Chapter 144: Gibberish

Chapter 144: Gibberish

The exploration of the cursed gallery full of statues was slow and tedious. The rat had indicated that this road of sculptures was several hundred meters long, and Pareth could only purify it one small sphere at a time. [Purification] was an expensive skill, so he had to pace himself or he would run out of mana before they made it to the other side. While they waited, the curse slowly regained territory, continuously shrinking Sofias safe zone. And of course, that also meant the path behind them was blocked by the curse too. This would be a terrible time to be under attack, but not a single shade showed up in the cursed zone.

There wasn't enough space to walk between the lifesize statues. Pareth had to destroy some to cut open a path so Sofia could comfortably walk behind. Her vision in the complete darkness kept improving. By now she could see more details about the statues. Notably, she now understood that there were about thirty or so different ones. They were used over and over to fill the whole place. She had noticed that when she passed a group of three identical dwarves in the exact same position next to each other. That meant most of these werent cursed people, but real stone statues, which was disturbing but reassuring. There was no way so many people would have discovered this place anyway. And how would they have escaped the Shades? As for why there were thousands of these sculptures blocking the path in this cursed tunnel? She had no idea. She collected one of each design in her ring, because she could.

Suddenly Sofias mana senses opened up, and her perception broadened. Were finally near the exit! She had been on the lookout for the curses source the entire time, but she found nothing. And now it looked like the next part of the dungeon wasnt cursed. It still took a few minutes, but they got there, one cast of [Purification] at a time.

The floor transitioned from the raw stone of the dark caves to clean flat stone slabs. Thats new, but its still dark. Although her new vision allowed her to see up to a few meters away as if there was low light now, it was still limited to just that. How is the progress?

[Venerable physique of the primeval void] :

Second step : Become able to see in the dark (69.556%/100%)

Almost there.

She tried to understand the layout of this new place with her mana senses. The only thing that was clear to her was that it was very wide and open. She could fly her if needed. Her footsteps echoed as she advanced, judging from the reverberation, this place was indeed large enough to host a cathedral. Is it about time I see the cathedral part of the dungeons name? Im guessing this is the place of a Recessed named Shadows. If not then what else can explain the darkness?

Sofia couldnt help but look around despite her limited vision, she hoped to maybe spot a hint of light in the darkness. And she found it, but the light wasnt real, it was a slew of system notifications.

[You have been affected by : insanity. But your skills negated the status]

[You have been affected by : insanity. But your skills negated the status]

This Avian ghost in particular, at the moment sleeping on a very real stone table, looked like, well, a humanoid bird. He had talons for feet, feathery wings under his arms, and sharp-clawed hands. He also had a short stubby beak, which was all that could be seen of his face from under his helmet. He was wearing armor that looked quite good but didnt seem to protect much besides his head and chest. He has the essentials covered but I guess that didnt save him. Also, I pictured avians with wings sprouting from their back like me, not these weird arm wings. Theres no way they can fly wi-. Sofia looked at her own wings. Theres way

Hes pretending to sleep?

I have my runes anyway, whats the worst that can happen?

She climbed up the building too, entering the last floor where the ghost was resting.

Are you going to pretend to be asleep for long? I couldnt have seen you from the window if you had been like that from the beginning.

The Avian moved. A sinister laughter escaped his beak as he floated upright, Eimel, dal saark dan! Sialel vakran Zerei hran! he exclaimed, raising his winged arms.

The environment around Sofia changed. Teleportation. Sofia couldnt give much more reaction than a raise of her eyebrows. Woah. Thats the Avian language? Doesnt even sound like proper words.I guess that meant You fell right into my trap or something along those lines. It was still dark and the Avian ghost was there too, but this was no longer inside the ruined buildings. Pareth teleported to her side, and then she was back at the building.

Decidedly, the spatial anchor bracelet is turning out to be a great investment, she remarked to herself, nodding approvingly as she admired her ugly pink orichalcum bracelet. She had had thoughts of getting rid of it after her run-in with the new magisterium. But after all, one was never safe from wild teleportation, as today had shown.

In Sofias perception, Pareth was somewhere deep below the avian city. She switched to his vision. Though Pareth couldnt see in the darkness, it turned out he didnt need to.

He could see the squadron of Avian ghosts running toward him. That was the only explanation he needed. [Sanctified Grounds] activated.

It was his time to shine.