Pillar of Yita

Miss Nightingale was slightly stunned before turning back to look at Fang Hong: ”What’s the matter?”

Fang Hong’s Clockwork Fairy flew in that direction, circling half a turn before returning empty-handed to his side. Fang Hong frowned as he looked over there, convinced he hadn’t seen wrongly, but as the Clockwork Fairy flew nearly a hundred meters forward, where in the intricate underground tunnels could there be any human figure?

Not even a ghostly shadow.

The little girl who stumbled in his memory was unlikely to run faster than the Clockwork Fairy.

Could it have just been an illusion? Fang Hong shook his head, recalling the missing skeleton Parker had seen earlier, which seemed to exactly match the current situation. Or is there genuinely something unclean in these underground tunnels?

That’s not impossible.

After all, so many people perished in that disaster a hundred years ago, and the buried spirits in these underground corridors must be many. If they truly encountered some Earthbound Spirits, Resentful Spirits, it wouldn’t be unreasonable.

Fortunately, this is a world of magic, and ghosts are not as terrifying as people imagine. He took a light breath before shaking his head at the others, indicating there wasn’t much of a problem. But in his heart, he still felt somewhat uneasy, always thinking that the underground was no place to linger for long.

He closed the journal, then said to the others: ”Regardless of whether our guesses are correct, as long as there’s such a possibility, we must go to that place and take a look. Although we still don’t know exactly what purpose Dragon’s Initial Scale serves for the Dragon Worshippers, we must disrupt the enemy’s plans. Right now, the best way to thwart their plans is naturally to take their Target Object first.”

”They have their target location wrong, which is excellent news for us. Although we are one step behind in Fanric, losing track of that Adventurers’ Guild official, finding this journal means we haven’t come away empty-handed.”

Parker still didn’t want to go to that place and couldn’t help but ask: ”But what if this map isn’t real?”

The Big Cat People saw his intention and smiled slightly: ”The place is not far from the southern excavation point; even if we find nothing, it won’t hinder the real business. We’re here to gather information, and we have to look at these places one by one.”

The Papalarians shrugged helplessly.

With the plan set, the group set off once more. But before leaving, Fang Hong couldn’t help flipping to the last page of the journal—those three names, he had already discussed the identities with Sir Diket in Fanric.

But the Rogse family and the Ailin Green Family Family, what connections do they have with the long-buried ruins of Idus and the Dragon Witch’s disaster? So far, he still has no idea.

Even Sir Diket, they still haven’t been able to contact.

He glanced again into the dark depths, his heart suspecting whether the little girl he saw earlier was just his illusion.

But on the way ahead, the group did not encounter any other eerie situations, a few Undead Creatures blocking the way but were easily dealt with. There were no more incidents like the vanishing skeletons before.

However, Parker compared his surveyed terrain map with the one recorded in Fang Hong’s journal and discovered more and more discrepancies. Some parts of the tunnels collapsed due to long neglect, and some passages had already been cut off during the disaster, so the underground situation of Idus has changed significantly compared to the past.

But Fang Hong, comparing the map, at least confirmed one thing. This map was definitely not drawn after the Dragon Witch incident; its creator must have been familiar with Idus before the disaster.

As for whether the creator experienced that disaster, it naturally depends on the final result.

That result is the small mark highlighted in dark red on the map—

After walking for a while, Parker suddenly turned back to the group and said:

”According to the map’s mark, there should be a hidden door ahead in this place.”

”Hidden door, where is it?”

”If I am not mistaken, it’s on the blocked wall ahead.”

Reed heard this, removed his shield, and walked forward, pressing his paw against the wall to explore while asking, ”Are you sure it’s in this place? Why do I feel this wall is solid?” The Big Cat People gestured up and down and wiped off a layer of dust from the wall—but visibly, there were no cracks on the wall surface.

He turned back and looked at the Papalarians.

Parker felt his ’cartographer’ professional competence was being questioned, patting the drawing, and said: ”I swear, it’s in this place. If you didn’t find it, that’s your own problem.”

At this moment, Elisa also checked around and then walked back to the group, saying: ”There shouldn’t be a hidden door here, but there is a staircase over there leading down.”

”Staircase?” Fang Hong asked: ”Where?”

Elisa pointed to the west of the group—there, the underground corridor split into two paths, one to the east and one to the west. Hilveld and Atira also finished examining the map, finding that the Papalarians were indeed not incorrect this time; according to the map, there should indeed be a hidden path here.

”But the wall is solid,” the Lion People also tapped the wall with the Scepter of Authority, responding to a dense knocking sound: ”There’s absolutely no possibility of any secret passage, and the floor also has no issues.”

”Then the map must be wrong.” Parker immediately found a new reason.

But at this moment, he suddenly felt Elisa’s hand on his shoulder:

”Shh!”

Elisa suddenly turned her head to the side, with a serious look, making a gesture for everyone to be silent:

”Ahead, there are voices.”

She lowered her voice and spoke to the group.

...