It is the deep darkness of the sea, and beneath the city-state, the old gods have probed the tentacles of the pool into the real world and grown day by day in the unspeakable darkness

She was visible, the filthy and terrible flesh tentacles that were his entity, cold, chilling, yet invisible, for the will that spread upwards had long since crossed the dark abyss and pierced the thick rocks and soil of the city-state, its unimaginable power that had been burrowing into the city for the past fifty years, if not longer, and piercing deep into the depths of the boiling gold mines.

"Lady Gatekeeper, we're inside it now—it used to be rock, but the power of the Old Gods has transformed the rock into a part of flesh and blood, and this dark substance beats with the source of the ocean through the rocks and seas more than a thousand meters deep, and every beat of it brings the mirror city-state closer to our real world······ Did you hear that? Puff, puff...... Flesh is wriggling, shrinking, dreaming, this place...... I'm thinking about it."

Winston whispered softly as if in prayer, and slowly raised his hands, pointing like a hug to the endless darkness around him, and the "branches" in the darkness that crisscrossed and connected like thorn bushes, and between those branches, the faint points of light still swam like fireflies, and gradually, Agatha really seemed to hear the deep voice—poof, poof......

The anomalous area of unknown size, buried deep in the boiling gold mine, is making heartbeat sounds.

Even my heart seems to be affected by this heartbeat, and it wants to beat in resonance.

However, a faint warm current suddenly appeared in her heart, and Agatha suddenly came to her senses, and she realized that her humanity had just returned from the tipping point of madness, and her expression suddenly changed, and she stared at Winston in the eyes.

"You're out of your sanity, Archon Winston—you've been affected here."

"Ah...... Is it? Probably," Winston waved his hand indifferently, "I thought at first I could calm the old god again like a queen, then I thought I could at least delay for a while, and then I thought I could at least stay awake until the end, so ...... I've failed without realizing it?"

"Like a queen, to quiet the old gods?" Agatha was keenly aware of the key to the Archon's words, and her eyes suddenly changed slightly, vaguely aware of the real reason for the Archon's presence, "You mean, the Queen of Frost half a century ago succeeded in putting the power of the Dark Lord into a deep sleep?"

Winston laughed, "...... What do you think happened when the sea cliff collapsed?"

Agatha was stunned for a moment, then hesitated to speak, "The cliff has collapsed...... After the queen was beheaded, the whole

The execution site fell into the sea····· … Wasn't that an accident?!"

"It was a sacrifice, and the sacrifice was made to the queen herself, and to the first speculators who chose to betray her after the outbreak of the uprising—and of course, the whole group of executioners and a number of rebel officers to bury her," Winston said calmly, "We have sealed off the details of the year, so few people know the details of the aftermath of the cliff collapse - thousands of people died in that accident, but in fact, almost all civilians survived the collapse, and those who were swept up in the waves····· Even if they were only one meter away from the shore, they had no chance to struggle, and they were instantly sucked into the bottom of the sea.

"After that collapse, the anomalous area of the boiling gold mine stopped expanding for a while, and it was only then that the original Archon realized that everything was in Ray Nora's plan - the cold truth was transferred to the Archon through the key left by the Queen, and as she said, it was our turn."

Agatha fell silent, and after a moment, her eyes became a little complicated: "You came here to recreate that sacrifice......

', is floating, the knowledge carried in the key tells me that to suppress this process, it is necessary to touch', thinking, fifty years ago, the power was still sleeping in the deep sea, so the queen can only sacrifice herself to the deep sea, and now, her power has pierced deep into the city-state, so this is the best place to touch - this is the way the queen left in the key, each

An archon will be entangled in this responsibility after taking the key, and then prepare for it for life, and I have prepared everything for this, but I did not expect a little ......."

Winston tugged at the corners of his mouth, it wasn't really a smile.

"It's not all of them, it's Ray Nora."

Agatha listened silently, then lowered her head and stared silently at the brass key still lying in the palm of her hand.

This is something created by the Frost Queen with some supernatural power - she has condensed the "knowledge" she touches and a part of her "thoughts" in the form of a physical one.

But for some reason, Agatha always felt that the key was ...... There should be something else.

It should not just exist to tie the successive rulers of the Frost City-State to a responsibility.

But at this moment, Archon Winston was clearly unable to answer her more questions—and she herself seemed to have no way back.

Upon learning the truth about this dark space, Agatha understood this: she had not arrived somewhere through the stone wall, but had been fused directly into a large mass of anomalous matter.

What awaits Winston here is death, and what awaits oneself is return and assimilation.

She looked into the palm of her hand and saw that the skin on her hand and the key had faintly softened and deformed, and some sticky black substance was oozing out of the skin, covering the key little by little.

But she still wants to go further, and she has some ...... about this place Curious.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Agatha lowered her head and looked at the city-state archon, who had ceased to speak, "You're going to wait here until death comes?

"Death has come, ma'am—we're just looking back on our failed lives before we take our last breath," Winston shook his head, "there's nothing more to do, just sit down and rest, like me."

「…… You've done what you had to do, and as the Frost Archon, you've at least bravely faced this so-called 'curse,' Agatha said calmly, "just because you're not doing anything is the same as not doing nothing."

Winston only shrugged his shoulders self-deprecatingly, "Incompetence is a sin."

「…… I'm going to go on, I'm going to go through this 'thorn, to where the tentacles are,'" said Agatha, "and you're going to come with me?"

"It doesn't make sense to me anymore, ma'am," Winston whispered, "if you want to go, go, and let me stay here—my path is over."

Agatha stared at him for a few seconds, then handed the brass key over, "It's your thing."

Instead of reaching out, Winston raised his head and looked into Agatha's eyes, "Take it, you've taken it, it's yours, that's how we've passed it on to this day."

Agatha was silent for a moment, then put the key away.

"Okay, then I'll be on my way alone."

She said goodbye to Winston, then turned, propped up her cane, and stepped into the dark void.

"Lady Agatha," Winston's voice suddenly came from behind, "does that really make sense?"

Agatha tilted her head slightly, "Why do you ask?"

"Even if you know more of the truth beforehand, even if you can actually walk through this 'bush and touch the limbs of the old gods, what can you change? You can't stop this, you can't even pass on what is happening here to the outside world - the investigation is over, and if you can't pass on information, no matter how much you know, it doesn't make any sense."

Agatha's footsteps paused, and after a moment of thought, she spoke softly, "I am the gatekeeper of Frost, and it is my duty. And ......"

She paused, her hand clutching the brass key unconsciously pressing against her chest.

It was still cold, and the feeling of blood clotting was stronger than ever, but for some reason, she had been feeling a slight heat beating in her heart since just now, as if it was ····· there

An invisible flame jumped, supporting itself as it walked forward.

In my mind, the thoughts that do not belong to me are jumping gently, and the strongest of these thoughts is an obsession - the direction that the obsession points to is the illusory and incomparably huge "tentacle" outside this thorn bush.

"It makes sense, I'm not moving forward alone, although there is no evidence, but I want to ······ Whatever I see here, someone will know."

"Oh, yes, that's nice...... It is enviable, Ms. Agatha, that you still had faith until the last moment."

Winston's voice stopped, and there was no movement in that direction.

Agatha looked back and saw a small lantern shining in the darkness, illuminating a withered "stump", and a middle-aged man in a dark blue coat was quietly leaning against the stump.

His temples were pierced by bullet holes, and in his drooping hands, he held a beautifully crafted revolver.