On the ground, at the entrance of the Small Temple.
Several dark shadows streaked across the air.
After landing, the leader walked to the entrance and knelt beside a corpse.
The attire on the corpse was nearly identical to his own, as these were his comrades, and they all hailed from the Hall of Shadows.
The man’s face was wrapped in black cloth.
Beneath the fabric, his eyes were fixed intently on the clean, straight cut on the body.
He remained silent for a long time until a Shadow Guard stepped forward.
The subordinate addressed the kneeling man.
“Blade Head…”
Blade Head was the man’s title. Within the Hall of Shadows, there were two departments: one was the Shadow Guard, and the other was the Dark Assassins.
These men with faces masked in black cloth were Shadow Guards from the Hall of Shadows.
The title “Blade Head” was used because the name of the unit this man led was the Black Blade!
The Black Blade consisted of a total of two hundred Shadow Guards, all of whom served under him.
That was why he was called the “Blade Head.” The Blade Head stood up and surveyed the surroundings.
He let out a sigh and said, “Sliced in two with a single blow, clean and decisive. A master!”
As soon as the Blade Head spoke, a deathly silence fell over the area.
He turned to look at his subordinates and spoke again in a heavy voice. “Pursue them immediately. Otherwise, we should all prepare to offer up our own heads.”
His voice was extremely raspy, sounding as though his throat had been scorched by smoke and fire.
“Yes!”
The Shadow Guards standing to the side responded in unison.
At this moment, each of them was prepared to die.
They transformed into dark shadows and plunged into the entrance of the Small Temple.
None of them used the stairs; instead, they jumped straight down from the top.
This was the fastest way to travel.
The Blade Head scanned the surroundings once more, his aura cold and murderous.
The Shadow Guards were different from the Dark Assassins.
Their missions usually involved protecting employers, and they were not as heartless as those who came out of the Dark Assassins.
The Teleportation Array had been activated, which meant that the Deputy Blade Head who had stayed behind in White Stone City was likely dead by now.
Having his right hand cut off, how could he not be enraged?
The Blade Head turned into a shadow and, like a flying arrow, streaked into the entrance of the Small Temple.
He headed straight down the shaft, aggressive and brimming with killing intent.
After passing through the narrow man-made passage, Enya finally arrived before the “True Gate.”
What she saw was a wall.
On this wall, five stone pillars had been carved, and upon those pillars, five images were depicted.
After the passage of countless ages, these images were no longer clear; many parts had naturally flaked away.
The pillars were a good fifty or sixty meters high and about five or six meters wide.
A Human appeared tiny in comparison.
Even with Enya’s height of over 1.7 meters, she couldn’t even reach the base platform of the pillars. Sophia emerged from the hole.
She released her grip on her Long Robe and lifted her eyes to look at these five historical stone pillars.
Nina poked her head out from behind her. Sophia looked toward Enya and said curiously, “Predecessor, this place shouldn’t be the Ruin of that Mountain God.”
“Mm, this is…”
Enya narrowed her eyes, looking closely at the five images. In the very center was a giant woman in a long dress. White Stone City followed the faith of the Mountain God, but this was the Northern Mountains. Buried beneath the Northern Mountains were the Ruins of the faith of the Goddess of Night.
Then the one in the center had to be the Goddess of Night. That Goddess wore a Nun’s hood, and there was no specific depiction of her facial features. Her upper body wore form-fitting attire, while the lower half was a voluminous skirt. Both the skirt and the clothes had vertical stripes.
It looked very familiar, yet for a moment, she couldn’t remember where she had seen it before. Enya frowned slightly.
She shifted her gaze to the pillar on the far left. She could faintly make out a ferocious, warlike Knight.
Dreammare?!
That word suddenly popped into Enya’s mind.
It was information regarding a Fragment of Authority of the Goddess of Night, which she had obtained from the Mask she got from Antiros.
And the original source of that Fragment… was the eighth-rank Dreammare that Enya had instantly killed beneath Red Pine City.
She had sent the heart of that Demon to Antiros via letter, and then Antiros had crafted a Mask for her.
When she left, Enya had left that power with Phil—her avatar—to bolster Phil’s strength.
Even if Phil encountered an enemy, she would be able to hold out until Enya returned.
“If this pillar is ‘Dreammare,’ then could these over here be…”
Enya turned her gaze to the other pillars.
The second pillar was relatively well-preserved. It depicted a prosperous and beautiful city with cultivated fields, cattle and sheep, festivals, and scenes of pleasure.
What was this?
“Predecessor?”
Sophia cast a curious look.
Seeing Enya in thought, she couldn’t help but start to feel excited.
Enya turned her head to look at Sophia and asked, “Sophia, what do you think the meaning of that carving is?”
“Hmm…”
Sophia looked where Enya was pointing—the second stone pillar.
Looking at the carvings, she also began to think deeply.
After a short while, Sophia gave an answer she thought was possible.
“Could it be… abundance? Harvest?”
Enya shook her head. Abundance and harvest were authorities of nature, and those were held in the hands of that Mother of All Things in your family.
She used to think the gods of this World were like answering machines because as long as one believed, they would give a response.
There was no threshold at all!
No, there should be a threshold.
For instance, Enya had served as a Nun for a while back in the day.
Though it was embarrassing, Enya had studied quite seriously.
But unfortunately, no matter how Enya poured out her troubles to the Goddess, the Goddess maintained an attitude of ignoring her.
Then, Enya ran away. To hell with the Goddess! Who cares about your Blessing? This lady doesn’t want you anymore!
Back to the topic.
Though the scenes on that stone pillar were similar to abundance and harvest, depictions of the authority of harvest would not include images of drinking, hedonism, or even feasts of pleasure.
“Oppressing commoners, Tobacco… sensory stimulation brought by material goods.”
“The White Mist used by the Lord of Mist Church can make people enter a dream-like beautiful fantasy when inhaled.”
“Are they collecting Souls filled with Desire?”
“The vast majority of Human happiness comes from the satisfaction of Desire.”
“The murals carved here are all sorts of scenes of pleasure; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them sweet dreams. And sweet dreams originate from cravings in reality.”
“The first pillar is Dreammare, so this one is ‘Desire’!”
Enya’s mind became clear.
A God’s Authority was not necessarily unique.
For example, the Black Dragon Princess inside her body previously possessed the dual authorities of Sky and Destruction.
It was even possible that two beings shared a single Fragment of Authority.
The Nature God and the Mountain God were likely in that kind of situation, but later, the Nature God likely completed the Authority.
After that, the Mountain God disappeared.
“Sister Sophia, Dragon, what are you talking about?” Nina looked at Enya, then at Sophia, and finally at the pillars, unable to stop herself from muttering. “Are we not going?”
“We’re going, we’re going right now. We’ll take that door.”
Enya reached out and rubbed Nina’s head.
The five pillars were separated by four doors.
She looked at the other two pillars, but they were already blurred beyond recognition, and nothing could be made out.
Enya walked at the very front, heading toward the second door from the left.
This path was five or six meters wide, but the height seemed similar to those stone pillars.
Both sides were straight stone walls, and many peeled-off stone fragments were piled on the ground. Upon getting closer, one could feel a wind blowing.
Enya cast a Lightening Technique.
Among Goddess Milaya’s divine arts, most were low-level auxiliary skills.
Even if used in the form of Magic, these skills were still functional, though the effect wasn’t as good as the divine art itself.
This was one of the divine arts Enya had replicated using Magic.
Three orbs of light floated up.
Two of them landed on the shoulders of Sophia and Nina, while Enya naturally had one on her own shoulder.
“Huh?”
Nina curiously poked it with her finger.
The light orb had no physical form, and looking at it didn’t hurt the eyes; its glow was very soft.
However, even such a soft light was enough to illuminate the darkness here. With them, the ground became clearly visible.
With her pair of gold-red Dragon Eyes, Enya could of course see through the darkness and move unimpeded; this Lightening Technique wasn’t for her own use.
Sophia and Nina were Elves, and while Elven eyes had much better vision than Humans, they didn’t have night vision.
“Be careful, you two.”
After giving the warning, Enya walked into the passage.
This passage was very, very long, as if it would never end.
Suddenly, Enya sensed a slight abnormality.
It was a pull coming from the Soul.
The scene before her eyes blurred for a split second, but it was only for that single instant.
Enya turned her head and saw Sophia and Nina standing dazed in place.
She walked over to Sophia, reached out, and pinched the ear of this Elven Missy.
Enya even went as far as pinching her cheek. The skin was incredibly smooth and tender.
“Good texture. Truly a worthy Elf.”
Enya made a playful remark. However, Sophia remained in a daze, showing no reaction at all, as if her consciousness had already left her body.
Nina was in the same situation. Enya looked at the two Elves before her, who seemed to have been frozen in time.
“So, what should I do?”
“Hmm, let me think.”
“Tsk… hmm… dammit, this is so boring!”
Enya let out a long sigh. She wasn’t young anymore; she was a mother of two daughters. In the past… maybe she would have played a prank on Sophia and Nina.
Heh~
Enya was immune to all Soul attacks.
Therefore, every time she teamed up with others to explore a Ruin and encountered this kind of illusionary attack, she could only wait on the side for her teammates to emerge from the illusion.
If it were the kind of realistic illusion that could pull someone into a different space, Enya could go in and play around.
But for this kind that only targeted the Soul, she could only crouch on the side and wait slowly.
Finding herself bored, Enya carefully observed Sophia and Nina.
She waited for a bit, and seeing that the two Elves hadn’t woken up, she decided not to wait any longer.
She went directly to Nina and squatted down with her back to her.
Enya first put Nina on her back.
After standing up, she moved to Sophia’s side, took Sophia in a Princess Carry, and continued walking forward.
However, as she walked, they seemed to wake up, yet neither spoke.
Enya felt a bit helpless and took the initiative to break the silence.
“What kind of sweet dreams did you have?”
“Ugh… no, nothing. It was… it was just average!”
Sophia’s face instantly turned red.
She buried her face in Enya’s shoulder, not daring to let Enya see her current bashful state.
When Nina spoke of the dream, she seemed very excited.
She bounced twice on Enya’s back and spoke right into Enya’s ear.
“I dreamed I was flying while riding the Dragon.”
Enya set Sophia down, then grabbed Nina with both hands and used her tail to give her tender little bottom two hard slaps.
Sophia also reached out and gave her two slaps.
Nina covered her double-slapped bottom, her eyes shimmering with tears.