NOVEL NEXT CCXXXIV – Temple in the Dungeon
The first thing Esperanza noticed was how the central region temple looked pretty much like someone’s idea of a tribal worship altar, albeit one with a roof on top.
Overall, the structure of the building was like that of a squat and rather short pyramid, one that looked a bit flattened out, with a single stairway leading to the inside on the south side. That was where five demons stood guard, each of them being in their middle third tiers and clearly used to working together, given how they positioned themselves to cover each other.
Out of the forty-five – Esperanza counted – third tier demons in the congregation, fifteen of them were warriors like these ones, all of whom had the [Acolyte of Znehctyi] as their second tier class. Similarly, of the thirty others, every single one of them possessed the [Cleric of Znehctyi] class for theirs. Esperanza felt that it was definitely no coincidence.
While the classes of the four fourth tier warriors varied quite a bit, they too had similarities amongst them.
[Orphan Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Bladed Hand of Trickery Lv20 / Soul-Reaping Jester Lv12]
[Warrior’s Child Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Wielder of Living Spear Lv20 / Unforeseeable Executioner Lv9]
[Cleric’s Child Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Insect Whisperer Lv20 / Hive of Pestilence Lv10]
[Orphan Lv20 / Acolyte of Znehctyi Lv20 / Paradoxical Solution Lv20 / Return to Simplicity Lv10]
Three of the four were Nevilosks – as were the majority of the congregation members – while the [Hive of Pestilence] was covered completely by the hooded cloak they wore. From the short, broad build, though, Esperanza was reasonably certain that the demon in question was a Ragah-Fiq instead under the robed, not a Nevilosk like the others..
She recalled from Alissa’s information that each of the demon’s four gods were associated with one of their four main races – the aquatic Gour-ug’rech seemingly left behind – and that Znehctyi was the one associated with the Nevilosks. It certainly explained the composition of the congregation, which was mostly comprised of that type of demon.
Probably the rest were rarities from other races who worshiped that god instead, she was not certain, but it seemed like a good guess. The way everyone had a class associated with the god in question definitely made the whole thing look a lot like a religious pilgrimage of sorts, and the temple further reinforced that notion.
The [Clerics] along with the high fourth tier demon shaman were all seated in a large circle at the center region of the temple, the shaman directly before what seemed to be an altar with a large stone ring on top of it, and the rest arranged in three concentric circles around him. The four fourth tier acolytes stood at the four corners of the area, keeping watch over the praying demons.
At least that was what it looked like to Esperanza from the distance. The demon [Clerics] were looking down with their eyes closed and their lips mumbling inaudible words, while the shaman was more animated. They likely intoned a ritual prayer of some sort, their hands leaving behind patterns of mana in the air as they moved around.
Whatever prayer or ritual it was, it looked like it would take a while, and it was obvious that this was not the first time the demons did it, so Esperanza took the chance to check out the temple itself while the demons were occupied.
For a temple, there wasn’t much in terms of decorations, no grand murals depicting scenes from mythology carved or painted on the walls, no statues of the gods or their servants carved into the stone itself, at least on the outer side. It was a construction that emphasized form over function, simple, yet retaining elegance and grandeur through its own simplicity.
The area around the central raised region where the ritual or whatever was taking place on the other hand, had more things present. Other than the altar-like object in the center itself, there were four statues positioned at the four cardinal directions of the area, each one depicting one of the gods worshiped by the demons.
Almost immediately Esperanza noticed that the statues of the demon gods were positioned in parallel to Alissa’s depiction of the gods worshiped by the human side.
On the north side was a statue Esperanza assumed was a depiction of Ner’Vhok, the Annihilating Berserker. The statue was of a tall, burly Ma’Varok demon, with four muscular arms each wielding a different weapon, wearing armor that seemed to be made out of bone, and with one eye covered by an eye patch of some sort.
To the east side was one she guessed was that of Lanisheey, the Queen of Temptation. For a Tesh’ka, the figure was tall and voluptuous, dressed in attire that could be described only as scandalous, wielding a long staff with what seemed to be gems on its tip. The figure’s face was hidden beneath the hood of her cloak, however.
By far the most unassuming of the statues was the one Esperanza guessed was that of Znehctyi, the Scheming Tactician, whose statue depicted a tall, rather scholarly-looking Nevilosk with thick glasses perched on their nose and an open book in hand. It was really quite a juxtaposition to see one of the so-called demon gods depicted in such a normal way.
As for the statue on the west side, that of Elugurenas, the Defiling Touch, it depicted a positively corpulent Ragah-Fiq with fur that could only be described as
shaggy covering their whole body. That race of demons was already naturally predisposed to being short and squat, so the corpulence made the statue look almost like one of a furry ball of some sort instead.
It was a rather comical depiction for the supposedly dreaded demon god.
Even so, the demons clearly put importance in the statues. Other than the shaman – who sat directly between the statue of Znehctyi and the altar in the center – none of the other demons seated themselves directly in front of the statues, leaving four gaps in the circles they formed. It probably had some sort of ritual significance, though Esperanza was unable to make heads or tails about it for the time being.
The remaining demons with [Acolyte] classes must have been resting within the temple, between the entrance and the central area, since another five of them came out and relieved those on guard after a while. As for the demons being relieved of their shift, they entered the temple and soon left Esperanza’s line of sight.
She could feel their presence further within, though, if dimly. Whatever the temple was made of seemed to be blocking her perceptions to some degree, though areas like the entrance and the open central area were exempt from that effect. It was why she had not noticed where the other demon [Acolytes] were until they came out themselves.
On the other hand, if the material was strong enough to dampen her skills, it likely wasn’t a one-way dampening. That emboldened her to approach closer, though she still kept herself as concealed as possible, playing the part of a curious animal being attracted by the demon’s passage through the dungeon.
Like that, she lurked in the darkness as she inched closer and closer to the temple, approaching it from the opposite side of the entrance, where there were no guards. She was just reaching the end of the treeline around the temple when an eerie glow seemed to emanate from the altar in the center of the ritual and drew her attention.
