Chapter 746: The Devil’s Altar (Patreon)
Content
"Get out of the way!" Sirius waved his wand impatiently to disperse the owl ghosts in front of him.
Those ghosts didn’t have any attack power. They just looked at Evan and the others gloomily, their eyes shining with pain and hatred.
If they could, they would pounce like the ghost just now, tearing the three of them up. But they could do nothing.
They did nothing. In fact, those ghosts are also a group of unfortunate people. They were just ordinary servants of the castle. Most of them were not even wizards. They had been poisoned by that witch. After death, their souls had been detained here.
Until now, they had been controlled by the devil, unable to act according to their wishes and to rest in peace.
Evan couldn't help wondering who the devil that the ghosts couldn't even name was. Why couldn’t they mention that name, and what about the vows they'd made? And what did it mean by what it had just said? Was the devil watching them nearby?
Things became more mysterious. The castle was full of evil atmosphere, and in the darkness that could not be dispelled, the unknown power was gradually approaching...
"We’d better get out of here!" said Sirius, and there were more and more owls around.
Evan realized that his magic had disturbed the souls of the past and made them restless.
"Well, let's go and take a look at the dungeon." He nodded.
Evan didn't want to wait until all the owls in the castle gathered here. Although they didn’t have any offensive capabilities, they felt uncomfortable at the thought that they were actually human souls.
Passing through a corridor full of spider webs, they found the entrance to the dungeon in the wine cellar on the innermost side of the kitchen.
In fact, that was probably the most eerie spot in the whole castle. The narrow arched door was a rusty iron fence lying on the ground. It seemed like it had been pushed by some monster, twisted and deformed. It was full of dark brown blood stains.
Across the iron fence, Evan walked into the crypt, which was divided into small rooms to hold prisoners.
But now, this place was no longer a dungeon, but a huge family tomb. Appearing in front of them were many coffins carved from stone, scattered everywhere.
The patterns carved on the coffins were very simple, and the workmanship was also very rough, which showed that the status of the funeral was not high.
They moved on and entered a boxy hall.
The surrounding walls were recessed inward, and the space for placing things was carved out. On top of them were human bones. They were there, wrapped in rags, straw mats and the like. Most of them had been corroded and weathered, or eaten by rats, insects and other creatures. However, there were still a few mummies.
In the light of the wand, Evan saw a skeleton facing him, with two dark holes in its eyes.
In such a terrifying atmosphere, even the air became thin and turbid.
"It used to be the dungeon of the fortress where prisoners of war were held, but then many people died in this place, all of them died overnight. Because there was no place to bury them, they were all left here," said Hélène in a low voice for fear of disturbing anything. "I haven't been in here before, but people who have come here haven't found anything. There is nothing in this place besides corpses and bones."
"Where’s the altar the woman talked about?" Sirius looked around.
"It might be hidden somewhere. Since it is the source of the curse, it can't be laying out there," said Evan. "Let’s look first for any strange things. I always have a bad feeling that someone is watching us ..."
He looked at the stone coffin in front of him. There was no nameplate on it. He could not see who was buried in it.
Since entering the castle, Evan felt something hiding in the dark and watching them, but he found nothing. Besides the three of them, there was no one around.
"Well, we'd better hurry up. Those damn owl ghosts are coming back!" Sirius looked back.
The three of them checked separately and did not go too far away.
They were all in a stone chamber, and if something went wrong, they couldn’t just call to get immediate help.
A few minutes later, Evan was next to a coffin, and he found a boxy hole that went straight down, and only a very thick rope falling on it. He poked his wand down, read a spell, and at the end of the wand came out a ball of light.
The ball of light kept falling down for a long time before it stopped. It was about fifty feet deep below…
What was this place for? Evan was hesitating whether to go down.
That rope was obviously not a product that the castle should have. It looked newer than everything else…
Judging from the nearby traces, it seemed that not long ago, something went down through this rope!
When Evan was about to call Sirius and Hélène over, he looked up and saw something appearing beside him.
It was a small owl ghost with a translucent pale blue body, just the size of his palm, and it was looking at him.
After seeing Evan notice it, the owl spread its wings and flew to his shoulder. Then it flew down again and landed on Evan’s outstretched palm.
"Do you have anything to tell me?" Evan asked, that ghost was behaving so strangely!
The little owl nodded to answer Evan’s question. It had not lost its mind, nor was there hatred in its eyes, nor was it influenced by demons.
"Hold on, I'll draw the magic runes to help you restore your original form!" said Evan cheerfully.
He raised his wand, feeling that he would learn vital information from this owl.
But the owl didn't wait for him. Instead, it spread its wings and flew to the distance, and kept turning back to signal that Evan would follow.
It flew to the burial chamber on the left and disappeared into an inward sunken compartment on a wall.
"Is there anything in it?" Evan bent down and looked inside...
The next second, he saw a mummified corpse staring at him with big, hollow eyes, its mouth wide open and its face ferocious and horrible.
Evan stepped back, only to see the little blue owl poking its head from under the corpse's skirt, looking at him anxiously, as though urging him to move faster. Under the mummy, there was an inward slowly extending tunnel.
Evan hesitated for a moment, and then crawled in, through the body into a small secret chamber.
In the center of the room, he saw an altar at a glance, the altar that summoned the devil, the source of all evil in the castle...