I kicked aside old drawers and tables, struck the suspicious walls, and jabbed the ceiling with the Yin-Yang Dao. On the first floor, a staircase had appeared behind a demolished wall. On the second, a doll had suddenly shot out from beneath the floorboards. There was no reason to believe these rooms wouldn't have their own hidden tricks.
I lost count of how many rooms I passed. By the time the thudding behind me had faded into the distance, I discovered a staircase concealed behind a cabinet.
"Luan!" Evan's voice rang out nearby. We met almost immediately in the corridor. He had just stepped out from the door across from mine.
"There is a staircase here," Evan said.
"Over there as well?"
"As well? Don't tell me..."
We regrouped at once, tension tightening around us.
"There are two separate staircases leading up."
"What should we do?"
Naturally, all turned to me. A faint weight settled on my shoulders. Leadership was never easy. When the path ahead remained unknown, no one could claim to know the right choice. We had to decide the best course in the moment, with regret inevitably trailing every decision. Even now, I questioned whether leaving Mir behind had been the right call.
I thought it over for a moment, then said, "Let's split into two teams."
Right after, I looked at Charon. "If you have something to say, then say it. I want to hear your opinion. If it makes sense, I'm willing to change the plan."
" Hmm. " Charon's face twitched with discomfort as he spoke. "Some prey like to toy with the hunter. They are so clever that calling them smart doesn't do them justice. They can't speak, but sometimes they outwit humans."
"Is that so?"
"They mislead by leaving false tracks, smear themselves with other creatures' blood to fake injury, or set up dummy traps to confuse us... This building reeks of such tricks. Mir got separated from us, and there are two staircases leading up. The princess' plan is clearly to split our forces."
I nodded. "You're right. That's why I'm going to divide us."
"What?"
"There's something the princess has that animals don't. Have you forgotten? She's a lunatic who thrives on danger." I stared at the staircase before adding, "She understands our level pretty well. The traps and enemies she's set won't be enough to overwhelm us."
"You mean..."
"What this building offers are trials we can overcome." I fell silent.
The building was Perist's domain. It wouldn't be surprising if she was listening from somewhere nearby.
Each of the four here held a hidden card. Not just Seren and me, but Evan, the Young Dark Pope, and perhaps Charon, all had at least one trump card for desperate times. That was another reason I had chosen these four.
Would Perist have lowered her guard if I had brought Barter? What if I pushed it and brought Alderson? She probably would have raised her vigilance.
Meanwhile, we were only hero disciples. We hadn't reached adulthood and were still aspiring heroes. Rather than making her nervous, there was a chance she'd take unnecessary risks just to raise the tension.
I said, "I'm probably the best bet for taking her on directly. Let's make a promise here. If any of us runs into her, we will strike her with full force."
Even just one person was enough. Each of us possessed the power to deal a serious blow to the unsuspecting princess.
"How do you plan to split us up?" Seren asked, as if reading my thoughts.
"Two teams," I replied.
"Two people in each team?"
"No. I'll go alone. The three of you stay together."
After a brief pause, they all nodded. Their agreement showed me that my fight with Barter had made an impression.
"Then... let's meet again alive."
"Yes."
I watched the three disappear down the opposite staircase, then turned toward my own.
This staircase was oddly shaped. It was an aerial structure, seemingly made of iron, twisting in a circular design I disliked. The higher I climbed, the dizzier I became. My thoughts wandered as I moved up the winding structure, which seemed designed solely to frustrate humans.
There were many reasons for splitting the group like this. It wasn't just that I could perform at the level of an entire group on my own. The main reason was that I would struggle to fight at full strength if I stayed with the others. It was because of the purple flames.
Now I knew for certain that the moment I used these flames, my attack power would surpass even the White Flame state. It was the most destructive technique I possessed.
That alone wouldn't be a problem, but the purple flames came with a catch. I snapped my fingers, trying to ignite a purple flame like striking a match.
Hmm... It was as expected. This power could only manifest by drawing on the Dark Qi within my body. Naturally, I could feel the Dark Qi pulsing vividly in the flame.
This is troublesome.
How should I put it? Beyond the physical burden of using it, the purple flame carried a tremendous risk. I wondered if I could even use it when my life hung in the balance. The moment I summoned the purple flames, my Dark Qi would be exposed. Everyone would know that Luan Badniker was a member of the church.
Ugh. The more I thought about it, the more the anger clawed at me. A priest. I'm a priest. And wasn't it said that only the Dark Pope could appoint one? I haven't even met the Dark Pope—
I stopped abruptly as a sudden thought struck me. What if I already had met the Dark Pope?
No, it is impossible... I mentally denied it, yet I had already pulled out a note.
"See you at Setitus. P.S. I'm tired of being a puppet."
Leone remained a complete mystery, and until now, I had never considered her deeply. After all, she was a figure from the past and a mere puppet.
What if she isn't a puppet? I had heard the Dark Pope was an ancient monster who hadn't changed for centuries. Maybe the succession had already happened, and we simply didn't know it.
If my speculation was right, then Leone was the second Dark Pope. And that would explain something else. The Iron-Blooded Lord had trusted Leone as a friend, but she had betrayed him, driving him to hate both the church and the demons.
It's a good thing that I didn't reveal Evan and Leone's identities to each other. Still, despite what I had kept from them, they could have already started to piece things together on their own.
This raised another question. How could Leone, supposedly a puppet, act so freely? She was no longer under Alderson's control, and even Alderson didn't know Leone was in the Otherworld.
"The Otherworld?" Suddenly, I recalled what Evan had said about this place.
"It is the world of shadows, the realm beyond the lake, or simply the dream world. Another name for Hadenaihar is the Demon King of Two Sides..."
I hadn't realized it before, but this place was also called a dream world. That reminded me of what Junian had said during the training camp.
"Do you know about the Dark Pope?"
"That fellow... He knows how to dominate dreams."
"Time and space mean nothing to the Dark Pope, the ruler of dreams. If the Dark Pope wants to meet someone, he can enter that person's dream..."
"I'm not certain, but he can supposedly make someone experience 100 days in a single night."
"The Dark Pope chooses priest candidates through their dreams," I muttered, then burst out laughing.
I wasn't laughing because I found it funny. It was the kind of laughter that came when something was too absurd to take seriously. I stood halfway up the stairs, laughing longer than I should have.
A heavy sigh escaped me as I forced my thoughts back into order.
Darkness stretched between the stair steps, thick and endless. For a moment, it felt like a reflection of my future.
But what choice did I have? Even if the world around me was shrouded in darkness, as long as there was still something to step on, I had to keep going.
I kept climbing, one foot after the other, until the stairs finally ended.
It had taken longer than I expected. I was sure I'd passed the third floor ages ago. It seemed I had reached a height where climbing to the roof beyond the fourth floor wouldn't be strange. Of course, this was just based on my senses. I had no idea how many steps I had actually taken.
What is this place? Pure darkness stretched endlessly around me. Even with the Eyes of Fire or Serpent Eyes, I couldn't see a thing.
I moved forward without wasting energy. The ground beneath my feet was rough and uneven. It felt less like a hallway or a paved road and more like untouched wilderness, raw earth unshaped by human hands.
As I walked for a while, a gray mist started to creep out of nowhere. TThen, beyond the fog and darkness, the sound of bells chimed softly. I paused, a wave of nostalgia stirring within me at the familiar toll.
A sharp click followed—a sound I knew well. The distinct snap of an iron fan opening.
Was I hallucinating? Or losing my mind?
I knew something was wrong with me, but I forced myself to speak. "Second Senior Sister?"
I blinked rapidly, as if testing my vision.
"C-c-c-c-condition..."
Condition?
"The conditions have been met," a bizarre voice announced. "The Spirit Mountain's Blessing is activated."
***
Evan, Charon, and Seren climbed the stairs in silence after parting ways with Luan.
Evan glanced at the others and thought, H ow are we supposed to deal with this awkward silence?
Charon and Seren weren't the talkative type, and there was no real camaraderie between them. Evan had barely exchanged words with Seren, and his history with Charon was complicated.
It wasn't that Evan lacked social skills. He could hold a conversation just fine, but conversation was a two-way street. No matter how much he tried, talking to someone who wasn't willing to engage felt pointless.
Then a voice broke the quiet. "Evan Helvin."
To his surprise, Charon was the one who spoke. His expression looked a little hesitant.
"Huh? Why are you calling me?"
"I felt it earlier, when we were running down the corridor."
"Felt what?"
"You haven't neglected your training."
Evan blinked. What's he getting at?
He squinted slightly at Charon, who avoided his gaze and added quickly, "That's it. That's all I wanted to say."
"Oh. I see."
Charon gave a small nod, and it took Evan a second to catch on. Wait—was that his way of apologizing? For saying he didn't approve of my selection and would've preferred Hector instead?
Evan gave a small laugh. He looks like a wolf, but he's more sensitive than I thought.
"Well, don't worry about it," he said, scratching his cheek.
Charon nodded again, a bit more comfortably this time.
As the tension eased between them, Seren glanced over and thought, They're both being ridiculous.
"Ah."
"It is the end."
The stairs finally opened onto a long hallway. A purple carpet stretched along it, unusual but reminiscent of the second-floor lobby.
"Hello." Perist stood at the far end once again.
All three realized at once that this Perist was no illusion.
"You're all here," she said with a smile. " Hm... the side with three people survived. Should I call that luck? I suppose so. Though it's a shame, really. Personally, I was hoping Luan Badniker would be the one to make it."
"What are you talking about?"
"Why, the Road of Life and the Road of Death, of course."
The Road of Life and the Road of Death. Evan frowned as he thought about it. Two staircases on the second floor, a fork in the path. So one of them really was a trap.
Charon stepped forward. "If it's Brother Luan, he will be here soon. But you will die at our hands before you see him."
"I hope so. But..." Perist's red eyes drifted upward, and Charon's narrowed. Though they faced each other, Perist seemed to look beyond, focused elsewhere.
Who was she watching?
No way, Brother Luan...
Perist's eyes rolled slightly. A tense silence settled. Her twitching lips and clasped hands suggested she quietly cheered for someone.
"Ah...!" Suddenly, a wave of weakness swept over her. Perist sagged, as if watching a favored racehorse spectacularly fall, and a defeated voice escaped her lips. "He died."