The Record of Unusual Creatures

Despite the stares, Lady Gloom’s voice remained calm. “We are now near Louen. It’s already a good result. Initially, I thought of waiting for a calm window a few days later when the Sea of Carnos would have a short gap of zero energy fluctuations. The window would allow me to open a precise portal to send you all to a place nearest to Asurmen. However, there have been some accidents. I had to bring forward the schedule and I could only guarantee bringing all of you to a location around Sanctum but not the exact location. You should all be grateful; this place isn’t far from Asurmen.”

From her tone of voice, Calaxus knew that Lady Gloom knew Sanctum from the inside out. “How much more do you know about Sanctum?”

Lady Gloom shook her head. “I did know a lot about the Sanctum, but since the beginning of this storm of Chaos, my connection with Sanctum has become weak.”

The high-ranking monk frowned, and his eyes stayed on Lady Gloom. “Who are you? How did you know so much about Sanctum?”

“You don’t sound like asking but questioning.” Lady Gloom said. As always, there was no emotion in her voice. The mysterious woman pointed at her chest and said, “I can’t explain it clearly to you as it involves too many things. It will take too much time to tell you. But all I can say is that I will do my best to protect this place because the survival of Sanctum is my priority.”

“You are a Sanctumese?” The high-ranking monk seemed to have figured out a conclusion and looked at Lady Gloom suspiciously. “You are an escapist who has left Sanctum and lived in seclusion in a secular kingdom?”

“Sanctumese?” Lady Gloom repeated the word softly. “Yes, I guess.”

The mysterious woman then turned away, and she did not intend to continue on this topic.

Likewise, Calaxus had stopped asking. With the current pessimistic situation, even a high-ranking monk like Calaxus had begun to lose direction. But every friend was precious in this situation. Calaxus knew he should not waste time and energy on meaningless arguments and questions.

Hao Ren scanned the surroundings before looking at Calaxus. “Where is Louen? How far is it from the holy mountain of Asurmen? Where are we going next?”

Calaxus looked in a direction. “Louen is a big city closest to Fidelinopolis with some small towns in between. Travel by land is pretty convenient. As for Asurmen, it’s in that direction.”

The high-ranking monk pointed with his finger. Looking at that direction, Hao Ren saw a glimpse of light at the end of the horizon. The light was as faint as a distant city lights in the fog—too weak to be easily noticed.

“Mount Asurmen used to be shining brightly. It appeared like a bright light column in the sky when looking from Louen at night,” Calaxus said with a forced smile. “But since a few months ago… sigh!”

Hao Ren looked at the direction of Asurmen and silently approximated the distance. His sight fell on the city at the foot of the mountain.

The situation in the sacred mountain was uncertain. But according to what Lily recounted about the Shadow of Nightmares, Hao Ren felt that the danger of the shadows lurking in Sanctum might exceed their imagination. Going into Fidelinopolis hastily was not a good idea.

The Sanctum investigation team might originate from this land, but it had been a month since they left. Sanctum had undergone tremendous changes during the period, and the intelligence they provided was pretty much useless.

So the priority was to collect intelligence first.

“We will go into the city,” Hao Ren said as he pointed down the hill. “The fact that Sanctum has been severely eroded in a month shows that something is not right.”

Just when the team about to set off, a church knight suddenly stood up and pointed to the big cage that the bear monsters were guarding. “What about this monster? Besides, the presence of abhumans in the town might cause problems.”

Lily wrinkled her nose. But she knew that the dozens of demonic wolves and bear monsters would cause widespread panic wherever they went. So Lily did not say anything other than baring her fangs as a sign of dissatisfaction.

“It makes sense.” Hao Ren nodded. “We shouldn’t bring all the people into the city. Lily, let your men camp and hide in the woods outside the city with the Shadow of Nightmares. It is best to leave a few church knights with them, so that even if the local rangers spot them, the knights, who are locals, are in a better position to talk to the local rangers.”

Calaxus had no objection although Hao Ren had no authority over the church knights. “Very well thought out. Just do what you say.”

The abhumans, bringing what Lily called the ‘smoked meat,’ went into the woods to hide. Several church knights and a deputy cardinal stayed with the abhumans in the camp. Others were going into the city with Hao Ren to check out the situation. Both groups would rely on magic stones to keep in touch with each other.

Nightfall in Louen was strangely quiet.

Wind, carrying a chilly air, was blowing in all directions. It was so cold that people could feel the chill in their bone marrow even wearing a thick layer of coat on the outside. The streets were deserted with buildings on both sides of the roads shut. The only signs of activity were the dim lights leaking out from behind the windows. There seemed to be some uneasy shadows in the swaying lights. It was customary in Sanctum for people of all walks of life to put up a pair of lamps in front of the house, one on each side of the door. But these customs used to light the city up with life, looked strange now. The light from the lamps was dim, the wick inside seemed to twist and bend by a strong magnetic field, and the flames were dark red as if blood.

This unusual phenomenon seemed to indicate that the dark energy from the Sea of Carnos had begun to invade the material world, and this sacred land was gradually turning into a seedbed of dark power.

The group, walking along a cold and empty street, could not find any pedestrians whom they could ask. Hao Ren’s brows knit together; the strange atmosphere in the city seemed familiar to him. He had experienced a similar atmosphere in many mysterious realms filled with death and distorting energy.

But the same atmosphere in a sacred place blessed by the goddess of creation seemed weird. Divine power still filled the place a few months ago.

Had the evil giant Lockmarton broken through the prison gate?

The stone pavement on the street had a strange sense of dampness and greasy feeling. When walking on such surfaces, the soles of the shoes would make a disgusting gluey sound. The sky was drizzling. Hao Ren reached out his hand and saw blackish liquid falling on his fingertips. But as soon as the fluid came into contact with his skin, it evaporated almost instantaneously.

Lily had the same experience. But when ‘raindrops’ fell on others, they did not dissipate like what Hao Ren and Lily were experiencing.

It was apparent that these raindrops were also an effect of the dark magic energy in the material world.

Only Lady Gloom had noticed this detail. Her eyes stayed on Hao Ren and Lily briefly before quickly turning away.

“Even if the light of Asurmen has gone out, it shouldn’t be like this,” Calaxus said in a whisper. “This land has been immersed in divine energy for 10,000 years, and it has been sanctified. Even if Chaos strikes, it should not deteriorate so badly in such a short period.”

Hao Ren looked up ahead. “There seems to be no one on the streets.”

They continued to move forward. Occasionally, a couple of figures flashed across the dark streets. But these figures ran so fast that it was almost like an illusion. A knight shouted to stop the figures, but the shouts only frightened those people as they quickly disappeared into the intricate network of streets and alleys and never be found again.

Louen was an ancient city with complex streets and dark lanes and corners that even many locals could not tell. There seemed to be many pairs of uneasy eye hiding in the dark corners, making even the bravest church knights feel goosey.

At last, Calaxus gave up on finding the pedestrians. He came before a house and knocked on the door.

There was light in the house, but it seemed silent inside. After knocking on the door for a long while, Hao Ren finally heard some voices coming from the inside.

Someone was walking to the door. A hoarse, low, and cautious voice sounded from behind the door. “Who is it?”

“We are monks and knights from Fidelinopolis,” Calaxus said aloud. “Please open the door. We want to find a place to stay.”

“There is no room here,” the voice in the dwelling was wary. “It’s late now. Go somewhere else.”

“This is not the Louen people I know.” A monk next to Hao Ren shook his head. “I was born in a village near Louen. The people in this city are known for their hospitality. They will never refuse to extend their helping hands. Even if they can’t be of help, at least they will open the door and hand you a cup of hot water.”

“Dark magic may have begun to affect the minds of the residents.” Another monk groaned. “I have no idea if there are still people who could help us in this situation.”

While the knights were talking, Calaxus had exchanged quite a few words with the people inside the house. But the person in the house had declined all his requests. The owner had even refused to open the door and talk to the high-ranking monk as if a terrible plague lurking on the street would infect him if he opened the door.