In no time, Baobao's injuries were healed with Kayden's care. After ensuring that Baobao no longer had serious injury, only then did Eli and Wisey heave a sigh of relief.
"How's the situation?" Kayden now asked Eli about their mission inside.
"There's just one room that we needed to open. Seeing how protective the Cardinal and the scientist were to the room, it should be the place we are looking for."Eli looked at Kayden and replied.
"I see…" Kayden no longer asked the details about why they were yet to open the way to the secret room.
From the situation of Baobao's injuries he had already guessed that they too had faced difficulties before they could even open the door.
"How's the rest?" Eli asked Kayden worriedly.
"We have completely wiped out the forces, however the cost of it is not small…" Kayden replied not hiding the casualty they incurred in the process.
Eli looked down in dejection, even though she was mentally prepared to hear about the deaths of her comrades, she still could not accept how war could be so cruel.
Though not all of them had interactions with Eli, she knew that the people who participated in the operation had the same hopes and views as her. It was too bad that they would no longer see the fruits of their sacrifice.
She could not help but feel sad about it.
"Don't be dejected. We've seen it in our eyes… during your blessings, the heavens opened up and called our fallen men home." Kayden gently rubbed Eli's lowered head and comforted her.
"Besides, this is a war… deaths could not be avoided no matter which side we are on…"
Although he knew that Eli had been trained to be strong enough to fight, he knew that she came from a world where war is far from existing. The deaths occurring in a war like this are such a foreign and unimaginable thought to her.
"Hmmm…" Eli could not help but cry, fortunately, the heavens treated the fallen people well. If not, her heart might have a hard time finding peace about the matter.
After a while, Eli's emotions died down, and some of their allies had already gone to their site to check the situation.
They also heard that Abaddon and Gabriel were already helping with the clean up and treatment of the injured.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I think it's time for us to go and check what's underneath it."Seeing that all fights were already settled, Kayden then suggested.
"But we have been clueless about how to trigger the mechanism inside. By fluke the pathway once opened, however, because of some interference, we are back to where we started." Eli explained the matter as they went inside the laboratory.
"Let's take a look.." Kayden nodded and the four hastened their phase going straight to the third level.
When Kayden reached the staircase leading down the secret room, he noticed a lot of corpses around and understood that a fierce battle also happened that made Eli and Wisey miss the opportunity to enter the path under the stone bed.
Eli no longer paid heed to the corpses around and immediately led Kayden to look at the side where the mechanism appeared in the stone bed.
"Here it is… this is where the mechanism to open the pathway appeared… Coincidentally, Baobao also managed to detect some scent in it."
Kayden looked over and inspected the stone bed. Other than the smooth surface of the area, nothing seemed to be there that could trigger the mechanism.
"Could there be a key?" He asked.
"That is possible, however, how could we explain the fact that it revealed itself without any use of the key?" Eli replied.
"Hmmm, then could it be that the mechanism is triggered not by a token or key but by something… or a condition?" Kayden rubbed his chin and frowned.
It indeed would not make sense if the mechanism is triggered by a key. If so, they could have found it in the Pope's bag in the first place.
"Thinking about it… if what lies underneath this stone bed is something that is of utmost importance, then a key in possession would be unsafe. If I were the owner of this room, I would rather install a conditional mechanism in which only those who know how to solve it can open the pathway." Eli thought.
"In the modern world, traditional keys were already starting to phase out. The use of passwords and biometric data were the things that would be used to secure something. Could it be that the stone bed also follows the same principle?" She threw this question to Kayden.
Although Kayden did not understand how passwords and biometrics worked in Eli's previous world, he somehow understood the principle behind it. He looked at Eli and nodded.
Even so the situation right now did not give them any clues and so they could only look around and explore.
Since the mechanism could not be found in the area of the mechanism then the trigger might be somewhere. Kayden stood and no longer focused his attention on the stone bed but on the things around them.
Only then did he notice that the floor was wet with water.
"How come water all the way here?" He asked.
"Oh, the torrential rain flowed through the hole Baobao made when he was pummeling the Cardinal!" Wisey replied in a lively manner.
"Torrential rain…I see." Kayden nodded and looked over, initially not paying heed to Wisey's words.
However, just as he was about to turn around, his eyes lit up, and suddenly turned to Eli while he shouted, "Torrential rain!"
"Huh?" Eli, Wisey, and Baobao were startled to hear Kayden's sudden shout but then they still looked at him questioningly.
"The torrential rain is the key! It also fits your theory about the thing called passwords and conditions! Tell me what torrential rain greatly possesses?" Kayden patiently told them his hypothesis.
"Holy powers?" Eli frowned, although she was saying this, it was something that is not feasible knowing that the people of the temple were now corrupted.
Of course, they would no longer use the holy powers which are greatly incompatible with them.
Kayden shook his head and said, "Although your answer is quite right as well, that doesn't make sense for a curse user to use. However, there is one more power they can use even if they were already using the curse power, the heavenly gifts!"
"Heavenly gifts…" When Eli heard these words, her eyes widened in epiphany, and also nodded.
"I see… that's right if I remember the Pope can still use his power to read minds!" She shouted.
"Indeed, it just so happens that your gift of being the Paladin is contained in the torrential rain as it was manifested earlier," Kayden told them
"So you are saying that if I use my Paladin skills directly in the stone bed, it would trigger the mechanism?" Eli asked.
"We can give it a try… if it doesn't work we can think of another theory to pursue." Kayden shrugged but the confidence in his eyes could not be hidden.
"Then let's try it right away!" Eli stood up and went to the stone bed immediately. She touched the area of the mechanism with the faint golden light coming out of her fingertips.
Kacha!
"There it is!" As soon as Eli's hand touched the surface of the stone bed, the mechanism immediately appeared!
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Dr. Kayden, your brain is so awesome!" Wisey flew around Kayden and praised him fawningly.
The four smiled in happiness for a little bit but then they immediately became serious.
"Let's go and open it," Kayden said.
Eli nodded and decisively opened the pathway.
The stone bed shuddered once again and the same stairway was revealed. Without a word, the four of them walked down and were led into another laboratory room.
This time, the laboratory room looked busy but it was obvious that the place was not maintained for a long time.
"Judging from the layer of dust, it must have been untouched for a few months now." Kayden examined the nearest working area.
"Master, master, something is in there!" Baobao sniffed around and took a look.
He pointed in the direction at the far end of the room.
There they saw another enclosure, half of it was covered in a two-way mirror.
"There must be something in there… It looks like an interrogation chamber." Eli's eyes flickered, didn't they use the same interrogation chamber when they captured the dark knights back then?
Kayden's eyes also darkened, his heart thumping louder.
Eli came here with the hope of finding out if his parents were still alive. Even though they were unable to find clues after staying here for so long, the appearance of the secret room also made the top of them ignite hope of finding their parents.
Eli's surrogate parents. Kayden's biological parents.
Either way, these two people were inevitably important to them.
They went to the room and their eyes widened. There really were two people there…
Eli who finally laid eyes on her so-called surrogate parents trembled in shock and disbelief. Her legs almost turned jelly and if not for Baobao's quick assist, she would have fallen to the ground painfully.
Even so, Eli's hysteria intensified as the tears rolled down her face and her chest heaved up and down.
The only thing she could utter at the moment of her emotional outburst was one word that is full of affection and longing,
"Mum…"