Release That Witch

All the horror stories that she had heard from some other explorers flashed upon her mind. No matter it was a devil crawling out of the abyss, a ghost bearing a grudge or a lingering deathless, it would be an explorer's nightmare. A monster like that could kill a person simply by looking into his eyes and was good at creating illusions and deluding people. She was afraid that there was such a monster in this monument.     

Despite that her father Thunder had told her that those stories were just nonsense made up by the worst explorers, she still got cold feet at this moment. "If it's not a monster, then what's it? Who can keep shouting inside in the same tone and at the same frequency for several months while being besieged by demons."     

She was faced with difficult choices. If it was a monster who had killed all the demons inside, going there would get herself killed by it, too. If it was someone who had been fighting against demons till now, there must be some demons that she never wanted to meet. She could hardly make a decision.     

After a little hesitation, she decided to fly back to discuss with Maggie first.     

Hearing what Lightning said about the situation inside, Maggie lifted her head, saying, "We can put out the torch and sneak in. This way, the demons can't see us."     

"Uhm, but we can't see them, either."     

"I can transform into an owl." The pigeon rubbed the little girl's face. "By doing so, I can see everything in the darkness, coo."     

Lightning's eyes shone and agreed. "That's a good idea, but... those legendary evil things have lived in the darkness for their whole life. They must be able to find preys in the dark. Otherwise, they've already starved to death."     

"Didn't you say that those stories were just made up to scare people?"     

"It's not me, it's my dad." The little girl corrected.     

"It's all the same to me. Anyway, I've never heard of any immortal monster in the Kingdom of Graycastle. If they're really that powerful, they should not just exist in the Fjords." A light shone in Maggie and the pigeon swiftly swelled into an owl, eyes filled with excitement. "I thought that you were quite interested in those stories."     

"Yes, a qualified explorer should never miss a chance to verify a story. I'm here to overcome my fear. I'll waste all my previous efforts if I escape now." After a moment of hesitation, Lightning decided to do as what Maggie had suggested.     

"But, wait... I'm here to overcome my fear, but what makes Maggie so interested in exploring this relic? Is it.."     

"Do you hurry to get inside because of the basket of eggs?     

The owl blinked her round eyes at the little girl and then turned her head aside.     

…     

Lightning came to the entrance of the basement again. She took several deep breaths and then crept into the deep darkness, tightly holding the revolver in hand.     

She felt much calmer this time with Maggie on her shoulder.     

The floor was wet, with puddles here and there. As this basement was located in a low-lying place, all the rain fell into the tower would end up flowing down here. Usually, a drainage system would be built for a basement to drain off the water, but after hundreds of years, most of the ditches here must have been blocked already.     

Maggie patted Lightning's head with a wing to suggest her be careful of the stairs in front of her.     

Lightning slowed down to fumble for the edge of the stair and then stepped down. After she took a turn, she saw some light in a sudden.     

This dim yellow light coming from the end of the stairs even made the floor gleam.     

She fixed her eyes on the floor for a moment and found that it was just shimmering sewage water down there. It submerged part of the door frame. Judging from that, she knew that the water inside the basement might at least be able to submerge her knees if she walked into it.     

Given that, she flew up and slowly moved to the door after she came to the stair parallel to the water's surface. She popped her head in and looked about.     

It was an incredibly large room behind the door, which was far more spacious than the space inside the tower above the ground. She did not see any burning torch, but some stones embedded in the wall were giving out yellow light, making it possible for her to roughly see everything inside.     

A raised stone stage stood in the center of the room with some standing figures on it. Judging from the big and muscular bodies and the shells on their backs, she was sure that they were demons. They had not yet noticed the girl and the owl. Instead, they were surrounding a blue stone cuboid with large shields and long spears in their hands.     

At this moment, the cries for help were getting more and more clear. They now sounded as if someone were talking right next to her ear.     

"Help me, help me..."     

Lightning swallowed hard. "What should I do next?"     

"We..."     

"Go and save her right now," Maggie whispered in her ear.     

"What?" The little girl was startled. "But there're several demons inside... we can't beat them!" She felt her hand holding the gun was sweaty now. "If Sister Nightingale was here, it would be alright, but I... can't do this by myself."     

"Are they the demons you're talking about?" Maggie tilted her head and said, "They all seem to be dead, coo."     

"What? Dead?"     

Maggie had flown toward the high stage before Lightning's voice faded away, leaving her to stand agape in the place. The little girl was so frightened at the moment that she even forgot to reach out her hand to grab Maggie back. When she finally began to take it in, Maggie had already flung herself to a demon. The little girl gnashed her teeth and followed the owl with a gun in her hand, repeating to herself the shooting tricks that Nightingale had taught her.     

Surprisingly, she saw the demon collapse in a sudden, like a weather-beaten rock. The owl smashed it in an instant simply by pecking at it.     

"What's... going on?" Lightning landed beside Maggie and looked at the other three demons in surprise.     

Standing on the stage, she could clearly saw the cracks over all their bodies and broken spiderwebs between their legs. Through their ferocious masks, she saw their eyes and skins were pale and gray, showing no trace of life. Now she finally saw why Maggie said that, as in dim light the owl's vision was much better than that of hers.     

When she was about to relax, another thing suddenly caught her attention.     

Seen from afar, the big cuboid surrounded by the demons on this stage resembled a stone pillar, but it turned out to be transparent at close range. Inside it, stood a woman dressed in radiant garment. She closed her eyes and opened both of her hands. Her long blue hair flew backward, as if it were blown up by wind.     

"Is she a witch?" Maggie flew to the top of the crystal cuboid and pecked at it heavily, making loud and clear knocking sounds. However, it did not crack with the sounds.     

"I don't know," Lightning muttered. As soon as she put her hand on it, she felt a piercing coldness. It was obvious that this woman must have stayed in this "stone coffin" which was covered with a thick layer of dust for a very long time, but she looked as if she was still alive. With her eyebrows knitted tightly and her eyebrow tails raised, she seemed anxious and worried.     

"Help me..."     

Again, Lightning heard the familiar voice coming from behind the crystal cuboid.