Chapter 229: Chapter 155: Appearance (Two-in-One Mega Chapter)
Of course, the most important reason he dared to enter the unknown Temple to explore was based on Rein Carlan's rapidly increasing personal strength.
Rein glanced at his panel:
Name: Rein Carlan
Occupation: Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) lv4 (132/1000) / Knight (Transcendent) lv4 (57/1000) / Beast Tamer (Transcendent) lv3 (12/500) / Blacksmith lv4 (329/1000)
Constitution: 18
Strength: 16
Agility: 16
Spirit: 20
Remaining attribute points: 3
Remaining skill points: 4
Looking at the last 3 and 4 in the attributes column, Rein couldn't help but think of a saying, "With grain in the house, there is no panic."
Furthermore, as Rein's spiritual power broke through twenty points, both the activity level and sensitivity of his spiritual power had greatly improved.
Therefore, although Rein could feel that there was some kind of danger lurking inside the dilapidated temple, he could also vaguely sense that this danger seemed not potent enough to be completely unstoppable for him.
After weighing the potential dangers and opportunities in his mind, Rein nodded and said,
"I have no objections, but, Headmaster Rudolph, I suggest that the Night Watchmen and the security officers don't need to enter either."
"Let them be responsible for the surveillance outside, how about that?"
Headmaster Rudolph gave a slight smile, nodded, and said, "Of course, that's possible."
Hearing this, many Night Watchmen sighed in relief.
After all, having just witnessed the combat strength of the Evil Spirit Knights, they already knew that this mysterious event involved monsters whose fighting prowess even the Temple Knights would struggle to handle.
Let alone these ordinary people, who really couldn't be of much help.
"Rein, I want to go too. I haven't found my brother's other battle ax yet." Lagaray walked up to Rein, her beautiful eyes looking up at him with great anticipation.
"Well... it might be very dangerous inside, I will keep an eye out for your brother's weapon, but my advice is that it would be safer for you to stay outside."
Rein understood Lagaray's urgent feelings, but he was more hesitant due to the dangers inside the temple.
"I'm not afraid of danger! Besides, I will take good care of myself," Lagaray raised her blood-veined steel shield as she spoke.
"Alright then, but stay close to me, and if anything goes wrong, we'll retreat immediately." Seeing her determination, Rein knew he couldn't persuade Lagaray otherwise, so he nodded reluctantly, agreeing to her idea of entering together.
Eventually, Rudolph and Rein discussed and decided to have the severely injured Temple Knight and all the Night Watchmen and the security officers stay outside the temple.
So Rudolph, Rein, Lagaray, and three Temple Knights, a total of six people, entered the temple to explore.
After a brief rest and preparation, the group of six slowly entered the ruined Temple Garden.
What once must have been a beautiful garden now, after countless periods of exposure to the sun and lack of maintenance, showed its grey-white granite walls almost entirely collapsed.
The walls were covered with various climbing plants such as ivy, roses, and creeper, looking lush and possessed a weighty sense of having stood the test of time.
Inside the garden, instead of the delicate, cultivated flowers, various wild weeds and bushes now thrived, with the occasional tall trees growing lush and strong.
From the outside, if it weren't for the still-visible collapsed granite walls, one would never guess this place had once been a man-made garden.
"Rein, look," Lagaray pointed at the ground.
As she had been keeping an eye on the ground and corners for any weapons left by her brother and their squad members, Lagaray was the first to spot some kind of dragging trace on the ground.
As soon as Lagaray spoke, everyone's gaze focused on the ground where her finger pointed.
"This is the trace of something heavy being dragged," one of the Temple Knights squatted down, examining it closely.
"Not just something heavy; there are also sporadic blood stains on the surface of the soil. These must be traces of dragging a body," Rein, keenly observant, also took a close look and added.
Within this bird-and-beast-absent temple ruins, it seemed the only ones capable of dragging bodies were the three Evil Spirit Knights. Rein thought to himself.
Beforehand, he had thought that the Evil Spirit Knights just attacked and killed invaders within this area.
Apparently, they also collected and dragged the bodies of the killed enemies into the temple.
This just got interesting.
Collecting flesh and blood, huh?
It seemed eerily similar to the blood sacrifice rituals of the Black Flame Church.
"There's more here," another Temple Knight leading the way pointed out another new dragging trace.
Everyone hurried forward to examine it again.
Indeed, this trace was more pronounced.
"Could it be that the Evil Spirit Knights are collecting human remains for some evil ritual?" the lightly injured Temple Knight speculated after pondering.
"No, it's not necessarily just human remains,"
"This drag mark is much wider; it seems like it was caused by dragging the body of a beast. Look, there are hairs in the soil, and these thick, long hairs are unlikely to be human,"
Rein picked up a black hair sticking stiffly with soil, feeling its hardness.
Since his spiritual strength continued to grow, Rein's level of perception had also risen. With his current perceptiveness, he could easily notice some details that were previously easy to overlook, which brought him a fair bit of joy.