Chapter 371: The Door
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 371: The Door
"No, these shouldn't be mechanical puppets."
After the brief shock, Muen quickly regained his composure.
"If they were mechanical puppets, we would have been attacked long ago. We wouldn't have been able to step in here so easily."
Muen scanned the visually striking phalanx surrounding them, his gaze narrowing.
"Besides, if you look closely, these canine statues don't even have joints. It's impossible for them to move."
"True."
Vicky emboldened herself and stepped forward, giving one a light tap. The metal body of the dog emitted a dull thud.
"Bronze? No, it should be some kind of alloy. It looks like it was cast as a single piece, and there's no trace of mana. There's no way something like this could move."
As the daughter of a major trading company, Vicky’s knowledge far exceeded that of an average person. She quickly provided a preliminary analysis of the material and construction.
"So these are... just simple statues?"
Seviel clicked her tongue in wonder. "Wasting so much precious metal just to create decorative statues... As expected of the Lost Homeland. I truly cannot comprehend the way they think here."
"Maybe they were just bored."
Muen suddenly recalled certain passages from that diary and spoke casually.
"In a world where it's easy to stay fed and warm, and where no conflict is permitted, the people here had to find something to do. Otherwise, they’d eventually go crazy from idleness."
"Boredom?"
Seviel thought about it. "Fair point."
If she spent every day eating and drinking well but had nothing to do, she would certainly try her hand at something new.
"I can't understand it either!"
Liya followed up by shaking her small pink fist, a rare moment where she was in agreement with Seviel.
In her eyes, wasting the Goddess's power on such selfish pursuits was nothing short of blasphemy.
"Save those words for when we actually meet some locals," Muen said, looking at Liya’s profile and unconsciously breaking into a smile. "Judging by the tracks here, many people have already gone ahead of us. Let's keep moving."
*
After passing the massive phalanx of statues, the group finally escaped the eerie, dark tunnel and came upon a corridor engraved with strange patterns.
At the end of the corridor was a set of stairs.
The steps spiraled downward, stretching deep into the darkness.
The group explored forward cautiously. After the previous traps and scares, they were much more prudent; who knew what other hellish things were down here?
Liya kept her sensory magic active at all times to deal with any unknown dangers.
Even Seviel took out a tool that looked like a little mouse, letting it squeak and scurry down the stairs ahead of them.
However, the further down they went, the more grim their expressions became.
"We... we've walked at least a thousand steps by now, haven't we?"
Vicky’s face was slightly pale. She was a pure mage, and her physical constitution wasn't as strong as the others. She was also too embarrassed to ask Liya to use Holy Light for such a trivial matter, so her legs were feeling quite weak by now.
Yet, looking down, the spiral staircase continued to stretch on with no end in sight.
Damn it. Even if the people of this world were bored, who would be bored enough to build such a long staircase underground?
"If we haven't seen a ghost, then it means... someone is playing tricks on us."
Muen rubbed his chin, his eyes scanning the surroundings. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he called out tentatively:
"Ellag?"
"..."
Silence filled the darkness.
But Muen seemed certain now, his eyes fixed on a specific spot.
Beside him, Liya’s expression turned cold as several pitch-black metal plates, laced with threads of holy light, began to float around her.
"Sigh."
Suddenly, a sigh echoed out.
The scene before Muen and the others shifted abruptly. Bright firelight flooded their vision, making them instinctively squint.
"See? I told you we couldn't stop them."
Ellag shrugged helplessly toward her surprised companion.
Muen finally adjusted to the sudden light and raised an eyebrow at the scene ahead.
It was another relatively open space, but unlike the previous ones, it was brightly lit. Grand murals were carved into the walls, even more incomprehensible than the ones Muen had seen in that mountain cave.
But Muen wasn't focused on the art; he was looking at the crowd.
"Quite a lively bunch."
Currently, besides Ellag and her companions in their Tower of Origins mage robes, many others had gathered.
Freya and her simp, Shadow.
Margarita and Paul.
The loli Annie, who was glaring fiercely at Muen and Seviel, and Reta.
Even Fei'er, whom they hadn't seen earlier, was standing not far away, yawning while waving at Muen. The adventurer behind her, known as Thunder Spear, stood as straight as a javelin.
All the Saintess candidates were present.
And they weren't the only ones; Muen also saw some familiar faces, such as that ugly face that had looked at him with envy, jealousy, and hate in the darkness not long ago.
Although their numbers had been cut by at least half compared to when they first entered—those people were likely still lost in the eerie dark tunnels—this scene was still beyond Muen's expectations.
"What's going on?"
After a moment's thought, he pushed through the crowd and approached Freya.
Although everyone was standing in a scattered fashion, it was vaguely apparent that many were guarding this most famous Saintess candidate.
Asking her was the simplest and most direct way.
"See for yourself."
Freya didn't engage in small talk or ask strange questions this time; she simply stepped aside to clear the path.
In front of her was a door.
A magnificent door that looked as if it were carved from solid gold. Unlike the colorful murals around it, the door had no extra decorations, but as Muen approached, he felt a prickling chill on his skin.
"The door the Church mentioned?"
"Yes."
"It won't open?"
"Presumably."
Muen gave Liya a look.
Liya nodded in understanding and stepped forward.
For things like this, it was better to have their own professional confirm it.
Liya placed her small hand on the golden door, and ripples of mana spread out.
She quickly withdrew her hand, her face turning slightly pale.
"An extremely complex interlocking magic formation. Not only that, it seems to combine alchemy, multiple sequential mechanisms, and ancient magic."
"It really won't open? Not even you can do it?" Seviel asked curiously. After everything that had happened, she had developed an inexplicable trust in Liya.
"I can't."
Liya shook her head with a bitter smile. "The things on this door are too complex. Unless someone reaches the Truth-Tier, a single individual cannot crack it. In fact, it's easy to trigger a chain reaction, and then..."
"And then what?"
"I don't know much about the sequential mechanisms behind it, but..." Liya pointed at the ceiling and swallowed hard. "We are at least several hundred meters underground!"
"Hiss—"
Seviel sucked in a breath of cold air.
Underground?
If something went wrong with a mechanism deep underground, what would usually happen?
Based on Seviel’s years of exploration experience, there was a sixty... no, eighty percent chance they would be buried alive by the hundreds of meters of rock above them.
Don't doubt it; those ancient people were all incredibly dull and rigid, and their ways of being malicious were all pretty much the same.
"I see. No wonder everyone is squeezed in here."
Muen rubbed his chin, only to find Freya looking at him with an interested gaze.
"So, what will you do?"
"Hmm? Me?"
"That's right."
Freya tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned her head close to Muen’s ear. "Tell me your thoughts."
That rich fragrance hit him again, and her warm breath brushed against Muen’s ear, making it itch.
At this moment, Muen could clearly feel the jealous glares from the surrounding crowd.
However, he merely gave Freya a cold glance, took a subtle step back, and fell into thought.
"What to do... Hmm, let me think... Ah, I've got it."
Meeting Freya’s expectant gaze, Muen suddenly clapped his hands.
"Let's go back."
"Eh?"
The holy smile on Freya’s face froze.
"Go back?"
"Yeah."
Muen gave her a strange look.
"Since we can't open the door, why are we still hanging around here? Are we staying for a group activity?"