Chapter 1155: Section 1156: The Fire-Controlling Statue
Underground hall.
The oil lamps on the walls had been knocked over in droves during the preceding chase, spilling pitch-black kerosene all over the ground. Embers crawled along the oily surface, slowly burning and gradually spreading outward.
As the fire was about to rise, Angel headed for the exit.
Standing at the doorway, he looked back at the hall.
Now, the underground hall was empty. Even the statue of the Cruel Scholar had been reduced to dust. With this fire, the pinnacle inscriptions that had once been left behind were reduced to ashes.
This was the source of Lassudral’s age-old existence; likewise, it was the terminus of Lassudral’s destruction.
All things would eventually pass away.
And this was only the beginning.
Angel’s mind was filled with myriad thoughts, but in the end, he merely let out a soft sigh, then turned and walked up the spiraling staircase.
…
Faint footsteps echoed through the deep, silent corridor.
This was a windowless corridor with blood-red carpets. On either side, the walls were adorned with the ghastly specimens of magical creatures’ heads, some of which were even human, all bearing expressions of terror and fear.
In the middle of the long corridor, one could occasionally see grotesque statues holding flames, and by their light, one could barely make out the owner of the footsteps.
A tall, blonde young man. He stood straight, handsome in features, but his face was deathly pale, showing an unusual tiredness and sickliness.
He was Angel.
After leaving the underground hall, Angel had arrived on the first floor of the Void Tower.
He had thought he would quickly find a way out, but to his surprise, the interior of the tower was like a maze. He had walked for half a day and hadn’t found the way, not even a single window leading to a balcony.
The materials making up the walls were not ordinary, and they weakened and shielded against any energy. For the level of great demons, they would not be an obstacle, but with Angel’s current strength, he couldn’t use spiritual power to explore the path behind the walls.
Having walked this corridor for quite some time, Angel had not seen a window, not even a door.
The foreboding sense of an endless, dark, and silent path ahead gave Angel the illusion that he had entered the gut of a monster, or rather, an interminable looping corridor.
After a while, Angel came to a resting area in the middle of the corridor.
The space of the resting area was wider than the corridor, large enough to accommodate a long table and sofas, next to which still stood statues holding flames.
The table was littered with dishes, but now they looked a mess. Here, Angel caught the stench of Jupiter’s foul saliva.
Presumably, Jupiter had eaten here before going down to the basement.
Angel thought for a moment, didn’t continue to wander aimlessly forward, but stopped temporarily in the resting area, then he took out a Scouting Puppet and released it into the deep darkness.
As the Scouting Puppet searched for the path, Angel took out the statue of the Cruel Scholar and placed it on the table.
“Subdue,” Angel murmured softly. This was what Yadasai had said, clearly the name of this statue. But what function did this “Subdue” have?
From the words of the Cruel Scholar, one could tell that this statue seemed usable, but how to use it? And what the effects and consequences of its use might be, remained a mystery.
Angel looked at the statue, which was just like when he had first seen it in the underground hall, with wings enfolded and wrapped around its body. Although he couldn’t see its face, for some reason, Angel always felt a chilling sensation, as if a pair of eyes were staring at him from the remote darkness.
Angel pondered for a moment, then took off his right glove.
The green patterns around his right hand instantly leaped to sight.
These patterns kept changing and moved around his right hand. Angel quickly locked onto one of the green patterns, a new one he had only acquired recently.
Although he hadn’t analyzed its data as deeply as he had other patterns, he understood the meaning of the green pattern the moment he received it— “Shield.”
However, following the meaning of other patterns, this “Shield” was probably just the most surface-level meaning; it likely had other implications inside, which he would analyze when he found the time later.
He looked at the green pattern symbolizing “Shield” for a long time. Finally, he exhaled deeply and slowly released the Nightmare Realm breath from his right hand as the power source to activate the green pattern. Angel then tried to activate the pattern.
Without any light or energy fluctuations, the green pattern representing “Shield” simply dissolved unremarkably. Or rather, to the naked eye, it vanished; but Angel could clearly feel that the pattern had turned into a thin film, enveloping him from all sides.
With the appearance of this film, Angel’s gaze returned to the statue on the table, and he no longer felt the previous palpitations.
Although Angel felt that being this cautious might seem a bit paranoid, after all, this “Subdue” was a creation of a Demon God. With the work of a Demon God, no amount of caution could be considered excessive.
Moreover, after activating the Shield pattern, Angel wasn’t worried about it disappearing because his right hand was constantly releasing the Nightmare Realm breath, which currently was sufficient to maintain the existence of the pattern.
Unless he released the Art of Nightmare Illusion with his right hand, there would be no short-term effect on the green Pattern.
After Angel eased his mind, his gaze naturally fell upon the other side of the Scouting Puppet.
However, it was only when Angel looked over that he noticed the Scouting Puppet was currently stopped at a broken open door.
This door was the very one Angel had come up through from the underground hall.
In other words, the Scouting Puppet had walked a full circle around the corridor without finding anything of note. The only door it saw was still the one leading to the underground hall.
It was utterly improbable for there to be only this one door in the entire corridor.
“Either we’ve entered some sort of maze, or the path has been concealed.”
If it were indeed a maze, Angel estimated that with his own abilities, he definitely would not be able to solve it. Moreover, according to his conjecture, the Void Tower itself was already infused with the means of Inscriptions, making the likelihood of an additional maze quite low.
So, could it be that the path had been hidden away?
Angel gathered the statue on the table and walked towards the dark corridor. He moved slowly, scrutinizing his surroundings, but even as he arrived back at the door to the underground hall, he still found no clues.
Upon reflection, if a maze was unlikely, then concealing the path also seemed inconsistent with his deductions.
Moreover, based on Angel’s observations during this time, apart from Demons that primarily affected the mind, most other Demons tended to avoid hassle. Devious and malicious acts were not uncommon, but circumstances involving hidden and elusive elements rarely occurred.
“Could it be that the path has never been hidden, and I’ve simply overlooked it?”
Angel retraced his steps along the corridor, taking extra care this time. Aside from the occasional specimens of heads on the walls, he discovered nothing unusual.
Just as Angel was at a loss, a faint glow illuminated the darkness ahead.
Looking up, he saw the flame-bearing statues that intermittently appeared in the hallway. These statues, with their ghastly, fearsome expressions, jutted from the walls with elongated arms outstretched, palms holding the burning flames.
Angel stared at one of these flame-bearing statues and suddenly it seemed as if he remembered something.
For Demons who disliked hassle, if there was a path, there must be a clear marker. And in a hallway where darkness rendered one virtually blind, the most obvious indicators were these statues with their lit flames.
Could it be that these statues indicated the way?
Angel reached out in doubt and touched the long arm of the statue.
And without any force applied, he heard a “click-click—” sound as the flame-bearing statue and the wall behind it flipped around, revealing a door.
Angel: “…” So, it really was a path after all.
Angel walked through the door, all the while criticizing the design in his head.
Behind the door was a cramped and narrow room. As soon as Fuyi entered, Angel was immediately hit by a strong stench of blood. On closer inspection, he saw that the tiny room was covered in various decaying flesh, which looked to be from some Magical Creature. Some had even started to grow white maggots.
In the center of the room, there was a downward passage, resembling a slide. But on this slide, there were ancient, pitch-black bloodstains as well as vivid, fresh ones.
Angel had the Scouting Puppet peer down the slide and saw a gory basement below.
A corpulent Demon, shackled at the neck and limbs, was incessantly chopping at a Magical Creature… Upon closer scrutiny, Angel noticed a Hunting Museum number attached to that creature, suggesting it was taken from the Hunting Museum.
The corpulent Demon was surrounded by chunks of flesh and rotting meat, as well as various dining plates and condiments that looked nauseating.
The activity from the Scouting Puppet seemed to startle the corpulent Demon, who turned its head, bellowed angrily, and charged towards the Scouting Puppet with the chopper in hand.
However, midway through the charge, it was pulled back by the chains.
After witnessing this scene, Angel silently retreated from the room. Those dining plates were almost identical to the ones in the rest area; perhaps they belonged to chefs captured by Jupiter?
There were many flame-bearing statues in the corridor, and it didn’t take long for Angel to find another room.
Yet, this was still a kitchen, and beneath it also a corpulent Demon was imprisoned.
In fact, the ingredients used by these demon chefs were all creatures from the Abyss, which to Angel were excellent Demonic Materials. But to acquire them, one had to confront these horrifying chefs.
Angel didn’t believe he could win against them, so he could only regretfully withdraw.
On his journey, Angel entered many rooms hidden behind the flame-bearing statues, yet eight out of ten were ‘kitchens’ – from which one could gauge just how huge an appetite Jupiter possessed.
The rest of the rooms were basically empty.
That is not to say they were completely devoid of anything, for instance, this one right now.