The Paladin in the Abyss
Chapter 798 - 809

Across the hall, another passage contained a long, spiraling staircase descending downwards. Before everyone completely lost their bearings, they finally emerged from the oppressive, dizzying steps, entering another stone passageway.

The corridor was about fifteen feet wide, with a height similar to an ordinary room, and Lancelot’s party of seven found it slightly cramped as they walked through. Unlike other areas of the Dungeon, brass chandeliers hung from the ceiling of this corridor, softly illuminating the surroundings with a steady Magic Flame.

On both sides of the passageway, rectangular recesses were carved into the wall at intervals, each housing a quaintly styled Stone Coffin.

"These Stone Coffins... they seem to have never been opened," Bruto checked several coffins in succession before announcing his discovery to his companions, "The lids fit tightly without any gaps. Are we truly in an ancient tomb filled with the Undead?"

"Then what’s with these skeletons?" Tanya pointed at a corpse in the corner of the wall, "I’ve seen several bodies like this one already. Are you saying that after climbing out of the coffins, they knew to close the lids properly?"

"Well... the Church of Milko does offer such services, ensuring for a fee that the deceased are not disturbed after death," the young Isa said somewhat sheepishly, "The Church of Cranvo inherits from the previous Lord of the Dead, so they still provide this service. However, all members of the church have the duty to prevent any evil forces from desecrating the bodies of the dead..."

"Which means, ordinary people wouldn’t have the chance to be buried in a place like this," Alamir shrugged, "Moreover, under normal circumstances, people laid in coffins aren’t dressed in chainmail, holding a Longsword and Shield, are they?"

"You mean these bodies are other Adventurers?" Tanya caught on, "But... what killed them? I haven’t sensed any danger..."

"Before that Dead-Eye Tyrant appeared, I hadn’t sensed anything either," Lancelot shook his head, "Let’s all be more cautious."

The corridor took a ninety-degree right turn in front of the group, and after advancing a few hundred feet, there was a similar left turn. The group quickly realized something was amiss; the surroundings seemed to repeat, and the bodies lying around looked familiar.

"Something’s not right." Bruto suddenly stopped in his tracks and pointed to a skeleton by the roadside, "I’m sure I’ve seen it at least three times... Are we walking in circles?"

"It’s also possible someone has intentionally placed similar-looking bodies along the path to create the illusion that we’re walking in circles," Kalalin said with less certainty, "A common trick but indeed one that fools many people..."

"But verifying this is quite simple," Alamir walked up to the skeleton and casually tied a piece of bandage around its shoulder, "We’ll continue onwards. If we see this strip of bandage again, then it will prove we’re indeed walking in circles."

"Good idea, I like it."

Bruto slapped his thigh, eager to proceed. The corridor took another turn not far ahead. This time, everyone paid extra attention, so they easily noticed another identical skeleton.

"You see, what did I tell you," Kalalin sounded more confident now, "No bandage, this proves my theory is correct, just a simple ruse..."

"Ha, you truly deserve to be a Scholar, always the smart one."

Bruto laughed and teased, and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief, but Lancelot’s brow was still deeply furrowed. He pulled out a blank talisman from his small waist pouch, his finger glowing with a faint green light as he inscribed a concise yet profound symbol onto it, then extended the talisman towards the Dwarf and said,

"Lick it."

"Ah?" Bruto blinked in confusion, but did as told anyway, "What’s this for? Warding off evil spirits or something?"

"Uh, you misunderstood…" Lancelot slapped the paper talisman on the forehead of the skeleton with the back of his hand, "Your saliva is quite sticky."

"…"

"As for this talisman, there’s a trace of my Divine Sense on it, as long as the distance isn’t too far, I can sense its location…"

"How far is ’not too far’?"

"Within a hundred miles, I guess." Lancelot shrugged his shoulders, "Of course, it definitely won’t work if it crosses into another plane."

"Impressive. So what do you plan to do with it? Check how far we’ve traveled next?"

"I want to figure out how exactly we’re moving." Lancelot touched his nose, "Now, let’s not continue forward but instead return to the last skeleton wrapped in bandages… there are some things I need to verify."

"Go back?" Bruto asked in surprise, "Why?"

"You’ll know in a bit."

Of course, the companions wouldn’t fuss over this matter, they immediately turned around and retraced their steps. Before long, they ’returned’ to the previous skeleton’s location, but unexpectedly, the bandages that should have been there were gone. It was in the same position they had seen every time, slumped over in the corner of the wall, with a weapon and shield thrown aside.

The difference was that from its posture, the group faintly sensed the desperation it had experienced before death.

"What the what… what’s going on?" the young dwarf’s voice sounded very uneasy, "Kalalin? Can you… can you explain this…"

"I…I don’t know either." The Scholar also stuttered, "Little Isha, do you know what this is all about?"

The young girl quickly shook her head, her face terribly pale, while the other companions looked at each other, equally at a loss for words.

"Just now, when we were passing the corner, my sensation of the talisman suddenly cut off." Lancelot was the one to speak up at last, "Let’s turn back now and see if the talisman I just stuck there is still in place."

The companions set off immediately, and a few minutes later, they stood in front of a completely identical skeleton once again. Just like the bandages tied by the elf before, Lancelot’s left-behind talisman was also missing, and his Spirit Perception could not sense the existence of the talisman at all.

"What do we do now?" Bruto looked at everyone with eyes full of terror, his body shaking uncontrollably, "Dammit, this is really seeing a ghost…"

"What are you panicking for." Lancelot’s tone was still relaxed, "Now we can be sure that, even though it seems like a constant loop, this place is not some kind of simple illusion nor any large-scale Illusion Technique, and spatial distortion doesn’t seem to explain it either... I have a speculation, could it be that every time we pass a corner, a completely new corridor is generated? That’s why it seems like we’re always repeating, yet we can’t leave any mark?"

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