Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1439 Deep Within the Tomb
After asking the question, Christina found herself in a state of tension.

She herself didn't know what kind of answer she was expecting: "I don't know you" or "Actually, I'm very familiar with your parents."

Of course, as a teenage girl, Tina had fantasized that she was actually a member of a hidden wealthy family, and that her parents were actually very rich, pretending to be ordinary people going to and from get off work every day just to "train" their daughters.

But after entering the world of mysticism and learning so much hidden knowledge in just one day, she became unsure whether this "extraordinary" quality was a good thing or a bad thing.

Having extraordinary parents, perhaps even angels, will inevitably bring about tremendous changes in her and Dorothy's lives, and these changes may not necessarily be for the better.

For example, Pierre, who claims to have been swallowed by darkness 18 years ago after extinguishing a candle in an underground tomb and only recently returned to reality, is a complete victim of supernatural forces.

Fortunately, the "genie" didn't give Tina much time to think. Unlike the previous times, he didn't change the subject or play dumb; he answered almost instantly:
"If you say you've had some interaction or contact with them, then my answer is: yes."

"But I am not their friend, much less their enemy. Our relationship is more like that of... collaborators."

"Cooperation? Like what?"

Because the conversation in her mind was always shared among the three of them, Dorothy immediately joined in, asking questions in a curious tone.

Seemingly nearing the final seal, the genie no longer concealed matters he had previously avoided by changing the subject, but instead slowly answered in their minds:

"For example, my relationship with you is the same now. I also try to get them to release me from the seal, and for example, to obtain some ancient and mysterious knowledge from me."

Isn't this exactly the situation I'm facing today? Did my mother, when she was young, also find a "wishing lamp" like I did, gain occult knowledge from the genie, and then try to break the seal and release Him? Tina pondered, then suddenly realized something and continued to ask:

"My mother came to this underground tomb 18 years ago because she wanted to break the seal of the 'Wishing Lamp'?"

"Could it be that she left her mark on Bayam, Resurrection Square, and even the Giants' Court of the Eastern Continent?"

Seemingly because of Tina's guess, the genie fell silent for a moment.

After a moment, He answered in a voice that had lost its majesty and was no longer grand and layered:
"Although there is a slight problem with the order and cause and effect, the seven seal positions of the 'Wishing Lamp' are indeed related to your mother... Of course, she hadn't met me 18 years ago, and she didn't come here to break the seal."

Sure enough, the genie had finally admitted to having a connection with her mother. The park in the northern part of Tingen, the Last Church in the eastern part of Backlund, the penthouse near Bayam Harbor, the Resurrection Square in Kukva, the deepest part of the Giants' Court, the Fool's Church in Yharnam, and now the catacombs were all places her mother had visited. Even the legends about those places were closely related to her. So, could Gehrman Sparrow, who was inseparable from the "Golden Queen," be...? Tina's mind flashed back to the places she had quickly arrived at and left that day. Her doubts had not diminished but rather increased.

Meanwhile, Dorothy continued to question the genie, who had suddenly become very knowledgeable:
"Then why did your mother come here 18 years ago, when she was almost an adult?"

"The catacombs of Trier were once part of a massive seal. Of course, it wasn't the seal that trapped me in the magic lamp, but rather it was created to bury the old Trier of the Fourth Age, preventing the power within from leaking out..."

"Trier in the Quaternary period was the ruins of a divine war, where various forces that even the gods could not control or deal with lingered. At that time, the mainstream belief of Intis, namely the followers of the eternal sun and the god of steam, built a new city of Trier above it, forming a seal with millions of residents and even more corpses, allowing these forces to stay quietly deep underground."

"As a price, and part of the side effects of the power of the gods at that time, all sorts of strange phenomena occur in this catacombs. One of them is the 'hidden' power that Pierre encountered. Your mother was inadvertently drawn into the catacombs by the power of those sealed within, but she left quickly. She only returned here when she truly had the power to solve the problems here."

"Of course, these historical issues have all been resolved, and the underground Trier is no longer fraught with danger. Otherwise, the moment you blew out the candle, you would have been affected by the 'hidden' power and had all traces of your existence erased."

It turns out Pierre wasn't making up a story; he really did encounter a supernatural event and lost 18 years of his life... No wonder the genie said earlier that the candle was just symbolic... Tina now fully believed the Trier student's experience, but new questions arose in her mind.

Her mother, Angel Granger, is not now an extraordinary being, but according to the genie, she once possessed the power to resolve the "crisis" in the underground Trier, and was associated with many saints and angels, including an angel named "Chariot" who looked almost identical to her...

"Genius, is my mother really not an extraordinary being, nor... a deity?"

She repeated in her mind the question she had asked the magic mirror, Arodes.

This time, the genie did not give a direct answer:
"We're nearing the last seal. Our journey is almost over. Once we get there, all your questions will be answered."

Huff—In the quiet underground tomb where only the footsteps of the three people could be heard, Tina heard her own sigh.

Could it be that her mother was once the "Golden Queen," an angel, but for some reason, her identity and power changed, so now she's just an ordinary person in Tingen City? Only in this way could all the previous questions be explained, and Arodes's answer be satisfied... This thought popped into her head, and she immediately laughed self-deprecatingly.

If Tina initially only wanted the "wishing lamp" to grant her wish, now she wants to know more about her parents' past and gain a deeper understanding of their experiences and history. Unfortunately, neither Arodes nor the genie talks about this, giving a strange feeling that "you'll find out when you get there."

Anyway, this is the last sealing location. Come to think of it, am I now retracing the steps my mother took...? Tina composed herself and continued following behind Pierre, the somewhat outgoing Trier university student, deeper into the catacombs.

……

With Tina and Dorothy by his side, Pierre navigated the seemingly random underground passages with ease, quickly ascending to the second basement level via ancient stone staircases.

This area is significantly larger than the first floor, and in addition to the tombs on both sides of the passageway, there are also individual tombs with their own names, filled with skeletons. The excess remains are piled up on the roadside, making the already narrow road even narrower.

Tina even noticed that some of the skeletons' hands and feet were blocking the passageway, as if they were intentionally creating obstacles for travelers and trying to trip them up.

The ancient custom of "lighting candles" in underground tombs gave Tina a chill down her spine.

If, before the divine power of Trier dissipates, a bystander trips over the skeletons by the roadside, the candle will inevitably fly out of their hand, and they will most likely be swallowed by darkness and forgotten by everyone.

Fortunately, the cemetery had become a safe place. Along the way, they saw many tourists dressed as Trier university students or speaking different languages. These people were very interested in Trier's ancient cemetery, stopping in front of each tomb chamber, going inside to see the remains of the dead from hundreds of years ago, and even taking photos.

“The solemn and serious atmosphere has been ruined by these tourists…” Pierre complained to Tina in a low voice after being blinded by the flashes of the cameras once again. “We’re almost at the third level. What part of the catacombs are you headed for?”

"Near the entrance to the third to fourth floor."

Tina replied with a smile.

Actually, the "genie's" instructions were for the fourth level, but Tina lied because she was worried that the enthusiastic Pierre would stop them from going to the deepest part, and also because she was afraid he would follow her and refuse to leave. "If it were last year... I mean 18 years ago, I would definitely have stopped you. The third and fourth levels of the catacombs are larger than the top two, and many passages connect to nearby abandoned quarries and deep caves. Once you get lost, and the candles burn out, you'll be forever asleep in darkness..."

"But even now, it is dangerous for two underage girls to wander around an underground cemetery without their parents' supervision."

Pierre said, holding up a candle.

This person is quite helpful, but judging from the current situation, there will be no danger if the candle goes out, but you have become a problem for me and Dorothy... Tina thought to herself, but she was too embarrassed to disappoint this helpful person, and for a moment she didn't know how to answer.

Just then, Dorothy suddenly brought her candle closer to her face, making her expression earnest, and said in a soft tone:

"Actually, we just wanted to find traces of our mother's past; it's a kind of... remembrance."

"Nostalgia..."

Pierre's expression was somewhat blank, then he sighed softly, clearly misunderstanding Dorothy's meaning, or perhaps this was the effect the latter deliberately wanted to create.

"Then let's go, I'll take you to the deepest part of the underground tomb."

He quickened his pace.

……

Passing by some university students who were singing and dancing around the corpses, supposedly to test their courage, and refusing a merchant trying to sell water from the "Samaritan's Spring" in the deepest part of the tomb, Pierre led his daughters, whom he remembered as "old acquaintances," into the third level of the tomb.

This place consists of a huge square connecting the second and third floors, engraved with church emblems such as steam, the Fool, and the End Times, as well as many named or unnamed tombs and intricate passageways, which Pierre called the Old Ossuary.

Fortunately, the core area of ​​the ossuary was marked with black lines on the ceiling for navigation. Pierre held up a candle and quickly led Tina and Dorothy to a huge but empty hall by following the lines.

Unlike other tombs, this one contained no skeletons. The floor and walls were smooth and clean, without any bones or moss. However, a black stone pillar that ran through the floor and ceiling stood in the center of the hall, as if it had grown out of a deeper tomb and penetrated all the way to the ground.

“This is the ‘Night Pillar.’ There are three in the entire catacombs, running through the floor between the third and fourth levels. But no one knows if they continue to the deeper levels. Some people who study the occult believe that they lead directly to the depths of Trier, to the old Trier before the Solon dynasty… Go around it, and behind it are the stairs leading to the fourth level.”

Pierre explained.

All three held candles, but the faint light barely illuminated the black stone pillar, making the irregularly shaped pillar, with its smooth surface as if it were made of obsidian, appear even more mysterious.

At that moment, the genie's majestic and awe-inspiring voice resounded in Tina's mind:

"This is part of the seal of Trier in the Fourth Epoch, transformed from the body of a 'Calamity' witch after her death."

The Calamity Witch... is Sequence 2 of the Witch Path, a true angel... Tina recalled her unfamiliar occult knowledge, slowly approached the "Night Pillar," holding a candle in one hand and reaching out to the black pillar with the other, stroking its cold surface.

Suddenly, a burning sensation emanated from inside the Night Pillar, flowing into her fingertips and entering her body.

Those were anger, despair, and doubt—the witch's strongest emotions before her death.

This...this seems to be related to me. The body of an angel after death from the Witch Path...could it be...Tina suddenly thought of that unresolved question from before.

Could it be Mom...?

Just as she had a guess, she heard a faint sound of footsteps behind her. The sound, which came from afar and was clearly not made by Pierre and Dorothy, made Tina turn around sharply, raise the candle above her head, and try to see the darkness around her.

A white figure slowly emerged from the darkness. It was a woman who didn't look very old. She had long, smooth black hair that cascaded down her back, and she wore a simple white robe. Her features were exceptionally delicate, and her holy aura seemed to belong to a dark and damp tomb.

This feeling reminded Tina of Archbishop Sherman in the church in the eastern part of Backlund, but the inner temperament and unadorned beauty far surpassed the other, giving Tina a strong sense of amazement.

So beautiful, I want to be held in her arms... Tina was lost in thought, almost forgetting that she was still deep in the tomb, and forgetting that the other person's strange appearance was like that of a legendary female ghost.

"Good afternoon, you two... um, tourists?" Seeing that Tina and Dorothy both looked blank, the woman in white took a few steps closer, tilted her head, and said, "Why did you touch that 'Chrismona Night Pillar'?"

The voice was melodious and pleasant, like a feather brushing against Tina's earlobe, making her shiver involuntarily and reply:
"We wanted to go to the fourth level of the catacombs, and we were curious about this 'Night Pillar' when we passed by, so we touched it. We're sorry."

She didn't know why she was apologizing, but seeing the other person's puzzled expression, she couldn't help but do it.

It was only then that Tina noticed that Pierre, who had been holding a candle beside her, was gone.

As if knowing what she was thinking, the woman continued:
“The person who is not involved in this matter has been isolated from the ‘Mirror World’ by me. There are only the three of us here.”

"That pillar was once part of the underground seal, but it's no longer useful. You can touch it anytime you want."

It sounded like she was touching someone's body... Tina's face flushed, and she quickly moved her hand away from the black stone pillar.

"Then who are you?"

Dorothy, who was standing to the side, also recovered from the shock of seeing the other's stunning beauty and extraordinary temperament at first sight, and asked a question.

"I am Christina."

The woman, whose black hair had a few pale gold roots and whose crystal blue eyes had a hint of purple in the depths, answered.

(End of this chapter)