The Paladin in the Abyss
Chapter 801 - 812: Tainted

With a feeling of unease but also a hint of anticipation, the group returned to the hall with the stone gate. The door that was previously shut was now gone, replaced by a dark entrance that seemed to sinisterly question whether they truly had the courage to come in and uncover the truth.

As they approached, two ghostly guards emerged from the statues on either side of the entrance, bowing slightly to welcome them.

"Did anything come out when the door opened just now?" Lancelot took the initiative to ask, "Did any of you see it?"

"… A powerful force… was released…"

"… Bearing the aura of Peyton Derrick…"

"Peyton Derrick?" The companions exchanged glances with one another. Lancelot continued to probe, "Why is he here?"

"… It’s not him… just a force…"

"… Extremely powerful, extremely evil…"

"… Like the cold anger of the Lord of the Dead…"

"This is getting more and more strange…" Bruto said, somewhat uncertain, "Did we mess something up?"

"… No…"

"… The temple… it’s for glory…"

"… The Lord of the Dead…"

"Let’s go." Lancelot shook his head. "Maybe there’s more information in the Sanctum, everyone be careful…"

Although the entrance looked very dark from the outside, once inside, they found a peculiar gray light pervading the space, allowing them to see their surroundings clearly. Lancelot had an inkling that this arrangement might be a metaphor, symbolizing the unknown and mysterious nature of death to mortals.

The passage was not long, with several descending steps along the way. Eventually, they arrived at a grand hall reminiscent of a cathedral. In front of them were many rows of benches, likely for worshippers to sit and listen to sermons. At the far end of the room was a high platform, with three large stained glass windows behind it, emitting a soft glow as if it were daytime outside, a clear effect of some magic.

Lancelot’s spirit perception sensed a strong evil aura but no threats. The aura emanated from the high platform at the end of the hall, where an altar held with a statue that turned out to be the source of the evil presence. When they drew closer, they found that the statue was a skeleton in a black triangular box, unusual enough by the presence of a large amount of thick yellow-green foul liquid splattered on it, decorated with dried frogs, rats, and small intestines, visibly defiled.

"Guys, look up." Alamir, who was at the back of the group, spoke up, "I think we finally found the clue Cranvo wanted…"

Lancelot and the others looked up and immediately understood what the Elf Priest was referring to—the stained glass windows. Typically, these windows in a church would depict some aspect of the deity being worshiped, such as famous miracles, great victories, or immense power. These three were no exception, only the protagonist depicted on them was definitely not Milko.

The leftmost window depicted a muscular man with glowing red eyes, and a smaller, darker figure behind him holding a thin sword, poised to thrust it into the larger man’s back in the next moment.

The middle window showed a man raising a thin sword, his face a skull without a lower jaw, surrounded by a halo of purple light, with a circle of people lying at his feet, including a female mage in robes, a male warrior with a sword and shield, and a hooded and cloaked skeleton.

The third window was even more intriguing, depicting a trial scene with the man with the thin sword as the defendant. The judges were a group of indistinct figures, each with a halo, seemingly hinting at their divine nature. Interestingly, the artist deliberately portrayed the defendant as a towering figure, while the judges were mere palm-sized figures, giving the immediate impression that these so-called judges had no right to judge such a great being.

"This is about Shrek, right?" Bruto turned to the elf and asked, "I still remember those stories, the left one shows him killing Baal, the middle one defeating Milko in the Black Rod Tower, and the right one… I don’t recall clearly, but it’s definitely Shrek."

"That should be the famous ’Trial of Shrek’ incident." Ishar, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke. "The great powers of the Multiverse once gathered to discuss the chaos Shrek had caused, concluding that he was guilty. They summoned Ao, hoping the Supreme Deity would strip Shrek of his powers. However, Ao refused and asserted that spreading chaos on earth was Shrek’s duty, and it was the gods’ own duty to oppose him… This was the first famous ’Trial of Shrek’ incident."

"How do you know all this?" Lancelot asked in surprise, "Is it Cranvoseth in your head too?"

"Yes." Ishar pouted, "Any knowledge related to the Lords of Death, as soon as it’s mentioned, I can instantly recall…"

"Miss, you mentioned it was the ’first’ trial." Barrend couldn’t help but ask, "So there was a second one?"

"Yes, there was a second one, and the verdict then was… guilty." Ishar showed a strange expression, "The charge was that he failed to spread chaos in the world, which was his duty. His punishment was exile, not to set foot in the mortal realm for a thousand years (Note 1)…"

"Now that you think about it, it actually seems reasonable." Alamir shrugged, "What surprises me is that I always thought Milko was the kind of character who would mark every tree stump along the road, but here he hides his emblem so deeply, it’s very much unlike him…"

"If we don’t see more relevant evidence, I almost doubt we saw it wrong back then." Lancelot gently shook his head, "Gods are gods after all, Cranvo’s intuition was really spot-on…"

"Brother Alamir, can you do me a favor…" The little vampire suddenly recalled something and shyly asked him, "Do you still have holy water? Can you give me some…"

"I certainly do, quite a bit… but what do you need it for?"

"I want to purify this Lord of the Dead’s altar…"

(Note 1: This differs from official lore, in which Shrek later killed Midnight, causing the Spellplague. For this, Tir, Losanda, and Shuni joined forces to imprison Shrek for a thousand years. In the 5th Edition, due to the Second Sundering, many deceased gods were resurrected, including Midnight, but Shrek’s situation wasn’t mentioned, presumably still imprisoned. Perhaps he’ll escape in the next module.)

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