Chapter 1856 Key to the Ruin <TOC> Chapter 1858 Room Sections
Translator: SumTLMan
Once again stepping into the corridor of the ruins, it was still pitch black, obscuring any sight of the path ahead.
Although Angel possessed the ability to see in the dark, the long, dark path still instilled a sense of unease.
He recalled that Tree Spirit had mentioned candle holders on the walls… Angel’s gaze slowly shifted towards the wall, and indeed, he spotted candle holders enclosed by black grilles.
In the darkness, Angel’s eyes emitted a faint glow, kindling a flame within the candle holder.
As the first flame lit up, it seemed to activate a marvelous mechanism, causing all the candle holders in the corridor to illuminate in succession. Every five meters, there was a candle holder, lighting up the path deep into the corridor.
“A linked mechanism?” Angel murmured softly, without overthinking, and continued to stride forward.
After walking about a hundred steps, Angel’s brow furrowed slightly. He hadn’t noticed before, but upon entering the corridor, he sensed something wrong.
The direction of the airflow was abnormal.
Angel, sensitive to changes in his surroundings, hadn’t felt any airflow before stepping into the corridor. However, as he moved forward, it seemed as if a vent had opened up deep within the corridor, gently blowing a breeze towards him.
The wind wasn’t strong, but it created an illusion that an exit lay ahead.
Although Angel felt something was off, his steps did not halt; instead, he quickened his pace. He figured he would find out whether it was an illusion or not as he continued.
Tap, tap, tap——
The sound of footsteps echoed in the narrow corridor. Perhaps due to the excessive quiet, or the confined space creating echoes, Angel, as he walked, seemingly heard multiple footsteps overlapping.
This oppressive atmosphere of anomaly has persisted for a full ten minutes.
“A bit odd,” Angel paused, a thought flashing through his mind.
According to information obtained from Tree Spirit, passing through this corridor should lead to the central laboratory of the ruins. He had walked nearly several miles along this corridor, yet the laboratory was still out of reach, which was obviously wrong.
He didn’t believe that there were strange mechanisms at work in the ruins, nor the involvement of other extraordinary beings. After all, Tree Spirit had mentioned that the place had remained sealed since its closure, a statement he deemed credible. The oddity he perceived was the suspicion that some mechanism within the ruins might have been triggered by him.
It’s normal for ruins to contain mechanisms. However, if it really was a mechanism, how did he trigger it?
Angel couldn’t figure it out at the moment and decided to continue forward a bit longer to see if he could find any clues.
After walking about a few hundred steps more, Angel noticed another peculiarity: the airflow ahead was becoming increasingly strong.
Could this mean he was getting closer to a vent?
Was he about to reach the end? With this question in mind, Angel moved forward again. After another two minutes, he saw the so-called “vent.”
A tightly shut large door.
Angel looked at the door, fell silent for a moment, then gently pushed it open.
Upon opening the door, a bright space was revealed.
Outside the door was a vast wilderness. Nearby, he could see the large tree that he had previously concealed with a Nightmare Illusion. Evidently, this was the entrance to the ruins.
He hadn’t found the endpoint; instead, he had circled back to the entrance.
There had been no danger throughout the journey, aligning with what Tree Spirit had mentioned. Thus, Angel became even more convinced that he must have triggered some kind of mechanism.
However, how did he trigger it? Why didn’t Tree Spirit warn him earlier? Was it deliberately trying to make him look foolish?
Angel stood at the doorway, lost in thought, when his gaze inadvertently fell upon the candlestick on the wall.
Inside the black lattice was a patterned tray, holding specially formulated lamp oil that could burn for hundreds of years.
“The candlestick… is it because of the candlestick?” Angel suddenly thought of something. He had only touched the candlestick when he entered this ruin.
Moreover, as soon as one candlestick was lit, all the candlesticks lit up immediately, clearly a linked mechanism. This linked mechanism might be the main cause of triggering his “looping.”
The more Angel thought about it, the more he felt he was correct. Plus, he remembered Tree Spirit had once said, “There is a candlestick on the wall that can be lit. But I don’t think it’s necessary.”
The meaning of Tree Spirit’s words was to dissuade Angel from lighting the candlestick.
So, does that mean not lighting the candlestick would not trigger the mechanism?
Angel didn’t know if his guess was right, but he decided to give it a try.
He walked to the first candlestick, swept his hand over it, and the burning flame immediately extinguished. With the dimming of this candlestick’s light, the flames of all the other candlesticks also vanished. The corridor returned to a pitch-black state where one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face.
This time, Angel decided not to do anything superfluous, nor use any light spells, and simply carried on walking in the darkness.
After more than ten steps, Angel distinctly felt a difference from before.
He did not perceive any airflow in front of him, meaning he had not stepped into the “strange loop” as before. He was truly moving forward.
It seemed his guess was right. As Angel was contemplating this in his mind, suddenly, he saw a shadow ahead.
He abruptly stopped and focused his gaze. With the aid of dim light and night vision, he could clearly see a standing figure ahead.
Is it a person? But Tree Spirit said that no one has entered here for hundreds of years, right?
Angel, although puzzled, didn’t stop. Instead, he quickened his pace, wanting to discern what exactly that figure was.
As Angel approached, he distinctly felt the absence of any living aura in the surroundings; the figure also remained motionless.
This meant that it was either an inanimate object or a ghost.
Approaching the figure, Angel finally ascertained its true nature.
It was just a full-coverage knight’s armor deliberately arranged in human shape.
The armor bore no extraordinary aura, likely just an ordinary object. However, the material of the armor was peculiar, seemingly not forged from metal.
Though Angel couldn’t identify the material of the armor, he didn’t delve into it, as his attention was now entirely captivated by something else.
In the center of the breastplate, a faint blood pattern was clearly visible.
This pattern seemed to be painted with some pigment and lacked any energy feedback. Yet, it drew Angel’s attention because he was all too familiar with this design.
A rune, and more specifically, an alchemical rune!
However, it was just a fragmented rune, lacking any combination, simply a part of a rune etched onto the breastplate.
Moreover, the displayed rune fragment was disjointed, as if someone learning runes was recording the meaning of each bearing corner.
Chapter 1856 Key to the Ruin <TOC> Chapter 1858 Room Sections