[Thunder]

She followed the trail down the left passage. As she traveled, she got the growing sense that these tunnels were not natural. They were too smooth, too precise in their turns. Someone, however long ago, had made these.

As Lucretia continued down the passage, she started to notice faded etchings on the wall. They looked similar to the ones that were on the coffin plaque and were equally illegible. While she walked and stared, she felt her foot press down on something. Instinctively, she jumped back and swung out her arm to stop Montessier from proceeding. There was a harsh ka-chank! sound, and a row of rusted, iron spikes popped out of the ground from holes she had not seen while she was looking at the etchings. Lucretia breathed a sigh of relief. Had she been one second too late, those spikes, rusty as they were, would have skewered her. She berated herself in her mind, telling herself she had to be more alert.

[Thunder]

The spikes retreated back into the ground. Though Lucretia was annoyed that she almost got killed by them, their presence did affirm one thing. Whoever constructed this place did not want normal people finding it and wandering around. There was bound to be something important hidden deeper within the cavern depths.

She carried on, proceeding more cautiously and slowly this time, keeping her eyes peeled for anything suspicious. Now that she was properly paying attention, the ghost hunter was able to dodge a few strange, indented spots on the ground that seemed like triggers for other traps. Montessier, having seen his master's narrow brush with death, also tread more lightly, watching the stone floor closely.

[Thunder]

Eventually, the tunnel opened up into another wide space. Lucretia swept the area with her flashlight. It was another circular cave, with two tunnels branching out from the left wall and two more tunnels branching out from the right wall. At the front of the chamber, there was what looked to be the crumbling remains of a stone altar, situated in front of a faded painting, with some unidentified objects piled up on it. The middle of the floor was engraved with four concentric circles. The sight gave Lucretia the sense that this chamber was used for some kind of ceremony.

She stepped up to the altar to investigate it more closely. Upon seeing the things piled up on it, her body tensed. These were unmistakably bones. And they didn't look like animal bones. They looked like human bones. But that wasn't the most concerning detail. These bones were white and dustless. They had been picked clean and put here recently.

[Thunder]

A multitude of theories went through the ghost hunter's mind. Her first thought was that this was a human sacrifice, that someone had committed murder and brought the bones here for some sort of ritual. Perhaps it wasn't murder, yet the bones were still delivered to this place for a sinister purpose. Maybe it was cannibals, and they ate whoever this person was before setting the bones here.

As Lucretia pondered these possibilities, she realized something. All these theories, plus the way the underground space was constructed and loaded with traps, implied this was the work of humans. Yet, she had come to the cathedral because of supernatural activity and because Montie had detected some kind of supernatural power here.

What, then, was that yellow aura she had been picking up?

Humans and their constructs in her sixth sense were green.

[Thunder]

Suddenly, Lucretia heard a faint noise coming from somewhere nearby. It was quiet, but the structure of the caverns caused the sound to carry to the altar chamber. It was slow, yet paced, repeating in a particular pattern, seemingly getting louder and closer with each breath she took.

Footsteps.

Slowly, Lucretia raised her claw in front of her face and throat in a defensive stance. Montessier dropped to a crouched position, growing with his teeth bared and ears flattened. Lucretia shut her eyes and reached out with her sixth sense, trying to see if she could spot any auras nearby.

She did see one, a deep and menacing red. It was faint at first, but it slowly grew more saturated as the footsteps approached. And, it was coming from a direction she had not expected. It was coming from the tunnel of traps she had just left.