228 Chapter 228. Whittling Sanity

Traveling further down to the Sacristy, Michael encountered even more Phantoms than before.

Their 'quality' and levels were also much higher, signifying that he was getting close to the source of the corruption.

Clearing the halls infested by the souls of the deceased monks, Michael finally reached an unusual statue, which the Sanctuary immediately identified.

[ From Morning, my eyes were opened, and I saw the coming darkness. ]

It was nothing special about it except that it had the litany of Orbei Monastery inscribed upon it.

Upon walking deeper into the chamber, he found two more such statues, each guarding a sealed door leading into the Archives.

[ You who would seek to know Darkness, kneel before the Light. Speak the words of the Litany, and accept our holy burden. ]

He quickly turned to the second and third statues, curiously inspecting the litany inscribed upon them.

[ Throughout the Day, I have prepared to accept this burden of knowledge. ]

[ Unto Evening, I shall keep it safe, and into the Night hereafter. ]

Standing in front of the door closed off by three seals, Michael shook his head, took a deep breath, and spoke loudly.

"From Morning, my eyes were opened, and I saw the coming darkness. Throughout the Day, I have prepared to accept this burden of knowledge. Unto Evening, I shall keep it safe, and into the Night hereafter."

The paper seals burnt upon the spoken words reverberating throughout the empty and suddenly quiet Sacristy, and the door leading to the Archives opened.

Instead of blood and corpses, Michael was buffeted by a sudden gust of smoke and the smell of burnt paper.

The Archives were burning!

Seeing the books containing precious knowledge that might prove useful in the fight against the demons turn into ash, a throbbing vein appeared on the Necromancer's temple.

A bloody cough interrupted his silent rage as he dashed inside, searching for the sound. Deeper in the burning room, he found an elderly man with a deep wound on his chest, leaning against a pile of books.

Seeing the trail of blood leading from the destroyed shelves to the middle of the room where the man stood breathless, Michael understood that the man tried to protect as much knowledge as he could.

"Abbot! You're the Abbot, right!? We need to leave, now! I can take the books with me. Let's hurry."

[No... I deserve to burn... with the rest of it.](Abbot)

Hearing the man's gasping response and seeing the large quantity of blood on the floor, he knew there was no saving this man. He lost too much...

"What about Elias? Where is he?"

[Gone. He said... the ruin of Sanctuary was imminent, and... only I could help. He is going to summon a Lesser Evil. He took... all he needed, and then...](Abbot)

"..."

[My scholars... he murdered them, he-- Ohh... my friends! Forgive me!](Abbot)

A large number of Wratful Phantoms appeared around them, leaving almost no room to throw even a needle onto the ground.

Then, with a whooshing sound, they all entered the body of the Abbot, creating a huge red monstrosity.

[ Eidolon of Orbei (Boss) - Level 60 ]

"Fuck me sideways! Where are the kiddy-gloves, Sanctuary!? Ten Levels above me!? Are you serious!?"

Fortunately, the Boss was a Mage Class, and with the Necromancer's superior numbers, he managed to subdue it after some back-and-forth.

Michael wasn't pleased at all, even though he successfully leveled up after defeating it and clearing the Main Quest.

[ Main Quest complete - Suffering Disquiet

Reward 1: 83,650 experience points

Reward 2: 3,570 gold coins. ]

With him reaching Level 51, he didn't gain any further skill points, but he was rewarded with an extra Paragon point, having a total of five in his possession. 

Without hesitation, he activated three Normal Nodes, each granting 5 Intelligence, a Magic Node granting +5% Damage, and the Rare Prime Node, which gave him another +20% Damage and +4% Maximum Life.

[ Class: High Necromancer

Attack Power: 1239

Armor: 5,790

 Life: 2,520

--------------

Strength: 301

Intelligence: 375

Willpower: 399

Dexterity: 355 ]

The change in his stat page was apparent, with not only his attributes increasing tremendously but his Attack Power also going up by almost 250 points.

"*Sigh* It would've been good to have this before the fight with the Boss... Anyway, what a shitty day and shitty Quest. Hmm?"

As he was complaining, a small parchment flew down from the ceiling and onto Michael's outstretched hand. The Sanctuary identified it as the Gospel of the Mother.

The clear cursive writing and the name signed at the bottom of the parchment clearly indicated who left it behind.

[ The whole human knowledge shall be shared among the children of Lilith, and no secret shall be kept from them. And the liars and learned thieves of the world shall perish in their regret. - Elias ]

Taking a deep breath to calm down, he activated his Ring of Communication.

[Hey, what's up? Please don't tell me Ked Bardu is in flames... Give me a break, will you? You've only come here this morning!](Beatrice)

"..."

Looking at the large building slowly burning down behind him, Michael momentarily didn't find a rebuttal to give.

He knew it wasn't his fault, but it did seem as if he had left a trail of blood and destruction wherever he went.

[Spit it out! What is goddamn burning!? I can hear it in the background.](Beatrice)

"*Sigh* The Orbei Monastery."

[WHAT!? Wait... how? The Abbot?](Beatrice)

"Dead. Just like everyone else in this place. Elias, the Pale Man Lorath and I were chasing after, arrived here at some point this morning and killed everyone after taking some forbidden knowledge from the archives. According to the Abbot, he now knows how to summon a Lesser Evil into the Sanctuary."

[...shit! I... *Sigh* I'll send some people to investigate the ruins. Hopefully, they can salvage some books. Anything you could save?](Beatrice)

"...I'm afraid not. Everything was already burning by the time I got here."

[Goddamn it! Phew! Take care of yourself, first and foremost. Also, keep me informed. If my fucking cities will start burning down, I swear to god...](Beatrice)

"I'll do what I can. I'm off to search for Elias with Lorath. We have a trace of him in Aabhru Canyon."

[Be careful! If you need any help, call me immediately!](Beatrice)

"I will."

Ending the conversation, he took a last look at the smoking building while the fire was catching up with the higher floors and rapidly made his way back to Ked Bardu.

If the timeline he was thinking about was correct, then Elias visited the Monastery this very morning, meaning that the sighting of him in the canyon might be accurate. 

As for leaving Lorath to go by himself... judging by books, novels, movies, and anime he watched on Earth, it seemed a horrible decision that might lead to even more trouble.

'So it's best that I got with him and hopefully catch this bastard before he fucks more shit up.'

Hurrying back to the city, he Michael found the ex-Horadrim outside the gates, preparing to leave.

He gave the old man a nasty glare but turned his horse around and followed him toward the Abahru Canyon.

[Any word from the Abbot?](Lorath)

"The Abbot and his scholars were murdered by Elias. This very morning, I'm afraid."

[Bloody hells... what did he take? He wouldn't have gone there for no reason.](Lorath)

"Scrolls from the Forbidden Archive. He now has the means to summon a Lesser Evil."

[He what!? Which bloody one?](Lorath)

Seeing the Necromancer shrug, Lorath facepalmed, annoyed and a bit disturbed by the news.

[*Groan* Of course, we don't know... The Lesser Evils are second in power only to the Prime. If Elias can summon one to his control, he could drown us all in blood.](Lorath)

"So let's find him before he has the chance to. Otherwise, I'm afraid things will only get worse. Just Astaroth was enough to destroy Scosglen for decades, and the region still suffers the effects of his terror. It would be best to avoid such a mess if possible."

Without wasting more time, the duo sped up to the canyon, where they found a camp littered with merchants slaughtered by demons.

There were over twenty bodies of merchants and their bodyguards, but only a few demon corpses were left behind. 

Shaking their head inwardly at the senseless deaths, the duo continued their search through the canyon. Lots of pitifully weak demons attacked them, but Michael's minions took care of the lot.

They were able to see a house in front of which a red circle was glowing from their vantage point, making Lorath frown.

[I hear a stone carver lives in that house. A man called 'Genbar.' It's hidden, isolated... perfect for working in solitude.](Lorath)

"Reminds me of your house."

[*Scoffs* Let's go. I'm worried about that ritual circle.](Lorath)

And it was proved that it was for a good reason. The damned ritual circle over ten meters in diameter appeared to be summoning the weak monsters they've been killing so far.

[They're coming through a Hell Rift! I will close it. Put them down so they don't disturb me.](Lorath)

"On it."

The Sanctuary also appeared to agree with this approach, as it quickly updated the Main Quest.

[ Main Quest update - Whittling Sanity

Objective: Defeat the demons rising from the Hell Rift.

Description: The Abahru Canyon is full of demons. You seem to have found the source. Now, help Lorath close it. ]

Using Decrepify to slow down the frenzied demons, then grouping them with Corpse Tendrils or Quarterback's taunt, the ex-Horadrim quickly finished his 'chore' while Michael was taking down an Elite with no notable modifiers.

Joining the fight and smacking the pitiful weakling with his polearm, Lorath pointed out something the Necromancer was also suspicious of.

[Far too easy. These demons were vermin. I'd expect more from a mage of Elias's ability...](Lorath)

"How about you be thankful instead and rejoice at how easy it is? Do you need to jinx us!?"

[*Sigh* Let's search the house. We should find more clues inside.](Lorath)

Shrugging again, Michael followed. After crossing the bridge leading to the house, they were stopped again by a small group of Hellions, but they quickly cleaned up the trash.

Lorath didn't even have to participate this time around, as the Necromancer's damage increased by 25% which resulted in a much easier time when fighting against the weaklings.

[Tread carefully. Elias could still be close. See what you can find.](Lorath)

"No need. Look on the table."

The Sanctuary helped him identify the open book as Gebar's Journal, the stone carver Lorath previously mentioned.

Unfortunately—or rather, to be expected—the journal had only two pages left, and the rest were ripped out.

The duo read it curiously.

[ Today, Master Elias called at my door. I had trouble with my words, so I showed him my carvings. He said he could see my pain in them. The pain of a lonely man who had learned to hate the world, and yet... Our Mother, Lilith, found me beautiful. He said there are others like me as well, and together, we will build a new world. ]

Seeing the Necromancer frown, Lorath directed a questioning gaze at him.

"*Sigh* I got a Side Quest in Ked Bardu about a builder named Larken in Alzuuda searching for workers in a bid to 'rebuild Sanctuary.' Sounds familiar?"

[You think they're related?](Lorath)

"Possible. Also, look there on the cupboard." 

The ex-Horadrim saw a scroll identified by the Sanctuary as 'Demonic Scrolls.'

Upon a careful investigation of the damned thing, Lorath gave his verdict.

[Scrolls of incantations for the summoning of minor demons. The drawings resemble the four-legged demons in the canyons. Let's go to the next room, I see a smashed statue over there. Or rather, what remains of it.](Lorath)

The duo immediately sensed the smell of blood after entering the next room and saw two bloody trails leading into the next one.

Gesturing to Lorath to fall behind, Michael had his minions open the way while they followed behind. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, there were no living beings - humans or demons - left inside.

"A statue of Lilith? Very well carved. As expected of a professional."

[What a damn mess... it seems like there was a ritual performed here. Burning Hells! We're too late. Elias is long gone. This 'Genbar' is our summoner...](Lorath)

"How can you be certain?"

[Isn't it obvious? Elias finds Genbar alone, friendless, and full of anger. So he plays him like a fiddle, offering him Lilith's love and a part in his grand delusion. Then, he gives him tools to express his anger.](Lorath)

"The summoning scrolls we just saw."

[Very perceptive. Who knows how long Genbar has stewed in this madness? Let's hope he can still be questioned.](Lorath)

Nodding, Michael looked at the updated Quest and followed behind Lorath in search for this stone-carver-turned-demon-summoner.