The Record of Unusual Creature

The massive shadow behind the clouds gradually went away, and the whole phenomenon lasted for a dozen minutes.

Everything that happened earlier looked like an illusion.

“Oh goddess, what was that?” Calaxus’ hands were clenched together in front of his chest, and his lips were dry. “That evil and huge—”

“It’s Lockmarton, or a part of him,” Hao Ren said with a poker face. He did not look at Calaxus.

All the monks and church knights were stunned.

“Looks like Lockmarton hasn’t completely broken the seal.” Hao Ren turned around. His voice sounded composed as he tried to calm the others down. “That should be the projection Lockmarton produced in the real world. The goddess’ barrier shield is still blocking it, so that was only a shadow. But the Forgotten Abyss won’t hold up for long; it could collapse at any time.”

“We should go to Asurmen immediately,” Calaxus said quickly.

Hao Ren nodded, and his eyes slowly swept across the dim cathedral.

Weary monks, mentally-stressed knights, and scared refugees filled the building’s ground level because the crypt was full.

These people were exhausted, and more importantly, their mental exhaustion had reached a tipping point. The power of Nightmares that these people faced was beyond comprehension. After the appearance of Lockmarton’s shadow, the shadows that wandered the city were now stronger than ever. The people could no longer endure it. So before Hao Ren left, he had to find a way to keep them alive.

He scratched his chin and whispered, “I need to get the cathedral an enchantment or something to protect the people.”

Lily heard what Hao Ren said and tucked her tail. “I don’t have much hair left!”

“I didn’t say that I want your hair!” Hao Ren rolled his eyes at the husky and took out some pieces of red paper from his Dimensional Pocket.

From the looks of it, the red papers were peeled off from some other places because there was adhesive on the edge of the papers. The front side of the papers had calligraphy, or rather cacography. Hao Ren separated the pieces, and the writing formed a couplet. The first line read, “Two months have passed, and still not knowing what to write.” The successive line read, “Three days of contemplation have produced two lines of nonsense.” And the third line, which was meant for horizontal placement, read, “But who cares!”

Those with a good memory would probably remember that it was Raven 12345’s handwriting.

The couplet was once placed at the main entrance of the Hao Family house. According to the neurotic goddess, her handwriting possessed divine power, and the couplet could ward off evil when pasted on the front door. Back when the couplet was on his front door, it had attracted hordes of people who came up to take a selfie. Those who were in the know would see it as the novel idea of a youngster, but those not in the know would think that there was merely a bunch of performing artists in the house. After a couple of months, Hao Ren could not endure the embarrassment anymore and decided to take it down.

However, people from an alien universe did not read Chinese characters, so they would have no problem putting up the couplet.

“Put these things at the entrance of the cathedral. It can stop the Nightmares and the forces of Chaos.” Hao Ren handed the couplet to Father Bernstein with a solemn face. “Put this piece on the left jamb, this piece on the right, and this one on the lintel, horizontally. Hey, it’s upside down. It should be the other way round… Don’t ask too many questions. Just treat it as a magic figure… If I say it’s a magic figure, then it’s a magic figure! Did the goddess of creation ever forbid advertisements at heaven’s entrance?”

Bernstein took the powerful couplet without knowing what it was. Hao Ren looked at the couplet again and felt that something was lacking. So he took two more pieces of red paper out of his Dimensional Pocket. He had taken the papers from Raven 12345’s office and wrote, “The goddess protects me and repels all evil” on them. He proceeded to hand them over to the priest solemnly. “Put one on each leaf of the door.”

He figured that he was also a pope; his work should at least have half of Raven’s power, if not the same. Even Lily could emit a sacred glow. As an authentic demigod, he should not be any worse than the husky. Let us not forget that he was using Raven 12345’s pen, which had her bite marks, to write the phrases.

Louen was fraught with danger; no protection was good enough.

After he told Bernstein what to do, Hao Ren and Calaxus gathered their men and headed towards the crystal mountain in Asurmen.

While Hao Ren was leaving, he looked back at the cathedral and was pleased to see that Father Bernstein had diligently put up the red papers on the door. Although the priest had doubts about the couplet, at least, he understood the logic of “better safe than sorry”. The goddess of creation’s cathedral stood quietly in the darkness with the red couplet inscribed by Raven 12345 on its door. The two deities completed their first divine interaction under this exceptional condition; the wind coefficient produced by their intertwining powers was enough to create at least 20,000 stars.

Hao Ren looked at it for a while and shook his head. “That looks like a festive atmosphere.”

The couplet exuded a faint white light in the darkness, warding off all evil.

Hao Ren and Calaxus took the soldiers from the Sanctum’s investigation team and the abhumans who had arrived near the crystal peak of Asurmen. They stopped on high ground, overlooking the foot of the sacred mountain.

The ugly monsters along the way are not worth mentioning here as they were just part of the hit statistics of Hao Ren’s Northstar.

Standing on high ground near Fidelinopolis, Hao Ren looked into the distance.

Asurmen was more majestic than he had imagined, but it was not a mountain in the ordinary sense.

Like a massive cluster of crystals planted on the earth, Asurmen stood at the center of a circular basin. Its white crystalline peak was steep and neat, and crystal columns of different heights formed the body of the eternal miracle. The sacred mountain was broad at the bottom and pointed at the top. There were floating shadows all around, and a crack could be vaguely seen at the peak.

Fidelinopolis used to be at the foot of Asurmen’s peak. But now, there were only craters and sporadic ruins.

As the old Bishop Holtzman said, 90% of Fidelinopolis was gone. The magnificent urban architecture had disappeared, and an unpleasant smell lingered in the air. Craters of various sizes dotted the three concentric zones around the foothill of Asurmen, as though hot molten iron had been poured into turpentine. The bottom of the craters, which had some suspiciously shiny solidified substance, shimmered with hot air.

“It looks like a meteorite shower destroyed the city,” Lily said in amazement. “Are those meteorite impact craters?”

Hao Ren poked his head out and took a look. “Only Y’zaks knows. He’s an expert in this field.”

Calaxus stood silently under the faint skylight, his face pale.

He had heard from Bishop Holtzman about the horrific destruction of Fidelinopolis, but he was shocked and horrified upon witnessing it in person.

Now, only his tenacious willpower as a senior priest kept him standing in the cold wind.

“That’s the Basilica Icon…” After a moment, Calaxus finally opened his mouth. With his finger, he pointed at the other side of a crater at the foot of the sacred mount of Asurmen. He even surprised himself with his hoarse voice. “The power center of the church.”

Hao Ren also saw the magnificent structure. It consisted of twin towers, something unique in the world of Collow. The lower part of the Basilica Icon was whitish-gold with a hall of multiple domes and walls. Its upper portion had two spires, which were connected by a long sky bridge at the top. So the entire Basilica Icon appeared like a large door.

Darkness had been shrouding this sacred place. The eternal holy light had vanished, leaving only a blanket of black fog hovering around the area.

Hao Ren squinted.

Not only ‘did darkness cover the Basilica Icon, Hao Ren saw a dim glow akin to evening twilight within the black fog.

Evil energy was diffusing out of the building.

“To go to Asurmen, we must first go through the Basilica Icon,” Calaxus said while he tried to suppress the sorrow in his heart. “There’s a platform in the Basilica Icon, where you can call out to the gatekeeper who will then open a portal to the interior of Asurmen. But I don’t know the gatekeeper’s situation now. She may not even respond to us.”

Hao Ren gave Lady Gloom a sideways glance before he went forward. “Let’s try.”

The Basilica Icon was exuding strong energy.

In the days of light, this energy came from sacredness, greatness, and the awe-inspiring atmosphere of the building itself. But now, people standing in front of the basilica only felt the rejection and fear of Chaos. The towering wall and the twin towers above it were still standing in the dark, but there was an impression that the structure was crumbling down, as though the building had become a ghost, twisting, shivering, and whimpering under the night sky.

After putting the illusion in the back of his mind, Hao Ren gathered his courage and led everyone towards the Basilica Icon.