Since the Healer didn’t have night vision like Iris did with her Oculus Angelica, Finn used The Star card of the Cardmaster Angelica to light the way. As an aside, he found out he could actually use cards from the Cardmaster Angelica even after he switched to a different Angelica, so long as the activation process had already completed.

The Healer had already healed his own wounds, and was now working on Qi Ling. He closed his eyes and hovered his hand over her glistening forehead, lined with beads of sweat and crimson liquid blood. A faint green light pulsed underneath in his palm, and Qi Ling’s expression slowly eased up.

In the meantime, Finn and Iris took advantage of this opportunity to observe their surroundings. The first place they checked was the door — which, of course, was locked. Busting through it wasn’t an option, since as soon as they came into contact with the door’s surface, their powers were drained for whatever reason. It was as if an enchantment had been placed on the material, one that temporarily suppressed strength.

Directly across from the door, there lay a staircase leading up. The steps were made of pure marble, but the lighting made it look dark navy blue rather than white. It was wide but not steep, and at the top of it, there was another door, decorated with two broken vases on either side. The plants that used to be in them had died long ago, and all that remained was empty, fractured glass.

The air in the room was dense and musty, meaning this building was quite old. Iris could see thick layers of dust accumulated on the railings of the stairs and the steps themselves — no one had touched this place in years. That said, the Temple itself was obviously quite new, created only when the Emperor settled down here — the old features of this structure was just a reflection of this same place in the real world.

From where the group was right now, they had three options to go. There was a corridor leading to their left, one leading to their right, and the door above the stairs. Finn opted to explore one of the paths while the others were being healed one by one, but Iris insisted it was too dangerous.

This was, after all, the home to an Emperor-level Ghost. The enemies they found in here would be significantly stronger than the ones normally found in minor Outbreaks.

Soon after, the Healer had finished picking up everyone back on their feet. There was another person wielding the Healer Angelica in the other Theocracy Regiment, so they had two Healers in this group. As they were rare to begin with, they must be protected at all costs during this mission.

“Agh… what the hell was that…?” Hurricane muttered, pressing his hand to his forehead. It would seem he hit his head against a pillar when flying in, thus causing a lingering headache even after the actual injury had been healed.

“It would seem the Emperor wants to eliminate us as well, just like we wish to eliminate him,” the tallest Hunter in Shuyara’s group replied, folding his arms. “Very well. We shall meet the challenge.”

“There are three ways we can go from here,” Iris said firmly. “One, that corridor to our left-“

The group all turned left-

“Two, the corridor to our right-“

The group turned right-

“And finally, that door at the top of this staircase,” she concluded, causing everyone to look up over the flights of stairs and at the eloquently designed stone door. “Which will it be?”

“The door looks the most suspicious,” one of the punks from the House of Crimson Moons said with a grin, cracking his knuckles. “Who knows? The Emperor could be hiding right behind it.”

‘… Is this guy stupid, or did he just not participate in a Baron Hunt?’ Finn thought in his head. ‘The final boss won’t just be sitting at the beginning of the Temple…’

All the others appeared to be thinking the same thing, but the House of Crimson Moons was completely unconcerned and began ascending the stairs.

“Hold it,” Tian Long interrupted, stepping forward.

“Huh?” The punk stopped and raised an eyebrow arrogantly at him. “What do you want?”

“I believe it is better if we get to know each other’s powers and aliases first,” Tian Long replied. “This will allow of us to have more effective communication and teamwor-“

“Ha!” The punk chuckled. “Oi, guys ,did you hear what he just said? HAHAHA!”

“… What?” Tian Long frowned in confusion.

“Hahaha!” The other members of the House of Crimson Moons joined in on the laughter as well, as if the others were all idiots.

“You guys wanna sit around here and do self-introductions like in middle school? By all means, by all means!” Hurricane clapped his hands together in mock praise. “We’ll just go on ahead and take all the good loot for ourselves. Please, excuse us — and take your time, haha!”

With their laughter echoing across the stone walls of this enormous cathedral chamber, the five of them pushed open the door after some effort and disappeared from sight.

“D-Damn…!” Tian Long hurriedly ran after them, but Finn reached out and pulled him on the back of his collar. “Wha-!”

“… Sit.”

“But those guys… they…”

“Hmph. Rewards? No reward comes without difficulty,” Finn replied coldly. “If they want to test out all the traps and encounters in this place for us… so be it. I welcome their help.”

Hearing the brutality in his words, the people from the Theocracy of Light couldn’t help but gulp in fear. They were holy believers; to them, Finn had essentially just committed an evil sin by saying that.

Still, however, they detested the House of Crimson Moons more for their arrogant attitudes and refusal to work as a team with the rest of them, so they didn’t say anything about Finn. When weighing two evils together, pick the lesser — as the saying goes.

“Now then… let’s all briefly go over our aliases and Angelicas, then follow them,” Iris said with a smile. “I’ll start.”