Krafft's Anomaly Notes

Chapter 327 "Trigger"

Some things are naturally sacred, as when the Supreme Will is incarnated, and its body is made into wheat bread and its blood into wine, forever driving away hunger and thirst from those who receive this gift. Supernatural power thus enters into mortal flesh with matter.

And they stand on such a body, whether the Church is willing to recognize its sanctity or not.

It was as if I had walked into the remains of a grand and glorious dinner party, and sat down at a seat that had been reserved long ago. The long table was filled with brand new, almost untouched food and drinks, and the net was covered with dust, while the host and other guests had already left for a long time.

Here the gods distributed their bodies and powers among the people.

"This..." The monks were all dumbfounded. The sudden shock made their brains stop working and they found it difficult to accept this fact.

Those things that only a little bit can make a cult, a kingdom, are not even charity or malice, but just the tiny skin peeled off here, a few crumbs falling from the plate.

The solidified black color moved on the ground, like soup spilled on a tablecloth, flowing freely and then drying up.

The two are so closely integrated that they seem to be born as one.

It is difficult to distinguish it from some dangerous cracks, after all, they are both made of bottomless darkness, and light never returns once it enters.

They also noticed some artificial traces, which seemed to be an enlarged version of the niches on the outer rock clusters. The entire piece of land was hollowed out from the ground, deeply bored into the paleness wrapped in black textures, which easily reminded them of a tomb without a covering.

As they walked around these things, some people curiously lowered their torches and shone them into the pit.

These regularly shaped pits are generally two to three people high, a depth that makes it impossible to climb out if you fall in. The bottom is even slightly larger than the opening, and the smooth side walls have no fulcrums, as if preventing something from crawling out, or as if expecting something to be born.

Light barely made it through the clear water that filled it, offering a glimpse of the bottom.

The semi-petrified bone-like substance was fused with the rock, similar to what are occasionally found in limestone mining and are called "molds used by God to create creatures", but it was far less ancient than the rock layers in which only the outlines of the creatures could be barely discerned.

It can be seen that some parts that can be found in the original form are spliced ​​in a weird but reasonable way. With what they have seen before, they will no longer think that it is a mixture of several different skeletons.

Traces of soft tissue still remain, with a texture similar to that of some overly severe pathological calcifications. The organic components are gradually replaced by inorganic matter, shrinking and hardening into a living sculpture with life characteristics.

The pale stone completely penetrated these bones, penetrated into the swollen skull, penetrated into the new spine, penetrated into the chain-like long bones and the complex shriveled tissues attached to them, solidifying the human body in its transformation into a new form into a fossil specimen.

They almost came back to life, but the surrounding black salt with traces of secondary melting explained why they did not succeed - deep force activity would induce the black salt to temporarily transform into a liquid with a strong inhibitory effect.

These things eagerly absorbed more lunar debris until most of themselves were replaced by stone. However, they were unable to overcome the extremely strong inhibitory force and eventually lost all activity and became reliefs on the rocks.

Or was that the purpose? They were trying to gradually melt and separate the two entangled substances in this way?
If this is true, then the ritual nature of this behavior is far greater than its practical significance, and it is nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

But this did not stop them from bringing the dead here tirelessly, generation after generation. The tombs became larger and larger as they went deeper into the pits. The petrified bones piled up at the bottom combined into larger individuals never seen before. Their tentacles climbed up the edge of the pits, and their unmolted toes grabbed the ground like the feet of a centipede.

It is enveloped by melted and solidified black, and this phenomenon is more obvious around larger individuals.

What is disturbing is that the re-condensed black matter does not seem to be enough to fill the cracks in the flow.

One day, this huge piece of celestial debris will be cleansed of foreign impurities and freed from its shackles, but that day will come very late.

It doesn't care whether it's early or late, time is on its side. Those who try to get something from it will eventually offer their spirit and body after experiencing a life that is insignificant to it, and become another stone in building the temple.

Kraft was somewhat aware that the sewers leading to this area were almost completely blocked, and that attempts had been made to slow down the rate at which the underground lake gained nutrients from the surface through the waterway system.

But it is never the water that brings new sacrifices here, but the endless inquiring eyes, peeking through the myths that have been deliberately obfuscated and erased, to peek into the secrets of this place. When one group fails, there will always be another group coming.

"I don't understand what the point is." Even the most optimistic monk felt a sense of despair. The only thing that supported the remaining team to continue moving forward seemed to be the obsession of reaching a destination that no one knew whether it existed or not.

Knowing more does no good, except to remind once more of the inevitable triumph of this power.

"At least we may have a chance to postpone the bad ending." Kraft took a break and quietly pried off another piece of petrified tissue fragment.

His behavior did not cause any more objections, but instead had a soothing effect, giving them a hint that they still had a chance to take back the secrets and little souvenirs from here.

"Don't you think it makes sense? Why did the entire Dunling underground become so chaotic as soon as this group of pagans came here?"

"Including the guy just now. Even though his method was indeed unexpected, he shouldn't have the nerve to activate the entire lake bed that had been lying quietly for hundreds of years - it doesn't make sense in terms of the size."

"So there must be a key point, like..."

The professor thought for a moment, looking for a more understandable term. "It's like the trigger of a ballista. The archer doesn't have the strength to shoot a giant arrow heavier than a spear through the wall. He just knows how to use that large tool to release the power that has been accumulated in it."

"So you think we'll find a 'trigger'?" The idea was exciting, and although it was not certain how it would work, at least what they were doing now was not meaningless.

"Perhaps, the thing that is large enough to affect the entire lake is right under our feet. I think there should be a trigger that allows it to temporarily take effect, perhaps an amplified version of a 'spell' or something like that." Kraft explained. He couldn't think of any other explanation.

"That trigger better actually exist and not be some goddamn disposable or overly complicated mechanism."

"What if it's not what you think?"

"Then let's row back home and pray that with our hard-working hands and God's blessing, we can row back to the starting point, and then run as far as we can before this city is completely destroyed."

No one asked any more questions, perhaps they were praying silently.

The prayer was effective soon after. Perhaps God finally found a way and reached his hand into this forgotten corner.

They stopped in front of a very familiar structure, where the ground had sunk in steps, and relief-like petrified tissue adorned every geometric surface.

Although he had seen enough twisted things like this, he still felt an indescribable discomfort when he saw the scene before him.

These "reliefs" seemed not to be completely dead yet. They twitched and contracted slightly, squeezing out dark black liquid that did not reflect any light.

"Well, there's good news and bad news."

"I guess the good news is, you're right." Green turned his eyes away from the liquid. He knew the potential appeal that flowing darkness had to the mind.

"The bad news is, that trigger is down there."

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