Edward and Adrien walked over to what was left of the door trampled by the monsters, the corridor behind it leading deeper into the ruins. That door had been entirely shattered, and pieces of rocks of different sizes were scattered in the surroundings. Edward and Adrien trod carefully, to avoid stumbling on rumbles, and to avoid making noises, the beasts were still somewhere inside the ruins after all.

　　Once they crossed the threshold, they admired the lavishly decorated corridor with one row of statues on each side of it. Each statue was separated by Corinth-like pillars with engraved relief vines coiling around them. At the bottom of the statues a cartridge bore the name of the person and the corresponding date of birth and death, the whole accompanied by a short description of his or her main accomplishments.

　　There were about thirty statues on each side, at the end of the corridor, some places between pillars were still free to welcome future statues. The corridor wasn`t ending with a door but with a stretch of inclined floor leading further down. The tilted slope and the rest of the floor were made of the same stones and had the same coloration. Above the tilted slope a space was present, just enough to display an empty stand.

　　It`s a weird architecture. It almost seems as if the corridor fell down to form this slope.

　　On top of the display stand, on the wall, a drop of blood was depicted. It was the same symbol that had been present above the entry door of this corridor. Bloodstains were also present on the whole length of the corridor at regular intervals, but this time those were real blood stains and not figurative depictions.

　　"That must be what Marc was talking about when he was laughing about a hidden door." Edward mused "He must have gone there previously only to end in a dead end. It`s only when he cut the green lines in the pedestal room that the corridor fell down to reveal a secret entrance. Judging from the bloodstains, he went through there while fleeing the monsters."

　　"I would have much preferred for this path to stay hidden if it meant we wouldn`t have to encounter those monsters," Adrien replied dryly.

　　"Fair enough," Edward responded.

　　Whatever artifact Marc was searching for, it must have been quite precious. The Damkinans even put a fake display to deceive eventual thieves, making them believe that the artifact they sought was already gone and that nothing else was left to see.

　　Edward looked at the different statues while moving slowly forward. Isistae foundress of the first library`, Kathusa mother of the forest`, Lephacia creator of the world portal spell`, Aeghad the explorer`.

　　I know this one.

　　Thanks to his experience with the pedestal, Edward was now able to understand and read the Damkinan language.

　　So many statues& If I suppose they have only one or two statues per generation, how many years do those rows of statues represent? How long have their civilization lasted? Let`s say they had roughly the same lifespan as us. Thirty generations would be like&a bit less than three thousand years. Damn, that`s a lot.

　　The statues had been carved meticulously and an incredible number of details were visible. The clothes` folds were visible, the stone curved like water. The clothes themselves weren`t plain and different patterns had been added on them.

　　Some statues were holding spheres in their palm, that Edward now realized, were supposed to represent different kinds of spells. The statues were very vivid and lifelike, so much that it was mind blowing to think they had been made out of stone. One wrong move while carving it and those statues would have been ruined, dozens of hours of work wasted. Well, I guess in this world magic would have helped with that, Edward thought.

　　The last statue before the empty spots was of Dalenka, the last hope`.

　　That doesn`t sound ominous at all... Seeing the state of this building, I guess it didn`t end well for them.

　　Adrien and Edward progressed along the slope. Once they were below the floor level, they discover to their surprise that the green lines were back. Wherever the power came from, it was still supplying this part of the ruins.

　　There must be different sources of power, the one in the barrier room was suppling the library, and they must have put a different one in this hidden area to make it independent. At least I`m glad we don`t have to travel all the time in this red light, it was getting on my nerves. Not knowing when you can stumble upon a horrifying monster while being constantly under an aggressive red light is not exactly pleasant.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

　　A few minutes later the slope ended in a gigantic open space, it made Edward though of a temple. In the center of the room, the ceiling was forming a dome several meters higher than the rest of the ceiling with a great fresco displayed on it.

　　On one side Damkinans were rushing to stop a tidal black wave of darkness, with most of the Damkinans represented ready to lunch spells. However, the main figure and the ones supporting her were holding weapons instead. They were dual-wielding some weird-looking daggers.

　　In the middle of those daggers a horizontal handle had been crafted to improve the grip of the holder. On each side of the handle a line of metal curved back, protecting the user from hits to the hands and playing the same role as a usual sword`s handle. In front of the dagger laid a thick blade decorated with runes.

　　Edward was able to recognize the main figure on the fresco, it looked just like the statue of Dalenka he had seen a few moments ago, she was clad in full armor and was carrying a sword instead of daggers like the others. From the tide of darkness, no details were visible. it was as if the darkness itself was devouring everything and nothing was able to come back out of it. It seemed unstoppable.

　　Under the dome, a vast open space had been built with a set of stairs leading to a stone plinth where a set of daggers were resting. They were the same as the ones on the fresco. In contrast with the open space, on its sides rows of columns were supporting the ceiling. Beyond those columns different openings were leading further into the ruins.

　　The scene was breathtaking.

　　However, Adrien and Edward didn`t stop to admire the architecture as they spotted one of the monsters roaming in the open space. Luckily for them, it was having its back turned to them and hadn`t detected them yet.

　　They quickly entered the room and rushed behind a column to hide as they had been in plain view in the tilted slope with nowhere to hide.

　　Edward looked at his hands, they were shaking from the tension. Ok, calm down Edward, you can do it. It hasn`t spotted you yet. You just have to keep calm and quiet. We have to go further in to find another way out. Edward took a slow breath without making noise to calm himself, Adrien was looking at him without a noise.

　　"Are you ok?" he asked in a whisper.

　　"No, but that will have to do. Let`s wait until this thing leaves." Edward replied still trying to geld hold of his emotions.

　　The two of them waited for the monster to leave, glancing from time to time from behind their hiding spot. Adrien saw a bloody shape collapsed on the stairs leading to the plinth, it was missing an arm, and there were large bloodstains sprayed around it.

　　"Hey, I think I found Marc, he managed to make it all the way to here, but he couldn`t escape in the end. I would say he deserved to die like that after what he put us through, dying by the same cause that killed the whole expedition he was supposed to protect." Adrien said nudging Edward with his elbow.

　　Edward closed his eyes, it was true that Marc was an asshole, but he wasn`t exactly happy that he died like that. After all, Marc was an Awaken, and if even he couldn`t escape, it didn`t bid well for them.

　　The beast finally decided to leave by one of the exits on the side. They both relaxed when it left their line of sight. That was close, if it had decided to roam around the room, we wouldn`t have been able to do anything if it spotted us.

　　"We should quickly find a way out there, the more we stay in those ruins, the more dangerous it will get," Adrien announced.

　　"I agree, but I want to take a closer look at those daggers. They look similar to the ones in the fresco, and I think that is what Marc was searching for so desperately. Now that we are here, we should at least take the loot, maybe it can help us fight those beasts." Edward declared ready to take any advantages he could get in order to improve his odds of survival.

　　"Ok, but be quick about it, I don`t want to stay in this place, we are too exposed, we don`t know when another beast will come in, and no matter how powerful those weapons are, I doubt it will help us fend off those beasts at our current level."

　　Edward quickly ran up the stairs, avoiding Marc`s corpse with mixed feelings.

　　Maybe Adrien is right, and we can`t kill those beasts yet, but I won`t skip this opportunity. We have to take every chance we can to increase our chances of survival. Besides, if Marc was searching for those weapons, they should be important. They are on that fresco as well, and I doubt the Damkinans used some gadgets or poor weapons to fight something like that black wave.

　　He gazed at the two daggers, the runes on the blades were glowing in a faint red. Which now that Edward was able to decipher them, stood for blood flow.

　　Is that an enchantment or just the names of the daggers? Anyway, it seems appropriate for such weapons.

　　He took one in each hand. It felt right.

　　They are actually quite light, it almost makes me feel like I`m wearing boxing gloves, except this time it`s to hurt the opponents instead of protecting them.

　　Edward decided to keep holding the daggers in his hands for now instead of putting them in his backpack, if he encountered a monster, he wouldn`t have the time to retrieve them, so it was best if he was ready to fight from the get-go.

　　Adrien made him understood to hurry with a sign of his head. Edward quickly ran down the stairs and joined him on the side near a column.

　　"That beast left that way earlier, let`s go to the opposite side. The quicker we find another exit, the quicker we are out of there. Another beast can come at any time." Adrien declared.

　　"You are right, sorry for the delay, but even if we can`t fight those monsters, I feel a lot more at ease with those weapons on me."

　　Thus, both of them left through one of the corridors, getting once again further into the ruins instead of leaving them.