"Didn't they say this place is cleaned every month? Then why is there so much dust?"
Elsa ran her finger across a bookshelf. A thick layer of dust coated the surface—it didn't look like it had been cleaned monthly at all.
"Unless…"
Elsa and Daimon arrived at the same possibility at the same time.
At that moment, Karl opened the wax-sealed parchment. The text was written in archaic English—or at least something close to it—and he couldn't understand a word.
"Elsa, see what it says," Karl said, handing the parchment to her.
Among the four of them, only Elsa could read texts like this. Once again, thanks to Ulysses Bloodstone.
Elsa scanned the parchment carefully.
"It's Latin. It records historical events related to the monastery. Nothing special."
She set the parchment aside.
Karl nodded.
The group continued upward toward the top of the tower. The structure was clearly ancient, resembling the pointed towers of medieval castles.
A spiral staircase led all the way up, with a mid-level landing where the four of them now stood.
Karl looked out through a window. Outside, demonic energy still churned, and the monastery lay silent—deathly silent, like a ghost town.
"Something's not right," Karl muttered.
The more he observed, the more unsettling the monastery felt.
He had never visited other monasteries, but this one was far too quiet. Quiet to the point that it felt abandoned, as if no one had ever lived here.
From this vantage point, overlooking the entire complex in broad daylight, Karl realized there wasn't a single person outside. No movement at all. Not even the sound of birds or insects.
That was deeply abnormal.
Even in the most desolate places, animals existed. But not here.
At last, Karl understood the source of the unease that had been gnawing at him—it was the absence of animals.
There were no birds or beasts around the monastery. Not even a rat. Inside the monastery, there were no mosquitoes, no insects of any kind. Given the season, that was impossible. Even a city like New York was crawling with bugs.
The same applied to the tower. The books and documents on the first floor were covered in dust and cobwebs, yet there wasn't a single spider in sight. Spiders didn't flee just because humans arrived—they stayed motionless on their webs.
Likewise, a tower this old should have been teeming with insects. For all animals to collectively avoid a place meant only one thing: this location was extremely dangerous.
Animals didn't choose environments based on preference like humans did. Their decisions were driven entirely by instinct and magnetic fields—the smaller the creature, the stronger this tendency.
Insects were the prime example. They adapted to environments rather than rejecting them, and they were among the most sensitive creatures to Earth's magnetic field.
And yet, there was no trace of life here.
This monastery had a serious problem—a very serious one.
"We've been here for quite a while now," Karl said without turning around, still staring down at the monastery below. "Have any of you seen even a single insect?"
The others froze, then immediately grasped the implication.
"Then it's confirmed," Daimon said grimly. "Something is wrong here. The Staff of God must already be compromised."
He lifted his gaze toward the spiraling staircase and the small chamber at the top.
The four of them quickly made their way to the summit. A single door stood there, leading to the room where the Staff of God was supposedly stored.
They pushed the door open.
A stench of decay rushed out to greet them.
That alone was a bad sign. Any place housing a sacred relic should remain stable and uncorrupted due to its presence. Rot and decay should not exist here.
At the center of the room stood an ornate pedestal, atop which rested a lavishly decorated box.
Daimon glanced at the other three, signaling them to open it. As the son of Satan, merely being near the Staff of God wouldn't kill him—but it certainly wouldn't be pleasant.
Elsa and Wong both turned to Karl, their meaning painfully obvious.
"Damn it…"
Karl felt numb.
What a great team—sacrifice your teammate at the critical moment, right?
Rolling his eyes, Karl stepped forward and approached the box.
The container was made entirely of gold, yet blackened spots marred its surface, like corrosion. That alone further confirmed that something was very wrong with the relic inside.
Without hesitation, Karl opened the box.
It was empty.
The cushioned interior still bore the clear imprint of a staff-shaped object—but the so-called Staff of God was nowhere to be found.
"It's empty," Karl said flatly. "There's nothing inside."
The other three immediately gathered around. Indeed, the box contained nothing at all.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a sacred relic here?"
The four of them felt their hearts sink.
The loss of a sacred artifact was no small matter. It meant the monastery was truly in grave danger.
"Now it all makes sense," Daimon said slowly. "Why demonic energy is everywhere. Why the archbishop and that novice nun were attacked. But there's still one thing I can't understand."
He frowned.
"Why did Amon remain obediently inside Jenny the whole time? If the monastery had already lost the relic's protection, Amon should have acted without restraint. Why was he so easily destroyed by us?"
No one could answer that question.
For now, Jenny had been successfully exorcised. Aside from extreme weakness, she was no longer in danger.
But a much bigger problem had surfaced.
This entire monastery—inside and out—was steeped in something deeply wrong.
"We need to contact the Templar Knights stationed outside," Elsa said suddenly. "I have a very bad feeling about this."
She felt as though they had been dragged into a massive vortex, one whose shape they still couldn't see.
"I think," Elsa continued, "that from the moment we accepted this mission, someone's been leading us by the nose. We've been used."
Her words echoed exactly what the others were thinking.
At last, they understood why they had felt so uneasy ever since setting foot on this island.
The four hurried back down from the tower, intending to find Sister Agatha and demand answers about the missing relic.
But when they reached the exit—
The door was locked.
Their hearts dropped instantly.
The worst-case scenario had come true.
"Contact the Templar Knights. Now," Karl said sharply.
Elsa pulled out the communicator and attempted to contact the knights outside. Only static answered her call.
No response at all.
Daimon leaned close to the door and sniffed lightly. A faint, elusive scent entered his nostrils.
"There's a barrier on the door," he said. "Getting out won't be easy."
He placed his hand against the door and fully released his demonic power.
Complex symbols and sigils immediately surfaced wherever his power touched, completely covering the door—and even spreading across the surrounding walls.
"They really did set us up," someone muttered.
At this point, if they still couldn't see that this was a trap, then all their years of experience would have been for nothing.
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