Chapter 206: The Chapel in the Heart of the Lake
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There was a small island in the heart of the Beinz Blood Lake, and it was the only island on the lake. Due to its special location, the island was regarded as a holy place in the Holy Land. The Disciples of Glory believed it to be the goddess' resting place in this world, so they built a magnificent chapel on the island to be her palace of this world.
Of course, such a holy place was usually heavily guarded. A circle of the Disciples of Glory's most powerful knights were stationed at the outer rim of the small island. It was almost impossible to walk into the area right under their noses. Even Vivian probably could not hide from these church knights with her supernatural nocturnal abilities. However, Hao Ren had another plan.
There was a dent on the shore of the Blood Lake, which made for a great shelter from sight. Hao Ren led his own gang of tenants and sneaked up to the poin. Then he took out the MDT and said, "You, fly to the church first, then send us in after you've made sure there's no one inside. Be careful, don't let anyone find out."
"What if I'm beaten down?"
"You can rest assured that I will apply for a new MDT from Raven 12345," Hao Ren said.
"What the heck!"
Hao Ren rolled his eyes. He glanced at the MDT and said, "Because I firmly believe that you won't be beaten down. Hurry up, stop dawdling."
The MDT shook its body in the air provocatively, afterwhich it unwillingly turned off its lights and flew rapidly towards the small island under the shadow of night.
According to the information they received earlier, although the small island on the lake was heavily armed, the central chapel was unmanned. The chapel was almost always sealed as a forbidden place. It was only opened two times a year; once when the annual tour of the Orb arrived, the door would be opened to welcome the Orb, and another time when it left. Since Pope Anthony III released a new interpretation of the Holy Scriptures hundreds of years ago, the chapel had banned the majority of people from entering. Only certain situations allowed certain people to enter the chapel: when the Orb arrived, four of the nameless monks entered the front room of the chapel together as the guardians of the Orb of the Holy Synod and they could stay there for four days; the Pope of the Disciples of Glory could use divine power to determine his own date of death, and they delivered the position to his successor one month before his death. He would then spent the last one month of his life in the chapel; there was also a special friar who always wore a robe, no one knew his identity and his name, and this friar could enter through the back door of the chapel during the full moon of every significant month. He was responsible for hygiene and other chores. Other than these individuals, even the King of Holletta was also not allowed to visit the chapel.
The extremely strict practice of the Disciples of Glory in terms of religious regulations gave Hao Ren the opportunity to take advantage of them instead. The Orb of the Holy Synod was not in the chapel at the moment, the Pope was not going to die anytime soon, and it was not a full moon night. Therefore, there would be no one in the chapel.
While waiting for the MDT's signal, Vivian could not help but look at Lily and ask, "Do you really have to dress up like this?"
Lily was covered in black clothes from head to toe. She was even wearing a black mask, which only revealed her eyes. She looked like Superwoman, ready to break into the Forbidden City. When she heard Vivian's words, she tossed her head at once and said, "Hmph, you don't understand. This is called professionalism. How do I carry out covert action without wearing a night coat?"
Vivian pointed to Lily's silvery, polished tail and ears. "You can hide those things first."
Lily continued to fling her head and replied, "No, this is part of a werewolf's pride."
Hao Ren felt the biggest variable of their investigation that night was the husky, whose brain was often not on a normal track. But, it did not really matter. If there was any emergency, he could throw Lily out. The canine's huge movements would be a very good distraction.
"Why do we have to bring Lil Pea along?" Vivian asked as she looked at the little mermaid hanging onto Hao Ren's arm. "And you even left her kettle in the room."
"I was worried," said Hao Ren while he poked at the baby fish who was sticking to his arm like an armband. "Without the 'toy', the little mermaid will scare easily. You saw her gnawing at the table in the house. I can't let this little mermaid out of my sight. That Hilda seems like she's losing her soul. I don't believe she can help us take care of Lil Pea."
At this exact moment, there was a slight gust of wind in the night sky. The MDT appeared in a ghostly dim light. "There's no one in the chapel. It's quiet all around. Let's go."
Their shadows twisted, and the next moment they were teleported into the chapel located in the small island on the lake.
The sacred lake island remained quiet, and the church knights stationed around the island were not aware that their holy place had been invaded by outsiders. However, there was something they were not clear about. Although the chapel in the middle of the lake was unguarded, the chapel itself was protected. Every corner of the chapel was covered with defenses and alarms left by the past popes. Unless it was a licensed visitor or a high-rank member of the church, who shut down the chapel's defenses covertly, any reckless intruder would be ruthlessly attacked by countless divine defenses.
This was reason why the Disciple of Glory trustingly left their most forbidden place in an "unattended" state.
But that night, when they broke into the chapel, all the defenses and alarms were quiet as if they were asleep.
The bright, double moonlights shone through the small chapel's high and narrow stained glass window, making the scene inside the chapel clearly visible. They quickly snapped out of the short vertigo from their teleportation and observed everything there curiously.
Like the chapels in other places, the antechapel was minimally furnished. There were no benches or cushions for people to rest on. Although the chapel looked magnificent, the antechapel was very simple. The most luxurious part was at the end of the antechapel, where there was a small altar, which symbolized the place the goddess set foot on. It was made out of the most expensive shining crystals and placed on a huge, black obsidian slate. The small altar was also furnished with a variety of exquisite instruments, which symbolized the goddess' authority. These furnishings made it look like a throne.
Not far from the small altar, Hao Ren noticed that a part of the ground was sunken.
"This should be where the Orb of the Holy Synod is placed," Vivian said as she neared the sunken ground. She bent down and touched the fractured surface, which was a smooth as a razor. "It's said that there was a raised platform here, but it looks as if it had been moved along with the Orb. Also, part of the floor is gone."
Lily cleverly looked around and observed her surroundings. Suddenly, she gazed up and said, "Ah, and also part of the ceiling!"
Along the direction of Lily's fingers, they noticed that a circular area of the antechapel's ceiling was neatly dug out, and it corresponded to the sunken floor below.
Vivian nodded and said, "It was indeed done via teleportation, but a very primitive and brutal one. There's no specified teleportation target instead, they teleported everything directly within a certain range." While she spoke, she moved a few metres away, inspecting the concave area of the floor and ceiling. She then said, "It should be a spheroid space bubble with a radius of five or six metres, not spherical."
"Is it man-made or natural?" Hao Ren was very concerned about this.
"Don't know, it happened two months ago. Even if there were man-made magic fluctuations, they would have already dissipated by now." Vivian shook her head, looked around and continued to speak, "It looks like they've still retained the condition from the day the Orb went missing. They probably want to preserve the scene."
Lily squatted down and habitually sniffed the ground. However, she shook her head in bewilderment and said, "It's weird, just the smell of cloth. There doesn't seem to—"
Nangong Wuyue kindly reminded her. "You're still wearing your mask..."
"...Oh."
Hao Ren then approached the magnificent altar. His attention was drawn to the mural behind the it.
It was the same, strange kind of mural he saw in the mountain people's chapel. The strange colours of black and red intertwined, accompanied by a mysterious radiance.
It seemed that all churches of the Disciples of Glory were decorated with such a thing. But, what did it mean?
Hao Ren stared at the mural for a moment. He would feel the black and red bands move slowly, but whenever he focused on the colours that seemed to flutter, they went back to how they were. Or maybe, they actually never moved. He did not understand why such stuff with an unknown significance was placed in the chapel. This should be the area they place an icon of the goddess or other religious totems.
Plus, he also vaguely remembered the kind of mural he saw in the mountain people's chapel, and this one did not look exactly the same as that one.