Chapter 120: Exploring the Castle

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"So how did you find this place then? Terry told me earlier that you were the one who discovered it!" Chiz still had some doubts about this place.
"To make it even more coincidental, shortly after the anomaly started, I happened to pass by this place by chance. At that time, I was flying in the sky, searching for you all. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion underground, followed by a burst of white light that dispersed some of the surrounding black mist. That's when I discovered this place."
Chi's bit her lip. "It's not hard to understand. Perhaps the protective spells around the castle, like the Blood-Oath Charm or other protective enchantments, collapsed under the strain caused by the corrupting black fog, which led to their discovery. I noticed earlier that it's become extremely difficult to cast spells within the black fog, let alone maintain them."
"It's just that you find it too coincidental here, almost needing such a place, and he appears immediately after that, which makes me a little worried!"
"At first, we also felt the same way, but after a careful search, we didn't find any anomalies, and the outside environment was getting worse at that time."
"I am worried about your safety. Once I confirm that there is no danger inside, I will start using the magical map given to me by Wald to find you."
"How many people did you find later? Is there still someone outside now?"
Blanca took out the magic map and pointed to the dots on it.
"I found some people and brought them here, about seven or eight in total. Some of them also came on their own, so now, including you and me, there are a total of twelve people here."
When we entered, there were a total of eighteen people, including little Clelia from the Michael family, making it nineteen people. The current situation of the others is unknown, but most likely they have all perished.
Every time I go out, I always prioritize looking for those moving dots of light, because they at least prove that they are still alive. As for those dots I have circled on the map, they have not moved for a long time. I have checked one or two of them, and unfortunately, they have met with an accident.
After taking a short break, I will go out again and take a look at the few remaining untouched spots to see if there is any hope left!"
As she said this, Bianca's mood became very low.
"I'm sorry, Blanca! This has nothing to do with you! Don't blame yourself, you've done enough." Kez softly reassured.
"I know! These people were already prepared to sacrifice their lives before they came in, I just didn't expect this moment to come so soon."
After comforting Qiz again, he changed the topic and said, "I heard from Terry that there have been some incidents here. It seems that there have been monsters attacking this place."
"Yes! People have been gradually brought back, but it is not very efficient for me to search alone. So we came up with a plan - to break a person's bottle and try to attract the people I haven't found yet."
At first, it was fine, and indeed two or three people found this place with the guidance of the fluorescent bottle.
But unexpectedly, later a group of black mud monsters surrounded this place. When I was resting, someone heard the door sound and thought it was their own people who had found this place.
Then opened the door..."
"Alright!" Chiz finally understood the cause and effect after hearing her narrative.
Took out most of the potion from his own bag and gave it to her.
"Here, take all of these. Just make sure you use them sparingly."
"But what about you? That's too much, if I take all of it, what will you use?" Blanca refused as she looked at the bag of magical potions that Quiz handed her.
"Don't worry! This is just a part, I have plenty more. And don't forget that I am a master alchemist! This time I brought enough ingredients, just tell me what potion you need and I'll mix it for you."
Chiz lifted her face with a proud look at her.
Branca, unable to refuse, filled her bag with the potions from the bag, with a smile on her face.
"Branca! I'm a little worried about this place!"
Although Kees wanted to immediately tell Blanca about his eerie discoveries in the village and the existence of extremely terrifying monsters, he ultimately decided to wait for a while.
He was somewhat unwilling to withdraw from the secret realm this way. The energy collection progress of the simulator was only about 1/4 complete, so it is very likely that there will be no way to come back in after going out this time, and it will be difficult to find such a suitable place in the future.
There is now a safe refuge to hide in, and the supplies in his suitcase are enough for these people to survive here for a long time. As long as they don't provoke the monsters in the spawning point, there shouldn't be any problem in holding on until the end of this week.
With his speed of killing monsters plus blanka's help, he should be able to complete the energy collection before sending out the evacuation signal at the gate.
After making a decision, Ke'z needs to first confirm if it's safe here. If there are also those big monsters like the ones in the village, it's better to evacuate immediately!
"I want to take another careful look at this castle to see if there are any issues. I don't have a good feeling about it here, so I need you to gather these people together and close your eyes. The method I'll be using later might be a bit dangerous."
"Use magic?" Blanca looked at him eagerly.
"Yes! Dangerous magic!"
"Well, okay! I don't know much about magic either, so it's good to double-check. If you want to do it, go ahead!" Blanca gave him an encouraging look and then shouted, "Everyone, gather around!"
"Thank you!"
After hearing Bianca's summons, everyone gathered in the hall, including those who were resting upstairs.
"Do you need me to help?"
"No, you guys stay here! It would create unnecessary disturbance if you follow me," Chiz quickly refused.
He faced the crowd and loudly instructed them, "Stay in the lobby and don't move, it's better to keep your eyes closed. I'm going to use a special magic to check if there are any problems with this castle! And also purify the air inside the castle."
Everyone was a little surprised and started whispering again. Chise noticed Claire staring at him intently.
Ignoring people's reactions, Chise's voice became somewhat chilling, "This magic may cause some damage to your eyes. Those who open their eyes may go blind! And remember, do not run around. If you do, you may even be killed by the raging magic!"
Maybe it was the terrifying impression that Cheez left on these people when he treated Abby earlier, but no one questioned his words. Everyone obediently closed their eyes and sat down around the center of the hall.
"Then be careful! Shout for me immediately if you encounter any unsolvable problems!" Blanca reminded again.
Chis nodded and headed towards the door. He was going to search the entire castle again from the entrance position.
Search the most time-saving and labor-saving method here is still to become the default person, scanning all corners inside through his powerful vision.
Previously, he noticed some problems with the walls of the castle from the outside. Although the vision of the default person can penetrate, it is too labor-intensive, and everything inside is also blurred. Now he wants to try whether it will be better to look inside the castle.
Let everyone close their eyes because he didn't want too many people to know that he could turn into a Silencer. Of course, even if they knew, it wouldn't matter. It's a bunch of big rough guys who can't say a word in the magical world. Who would believe them anyway! But just to be safe, he still made them close their eyes.
As for why they were gathered together, it is because the concentration of black mist in the castle is likely too low to sustain Chiz's sanity, so he needs to open the Mechanical Heart. If he encounters someone wandering around on his route, it could be troublesome.
Before transforming, Chis first takes out his magic wand and shoots out a lot of super bright and flashing lights in all directions. At first, the people in the hall don't take it seriously, but when the dazzling light illuminates the whole space, they all hurriedly close their eyes. Some even tear off strips of cloth to cover their eyes.
Giving a glance towards the direction, Kiz was very satisfied with everyone's performance, took a deep breath and transformed once again into the Silent One.
After a successful transformation, the Silent One quickly attracted the surrounding black mist, and after a few seconds, the entire room was completely purged of the black mist.
His previous guesses were correct. After silently drawing away all the black mist, it gradually became restless and emitted strange and terrifying sounds.
Chiz quickly activated his mechanical heart before losing control. Merron could no longer affect his mind and obediently floated above his head, following him step by step through the castle.
The terrifying strange sounds made many people gather together and gave them goosebumps. Some of them wanted to watch but dared not open their eyes. Only Blanca and Cleaia kept their eyes open. They exchanged a puzzled look, unable to understand what Chiz was up to.
Claire stared fixedly at Kise, who mechanically inspected everywhere.
Soon, Kise completed a full tour of the small castle. After automatically exiting the mechanical heart state, he quickly reverted from the silent one form.
"Alright! You can open your eyes now, my inspection is over!" He waved his wand to extinguish the dazzling fluorescent lights from all directions while reminding everyone to open their eyes.
"Any discoveries?"
"Is it safe here?"
A crowd gathered around and bombarded Cheez with questions.
"The air has definitely improved! Look! Even the glow from the fluorescent light bulb has brightened up a few notches!" Some people immediately noticed that the black fog in the room had been cleared away.
Some people even tentatively took off the masks on their faces.
"Huh! Haven't breathed such clean air in a long time!"
Seeing this, many people also took off their masks.
Bianca walked over, her gaze burning into him. "So, what's the result?"
"Hold on! I need to think," Chiz said as he organized the information he had just collected in his memory. He sat down on a chair and carefully studied these things.
This time, the information he obtained was indeed much clearer than what he saw in the outside world, and he carefully inspected this information inch by inch.
Unfortunately, apart from discovering that all the walls were built with the same material, there was no suspicious discovery.
Just when he thought there was really nothing wrong here, an unexpected discovery made him somewhat horrified.
"There's something underground in the castle!"
"What?" asked Blanca, "Is it dangerous?"
"I'm not sure, let's go and take a look, shall we?"
"Hmm!" Blanc nodded and ordered the others, "Be on guard and be prepared for battle!"
"Yes!" Everyone immediately perked up and grabbed their weapons.
"Leave two people to guard the entrance, the rest of you come with me!"
Chiz led them through the hall and arrived at a room resembling a storage area.
"This is it!" he pointed to the dark little room, with stairs leading downwards visible at the entrance.
"But we've searched this place many times, and it's just a storage room filled with miscellaneous items. There's nothing suspicious inside."
Qi Zi took the fluorescent bottle from the person and walked in. This is a semi-basement with only four or five steps. As expected, there is nothing valuable inside, just some broken and dusty miscellaneous items.
He retrieved the images he saw in his memory and asked the person behind him for a heavy sword. After concentrating, he wrapped the heavy sword with Qi and heavily pounded it onto the ground.
"Thump, thump, thump"
The small room echoed with the sound of impacts.
“duang！”
Amidst the similar sounds of impacts, there suddenly came a dull noise.
"Found it! It's right beneath this slab! Get two people to smash this slab open."
This black stone brick that covers the castle is exceptionally sturdy. Several people have been hammering on it for a while, but it only left a few scratches.
Branca, who was standing by, couldn't bear to watch anymore and stepped forward on her own.
The crimson ring rapidly unfolds beneath her feet as she clenches her fist with power, and finally slams heavily into the ground.
"Boom!" accompanied by a visible shockwave, the black stone brick that she struck shatters into pieces, and the surrounding bricks crack and shift due to the impact.
"Move it!"
Several people quickly used the cutting edge of their swords to shovel away all the broken stones, revealing the slightly damaged trapdoor underneath.
Thin wisps of black smoke emerged from the gaps between the broken wooden boards punctured by the stones.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment when they witnessed this scene, realizing the seriousness of the situation. It could be possible that their only sanctuary harbored a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
Keez found another brass lock on the rolling door and pointed his wand at it, saying, "Alaho dong kai!"
The brass lock opened with a sound.
"Hey! Wizards are so convenient!" someone exclaimed afterwards.
After lifting the folding door, a row of stone stairs leading to the dark underground was revealed.
Furthermore, a stronger black mist emerged from below, quickly restoring the room to the state before the silent removal of the black fog, causing everyone to once again don their masks.
"You stay here, I will go down and check first!" Blanca walked to the front and was about to go downstairs.
Chizra stopped her.
"It's okay, let's go down together! I confirmed earlier when I was searching that there is no immediate danger downstairs."
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