Warriors will die if they charge.

Marcus stood before the towering, magnificent structure, gazing upon the ancient pyramid mired in ruins and desolation, his heart sinking into deeper doubt.

The group entered the Bloodline area, as Jenny had described, by entering the pool cave to avoid the storm.

But is all of this too coincidental? It just so happens that the cave where they are hiding contains a dead priest, and the mixed poison that Granny Keshaqi mentioned can cross the despairing swamp that is like an ocean and eventually reach this bloody pyramid covered by the swamp.

Does a water ghost queen really exist? He began to doubt the idea again. Assuming she exists, where are her pastors and church? Who spreads her teachings?

He could clearly see the geckos hidden among the moss and vines covering the pyramid's surface. They huddled in the crevices of shadow, using their long tongues to snatch flying mosquitoes, leaping through the vine crevices, and crookedly crawling across the desolate, blood-red bricks in the setting sun.

Vast vines covered the entire pyramid, and the spacious temple entrance was blocked by intertwined dark green vines, becoming an impenetrable wall of vegetation that blocked the prying eyes of the outside world.

Zhuo'er was the first to jump from the swamp into the grass near the temple. She pressed her chest, still shaken by what she had just done. Marcus, that madman, jumped straight down from the hundred-meter-high mud waterfall. The three of them searched for his trail, but could only find thick, persistent fog at the bottom.

Before Bardin and Jenny arrived, she walked up behind Marcus, who was intently observing the temple, and whispered:

"Marcus, next time before you make any rash, irrational, crazy decisions, you must consult me!"

"Are you worried I'll die, Trissy? You should know that if I die, you might be free." Marcus looked at the temple.

Trish slowly moved closer, her icy breath brushing against the hairs on his neck, her cool voice carrying a hint of threat:

"If you die, I'll turn your yard into the biggest casino in Linhe Town, then hang your head on the wall so those gamblers can happily play cards round after round, while the biggest gambler can only watch from the sidelines!"

"What a wicked woman." Marcus sighed, glancing at Drow, who was almost pressed against his back, and Bardin and Jenny, who had jumped into the temple's grassy area.

When the dwarves and the mage apprentices saw the temple buried in the Bloodline Swamp, they were overwhelmed with shock. Examining the broken bricks and rubble, Bardin asserted that it was an ancient civilization with a once glorious religious culture.

Jenny's focus, however, was on another matter. She stood at the temple entrance covered by vine-covered walls, her hands raised, palms radiating a mysterious, magical glow. Beads of hot sweat trickled down her forehead. After about thirty seconds, her tense body instantly relaxed.

"This temple is protected by powerful magic, and I cannot dispel it with my abilities."

"You're just a mage apprentice, don't be too hard on yourself. Almost anyone can become a mage, except for the illiterate and dwarves." Marcus gestured for Jenny to save her energy. He half-squatted beside a collapsed stone tablet at the entrance and drew his silver magic longsword.

Thorny vines grew rampantly, imprisoning everything in the temple.

He swung his sharp longsword forcefully at the dark brown vines, the hard, iron-like texture sending a jolt through his hand to his hilt.

"A magical aura... It seems this temple is far more prestigious than Emma's." Marcus chuckled self-deprecatingly, then picked up the obsidian sacrificial knife he had obtained from the pool cave.

Obsidian is a stone with weak magical properties. Its brittle crystalline nature makes it unsuitable for use as a weapon. It is only popular among cultists who worship demons and devils, and is often used as a spellcasting material to summon evil masters.

Marcus, of course, didn't understand any of this. He simply believed that the knife must have a close connection to the temple. He had just activated his super intelligence, which he hadn't used in a long time since removing his cloak of intelligence, and was surprised to find that the dried corpse he saw in the pool had a familiar smell—

Whether it was Aztec or Mayan style, he couldn't distinguish which one it was, but that didn't prevent him from making a judgment.

Since there are nobles and knights on the plains to the north, there must also be priests and warriors in our rainforest who like to sacrifice to the sun. Perhaps the Water Demon Queen is a fellow villager of the priests, and the soft songs sung by the pool are hinting at burying her fellow villager. This sacrificial knife is the key to escaping this predicament.

The mirror-like obsidian blade easily severed the iron-hard vines, and a trace of dark red sap seeped from the cut, splashing onto the moss-covered green stone slab, giving off a faint rusty smell, just like fresh blood.

After removing the vines from the surface of the stone tablet, a strange pattern came into Marcus's view.

A giant winged serpent soars through the sky, its outstretched wings large enough to cover the entire earth. Below it is a pure black leopard, its massive jaws agape as it roars at the sky. The entire mural seems to depict a grand and solemn war.

"The Temple of Light and Shadow..."

"Can you read the pictures?" Bardin asked Marcus in a low voice, looking up. He had no idea that the tough guy could read pictures.

"The Water Ghost Queen told me."

Bardin rolled his eyes, convinced that the effects of the voodoo potion hadn't worn off yet, and that the stone tablet was just the tough guy's wild guess.

Marcus stood up, coughed twice, and prepared for the next round of leadership speeches:

"The situation is that the Water Ghost Queen thinks the Snake People want to steal her treasure, so she assigned me, the Gambling King of Linhe Town, to take the treasure first to prevent the good things in the rainforest from being stolen by cold-blooded outsiders and used to offer to their damn evil god."

Jenny, who was observing the stone slab, looked up and pointed out the strangeness in the gambling king's words:

"Then why wasn't it you who was tasked with repelling the snake-men and protecting the treasure, instead of you taking the treasure yourself?"

"Because I am her devout follower. If God doesn't give his followers anything good, does He expect some fool to risk his life for her without pay?" Marcus clenched his fist, one foot planted firmly on the stone slab.

"Whatever the Water Ghost Queen wants to do, this temple is definitely hiding treasures, and these things are mine today!"

"Tough guy, don't forget, the pay should be split equally."

"Stop undermining me, dwarf brother. Do you think I'd forget you if there's something good? Come on, let's go to the entrance and tear away these tangled vines."

The vines were cleanly severed by the obsidian sacrificial knife, each one a neat and tidy cut, as if it were the only key. As the two tough men excitedly discussed what treasure might be inside, Trish pressed down on Jenny's tense and uneasy shoulders:

"What do you think is hidden inside?"

"I don't know." Jenny sighed, looking at the vines blocking the entrance that had been cut open, her eyes filled with excitement and fear.

If she discovers something here, she can gain access to more resources at the academy, join a prestigious school of thought, and quickly shed her status as a mage apprentice.

But if they actually discover something that could pique the Archmage's interest, then with Rye Wine's and a half-baked mage apprentice's abilities, it might be difficult to solve...

Moreover, where are the snake people? Are they, as Marcus claims, there to steal the treasure of the Water Queen?

Jenny gripped her staff tightly, gazing at the now-open temple entrance:

"Suppose this is a temple, as long as we have reverence for the gods and do not commit blasphemy... I mean, we should keep Marcus and Bardeen from taking anything, and perhaps we can find a way to escape the bloodline."