89: twists and turns

Then, under Erica's guidance, Locke and the other two arrived at the room where Kraven had hidden the key.

However, when they arrived, they were surprised to find that it seemed someone had already been there.

After searching the room and failing to find the key, Locke immediately realized something was wrong; it seemed someone had beaten them to it.

"Erica, are you sure you are the only one who knows about this room?"

"Other than me, it should only be Kraven himself, but isn't he already dead?"

Erica scratched her head and said, feeling very confused, "Logically, no one else should know that the key is hidden in this place. Given Kraven's personality, he shouldn't have told anyone else about this..."

Locke pondered for a moment. Thinking of the mysterious person from the Secret Cult hiding behind Kraven, an ominous feeling rose in his heart.

"I might know who Kraven told. This key was likely taken by that person or their subordinates."

Since Kraven acted under that person's orders, this possibility was very high.

It was not impossible that Kraven had hidden the key in such a place and told that person the location.

If the key were still here, Locke wouldn't be suspicious, but since the key wasn't found, the likelihood of this guess was very high.

Given Kraven's cautious nature—the kind who would prepare a wall of fake books to confuse people—it was impossible for him to hand over something like the key to someone of lower status than himself, so there was only this one possibility.

Thinking about this, Locke couldn't help but feel puzzled, but since he didn't have much information, he hadn't figured out what the mysterious person's true purpose was.

"What exactly does he want to do? Targeting Emilia, and wanting to beat me to waking up Marcus—what is his purpose?"

Many questions popped into Locke's mind, but he couldn't get answers for the time being.

He had a vague feeling that perhaps he would know the answer after completing the Underworld mission.

"Who took the key?"

Emilia and the other two looked at Locke with great curiosity, especially Erica; she wanted to know who had arrived here before her to take the key.

She was very certain that only she and Kraven knew about this location.

Since it was missing now, there was only one possibility: Kraven had leaked the information to someone else.

Locke composed himself and focused his gaze on Emilia: "Do you remember the person from the Secret Cult who sold you the incomplete secret codex? It was likely him or someone he sent who took the key."

Hearing Locke say this, and associating it with being ambushed by Kraven's men, Emilia immediately reacted and nodded with a grave expression.

"My Lord, what do you think his purpose is in doing this? Could it be that he wants to deal with Marcus before we do?"

Recalling her own experiences, she couldn't help but guess this.

"I'm afraid not. If he also wanted to kill Marcus, he would probably leave the key here and wait for us to act."

"Then what is he trying to..."

Locke shook his head with a puzzled look: "I'm not sure what he wants to do, but at least one thing is certain: he doesn't really want me to kill Marcus right now."

"Then what should we do now?"

"It's fine. If we rush down now, we might be able to intercept that person or their subordinates. Since he doesn't want Marcus to die, I'm going to kill him just to show him."

Locke couldn't be bothered to think too much. After all, that person only knew how to hide in the background and perform petty tricks; their identity was likely something that couldn't see the light of day.

Therefore, Locke just needed to complete his mission and kill Marcus and William, as per the additional conditions.

Although Locke was confident that he could deal with Marcus even if he were to wake up and escape now.

But if he could defeat the enemy easily, he naturally didn't want to waste any extra effort.

If he could make things easier, he naturally didn't want to look for trouble.

After Locke finished speaking, Emilia and the other two nodded in agreement, then set off together toward Marcus's dormant chamber.

However, considering that Erica's strength was slightly weaker, Locke reminded her on the way: "Erica, as the support personnel, if a fight breaks out later, remember to hide well."

"I understand, don't worry." Seeing Locke so concerned about her, Erica felt a surge of joy and nodded vigorously.

"Also, Emilia and Serena, neither of you should take action rashly later; just protect yourselves. Follow my lead in everything."

Although Locke was confident in killing Marcus, if Marcus insisted on attacking Serena and the others later, that would not be a good thing.

He couldn't look after all three of them by himself, so he took this opportunity to give them a heads-up.

"We know." Emilia and Serena also knew of Marcus's terror, so they took Locke's cautious reminder to heart.

"Hmm, just make sure you don't get ambushed by him; leave the frontal assault to me."

Locke was already prepared to fight the awakened Marcus. In the dark secret passage, he quietly put on the bulletproof suit again, hiding it under his black trench coat.

The secret passage to Marcus's dormant chamber was also very complex. Although Emilia was an Elder, she did not know the way.

However, this could not stump Locke. He had an Extraordinary Ability like Echo Location, so those fork in the roads—which were very useful for blocking and delaying ordinary people, and were highly deceptive like a maze—were completely useless in front of him.

The three accompanying him, including Serena, were somewhat surprised, but they did not find this performance by Locke unexpected.

"Follow me closely."

Thus, under Locke's guidance, the four of them arrived at the door of Marcus's chamber at an extremely fast speed.

It took less than 10 minutes from departure to arrival.

But even with such rushing, when they arrived, they discovered that the door, which should have been tightly shut, was already wide open.

"It seems we were one step too slow."

Emilia sighed. She knew Marcus's strength, so she couldn't help but feel some regret. After all, if they could have attacked him the moment he woke up, it would have been much easier.

"All of you stay behind me, don't let your guard down, and be careful."

Locke immediately took out the silver cross sword he had snatched from Victor and walked in front, leading the way.

Marcus's chamber was no different from Victor's; it also had a circular dome, with blood grooves carved into the floor leading to the sarcophagus.

When Locke walked in, the blood in the grooves had already been drained, and the sarcophagus had already been opened.

Not only that, but the moment he entered, he noticed a corpse lying on the ground.

There were two bloody, mangled bite marks on the corpse's neck, and the entire body had become shriveled, like a dried corpse that had been weathered for who knows how many years.