Chapter 276: Night Swim in the Tem River

"Silence!"Green sternly stopped the cultivator, who was on the verge of bursting into tears of gratitude to the Heavenly Father. Regaining the light of day had only relaxed his mind for an instant, immediately followed by doubled vigilance.

Due to his profession, he often traveled throughout Dunling, exchanging words with local preachers who were extremely sensitive to the flow of information, which also meant he had seen far more large and small churches than any ordinary person.

And this one clearly did not belong to the category of ordinary churches. It used the same glass mosaic technique as the Cathedral of the Holy Mother to create large stained-glass windows, yet the interior space was not large, or rather, quite limited.

This meant it was unsuitable for large crowds to gather, yet held high importance; it was commonly found in private territories, used for the holding of important internal rituals.

Through the dust-laden glass, the posture of the sculpture standing on the open ground outside the church was exceptionally familiar.

"That sculpture, isn't it..."Kraft was still a bit unsure if things were as he thought, after all, no one could guarantee that such a large city didn't have two similar sculptures.

They crept quietly to the window, wiped a small patch of dust from the glass, and looked out.

Not far away, vast swaths of golden-red ripples shimmered like fine scales; across the water, a massive, gloomy building loomed in the distance, its heavy shadow casting onto the water's surface.

Now the location could finally be confirmed. They had entered from the cemetery in the New District, traversed under the city for nearly half its length, and upon emerging, found themselves at the Knight's Island Church in the heart of the Tem River, with the Old District's Cathedral of the Holy Mother directly opposite.

The place sealing the most ancient and dark secrets lay no more than half a river's width in horizontal distance from the Heavenly Father's earthly dwelling.

Over the past century, when the church's tower keeper rang the bronze bell daily, perhaps the chaotic things deep beneath the earth were quietly lying in wait, listening to the sound piercing through the water waves and riverbed rock layers, their rusted iron shells resonating with it.

"This doesn't look good."

After sighing at the strangeness of worldly affairs, the first thing Kraft thought of were some more practical problems.

The place they were in was the Knight's Island Church, the royal mausoleum; they had even overturned the coffin of some unknown royal relative and learned certain secrets that certainly no one would want revealed.

First, rule out the option of striding out the door openly; that would be no different from suicide.

Even a professor not particularly sensitive to such matters could understand that now, almost no one could be trusted. The stance of the church's high leadership had shifted instantly from vague to dangerous; at the very least, the current Archbishop surely knew part of the inside story.

Even the members of the group were untrustworthy; there was no predicting what actions a few people with inherently unstable minds might take.

But if one or two were missing, the probability of an accident would be much lower. Kraft had reason to suspect that when Green was stroking the hilt of his sword beneath his robe in the tomb, he had thought of certain more extreme yet more thorough solutions, but various considerations had prompted him to abandon that notion.

Since a permanent solution was impossible, they could only hope everyone would keep the secret.

Of course, the premise was that they could leave this place secretly, as if they had never come at all.

Although not a military stronghold, as a venue for major royal rituals and a cemetery, it certainly would not lack guards.

Avoiding a few sentries was not impossible, but next lay dozens of meters of river width; to get ashore silently would be no less difficult than sneaking across an empty church square.

"Professor Kraft, can you and your students swim?"

Yvonne nodded affirmatively; she was a person grown in a port city. Compared to the seawater of the Port of Consolation, frequently disturbed by cold currents, the Tem River was simply a gentle cream soup.

Kraft hesitated slightly. His swimming skills were limited to "not sinking," mostly derived from the small river beside his town and the deep end of the pool; under well-prepared conditions, swimming dozens of meters was no problem, but carrying items dragged along was another matter.

"Sometimes we gaze over here from the church heights and haven't seen many guards; avoiding them isn't hard."Green stripped off his cumbersome outer robe and began sorting through the pack to discard items.

"But after that, we will need to swim across, of course not now."

"Prepare yourselves."He asked no further questions and declared the decision as a matter of course, "First, let's push this coffin back; we'll enter the water when night falls."

"Night? Swimming?"Kraft promptly raised an objection; he looked around and found it seemed only he had doubts about swimming in unfamiliar waters at night.

What? Am I the only one?

Green belatedly realized the professor's silence was not consent, but a genuine difficulty. "I recall you said your hometown was very close to the seaside."

"Do you really think anyone would like to practice swimming in the waters of Port Wendon, where ice shards can drift for half a year?"Kraft tried to make them understand that not all places near water automatically produce people skilled in swimming.

The temperatures of the Northern Realm would not select for genes capable of winter swimming; they would only filter out of the gene pool those genes that liked winter swimming.

The priest offered an emergency solution. He gathered all the jars they had brought, emptied the contained grease, and bundled them together to form a flotation device. Thus, even someone who could only kick their legs could rely on this contraption to float ashore.

They rested on the spot within the church for a while. The sun gradually sank into the city's jagged skyline; shadows on the river surface gradually expanded, spreading across the entire water body and rising into the sky.

Scattered fires lit up on the island, revealing the positions of the sentries, few in number. Most were distributed along the edge of the river island; perhaps no normal person would consider the possibility of intruders emerging from within the guarded target itself.

For a professional team, finding a gap to enter the water amidst the sparse and scattered patrols was easier than easy.

In the darkness, the group successfully landed on the opposite bank, using the building lights as a guide. The first thing Kraft did upon going ashore was to check the samples and black liquid among his belongings, confirming they were still properly sealed.

"I must return to the underground camp as soon as possible; if the留守 (留守) people do not see us again, they might go back to seek reinforcements."Green's thinking was very clear; the immediate priority was to keep the news within the smallest scope to prevent it from spreading upward.

"As for today's events, we will use a unified account: say we got lost in a fork in the path below, kept walking upward, and emerged from a sinkhole in some suburb."

He pondered briefly, then rejected this explanation. "No... that won't hold up."

The team had lost one person, and during the river crossing, they had discarded armor and overly heavy objects, sinking them to the bottom of the Tem River; it looked completely like the aftermath of a failed skirmish.

Kraft suggested, "Just say we encountered something, and after discarding our burdens, barely managed to escape through another exit."

"But what should we say we encountered?"

"No, I mean, just say we encountered 'something.'Something indescribable, irresistible, chasing us through the complex sewer network, terrifying a group of mortals into dropping their armor and weapons and fleeing blindly."

The description emphasized perfunctoriness and vagueness, yet surprisingly felt authentic. "Don't give too many details; even if it reaches the ears of someone who knows part of the inside story, their imagination will naturally help perfect the 'something'."

"Agreed."The priest poured the water from his boots and put them back on. "I will find a sewer opening in the suburbs deep enough to handle it; after all, no one else will be willing to search deeply."

"Then let us part ways here."Kraft nodded in satisfaction; the night breeze by the river felt somewhat chilly on his skin. "There is quite a lot to do now; I estimate we won't see each other for a while. I will notify you when there is progress."

"What do you mean?"Green expressed confusion at the appropriate moment; this sounded as if Kraft intended to temporarily withdraw. "We haven't found that group yet."

In the manual they had obtained, it was clearly written that there was another batch of heretics, likely the main group, who had "gone down."

"Where do you plan to go to find them?"Kraft countered. "And you don't think they can still come back, do you?"

Based on experience, the consequences of getting too involved with deep-layer entities basically fall into several stages:

First is accidental contact, realizing there is something beyond common sense; if one runs fast and far enough, there is a considerable probability of escaping.

If one fails to extricate oneself, or simply delves deeper voluntarily, one enters the second stage, gradually approaching the center of the vortex; the turbulent undercurrents become faster and stronger, and being dragged to the bottom becomes inevitable.

Those who luckily survive the second stage will mostly discover they have undergone changes in certain aspects. These changes can manifest physically and mentally, possessing strong deceptive power, like receiving divine revelation after undergoing a trial, making one feel the illusion of "I am the chosen one" or "I am special."

This enters the third stage; the byproducts of deep-layer influence are almost irresistible. They will more or less utilize it, interpreting it from their own perspective. The direct product of these actions is often heresies possessing unnatural powers.

The range of this step is extremely wide, from heretical beliefs hidden in the southern hills and the Westminister Forest, up to influencing the entire kingdom.

But for now, all observed cases will slide into the fourth stage. Those who pick up the gifts of the receding tide on the mudflats walk further and further, inevitably disappearing into the tide, realizing that the previous "special gift" was merely a brief accident.

This group is now roughly at the fourth stage; they are probably keeping company with something unknown in some place where the sun never shines, or have simply become part of it.

"Just consider them as having opened the gates of hell and jumped in themselves; you cannot follow them to find people."Kraft already felt a bit cold; he believed Yvonne did too; it would be best to return to the hearth soon and change into dry clothes.

"As for the royal tombs and whatever lies beneath, believe me, leaving them alone is the best way to handle them. They have stayed down there for so long; staying a few more centuries is hardly an issue."

Now, Kraft cared more about the gains from this journey. The living specimen inside the package was tapping against the glass wall, emitting an alluring, crisp vibration. He was also very interested in the power of near-resurrection.