When Shade saw the light ahead once more, he temporarily left the narrow, mud-filled corridor and entered a relatively spacious area within the temple. This place had likely been a library or something similar in the past; rotting wooden shelves were scattered everywhere amidst the sludge on the floor.
The fishman High Priest, clad in red sacrificial robes, was fighting Professor Sanchez, the Vice Principal of St. Byron's Comprehensive Academy. Although the fishman High Priest was only a Ninth-Ring, his power seemed to be enhanced within the temple. Even so, he was still completely suppressed by Professor Sanchez; the professor's victory was already inevitable.
"Who are you?"
Like the church Ring-casters at the temple entrance, Professor Sanchez asked the same question. Shade remained silent, intending to bypass them and move forward.
Neither the red-robed High Priest nor the professor had any intention of stopping him. The professor even warned him
"It is more dangerous ahead. The power of the god repels non-believers like us. Regardless of what you intend to do, for the sake of you being human, I must warn you: do not proceed unless absolutely necessary."
Shade shook his head, bypassed the two, and ran forward holding his fishing rod.
After the tattoo led Shade back into a corridor, he felt the air become noticeably heavier. After running a few more steps, the air felt like a swamp, hindering his progress. A powerful force radiated from ahead to the surroundings—a power Shade was very familiar with.
Although the temple complex was vast, Shade finally reached the end while running at full speed.
This was the Old Temple in the truest sense of the word. As Shade emerged from the corridor exit, his gaze swept past the massive black stone pillars supporting the structure, past the strange and grotesque fishman and mermaid statues piercing the ground, and even past the four people fighting. At a single glance, he saw the holy symbol hanging on the wall at the deepest part of the temple.
The light here was dim, but the holy symbol emitted a brilliant golden radiance.
At this moment, the strange and distorted sensation was only slightly better than the last time he had been directly gazed upon by an evil god. Upon entering the temple, Shade even felt his skin writhing, as if attempting to spontaneously transform into the form of an aquatic creature. However, due to the counter-force of some powerful energy within his physical body, this transformation could not progress in the slightest.
A red spiral phantom accompanied by double vision became clearer and clearer. He could faintly hear prayers, but it sounded more like someone whispering in his ear. Those low, chaotic voices poured directly into his ears; had Shade not been accustomed to various encounters with deities, he might have collapsed and convulsed on the ground the moment he left the corridor.
Among the four people fighting, the hideous fishman High Priest was actually a Twelfth-Ring. Shade hadn't expected the Scarlet Secret Sect to possess such a Ring-caster. But since the opponent dared to rashly initiate the ritual, it was understandable that such a high-ring caster was present.
Unfortunately, his opponent was a Thirteenth-Ring caster. Judging by the holy symbol hanging from his chest and his fighting style, this middle-aged man in a black trench coat, who calmly manipulated countless tiny brass metallic constructs, likely belonged to the Church of Creation and Destruction.
Aside from those two, Shade actually saw Darkness, who had removed his red gloves, and Lady Sylvie Aurora, whose face seemed covered by a hazy mist. Of course, because he couldn't see her face and her clothes had changed, Shade wasn't certain who she was at first, but the badge heating up on his chest tipped him off—there was no second Great Witch in Coldwater Harbor.
Shade immediately took off the golden ring from his finger and put it in his pocket, feeling very fortunate that the red seawater had made his clothes unrecognizable in their original style.
Shade wasn't surprised that the other three could stand unaffected in a temple so strongly influenced by divine power, but it was somewhat unexpected that Darkness, who was only a Sixth-Ring, could also resist the pressure that felt like being directly stared down by a god.
Except for the Twelfth-Ring fishman, everyone's power was suppressed.
The battle between Darkness and Miss Aurora was exceptionally eerie. The former was hunched over, his Sixth-Ring Life Ring manifesting behind him, surrounded by swirling vortices of darkness. His grotesque right hand had swollen into the upper body of a massive, flesh-colored creature of incomprehensible form, with sulfur and black flames continuously spewing from the monster's laughing maw.
Miss Sylvie Aurora barely fought back, not even manifesting her Life Ring. She continuously used telekinesis to manipulate the standing fishman statues for passive defense. However, there was no reason why this witch, who was even stronger than Miss Galina, would be unable to defeat Darkness. Shade remembered that Miss Galina had dared to charge forward even when facing an evil god and had successfully retreated.
The witch seemed to be wary of the thing growing out of Darkness's right hand, and thus did not strike with her full power.
"Why did Darkness and the witch end up here too?"
Shade wondered, then saw the blood-red fishman tattoo on the fishing hook—the one that had kindly brought him here—suddenly dissipate.
The dispersing blood-red color merged into the temple, drifting into the standing fishman and mermaid statues. It seemed this was the true origin of the mermaid curse; the original medium of the curse, the small mermaid statues, likely belonged to the temple.
The four combatants soon noticed the stranger standing at the temple entrance holding a fishing rod, but none of them knew what this person was doing there.
"Stranger, help me defeat the people of the Orthodox Church. Once the tsunami submerges Coldwater Harbor, I will give you the treasures of the fishmen. Elixirs of immortality, gold and silver vessels, ancient documents, secret sect scriptures—take your pick!"
The fishman High Priest spoke first. Although the level of mutation on his face wasn't as extreme as the captain of the Bone Pirate Ship or the oil painting in Mr. Jude's safe, it was definitely the most fish-like human face Shade had seen in Coldwater Harbor.
His entire skin was covered in slimy, folded scales, and the backs of both hands and his forehead were engraved with the holy symbol of the evil god. Someone qualified to do this was likely a true controller of the Scarlet Secret Sect.
"Do not believe these cultists. The Sea-Return Ritual cannot succeed. Stranger, help me deal with him, and the sacrifices in the city can be reduced. Regardless of which organization you belong to, we are all human. The Church will give you an appropriate reward."
The church Ring-caster manipulating the brass mechanical constructs spoke quite directly, without using rhetoric about justice to persuade Shade. However, his accent was slightly off; he wasn't a Delarion. This man was likely a temporary transfer from Carsonrick by the Church of Creation.
"Stranger, help me deal with this person possessed by a demon. How about a twenty-thousand pound anonymous banknote afterward? It can be cashed at any bank in a major city."
Miss Aurora also spoke. Although the parties were close, the power of the evil god in the temple was too strong, and she could not precisely perceive the anomalies on Shade's person.
"She is a witch, do not trust her!"
Darkness shouted. His own voice was steady, but the laughter of the demon transformed from his right hand was exceptionally shrill and piercing.
"Aren't you going to make an offer?"
Shade temporarily shifted his gaze away from the holy symbol deep in the temple and asked with a frown.
"What?"
Darkness was stunned.
"I mean, the other three have all made offers. Aren't you going to make one?"
Shade repeated himself. Before the latter could look over, Shade's body suddenly vanished from within the temple.
"Careful! It's the power of space!"
The demon on Darkness's right hand suddenly spoke. That strange, profane language affected space, but only Shade and Darkness himself could understand it.
The latter instinctively swung his right arm behind him. The demon's wide-open maw clamped down hard on the Moonlight Greatsword swung by Shade from behind.
The blade radiated a holy silver light, and the demon's mouth blistered as if burned, emitting foul-smelling black smoke.
The power of the Sixth-Ring caster's strange right hand was originally far beyond what a Second-Ring like Shade could contend with. But before the power of that mass of flesh receded, Shade could barely resist.
However, that mouth was indeed formidable; in just two or three seconds, cracks appeared on the Moonlight Greatsword. Darkness's left hand was about to reach for Shade's heart, but another Moonlight Greatsword suddenly cleaved down from the void.
A strange vortex of darkness suddenly appeared in front of the Moonlight Greatsword. The two-handed sword thrust from the void fell into the darkness and vanished completely. Simultaneously, the sword in Shade's hand was completely crushed by the sharp teeth.
He immediately retreated, and Darkness, likely still wary of the witch nearby, did not pursue.
"Last time you said you were a Sixth-Ring and asked what ring I was. Do you have an answer now?"
Shade asked softly, his eyes glancing at the holy symbol on the wall at the deepest part of the temple.
"You—"
The half-demon on the right hand suddenly roared, its arm extending to bite Shade, but Shade vanished again, appearing further away.
"It's you? The person on the roof?"
The middle-aged man suddenly realized.
"That report letter with the 'one shilling' slip of paper tucked inside—you wrote that to the Church of Nature? Wait, your signature was..."
The church Ring-caster with the Carsonrick accent suddenly widened his eyes and glanced at Shade, but he did not say the name "God-Caller" aloud.
"You were the one who reported me?"
Darkness stared intently at Shade.
"You wanted to use the Puppeteer script to kill me; I had no choice but to report you," Shade responded.
The expression of resentment on Darkness's face intensified
"You were the one who found our location first; how could I possibly let you leave alive? Wait, something's wrong. My companion paid the price of his life due to a clerical error to make you encounter a Level 0 relic. How are you still alive?"
"Level 0 relic? So 'Good Luck' was Level 0?"
The image of the monster in the pool flashed before Shade's eyes, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Level 0."
This was the first Level 0 relic he had encountered in this world. Although the opponent hadn't displayed much power, considering that eerie contamination that could almost melt any soul and the way it called itself [Desire], it seemed plausible that it was Level 0.
(End of Chapter)