OBS Chapter 3484 The Room of the Dead
Chapter 3484 The Room of the Dead
Chapter 3484 The Room of the Dead
The spider-faced corpse fell to the ground and was then shredded into a bloody mess by Miss Cohens's wielding longsword.
Her sword strikes were incredibly fast and powerful. Although Miss Novare had just said that Shad's swordsmanship was better than Miss Koens', Shad believed that in a pure swordsmanship contest, he might not necessarily be able to defeat this veteran hunter.
He's just physically fitter.
"This looks like the offspring of some kind of spider-like evil creature; it shouldn't be our target."
Miss Cohen then spoke, took the candle from Shad, and used it to set the spider's corpse ablaze.
"It's definitely not a registered resident; I didn't see a house number above its door."
Shad said the same thing. He had just discovered that the sound was coming from above, but he didn’t act immediately because he didn’t know what the other party was. Miss Cohens’ sword was indeed very fast.
After dealing with the spider, the two continued in the same direction. Ideally, they would find "Room 1908," as the relic might help them fight the enemy. However, after passing eight doors on the left and right, the first place they encountered was neither a safe room nor a relic room, but rather Room 1978, where the monster they needed to "contain" was originally located.
Shad and Miss Cohens exchanged a glance, then each lit another match to add light to the lamps. Shad then turned the doorknob, and the door opened as expected.
He opened the door a crack, then quickly closed it again. After waiting a few seconds to make sure no keys were on the floor, he disappointedly reopened the door and went inside with Miss Cohens.
This room was unlike any of the rooms they had explored before; it was an open-plan space, without even a washroom. In the center of the room was a "small mountain," which the two only saw when the firelight drew closer—it was a mountain made of skulls.
Beneath Skull Mountain, a strange ritual square was smeared on the floor with black bloodstains; however, it was not a standard circle, but rather resembled a rhombus. Because it was not a standard ritual structure, although Shad could decipher the meaning of the runes in the ritual, they could not understand its purpose.
“This non-standard circular ritual base is actually common in the middle and late Third Age, when people had learned to control the twisted and unstable power from the darkness in order to fight against evil spirits.”
Miss Cohens stated this, but her school of thought lacked the knowledge to interpret such complex ritual squares. Fortunately, Shad knew how to transform non-standard rituals into standard ones:
"The girl who asked me to take care of the cat gave me a manuscript called 'The Ring of Ritual' (Chapter 3181). It describes the method of transforming the shape of a ritual base array that is not a standard circle, and converting it into a circular ritual base array by using the characteristics of the ring that is 'connected end to end/repeatedly cyclical/complete and without omission'."
As he spoke, he took out his notebook and began to doodle. Miss Cohen then went to examine the other items in the room. Opening the table drawer, she first saw a matchbox containing five matches, but the drawer was mostly filled with small glass bottles containing various eyeballs.
The box under the desk contained specimens of human organs, three human skins were drying in the wardrobe, and a coffin was under the bed in the corner.
She didn't rush to open the coffin, but instead continued to examine the other areas. Only after Shad had nearly completed the ritual in a circular fashion did she speak:
Can the function of rituals be interpreted?
"It's hard to say exactly what it does, but it probably does something like modifying the environment to create areas suitable for the undead to exist in."
Seeing Miss Coens's confusion, Shad continued to explain:
"Although this inn is in this state because of its location in Whispering Hills, it is actually not a suitable place for the undead to live. Powerful undead can exist outside of deathly environments, but they still need to return to similar environments to recuperate after being injured."
I suspect the owner of this room was an undead entity, or at least possessed some undead characteristics.
He reached for the pile of bones, but did not touch them directly:
"The ritual was a success. The interior of this pile of skulls is a perfect environment for the dead. Perhaps for the owner of this room, this pile of skeletons was the right bed."
Shad did not rashly touch the pile of skulls, and then together with Miss Coens, they examined the coffin under the bed. As expected, the coffin was still locked, and after their joint confirmation, the "lock" used was the most powerful arcane lock.
While spells or relics that force a door open, such as the "Master Key," also work on this type of arcane lock, the person who set the lock will definitely find that their lock has been opened.
"Isn't this perfect? What we're worried about right now is that they won't come back."
Miss Cohens said that Shad also thought it was a good idea:
"Check the room again. If everything else is fine, then let's move on."
Because it was an open-plan room, the items inside were immediately visible. That was what Xia De had originally thought, but his [Powerful Spatial Awareness], which was severely restricted here and unable to detect what was happening outside the room, unexpectedly detected that there was still space behind the wall where the wardrobe was located.
The wardrobe seemed to be an integral part of the wall and could not be moved. After reopening the wardrobe, Miss Cohens pointed to the human skins, implying that she had not failed to examine them carefully, but simply did not want to touch them.
"separate."
Shad waved his hand, and the spell caused the human skins that were hanging like clothes to move to both sides of the wardrobe, and then all the human skins "came to life".
Miss Cohens swung her sword to strike, but was stopped by Shad:
"Adele's time stands still!"
With the World Spirit Rune, this magical technique could target multiple individuals, thus freezing all the human skins inside the wardrobe, their surfaces even developing a crystalline sheen. Because these weren't fully living beings, the spiritual energy consumed wasn't much; the person who created this probably hadn't anticipated encountering an enemy wielding the power of time.
Behind the human skin was a trapdoor on the inside of the wardrobe. At Miss Cohens's request, she went first, with Shad following behind. Once the small room behind the trapdoor was illuminated by a lantern, they discovered it was the room's washroom.
Of course, this place has now been turned into a laboratory. Various shelves are filled with all sorts of living specimens, but they are not from humans but from various monsters. After all, a human might not appear in this hotel for hundreds of years.
Shad even saw the same human-faced spider they had just encountered on the shelf, and the label on the bottle containing the specimen read "Offspring of the Silk-Spinning Mother." Miss Cohens had never heard of this evil creature before, but Shad had found records of it in the library of the Strange Tree Academy:
"It is said that these evil creatures were originally spiders the size of calves that lived in the early First Era. They were originally considered ordinary alien creatures, but later an unknown entity forcibly transformed them into a clan, and thus the entire race degenerated into evil creatures."
Miss Cohens listened attentively and even wrote down this information in her notebook, as she intended to pass on this knowledge to the next generation of hunters.
"So the evil spirit living here is also a researcher?"
Miss Hunter asked, and Shad found a research notebook. The writing on the notebook and labels belonged to the Fourth Age, but considering that we are now in the early Fifth Age, it is quite normal that the owner here came from the previous Age.
As for its ability to write human characters, that's not surprising; it's normal for highly intelligent organisms to be able to write. If that seemingly undead entity was once human, then its ability to write would be even more normal.
As for the other party's research content, it was to dissect and confirm the physical structure of these "research subjects" that they had captured, and to try to transform them into undead creatures.
However, it seems its research is not going very well, as most of the things that appear here are of extraordinary origin. Even if they are not the main body of the other party, but just clones or offspring, they are not so easy to control.
In short, Shad and Miss Cohen found a total of 13 matches, numerous biological spellcasting materials, and meat supplies, but the huntress refused the meat supplies. The presence of the pile of skeletons and human skins made her suspicious of the source of all the meat food here.
The most important find was a handmade torch, made of wood with an oil-soaked cloth covering the head, making it easy to light.
"There are very few lights in this hotel, and not only do candles gradually shorten after use, but other lights also have certain limitations. If it weren't for the task given to me by God that I had to complete, I would actually like to take this torch back right now."
Miss Cohens said, while Shad was puzzled:
"Theoretically speaking, these lamps were actually made, not just thrown here by God out of thin air, right? So why did the owner of this house make these torches?"
The answer to this question was only revealed after they defeated the owner of the room.
Just like Miss Noire had done, Miss Cohens had also divided the matches into three groups. Each of them took four, and the remaining five were to be taken back as spoils of their exploration. Now that he knew she was also wary of her companions, Shad understood the witches' actions.
"Excuse me, do you have any books or notebooks here? Please come over here for a moment."
Shad then used the [Moon Library] in his room and bathroom. Although it wasn't a standard library or study area, the magic still allowed him to find several hidden books and notebooks.
The books were all obscure and bizarre works on necromancy, two of which dealt with soul manipulation and were among the most forbidden books in the Sixth Age. As for the notebook, besides containing research notes, Shad also saw a description of the nineteenth floor of the hotel.