Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 911 Church
[Personal Exploration Log of the Ash World]

"The thirty-fifth day."

"Upon arriving at the Land of No Light, just as the intelligence indicated, this region has no concept of daylight and is also plagued by a deep curse that permeates the entire land, significantly increasing the difficulty of exploration."

"With the calendar function provided by the mark, although I can still tell the passage of time, the extremely limited field of vision greatly affects my exploration. Fortunately, after obtaining the spell casting medium, I can now actively restore my mana through meditation. As long as I proceed steadily, it's only a matter of time before I leave this area."

“Vic Lear is still at the very back. I have to admit, he has a lot of stamina in that respect.”

...

...

"The thirty-seventh day."

"We found a monastery of the Church of the Deep and dealt with the undead inside. Just like below the Frankish Fortress, there were also many 'sacrifices' hidden here, as well as a bill for counting the 'lambs'. Judging from the list, this is an area specifically responsible for providing 'novice nuns'."

"After searching the entire monastery, we still couldn't find any usable prayer books. According to Wu Huo's description, the religious factions in this world have extremely strict management of the study of prayer. Only priests who have reached the level of bishop are qualified to possess prayer books that contain basic prayers."

“Vic Lehr seems to be frightened by the scene below the monastery. Judging from his behavior, he did not lie about his background. Hmm... he does fit the image of a ‘clean’ graduate who traveled all the way to Frankish Fortress by virtue of his academy graduate status.”

...

...

"The fortieth day."

"We encountered a group of undead soldiers transformed from Night Legion soldiers. There were quite a few of them, and it took us some time to kill them all."

...

"The forty-first day."

"If you encounter a zombie transformed from a Night Inquisitor, kill it."

...

"The forty-second day."

"If you encounter a settlement of undead made up of sacrificial offerings, there are too few souls, so take a detour."

...

"The forty-third day."

"We encountered a thousand-strong army of wandering spirits, of good quality. We wiped them out."

...

...

"The forty-fifth day."

"We have arrived at the exit of the Land of No Light. The boss guarding the gate is a flying type, and there is a fire in front of the gate."

"Too fragile, killed with one arrow."

"A Deep Gem similar to the Poison Flame Gem dropped by the Poisonous Dragon has been found. According to Wu Huo, if a skilled blacksmith can be found, it seems that these gems can be used to transform ordinary equipment such as the Fine Iron Broadsword."

“Vic Lear’s spell accuracy and transformation speed have improved a lot. It seems he has realized the concept and application of matrices in spells. Considering the level of spell education he received, his reaction is quite quick.”

...

"The forty-sixth day."

"The trick of coaxing Wu Huo to sleep with Ling Yuzi was seen through, and Ling Yuzi was scolded. Ling Yuzi was fully responsible."

"Tsk! Lai Lai, you're making false accusations! I was just trying to help Sister Wu Huo wipe herself down! Who knew she was pretending to be asleep! And didn't Sister Wu Huo promise to rest properly when she's tired in the future?"

"In conclusion, Lingyuzi is fully responsible, and Xinlailai is not responsible."

...

...

"The forty-seventh day."

"Leave the land of darkness and enter the holy city of Isilul."

"Unlike the normal world, starting from the Land of No Light, there are obvious gaps in spacetime between different areas of the Ash World. Often, you can only reach the next area by following a predetermined direction and route."

"According to Wu Huo, because the original Abyss Void opened directly above the Lordfire, the Ash World in the past experienced a large-scale spacetime collapse centered on the Lordfire. It was not until the first Lord of Cinder took office that it began to return to normal. However, because the spacetime collapse in the area near the Lordfire was too severe, even if it was repaired, it could only result in a patchwork spacetime where different spacetimes were pieced together with a few fixed nodes."

...

"The forty-ninth day."

"We've explored the outer city of Ishirul, but found nothing else."

"The outer city is almost entirely composed of civilians and sacrificial offerings, making up a weak force of undead, but some of them are quite special undead."

"Judging from the layout and equipment of the special undead in the outer city, as well as the fragmented information gathered along the way, these undead should have been transformed from a group of fanatical believers of the Cult of the Deep. After their deaths, they were used by Ishirul as slaves who neither ate nor drank, and were responsible for various simple city defense tasks. A considerable portion of the teams composed of civilians and sacrificial offerings should have been created by them."

"From the current perspective, the Cult of the Deep may have been trying to control the undead at that time. Although it obviously failed in terms of the result, they successfully left behind a group of undead and wandering souls that were extremely well-commanded, well-equipped, and even had a certain ability to think."

"Living corpses, management, military-style operations, deployment..."

"Hmm... Lingyu and I both have a very bad feeling. I hope our premonition doesn't come true."

...

"The fiftieth day."

My premonition came true...

"Isilul's inner city was designed by that bastard who built the Frankish Fortress!!!"

...

...

Day 55, Inner City of the Holy City of Isilul, in front of the Great Elevator.

“LAaaaaa——!!”

"What the hell are you doing, you *** (the amusement park swear word)?!"

A furious outburst of curses erupted from the frigid sky. On a spacious platform covered with ice sculptures, a black-haired youth with a ferocious expression, like a demon, punched a six-winged woman in ice-blue form before him. A burst of black light shot into the sky, blasting her exquisite, artistic face and her entire head into dust.

[The Guardian of Isilul has been defeated, Soul Points +600000 (400000 + 200000)]

boom--! !

The raging demonic power raged wildly, bombarding the surrounding pillars and bricks from the surging soul points, causing the entire platform to shake violently with a loud explosion.

"Tsk, that beast got off easy." Xin Lailai, who had smashed the other's head with a punch, looked at the scene before her and still seemed unsatisfied. She clicked her tongue and gritted her teeth, looking as if she wished she could resurrect the other and grind him to dust.

No wonder he was so angry. You see, in the past three days, apart from the traps and distractions in the inner city that were even more inhumane than those in the Frankish Fortress, the thing that annoyed them the most in the entire inner city was the Ice Goddess statue that they had just smashed to pieces with a single punch.

If it weren't for this beast who, relying on his high ground in the Holy City, acted like a horny madman, unleashing a barrage of swords from seven or eight kilometers away the moment he sensed the slightest hint of Wang Huo, and then using his skill advantage to send several clones at an extremely long distance to hack and slash at them before self-destructing, they wouldn't have spent three whole days, even with aerial mobility, to reach the elevator leading to the Deep Cathedral.

It can be said that when they finally climbed back up from that hellish place where every fall meant another half hour of climbing, and finally saw the real Ice Goddess statue, their 'smiles' were so ferocious that they looked like they could devour the other person alive several times over.

……

[The Soul of Ishirul's Guardian]

Category: Rare Items

Durability: (None)

Synopsis: An artificial soul forged from the souls of seventeen Fire-Bestowing Sisters and five thousand Deep followers. Originally a failed attempt by the Deep to replicate the soul of "Soul Forger" Rudolf, it was deemed by the Deep to be the most suitable vessel to serve as the guardian of Isilul due to its immense power and endless resentment.

……

【Ishirul's Blessing】

Category: Rare Amulet
Effect: When worn, jump distance is increased by 50%, and if the fall damage is not fatal, you will be immune to the fall damage.

Description: A precious amulet crafted from cold silver and ancient dragon scales, imbued with pure, profound faith and abundant soul energy.

The Ascension Serpent is a symbol of the Cult of the Deep, representing the sublimation and transformation that 'The Devourer' Elizid yearns for.

However, the more one desires height, the more tragically one's fall tends to be.

……

"Something made using the Fire-Given Sisters as materials..."

Picking up the soul and items dropped by the Ice Goddess statue, Xin Lailai glanced at the descriptions on them, then looked at the soul in her hand, which resembled a large number of wailing faces stitched together. After gazing at it for a while, she put it back into her backpack space.

"I wonder if Rudolphs has any ideas..."

The Soul of the Fire-Giver Sister cannot be destroyed, and with his current ability to manipulate soul energy, he is also unable to break down this deformed soul. Therefore, the only hope lies with the short old man in the Fire-Giver Priest's arena who is frequently mentioned among various rare items, but who does not resemble a Lord of Cinder at all.

As for the journey, once they kill Elizid, who is staying in the church above, they can use the Royal Artifact that drops from him to create a Royal Flame that can teleport them directly back to Firelink Shrine. Therefore, there is no need to worry about whether it will take too long.

"Mr. Black Sword... huff, huff... are you already...?"

As the panting shouts subsided, the young man wearing an oversized wizard's hat climbed out from the edge of the platform, glanced at the shattered ice sculptures scattered all around him, and swallowed hard.

"Yes, it's been taken care of. You can look after the campfire here."

"Uh... okay, sure."

Xin Lailai said calmly, glancing at the campfire located in front of the large elevator at the back. She walked over, refreshed her seat by the fire, pushed open the gate, and arrived at the circular elevator, which was over ten meters wide. She grabbed the pull handle, which was almost as tall as herself, and pulled hard—

Humlong——! !

A muffled hum sounded, and the elevator beneath Xin Lailai swayed up and down for a moment before rising little by little from the glowing runes, carrying her all the way up to the huge church located in another spacetime region.

Large elevator.

While the spacetime rupture phenomenon has made the area near Wang Huo bizarre and fantastical, it has also given rise to various magical terrains that are easy to defend and difficult to attack.

For example, the deep church above them was created by utilizing the special terrain caused by the spacetime rupture phenomenon. It was a magnificent church that was more than two thousand meters above the ground and could only be reached by the large elevator in front of them.

Om-! !

The humming of the formation continued, and a faint gray mist appeared, blocking out the strong winds blowing from the surroundings, giving them a hazy feeling when looking down at the scene below.

Unlike the normal world, in the Ash World, once you climb to a certain height, it will cause a phenomenon similar to the gathering of gray fog. This is why they didn't use the Crystal Magic to travel through the air to kill the Ice Goddess Statue and skip class to enter the Deep Cathedral.

It's fortunate that Brother Huixin came to Ishirul when it still had some order; otherwise, let alone seeing Elizid, Xinlailai seriously doubted whether he could successfully navigate the traps and mechanisms in the inner city, as well as the constant attacks from the Ice Goddess statue.

Boom!

Time ticked by, and finally, accompanied by a strong shaking, the humming of the surrounding magic array suddenly ceased, and the gray mist that had been swirling around it vanished with a whoosh, revealing the scene behind it:

Grayish cotton wool drifted down from the sky, casting a grayish-white hue over everything in sight, leaving only the area illuminated by the fire in front of the elevator untouched.

A winged serpent statue, over thirty meters tall, stands erect in front of an ancient gate guarded by two towering rock statues. Its mouth is open as if it is about to devour the sky, adding a sense of oppression and solemnity to the enormous black church that is comparable to a palace.

"Have we finally arrived...?"

The Cathedral of the Deep, the former Lord of Cinder's hiding place, the building closest to the sky in the words of the blindfolded nun, and the place of salvation in the eyes of countless believers of the Deep.

"It's a little bigger than I imagined, Lai Lai. Do you think there are traps set up inside like in the inner city?"

"It's unlikely. After all, it's a pilgrimage site of the Cult of the Deep, and it's unlikely that they would act recklessly like they do outside."

"However, considering that this place has already fallen, there are probably quite a few mechanisms that have been activated inside."

Xin Lailai gazed at the arched gate not far away and said calmly.

For the powers in this world, setting up traps for their headquarters is as natural as eating and drinking. After all, these traps can refresh with the fire, thus intercepting a large number of zombies, and can also ensure that the people inside the building cannot easily come out after they have turned into zombies, thus causing chaos to the outside world.

From this perspective, it's surprisingly reasonable that such scoundrels as the designers of the Frankish fortress and the inner city of Isilul would emerge in this world.

"Let's go in and check out the situation first."

Sin Lailai thought to herself, surveyed the scene before her, and strode toward the entrance of the deep cathedral. Almost as soon as she approached the door...

"Roar--!!"

A deep roar resounded, and the rock giant statues on both sides of the gate suddenly opened their eyes and roared as they slashed at Xin Lailai. But in the next instant, two streams of dark light flew out from behind Xin Lailai and struck the two rock giants that had suddenly attacked, emptying their health bars in one blow.

[Slayed the "Rock Giant", Soul Points +45000 (30000 + 15000)]

[Slayed the "Rock Giant", Soul Points +45000 (30000 + 15000)]

"As expected... people won't design things like this in a random way?"

Having confirmed that this place had not been visited by that bastard designer, Xin Lailai's gaze shifted slightly as she looked at the door in front of her, placed her hands on it, and pushed it hard.

If the designers of the Frankish fortress had been responsible, they would never have placed something like this at the entrance that serves no purpose other than to raise people's guard. This is an experience they gained after 'tasting' a large number of the other side's 'masterpieces'.

The guys who designed the inner city of Frank and Isilul, though scoundrels, had a morbid obsession with the 'artistic' aspects of traps themselves.

Humlong——! !

The next second, a muffled hum subsided, and a desolate aura swept over them. The massive, heavy stone door slowly opened to both sides, revealing a scene of ruin that looked as if it had been corroded by an abyss. Before Xin Lailai could even step inside, a hoarse, aged voice suddenly rang out from the hall:

"You have come... the one of ashes."

……

(End of this chapter)