Chapter 415

Chapter 415: Going Down the Shaft

Agatha shielded the small flame in her hand and stepped forward again, heading deeper into the Second Waterway.

In truth, she had already lost her sense of time. Even her sense of everything around her had grown blurry. She could no longer remember how long she had been walking in this cold, damp place. She could not remember how many Monsters she had killed, or how many new wounds she had gained in the process. For a while, she even forgot her own name and why she had come into this sewer.

But whenever the green flame leapt in her palm, she would always find her reason again and hold tight to that single, final mission.

Carry the Fire Seed. Deliver the Fire Seed into the nest of the Heretics.

A cold wind blew from the dark corridor ahead. It seemed to carry layers and layers of whispers and howls. Agatha’s body swayed a little. She felt the malice inside the wind, so she carefully hid the flame inside the torn inner layer of her black coat.

She had to hide it. She could not let the Heretics sense it.

She raised her head and looked into the depths of the dark. She saw countless shifting Shadows rolling in the wind. The gas lamps on the corridor walls had dimmed at some point, leaving only tiny glimmers like fireflies. Filthy black sludge began to seep out from the ceiling and pipe grates around her, bit by bit. It squirmed, gathered, and took shape, making sickening, whispering noises.

Agatha lifted her Gatekeeper’s cane, which was as scarred as she was. For some reason, she suddenly felt filled with strength again. That annoying sense of exhaustion had quietly faded away.

She slammed the Gatekeeper’s cane hard against the ground, staring at the foul, corrupted things surging in the dark. The tip of the cane hit the floor with a boom like a great bell.

“Dong…”

The Shaft Lift creaked. The car swayed as it sank deeper into the mine. A Guardian warrior standing watch by the edge of the car suddenly looked up. He spoke to the Comrade next to him with some doubt: “Did you hear something just now?”

“It sounded like a dong,” the other Guardian said, nervous and unsure. Then he turned his head almost by reflex to look at the Gatekeeper standing in the middle of the car. “Like… like…”

Like the sound when the Gatekeeper struck the Death Knell with the Gatekeeper’s cane before a purification of Heretics began. He wanted to say that, but he kept it to himself.

Because the Gatekeeper was here. She was resting with her eyes closed.

Maybe she heard her subordinates talking, because Agatha opened her eyes. She glanced around, then walked in silence to the rail at the edge of the car and looked down.

“Gatekeeper,” the Guardian who had spoken earlier came over and said, a bit hesitant: “It seemed like some sound came from below just now. Could there be someone else also acting in the mine?”

“We are the only ones here,” Agatha said without turning her head. “Do not worry about that sound.”

Her subordinate stepped back for the moment, but Agatha kept looking down into the endless, hazy dark below.

This was the Boiling Gold mine, the largest vertical shaft leading to the lower digging areas. Even this deep inside the mountain, the fog was still everywhere.

Under normal conditions, fog could never reach a place like this. But this strange mist was clearly the result of supernatural power. It seeped in everywhere as if it had a will of its own. In areas deep underground where the lights were weak, the mist filled every space as if it had appeared out of nowhere.

The mine’s Shaft Lift groaned as it kept descending through the haze. From time to time, they could see faint blobs of light moving upward. Those were gas lamps and electric lights set inside the shaft. They looked so weak that, through the fog, they were no more than tiny glimmers like fireflies.

But no matter what, the equipment in the mine was clearly still working. The ventilation system, power pipes, lighting, and lifting gear all still ran normally.

Using machines at a time like this called for extra care. Agatha had sent priests to check the condition of the lift machinery on purpose before she chose to use this Shaft Lift. The safer choice would have been to go down by the stairs and ramps in the emergency tunnel, but that would have cost too much time and strength.

“I just hope this thing does not break on the way back up,” a young Guardian warrior muttered under his breath. “That cargo car and track that crashed down the slope during the runaway state was pretty unforgettable.”

“Can you not say things like that right now?” an older Guardian frowned at once. “We are all on the Shaft Lift. If you are that nervous, you can jump off instead. Free falling will not break down on you.”

“No, no, I was just saying. This thing looks strong and steady. It will be fine…”

A Nun with ear-length short hair heard the two warriors talking and came over to join in: “But I heard there is a female Inquisitor in the far-off city-state of Pland. She can jump straight off a cliff onto the rocks below to cut down a Spawn. If she jumped from here, she would be fine…”

The two Guardians fell silent for two seconds, then spoke in unison: “…Is that even a human?!”

“I only heard about it…”

The warriors kept chatting. It would not affect what they had to do later, but it helped ease the tension of this slow descent into the dark. Guardians were people too. They needed to relax their nerves.

Agatha stood with her back to them. She did not join the talk, but she did not stop her subordinates either. She only listened quietly. At some point, a faint, almost hidden smile had appeared on her face.

Unlike what many imagined, the usually serious and steady Gatekeeper was in fact always gentle and tolerant with her subordinates.

Just then, the steel cables pulled tight and the sound of the brakes came from around them, cutting off the Guardians’ conversation.

The Shaft Lift car began to slow down and soon stopped in a wide, cold space.

“This is the transit point on the first level,” Agatha said as she looked around. She saw the nearest supports and lights, and the scattered mine equipment on the open ground nearby. The workers had clearly left in a rush and could not take everything with them. Traces of their hurried retreat were everywhere. “Where is the Mine Transit Map?”

“Here,” a priest stepped forward at once and handed the Mine Transit Map they had taken from the mining office to the Gatekeeper. “We are at Shaft No. 2 right now.”

Agatha took the map and walked off the Shaft Lift while comparing the information to her surroundings. At the same time, she recalled the details she had learned from the mine managers before going down: “The underground rail line to the digging zone has stopped running. To reach the digging zone we can only walk. We follow the red line markers. About one hundred and fifty meters from here there is a ramp that leads down to the mining face.”

She raised her head and checked the area again.

“First, check the surroundings and set up a safe point. Then we move deeper.”

The subordinates got to work at once. The Guardians went to check the safety of each passage. The priests and Nuns began simple purification of the ground around the Shaft Lift and set up a temporary altar and sacred relic.

Agatha wandered slowly around the area.

She stopped in front of a transport crate that had been left behind and knocked over.

The crate was made of iron. The inside was lined with tin layers. The lid had not been latched. When it fell, it had broken open, revealing its contents. Inside were chunks of ore broken into small pieces.

The ore had a dull metallic sheen. On the dark outer skin, faint gold lines ran like veins.

“They were probably samples meant to go up with the next shift for testing,” a middle-aged Guardian walked over and said, judging with some experience.

To scout the mine, about half of the subordinates Agatha brought this time were Guardians who had worked long-term in the Boiling Gold mining area. They were not professional Miners, but they still knew quite a bit about the place.

“Boiling Gold raw ore…”

Agatha’s face grew serious. She nudged a few pieces of ore on the ground with her Gatekeeper’s cane, then bent down and picked one up to examine.

A moment later, she handed the ore to the middle-aged Guardian: “Check it.”

“This is good quality ore,” the Guardian said after taking it. “Looks like it only needs simple crushing and first screening before it can go into The Crucible. I cannot say much about the yield… that needs a specialist.”

Agatha frowned: “That is all? No problem at all?”

“I see no problem. It is just ore,” the Guardian answered plainly. Then he looked a bit puzzled. “Do you suspect something?”

Agatha silently picked up another piece of Boiling Gold ore and studied it for a long time before she spoke softly: “What I am about to say is only a guess, but it is also classified. Only those taking part in this operation may hear it, and only after coming down the shaft.”

The Guardian facing her was startled for a second. But in the next moment, the warrior’s face was already solemn and steady.

Surprised, but not panicked. Caught off guard, but not lost.

Every priest who had the right to follow the Gatekeeper on a mission – whether Guardian, Nun, or priest – had already been chosen carefully inside the Church. They had all sworn oaths and signed contracts under Bartok’s gaze.

Each of them knew how special their duty was. They knew how strange and difficult the cases that needed the Gatekeeper herself could be. On these deep dives into the dark, anything could become classified. Something ordinary one second could become a taboo that had to be shut out of the civilized world the next. Even the people who took part in the operation might at any time become part of the “secret”.

After all, some things left a crack of corruption in the Mortal Realm the moment they were simply “known”. Even leaving only an “impression” in the minds of those involved could plant Shadows for a future runaway state.

Agatha looked up and saw that the temporary altar and sacred relic were already in place. The safe point was set.

“Everyone, gather. I have something to announce.”