Chapter 1298 - The Swallowed Reality (1/2)

In Collow, Sanctum was undoubtedly the heart and sacred place of the goddess of creation. Almost everything in the land served its religious beliefs. The cathedral was the religious, cultural, and administrative center. The church was the source of education, the clergy was responsible for the management of Sanctum, while the religious building was the most magnificent and complex facility in the Theocracy.

The underground of the cathedral of Louen was not just a crypt but an oversized facility, an underground palace.

The bishop brought Hao Ren and the others came to the entrance of the underground palace, which was right behind the sanctuary, and then walking down a stone ramp and arrived at the underground part of the cathedral a few minutes later. Hao Ren saw a straight and wide corridor extending in front of him. On both sides of the hallway were more corridors and rooms. There was no sunlight here, but shimmering milky-white crystals inlaid on the walls illuminated this place, which was even brighter than the outside.

Almost all of the survivors, in large numbers, were in the underground palace. People, with a look of panic and horror on their faces, wrapped in clothes and blankets, surrounded by family members, were in the corridor. Most of the people had only a few carry-on luggage and small boxes, and some even had nothing. These people left their homes and evacuated in a hurry.

The survivors looked up when they noticed someone coming down from the surface — their eyes, even those of the children, were filled with curiosity, doubts, and nervousness.

“What happened here?” Calaxus could not help but mutter.

“The shield of Asurmen has disappeared, darkness rushed in, and the Nightmares quickly swallowed everyone in the sleep.” The middle-aged bishop who led the way said in a whisper. “Half of the people in the city became the seedbeds of the Nightmares overnight. When we realized what happened, it was too late. It was a strange incident. Your Holiness, His Holiness Holtzman will explain the incident to you.”

The group moved deeper into the underground palace corridor and finally arrived at a chapel. The sacred light of this chapel was still burning, its soft light filled shone through the window of the chapel out into the underground shelter.

In the chapel, an old archbishop, white-haired, was leading a few assistants to perform a sacred ceremony. After it ended, the archbishop turned his head around and saw Hao Ren and Calaxus.

“Cardinal Calaxus,” Archbishop Holtzman greeted. Holtzman was older than Calaxus, but in terms of official position, he was only an archbishop of a diocese, ranked lower to Cardinal Calaxus of Basilica Icon. “I know you and your investigation team. I was in the Basilica Icon when you set off,” Archbishop Holtzman said.

“Archbishop Holzman.” Calaxus nodded back. “I know you too. Your diligence and piety are highly acclaimed in Basilica Icon.

Calaxus briefly introduced Hao Ren, Lily, and Lady Gloom, but did not elaborate on their identities. The cardinal only guaranteed in the name of the goddess that the three of them were trustable allies. “Archbishop, what happened here? How Sanctum fell in just a month?”

“Everything happened quickly within a few days.” The old archbishop shook his head, his face paled. As Bishop Bernstein said earlier, the old archbishop seemed to have been mentally affected by the Nightmares and now was a little wilting. “In the month after your departure, the situation in Sanctum deteriorated, but it was not uncontrollable. Until seven days ago, things suddenly went out of hand.”

“What was going on?” Hao Ren looked somber.

“The light of Asurmen suddenly dimmed. Large holes appeared in the shield above Sanctum, from where the Chaos rushed in, causing massive casualties.” The old archbishop coughed violently. When the archbishop finally calmed down, he continued. “We managed to push back the first wave of attacks. The ecclesiastical guards paid a high price before destroying the monster of Chaos that came through the holes in the shield, and barely keeping the shield working again. But in the evening, we have encountered another wave of attacks. This time, it was unstoppable—it happened in the dream.

In dream–the words instantly registered in Hao Ren’s mind. It reminded him about the outposts wiped out by the Nightmares in the forest at the western front of Taros, and the Shadow of Nightmares that Lily had captured. “The people were mentally attacked in their sleep and then killing themselves after that?”

The old archbishop immediately turned his head. “How do you know that?”

“A similar thing happened on other continents.” Hao Ren briefly described the disasters of Nightmares at the border of Taros. “But I didn’t know the same thing has happened to Sanctum.”