novelonline Chapter 3611 Oil Painting in the Basement of the Ruins
Chapter 3611 Oil Painting in the Basement of the Ruins
Chapter 3611 Oil Painting in the Basement of the Ruins
Having received the answer from the boat girl, Shad thought of going to see the castle ruins in the mountains again, but the witches told him not to rush and to eat first, as there would be plenty of time in the afternoon.
So everyone celebrated Vanessa and Hillis's arrival on the ship. Although the entire Golden Dawn Opera Company wasn't there, Vanessa still brought a considerable number of people. During lunch, she and Hillis sat on either side of Shad, and Vanessa even jokingly asked Shad:
How's your relationship with Claire going?
Hillis smiled as he watched Shad explain, knowing in his heart that his friend simply wanted to confirm whether anyone else had acted as swiftly as Miss Edwards and her group.
In the afternoon, Matilda, who was most familiar with the ruins, led the group to the mountains with Shad.
Although they had briefly explored the castle ruins and even placed some spare supplies there, the southern maids' exploration was limited to the "ground level." The first floor of the castle was now buried in snow, so they had no idea what lay beneath.
"Moreover, castles of this size usually have basements."
Matilda also said this during her climb.
The group consisted of five people. Apart from Shad and Matilda, the other three girls were all ninth-ring sorcerers and dragonborn. Since Bella learned about the origins of the seven great families last summer and awakened her golden dragon bloodline, learning to fly, many of the girls under her command, who were natives of Moon Bay, had shown varying degrees of dragonborn characteristics.
Similar phenomena have also occurred in the Orthodox Church, the Prophet's Association, and other ring-wielding organizations in the Moon Bay region, though not as pronounced as among the girls of Bella. This could be due to the effects of the Chosen Ones ritual, or the release of sealed dragon legends from the Moon Bay region. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that this is caused by the [Dragon Offering Ritual Site] that still floats above Moon Bay.
It's a pity that Matilda wasn't a native of Moon Bay.
In short, Shad carried Matilda while the other girls flew around on their own, and the ascent went quite smoothly.
Upon arriving at the castle ruins, Shad first examined the remaining snow again, confirming there were no clues before summoning flames:
"Let's start digging."
The intense flames gradually revealed the first floor of the castle, which had been buried under snow for over a thousand years. Perhaps because it was protected by thick snow, the first floor was relatively well-preserved, at least not as much as the snow-covered surface.
Even so, most areas remained inaccessible, forcing Shad to transform into a swarm of butterflies and slip inside to investigate. While the first floor bore some traces of the Fifth Era, it didn't contain what Shad was looking for.
As for the basement that Matilda mentioned, it certainly exists. The style of castle-like buildings from the late Fifth Age still exists today, so we can directly deduce the location of the basement entrance.
Compared to the ground floor, the basement seemed untouched by the elements. After opening the entrance and ventilating the area, the two maids remained on the ground floor, while Shad, Matilda, and another maid jumped down.
The basement is about two-thirds the size of the first floor. It's divided into sections by brick walls, but the space is still interconnected. Matilda was able to deduce from the remaining shelves which areas were used to store fresh fruits and vegetables, which areas were used to store drinks, and which areas were used to store miscellaneous items.
It was almost empty, but there were stone shelves, rotten wooden boxes, and remnants of some miscellaneous items.
The most valuable find was a few Fifth Age coins scattered under the shelves, which, in terms of purchasing power at the time, could have bought several loaves of white bread. But if sold as antiques in this era, they could probably buy a bakery in a small rural town.
The biggest find, however, was a heavily rusted two-handed greatsword hanging on the wall. It was just an ordinary item, but judging from the craftsmanship of the hilt, it was a very fine weapon for that era, though it would only be considered scrap metal now.
The three did not separate but searched together under the moonlight. Shad's [Enhanced Spatial Awareness] did not detect any hidden rooms, but considering that this was the Witch Emperor's former camp, if she wanted to set up a secret room, she would definitely take into account the detection from space and time.
After circling around, their biggest find was still the few coins they had left behind. They returned to the stone wall where the two-handed greatsword hung, and Matilda said softly:
"It seems that's all we have."
Shad said:
"Isn't there still one door?"
He pointed to the stone door next to the two-handed greatsword, a door whose color was almost identical to the wall. He assumed Matilda hadn't noticed it because of the dim light, but the blonde head maid followed Shad's gaze and asked疑惑地问道:
"Have it?"
Another maid also looked over:
"I didn't see a door either."
When the three of them reached the door that Shad had pointed out, they still claimed they couldn't see any outline of it. They tried pushing the area Shad had indicated, but the wall didn't budge.
Is it because I have a high level of inspiration?
Shad thought this, but when he reached out and pushed, the door in the stone wall swung open inwards, revealing a pale purple barrier pressed against its back. They could pass through the door, but not the other way around:
"Wait a minute, this doesn't seem to be because of my high intuition. Could this door be set up so that only I can see it? Is it another rune lock?"
The purple barrier behind the stone gate was indeed a rune lock, and it looked even more complex than the one in the Whispering Hills Inn. While the inn's rune lock, centered on "Ever-Changing Fate," could be destroyed with snake fangs, this rune lock bore Violet's own emblem at its center—a rune lock personally set up by the Witch Emperor.
He tried using the Key to the Gate, and sure enough, the demigod witch's blockade was not something he could break in his current state.
"If this was left for you by His Majesty, then you should know how to unlock it."
Matilda's reminder prompted Shad to take two steps back and examine the basement again, finally focusing on the two-handed greatsword on the wall:
"The sword... Alright, I think I understand."
He drew the Night Watch:
"This is the only unique item that Violet and I have ever owned together. Although the Night Watch had sealed the Balrog in Mount Sikar during our journey through the Tombstone Wasteland, Violet must have recorded the characteristics of this sword, and she can draw it again at any time."
As Shad spoke, he plunged the [Night Watch] into the barrier before him. The runes within the rune lock immediately began to move and combine rapidly. After half a minute, all the runes had moved to the outer edge of the barrier, and the rune lock shattered.
"It seems that's indeed the case."
Behind the barrier was a passageway about five meters long, at the end of which was a pitch-black room.
The maid from the Ninth Ring remained at the door, while Shad and Matilda went inside. As the moonlight illuminated the hidden room, Shad saw neither the flame of the First Flame nor the Angel-class relic pistol. There was only a solitary easel in the center of the room, and on the painting on the easel, the blonde Violet was smiling as she looked at Shad at the exit of the passage.
"Oh, this lady is so beautiful."
Matilda murmured in admiration, "Even by the standards of witches, Violet Marshall, the 'Eternal Beauty,' is an absolute beauty."
"Is this His Majesty?"
She asked again, and Shad nodded, looking at the familiar face in the painting. It was a typical half-length portrait, the background of which appeared to be indoors but was deliberately blurred, while the portrait itself was exceptionally exquisite. Shad wouldn't be surprised if Violet in the painting blinked even a second later.
This was the only item in the darkroom, so Shad walked straight to the painting and reached out to touch the face in the picture.
[Outsider, you have touched Violet the Witch's Echo. Since you have already touched an echo of the same origin, you are not entitled to vote this time.]
As his hand touched the oil painting, everything around him began to fade, even the silver moonlight he summoned seemed to transform into the light source in a black and white photograph.
Matilda's figure disappeared, and Shad found himself reaching out to touch not the painting, but Violet's smiling face.
She, like the rest of the world, was faded, or perhaps only Shad possessed vibrant colors.
"Long time no see, Shad."
She spoke gently, without even asking Shad to remove his hand, and Shad understood:
"This place...is similar to my memories, yet different—the core of the past?"
This is an angelic relic that Vanessa borrowed from Silris during the year-end festival so that everyone could have fun with Shad.
"You actually know this? But I don't have that precious relic. This is just an old dream arranged by ritual, a reenactment of the memory of Theresa standing at the door, of the moment I am standing in the room."
She explained, looking at Xia De in front of her:
"I'm sorry, this is the only way to contact you for now. But since you've found this place, it means you know about our plans with Sister Beren."
The strange skeleton from the coffin we obtained after defeating the 'Gravedigger of the Underworld' at the temple in Tombstone Wasteland was left by the First Flame. After the curse was lifted, those skeletons were actually what you were looking for. Besides that, we've left some other surprises for you by the fire, hoping they'll be helpful.
Those things can only remain there, because I'm not sure if you'll actually be able to get them if I leave them here.
The black and white witch emperor embraced Shad:
"But I'm sorry, I can't tell you their exact location. The flames here are related to something important, something that even I can't solve right now."