The two sat around the bonfire, eating some bat evil spirit meat. It took them a bit to travel back, but since the fire was still burning and everything else was untouched, Adam could start his explanation right away.
"Some time ago, I made some friends here. They were kind people. Some were my age, while one was a little bit older."
Shaking his head, he continued while staring into the fire.
"Still, we all got along, fought together, ate together, and well, did everything together. It was one of the most memorable times of my stay in this realm. Though, those happy days ended the moment we all tried to leave this place."
Adam clenched his fists, his expression sour.
"We ran for the exit, defeating thousands of evil spirits. We were on track to get out, but to our dismay... one of us suffered a serious injury. It was a woman who was like the star of the group. She was... I buried her myself."
His hand trembled slightly, and for a moment, there was silence.
But after a brief moment, he collected himself and continued.
"The closer we got, the more of us fell. Advance, kill, bury our own, and then retreat. Eventually, it got too out of hand. We were close to the exit. Too close. By then, there were only two of us left."
He lowered his head, his voice falling quieter.
"And by the time I woke up, I was all alone."
"Sorry you had to go through that," Julian sympathized. "I take it after everything that happened, you chose to stay behind?"
Adam shook his head.
"The exit was closed. No matter what I did, I couldn't leave, and then the evil spirits started to swarm me, forcing me to ditch everything and run away."
Before Julian could reply, he raised a single finger.
"I killed, got stronger, and kept killing. That was my life for years, until eventually, I heard a rumor. There was a Soul Artifact hidden somewhere in Second Heaven that could purify evil spirits, painlessly sending them to the afterlife."
Julian's eyes widened.
"Do you mean..."
Adam nodded, a distant smile appearing on his face.
"My friends turned out to be alive. In the place where they were buried, they had been resurrected, and ever since then, they've been roaming the Second Heaven as evil spirits. I ran into them only once a couple of months back, but they didn't recognize me, and..."
"You couldn't kill them," Julian sighed, feeling as though the clues were finally being put together.
But then that meant whatever happened at the top of the mountain peak was the result of something related to the Soul Artifact.
As if able to tell what Julian was thinking, Adam answered him.
"I had reason to believe Victoria was in possession of the Soul Artifact, but I was lied to. She seemed to be on the verge of becoming a full-fledged evil spirit, so through one minor disagreement, we began our fight. And after that... well, here we are."
With that, Julian nodded in understanding.
He felt pity for Adam. After all, the man had worked so hard, only to lose everything again and again. Julian could only imagine what Adam was hiding behind his tough exterior.
But even so, the discussion ended there.
They ate some more food, chatted for a bit, and then went to bed. However, as the howling of the evil spirits sounded in the distance, he simply couldn't sleep.
Hearing Adam's story motivated him, because as it stood, Julian was weak—way too weak to go through any solid battle. If he had clashed with Virion, he would've been killed in less than two moves. He knew that.
So, with renewed determination, Julian prepped his crossbows and quietly made his way into the forest.
That night, among the howling, was the crisp sound of whistling as evil spirit after evil spirit perished in the forest.
***
(The following day...)
Julian roamed across the outskirts of the forest and eventually arrived back at the place where he had first arrived.
'I'll call it Land of Churches. Eh, maybe too corny,' Julian thought with a chuckle and stepped onto the marble, quietly making his way into each of the churches.
Like always, Adam didn't have many plans unless he thought of something at the last moment, so Julian decided to do his own bit of exploration.
After all, he realized that Adam was decked out in all sorts of Soul Artifacts—armor, sword, even the cape was a Soul Artifact.
In the end, he was a little jealous of him, so he decided to start his search here.
He moved from one ruined church to the next, finding nothing of value. Or that was how it seemed. In reality, he had spotted a pattern and remembered something.
'When I arrived, I woke up atop a pedestal. I haven't seen a single pedestal in any of these churches. Could there be something under that pedestal...?'
It was a rash idea, but since his memory wasn't half bad, Julian roamed through the Land of Churches and eventually found the church he was looking for.
To his dismay, it had already collapsed. By the entrance, there were several footsteps, and since they weren't there when he had left, he could guess someone had come back to wreck the place.
Still, after making sure he wasn't being watched, Julian did his best to move the rubble aside. After only a few hours and several dozen church pieces, he had moved everything aside and revealed the pedestal.
Exhaling an exhausted breath, Julian approached it, trying to move it aside. He wasn't expecting much, but to his surprise, the pedestal moved as though it had wheels.
And when he pushed it far enough aside, he spotted a passageway leading down.
"..."
Honestly, he kind of wished his luck was always this good, but maybe it was a little too early to jinx himself.
After all, he still had no idea what awaited him at the bottom of the staircase.