Activation

Looking around the corridor, it felt as though eerie gazes were hiding everywhere, as if a terrifying hand could reach out from any corner at any moment to drag them into an endless abyss.

Yet all that met his eyes was the deep corridor, the monotonous stone statues, and the omnipresent, hazy green light.

Huh? Green light?

Lynch suddenly broke into a cold sweat. This fucking light isn't nuclear radiation, is it?

“What is nuclear radiation?”

“Basically a form of destructive energy exposure,” Lynch briefly explained.

“Strictly speaking, most divine influences can be considered radiation, and a few are even more dangerous than that. The secret medicine in these nasal plugs is meant to counter 'radiation' and toxicity.”

As Miss Valente explained, she clung tightly to Lynch, her muscles trembling even more violently than his. Having two people with this level of courage delve deep into a desperate dead end was probably a rare sight in itself.

“I see. So the sacrifice relies on this green light to slowly kill off the offerings.”

However, his clumsy self-consolation failed to provide any comfort. Classic horror movie tropes flashed through his mind like a lantern carousel. After a moment's thought, Lynch grabbed Miss Valente's hand and pulled her back toward the exit.

“We shouldn't have closed the doors earlier. It won't stop the Sons of the Formless and only cuts off our escape. Let me open them first to secure our route back.”

“Alright.”

Miss Valente followed obediently, glancing back every now and then. Fortunately, everything behind them remained unchanged and calm.

The massive stone doors sealed the temple entrance. While closing them earlier had felt safe, it now looked like nothing more than sealing their own exit. Lynch gripped the handles and slowly pulled at the heavy doors.

The hinges showed no signs of corrosion, taking little effort for Lynch to pull open a crack in the heavy doors. But just as Miss Valente let out a soft sigh and relaxed slightly, bang—Lynch slammed the doors shut again.

“Mr. Levive? What's wrong?”

Lynch swallowed hard, carefully pulling Miss Valente back from the doors. With a stiff expression, he said, “I... I think I might have opened the wrong door. No, on second thought, keeping them closed might be better.”

Miss Valente was completely baffled. Before she could ask further, a faint sound of shattering drifted from behind the doors.

It was the sound of ice and stone cracking—crisp, yet oozing with the omen of death.

“The statues outside?” Miss Valente's expression turned grim.

“Yeah, they're cracking open, and...”

“Roar!”

A beastly roar cut Lynch off. Clearly, the statues outside had suddenly come alive.

Bang! The stone doors were shoved open. Several natives coated in shattered ice and rock appeared at the entrance. Their movements were numb and rigid, their mouth filled with sharp fangs opened wide as they roared angrily at the two in the corridor, looking ready to pounce inside at any moment.

Miss Valente instinctively raised her shotgun folding fan, but Lynch immediately held her back.

“Don't waste ammo yet. Look at their feet—not a single step inside the temple.”

Indeed, they hadn't. Realizing these monsters might actively avoid the temple like the Sons of the Formless, Miss Valente breathed a sigh of relief. “So the residents of Zur-Baha-Sahr didn't vanish after all. They merely turned into stone sculptures, sleeping underground forever alongside the abandoned city. But why are they all waking up now?”

“I suspect our backtrack activated them. We can't leave now, so our only choice is to move fast... Hiss, damn it.”

Crack, crack.

A faint cracking sound interrupted Lynch. Though quiet, it was eerily clear amidst the tense atmosphere.

Because the sound came from behind them.

Their scalps tingled with dread as they turned their heads with stiff necks to look back.

Unbeknownst to them, several cracks had also appeared on the ice coating the robed stone sculptures along the corridor.

Cold sweat broke out. Both realized that these robed stone sculptures were likely a second safety mechanism alongside the green light—their sole purpose was to kill.

There was no time to ponder whether this was a trap designed for sacrifices. Though the temple's depths were uncertain, pushing deeper was still better than being forced outside to fight thousands of ghouls. Their best option was to rush into the deepest part of the temple before these robed ghouls fully awakened; otherwise, trapped in a pincer attack, they would truly become sacrifices.

Run!

Grabbing Miss Valente's hand, Lynch sprinted toward the depths of the temple. The cracking sounds behind them echoed continuously, one after another like a death knell tolling heavily in their hearts.

Neither dared to look back. Swerving around the blocking stone statues, they sprinted blindly deeper into the corridor.

“Roar!”

A roar erupted right beside them, deafeningly loud. As a pungent stench of rot spread, heavy footsteps and ragged breathing rapidly closed in from behind.

“Watch out!”

Miss Valente cried out softly and pulled Lynch into a sudden stop. Moving too fast to halt properly, Lynch was forced to slam against the curved wall to stop his momentum.

Immediately after, a gust of wind swept past overhead, ruffling his black hair. A monstrous figure nearly three meters tall leaped over them, its emaciated yet terrifyingly sharp claws scraping past to leave white gouges in the wall, producing a spine-chilling scratching noise.

Their expressions darkened. Taking advantage of the monster landing, they nimbly skirted around it. Lynch gritted his teeth, kicking hard against a cracked stone statue beside him. Using the rebound to gain distance, he simultaneously shoved the heavy statue toward the awakened ghoul.

Bang! The monster dodged, letting the heavy statue smash directly onto the ground, bursting into a cloud of ice shards. Yet the fall didn't shatter it; instead, another dark figure burst through the flying ice, crouching on all fours like a beast as it lunged forward.

Lynch's pupils contracted. Instinctively, he held his cane horizontally with both hands in front of him. In the next instant, the ghoul closed the distance, its sharp claws slashing downward directly onto the cane.

With a sickening screech of nails scraping against metal, blood rushed to Lynch's face, his arms trembling violently under the force. Yet he managed to block the ghoul's claw attack. Unable to maintain his balance, he stumbled back repeatedly until he crashed heavily against the corridor wall.

Before he even stumbled backward, Miss Valente's petite figure darted out from behind him, placing herself directly underneath the colossal beast. Raising her shotgun folding fan, she pressed it almost flush against the ghoul's gaping maw.

A point-blank shot.

With a deafening boom, the monster's massive body was blasted backward through the air. Before it could even hit the ground, a shadow darted past Miss Valente.

Having hit the wall, Lynch kicked hard against it to propel himself to top speed, intercepting the airborne ghoul mid-flight. Though the ghoul had taken the shot directly to the face, leaving its broad mug pockmarked, its head remained intact. Even mid-air, it was twitching its limbs—only for Lynch to catch up to it. Converting his cane into a serrated sword, he drove it brutally into the ghoul's neck, unsure whether it was made of stone or flesh.