At the end of the Medieval Period, the supernatural forces on this planet made a return for the last time in history. While the influence of demon hunters and the Church grew, the otherworldlings and wizards struggled to survive. However, friction began to emerge between the Church and the demon hunters. This gave some breathing space to the small families and Vajrayana who were good at concealment. According to Vivian's recollections, the period between the tenth and fifteenth century AD was the re-distribution of influence in the dark world. During that period, the aftermath of the Mythological Era had completely subsided. The more powerful otherworldlings, including the Ancient Ones, had died or gone into hiding. After the decline of the otherworldlings, the Church and the demon hunters began to compete for a new world order with the Church representing the humans. Although the demon hunters were theoretically more human, they were still a different race, so conflicts were inevitable.
But this history did not matter, Hao Ren's mind was just taking a detour when he saw the lost town. Black magic erasing the town must have been a major incident back then. The battle between the demon hunters and the church obviously had given Baptiste—the wizard whom Hao Ren was looking for—a chance of success. He had not only exiled the town with magic but also studied witchcraft under the nose of the commoners. This house was full of traces of his magic experiments.
Magic books were scattered on one end of the long table. They all had a creepy texture and looked disturbing, and mostly made of black goatskin or special paper dipped in oil and written in ink made of blood. The content was difficult to understand and full of abstract and weird illustrations. Hao Ren would not have understood them without Vivian's help.
The first magic book he saw was hand-written, mainly about various spatial phenomena and secret summoning rituals. Baptiste was not the author, obviously. The pages of the heavy book emanated a disgusting smell. Its dark-red cover depicted a warped door and a peering eye in the middle. There was a 'D.R.' inscription on the title page. Possibly left behind by the author. Baptiste must have read the book quite frequently judging from the many notes and memo entries on the pages. Besides, his handwriting was unexpectedly neat and beautiful. Hao Ren read the annotations, and he immediately knew what the wizard was most concerned about: the way to open the gate to Inferno, and the secret of harnessing souls to keep the dimensional passage stable.
He found the most frequently read part of the book, where the pages had worn and blackened considerably. This was a seven-page chapter, where the author of the magic book detailed the history of the gate to Inferno and his theory of opening it. But Baptiste had left behind even more notes than what the author had written on the page edges, and this attracted Hao Ren's attention.
"...The records of the Inferno gate of the ancient times are not so reliable. The rulers of the world in that era were the gods of the old days; they did not allow others to inherit too much knowledge. This part of the content should be ignored.
"The discussion of the 'seven obsidian rituals' by Orben Moore is not consistent with this record, and the oil that makes obsidian magic may be more critical than the obsidian itself. According to my own experiments, Master Orben Moore's point of view is more credible. Information about the test is in…
"It is a unique insight. The nature of the Inferno gate is very different from other dimensional gates; the same is true for the method of accessing Inferno. Strictly speaking, our goal is not to 'open a gate', but to pull Inferno into collision with another dimension to create a crack. So the portal structure is not the test basis; it is the summoning ritual...
The most important thing after connecting the two dimensions is to ensure the stability of the passage and to identify signs of the collapse of the passage. At least I have to set aside time to go to the second layer of Inferno and consider how to rebuild the return path to the main material world from the other end of the gate once the Inferno gate collapses prematurely. The formula of Master Fradkov is not accurate enough, that is why the grass at his grave is half a meter tall. Maybe I should re-assess the data..."
Hao Ren mumbled to himself as he read the complicated records. "I feel like reading a scientific write-up. Was he a wizard or an astrophysicist?"
Vivian held a dark glass bottle in her hand. She overheard the Hao Ren's mumble and chimed in. "Wizards are knowledgeable persons. They are real polymaths to the commoners."
Hao Ren put the book back to its original position. "Baptiste seemed to have been working on opening the gate to Inferno a long time ago as all the information he left behind was related to dimensional magic. But there is no mention of why he summoned the King of Blood, nor did he mention what happened to this town of Domir. What are you looking at? Something good in the bottle?"
"Sulphuric spring water, the specialty of Infernal dimension though only half a bottle is left," Vivian handed the small bottle to Hao Ren. "Remember also the Infernal Fleshripper specimen that Hessiana found? Baptiste must have successfully opened the Infernal Gate once. But his second attempt seemed to have failed. Probably the window was too short; he only managed to bring out some materials from the first level of Inferno. Obviously, he hasn't reached his goal."
At this time, Nangong Sanba was holding a thick book in his hand. He came up and picked up where Vivian left off. "You're right. He did open the gate once, but he wasn't happy with the result. The purpose of him summoning the King of Blood must be that he needed the power of the ancient ones to help stabilize the gate."
Hao Ren pointed to the thick book in Nangong Sanba's hand. "What is it? A diary?"
"Nope. It's a record of magic experiments. It mentions the successful opening of the door to Inferno. The Infernal Gate only stayed open for less than an hour; he almost died. Other than the experimental record, there are also many words of curse and complaint. According to the book, the reason for the early closure of the Infernal Gate was that the energy was insufficient, the surrounding environment was not stable, and the constant rejection from the real world had led to the collapse of the gate. He mentioned the need for enhancing his magic and his intentions of seeking help from the ancient otherworldlings... I guess these were the reasons he summoned the King of Blood."
"He wanted to use the power of evil-spirit Vivian to open Infernal Gate?" Hao Ren blinked. "But the key questions are how did he know about the ritual, and where did the red-haired evil spirit come from."
"The book doesn't tell," Nangong Sanba said, shrugging. "This place is messy. Probably we need to more time to sort it out."
Hao Ren nodded. He then asked Vivian, curious. "What was inside the second level of Inferno that Baptiste was so adamant to go there?"
"No one knows." Vivian shook her head. "It is already difficult enough to move around in the first level of Inferno, let alone the deeper level. And, the connection between Inferno and the Earth is too unstable; the window is too short for a round trip to the second level. So no one really knows what's inside."
Hao Ren rubbed his nose. "I really can't fathom what's so attractive about that place... By the way, I smell something weird."
"A burning smell," Lily sniffled and lifted her head out from the pile of debris. "I smell it too!"
The others also raised their heads, as they had also smelled a rich odor in the air. It was not just a burning smell but also mixed with stench and a strange sourness. Hao Ren looked up and his nose was searching for the source of the smell. But he suddenly found that the fog had come into the house through the gaps in the windows and the cracks in the door. The fog was squirming and filling the interior as if it was something alive. Things had become very strange.
"Smell like some kind of magic oil..." Nangong Sanba mumbled. "Something's not right."
Hessiana quickly looked at Heimerwin who had brought them to this place. The man sat stiffly on the chair, still like a stone. She stepped forward and poked his shoulder with the handle of her long whip. "Hey..."
Before her voice trailed off, Heimerwin collapsed into a pile of black ash.
A shrill sound came from outside the house.
Hao Ren shouted, "Something's wrong. Let's get out of here!"