“Even after seeing the data, I’m still afraid of this thing.”
Only Miss Annette knew beforehand that the so-called “Gargoyle” was that big; Miss Bei Ya Si echoed Xia De’s sentiment.
“I thought… it would only be human-sized, I didn’t expect it to be this huge.”
Xia De voiced his thoughts. Miss Annette looked around and further explained:
“The Secret keeper-level relic, 【Thousand-Eyed Gargoyle Number 3765】, actually has an easier-to-remember unofficial name, an elegant term given by ancient alchemists.”
“What elegant term?”
“Colossus.”
Looking up at the terrifyingly massive Thousand-Eyed Stone Statue, Xia De’s mouth twitched, fully understanding what was before him:
“Hmm… Actually, if you had told me that name earlier, I probably would have understood what this was easily.”
This vast, empty space seemed to have been built to allow the Gargoyle to fight fully. To be honest, if they hadn’t known how to make this thing temporarily rest beforehand, even if a Silver-Eyed One had intended to temporarily join them, the four of them combined might not have been able to defeat this relic.
The enormous space looked empty, but later, the trio found some bodies in varying stages of decomposition by the wall. The freshest one among them had probably appeared just this morning. All the eyes of these bodies had been gouged out; they were likely innocent people killed by Mercury Blood to pass through here.
Carefully counting the bodies, there were 36 in total, which meant that besides the Blood Spirit School people this morning, Mercury Blood had used this method to enter the ruins at least 17 times.
Miss Bei Ya Si quietly prayed for the bodies. Miss Annette continued to inspect the remaining empty space. Xia De looked at the three freshest bodies and suddenly asked Miss Bei Ya Si:
“Do you mind if your companion uses necromancy-type Miracles?”
This point had to be clarified.
“What? Necromancy-type? Is it plague?”
The Sorceress from the church asked curiously.
“Of course not.”
“Then it’s fine.”
She shrugged indifferently. Xia De then took out bone dust and sprinkled some on the bodies. But after reciting the incantation, there was no reaction.
“Strange…”
He tried again, but the Miracle still had no effect. After briefly explaining the basic effect of Soul Echo to his two companions, Miss Annette believed that the Silver-Eyed One had dealt with the bodies, making it impossible to obtain information from them through spiritual means.
“Or perhaps there’s something wrong with the ruins themselves.”
Miss Bei Ya Si also guessed. Xia De quietly asked:
“Do you think it’s possible that Mercury Blood discovered a so-called ‘evil’ relic suppressed here by this vanished cult?”
No one could give an answer, but they all understood that the dangers in the ruins might not just be the three obstructing relics and Ring術士.
They prepared to continue forward, but the trouble they encountered was not that they couldn't find the way, but that there were too many paths leading out of the space where the Gargoyle was located. There were four walls here, and each wall had at least six stone doors. In the end, it was Xia De listening for footsteps, combined with Miss Annette’s Divination, that pinpointed the correct direction forward.
The next potential danger was the Secret keeper-level relic, 【Mirror Behind】. This relic directly harms the “other self” of a Ring術士. It had already been decided at Sunday’s banquet that Xia De would deal with this relic. The two ladies did not ask him how he planned to deal with it, nor did Xia De ask the woman’s voice in his mind how to deal with it again.
【You trust me so much? I feel honored.】
She said with a teasing tone.
This time, Xia De pushed open the stone door, but behind the door was not a space containing a mirror. He extended his finger to illuminate the front; it was a dark corridor wrapped in bricks, with a turn visible about twenty steps away.
“The mirror might be at the corridor’s turn, so I’ll go first.”
He said, but received no reply from behind him. Turning around, he saw that behind him was actually a wall, with no sign of the two ladies, nor could he see the huge Thousand-Eyed Gargoyle.
Xia De blinked, and quietly asked in his mind:
“Hmm… Are you still there?”
He waited for a full two seconds before getting a reply:
【Punch forward.】
He immediately threw a punch. After his fist struck the air in front of him, the sound of shattering glass almost made Xia De think his hand would be injured. The space before his eyes, centered on the point where his fist landed, developed radiating, dense cracks, but they quickly healed.
“Isn’t the mirror supposed to harm the ‘other self’? Why did it trap me? I thought my task was just to see the mirror, and then you’d reach out a hand from behind me and smash the mirror with one punch.”
As he thought, he simultaneously swung both fists, continuously striking the air in front of him, but the cracks healed much faster than Xia De could punch. Although his physical condition had become very strong since becoming a Ring術士, he didn’t have the ability to throw sonic or even light-speed punches.
【I cannot interfere with reality.】
She repeated the words she had said in his ear.
“Wait, I think I’m in trouble.”
It seemed that because Xia De’s fists had attacked this space, gusts of black dust flew from deep within the passage, making tearing sounds in the air as they all surged towards Xia De’s chest. But he didn’t even need to retaliate; a flash of golden cracks on his body surface, and the black dust vanished.
“Oh, no trouble then.”
He said dryly.
That was an attack targeting the soul, but his divinity protected his soul.
“How do I get out?”
【I’ve found a solution. It shouldn’t have attacked you. It exposed itself.】
Her murmuring voice carried a hint of pleasure, indicating she was likely in a good mood:
【You are in a mirror space. The mirror can’t do anything to you; it can only temporarily trap you.】
“What do I do now?”
【Punch yourself.】
If it weren't for the fact that “she” was still using that peculiar language Xia De had never heard a second time anywhere else, he would have even thought it was the mirror playing tricks on him.
“Are you sure?”
She chuckled, her laughter confirming it was indeed her.
Xia De took a breath, clenched his right fist, closed his eyes, and fiercely struck his own chin.
Unexpectedly, there was no pain, just like hitting a piece of dough wrapped around his face.
The sound of shattering glass clearly appeared in his ears. Opening his eyes, what was before him was not a passage. He had just pushed open the stone door, and the doorway directly faced that mirror.
Xia De now stood before the mirror, his right hand clenched in a raised fist, and the large hole in the shattered mirror surface was undoubtedly made by him. The sensation of pain from his bleeding fist came very slowly, and every shattered piece of glass hanging in the mirror frame reflected his current appearance.
“Xia De?”
A tentative call came from behind him; it was Miss Annette’s voice.
“I’m fine… The mirror is temporarily disabled.”
The Secret keeper-level relic, 【Mirror Behind】, also possessed the “difficult to destroy” characteristic that most relics had. Breaking the mirror surface now only temporarily disabled it. It would return to normal in a very short time, but as long as there was still a crack in the mirror surface, its characteristic of attacking the “other self” could not be exercised.
The mirror itself, when not being watched, would automatically shift its direction to face where people might appear. In other words, even if Xia De moved the mirror to the wall and aimed it at the wall, when they left, the mirror would automatically face another direction.
“It’s fine now, the mirror is disabled.”
Xia De repeated, exhaling in relief, and turned to shake his bleeding hand:
“Could someone give me some water? It’s not convenient for me to reach into my right pocket right now.”
“Oh, how did you get so badly hurt?”
Miss Bei Ya Si immediately stepped through the stone door and came over, directing the orb of light to illuminate the area. Miss Annette, meanwhile, went to inspect the mirror, checking if there was anything else besides the mirror behind the stone door.
The clear water treated with Gluttony's Feast healed his scratched palm. Xia De then curiously asked the two ladies what he had just done.
“You pushed open the door, walked in, and then punched the mirror, shattering it.”
Miss Bei Ya Si described it simply, and then Xia De asked for more details:
“Was there anything unusual about me, for example…”
He hesitated, then quietly said:
“A phantom appearing behind me, the phantom punching the mirror.”
“What do you mean?”
Miss Bei Ya Si asked suspiciously, as if she suspected Xia De was still affected by the mirror and thus a bit muddled.
She shook her head:
“Nothing unusual, Detective. We didn’t even react before you punched and shattered the mirror. What happened just now? Why didn’t you kick it?”
“Because I can’t kick my own face… Let’s explain once we’re out.”
He shook his head, indicating there was no time for chatting here now.
His eyes looked at the ground, the silver light from his fingertips illuminating the glass shards on the ground. The three of them were reflected in the glass shards. Xia De and Miss Bei Ya Si were both normal, but behind Miss Annette, Xia De surprisingly saw that transparent woman again, who looked very much like her, only slightly more mature.
He blinked, and the transparent woman in the mirror shards disappeared. Xia De looked at the female Diviner standing in the Moonlight, observing her surroundings; she seemed normal.
“She… Never mind, the current situation isn’t suitable for asking about that.”
The space behind the stone door, where this mirror was stored, was the third ruin space they had entered, roughly the same size as the space before the first stone door. The silver light from Xia De’s fingertips and the orb of light summoned by Miss Bei Ya Si were enough to illuminate the area.
Still no living people were seen, and this time, not even dead ones. Besides the mirror standing there, there was one door on each of the four walls, but this time there were no more carvings on the walls.
However, there was a line of ancient text on the metal frame of the mirror. When translated into delarion, it roughly meant:
【Beware of the “other self”.】
None of the three Ring術士 commented on this line of text.