Chapter 41: Bronze Murals

Feeling his feet finally touch the ground, Adryan was almost as quick to open his eyes as the hand that released his. His scarlet eyes glanced momentarily at an expressionless Flora before smiling slightly and releasing Maric's hand.

"Please don't take it to heart, Miss Casper. Miss Worm does not like to be touched."

Sharron nodded simply at his words. Her face always expressionless and serene, she looked around at where they were with a hint of curiosity.

They were now in an abandoned and somewhat crumbling train station. The two exits were covered with huge boulders, and more than half of a carriage was buried in rubble. A lone carriage atop the rusted black rails only added to the air of abandonment.

She also saw one of those big boxes with the statues on the carriage's side. Another of those strange basin stones with the purple flame rested next to the stairs to the next floor.

And the wall opposite them was covered with strange mystical symbols that pulsed crimson like a heart.

"Is that where we have to go now?" It may have been obvious, but she preferred to ask the professional.

Adryan followed where the Werewolf was looking and nodded. "Yes, that's where it is, but first, I'd rather we do one thing."

Walking over to the Basin Stone, the red-haired man grabbed the mysterious flame and, through the greenish smoke, became the beast.

Quickly moving to stand in front of an innocuous brick arch in the wall. Its left tentacle fired three bolts of electricity.

As soon as the third struck, the bricks burned like paper, revealing a hidden altar. On it were four swords stuck almost to the hilt, and where the handguard would have been, a strange white egg, easily fit in one's hand, was in its place.

After doing so, Beast Adryan turned around and destroyed the box on the side of the wagon, revealing another one of those octopus statues.

Then, he quickly moved up the stairs to the next floor. In the distance, the sound of more electric bolts being fired echoed through the station.

As the boss did what he had to, the group turned their attention to the secret altar.

Flora squinted at the curious eggs as she read the strange inscriptions on the swords' revealed handles. Her instinct as a cryptologist called her to try to decipher them, but she ignored them.

"What kind of eggs are those?" Maric squinted his eyes, observing the curious objects better. He noticed that on the surface, they seemed to be covered in something resembling scales.

'A reptile?'

"Just call it an egg; its real name is an annoying tongue twister," Adryan replied, already in his body, grabbing one of the eggs.

Tossing it up and down, he whistled a little.

Despite their size, they were quite a bit heavier than they looked. If he threw it at someone's head, he was sure it would knock them out.

Putting aside his thoughts, he walked over to the statue of the tetric octopus and placed the egg on one of the four outstretched tentacles. As soon as the cold skin of the egg made contact, the tentacle curled around it and held it firmly.

Out of sheer curiosity, he tried to pull them apart, but no matter how much force he put into it, it wouldn't budge.

"Okay, it works... Everyone, grab an egg and put it here. Once we do that, we'll do the second-to-last ritual!" Adryan said as he grabbed his shotgun from his back.

Sharron was next to grab one and place it on the statue, her gaze revealing nothing. Maric followed, with Flora being the last.

The group finally moved to the front of the illuminated wall. Like the brick archway, the symbols glowed and pulsed brighter than before. Then, the wall burned like paper, revealing a huge hidden room.

An altar, like the previous ones, stood a few steps in front of them. Ahead was a huge black crack, impossible to jump over, separating the room in two.

The walls on either side were crumbling along with what, at one point, must have been a bridge.

At the end of the bridge was a huge circular statue. Tentacles of stone covered it and disappeared into the walls behind it.

In the corners, there were more of those black stone basins. But there was no purple flame on it.

There was nothing else here besides that. Only the passing of time in the crumbling parts of this abandoned hall and the feeling of the fantastic before this ancient structure.

The group also felt it in the back of their minds. As soon as the 'door' opened, a chilling sensation was born deep inside them.

It felt like they were being watched by hundreds of invisible eyes that seemed to be watching them from beyond, an unknown place. But in the whole place, there was nothing.

Everyone seeing this place thought the same thing.

They were not supposed to be here.

Without opening his mouth, Adryan raised his left hand while keeping his right on the handle of the shotgun. His hand signaled for them to move forward.

Squeezing the shotgun tighter in his hands, Adryan opened his senses and walked alertly to the basin stone. Keeping away from the vast crevice.

Calmly, he pulled the fluorescent worm from his jacket and placed it on the basin stone. With a resounding gong, the worm was suspended like the purple flame, and from the deep abyss emerged huge chunks of stone pulled by an invisible force.

While that was happening, the group had already moved on to the next and placed the next worm, Maric's worm.

A gentle tap on his shoulder caused Adryan to look at Flora, who pointed at the newly repaired wall. The woman's eyes glinted curiously.

Scarlet eyes followed the finger, and the man's gaze froze momentarily.

Now repaired, it revealed a mural of old, green bronze.

Many parts were ruined, the repair failing to save it, but what little survived made his eyes narrow.

These greenish bronze mural, such a sea stone, depicted a scene.

A robed figure stood before what appeared to be a clearing, the details too ruined to make Adryan feel it was the right thing to say.

This figure held a book in its hand; it seemed to be covered in eyes, looking everywhere. This figure was standing towards the gaping aperture, its free hand pointing with an open palm.

From the shadow cast by the figure, multiple open eyes were staring directly at them.

'That wasn't what it showed in the original...' Adryan took a closer look at the eyes in the figure's shadow.

He felt a great familiarity with them but also a strange unfamiliarity. He recognized it, but it was also strange to him; it was bizarre.

'The True Creator?' With a shudder, the red-haired man looked up at the robed figure, and the realization hit him.

That figure was not similar to any that had been described in the original story. It was neither the Wind Angel nor the White Angel.

None of the descriptions came close to the figure. So that left only one possible one in his mind!

'The Angel of Silver?!'

At that moment, the opposite wall was completely repaired, and he quickly turned his attention to this one.

If the state of the previous one was horrible, this one was worse. The mural was almost completely ruined. Only bits and pieces showed a story that was difficult to understand.

As far as Adryan could make out, the surviving pieces depicted what appeared to be a great battle. He could see the earth breaking up and what appeared to be explosions going off.

However, the battle participants were impossible to discern due to the mural's state.

For a moment, the red-haired man felt that this was out of place and returned his attention to the mural with the robed figure.

His eyes narrowed slightly. 'He's facing whatever's on the mural?'

Putting the two murals as one piece, that was all he could think of when he saw it.

The redhead could only curse that the opposing mural was so ruined.

His shoulder was taped again, and the redhead returned his attention to Flora.

The woman's lips moved soundlessly. "Can you feel it?"

It took him a moment to understand her words, but he didn't have to look any further.

"I do." Adryan nodded, his lips moving, but no sound came out.

The feeling of being watched was gone. From one moment to the next, that tetric attention had vanished.

Contrary to feeling calmer for it, Adryan gripped the shotgun tighter.

When the forest fell silent, a predator was in the area.

"I'll go first..." Whispering to the trio, Adryan carefully approached the edge of the chasm but did not lean out, staying three steps away.

Carefully, he ran his left hand along the mural and felt a force draw him to it, but it wasn't very strong.

'So that's how they could do it... It's like a weak magnet.'

Nodding, the red-haired man took a few steps back. Before anyone could stop him, he sped up and jumped. His feet connected with the wall, and he ran along it.

After a short run, he took one last big leap and ended up on the other side.

Turning around to the stunned looks of the group, he raised his hand and shook it in amusement, his heart pounding.

"Come on! Come on!"

"This guy..." Flora grumbled as Maric was the next to follow the man, her gaze shifted to her feet and she could only sigh in frustration.

Why had she chosen to wear this dress as the last clothes she would wear before she lost her body?

Sighing, the Jacob could only take a step back and accelerate up the wall. She met up with the rest of the group with a great leap.

With everyone on the other side, the two remaining worms were placed on the last stone basin. More stones came out of the abyss, merging in front of them, repairing the bridge.

Using the repaired bridge, the group returned to the altar. Wasting no more time, Adryan pulled the golden sphere from his jacket and placed it on top. The symbols glowed blue for an instant before it began to float.

As soon as the golden sphere was placed on top, all the worms glowed instantly before firing a beam of orange energy that curved around a single point, the circular statue.

Multiple portals of tongues of flame opened throughout the hall. More of the guardians began to emerge as everything started to shake, dust and stones falling from the ceiling.

The same strategy they used with the previous rituals was applied. Oddly enough, at the most open spot, the newly rebuilt bridge, the group began to 'train' the guardians.

"Once we do this, I will assume the next thing is to 'fill' the eggs we grabbed earlier," Flora said, glancing occasionally at the mural to her right.

"That's what's next. It'll take a while, but everything will be faster from then on." Adryan grunted a little, these parts were always tedious to him.

"And how would we fill them?" Maric broke into the conversation, keeping an eye on the guards behind them.

"By using the zombies. Every time we kill them in the vicinity of the statues, their souls will be sucked into the eggs until they are filled. We'll do that with each statue until they glow, and we can take out the swords."

"Sounds tedious," Sharron commented in a calm voice.

At her words, Adryan chuckled softly.

"And it is."

The group circled the rodeo they were participating in for a while longer. Then suddenly, the tremors grew stronger, to the point that it seemed as if the roof would fall on them.

The meaning was clear. As with the previous rituals, the present one was nearing completion.

Crack... Crack... 

The circular statue at the back of the hall began to crack, fissures rapidly moving all over its body, and these emitted a faint celestial light.

"Is this even safe?!" Flora shouted, trying to find her balance. Even with Marauder's control, she found it somewhat difficult.

''Sort of!!" Adryan shouted with a knee and hand on the ground.

"Damn it!"

Maric and Sharron stood nearby, their wobbling forms drawing a chuckle from the man.

At that moment, the statue shattered, and the shaking stopped instantly. The guards disappeared, and the exit opened.

The red-haired man clenched the shotgun in his hands. As did the entire group, they raised their weapons to the front at a single target.

A tall figure in black robes had come into view floating above the altar. In one pale hand, the golden sphere floated.

With an invisible wind, the robe moved somberly. The face beneath the robe was blackened, showing nothing but emptiness.

'That's not the Shadow Man!' Adryan gritted his teeth, his finger not separating from the trigger.

Like the murals, the final boss had changed too!

The mysterious figure stared at them for only a few seconds, but despite being faceless, the weight of its gaze was felt deep in their spirits.

Before they could do anything, the figure disappeared in blackish-purple smoke along with the golden sphere.

In the next instant, multiple yellow spheres appeared around the room, and in the blink of an eye, multiple Margwa appeared.