After passing through a long ramp and a town devoid of any living people, with only a number of humanoid blanks embedded in the ground and mountain walls, the exploration team entered a valley filled with strange black stones.

The entrance to the valley was hidden, hidden in a large thorn-like criss-like wreckage of "plants", but the information in Shirley's "memories" clearly pointed to the exact direction of the entrance.

The black rocks in the valley are unsettlingly and strangely complex, they don't look like they've been weathered by nature, but they're clearly not the product of man-made carving.

They are more like a number of misshapen freaks struggling to "emerge" from the earth and cliffs, and suddenly turning to stone in the last steps of growth, and on some of the black monsters you can even see almost differentiated claws, tentacles, and even eyeballs and muzzle structures - even a seasoned inquisitor like Vana couldn't help but frown when she noticed these details, and the strange horror seemed to seep into her bone marrow, making her extremely vigilant.

And the flowing fog is pervasive, and it also permeates this quiet valley.

"These stones feel like they're alive......," muttered a Marine in a black smock with the Triangle Emblem of the God of Death, "some kind of living thing, locked in these black shells...... I always feel like they're going to move at any moment. ”

"Control your imagination and don't just sketch this impression in your head." The Reaper Priest from the Restless Horn, who had barely spoken since landing on the island, immediately interrupted the muttering of his soldiers.

Duncan glanced at the taciturn priest of death—a tall, bald man dressed in a black burqa, and all exposed skin was covered in intricate black rune tattoos, which even covered his eyelids, making the priest look eerie, gloomy, and terrifying.

Probably due to the awkwardness between the Church of Death and the Lost Land, the leading priest did not communicate much with Duncan on the road, but after noticing the latter's gaze, the strange-looking bald man still turned his face and nodded politely: "What do you want to ask?" ”

"I remember your name was Noam," Duncan nodded, "You know that after the Frost Event, a large number of samples of 'primals' were taken from the Frost Pipeline system and sent to the Church of Death headquarters?" ”

"I've been up close to those samples," Noam replied casually, "and I'm impressed." ”

"What do you think of these 'traces' on this island?"

“…… Same origin, but it doesn't feel the same to me," Noam thought for a moment, although his expression was slightly unnatural when answering Duncan's question, but he still spoke seriously, "The 'sample' sent from Frost is a disgusting and cold substance, they are completely 'stagnant', and nothing changes happen, but here they ......"

He paused, then picked up a small stone from the ground next to him.

"Other people may not be able to see it on the surface, but I can feel it...... It's still 'working' internally, and it's still slowly 'changing'. It's hard to describe, it's a 'feeling' that only those of us who believe in the god of death can have. If you have to say it...... As Miss Shirley had said, the whole island was 'alive', and even though it had now been quiet again, every part of it was still 'alive', just in a state of near-death. ”

Duncan nodded slightly, not speaking for a moment.

According to the information available, the entire island is incarnated by the power of the Nether Lord, and according to the information that Shirley has seen from those "visions", it can even be regarded as a piece of "flesh" from the Netherworld Lord's body - if it is really the flesh and blood of the Old God, then it does not seem inconceivable that it will remain alive after thousands of years of separation from the main body.

The only thing that feels incredible is ...... It would have evolved into this form on the frontier of reality—trees, stones, dirt, streams flowing through mountain streams, and all sorts of resources and minerals that could be gathered on the island.

The Annihilators even used the island's resources to build towns and docks.

This made Duncan wonder about the so-called "Shadow Lord...... What kind of "individual" is it? Before becoming the "ancient god" of the deep sea age, what was the essence of this "Pilot No. 1" numbered LH-01?

And what about the "God of Wisdom", Lahem, who also has an LH number and should be called "Pilot II"? He looked very different from the Shadow Lord in terms of power and "form...... What is the essence of this difference? Why is there such a difference between LH-01 and LH-02?

For some reason, Duncan always felt that he had overlooked something, and there seemed to be a problem that he had not paid attention to in addition to the two numbers LH-01 and LH-02......

But his thoughts didn't last.

Shirley, who was leading the way in front, suddenly slowed down.

“…… I've 'seen' this place," she said, blinking her eyes, standing in an open, gravel-strewn clearing, looking around at the misty valley around her, as she recalled what she had seen from the visions, "and the cultists were gathered in this clearing, and when the sun went out, they gathered here to shout and scream, thinking they were 'enlightened'...... The digging point of those stupid X's should be around here...... It was originally a closed place, and for some reason they didn't dare to approach it, but when the sun went out, their minds were not normal, and they didn't know if they were scared......"

Amber, who was standing near Shirley, frowned slightly.

The goddess officer turned her head slightly and looked at Fanna: "...... I just heard Miss Shirley naturally say something very rude......"

"Did you just notice?" Vanna was amazed, "She's always been like this. ”

Amber: "......? ”

Shirley didn't pay any attention to the conversation next to her, her attention seemed to be completely absorbed by the fragments of memories that kept coming to her mind and the familiarity of the valley in front of her, she took two steps forward, her blood-colored eyes slowly swept the surrounding mist, and soon she sensed a familiar aura coming from ahead.

A dark atmosphere.

"Over here," she blinked, her eyes recovering as she immediately raised her hand and pointed to a narrow entrance between the cliffs ahead, "that's where they dug down!" ”

It was a crevice in the rock that could probably hold two people side by side, and it seemed to be part of a natural crack in the canyon, but there were faint traces of artificially excavated and enlarged in its depths, and some excavation tools were scattered around the entrance, but the users of the tools had apparently been swallowed up by the surrounding rocks and dirt—the last proof of their existence in the world.

“…… It's cramped down there, it's unclear, and it's best not to go in all of them," Amber poked her head in, then quickly withdrew, turning to the others, "I'd suggest most of the people camp around the entrance of the cave, and a few elite go down to see what is going on." ”

"I'll take someone down first," Duncan said casually, "Alice, Shirley, Dog...... And Maurice, you guys come down with me, Fanna, you and Amber and Nome are camping outside to spy on the island. ”

His arrangement made sense - first of all, one of the purposes of his visit to the Holy Land Island was to confirm the connection between Alice and the Dark Lord, so naturally he had to bring a puppet, and Shirley and Ah Dog were the guides after going down, and Morris was very knowledgeable and an explorer of his own secret realm, and this kind of exploration was his specialty.

But apparently Vana had something else in mind: "Don't you need to take me?" There may be enemies below, and you need a combat power ......"

"There may be enemies out there, too," Duncan said, then glancing at the low, narrow space inside the rift, turning his head to look at Vanna with a serious face, "and it's too low down there to jump." ”

Vanna was stunned when she heard this, and it took two or three seconds to react, and she was suddenly a little embarrassed: "...... I'm not going to do that either......"

However, she only muttered like this, and quickly nodded: "Then I understand, we will stay here and camp while briefly searching the situation in other areas of the valley." ”

Duncan nodded slightly: "Well, it's good, keep in touch, and call my name immediately when you encounter a situation." ”

"Yes, Captain."

Duncan then led Maurice, Alice, Shirley, and Dog to the dark, dreary, sloping entrance to the depths.

Vana exhaled slightly as she watched several figures disappear into the darkness, and then saw a faint green flame appear in the depths of the passage, and then turned her head to see Amber standing on the side, staring straight at this side, with a delicate look on her face.

Vanna suddenly felt a little awkward: "...... What are you watching me do? ”

Amber thought about it, but still couldn't hold back: "...... Under normal circumstances, shouldn't you call the goddess's name immediately when you encounter a situation? ”

Vanna's expression was stunned: "......"

Miss Inquisitor fell into deep thought.

But soon she reacted and looked at the young junior in front of her with a serious face: "You can call the two together." ”

This time, it was Amber's turn to be stunned: "...... May I? ”

"Yes."

“…… Goddess allowed? ”

Vanna looked reverent: "I asked, and He didn't object." ”

Amber continued to look stunned: "......? ”

Nome stood beside the two of them, expressionless throughout the whole time (mainly his face was full of expressions), and it took a long time to reach out and silently sketch the triangular emblem representing the god of death on his chest, and let out a long sigh that no one noticed.

At the same time, in the narrow passage that was constantly sloping downward, Shirley was cautiously moving forward with the dog.

The faint green flames slowly spread on the rock walls on both sides, illuminating the path ahead, and Shirley pulled the chain connected to the dog with one hand, and the cold and smooth stone beside the road with the other, with a nervous expression on her face.

A blood-colored glimmer floated in her eyes.

(End of chapter)