Mystic Overlord: Reading Gives Strength
Chapter 100 Good News

Chapter 100: Chapter 100 Good News

Pulling his collar over his mouth and nose,

Ronald descended alone into the cellar.

Before him, the black fog that had originally tangled together spread down the stairs, then layered itself on the ground and walls, not sparing a single corner.

Ronald was certain there were no living people in the cellar.

But given the behavior of these magicians, the place was bound to be full of traps of one sort or another.

At that moment, the black fog covering every corner could help with the investigation.

The mist-form of Fury’s power was quite useful in reconnaissance as well.

With steady steps, Ronald walked down the cellar entrance steps.

The passageway wasn’t very long; it only extended a few meters underground.

When Ronald’s feet touched the solid ground, less than ten seconds had passed.

Down here, the surroundings were different from the courtyard in the night above.

Because the six magicians had been active here before, the cellar was brightly lit, offering hardly any severe visual hindrance.

Then, at first glance, Ronald saw the source of the scent of blood.

There were four men lying on the ground.

Two of them were of a suitable age, dressed with an emphasis on warmth; the expressions of fear and panic they had before death were completely frozen on their faces.

As for the other two...

They wore the same brown coats, the same broad-brimmed hats.

In their dilated pupils, one could still see the incomprehension and bewilderment of being betrayed.

There was no doubt.

These were the other two investigators who had been working with the traitor who had burned himself above.

According to the bureau’s orders, they should have been the three-person team responsible for sweeping the cult magicians in this district tonight.

Only those two never expected that their own comrade,

would turn out to be one of the cult magicians and even launch a surprise attack on them!

"..."

"Ah..."

Sighing, Ronald shook his head.

Killed by the sneak attack of the magicians, the bodies of the two drivers and two investigators all looked very...

very indecent...

Turning his attention elsewhere, Ronald gestured with his hand.

The black fog spread around the room immediately divided, settling on the bodies of the four men in a rough attempt to tidy up their appearance posthumously.

A few seconds later, Ronald felt a strange sensation transmitted from the fog.

It was feedback from detecting traces of spellcasting on the bodies of the four.

"..."

Just as expected, the magicians had placed spells on the bodies.

Although the specific details were unclear.

Ronald could be sure that it was either a direct attack like an explosion from the corpses or some slow-acting curse.

Anyway, it was nothing good!

Abandoning the tampered bodies, he turned to continue surveying his surroundings.

Unlike the cellar of the magician’s house he had entered during the day,

this place, serving as a sort of base for the magician sect, was much larger underground.

Even just the grand hall he walked into was over two hundred square meters, and around the long tables and benches at the center, some barrels were stacked up, and one could see bulging sacks in the corners against the walls.

Ronald walked over to take a look.

The barrels and sacks were filled with consumables like grains, showing no apparent connection to the mystical side of things.

If one were to judge based solely on this situation,

this cellar could at most be considered an ordinary underground meeting place.

It was still quite lacking compared to the secret base of a cult magician.

Lost in thought, Ronald recalled the situation when he had detected the other party’s location earlier and immediately strode toward the corner of the right-hand wall.

When "Fury" was sensing the fluctuations of human emotions, there had been people active below this wall.

However, upon approaching, Ronald couldn’t discern anything out of the ordinary.

Apart from the wooden stakes supporting the cellar, there was just a clean wall, with nothing special to notice.

How should one open this ordinary-looking wall?

Without lingering for long, Ronald made up his mind.

In the past, he might have needed to discern carefully like the characters in detective novels before he could gradually find the method to open a hidden door.

But now it was different.

Directing the black mist to completely cover the surrounding walls, Ronald quickly found the method to open the hidden door under the omnipresent fog-like investigation.

The switch was near the floor, in the corner of the wall.

Between the earthen wall and the wooden stakes, close to the inner side, was a small notch, just about big enough to insert three fingers.

After the black mist ventured inside, even the internal structure was directly felt out.

A simple system of pulleys and levers, with no special spell protection.

Crouching down, Ronald reached out a finger and pressed down.

Click—

With the sound of the mechanism, a crooked crack immediately appeared on the wall.

This was unmistakably a hidden door tucked away in the corner.

In an environment like a basement, one would find it very difficult to discover this thing without deliberately searching for it, especially with the location of the door mechanism set in the crevice between the wall corner and the wooden stakes.

Without a word, Ronald pushed open the hidden door.

There was lighting on the other side as well, but the atmosphere was completely different from the main hall.

The moment he opened the hidden door, Ronald immediately saw a ritual altar set upon a stone base.

The familiar tentacles, squid head, and bat wings.

A statue of the Evil God Cthulhu from the Cthulhu Mythos sat quietly atop the altar, bathed in the glow of green candlelight.

The skill of the statue’s creator was extremely high, skilfully depicting this Evil God so vividly that anyone who saw it would be confronted with an oppressive, indescribable horror.

But with just a glance, Ronald felt considerably relieved.

He had previously perused many books in various fields, and novels about the Lovecraftian universe were within his range of reading.

So he knew quite well.

Normally, to gaze directly at a Cthulhu statue of this magnitude,

unless one had significant issues already, it would cause some kind of mental mishap.

But what was the result?

Ronald was now sober as could be, with his stream of thought remaining entirely unaffected.

Looking straight at the statue of the Evil God, all was well.

The conclusion, then, was obvious.

These cult magicians must have obtained the original texts of Lovecraft’s novels in this world and developed a sect based on them.

It was merely a sect derived from the original texts, not the appearance of an Evil God that could drive one insane with a single glance in this world.

Good news, truly good news!

Settling his mind a bit, Ronald then stepped into the room behind the hidden door.

Immediately, everything around him came into view.