Whispering Verse

"Even after reading the information, I'm still scared of this thing."

Only Miss Anat knew in advance that the so-called "gargoyle" was so big, and Miss Bayas also sighed the same way as Shade.

"I thought...it would only be the size of a human being, but I didn't expect it to be so big."

Shade expressed his thoughts. Miss Anat looked around and further explained:

"The Keeper-level relic [Thousand-Eyed Gargoyle No. 3765] actually has an unofficial name that is easier to remember. It is the nickname given by the ancient alchemists."

"What nickname?"

"Giant magic."

Looking up at the terrifyingly huge thousand-eyed stone statue, Shade twitched the corners of his mouth and fully understood what was in front of him:

"Well...actually if you said the name earlier, I would probably be able to understand what it is easily."

Such a large open space seems to have been built to allow the gargoyles to fully fight. To be honest, if they didn't know how to give this thing a temporary rest in advance, I'm afraid that even if the silver-eyed man planned to join them temporarily, the four of them might not be able to defeat this relic.

The huge space seemed empty, but then the three of them saw some corpses with varying degrees of decay beside the wall. The freshest corpse among them probably only appeared this morning. The eyes of these corpses were all gouged out, and they should be innocent people who were killed by [Mercury Blood] through this place.

After carefully counting the corpses, there were 36 in total. In other words, apart from the people from the [Blood Spirit School] this morning, [Mercury Blood] had used this method to enter the ruins at least 17 times.

Miss Bayas prayed for the corpses in a low voice. Miss Anat continued to check the remaining empty space. Shade looked at the three freshest corpses and suddenly asked Miss Bayas:

"Do you mind if your companions use necromancy-like magic?"

This must be asked clearly.

"What? Undead? Is it a plague?"

The sorceress of the church asked curiously.

"of course not."

"That's okay."

She shrugged indifferently, and Shade took out the bone meal and sprinkled some on the corpse. But after reciting the mantra, nothing happened.

"strangeness......"

He tried again, but the thaumaturgy still had no effect. After briefly explaining the basic effect of [Soul Echo] to the two companions, Miss Anat believed that the silver-eyed person had disposed of the corpse, making it impossible to obtain information from the corpse through means such as channeling.

"Maybe there's something wrong with the ruins itself."

Miss Bayas also guessed, and Shade asked in a low voice:

"Do you think it is possible for [Mercury Blood] to discover the so-called 'evil' relics that were suppressed here by this disappeared religious sect?"

No one can give an answer, but they all understand that maybe the danger in the ruins is not just the three relics blocking the road and the ring warlock.

They continued to prepare to move forward, but the trouble they encountered was not that they could not find the way, but that there were too many ways to leave the space where the gargoyles were. There are four walls here, each with at least six stone doors. In the end, it was Shade who listened to the footsteps and cooperated with Miss Anat's divination to lock in the correct direction.

The next danger you may encounter is the Keeper-level relic [Mirror Behind the Back]. This relic directly harms the Ring Warlock's "other self." It was already decided during Sunday's banquet that Shade would deal with this relic. The two ladies did not ask him again what method he would use to deal with it, and Shade did not ask again what method he would use to deal with the woman's voice in his heart.

【Do you believe me so much? I feel honored. 】

she said teasingly.

This time, Shade pushed open the stone door, but there was no room for a mirror behind the door. He stretched out his finger to illuminate the front, which was a lightless corridor wrapped in bricks. You could see the corner from more than twenty steps away.

"The mirror might be around the corner in the hallway, so I'm in front."

He said, but got no answer from behind. When he turned around, he saw that there was a wall behind him. There were no figures of the two ladies at all, nor could he see the huge thousand-eyed gargoyle.

Shade blinked and asked softly in his heart:

"Um...are you still there?"

It took a full two seconds to get a reply:

[Punches forward. 】

He immediately punched and punched the air in front of him. The sound of glass breaking almost made Shade think that his hand would be injured. Centered on the point where the fist struck, dense radioactive cracks appeared in the space in front of him, but they quickly recovered.

"Isn't the mirror used to hurt the 'other you'? How could it trap me? I thought that my task was just to see the mirror, and then you stretched out a hand from my back and broke the mirror with one punch. Woolen cloth."

As he thought, he waved his two fists at the same time and continuously hit the air in front of him, but the cracks recovered much faster than Shade's punch. Although his physical fitness has become very strong because he became a ring warlock, he does not have the ability to wield the sonic punch or even the light speed punch.

[I cannot interfere with reality. 】

She repeated her words in his ear.

"Wait, I seem to be in trouble."

It seems that because Shade's fist attacked this space, bursts of black smoke flew from the depths of the passage, making a tearing sound in the air, and all rushed towards Shade's chest. But he didn't even have to fight back. The golden cracks on the surface of his body flashed past, and the black smoke disappeared.

"Oh, no more trouble."

He said dryly.

What he had just done was an attack on his soul, but divinity protected his soul.

"How to get out?"

[Find a solution, it shouldn't attack you, it's exposed. 】

Her murmuring voice was filled with pleasant emotions, and she was probably in a good mood:

[You are in the mirror space, and the mirror can't do anything to you, it can only trap you temporarily. 】

"What do I do now?"

[Punch yourself. 】

If it weren't for the fact that "she" still used that strange language that Shade had never heard a second time anywhere, he would even think that this was the mirror playing tricks on him.

"you sure?"

She was chuckling, her laughter proving that it was indeed her.

Shade took a breath and clenched his right fist, closed his eyes and punched his chin fiercely.

Surprisingly, I felt no pain, just like being hit by the dough wrapping my face.

The sound of breaking glass clearly appeared in my ears. When I opened my eyes, I saw that there was no passage in front of me. He just pushed open the stone door, which was facing the mirror.

Shade was standing in front of the mirror at this time, with his right hand clenched and raised high, and the big hole in the broken mirror was undoubtedly made by him. The pain of a bleeding fist came very slowly to his senses, and every piece of broken glass hanging in the frame reflected his appearance at this moment.

"Shadow?"

A tentative call came from behind, it was Miss Anat's voice.

"I'm fine...the mirror is temporarily disabled."

The secret keeper-level relic [the mirror behind] also has the "hard to destroy" characteristic of most relics. Breaking the mirror now only makes it temporarily ineffective. It will return to normal in a short period of time, but as long as there is a crack on the mirror surface, the ability to attack the "other self" cannot be exerted.

The mirror itself will automatically move its direction when people are not looking at it, towards the direction where people may appear. In other words, even if Shade moved the mirror to the wall and pointed it at the wall, when they left, the mirror would automatically point in another direction.

"No problem, the mirror is broken."

Shade repeated it again, and while breathing a sigh of relief, he turned around and shook his bleeding hand:

"Can someone give me some water? I can't put my hand in my right pocket right now."

"Oh, why is it hurt so badly?"

Miss Bayas immediately walked over through the stone door and directed the light ball to illuminate the place. Miss Anat went to check the mirror to see if there was anything other than the mirror behind the stone door.

The water treated with [Saturation Food] healed the scratched palm, and Shade curiously asked the two ladies what he had just done.

"You pushed the door open, walked in, and then punched and broke the mirror."

Miss Bayas briefly described it, and then Shade asked for more details:

"Is there anything unusual about me, such as..."

He hesitated for a moment and said softly:

"A shadow appeared behind me, and the shadow shook its fist at the mirror."

"What's the meaning?"

Miss Bayas asked suspiciously, as if she suspected that Shade was still affected by the mirror, so his head was a little confused.

She shook her head:

"Nothing out of the ordinary, detective. You punched and broke the mirror before we even knew it. What just happened? Why didn't you kick it?"

"Because I can't kick myself in the face... I'll explain it later when we get out."

He shook his head, indicating that he didn't have time to chat here now.

Looking towards the ground, the silver light from his fingertips illuminated the glass fragments on the ground, and the three people were reflected on the glass fragments. Among them, Shade and Miss Bayas were both normal, but behind Miss Anat, Shade actually saw the transparent woman who looked very similar to her, but slightly more mature.

In the blink of an eye, the transparent woman in the mirror fragment disappeared. Shade looked at the female fortune teller standing in the light of the silver moon in surprise, observing the surroundings. There was nothing unusual about her.

"She...forget it, the current situation is not suitable to ask this."

The mirror was stored behind the stone door in the third ruins space they entered. It was about the same size as the space in front of the first stone door. The silver light from Shade's fingertips and the ball of light summoned by Miss Bayas were enough to illuminate this place.

Still no one alive, not even dead this time. In addition to the mirror standing there, there was a door on each of the four walls, but this time there were no carvings on the walls.

On the contrary, there is a line of ancient text on the metal frame of the mirror. When translated into Delarian, its approximate meaning is:

[Be wary of “another me”. 】

None of the three ring wizards commented on this line of writing.