Chapter 272:

Chapter 272:

“You can come out now.”

Isaac was the first to crawl out of the low tunnel and whispered. He was followed quietly by Bashul.

Both of them were covered in mud.

As is often the case with ancient cities, Lichtheim had a layered underground structure. However, the priests of Lichtheim were particularly interested in making use of the underground, where they imprisoned things that didn’t need to exist in the world: criminals, forbidden knowledge, and evil relics, sealing them beneath the city.

As a result, Lichtheim had undergone several planned redevelopments of its underground, unlike other cities.

Naturally, the prison where the Emperor was held and the secret archives of the Censorship Bureau were also constructed underground. But with such repeated redevelopment, there would inevitably be parts that were left out or abandoned. If these spaces were not properly understood, they would become secret passages unknown even to the designers.

And Isaac was very knowledgeable about these secret passages.

Bashul felt overwhelmed as he emerged from the claustrophobic waterway into what appeared to be a corridor.

It truly was one of Lichtheim’s underground passages.

“I didn’t know there were secret passages like this under Lichtheim...”

His biggest concern had been how to get through Lichtheim’s high walls. The walls, protected by powerful divine forces, were not easily damaged or overcome with miracles. If they tried, they would surely be detected.

However, Isaac had easily bypassed them using a secret passage.

“If this information had leaked to the Immortal Order or the Red Chalice, it would have been a disaster... No, more importantly, how do you know about this? Who exactly are you?”

“Is it important for you to know that, or is it more important to rescue the Emperor?”

“The Emperor is more important. Let’s go.”

Bashul did not have deep loyalty to the Emperor. However, the Emperor was a crucial means for achieving revenge, and he did not want to succumb to the machinations of the angels.

“As I mentioned, we will go to the secret archives of the Censorship Bureau first.”, right. That. You said you had business there, and you helped us get past the walls, so I won’t argue. But is it really more important than rescuing the Emperor?”

“My people in the Issacrea estate are more important to me than a hundred Emperors.”

Isaac looked at Bashul as if he were absurd.

Of course, he did have some personal connection with the Emperor, but it wasn’t exactly a warm and friendly one. And in this situation, honestly, the Emperor’s greed had played a significant part, so he had to bear some responsibility.

However, the residents of the Issacrea estate couldn’t do without Isaac.

It was only natural for Isaac to care more about them.

Bashul seemed as if he wanted to say more, but Isaac boldly strode through the underground corridor. Since Isaac was the one who knew the complex structure of the underground corridors, Bashul had no choice but to follow him.

Then, Isaac suddenly felt a strange dizziness and staggered.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Is it because we entered the Holy City?”

Isaac was puzzled by the sudden dizziness that made his vision double, but he soon felt better. Just in case, he checked his physical condition but found nothing wrong.

Footsteps echoed, and Isaac and Bashul held their breath. Two priests wearing white hoods that covered their faces were pulling a cart along the opposite corridor. The cart was filled with various sinister tools.

Bashul whispered.

“They’re torture priests from the Inquisition. Where are they going?”

“There must be a lot of ‘guests’ in the underground prison today, so they’ll have plenty to interrogate.”

Their official title was “Confessor Priest.”

While inquisitors went out and acted as enforcers for the church, confessor priests were tasked with extracting confessions or inducing repentance from captured prisoners. However, since they often dealt with involuntary confessions and repentance, they were more commonly known as torture priests.

Isaac and Bashul exchanged glances and silently approached the two priests. It was not difficult to take them out quietly in the darkness. Lichtheim’s underground was designed to hide things that didn’t want to be revealed, so there was little fear of being discovered.

They dragged the bodies of the confessor priests back into the passage they had come from and changed out of their muddy clothes.

The hoods that covered their heads were perfect for concealing their faces.

“Though I’ve already apostatized, you really don’t hesitate to kill a priest.”

“Do you think it’s the first time I’ve cut down a priest? Killing these kinds of people doesn’t weigh on my conscience.”

“Of course not. The Blind Sentinel used miracles to twist the order of time and space.”

Bashul looked betrayed, but the scene before him was overwhelming even for Isaac.

The secret archives were not merely a place to store books, as the name might suggest. What the Censorship Bureau sought to imprison was knowledge, and books were not the only containers of knowledge.

Forbidden miracles sealed in relics, phenomena with unknown origins, mysterious creatures, objects that shouldn’t exist... All these chaos-inducing items were subjects for ‘censorship’ by the Censorship Bureau of the Codex of Light. Among them, those that couldn’t be erased or were too valuable to destroy were hidden in the safest and most secret places.

This vast space, therefore, was filled over a millennium by the dedication and sacrifices of the Paladins and inquisitors.

Isaac began walking. As soon as they started moving, light suddenly poured down from above. Bashul was startled and almost drew his sword.

“It’s just light that reacts to movement. It’s a convenience feature for visitors to the archives, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Oh, right, okay.”

Bashul awkwardly tried to touch one of the boxes beside him, but Isaac warned him.

“Don’t touch the boxes carelessly. They’re sealed with chains and scriptures, but they’re old and could be easily damaged. Especially the ones wrapped in chains—they’re likely to be dangerous.”

“Dangerous to people? These?”

“You’d be lucky if it only harms you.”

Bashul withdrew his hand at Isaac’s warning. On reflection, it was foolish to touch anything in this notoriously secure secret archive.

Though he vowed not to do anything foolish again, it wasn’t easy.

“Bashul, don’t try to look closely at anything in the dark. The moment you focus, you might get pulled in. Just concentrate and follow me.”

“Bashul, don’t hum. ‘They’ imitate the sounds of singing. Unless you want the archives filled with a choir, keep quiet.”

“Bashul, that’s not a wall, it’s a giant box. It seems like they’ve moved an entire house into it.”

Bashul finally gave up.

He thought he was a seasoned warrior, but here, he felt like a newborn. The hardest thing to bear was Isaac’s calm voice as he identified and warned about all these threats.

“This is driving me crazy. Can’t I just wait at the door with my eyes closed until you’re done?”

“Bashul, who are you talking to right now?”

Bashul was about to retort at Isaac for whatever he was saying, but then he realized that the voice came from behind him. Isaac, holding a box in his arms, was walking toward him with a strange look.

Bashul felt a chilling sensation as he looked back at the Isaac who had been warning and leading him earlier. Then the Isaac in front of him let out a creepy laugh and ran into the darkness. From where the figure disappeared, the sound of the song Bashul had hummed earlier echoed.

“...A ghost?”

“I can guess what you saw. It’s not a ghost, but it’s better not to know. If you’d followed it to the end, you’d be trapped in the archives forever, unable to die.”

Isaac said as he looked around the secret archives.

“The most powerful security feature of the Censorship Bureau’s secret archives is its vastness. The absurdly large and complex structure prevents intruders from finding their targets. Without damaging the archives, they also release some moderately dangerous sealed items, letting them act as the archives’ own wardens.”

Bashul looked wearily at the box Isaac was holding.

“For all that, you seem to have found something already.”

“This isn’t what I’m looking for. It’s just a box containing a mysterious dish that turns water into alcohol.”

“Then how are you going to find what you’re looking for?”

“Like this.”

Isaac lifted the box and threw it hard onto the ground. The sound of shattering echoed through the secret archives. Under Bashul’s astonished gaze, the lights overhead flickered intensely.

Bashul instinctively drew his sword.

Something unusual was happening.

_____________

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