Chapter 20 Going Down
Li Wen led everyone walked to the front of the temple. The style of the Temple of Tyrion was no different from the remaining ruins of the Norradon Empire today. Rough marble pillars supported a huge dome, and the bronze great door, serving as the only entrance, towered unusually high, as if only giants could push it open to enter.
“It feels like I’m going to fight a boss as soon as I enter,” Takebitori whispered.
Li Wen ignored her. At this moment, “Leonart’s Fourth Interpretation” worked again. The huge bronze door slowly opened without any contact, and the dilapidated, dark interior of the temple appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Unlike the simple and unadorned exterior, the interior of the Temple of Tyrion was more like a magnificent work of art. Every stone brick on the floor and walls seemed to be intricately carved, adorned with totems and paintings related to Norradon mythology.
A dark corridor led straight into the temple. Takebitori and the others stared nervously at the corridor, fearing that some monster or enemy might suddenly leap out from within.
Li Wen ignored them and walked in first. The players looked at each other, and finally, they dutifully followed.
The interior of the temple was dim and oppressive. Besides that, a peculiar smell of decaying earth wafted through the air, but Li Wen noticed some faint reddish-black marks left on the floor.
Undoubtedly, these were bloodstains, and judging by the oxidation marks, they should have been left no more than three days ago.
This was in line with Li Wen’s conjecture that the Fire Mage might be injured. If so, the other party’s target indeed overlapped with Li Wen’s. She wondered how he found this place and how he entered the temple.
Li Wen was not worried about whether the Fire Mage would be one step ahead of her and obtain that crucial item first, because in her previous life, the one who explored Amber City and successfully obtained that treasure was a member of the Strategy Team.
This was a confirmed future, and a predetermined fate could not be altered, unless there was a second Urd’s Sting in the world.
When they passed through the dark corridor and arrived at the inner sanctuary, they found it surprisingly bright. Looking up, they saw a huge dimly yellow crystal floating in the center of the semi-circular dome. The light source of the inner sanctuary came from this crystal.
Li Wen recognized it as Duskstone, a very rare magical raw material, often used in alchemy or rituals of various Glorious Spectrum Series domains. Missionaries of the Holy Candle Mass Church would use the stone grease that seeped from this stone to make candles for conveying messages.
Such a massive Duskstone was very rare, even in the Golden Age. According to the black market prices Li Wen had understood before, Duskstone of equivalent weight was more valuable than gold. Such a large, intact piece of Duskstone was definitely a rare find in the world.
However, compared to the Duskstone, Li Wen paid more attention to the bricks under her feet. According to the strategy within the team, the path to Amber City was within them.
The bricks under their feet were also drawn with patterns, but unlike the murals on the corridor, walls, and dome, the patterns here were more like extremely complex geometric lines and figures. Even with Li Wen’s eyesight, she could only see that this was a very clever and powerful teleportation magic circle, and she couldn’t understand its specific operational logic at all.
The magic power of the magic circle should have originated from the Duskstone overhead. It would be too wasteful to use such a large object merely as a lighting tool. As for the target of the magic circle, it was likely the legendary Amber City.
So, how to activate the magic circle?
The strategy only mentioned using a spell, but there was no record of what that spell was. Perhaps it was for confidentiality, or perhaps for deeper reasons.
Li Wen recalled the records concerning magic circles in the heritage of the Norradon Empire. The Norradon Empire began at the end of the Golden Age and ended in the middle of the Silver Age. It witnessed the demise of the Golden Elves, the establishment of the City of Sin, and the rise and fall of Asmar…
Undoubtedly, the arcane foundation of the Norradon Empire was unmatched by any country today. Several major powers, including the current Arthur, developed and grew stronger by taking over its heritage.
Therefore, it was very difficult, even impossible, for Li Wen to find a magic circle similar to the patterns on the bricks under her feet in her memory.
But she was not without a basis. Her introduction to rituals was from a mage of the High Prism Tower, and the founder of the High Prism Tower was a student of the Archmage Merlin of Arthur. Theoretically, the magical technology of the Kingdom of Arthur was derived from the heritage of the Norradon Empire. In a sense, Li Wen might be a descendant of ritual studies from many generations of the Norradon Empire.
Thus, Li Wen could deduce some fragments from the vast ocean of rituals of Norradon through her studies. Even if she couldn’t deduce the original appearance of the entire magic circle, finding some clues should not be a problem.
However, when Li Wen tried to do so, the originally complex and chaotic geometric lines and images in her eyes automatically combined, and at the same time, an unfamiliar text appeared in her mind. An uncontrollable urge compelled Li Wen to subconsciously speak out this text.
“Marsala, Iketur.”
As the words fell, the Duskstone shone brightly, and a loud noise came from the floor under their feet, followed by a strong sense of weightlessness.
If teleportation magic circle was defined as rapidly sending a person or object from one location to another, then Li Wen guessed correctly; this was indeed a “teleportation” magic circle, but the method of “teleportation” was completely different from what she understood of teleportation magic circles.
“Holy crap, is this an earthquake?” Takebitori and the others were scared stiff. They just came to fight a boss, they had never seen such a grand scene.
“It’s not an earthquake, we are going down,” Li Wen said calmly.
This was no teleportation magic circle, but clearly a magical elevator leading to unknown depths of the underground.
The sense of weightlessness lasted for tens of minutes before ending. If Li Wen and the others were not players, they would have already vomited and fainted due to excessive blood congestion in their brains.
Li Wen took a deep breath and relaxed only after confirming that she was stepping on solid ground.
Judging by the degree of weightlessness and the time they spent going down, they were now at a depth of at least several thousand meters underground.
At this depth… no wonder no one could find the location of Amber City after Norradon perished.
Li Wen observed her surroundings. The original inner sanctuary had changed. The walls were completely black, without any gaps. Two doorways stood in different directions. One was tightly sealed, and the other was open.
There was nothing distinctive about the open door. After confirming that the other door could not be opened by normal means, Li Wen asked Takebitori and the others to take the lead and walked towards the open door.
When they came out of the door, they were greeted by a twilight.
