Deep Sea Embers

Agatha stopped suddenly.

At the end of the field of vision, something strange at the intersection of the alley interrupted her wild thoughts.

In that corner shrouded in darkness, lumps of disgusting black substances are surging up, they seep from the nearby ground and wall surfaces, like sticky grease spilling out of pipes, with sticky and disgusting sounds In the center, the clumps of mud-like matter began to take on the shape of a human almost in the blink of an eye, and cast a hostile look at Agatha.

"It really lingers..."

Agatha couldn't help sighing softly, but she didn't hesitate in her physical movements—before the mud had time to completely condense, she had already raised her cane and pointed to the one closest to her.

Pale flames ignited out of thin air, swallowing the wriggling "element" in an instant, and the power of cremation directly turned it into fly ash. The next second, another gray whirlwind rolled up in the alley, and the gray wind howled Passing through the humanoid fakes that are climbing up one by one, it seems to have a powerful devouring and weathering force, turning them into dry and eroded dust.

However, there were still more and more mud substances seeping out from the nearby walls and ground, and more and more humanoid monsters appeared at the intersection, blocking Agatha's actions.

The gray wind blew past, and Agatha's figure condensed in the wind. Her face was a little more tired, and after sensing a strange smell that suddenly appeared in the mud, her eyes became more serious.

She looked in the direction where the breath was coming from, and saw a "fake" formed by the original element rapidly wriggling and mutating. In a few seconds, the thing turned into a man with short blond hair and wearing a white shirt. smiling young man in black vest.

"Miss Gatekeeper, your physical strength is really good," the young man nodded slightly, with a very polite tone, "I wonder if you still have fun exercising here?"

"If you want to exhaust me to death here through this kind of attrition tactics, it would be too naive." Agatha stared at another incarnation of the young man with cold eyes, calming down her breath, "Death is very important to me. No point, I can still fight after death - the gatekeeper's soul never tires, and you will always be found by me."

"Of course, of course, it's not that simple to really kill a Bartok saint," the young man laughed, with a bright smile, "I never thought about killing you, I just want to kill you It’s enough to stay here as long as possible, and these empty shells for you to kill are just entertainment for you when you’re bored.”

"Then the way you heretics treat guests is really unique," Agatha knew that the other party was using various methods to delay herself, but at least for this moment, she didn't mind saying a few more words to restore her strength, "I Suddenly I am a little curious, is your body so relaxed now? I can feel that I am gradually approaching your hiding place. Every time I destroy a monster controlled by you, I can feel your position more clearly... ...how many places do you have left to hide?"

The smile on the blond young man's face finally froze for a moment, but only for a moment, he smiled happily again: "Ah, it seems that I have overlooked - Bartok's watchdog has always had a good 'Sense of smell', how about we just make a bet?"

He raised one hand, as if in an inviting gesture.

"It's a bet that you will find my body first, or that Frost will become the first earthly kingdom where the Holy Lord descends—the bet is your soul, and the lives of everyone in Frost..."

A pale flame exploded, and before the young man's voice fell, it suddenly swept over the position where he was standing. The next second, Agatha had turned into a whistling gray wind, and this gust of wind slammed into the intersection. Those fake freaks who had assembled Immediately surged up, trying to stop the gray wind, but they disintegrated and shattered under the power of the death wind—in the blink of an eye, the gray wind hit the blond young man who was surrounded by pale flames, knocking him down. It directly crashed into a low wall across the street.

After a loud bang, the flames were blown away by the gust of wind, and Agatha's figure emerged from the gray wind. She held the cane flat with her right hand, and the front end of the cane directly pierced the blond young man's chest, killing him to death. nailed to the wall.

"Sorry, I don't gamble." Agatha looked into the other person's eyes with a calm expression. "The clergy prohibit gambling."

"Interesting..." The cultist who was nailed to the wall with a cane twitched the corners of his mouth, and said with dirty black mud overflowing from his mouth and nose. This body was dying quickly, but he seemed to have no fear or pain, "I hope you This calmness and confidence can last longer..."

Life passed away from the body, the body of the blond young man quickly disintegrated and melted, turning into a viscous black substance that flowed down, and quickly dried up in the process of landing, the remaining fake freaks under his control They also stopped their activities one after another, returning to piles of lifeless "elements".

Agatha pulled out the cane from the wall, shook the dirty substance on the end of the cane with some disgust, then raised her head calmly, and looked in a certain direction of the upper city.

Another avatar was wiped out, and as the life passed, the bond forged between the gatekeeper and the heretic in the shadows strengthened.

It feels... closer.

"Calm and confident... I really believe in myself..."

Agatha was talking to herself, then took a few deep breaths, supported her body with a cane, and walked slowly towards the direction she perceived. In a puddle behind her, a cluster of dark green flames Emerging from the reflection on the water surface, it quietly illuminated the dark alley.

The puddles in the alleys, the windows of nearby buildings, the metal lampposts of street lamps in the distance... All the smooth mirrors reflect the thin shadows of flames.

...

The lamps and candles in the silent cathedral were brightly lit, and the sound of canes and heels hitting the ground broke the tranquility of the meditation sanctuary. A tall figure dressed in black passed through the dark gate and came to the parked black "spiritual coffin." "Beside the high platform.

Bishop Ivan's hoarse and old voice came from the coffin: "Agatha, you are back—how is the situation of the second waterway?"

"The first batch of people has just arrived at the entrance of the West District. It will take a day just to clean the connection shaft and send the equipment down." Agatha shook her head and said with some helplessness, "You have to be patient, Bishop Ivan."

"Oh..." The voice in the coffin was silent for a while, and then asked, "How is the situation at the entrance of the West District?"

Agatha: "..."

After a while, she sighed: "The underground facilities that have been abandoned for half a century, how can the situation be? I mobilized twelve heavy machine guns and three steam walkers, and all the bullets were blessed by holy oil and flames. There were still 150 fully armed silent monks before dispelling the darkness there. The good news is that we have successfully established the first stronghold at the crossroads under the shaft, and restarted the electricity and power in several connecting channels. Illumination, the next exploration may be a little smoother than expected—if there are no more collapses and poisonous gas leaks."

"Have you found any sign of heresy?"

"Not yet," Agatha shook her head, "but the situation in the deeper depths is still unclear-the scale of the second waterway is too large, and the various collapsed areas are isolated from each other. We are only the first passage in one of the areas. Stand firm here. However, there is one situation that is more concerning..."

There was a rustling sound of cloth rubbing against the coffin, and then the dark coffin lid was pushed away from the inside, and the mummy-like Bishop Ivan sat up from inside.

"An interesting situation?" "Mummy" said in a low voice, "What happened?"

"At the end of some ancient pipelines, we found traces of repairs and transformations, as well as some suspicious branch pipelines, which extend into the dark depths," Agatha said with a frown, "We consulted the original blueprints in the archives , to confirm that those pipelines are not on the design drawings of that year."

Bishop Ivan was silent for a while, then asked: "...What do you think?"

"It looks like someone continued to maintain the second waterway after it was abandoned, and modified them to a certain extent," Agatha said of her thoughts, "This kind of maintenance is not continuous, so Many areas are still abandoned after years of maintenance, but deeper down in the sewers, there may be something that still works."

Bishop Ivan listened quietly, and after a long time, he slowly opened his mouth: "The second waterway...that is a huge underground kingdom, enough to hold countless secrets, even if you fill in all the guard troops, it will not be too late. It can't fill all its corridors and intersections, so don't pay too much attention to the irrelevant traces of renovation-concentrate on searching for those heresies, and leave other things to the people in the city hall to worry about."

Agatha glanced at Bishop Ivan, then nodded thoughtfully.

Bishop Ivan noticed the exhaustion in the gatekeeper's expression: "You don't seem to have a good rest-this level of exploration should not make you so tired. Are you in a bad state? You seem to be worried since you came in just now. Heavy."

Agatha opened her mouth, hesitated for a few seconds before speaking, "I'm a little... restless."