Chapter 126: Shadows of Memory

After a chaotic round of laughter and excitement, Sigrid finally managed to calm down—mainly because they were still in enemy territory, and several priestesses who seemed quite familiar with her had joined them.

This little girl probably didn’t want too many people to know her dirty little thoughts; no, she completely wanted to keep it under wraps. Only Miss Vilyric could see through her with her “sharp” gaze.

In any case, after using life magic to dry off and remove the slime, the scout team delved deeper into the enemy stronghold.

To be honest, the environment here was somewhat unexpected for Vilyric. It wasn’t particularly bizarre; rather, it was too normal—normal to the point of being unreasonable.

Can you imagine that in what appeared to be the insides of some giant alien creature, filled with gray, murky mist, there were stone walls and floors resembling typical human architecture, complete with lighting?

But the stone was ancient, clearly weathered by ages; it was covered with patches of moss, and many parts were already crumbling.

Gray vines, reminiscent of the lifeless surroundings, twisted through the walls and the space, spreading like root systems in every nook, while those lights… no, they weren’t magical or from artifacts, but some kind of particles emitting a soft glow.

They floated in the upper half of the space, aimlessly drifting about, a bit like fireflies. However, Vilyric, sensitive to life and light, could assure herself that they were not living beings but rather inorganic materials akin to elements.

This was something she had never seen before, likely having existed for a very long time in this place.

“Is there only one way…?”

The structure here was a not-so-wide one-way path, flanked by densely packed openings of that special meat-like canal they passed through earlier. It connected to the burrows outside the island, presumably.

The interior of the corridor was empty, save for the moss-covered ground and those gray vines in occasional intertwining formations that seemed inactive, with little else to behold.

Since this was the case, there was no point in hesitating.

To avoid alarming any unknown enemies that might exist, Vilyric didn’t use SP for broad-scale detection, so the information she had was quite limited.

They cautiously moved along the semi-stone corridor, and the surrounding environment showed nearly no change. The Abyss Beasts previously seen flying out from the island’s burrows seemed to be absent, for some unknown reason.

After walking for about ten minutes, though not obvious, Vilyric could feel they were likely spiraling downwards, and they must have reached a deep central area of the Demon Island.

Still, no enemies appeared, and the eerie silence made everyone slightly uneasy. Aside from the little Dragon Daughter, even Vilyric was starting to feel a bit tense.

“Hey… has anyone noticed that the air is getting gradually more humid?”

Unable to tolerate the strange silence, detail-oriented Leila was the first to raise her observation.

Vilyric didn’t answer as her back was turned, but Sigrid and the others nodded after a slight moment of surprise. Though perhaps slightly lesser in overall strength due to their bloodline issues, as legendary Winged People, their senses were not any worse.

“Seems like that’s the case, but there are no obvious changes in the environment, which means there must be something like a pool at the end of our path?”

“No, it’s not a pool. This smell… how can it be?”

After declaring this, the Black-haired Girl suddenly quickened her pace, rushing ahead!

“Master?!”

“Lady Vilyric!”

“Hey, Vilyric?!”

Gasps and calls of surprise or concern came from behind, but the Priestess hadn’t the time to care. Her heart was filled with a shocking and indescribable feeling.

It was impossible—how could those things show up in the Demon Island from the Abyss?

A strange smell brought forth unfamiliar yet familiar sensations, awakening memories nearly sealed deep within the girl’s heart.

It was something she once knew all too well.

Tap, tap, tap, tap…

Finally, the girl now known as Vilyric came to a slow stop at a certain part of the path, which no longer resembled the passage they had come through.

“Ah…”

The suddenly intensified choking smell caused the girl to let out an unconcealed low sound from her lips; this odor had once filled her heart with lingering shadows for a long time.

Disinfectant.

There was no mistake; this was the kind of smell usually found in hospitals or laboratories on the Blue Star.

And the scene surrounding her.

Translucent petri dishes—not just one or two, but thousands, tens of thousands, or even more densely packed that their boundaries were almost impossible to see, completely covering the walls of the grand hall, like ancient coffins asleep in a tomb.

Inside were all sorts of Abyss Beasts, both familiar and unfamiliar to Vilyric; even in the highest part of the grand hall, the domed ceiling held several terrifying figures—not Abyss Worms? What else could they be?

At the very bottom of these petri dishes, a third of them lay shattered, and their contents had vanished without a trace, with large puddles of pale green liquid spilled across the ground. This was the source of the humid air Leila and the others had mentioned, as well as the disinfectant-like odor Vilyric was sensing.

What the hell is this?

The scene before her was akin to an ancient duel in the medieval era, where two knights fought to the death, and one suddenly pulled out a Desert Eagle Magnum from their waistband, proclaiming, “My lord, times have changed,” in a comedic twist.

The core of the Abyss Beasts—from the depths of the Abyss arose the Demon Island, and inside it, it was this high-tech?

Vilyric could even see simple panels displaying the biological status before each petri dish, the vast majority still operational, meaning those Abyss Beasts and worms yet to leave their dishes were all alive.

What in the Abyss… is this place?

At this moment, Vilyric suddenly recalled the memory of Afra Constans, the Blood Clan Duchess, she had seen in the Forgotten Land—the so-called high-tech “Temple” left by the gods, and the disaster referred to as “Defilement.”

Was it a coincidence… or does the power of Defilement link to the Abyss, and even…

No, this is too absurd.

But the Defiled Seed sealed within that petri dish in her memory was far too similar to what lay before her, making it hard for Vilyric not to draw connections.

“Master!”

“Vilyric! Why did you suddenly run off like that… oh God of Freedom… what the hell are these things?!”

   

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