Beyond the fire door, a rocky environment was visible, featuring a sort of enormous pit dug into the earth, filled with blood and a large number of corpses hanging by their necks, dripping blood. The corpses were completely naked, allowing a view of twisted runes carved into their bodies with knives—a torture forever etched in the expressions of terror and absolute despair on their faces.
Meanwhile, around the pit lay a great heap of corpses, some naked and marked with runes, others in shattered armor, all dripping blood that was channeled into the pit through grooves carved into the ground. But the strangest thing of all was a sort of statue floating right in the center of the lake, surrounded by hanging corpses.
The statue appeared to be a Virelian, deformed to the point of resembling a demon. In addition to the typical wings and tail, it had enormous, twisted goat horns on its head, twisted hands that looked like claws, and strange carved runes that emitted a reddish glow. The strange statue held in its claws an odd bottle made of what seemed to be red jade.
The bottle was positioned so that its mouth was just below the point where the statue's twisted horns met, leaving a small gap. In that small space, as the reddish runes carved into the horns pulsed at regular intervals, a small droplet of deep, dark red blood condensed and fell into the bottle.
Witnessing the devastating scene, the entire group, including Erik, was completely stunned, staring at the horror beyond the portal with expressions of disbelief. But at that moment, Tomás snapped out of it, gripped his sword tightly, mobilized his mana, and asked solemnly while looking at Erik.
"Leader! Do we advance or retreat?!"
Thanks to the shout, Erik regained his composure, his expression quickly turning sharp. In that instant, he looked at Zoe and ordered seriously.
"Everyone, on guard! Zoe, deploy the scouting spheres. I'll send in the golems!"
""Understood!""
The group replied in unison. Zoe quickly pulled out a crystal tablet and several True Copper spheres completely covered in runes, which followed the golems as they began marching toward the portal. Soon, six golems crossed the portal along with several scouting spheres, and images of the place along with a real-time map began to appear on Zoe's holographic screen.
Several minutes passed during which, beyond bodies, the scouting spheres found nothing unusual, so Zoe had them accelerate to map the entire area. At that point, Ethan and Chen exchanged glances and nodded. Then, Chen turned to look at Erik and commented in a serious tone.
"Erik, it's likely there's a formation on the other side. It would be good if we partially dismantled the formations here to send spare flags to better study the place and establish a defensive formation on the other side."
"Do it, but leave a capture formation active here." Erik nodded and ordered in a serious tone. Ethan and Chen nodded in response before getting to work.
"Are those hunters?"
While Chen and Ethan worked hurriedly, Christine asked while pointing at one of the images sent by the scouting spheres, drawing everyone's attention. In the image, what appeared to be two bodies dressed entirely in black could be seen on the ground, but unlike the others, these seemed more asleep than dead.
"I'll move a scouting sphere closer." Zoe soon commented seriously and manipulated the holographic screen. One of the images soon showed a more detailed view.
Indeed, two unconscious hunters could be seen on the ground, causing everyone to look at each other in confusion. It was then that Elara commented, full of bewilderment.
"They don't seem to be part of the sacrifice… Why are they like this?"
"They might be puppets." Tomás commented in a serious tone while staring fixedly at the pair of bodies, leading Erik to look and ask.
"Puppets?"
Tomás nodded at Erik's question, and as everyone looked at him curiously, he began to explain seriously.
"Yes, some Virelians are capable of breeding soul-linked insects that can take control of a living creature. Although they are normally much slower and weaker in a fight than a normal person, as long as they don't fight, it's very difficult to detect them without specialized artifacts or a Sage-level expert examining them closely. That's why they've caused significant casualties on the frontiers.
"Those insects are so incredible that infected people behave exactly the same, preventing even close acquaintances from suspecting anything. However, they have a grave flaw. Once the breeder dies, the insects die with him and take the lives of the infected with them. Therefore, those 'breeders' generally hide very well in the rear lines and are hard to see under normal circumstances."
"So we kill the breeder…" Erik commented seriously, to which Tomás nodded with a solemn expression.
"That's most likely."
"Is the formation ready?" Erik quickly turned to look at Ethan and Chen and asked seriously. In response, Ethan answered while operating his crystal tablet at full speed.
"One more minute. There's an active formation on the other side, and we need to bypass it to deploy ours."
"Prepare yourselves, we're going in." Erik nodded and ordered seriously. The other youths quickly tightened their grips on their weapons and mobilized their mana.
""Done!""
Soon, Ethan and Chen exclaimed simultaneously before taking their positions. At that moment, Zoe handed the complete map to Erik, who, after reviewing it quickly, ordered firmly.
"Let's go!"
With golems at the front, the group crossed the portal in an elongated formation. Soon it was Erik's turn; he entered after Tomás, who positioned himself right in front of him for protection. On the other side, the knights and golems had already formed a defensive semicircle with the golems on the front line. But upon crossing the portal, Erik could sense a strange Myst outside the lamp's light field.
Similar to the dark corridor, the Myst felt strange and 'sticky,' but in a different, more repulsive way. If the Myst in the corridor reminded Erik of rotten food, the Myst in the cave directly reminded him of a corpse in its final stages of decomposition. So disgusting that even though he felt his control over that Myst was total—as in his normal state outside the ruin—he didn't bother trying to control it.
But, though he didn't bother, the Myst around him moved on its own, vibrating at high speed, then began to swirl around him rapidly. Soon, all the Myst within the gas lamp's field of light followed suit, turning into a sort of vortex that somehow 'sucked' the cave's Myst into the field of light.
Sensing the movement of the Myst, everyone turned to look at Erik in surprise. But before they could ask, in the corner of their vision, they saw a change in the statue floating above the blood pool. The glow of the statue's runes began to fluctuate violently as the statue trembled. After a few seconds, the statue cracked all over, releasing an unpleasant cracking sound.
Due to the cracks, the statue's claws crumbled, causing the strange red jade bottle to begin falling toward the blood pool. But before it could fall, a hand made of crystalline Myst appeared just in time to catch it. At that moment, Elara couldn't help but ask with a confused and curious expression.
"What did you do, Erik?"
"Would you believe me if I said I have no idea?"
Erik couldn't help but reply with a somewhat helpless smile as he looked at the red jade bottle. Elara looked at Erik's expression for a few moments before nodding and replying with a somewhat similar expression.
"I believe you."
"It seems you somehow interrupted the ritual. I've seen similar things before, but it's the first time I've seen the statue." Tomás commented seriously, to which Erik asked curiously.
"Do you know what all this is for?"
"Not really, but a scene like this isn't rare in heretic cult bases. They use rituals like this to cast curses, enhance their powers, or I've even heard rumors they can improve their talent with rituals like this." Tomás responded seriously, leaving Erik deep in thought. At that moment, Zoe asked, somewhat confused.
"But why is this place so unprotected? Could it be they only had those 'puppets' guarding it?"
"It's possible this was a place only the Virelian could be. I've never seen a statue like that, so it's likely the hunters weren't capable of achieving their goals with a typical ritual and needed it, forcing them to ally with the Virelian, who must have made demands like this." Tomás commented with a hand on his chin. Erik, emerging from his thoughts, commented while looking around.
"That's most likely. If the Virelian's goal was to move in secret to take the treasures and awaken the basilisk to kill us all, then this place is perfect. From what we can see on the map, this cave only has one entrance sealed with a stone and has a portal ready for use. So, I imagine that thing must have made up excuses to be alone and move without drawing attention."
"That makes sense… But given the number of corpses here, they must have some kind of schedule for deliveries. The question is, when will that be?" Elara asked while looking toward the distant entrance.
"Huh?" At that moment, Erik let out a small exclamation as he turned to look at a corner. This powerfully caught Christine's attention, who quickly asked.
"What is it, Erik?"
"A presence suddenly appeared in my Mystical Awareness. There's someone alive here."
Erik responded seriously, his gaze fixed on the same corner. Hearing Erik, the direct disciples quickly extended their Ethereal Projections to examine the area, soon opening their eyes in surprise.
"There really is someone…" Tomás commented with surprise. Zoe added with a somewhat ironic smile while looking at Erik.
"And quite an unexpected someone at that…"
"Hm? Who is it?" Erik asked curiously, seeing Elara, Chen, and Zoe with strange expressions, as he simultaneously extended his mana.
Quickly, Erik could sense who was still alive beneath several corpses. It was a young man at the Revealed level with typical Lotus Union features. His robe was half-destroyed, he was covered in wounds, his face was smeared with blood, and his hair was completely singed. The young man was clutching a small jade tag tightly in his hands with his eyes closed, apparently unconscious.
"Who is that…?" Upon 'seeing' the young man, Erik couldn't help but look at Zoe and ask, genuinely confused. At that moment, Chen couldn't help but comment somewhat helplessly.
"It's Xiao Tianji."
"Who's that?" Erik couldn't help but look at Chen and ask, even more confused. This caused Chen to palm his forehead in exasperation and reply.
"The person you faced off against before entering the ruin…" Chen wanted to finish his words, but seeing Erik seemed to be remembering without being very sure, he quickly added to make it clear.
"The one who mocked you for not having a surname."
"Oh!"
Hearing Chen, Erik let out a small exclamation of realization, prompting a small sigh from Chen. Elara and Zoe suppressed their smiles, as the situation wasn't appropriate, but this allowed them to release some of the tension the strange place had caused them. At that moment, Erik commented while studying the young man again.
"No wonder I didn't recognize him. He lost all his 'scholarly' aura…"
"Yeah… Life takes many turns. Despite the threats he made against you, look how he ended up…"
Christine commented in a heavy voice while examining the unconscious youth, who looked more like a war refugee than a proud young master of the prestigious Xiao family. She was perfectly aware that had it not been for her luck in meeting Tomás's group and later Erik, her situation would have been worse—so much so that even imagining it terrified her and made her unable to look at the hanging corpses.
"Well, putting that aside, the guy is just pretending to be asleep. Let's bring him here; he must have important information." Erik commented in a calm tone while looking in Xiao Tianji's direction.
In that instant, the unconscious youth's eyes snapped open, and he forcefully mobilized his mana in an attempt to escape. But before he could fully rise, a gleaming sword appeared at his neck, causing him to stop dead in his tracks and look up to meet Tomás's calm expression. Looking directly into Xiao Tianji's eyes, Tomás commented in a firm tone.
"You'd better stay still. Our leader has questions for you."
***
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