Lord of the Mysteries Chapter 1432 END - 1432 Bonus Chapter: That Corner (2)

1432 Bonus Chapter: That Corner (2)

Parvi stole a glance at him.

“People are missing!”

“No, no, no, that isn’t it. I’m well aware of that.” Weimer shook his head firmly.

Suddenly, his eyes brightened.

“I know what’s actually missing!”

“What?” Captain Gray and First Mate Ol’ Keaton echoed in unison.

Weimer let out a laugh.

“Currency, banknotes, and gold coins!”

He stood straighter and elaborated, “Though we haven’t gone inside every house to conduct a thorough search, my experience tells me that if we just looked from the threshold, we should have spotted some. But there is absolutely nothing at all!”

“Maybe the locals here simply weren’t wealthy and didn’t have the habit of leaving money lying around.” Parvi remained unconvinced.

This wasn't a pressing issue, so their group quickly shifted their focus. Upon entering the municipal square, their eyes were drawn to the tallest structure.

It was a cathedral topped with a black spire.

Mushrooms grew with incredible tenacity from the cracks between the cathedral’s bricks. Some were plain and simple, while others were vivid and colorful. As they clustered together, they projected a presence that demanded attention amidst the thick green vines.

“This location appears to have been abandoned for even longer than the rest,” Parvi paused before continuing, “Based on the architectural style, this resembles a cathedral of the Goddess. Do the residents here also worship the Goddess?”

She found this thought quite strange.

The inhabitants of such an isolated island and bizarre town seemed to hold faith in the Evernight Goddess…

Ol’ Keaton studied the building for a few heartbeats before remarking, “It appears so.”

He then quickly added, “It feels as though the closer we get to the square and the cathedral, the longer it seems to have been deserted.”

Whether it was the weeds overtaking the road, the lush greenery blanketing the buildings, or the diverse array of mushrooms, they grew increasingly dense as they reached the town’s center. The cathedral itself looked as if it were draped in a green mantle riddled with speckled holes.

After a brief silence, Parvi proposed, “Let’s head to the cathedral. As long as the Goddess is still watching over this land, there shouldn’t be any truly grave dangers there.”

Captain Gray and Ol’ Keaton offered no objections, though the former reminded them of the established rules for this exploration.

“Once we enter the cathedral, use only your eyes to observe and your ears to listen. Do not interfere with anything else.”

“Understood.” Weimer led the way toward the cathedral on the side of the square.

Seeing this, Parvi had no choice but to trace a circle on her chest, silently seeking the protection of the Goddess.

With time running short, the four of them quickened their pace and soon stood at the cathedral’s entrance.

They didn't immediately push the doors open; instead, they each scanned the area individually.

“Very quiet,” Captain Gray concluded.

The others agreed, noting that they hadn't encountered any red flags.

The black door of the cathedral was slightly ajar. Weimer applied pressure, and it creaked open slowly.

The base of Captain Gray’s black eye patch flared with light, allowing him to pierce through the gloom inside.

The hall was empty, devoid of any tables or chairs. Light filtered through high windows on either side, while a dark crimson glow loomed overhead.

Drip, drip, drip. Drops of a viscous, pale-yellow liquid fell from the ceiling like rain, creating the eerie impression that the dome was severely compromised and currently enduring a storm.

Before Gray could even utter a warning, he witnessed the thick, nauseating liquid pool on the floor.

The puddles began to writhe and bubble incessantly.

As the bubbles burst, deformed babies—their skin slick and coated in pale yellow filth—began to crawl out.

These creatures grew at an alarming rate, dripping more of the thick yellow fluid, which in turn spawned more puddles and intensified the bubbling frenzy…

“Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!”

They started to wail.

The mere sight of this caused blood to leak from Gray’s eyes. His eye patch darkened to a deep red, as if he were being moved to tears by the miraculous but horrific birth of life.

His mind went blank. He felt as if his own body were hosting the birth of something new.

The sharp sensation of pain jolted him back to reality, and he instinctively retreated a step.

The vision before Gray vanished, returning to the normal, empty cathedral hall with its neglected windows and grand, towering dome. There was no falling yellow liquid, no deformed infants, and no bubbling puddles.

“Huff, puff,” Gray panted, struggling for breath.

A second later, he turned and bellowed, “Run!”

Thud, thud, thud! Gray sprinted out of the municipal square.

He didn’t spare a glance for Parvi, Ol’ Keaton, or Weimer.

It was a testament to his responsibility as a captain that he even managed to shout a warning to his team in such a desperate moment.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Gray didn't dare slow down. Relying on his robust physique despite his impaired vision, he bolted out of the strange town, pushed through to the makeshift port, and scrambled onto his ship.

Ol’ Keaton, Parvi, and Weimer stumbled back to the vessel less than ten seconds later.

“Set sail!” Gray commanded.

Only after the ship was underway did Gray bother to inspect his wounds. He reached up to his eye, instantly feeling moisture against his touch.

However, when he pulled his hand away, he saw it wasn’t blood—it was just tears.

He had been weeping uncontrollably throughout his frantic escape.

Gray’s brow furrowed, caught between shock and suspicion.

Moments later, he confirmed he was physically unharmed.

“What did you all see?” He turned to address Ol’ Keaton and the others.

Weimer blinked back at the captain, his eyes bloodshot as if he, too, had been crying.

He spoke with lingering terror, “I saw fireballs. One after another.

“They plummeted from the roof with a whoosh and then detonated! The light—my eyes were blinded by the brilliance. No, I thought I was already blind! Then I felt as though I were melting. It was agonizing. Truly agonizing.”

Weimer let out a shaky breath.

“Fortunately, you woke me up at that exact moment, Captain.”

He rubbed his eyes, his expression a mix of bewilderment and relief. “I’m fine now. I couldn't stop crying at first, but the feeling faded. It was like a nightmare.”

His tone suggested the experience had felt disturbingly real, leaving him rattled despite the relief of having woken up.

Captain Gray nodded and carefully checked Weimer’s eyes.

Convinced the man was truly unharmed, he turned to First Mate Ol’ Keaton.

“And you?”

Ol’ Keaton stared back at the receding coastline and the shrinking port, speaking in a haunted, reminiscent tone.

“The entire cathedral collapsed. I fell into the depths with the pillars and stones collapsing around me.

“It felt bottomless. My head, my flesh, and my limbs were falling at different velocities, pulling against one another. It hurt… the pain was unbearable.”

The loose skin and deep wrinkles on Ol’ Keaton’s face trembled, as if he lacked the strength to recount the experience further.

He exhaled slowly before adding,

“My entire frame felt as if it were being torn apart. Then, it was as though invisible hands grabbed me, forcing my limbs, head, and skin back into my torso with immense pressure…

“I just wanted to die to end the pain. Thankfully, you snapped me out of it, Captain.”

Weimer sighed heavily.

“That sounds even worse than my experience. If the Captain hadn't woken you, you might have ended up as a pile of blood-soaked meatball.”

Parvi, who had been listening intently, interjected with a note of gratitude, “I fared much better than that.

“I only saw darkness—a kind of darkness that brought me peace.

“I simply fell asleep. It felt like I was back in my own bed until you woke me up, Captain.”

Captain Gray nodded slowly.

“It seems we each experienced something unique. At least we escaped without any physical injuries.”

“It was likely just extreme psychological stress,” Ol’ Keaton concluded.

He then offered his own theory.

“We were likely under some illusion or hallucinatory trap. Given that everyone has a different psyche, our minds manifested those fears in different ways.”

Before Ol’ Keaton could finish, Parvi blurted out, “Mushrooms! Could it be the mushrooms? They were definitely the most unsettling aspect of the place!”

“Yes, that must be it!” Weimer agreed, reeling from the sudden realization.

It was common knowledge that specific mushrooms could induce vivid hallucinations if ingested. In such an abnormal place, it was entirely plausible that merely being in close proximity to those fungi had affected them.

Captain Gray recalled the atmosphere carefully and mused, “That is possible. There was a very faint, sweet odor lingering in the air… the scent of those fungi?”

…

Deep within the town of Utopia, upon the surface of the cathedral allegedly belonging to the Church of Evernight, the mushrooms suddenly pulsed with life.

They writhed violently, spewing out massive clouds of spores. Before these spores could settle, they had already matured into more mushrooms in mid-air, which in turn released their own spores.

And in the spaces between the black bricks—the nexus of the fungi and green vines—pale-white, tiny, baby-like deformed palms pushed their way through.

Without a sound, the entire cathedral slumped inward, revealing a bottomless pit in the foundation.

This massive chasm expanded rapidly, consuming the surrounding structures and shattering them into debris.

Elsewhere in the town, large swathes of housing that had stood intact moments ago vanished entirely, replaced by massive shards of colorful, glass-like residue.

Deep underground, muffled sounds echoed in rapid succession.

Within seconds, a total, eerie silence descended over the area.

Buildings rose from the earth once more, and the town regained its former appearance as if it possessed a perverse, inherent vitality.

The furnishings within the homes remained identical to how they had been before, yet there were subtle, jarring shifts in the details. Items that were on the left were now on the right, and what had been distant was now unsettlingly close.

…

Late that night, aboard the ship.

Weimer, unable to drift off due to the haunting memories of the day, walked onto the deck to breathe in the damp sea breeze.

“Still awake?” He spotted the boatswain, Parvi.

Parvi, still in her daytime attire, stared out at the dark, vast ocean and murmured,

“I intended to sleep, but the moment I closed my eyes, specific details started coming back to me.”

“What details?” Weimer inquired, his curiosity piqued.

Parvi’s features were bathed in the crimson moonlight as she replied, “There was something hidden within that darkness in the cathedral…”

Without waiting for further prompting, she whispered to herself in a dreamy, vacant tone,

“There were countless skeletons. Some belonged to children, others to infants. A few were normal, while others looked like twisted monsters. They were everywhere, packed into the shadows.

“And in the depths of that darkness, there seemed to be a raven watching.”