’s’ durability was somewhat restored, but the damaged shell armor parts were troublesome for him to fix at his current Level, so that had to be left as is for now.

The few sword wounds left by the previous Musketeer on the Type III Walker stayed as they were, several ugly gashes that were quite an eyesore.

Fang Hong let the Walker lead the way with him following closely behind.

His eyes took a while to adapt to the completely dark environment; the stable appeared low and narrow, the floor was covered with blackish moldy straw or perhaps something else, not clearly visible, resembling clumps of rotting flesh, repulsive to behold.

Mushrooms sprouted from the rotten flesh, and a layer of spores permeated the floor, filling the chest like contracting asthma suddenly, making breathing increasingly turbid and difficult.

Fang Hong was still puzzled, how could the stable turn into something like this, even if it was untended, but this was a bit too strange, wasn’t it?

He continued to ask about the previous topic, ”Hes, when did the incarnation of Dragon’s Golden Eyes take away Hudi, and how did you know?”

Earlier Hes had hurriedly recounted the whole story to him, clarifying what had happened during his time away at the City Hall.

After he and Hes had separated, she left to look for Hudi.

According to her, she had arranged to meet Hudi at a certain place, which Fang Hong figured was what she always referred to as ’home’—but Hes told him, blaming her sudden whim to return to her father’s workshop to fetch that photo frame, that Hudi hadn’t waited for her.