Mystery: Survival from the Secret Doll

Chapter 178 Chapter 177 Oil Painting
In the basement of an abandoned building.

Tang's figure appeared quickly.

He walked to the side of the secret doll that had fallen into a dream and took out the painting that the other party was drawing.

It was a portrait that looked exceptionally horrifying. The layered black and white painting blended in with the eerie surroundings. The nun, who was clearly meant to represent holiness, now had a horrifying expression on her face, and her whole body exuded an uncomfortable weirdness and absurdity, as if her body had been deformed by some unclean creature.

The creator of this oil painting is a painter who was accidentally involved in a never-ending theater. Now he has become one of Tang's secret puppets, responsible for making corresponding oil paintings in Tingen City, coordinating with various ghost stories to achieve a terrifying purpose.

As a trickster who had already digested the potion, this was actually a pre-performance to prepare for the Sequence 1 Mystic Servant.

"The drawing is good. At least it matches 95% of my memory of the story of 'The Nun'..."

The prototypes of many stories come from his era, and some things are still too advanced for this era.

Tang took a few more glances at the oil paintings around him. Some of these paintings were women with unusually long bodies, some were monsters with trumpet-headed hair, some were brides in red wedding dresses, and some seemed to be girls walking in the rain. There were so many of them that just looking at them together gave people a strong sense of discomfort.

If there were no supernatural factors acting on these paintings, each painting taken out individually could become a corresponding magical item or an unclean object that needs to be sealed and destroyed.

He raised his hand and squeezed the monocle carved from crystal.

"It seems like these spooky stories have been well-received. As a spooky mage, I surprisingly didn't create any spooky stories while digesting them. Well, doing this can be considered making up for a regret I had."

"As for these paintings, maybe we can consider stuffing some special things into them in the future to make the fake look real... Seriously, Chanis tells everything. If this continues, maybe we'll hear a lot of official Beyonders begging Amon for help in the future..."

However, it is really interesting to say that if Amon really responded to this kind of prayer, I wonder how many people in the Church of God would have to wear monocles on their left eyes.

It's just a pity that Amon changed his honorific name half a year ago. Even if one prays with this honorific name, the honorific name 'Twisting the Hands of Time' can only refer to him, the fake Amon.

As for why he waited six months to change his honorific name… maybe it was for the thrill, or maybe he wanted to use this honorific name and fish like him? He gave it a try, maybe he could catch something big.

And why did He suddenly change His name? Perhaps He was just bored?

"Actually, I can also respond with other Honorable Names, such as 'Lord of Darkness, Coexisting with History, the Incarnation of Countless Miracles, the Deity Who Controls Wishes', or 'Derived from the ancient mysteries, the Wishes Controller, Symbolizing the Stars, the Wanderer of Ancient History...' After all, any Honorable Name referring to an angel that can respond to the entire world, or a Sequence 3 marionette, can be considered a Honorable Name referring to me."

And why was the honorific name of Amon given to him? Why did Archbishop Chanis use this honorific name to make the Beyonders in the church pray...

"How did Archbishop Chanis know that I had taken over part of Amon's fate? This was an oracle from the Goddess of Night. Did she want to use this to balance the power of Amon and Adam, and prepare for the creation of the Lord of Mysteries in the future? Did she discover something was wrong with Adam?"

Emm, a ruthless character who could plot to kill the ancient sun god. To some extent, the goddess of night, Amanissis, who is more terrifying than Amon and Adam, may not be unaware of what the ancient sun god did, and who Adam is.

In Tang's understanding, the Church of Night is the Church of Night, and the Goddess of Night is the Goddess of Night. It is the Goddess who knows that he has the unique way to thieves. On the church side, perhaps only those extraordinary people like the God's Favored Ones and the Pope who have a very close relationship with the Goddess have the probability of knowing it.

He thought about it and finally shook his head.

I can’t figure it out, I don’t want to think about it anymore.

Tang squeezed his monocle again, and his figure gradually disappeared. He wanted to go to the God-Forsaken Land to observe the extent of the puppets' exploration of the Giant King's Court.

In that place, except for the room where the dark angel Sasriel was, no one could stop him unless the real creator exerted influence from a distance.

Today, the third floor of the Never-Ending Theater is located in the Crimson Campus.

The earth deformed, and countless gullies split the things here, outlining one strange area after another.

The stars in the sky kept twinkling. They were the result of another "0" level sealed artifact, the 'Wish of the Stars' belonging to the Esoteric Order Zaratul. Now it hung in the sky of this crimson campus, replacing countless stars and exerting influence on this crimson campus, creating even more powerful and terrifying miracles.

A part of Miskatonic University's projection on the Crimson Campus is located at the center of the entire shattered and shaking world. Countless monsters and mentally polluted things constantly shuttle through it, devouring each other. Sometimes they are manic and terrifying, and sometimes they crawl quietly, which is extremely terrifying.

The eternal darkness and the stars twinkled in the sky. The cracked ground was divided into one unconnected yet subtly connected block after another. Each block represented a story, and each story would become the prototype of countless horror novels in Tingen City and even the entire Kingdom of Loen.

"If I do this, Emperor Roselle should know..."

Although it is still more than a thousand years away, as for the ghost stories from more than a thousand years ago, Emperor Roselle and Xiao Ke should be very happy that things from their hometown have taken root here.

As long as they are not frightened by ghost stories that have been revised countless times and are far more than just ghost stories because of the existence of extraordinary beings.

Inside a church among the countless divided sections of the Crimson Campus.

The three official extraordinary people have already confirmed the special nature of this area and have conducted corresponding exploration and summary.

"This place is somewhat isolated from the spirit world. Ordinary spirit creatures cannot enter or exit freely, and neither can Archbishop Chanis's messenger. This may be because we are in a relatively closed environment, and the darkness outside has sealed off the spirit world as well."

The rain was still falling, and lightning even flashed across the sky from time to time.

Several hours of exploration made them a little tired, but in a place like this, they had to cheer up and deal with possible dangers that might come.

"After entering the church, the corresponding extraordinary power will be lost, and it will return after leaving the church... If we simply consider that this is a real church and that this church is not affected by the extraordinary power of others, then this power that suppresses our extraordinary abilities is most likely derived from the seal involving the high-level demon."

"But Captain, we have no way of guaranteeing that this place actually exists in the real world."

"Yes." Requiem Master Gregor said in a low voice, "It has been at least three hours since we disappeared." After disappearing for three hours, the other official extraordinary people in Tingen City will definitely take action. They don't have to break the deadlock here. As long as someone finds something unusual and notifies the church's top leaders in the outside world, they can also leave here.

"There are two options now."

"The first plan is to explore the underground chamber within the church, where the demon is said to be sealed, to see if the influence of supernatural factors originates from that place... During this time, perhaps we can learn the true situation of this church. This is a church that is not recorded in the church's internal documents. Of course, it is also possible that my authority is not high enough."

"Doing so would be extremely dangerous. We can't be sure whether such a demon really exists, and the use of various supernatural factors is restricted inside the church. If something unusual happens inside, it would put us in a very disadvantageous situation for us, whose bodies are only enhanced by the potion's power."

"The second option is also a relatively safe option."

"As long as we are certain there are no significant dangers outside the church, we will remain here and await possible rescue. We must trust our teammates. Once we are confirmed to be in danger, the church will dispatch higher-order, higher-level church leaders to handle the situation."

"What do you think?"

Bev and Francis looked at each other, and finally Bev spoke first. "I'm not sure if we can handle the danger inside the church. Even though the nun who received us seemed normal, I had a feeling there was something wrong with her... I couldn't use my clairvoyance to check, so I'm not sure if this inspiration was correct."

"Yeah." Gregor nodded and looked at the Midnight Poet.

"I also lean towards the second option." Midnight Poet Francis pondered for a moment and replied sincerely, "'2-051' has also been affected by an unknown influence. Exploring anything related to the demon under such circumstances would obviously be very disadvantageous to us."

"Alright." Gregor exhaled. "While we wait for rescue, we'll gather as much relevant information as possible. If there's no rescue, then we'll have no choice but to try to enter the castle and find the answer to our exit there."

Time passed by minute by minute, but the rain did not stop falling for a moment. Bev, who was only at the Sequence 9 level, soon felt her body temperature dropping at an abnormal rate. After walking in the heavy rain for a long time, she felt cold all over.

Gregor and Francis quickly discovered something unusual about their teammates.

"You have a fever!"

Francis hurriedly escorted the man to a sheltered location and thrust '2-051' into his hand. "It's useless, but this seal still retains some warmth. Hold on a little longer, and it'll be over soon."

"You stay here. The captain and I will look for some clues." He said hurriedly, then murmured softly, "We all need to leave here alive."

The illness came on quickly and violently. Bev leaned against a place that was neither clean nor dry, and could only nod to her teammates, feeling ashamed for holding them back.

"If I could advance to Sequence 8..."

"Don't overthink it." Francis smiled, adjusted the position of the Sun Silver Cup, and stuffed the seal into the other person's arms, ensuring that some warmth remained. "We will leave alive."

After saying this, the midnight poet hurriedly entered the rain again. If there was no support, they had to find a way to find a possible way to survive from inside the church.

-

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, with no sign of letting up. In the mercenary tavern affiliated with the Church of Evernight, several members who had been leisurely killing time by reading newspapers and books were surprised to see their deputy captain, Sequence 7 Warwin Taylor, walking in from the tavern door with a grim expression on his face.

"problem occurs."

Behind him was the gravedigger Goteg, who had previously gone to the city hall with Captain Gregor.

They hurriedly took another "2nd level" seal from under the church and headed to where Captain Gregor disappeared.

At the same time, the official extraordinary people of the Storm Church also contacted the extraordinary people of the Night Church and expressed their willingness to provide assistance.

Carrying several powerful Level 2 seals, the extraordinary people from the Church of Night and the Church of Storm surrounded the seemingly abandoned house.

The quiet power of the night enveloped the place, and the wind completely covered the area. When the door was forcibly broken open by an invisible force, the darkness inside was visible to outsiders.

It was a dark corridor, at the end of which was a portrait hanging on the wall.

The portrait was a common black and white portrait in Loen. Although it was a holy nun, it looked so strange and abnormal in the darkness.

No one dared to step in alone. The next moment, the scorching sunlight broke free from the hands of an extraordinary person and flew towards the oil painting at the end of the corridor, as if to completely destroy it.

The next moment, shadows surged wildly around, and two hands stretched out from behind the painting, grabbing both sides of the frame. On the painting, a nun with a terrifying expression like a dehydrated woman suddenly opened her mouth, revealing sharp black teeth and blood-red eyes, staring straight at the Extraordinary Person outside.

The two hands grabbed the painting and rushed out towards the sun's rays.

The sharp roar seemed to be able to directly shock the hearts of ordinary people. After the oil painting broke away from the wall, more oil paintings emerged from all around.

From the basement, a monster that looked swollen slowly walked out.

There were countless black illusory threads on his body, which seemed to be connected to the sky with no end in sight. Like a puppet, the swollen and stiff monster walked out step by step.

The next second, all kinds of powerful supernatural powers exploded on the flying oil painting and the monster covered with black lines. The monster roared and kept shouting in ancient Hermetic language:

"draw!"

As the spiritual power resonated, the paintings seemed to have transformed into real monsters existing in the real world.

(End of this chapter)