Mystery: Start with the Reader

In the Lyle Forest in the south of the small town of Deconva, a river rushes from a distance and bypasses a hill not far away.

One side of the cliff is bare, showing pure black stones, under the reflection of the crimson moon, it looks a bit gloomy from a distance.

At the river bend at the foot of the mountain, two girls in shirts and trousers with various utensils gathered around a hidden underground entrance. They were Emma and Fanny who sneaked out of the hotel in the middle of the night.

"Did you dig out this entrance?" Emma looked at the passage after removing the camouflage, frowned involuntarily, and asked her friends around her.

Fanny fiddled with the mechanical instrument in her hand, as if she was detecting something, and after a while she replied: "Look at the marble wall in the passage, and if you use your brain a little, you will know that I am not the one who dug it out. "

"According to the book, wasn't the baron's castle buried by mudslides? How could there be an entrance... Could it be that the heavy rain last week changed the terrain and exposed a passage in the castle?" Emma slightly asked suspiciously.

"Why don't you try divination?" Fanny said teasingly after taking out three shoebox-sized metal cubes from her backpack.

Emma rolled her eyes when she heard the words, and said angrily, "You know I'm not good at divination..."

"So, don't say those demoralizing words anymore... It's all here, can you bear to go back without exploring?"

After Fanny finished speaking, she threw the three metal cubes out.

Those metal blocks began to deform in mid-air, and several tentacles-like metal tubes protruded from the top, bottom and sides of the blocks.

After falling to the ground, those cubes turned into mechanical dolls that seem to have multiple arms and can walk upright.

At this time, Fanny drew a triangular holy emblem on her chest, and added:

"With them exploring the way, there shouldn't be much danger...God will bless us."

Seeing this, Miss Emma quickly put her long black hair on top of her head, and at the same time muttered: "Your grandfather is really kind to you. These mechanical dolls look very powerful."

Fanny knew that her friend was actually nervous. After all, a noble lady on the other side rarely had similar adventures, so she followed her words and explained:

"Each 'Destroyer' mechanical doll is equipped with 4 high-pressure steam rifles that can shoot magic hunting bullets continuously, and a silver cannonball with a 'Bright Fire'.

In terms of destructive power alone, each of them exceeds the Extraordinary of the Sequence 7 level. "

Emma was slightly relieved when she heard the words, then stretched out her right hand, clenched her fist on her chest and said, "The storm is with you."

...

Seeing the two Extraordinary ladies walking down the passage, Abner, who followed behind invisibly, bypassed the warning runes arranged by Emma and followed them.

The reason why he came here with the two girls was not just that he was curious about the ruins, but more importantly, the two girls knew at a glance that they were novices and that they were not well prepared for the expedition. What terrible thing was released, isn't the small town of Kangwa not far from here going to suffer?

After thousands of years of erosion, the steps made of black marble still maintain sufficient hardness without any sign of corrosion.

The two ladies followed the cube dolls and walked all the way to the ground along the stairs. Then, they saw the decorations and patterns with Quaternary characteristics.

"This... seems familiar?" Ms. Fanny looked around with the light on the mechanical doll, and said in surprise.

"Of course they look familiar. We've seen these textures in that 'Old John' hotel before!" Emma squinted her eyes, and quickly recognized the source of the familiarity.

And Abner, who was hidden behind, immediately judged that not only the decorative lines, but even the layout of the room he was in was exactly the same as the dining room of the "Old John" Hotel!

Is it difficult to understand that this is the "hotel" originally built by the priest of the Fourth Epoch?

With this in mind, Abner used his "pure white eyes" to analyze the surrounding furniture and objects, and denied the previous guess.

No, the style of the furniture is unique to the Fifth Epoch, and some of the building materials are not old enough... It should not be a building of the Fourth Epoch... Could it be that it was imitated later like the "Old John" Hotel?

However, why does it have to be made in this way?

While Abner was thinking carefully, Miss Emma, ​​who was a "deciphering scholar", naturally noticed that the layout of this ruin was almost the same as that of the "Old John" hotel.

Since she didn't find any danger for the time being, she and her friends carefully rummaged around while being surprised.

"Almost all valuable things are damaged or rotten... No trace of Extraordinary items has been found for the time being."

"This is indeed the former residence of Baron 'Conwa'. I found his family crest here. Although it has been corroded seriously, it is the same as that in "St. Exactly as described."

"Huh? The bookcase in the basement study room is so well preserved, and the books inside don't seem to be seriously weathered."

After the two girls explored the basement floor, they suddenly made a new discovery.

But Abner was on high alert at this time, because he found something on the marble floor of the basement floor that the two ladies had overlooked—footprints!

Those were strange and fresh footprints that did not belong to him, Emma, ​​or Fanny!

The strange footprints seemed to be walking down the stairs from the upper floor, and then disappeared in a huge, heavy, opposite dark black stone door at the end of the underground corridor.

It is also the only place in this ruins that is different from the "Old John" hotel.

That door... seems to have been pushed open from the inside... Abner looked at the gap in the stone door from a distance, but even with the "night vision" ability, he could only see darkness.

The stone gate has cracked open, allowing two people to come in side by side, and the inside is deep.

At this time, Emma's voice came from the study:

"They are all biographical books, many of which are in my family's collection... Only this handwritten note may be of some value... But, I can't understand what he wrote..."

"Is there any text that the 'Deciphering Scholar' can't understand?" Fanny, who was standing nearby and in charge of guarding, asked in surprise.

"I can recognize ancient Hermes, dragon language, giant language, and elf language, but I'm sure the text in this notebook is not any of the above! It's a completely different language." Emma said with certainty.

"Then take this notebook first, and we'll find someone to identify it after we've explored this ruin." Fanny said after thinking about it.

"That's the only way..."

Although Abner also became interested in that notebook, but it is not good for him to take the initiative to show up now, so he can only give up for the time being.

After the expedition is over, I will find an opportunity to show my "erudite" side in front of them, and guide them to take the initiative to hand over the notes to myself for interpretation...

Just as Abner thought of this, he saw the two ladies leave the study and came outside the huge black stone door.

The lights of the three mechanical dolls shone in through the gap, but they could only illuminate a small area behind the door, which couldn't make them see clearly.

Fanny was about to command the mechanical puppet to enter, but was stopped by Emma, ​​who said in a positive tone: "There is danger below!"

Fanny obviously trusted her friend very much, she nodded solemnly, and then said solemnly: "Then I will do the preliminary cleaning first!"

clean up? Before Abner realized what she meant, he saw a golden gun barrel about half a meter long protruding from the "heads" of the three mechanical dolls at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, the gun barrel quickly lit up, outlining noisy and fiery imprints and patterns.

boom!

Three golden fireballs that looked like miniature suns flew out of the "barrel" and flew into the darkness and gloom.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth trembled slightly, and violent rays of light emerged from the gap.

Abner, who was invisible nearby, visibly swayed, and his feet trembled, which almost made the invisibility invalid.

At this moment, a calf-sized monster with golden flames burning all over its body rushed out from the gap in the stone gate at an extremely fast speed.

"That breath...was another monster created by the 'werewolf' with poison?!"