Chapter 2258: Body in the Wall

Chapter 2258: Chapter 2258: Body in the Wall

"Oh~"

Emilia was startled by her own vivid imagination; upon closer inspection, it was clearly just a stain.

She nervously shifted her gaze, refusing to look over there again, but the thought that "there might be a corpse sealed inside the wall" erupted uncontrollably within her mind like wild grass after a spring rain.

This feeling was very strange, reminding her of three or four decades ago, when she was just an elf girl, hidden under her blanket at night, scaring herself.

But this time, although she had grown up, she no longer had a blanket to hide under. The more she thought about it, the more terrified she felt, and her body began to tremble due to this fear.

"Little Liana, I feel something is wrong."

When she managed to speak, even she was surprised by her own hoarse voice. That pure white little beast also sensed something was amiss, softly poked Emilia’s hand with its unicorn horn, and facing the wall with the stain, let out a bright sound.

Thus a golden glimmer burst from the unicorn horn, and even though it was just a young unicorn, its full display of holy power was still astonishing.

The spreading spirit and the thick whisper element that appeared unknowingly counteracted each other in the air at the base of the bell tower, yet this also caused the concealed relic to fully showcase its traits.

The golden light illuminated the surrounding walls, and Emilia clearly saw dozens of humanoid protrusions appearing on the walls at the base of the bell tower. The posture of these figures seemed forced, as if captured in the midst of struggling, embedded into the wall, and as Emilia noticed them, the elf girl instinctively wanted to enter the wall, then realized those humanoid protrusions were actually moving.

"Oh!"

She stood up from the chair in panic, the little unicorn continued to strive to make its horn glow to resist the power from the relic. Emilia knew what this was, after all, in this series of relics, this was the one she hadn’t encountered:

"[Body in the Wall], initially manifests by scaring victims through suggestions of a corpse inside the wall, then attracts victims to tear down the wall and seal themselves inside it; if one resists the spiritual suggestion, during the mid-phase, merely touching the wall will result in being actively absorbed into it; if one can remain away from walls and windows outside, then eventually, countless corpses will actively break through the wall... This is an angel-level relic."

She didn’t understand how, just after Shard left, such a powerful relic appeared immediately, having stayed at Belindel Estate for a week without any major incidents.

The little unicorn was slowly retreating now, as its immature self was not enough to directly fight against such a powerful relic. Emilia also realized this, she looked at the windows and doors, knowing she had no chance to leave through them.

Thus, clenching her teeth, she turned to the stairs and the lift, knowing that with the gas system temporarily inactive, the steam furnace likely wouldn’t be able to drive the lift. Her only choice was to ascend through the winding narrow staircase to the top of the bell tower, then leap down onto the open plaza.

In any case, she absolutely could not stay in place now. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

The unicorn’s power brought mental enhancement, double effect inherent with the angel-level relic’s spiritual pollution, had begun to manifest on Emilia. Resisting the urge to gaze at the wall to avoid being drawn in, she tugged at the little beast’s fur, and together they retreated towards the stairway.

The appearance of event-type relics like [Body in the Wall], usually requires a development process to become strongest, thus the wall upwards of the stairway remains normal for now, but those humanoid protrusions were moving towards them.

Emilia ran ahead, Little Liana behind her, they quickly ascended the stairs while those human-shaped protrusions within the wall accompanied by dense darkness chased after them.

The light emitted from the little unicorn had reached its limit, Emilia had also summoned her Ring of Fate, continuously casting Arcane Techniques on herself to maintain mental and physical stability, yet after only a few steps she felt she might actually be unable to escape this time. The Belindel Big Bell was so towering, they had no possibility of winning this race.

The spreading speed of the angel-level relic’s power was rapid, the elf girl had only just started the "Deathbed Memories", when unfortunately, her foot slipped and she fell on the steps. Instantly she felt her limbs growing numb, lying there, unable to rise.

The little unicorn anxiously called by her side, seeing the approaching darkness and those human-shaped protrusions within the wall, it lowered its head for Emilia to climb onto its back, then carried the paralyzed girl and quickly ran upstairs.

It possessed the ability to fly, but due to the relic’s influence on the entire bell tower, it couldn’t take flight here. The unicorn’s top running speed could even surpass a dragon’s flight speed, but in the narrow staircase, it could run only at a speed similar to Emilia’s normal running pace.

The anxious little beast tried to awaken stronger powers within itself, but it had already reached its limit.

The fastest moving humanoid within the wall had brought the dense, inescapable darkness to the side of the pure white little beast. The wall, like putty, was pressed outward by a hand from inside, and the wall wrapped around the arm extended towards Emilia.

Fortunately, the amulet around Emilia’s neck suddenly emitted a vibrant green glow, a breath of life that did not affect the Relic but swiftly replenished some strength to both Emilia and the Little Unicorn.

Before the hand within the wall could touch Emilia, the pure white little beast accelerated sharply, finally pulling away from the strange entity inside the wall. Emilia had also somewhat regained her ability to move, but the sharp-eared Elf girl couldn’t manage to get off the Unicorn’s back and remained carried away in its sprint.

The winding staircase inside the bell tower made Emilia dizzy and disoriented, yet she couldn’t discern whether this was due to the effect of the Relic. The chase continued, the darkness and those humanoids within the walls gaining speed.

The Little Unicorn raced desperately carrying Emilia upwards until, at the midpoint of the lighthouse, it stepped into thin air just as unlucky Emilia had done earlier, tumbling down the stairs. The two rolled together, and had Emilia not quickly supported her weight against the ground, her head would have almost hit the sidewall of the staircase.

"Little Liana~"

Ignoring her scraped elbow, knees, and forehead, the sharp-eared Elf girl painfully held her friend. The weak glimmer on the Little Unicorn’s body was fading, leaving it as immobile as Emilia had been earlier.

"Ang~"

Its azure eyes narrowed slightly, its head shook gently, and its feeble cries urged Emilia to continue upwards. But Emilia would not leave like this; she urgently looked at the spreading darkness below the spiral staircase, holding onto the Little Unicorn trying to pull it along.

Even though she summoned all her strength, they only managed to shift upwards five steps before she completely exhausted her energy.

The humanoid protrusion on the wall had bypassed the visual blind spot and was coming into Emilia’s view from below, amidst darkness. Unlike the mere protrusions seen at the bottom of the bell tower, the humanoid wall surface was now covered with dense cracks, spewing nauseating yellow-green fluid and tiny maggots continually from those gaps.

As the humanoid figures on the wall approached, Emilia saw that their path left behind continuous root-like fissures on the wall. Something concealed within those cracks made Emilia dare not even guess. Fueled by fear-born strength, she pulled the Little Unicorn up two more steps and truly couldn’t move any further.

Tears welled in her eyes, Emilia Xenode hugged her friend tightly, biting her lip as she looked downward, mustering the last of her courage to step in front of the Little Unicorn with her arms spread wide:

"This time, I’ll protect you."

The small Elf faced the darkness alone, yet amidst fear and grievance called out the name:

"Shard, save me."

Suddenly, a flash of red light sparked, triggered by the Relic sealing the space at the bottom of the bell tower. Flying outside the Belindel Big Bell as the Red Butterfly Incarnation, Shard finally seized the opportunity to use "Enhanced Spatial Awareness" to pinpoint an area not yet reached by the Relic’s sealing power.

He did not revert to human form outside the tower, instead forcefully using Lagre’s Leap in the form of the Red Butterfly Swarm. Therefore, in Emilia’s eyes, a large soul group of red butterflies appeared, engulfing her and the Little Unicorn tumbling on the stairs.

Before the spreading darkness and the hand stretching once more from inside the wall could reach them, the Relic "Body in the Wall" seemed intimidated by the red glimmer, retreating downward by at least ten steps. However, once Shard resumed his human form, its powers surged once more from the bottom of the bell tower like a wave.

"It sensed the power of Helen and Grace. ’Body in the Wall’ and ’Red Butterfly Twins’ are both Relics associated with urban legends and corpses, but clearly Grace and Helen are stronger."

If Shard summoned the Red Butterfly Sisters with the Butterfly Summoning Flute right now, the issue of "Body in the Wall" could be solved effortlessly, but Shard’s intention wasn’t to dispel this Relic.

It didn’t matter if the entity recognized that Shard wasn’t actually Grace or Helen, as he had already positioned himself between Emilia and the Little Unicorn. Holding the Angel-Level Relic "Night Watchman" with both hands, runes soaked in moonlight exuded a dazzling silver moonlight, illuminating the deep darkness below the stairs with the sweep of the longsword:

"Moonlight Slash!"