Fors's gaze met Xio's in midair, but no one said a word.
After a while, Fors laughed dryly.
"Haha, you weren't asleep?"
Xio frowned bit by bit.
"What happened to you just now?"
"Nothing. Didn't I tell you before? Every full moon, my condition isn't too good. It's even worse during the Blood Moon, "Fors replied, feigning normality.
Xio sized her up and pulled the blanket over her.
"I remember you brought medicine for sleeping?"
"I don't need it for now. I've already adjusted." Seeing that Xio didn't press further, Fors secretly heaved a sigh of relief. "Sleep. Sleep. We still have to wake up early tomorrow to enter the forest."
Xio didn't say a word as she flipped over, hugged the blanket, and closed her eyes.
Not long after, her breathing became heavier, long and even.
Fors stared at the ceiling in a daze as her thoughts ran wild. At some point in time, she fell asleep as well.
…
At noon the next day, in the core region of Delaire Forest, in front of an ancient castle that had mostly collapsed and was covered in green vines.
Fors wiped the sweat from her forehead and heaved a long sigh of relief.
"We're finally here …"
Xio shot a glance at her.
"The hotel's boss told me that it would only take two hours to reach here."
They had set off before six in the morning and had spent nearly seven hours on the journey.
The corners of Fors's mouth twitched.
"The theoretical situation is different from the actual situation. We don't even have a path towards the end. We need to figure it out and open it up ourselves!"
Xio took out her trident and nodded.
"You should've foreseen such a situation from the very beginning, but you still rejected the hotel's boss's suggestion to recommend a guide."
"As an Astrologer, I don't believe such trivial matters will cause any trouble. Look, aren't we already here? Besides, the time is perfect. The wraiths and ghosts are definitely in their weakest states. " Fors, who forced a smile, held Leymano's Travels in one hand and pointed ahead with the other. "I didn't realize it before, but the more I think about it, the more puzzled I become."
"Puzzled about what?" Xio cast her gaze at the abandoned castle that was nearly covered in vines.
Fors casually found an excuse.
"Tell me, who would build a castle in the middle of a forest? Furthermore, they haven't opened a direct path to this place yet … "
Before she could finish her sentence, she really felt that this was a little strange.
Xio thought for a moment.
"Perhaps there was originally a road, but as the castle was abandoned, the long passage of time washed away all traces of the road."
Fors tucked her hair behind her ear and shook her head.
"Then why give up?
"If safety considerations had been taken into account when it was first built, it would have been even more dangerous to be in the middle of the uninhabited forest far away from the cities. If it was a vacation, with the style of the nobles, no matter how difficult the repairs and maintenance would be, they wouldn't give up."
Xio blurted out.
"Because of the haunting?"
Fors pondered for a few seconds.
"How can a person who can afford to build a large castle not hire Beyonders to deal with the haunting?
I suspect that the three Churches and the kingdom's government don't know about this ancient castle. Otherwise, there's no reason for them to let go of the Beyonder ingredients inside …
At this point, she raised a possibility.
"An ancient castle of the vampires?"
Such Beyonder creatures liked to live in deserted places. Furthermore, they were often associated with buildings like eerie ancient castles.
In addition, the information on this ancient castle was provided by the Sanguine.
"It's possible." Xio first agreed before raising a different opinion. "Would the Sanguine be afraid of ghosts? They definitely have the ability to deal with the ancient wraiths here. "
Makes sense … Don't the Sanguine like money and don't mind the search for Beyonder ingredients? Thinking about Mr. Moon's performance, she denied her own guess and deliberated before saying, "That's right.
She deliberated and said, "Unless there's some other trouble that's not easy to resolve here, making high-level Beyonders choose to circle around it."
If that was the case, her actions would be more dangerous than she had expected.
Xio tersely acknowledged.
"Let's immediately do some preliminary explorations while the sunlight is strong."
"Alright." With Leymano's Travels in hand, Fors approached the half-collapsed ancient castle.
The two of them quickly arrived at the entrance that was two-thirds blocked by rocks. They discovered that under the green vines, the stone walls were mottled and heavily weathered. It was as though they had existed for a very, very long time.
Xio wasn't in a rush to enter. Instead, she called out to Fors and circled the ancient castle slowly.
When she returned to the entrance, she asked in puzzlement, "This castle's style is purely defensive.
It doesn't seem to consider the problem of living in it. Furthermore, there are many architectural features that I've never heard of. It likely existed before the late Fourth Epoch, or even earlier. "
"What's there to defend here? Orcs? Treants? They were nearly extinct after the Cataclysm. Haha, could this be a Second Epoch or Third Epoch building? "Fors replied in passing.
She observed the terrain and left the entrance with Xio. She came in front of a relatively intact wall, extended her palm, and pressed it down.
Although she lacked combat experience, she was rather proficient in the various matters before a battle.
The illusory scene in front of them changed as Fors and Xio entered the abandoned ancient castle.
The first thing they saw was a collapsed staircase with layers of superstructure wreckage. Pure sunlight that shone in from above, as well as the ground that only had bricks and rotten wood. There wasn't any beast or bird feces, or any green weeds.
A howling wind blew past. Even though it was noon, it emitted a bone-chilling coldness.
Fors activated her Spirit Vision and slowly surveyed the area, but she didn't see any Spirit Body creatures.
However, she noticed that on the right side of the rubble, there was a rather intact stone staircase.
The staircase was mottled and extended all the way down. It was unknown where it led to.
"Let's go take a look?" Fors glanced at Xio and raised her suggestion.
From her point of view, the other parts of the ancient castle could either be seen clearly at a glance, or there were layers of collapsed objects. If they planned on carefully investigating it, it would definitely take a considerable amount of time. Therefore, it was better to figure out the overall layout first to have some confidence.
Xio looked around and nodded gently.
"The cold winds are gathering underground … I suspect that all the wraiths and ghosts are hiding in the place where the staircase leads to."
"Okay." Fors carefully walked towards the mottled stone staircase. She walked down the staircase that was littered with gravel.
The staircase was rather narrow, allowing only one person to pass through at a time. Furthermore, it was the kind that spiraled deeper. It left Fors feeling a little apprehensive. Tap!
Tap! Tap! As their footsteps reverberated, the light in the staircase dimmed.
Xio lit up the lantern in her hand as Fors opened Leymano's Travels. Her finger skimmed across one of the pages in a well-practiced manner.
A bright and warm light leaped out of thin air, illuminating the mottled staircase ahead. Fors and Xio tensed up as they walked down one level after another.
Along the way, cold winds would blow, making them overreact a few times. They nearly attacked an enemy that didn't exist.
Tap! Tap! Tap! In the cramped and quiet environment, Fors finally reached the end of the staircase and stepped onto flat and solid ground.
She originally wanted to say that staying in such a place for too long would really drive one crazy, but due to the silent atmosphere, she didn't make a sound. She was afraid that she would break this state and trigger an extremely negative change.
With the illumination of the light floating diagonally above her, Fors cast her gaze forward in a bid to see what the end of the staircase looked like.
It was a hall that was nearly ten meters tall. It was paved with black tiles that were dripping with water. There were signs of cracks and damage everywhere.
Dozens of meters away, on the other side of the hall where the light couldn't reach, stood a pair of double bronze doors.
The doors reached the top, and the stones on the left and right walls had fallen. The statues were damaged, revealing the dark brown soil beneath.
The surface of the door was engraved with dense symbols and strange patterns. It exuded a sense of mystery and heaviness, as though it was sealing something or blocking something.
Fors finally couldn't help but speak. She suppressed her voice.
She suppressed her voice and said, "Have you seen such a door before?"
Beside her, Xio shook her head.
"No."
Fors immediately hissed.
"Tell me, what do you think is behind this door? Where does it lead to?
"Th-that's the reason why this castle was built back then? To prevent the creature behind the door from coming out? "
Xio surveyed the area, but she didn't find any murals that could provide any information. All she discovered was that the closer she got to the bronze door, the more water droplets seeped out of the ground. The number of discarded silver-black swords also increased.
"In the Fourth Epoch and Fifth Epoch, murals were a common sight in all castles and buildings. And before the Cataclysm, from a few elven ruins, it can be seen that Beyonder creatures also liked to praise deities and record their daily lives in the form of murals …" Xio combined her experience and knowledge as a bounty hunter and spoke slowly.
Fors nodded slightly.
"Indeed.
"This ancient castle is more special than I imagined."
At that moment, she felt rather uneasy. She even wanted to leave and seek Mr. World's help.
Back on the Tarot, after hearing Little Sun's terrifying stories about ruins, she couldn't help but overthink and scare herself when she was in a similar environment.
"I might be able to find more clues if I get closer." Xio boldly took a step forward and approached the heavy door that seemed to seal a particular spot.
Fors held Leymano's Travels tightly and hurriedly chased after her.
As she walked, a trace of red suddenly appeared in her eyes.
What seeped out of the cracks on the black tiles was no longer water droplets, but blinding blood!
"This …" Fors suddenly opened the notebook with a bronze cover as she swept her gaze at Xio.
In her vision, Xio's face had turned pale at some point in time. Her eyes were blackish-green, and her lips were blood-red. Her body was gloomy, and her expression was extremely warped.
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