Goddess Kaleidoscope

Just then, the magic lamps in everyone's hands suddenly went out, and darkness instantly engulfed everyone.

In the darkness, the female adventurer suddenly let out a piercing scream, followed by gasps from the members of the reconnaissance team. The young leader felt someone suddenly shove him hard from behind, with a force beyond imagination. Even he, a warrior who had practiced advanced martial arts, staggered several meters away and almost fell headfirst to the ground.

Once he had a firm footing, he had already created some distance between himself and his teammates.

Where are you all? Is everyone alright?

"I'm fine, but suddenly I can't use my divine magic."

"Me too, magic isn't working either."

In the darkness, the voices of a man and a woman came from their companions. Judging from the location of the voices, the young leader was about seven or eight meters away from him. He wanted to rush over, but hesitated as soon as he lifted his foot because he was not sure if there were any other traps in the room.

Left with no other choice, the young man could only remind his teammates to stay put and not move around. This suddenly appearing secret room was clearly strange. The priests and mages in the team had their powers sealed, and the magic lamps in everyone's hands had inexplicably broken. For a moment, they had no means of lighting.

In such pitch-black darkness, no matter how strong a person's will is, their anxiety will increase rapidly over time.

Just as everyone was at a loss, a very slight scraping sound suddenly came from the darkness, followed by a small flame appearing in the darkness, illuminating a small area. This sudden light instantly attracted everyone's attention, and they discovered that the faint light was made by the female adventurer they had rescued.

The young man recognized the small, burning wooden stick in the other person's hand; it was a kind of fire-starting tool called a match. He had only seen it in Pine Town, where it was sold cheaply at the local general store. He had bought a box to play with, finding the little gadget interesting, but not as sophisticated as magic. Little did he know that this little thing would become their only source of light.

The match's glow lasted only a short time; the faint light went out again in less than two seconds. Then, the slight scraping sound returned to the darkness, but what puzzled the young man was that the female adventurer, who had been constantly muttering to herself, was now unusually quiet.

In the darkness, the sound of the match striking against the ground continued at a steady pace, but no light appeared. A strange sense of anxiety welled up in the young man's heart. He wished he could rush over right now and snatch the match from the clumsy woman's hand and take it for himself.

Unable to bear the torment and mental agitation, the young man finally couldn't help but speak up.

"Hey! It's just striking a match, are you even capable of it?"

Hearing the young man's somewhat impatient words, the sound of a match striking in the darkness abruptly stopped. The young man felt a little uneasy and was about to speak again when he heard another strike in the darkness, and a dim yellow light reappeared, suddenly appearing in front of him from several meters away.

The female adventurer who struck the match teleported silently to his side. Their faces were less than ten centimeters apart, and in the light of the match, her otherwise beautiful face was shrouded in a terrifying and eerie aura.

End of this chapter

At the central camp, Lud, who was pretending to rest, quietly opened one eye and looked around. Not far from him, Li Wei and the others were still engrossed in playing cards, unaware that he had secretly gone outside for a stroll through "astral projection".

More than an hour later, the four reconnaissance teams that went out returned one after another. Although at first glance everyone seemed to be safe and sound, their mental state was obviously not very good.

Several squad leaders stammered as they tried to explain to Celica that they had encountered something "unspeakable" while exploring the maze. Although their experiences differed, they had all been thoroughly terrified. This left Celica and her companions who stayed behind quite puzzled. What on earth could have frightened their normally brave teammates to such an extent?

At this moment, Lud, who had been listening silently to the story, spoke up.

"I think they must have encountered an evil spirit."

"An evil spirit?"

"It's a monster that's similar to an undead, but not quite. These monsters aren't common; they feed on the fear of the living, so they love to scare people. The one you encountered before was probably one of them."

The well-informed Lu De gave everyone a briefing on what evil spirits are, and said that such monsters are not common, and he has only encountered them a few times in his long life of traveling around the country.

Evil spirits differ from undead spirits. The latter are transformed from living people after death. Because they possessed strong spiritual power in life, their souls remain even after the physical body perishes. Therefore, magicians are among the high-risk groups for becoming undead. A few exceptionally powerful beings may even awaken special abilities after becoming undead.

In the early stages of transformation, many spirits, because they have not yet lost their reason and know that they will harm the living, will either actively seek out places to hide or simply seek out priests to ask them to purify them.

Only spirits with unresolved grudges or those that have gone mad from existing for too long will actively attack the living. These kinds of spirits are generally called "evil spirits" or "vengeful spirits".

But evil spirits are different. No one knows where they come from, but it is certain that they are not human. These monsters are the embodiment of evil will; they have no physical form and do not even have a fixed appearance like the undead.

These evil spirits feed on the fear of the living, so the more people fear them, the stronger they become. When a person's will is broken, they will take over the body and use it to do evil.

Furthermore, Lud told everyone that evil spirits are almost impossible to kill, only to be driven away as much as possible. He had always suspected that the true forms of these monsters were not in this world, but rather "projections" from other planes. Divine magic could not cause them any real harm; they had to first find out their names before they could use divine magic to force them back to their own world.

The premise that Lude brought up is a common trope in many horror movies and novels on Earth, but for the people in this other world, it's a "brand new version" they've never seen before. The key is that it sounds very convincing and impressive.

Don't be fooled by the fact that there are real monsters and demons in this world. When it comes to scaring people, horror movie directors on the other side of the world can beat them by a mile!

After hearing Lud's account, everyone's expressions turned grim. According to him, these evil spirits wouldn't confront them directly, but rather lurk in the shadows, using underhanded tactics to torment their will. Their prized swords and magic were utterly ineffective against them.

In this perilous maze, everyone has to carefully deal with all sorts of ingenious traps and mechanisms, and also be wary of evil spirits scaring people. Just thinking about it is enough to give anyone a headache.

It felt like playing a video game. I thought I was playing "God of War" and would have a thrilling and exhilarating battle, but when I entered the game, it turned out to be "Outlast". All I could think about was "Damn it, refund my money".

Selica pondered for a moment, then asked Lud for advice.

"Master, are there any effective preventative measures?"

"As I said before, evil spirits feed on fear. Their attacks are divided into three stages. The first stage is manifestation, actively displaying their existence, like what the reconnaissance team encountered. But at this stage, they are still very weak and can only scare people without causing any real harm. When their power grows to a certain level, they will enter the second stage, which is harassment. During this period, they become able to manipulate some objects, so their pranks will be further upgraded. Their goal is to torment the target's mind and break their will. But as long as we muster up the courage and are not afraid, it will be difficult for the evil spirits to increase their power."

"So, as long as we're not afraid, those evil spirits can't do anything to us, is that right?"

"Yes, that is indeed the case in theory."

After briefly explaining the situation, Celica thought for a moment and realized that it was no longer suitable to split up and act separately. Just then, one of the reconnaissance teams said that although they were terrified by the evil spirit, they had also accidentally discovered the path to the BOSS room. So, after a short rest, the group set off for their target location.

Along the way, the atmosphere in the team was somewhat oppressive. Although the team members who had gone out to scout had been comforted and cared for by Selica, the divine magic could only eliminate the fear, but could not erase the memories themselves.

Therefore, everyone awkwardly discovered that the more "kindly" Master Lude reminded them not to overthink, the more they couldn't control themselves, and their minds kept replaying the "ghostly scenes" they had encountered before, thus deepening their memories!

As the group walked, a priestess in the center of the procession suddenly let out a piercing scream, which startled everyone present.

Rudd rushed to the priestess's side immediately, first casting a mental calming spell to help her regain her composure, before asking her a question.

"Did you just see something?"

"I...I just glimpsed a figure over there...it's the female adventurer we rescued before. She...she was smiling at me, but that smile was terrifying! Her mouth was practically stretched out..."

"Alright, alright! Stop talking! Child, listen to me, it's all an illusion, an illusion created by an evil spirit just to scare you. It doesn't have the power to harm you yet. Calm down, don't panic!"

With Lud's kind words of comfort, the priestess finally calmed down, but her panicked reaction had genuinely frightened her teammates. This sense of mental pressure was gradually increasing as they ventured deeper into the labyrinth.

End of this chapter

551. The fierce battle begins.

Because of the appearance of the "evil spirit," coupled with the environment of the maze that seemed tailor-made for a horror movie, everyone's mood became increasingly depressed, and their minds remained in a state of high tension, always feeling that there was some ghostly thing hiding in the shadows watching them.

Faced with an opponent who avoids direct confrontation and instead hides in the shadows to intimidate people, the saintess and her companions felt powerless. Fortunately, among their companions was a seasoned master like Rude, who encouraged everyone along the way and reminded them how to deal with the harassment of evil spirits.

However, the young people did not realize that it was because Lud had been constantly emphasizing in their ears that "be careful of the sneak attacks of evil spirits" that everyone was on edge and their subconscious minds were filled with wild thoughts.

Fortunately, after the reconnaissance team's incident, Celica didn't do what the protagonists in some horror movies do—send her companions off on their own. Instead, she gathered everyone together to travel together. Including the adventurers who volunteered to join, the team now has over fifty people, who can bolster each other's courage.

Moreover, everyone firmly believes that as long as the so-called evil spirits dare to show themselves again, the Holy Maiden will surely use holy light to teach them to be human again!

Seeing that although everyone was starting to tense up, they were far from truly panicking, Lu De thought it was time to start the "second act" of this grand drama. Only when everyone was forced to disperse could they be defeated one by one.

Soon, the team's advance team discovered that at the end of the passage was a large hall completely covered by water, only about fifteen centimeters deep, just enough to cover the ankles. The hall's ceiling was illuminated by twenty-eight bright chandeliers in two concentric circles, making the entire hall dazzlingly bright.

In the very center of the room, a golden harp suspended in mid-air is particularly eye-catching.

Several vanguards wanted to enter the hall to investigate, but Ludger hurriedly stepped forward to stop them and pointed to the giant sculptures on the circular wall around the hall.

"Be careful! This should be the end of the second level of the maze. See those four stone statues on the wall? They are exactly the same as the golems we saw on the first level. Other teams have been here before, and the survivors among them said that the end of the second level is four golems, and they will launch coordinated attacks against each other. Don't rush in yet."

At Ludd's prompting, the group that had been about to enter the room quickly retreated and stood outside the door to observe. Ludd, meanwhile, carried a lantern and pretended to study the murals in the corridor.

At this moment, Serica came up to Lud and asked.

"Master, have you made any discoveries?"

“I’m looking at these murals; they must be some kind of clue.”

"How strange, does that demon actually give hints?"

"Heh! Hedtaka's hints weren't out of kindness. His main goal wasn't to kill us, but to torment us. He enjoys the process of making us suffer, so naturally he doesn't want the game to end too soon."

"What a twisted and evil idea."

"That's why they call him a demon!"

Lud shrugged, pointed to the patterns on the mural, and explained his "deduction" to Selica. Based on the information he had about the second level, Lud felt that the trap in the final room should be related to music.

Prior to this, other adventurer teams with both strength and luck had successfully reached the bottom of the second level of the labyrinth. These adventurers, who had personally experienced the BOSS battle, said that in addition to being ganged up on by four ghouls at the bottom of the second level, they also had to be careful of the "killer fountains" on the ground. The power of those high-pressure water jets was astonishing; if you weren't careful with your positioning, you would be hit hard in the buttocks, your ass would be smashed open!

Lude, who had seen the murals, stated that these murderous fountains were likely rhythmic. Adventurers who had conquered the second level's final room mentioned an easily overlooked detail: just like the first level, the second level's final room also had its own background music.

Lude thought it best to send a small team in first to test the waters and observe the fighting style of the "Level Lord (BOSS)" before sending in the main force.

Following Lude's advice, Selica selected five of the most agile teammates from the group to form an assault team, which entered the hall first to launch a raid and probe the BOSS.

The rest of the group retreated to a room at the other end of the corridor to wait for orders. According to the adventurers who had failed in the previous challenge, even if they withdrew from the battle, the F4 on the second floor would chase them for a while until they had run a certain distance before retreating.

Hume also signed up among the five members of the assault team. The saint's teammates only knew that this dark-skinned elf was one of only two "Guardians of the Faith" in the Pantheon. It was said that he had been a mercenary for a period of time, but his rank was only silver, which was an average level.

This led some people to look down on Hume upon first meeting her, thinking that she was just a gatekeeper and her abilities were nowhere near those of the real elites. When she volunteered to join the assault team, a few couldn't help but mock her for overestimating herself.

The next second, Hume vanished from his spot and reappeared behind the rude young man, holding a scabbard-covered short sword to the guy's chin.

The young master was stunned for a full three seconds before he finally realized what had happened, and a fine layer of sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.

Hume only showed a little of his skills, but he successfully intimidated everyone present, including Celica. His ghostly and lightning-fast movements alone were enough to place this female elf among the top experts.

Everyone couldn't help but mutter to themselves, "This Pantheon, which doesn't seem to have many people, is truly full of hidden talents!" Then, their gazes subconsciously turned to Aina and Shanis, wondering what special skills these two pretty girls had yet to show.

Once everything was ready, the assault team entered the hall, while Lud, Celica, and Levi cautiously stayed outside the entrance, observing the battle situation inside. Lud also had a camera in his hand.

After the assault team entered the hall, the ripples created by walking on the water quickly spread to the center of the room. This seemed to be an activation signal. The harp, which had been quietly floating in mid-air, suddenly flashed and began to play music on its own, just as Lud had "guessed" earlier, thus activating the sculptures on the circular wall of the hall.

However, somewhat incongruous is that the harp, which looks antique, plays music in a passionate "Western Regions style".

For Lu De, a time traveler, this background music was practically ingrained in his DNA. So, as soon as the intro started, he could already hear his older brother with a deep voice singing in his head.

"Auntie, please press it down..."

Although the final boss of the second floor of the maze is the same golem as the one in the first floor, the number of golems has increased to four and they are now fighting in a team. In addition, there are deadly fountains on the ground that target the lower three paths. Therefore, the overall difficulty of the boss battle is far more than four times that of the first floor.

But just like Dog Brother on the first floor, the "Dog Brother F4" on the second floor also have a way to win by using the murder fountain in the hall.

Some of the colored water jets contain a magical disruptor. If a person is sprayed with this disruptor, their spellcasting will be severely hampered, rendering them unable to use magic for a period of time. If a golem is sprayed with this, it will become stunned and briefly expose its core. If the challenger can seize this opportunity to destroy the core, they can deliver a fatal blow to the golem.

These "guides" are found in the murals scattered throughout the maze. If you stop and look at them for a moment, and then use your brain to analyze them a little, it is not difficult to understand the hints they contain.

To Lud's utter dismay, most of the adventurers who entered the labyrinth ignored the murals and inscriptions, or saw them but failed to understand the hidden messages. When they finally reached the final boss, being "scorched" was inevitable.

Lude gradually realized that adventurers were indeed a very common profession in this world, but the abilities of the vast majority of adventurers were far from the "professional" level he expected.