Nick Fury couldn't believe this kid had guessed right again. He had taken a gamble, but he had seen Sarah enter the church without any issues, which was why he went in after her. Who would have thought that he would encounter these strange things before he even entered?
He looked back at the black shadows on the ground. They were humanoid monsters whose faces and bodies looked like dried-out meat. If he hadn't figured out their weakness was the head, he might not have been able to defeat them.
"Don't just stand there making sarcastic remarks. I've fallen into the trap, so we need to get in there now!" Nick Fury didn't want to come all this way for nothing. Besides, Sarah was still inside. If they didn't hurry, the cultists might leave.
"Cassius already warned you, but you insisted on going in this way!" Gwen said, looking displeased. Even without understanding magic, she could tell that they had walked into a trap. There must have been another way to avoid triggering these monsters.
Nick Fury wanted to retort, but he gritted his teeth and remained silent. He had to admit that even if Cassius had just guessed, he was right.
Seeing Nick Fury get up, the group carefully walked toward the church's main door. Cassius, surrounded by the agents, was completely different. He was walking leisurely as if he were simply admiring the scenery. Seeing the relaxed expression on Cassius's face, Wanda and the others' nervousness also subsided.
The door was an ancient wooden one, at least ten feet tall. Judging by the marks on it, it had to be at least 70 or 80 years old. Two agents carefully stepped forward and pulled the heavy doors open. From this alone, someone must have helped Sarah or some mysterious force was controlling her, because it would have been very difficult for Sarah to open this door by herself.
With a loud creak, the two doors slowly opened. As the doors swung wide, a cloud of dust that had accumulated for years filled the air. A rotten, stuffy smell filled their noses, making them wrinkle their brows.
Inside, they saw rows of wooden pews that had been there for who knows how long. Many of them had collapsed from years of neglect. On the wall in front of them was a huge crucifix. For some reason, half of the crucifix was missing, and the other half had fallen on the ground, rotting and covered in mold.
"Sarah's gone." Hill looked around, frowning. Even though they had wasted more than ten minutes, Sarah shouldn't have just disappeared. The church was big, but the main hall took up most of the space. They could see the entire interior with just one look.
"I can't sense her either," Wanda frowned. She had just tried to sense the space inside the church, but she didn't feel Sarah's presence. She wanted to expand her range, but it was already difficult for her to sense the entire church.
"Let's check the back door," Nick Fury ordered two agents to go check the back door. In a moment, the two agents came back in a hurry.
"Director, we just checked. The back door is locked. She couldn't have gone out that way!" The back door was locked from the inside. If she had gone out through the back door, it should have been open.
"Then what is going on?!" Nick Fury's expression became incredibly stiff. He couldn't believe that she had just disappeared. It was impossible because they had come in through the front door. But they didn't see Sarah. Could this really be a ghost? Although he had seen many monsters before, this was the first time he had encountered something so bizarre.
"We'll split up and look. She might be in another room!" Nick Fury gritted his teeth and gave the order. This was the only way left. Everyone started to search the small rooms. But it was as if Sarah had vanished into thin air. Nick Fury's face became even uglier.
At this moment, Cassius leisurely walked to the corner facing south. He tapped his right foot on the ground twice. "Stop looking. She's here!"
Nick Fury heard that and quickly walked to Cassius's side with the others.
"Pry open this floorboard. There's another space underneath," Cassius said, looking at the floor in front of him with a calm expression.
"Pry it open!" Nick Fury didn't know how he knew, but he had to admit that this guy was onto something.
The agents took out their tools and wedged them into the crack in the floorboard. With a combined effort, the floorboard was pried up. After the floorboard was removed, a square hole about a meter wide appeared. It was a staircase leading down! The staircase was made of stone and looked very old.
"There's a secret passage here?!" Nick Fury's expression became a little awkward. They had searched the entire place and found nothing. But this insignificant ordinary person found the secret passage first. It made them all look like fools.
"Let's go!" Nick Fury took a deep breath, took out a flashlight, and led the way. Since there was a secret passage, it was likely that Sarah was down here.
Nick Fury and Hill walked in front, with the three agents at the back. Cassius and the others were in the middle.
"Cassius, how did you find it?" Wanda asked in a low voice, leaning close to Cassius. She had tried to sense the area, but she didn't feel the space below.
"Someone set up a camouflage spell here, so your senses were blocked," Cassius said nonchalantly, explaining what he had found. Although the camouflage was well hidden, it couldn't hide from his eyes. It was only meant to deceive ordinary people.
If Wanda had concentrated her energy and carefully sensed the area, she would have found the passage eventually.
When they were about to reach the bottom, torches suddenly appeared on both sides of the passage. The flickering light shone in the damp and dark passage. Although it didn't provide much light, it was enough for them to see the inside of the passage.
"Shh!" Nick Fury raised his right hand and made a fist, turning off his flashlight. "I hear people talking up ahead."
When everyone stopped walking, they could faintly hear the same eerie mumbling from the front. The sound was especially strange, as if it was coming from hell. They could also vaguely hear that multiple people were chanting.
"Let's go. We'll go check it out." Nick Fury took out a dagger and carefully walked to the end of the passage with everyone else.
When they turned the corner at the end of the passage, a terrifying and bizarre scene appeared before their eyes.
In front of them was a huge space, about 500 square meters. What was even more bizarre was that there were so many people there. They were all standing with their backs to them, facing a stage. On the stage, several black-robed cultists were sitting in a circle, muttering something.
"In this abyssal night, where the stars lie veiled and silence reigns, I, your humble and steadfast servant, stand amidst the gathering shadows to offer my deepest reverence and unwavering faith to you, the supreme demon god, Nightmare.
"Your presence is like the most concealed star in the night sky—unseen, yet ever-present, guiding the lost toward the hidden depths of the soul's darkest truths"
The black-robed cultists' voices were pious and fanatical, hoarse yet sharp. Even though Cassius and the others were there, the cultists performing the ritual didn't notice them. The people below them had their eyes closed, but their mouths were smiling.
To the black-robed cultists on the stage, they were a god. As the black-robed cultists mumbled, their bodies trembled slightly. The smiles on their faces became more and more bizarre, as if they had seen the thing they loved the most.
"These guys must have been mind-controlled," Wanda frowned. She could clearly feel that these people were being controlled.
"Yes, they're performing a ritual." Cassius's eyes flashed with a hint of disgust, as if he had seen a cockroach. These people would do anything to achieve their goals.
"Could these guys be trying to sacrifice these people?!" Hill said, her eyes filled with shock. They had wondered why so many people had gone missing. It turned out they were all here. And from their sallow faces, it was clear they hadn't eaten for days.
"Look, Sarah is there!" Lorna, who hadn't said anything for a while, pointed to a corner in the distance. In the back of the crowd, Sarah was standing with her eyes closed, her mouth smiling, facing the stage. The white nightgown she was wearing looked so bizarre at this moment.
"First, we'll draw the cultists away," Nick Fury said, making a quick decision. Although he didn't know what the other party was doing, saving people was the priority.
He was about to rush out when a beam of light shone on Nick Fury. The black-robed cultists on the stage slowly stood up and looked at Nick Fury and the others. The black-robed cultist in the middle slowly raised his hand and took off his hood.
Under the hood was a shriveled, weathered face, like a piece of dead bark. Under the dim light, this face looked bizarre and terrifying. The old man's mouth curled into a smile, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Guests, what brings you here?"
"Stop playing games and release these people!" Hill took out her expandable baton from her leg and looked at the old cult leader with a serious expression.
"Heh heh heh, you have the guts to say that!" The old man laughed. His smile was very creepy and made their hair stand on end. He put his hands on the ground, and a black mist suddenly gushed out from the magic circle in the center. The black mist was like a giant rock that hit the ground and exploded.
When the black mist dispersed, a giant scorpion appeared in front of them out of thin air. The scorpion was completely black, and its sharp stinger was swaying slightly, as if it was ready to attack at any moment. Nick Fury and the others' faces changed drastically when they saw this.
"A summoning spell?" Cassius immediately became interested. He stroked his chin, thinking. He didn't expect these cultists to actually give him a surprise. Very few people could use this summoning spell. And these cultists' powers were a little stronger than he had expected.
"Let's move! They only have one scorpion!" Nick Fury took a deep breath and grabbed the dagger in his hand, ready to charge. Although the scorpion was about ten feet long, they might be able to handle it.
But at that moment, the giant scorpion's legs let out a roar. A huge number of small scorpions suddenly gushed out from the ground. These scorpions were tiny and swarmed toward them like a black tide.
Swoosh!
"That's disgusting!" Gwen shuddered, her face turning pale. She couldn't stand seeing a swarm of things.
Without a word, she jumped onto the wall and shot out webs, trying to block them. But the scorpions still rushed toward them. The small scorpions caught by the webs were only a small fraction of the swarm. They were nothing compared to the overwhelming number of scorpions.
"Shoot!" Nick Fury didn't care about anything else and took out his gun. The other agents also immediately took out their guns and started shooting. They didn't want to use their guns at first because they were afraid of hurting the civilians. But now, they could shoot at the ground and still hit a huge number of scorpions.
"Fuck, we can't kill them all!" Nick Fury's face changed drastically. No matter how many scorpions they killed, they would just be replaced by others. The area they had just shot at was instantly covered by scorpions again. It looked like a black tide, and the buzzing sound made everyone's scalp tingle. They had never expected there to be so many scorpions.
"Wanda!" Hill looked at Wanda. Their strength was not enough to deal with so many scorpions. The only one who could deal with the scorpions was Wanda!
"Hah!" Wanda's body emitted a crimson light. The light quickly spread along the ground and rushed toward the scorpion swarm. When the light met the swarm, the scorpions were annihilated as if they had met a scorching flame.
"Phew... It's a good thing Wanda came!" Nick Fury breathed a sigh of relief. If it weren't for Wanda, they wouldn't have been able to deal with this scorpion swarm. Guns were useless against these tiny creatures; it was like using a cannon to kill a fly. Even if they killed a few, it wouldn't make a difference.
"Chaos Magic!" The old man's eyes were filled with greed. "Great! If I sacrifice you to my lord Nightmare, I will be handsomely rewarded!"
He never expected to encounter such a surprise. The old man suddenly raised his withered hands. "Nightmare, my lord, grant me supreme power! I will offer Chaos Magic to you!"
In the next second, a black mist gathered in his hands. It then rushed out from the top of his head. The black mist seemed to be mixed with countless evil spirits. When it was released, they could vaguely hear the screams and roars of the evil spirits.
"Damn it!" Wanda had no choice but to hurriedly retract her crimson light to block this powerful attack with her energy shield.
BOOM!
When the black mist hit the shield, Wanda's face changed drastically because the power was much stronger than she had expected. At the same time, the scorpion swarm came out from the ground again.
"It's over!" Without the crimson light, they couldn't fight back!
"Back off," Cassius said lightly, taking a step forward. A red light flickered in his hands, and in the next second, both of his hands were covered in fire. The entire room was lit up by the scorching flame!
A colossal fire gushed out from his hands, swallowing the scorpion swarm. The terrifying fire, wrapped in a bizarre dark red light, sent the old man flying.
"This guy!" Nick Fury was shocked.
Wait a minute.
He really can do it!
Wasn't this guy just a normal person?!
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