Chapter 341 – Sinking into the Spirit World

Chapter 341 – Sinking into the Spirit World
Silence fell in the caretaker’s hut, and a strange silence seemed to fill the air as if it were frozen – the old caretaker even had some kind of illusion, feeling as if even the altar set up on the desk, the candle flames, the incense smoke, and the faint spiritual power that permeated the air had frozen for a short period of time.

An illusion?
The old man raised his head in confusion and saw the candle flame in his field of vision pulsating, but it was as if it had only begun to pulsate at the moment he raised his head.

He stared at the pale flame for half a day before he slowly shook his head and returned his gaze to the letter paper in front of him, looking at the words on it with an odd mood he had never felt before in his life.

But after reading only a few lines, he couldn’t care less about the feeling of defiance and embarrassment in his heart – the contents of this letter began to make him realize the gravity of the matter.

The warning that the city-state was being infiltrated by the eroding power of the deep sea, the evidence of the large-scale activities of the Annihilationists, the speculation of the intrusion of the Profound Holy Lord into the real world, and …… the warning about the Dagger Island’s signaling.

The old caretaker stared dead at the lines of text on the letter in his hand, suddenly feeling that there was finally an explanation for the recently spreading, disturbing atmosphere in the city-state.

He didn’t know if he should believe this “report” from some unknown being, but there was one thing that was beyond doubt – the Gatekeeper and the Cathedral had to be notified immediately!
……

Agatha stooped down to take a closer look at the sleeping Sanguine lady on the couch – the latter was still sound asleep, unaware of the large number of guards that had gathered in the room, and was even making the occasional mumbled grunt in her sleep.

The fact that she could still talk in her sleep meant that she had not lost her mind during the attack, and that the unwelcome visitors who had entered the house had not been malicious.

Agatha’s eyes swept over Galoni, the Sanguine lady’s frame could almost be described as lanky – most Sanguines were, born with well-developed bodies and skin as tough as stone – and after a brief examination, the young gatekeeper noticed that the other woman was not as strong as the others, but she was a bit of an idiot, and she had no idea what was going on. keeper noticed that the muscles on the other’s body tensed up every now and then, and with the vague and disturbing dreaming …… he had just heard, it seemed that the Sengin lady’s dreams were not restful.

“No trauma, no signs of mental contamination, no signs of a struggle, and the manifestations appear to be nothing more than ordinary falling asleep – but unable to be awakened,” a priest in a gray and white coat stood by, reporting to Agatha what he had so far. “Considering that there are also no signs of tampering with the door locks, and there are signs of use in the kitchen, the initial verdict is that the ‘intruder’ was invited into the house.”

“…… It could be an acquaintance or a guest who has gained trust,” Agatha muttered softly, “What’s the situation on the second floor?”

“A large number of samples have been collected, in addition a dying record was found, the person who left the record should be the source of those …… abnormal substances in the room,” the priest nodded his head, “In addition, based on other clues found in the house deduction, the person who left the record should be called ‘Brown Scott’, a folklorist.”

“A folklorist?” Agatha frowned, “Investigated the background information?”

“It’s been sent to the nearest resident’s administration to raise the file, but I haven’t heard back yet.”

“You guys take care of the lady here for now,” Agatha nodded, “I’m going to the second floor to see what’s going on.”

“Yes, Your Excellency the Gatekeeper.”

In the study on the second floor, the Guardians had already completed their initial evidence and sample collection, and when Agatha arrived, her men were attempting to remove the dried “mud” that had fallen from the bookshelves in an attempt to divert the large collection of books in the room.

In a place where a transcendent has gone haywire, there is a high probability that the books left at the scene will be contaminated by transcendent forces, and transferring and sealing them for study is a necessary process – even if it risks “destroying the scene”.

Agatha’s eyes fell on the gray-black mud that had already dried.

These things …… remind her of the samples collected in Cemetery No. 3, those …… strange substances suspected to be “protozoa”.

She also saw the “dying record” mentioned by the pastor – it was placed on the desk in the most conspicuous place.

At the first sight of the record, Agatha could tell that the manuscript had already been handled by someone, and there were obvious traces of cleaning on its surface, and the cleaning was very meticulous.

This does not seem like something that an unsuspecting intruder would do, but rather like a “professional” who came to investigate the incident for the same legitimate purpose as herself. Associated with the lady sleeping soundly on the first floor, Agatha has already had some preliminary conjectures in her heart.

A mysterious third party, at least not an enemy – is it the same group of people who fought with the Annihilists in the alley outside?

If so,……, then the power of this “third party” will have to pay close attention to.

With all sorts of conjectures and inferences in her mind, Agatha’s eyes slowly swept over the words on the “deathbed record”, and as those words imbued with determination, courage, and realization came into view, the gatekeeper’s gaze gradually became heavy and serious. The owner of the record …… had retained conscious awareness and memory.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Agatha inhaled softly as she solemnly placed the dying record back on the desk, then lifted the cane she carried with her in one hand and slowly traced it across the floor with the pewter end of the staff.

The sound of metal rubbing against wood resounded, and pale flames burned up at the end of the staff and left equally pale glowing traces on the floor, and as these flames and glowing traces extended, the sound of the cane’s rubbing on the floor began to change – it became low and sluggish, as if a thick barrier had been built up invisibly, cutting off the surrounding space a little. the surrounding space a little bit isolated.

Soon enough, Agatha had outlined a triangular area large enough for an adult to stand in, and depicted the runes of Bartok, the God of Death, within it, before she stepped into the center of the triangle, placing the cane at her side with one hand, while the other reached out to her own eye socket.

A vibrant eyeball popped out of the socket and landed in the center of her hand.

For only an instant, silence fell around her, all sounds from the dimension of reality were cut off from the triangle by an invisible barrier, and then an uncountable number of whispers emerged from the silence, as if a thousand unseen peeping toms were gathering outside the triangle, chattering to the Gatekeeper about something.

Agatha raised her hands, palms up, and scanned her surroundings with her own eyeballs.

Everything in the room, including the busy keepers, the dust that flew in the air, and the hands of the wall clock, fell into stillness like solidified amber, and in the stillness darted away into fading color and dimness, while an otherworldly pale radiance filled in through the windows and shadowed the room through the boards that blocked the windows.

In this eerie pale stagnant space-time, only Agatha in the middle of the triangle still maintained the appearance and color of a living person, her eyes were tightly closed, only holding up her eyeballs with her left hand, and while scanning the surrounding area, she calmly opened her mouth, “I want to talk to the dead here.”

The annoying myriad of whispers around her suddenly diminished considerably, while Agatha rotated her left hand so that her eyeballs were looking towards the desk not far away.

That was where Brown Scott, the folklorist who had left the Dying Record, had last worked, and theoretically, if a spirit had resided there, some of its afterglow would still be lingering here.

Even if the “mud” everywhere in the room indicates that the person in the room was probably just a “monster” coalesced by an extraordinary power, that “monster” clearly had a human nature inside it. Agatha was sure of this after reading the records.

However, she found nothing at the empty desk.

There was no afterglow of souls, no projections of obsessions, not even a glimmer of spiritual residue, only a colorless table with black matter piled up on it, and a thin smoke rising from it.

Agatha’s eyeballs wobbled slowly in her hand.

The Gatekeeper was thinking.

Is it because the soul’s afterglow has dissipated after a long time of death? Or is it because the one who stayed in this room in the first place was just a “fake”, so it didn’t really have a human nature, but only simulated memories and personalities? Or had …… the soul passed through the gates of Bartok and entered the resting place?
The last is particularly unlikely – after all, judging from the state of the room, even if the “Brown Scott” had a soul left here, it would have been heavily contaminated, and a contaminated soul… …would not be able to pass through that door.

But where did the soul go?

The low murmur of whispers around them resumed, and it was even louder and more annoying than before.

The shadows of the spirit world were getting restless, and they didn’t take kindly to sudden invasions of uninvited guests – even as powerful gatekeepers, it was best not to spend too much time at this depth.

With that thought, Agatha lifted her cane and paused twice on the floor.

The pewter cane actually made a loud boom that resembled thunder as it stuttered to the ground.

“Agatha, gatekeeper of the earthly world, wishes to speak with the gatekeeper of the world of the dead.”

(End of chapter)