Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

The monks' reserve did not last long. With the warm invitation, no one would refuse to find a little taste comfort in the depressing environment.

When Father Green returned, he was bewildered to find the camp in a morning tea atmosphere. There was a tablecloth on the coffin lid, several bags of biscuits were bottomed out, and the sound of chewing could be heard all the time.

The instigator even waved his hand generously, inviting him to sit down, take a rest and have something to eat together.

"I thought you knew where this place was."

"Outpost camp?" Kraft picked up the biscuit bag and shook it, shook out the last few pieces, ate one himself, and handed the rest to Green, "But it's safe for now, isn't it?"

"Pagans and who-knows-what are wandering down there. I hope you didn't come all the way just for this." The priest took the biscuit and took a bite.

The taste is not bad, although it is a bit hard, but the cereal aroma and sweetness are well combined, which is just right for people who need sugar after activities.

"This is also part of the purpose, but the main reason is to go see it in person and take my students with me."

"If I remember correctly, you told me before that this was the heir to your medical career." Green glanced at the girl who was staring blankly at the crack in the rock. She was naturally not frightened by the previous journey and was full of excitement about the next journey. expect.

"Oh, stop talking, stop talking." Kraft let out a sincere sigh and began to prepare for departure, "I hope she won't find this place interesting."

While waiting for Green to repair, they removed excess weight and checked their belongings to make sure they were where they should be. It didn't take long, after all, the former was desperate to get this over with before the next rainy day arrived.

The current exploration team has shrunk a lot from before, including only Green himself and five monks who still dared to step into the waterway after experiencing the rainy night accident. Even Wadding was not among them, but was used as a backup just in case. strength.

The priest took a deep breath and entered the crevice first, followed by several monks and Kraft, followed by Yvonne at the end.

After entering, the order of the team was adjusted, with Green still leading the team, but Yvonne was placed in the middle position. Kraft automatically retreated to the end of the team, keeping a certain distance from Green.

A damp and dark breeze surged in the underground space, and they entered the shadow of Dun Ling again.

Still following the waterway downward, it gradually approached the roaring space.

Knowing the nature of sound does not create habits. The sound of falling water processed by the deep well and hall is close to the snoring of some kind of creature. No matter how many times you enter, you feel like you are passing by its mouthparts.

Green took out a small iron bottle and shook it by his ear. He heard the familiar scratching sound of particles and continued forward.

They reached the hall when the resonant din reached its peak.

The darkness expanded before our eyes, turning into a seemingly endless open unknown. The team walked on its edge, passing similar cave entrances one after another, avoiding slippery moss and sharp-edged ravines.

It is not difficult to notice that some of the cracks are particularly bright. There is no moss growing inside, and the bright cut surfaces reflect the undulating human shape under the water layer.

Anyone who has some idea of ​​the hardness of stone can realize that these things are not part of the original ruins, but are the creation of some kind of extra-cognitive power, transcending the cutting of the material level.

Yvonne heard a high-pitched whisper behind her ear, and even the loud sound of water could not stop it from expressing its meaning - fear.

It is not an acquired emotion. That feeling is the original fear that reaches the depths of the soul when a wingless creature is on the edge of a cliff. It reminds synesthetes of the scene of witnessing approaching storm clouds on the beach. It comes from the sense of powerlessness against irresistible destruction. Universally applicable to any form of consciousness, it can be clearly perceived.

【what is that? 】

The question naturally went unanswered, only echoes of pure fear vibrating in his chest.

She quickly jumped over the chasm, trying to forcibly suppress this synesthesia, but with little success, just as one cannot prevent a part of the body from transmitting sensations.

Looking back at the end of the team, he met Kraft's eyes. He seemed to be paying attention here, or he had always been paying attention. He nodded slightly towards Yvonne, then shook his head and pointed to his feet, indicating that he was paying attention to the road.

During a difficult journey, after passing two corners, Green accurately stopped in front of a tunnel. After confirming that the team members were in place, he took out a small iron bottle, shook it, listened, and then entered.

The loud sound of the falling waterfall moved from everywhere to behind them, and became farther away as they went deeper. In the end, there was only a little bit like slightly wet cloth sticking to their backs, reminding them that there was something on the way.

Entering a new tunnel did not make the monks relax. They were visibly more nervous. Their hands were always swinging not far from weapons and fuel bottles, and their eyes were glued to the featureless tunnel wall.

[Just like something will appear on which bricks at any time]

Even if nothing happens from the outset, small actions like these are creating a cumulative tension that is contagious from person to person.

The slope of the waterway gradually slowed down, became almost horizontal, and divided into two directions in front. Green silently chose the left side, and used the weighted ball on the hilt of his sword to draw a light white mark at waist height that was not easy to notice.

The torch was held as high as possible to illuminate a longer distance, as if to guard against something ahead.

Yvonne understood this as an omen and grabbed her dagger in advance, waiting for the unexpected to come.

But the team just moved forward in silence, and the faint outline of the pile blocked the way. It was obvious that it was not an enemy or a strange thing.

The tunnel collapsed here, and large pieces of broken masonry and silt blocked the way forward, and a trickle of water flowed out of the gap.

【Dead end】

Green took Kraft to the pile of rubble, dug out part of the silt, and explained to the broken parts of the stone how the tooth-like marks were formed and how they were connected to a certain era long ago. .

A monk also joined the discussion. There were many things in his words that Yvonne could not understand. Long and awkward words were used in front of the names of some architectural structures and tools, making them look unfamiliar and successfully creating more confusion.

They reached a consensus face to face, and concluded that this place was destroyed at some time, and there were more similar dead ends.

Then the team began to return, turning back to the fork in the road, marking the other side to explore forward, discovering new forks, choosing one side to continue, and then encountering a dead end.

The whole process involved only marching and very little verbal exchanges, most of which were incomprehensible.

The few interludes were alcoves appearing along passages and monotonous spaces like transit stations, which soon proved to be meaningless.

The extreme boredom was even worse than the fright she felt when walking through the hall before. She felt tired, sleepy and a little irritated. Her slightly leaky boots were not heavy but made every step uncomfortable.

The novelty ran out a long time ago, and it was all maintained by patience and a certain unyielding spirit of confrontation, without making any noise. This is the first time, at least it shouldn't be a letdown for the first time involved.

She was somewhat aware of what her mentor had said and hadn't said yet. Before experiencing it personally, it is really difficult to feel that things are not as expected. For example, sometimes repetitive and boring searching and thinking may be the background for most of the time.

Finally, after the last fork in the road proved to be a dead end, the team decided to go back and repair before continuing to explore. They cautiously re-crossed the hall and returned to the temporary camp.

"Another fruitless trip, isn't it?" Father Green sat down by the fire.

Due to ventilation problems, the size of the fire needs to be controlled. It is purely a psychological comfort to dry the water stains on the body. The feeling of being semi-wet but not dry will always accompany exploration until the next time you return to the ground for repairs.

There is reason to believe that part of the purpose of professors bringing students here is to persuade them to quit rather than to actually practice, just like children in a monastery who cannot read scriptures may be sent to do some chores.

"Not entirely." Kraft pulled out Green's map and found the entrance to the cave he just entered to draw a route.

Unlike other symbolic drawings, the priest noted that his drawing had a certain degree of precision in the length of the path.

"Did you keep track of your steps?"

"There is also an angle." As he spoke, the professor had already marked the approximate location of the dead end and used a wooden ruler to mark the distance. "I can't estimate the height difference between the upper and lower ends, but I can roughly judge the length."

"Several collapse locations seem to be about the same distance from the straight line of the hall. I have a guess, but it may take more places to judge."

"What?"

"This is not a random seal. There is a fixed distance. Someone deliberately wants to seal the passages within a specific range around the hexagonal well and isolate a roughly circular area." Kraft closed his eyes and relied on memory and space. Use your imagination to sketch out your conjectures.

The waterway is a three-dimensional system, and even his ability is far from guaranteed to be correct.

"Actually, it can be proved from another angle. Why didn't they just block the entrance at this end of the hall? It's obviously easier to do this. It shows that this range exists and what is its significance or use."

"It's not just to isolate this place, but what might it be used for?" Green gave up on drying himself and came closer to take a closer look. "But how do you remember that not only the length, but also the angle and direction?"

"You can understand it as a gift."

"You have quite a lot of talent."

"Thanks for the compliment, but it's not as accurate as you thought, so it's just a possibility for now." Kraft put down the map.

"According to what you said, they might leave an entrance, a formal entrance, rather than a crack like this one that was accidentally dug by the quarry." Based on his guess, Green further speculated.

"Interesting, I'm starting to wonder where this entrance comes from."

The speculation, which was entirely based on unreliable conjectures, lifted my spirits a bit, so much so that I had the urge to set out immediately to confirm it.

But the numbers quickly cooled the impulse: "Under the worst-case scenario, we would have to search thirty waterways and their branches to find this entrance."

Yvonne understood this sentence, and now she felt a little regretful.

I would like to recommend a new Western fantasy book I recently read called "Notes on the Experiments of the Necromancer". It has a DND background and is quite interesting.

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