Chapter 506: Secret Room

“Necromancy…”

Sean grew thoughtful.

‘Looks like this Potter Family is no simple matter.’

Necromancy, also known as Undead Magic, was one of the most formidable of the Twelve Paths. In terms of raw combat power, the Necromancy Path’s ability to resurrect the dead easily placed it in the top three.

In the Era of Polymath, the Church Court strictly forbade all Wizards from learning it—unless you first swore allegiance to the Church Court.

In other words, the secrets of Necromancy had always been in the hands of the Church Court, and they were typically taught only to military generals. On the battlefield, a thousand-man legion could have the impact of tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of soldiers.

When Wendos said their enemies multiplied the more they fought, he wasn’t kidding.

The Necromancy Path was the quintessential form of Magic that allowed a few Wizards to defeat a larger force. At the Forbidden Spell Level, it became even more terrifying—a single person could become an army.

But unfortunately, they were few in number.

Just three of them.

Wendo’s concern was unnecessary.

They were strangers in a strange land; even if they wanted to call for backup, they had none.

“Thanks for the heads-up.” Sean waved his phone. “I’ve already transferred the money.”

“So you’ve decided to go to the church after all?” Wendos asked.

“Of course.” Sean said with a smile. “Whether it’s a dragon’s lake or a tiger’s lair, we have to go see for ourselves what’s happening.”

“Fine.” Wendos said no more. “Just remember, if you end up getting chased, don’t run in my direction.”

“I won’t see you out.”

With that, Wendos retracted his limbs and reverted to his guise as a malfunctioning vending machine.

He still needed to tell his colleague to come wipe the surveillance footage soon. If someone discovered that he, a vending machine, had fully functional limbs, he’d be in big trouble.

After leaving the convenience store, Sean and the others heeded the warning, not looking for more people to question. Instead, they returned directly to the hotel.

The receptionist at the front desk was a different woman, though she was just as fair-skinned and beautiful as the last.

‘A three-shift system for William Castle seems a bit unreasonable,’ Sean thought, but he had no time to dwell on such things. His mind was completely fixed on the church.

The moment they were back in the room with the door locked, Elvire asked, “This passage you’ve been talking about—you don’t think it’s hidden inside that church, do you?”

“It’s possible,” Sean nodded. “In fact, it’s very likely.”

But there was one thing that didn’t add up.

‘The passage they were looking for was the one Chris used to get from the Farm World to the “New World.” If the passage was inside the church, how did Chris ever manage to escape?’

This question had troubled him more than once. He’d spent the last few days mulling it over whenever he had a spare moment, trying to find a logical explanation, but he kept coming up empty.

The passage connecting the two sides of the continent was a secret that was supposed to be kept from the people of both worlds. The Church Court would have no reason to spare a Wizard who had accidentally stumbled from the Farm World into the “New World.”

“What if there’s more than one passage in this area?”

Elise offered a new theory.

“Suppose there are two passages. The Church Court guards one, but they don’t know about the other. Wouldn’t that explain everything?”

On the surface, that made sense.

But on closer inspection, it didn’t really hold up.

The entire Empire belonged to the Church Court. There shouldn’t be anything on this continent that the Church Court didn’t know about, especially something as significant as a passage between worlds. After all, it concerned two completely different worlds. If exposed, it could have an irreversible, negative impact on the faith of the populace—the very thing the Church Court valued most. No matter how careless they might be otherwise, the Church Court wouldn’t make a mistake on that front.

But aside from the two-passage theory, there seemed to be no other reasonable explanation.

“Forget it. Let’s not overthink this.”

Sean shook his head. “Let’s figure out what’s going on with the church first.”

‘Whether there’s one passage or two, there ought to be one in the church.’

At least, that’s what Sean concluded based on the information from Wendos.

‘The “secret room” explanation felt a bit forced.’

People have to eat, after all. Even if they were hiding in a secret room, the church’s food supply would have to increase along with the number of people. Wendos and his colleague had been in Cadola Royal City for years; if there had been any change in food shipments, they would have noticed by now and would have surely mentioned it.

Therefore, Sean was more inclined to believe that these people, and the items they were escorting, were being sent to the Farm World through a passage hidden inside the church.

“So, our goal for tonight is to find this passage?” Elvire asked.

Sean nodded. “Mhm.”

“And then what?” Elvire seemed confused. “So what if we find the passage? It’s not like we can use it.”

If this were the Farm World, their Dawn Council could rally a few Wizard Organizations and maybe seize the passage by force. But this wasn’t the Farm World; this was the “New World,” crawling with Grand Mages. If they took down the church today, the Church Court would make them understand tomorrow that Cadola Royal City was not some lawless frontier and that they should watch their step.

Besides, the three of them—one Tier Three and two Tier Sixes—couldn’t take down the church anyway.

Forget about seizing the passage; they’d be lucky to get out alive.

Sean, however, had another idea.

“We can slip through,” he said.

Elvire: “?”

“Slip through?”

“The passage?”

“Yes.”

Sean said, “Aren’t you curious what kind of… chemical reaction might occur if we, who came here via the Fallen Nether Technique, return through a normal passage?”

Elvire: “…”

Elise: “…”

To be honest, they weren’t curious.

Because curiosity killed the cat.

While they wouldn’t truly die, their souls could be severely damaged as a result. It was better not to attempt such a thing without absolute certainty.