Chapter 89: Wasn’t This Supposed to Be a Normal Dungeon?

Wasn’t This Supposed to Be a Normal Dungeon?

Drip, drip, drip—

Berren City, perpetually rainy, was once again enveloped in a downpour as dawn approached.

Grayish-white clouds obscured the sun, casting a gloomy shadow over the city streets.

A troop of fully equipped riders moved through the rain, heading towards Creek Hill outside Berren City, disappearing into the woods.

“Whoa—”

The lead rider in black robes yanked hard on the reins, bringing the sturdy brown horse to a halt. He dismounted swiftly and hurried to the carriage being escorted in the middle of the convoy.

“High Priest, we have arrived.”

The neighing of horses filled the air. Some horses, despite their riders pulling the reins, continued to rear up on their hind legs, screaming and fighting against their riders’ control.

Soon, several strong horses threw their riders off and bolted back down the mountain.

It was as if something hidden within the rain-shrouded manor ahead instilled in them a primal, instinctual fear.

Creak—

The carriage door opened, but the first person to emerge wasn’t the High Priest mentioned by the black-robed figure, but someone with long black hair.

“Is this the place?”

Avena jumped down from the carriage, ignoring the muddy water splashing onto her expensive boots. She took two steps forward, taking in the information within her line of sight.

Many chaotic footprints... all leading away from the manor. It seemed that not long ago, many people had noticed something amiss and fled.

Two corpses up ahead caught Avena’s attention. She walked between them, knelt down, and turned over the body lying face down.

This work is hosted on mananovel.com

As she moved forward, Nia, clad in silver armor, followed closely behind Avena, her right hand already resting on the shield-sword strapped to her back, ready to draw at any moment.

“Did you... discover something, Miss Avena?”

A slightly breathless voice came from behind Avena. She turned to see High Priest Uris, who had come up behind her, with Adele’s silver-haired head peeking out from beside her shoulder.

“Both killed instantly by a short sword or dagger, no signs of struggle,” Avena glanced at Adele hiding behind Uris and asked with a hint of exasperation, “Didn’t I tell you just giving her some medicine was enough? Why did you follow?”

Adele wasn’t close to Ciel; they had only met once when Adele vouched for her. Adele had every reason not to participate in this operation. Avena couldn’t understand why she had come along.

She was clearly terrified.

Avena’s blunt words seemed to wound Adele’s pride. She glared cautiously at Avena.

“Do you think I’m stupid?!” Perhaps hiding behind Uris gave Adele some courage, as her voice was no longer faint and breathless, but firm and defiant. “There are hardly any transcendents left in the city. Isn’t it safer for me to follow you?”

Avena, taken aback by the retort, drew a sharp breath but couldn’t think of a comeback.

Adele was right. Here, they had the third-tier “Crown Guard” Nia, the second-tier “Missionary” Uris, and seven or eight first-tier transcendents. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

If the people here couldn’t handle Ciel, the situation would only worsen if an out-of-control Ciel roamed Berren City.

“We only have one day.” Uris interrupted the potentially bickering pair. “I have already sent an urgent request for aid to the Church using a ritual. I mentioned Ciel and the Divine Advent Church information.”

“If we can’t restrain Ciel within today, by the time Church reinforcements arrive, I cannot guarantee whether the arriving Bishop or Archbishop will spare her life.”

Hearing this, Avena’s heart tightened slightly.

Only one day...

More than two hours had already passed since Uris said Ciel drank the potion. Ciel might not even be in the manor anymore.

There was no trace of her in the city. If she had fled elsewhere, finding her would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

If they couldn’t find her, they might only learn of her fate after she lost control completely, caused some major incident, and was dealt with by another church or organization.

“I’ll split up with you. Let’s search Deton Manor quickly,” Avena said to Uris and the others.

With Nia’s protection, she wouldn’t be in danger even if they split up.

“Don’t!” Adele quickly interjected, stopping Avena’s impulsive plan. “Don’t split up! In knight novels, those who split up usually end up dead!”

“Adele’s concern is not unfounded.” Uris nodded and addressed Avena, “You... haven’t seen what she was like. For your own safety, and for the safety of others, let’s not split up.”

“...I understand.” Avena took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down slightly.

She didn’t understand why she felt so anxious; she just wanted to find Ciel quickly.

Now, Avena could only pray that Ciel hadn’t been completely assimilated by the potion.

Thump-thump-thump—

Frantic footsteps echoed from the direction of the manor, drawing everyone’s attention.

Nia instantly drew her sword and shield, holding the sword in her left hand and shield in her right, stepping forward to shield Avena.

It was a woman wearing a red chip mask. She wore only an ill-fitting shirt, nothing below the waist.

Seeing Nia in her knightly attire outside the gate, she looked as if she had seen a savior and quickened her pace. However, she tripped over a stone, tumbled forward twice, covering herself in mud, looking utterly disheveled.

“Help! Help!!!” the woman screamed, crawling towards Nia.

“An ordinary person,” Uris said slowly after carefully sensing her. “Not a member of the Divine Advent Church.”

Uris walked forward, four white shadows emerging from her own shadow, surrounding her protectively.

She crouched before the weeping woman and spoke gently, “It’s alright now... Can you tell me what happened inside?”

Uris wore her white mask, and her ethereal voice seemed to possess a mysterious power, gradually calming the frantic woman.

“Dead... so many people are dead inside...” the woman looked up at Uris, sobbing. “I was about to start my night shift. I just went into the changing room, and when I came out, my new uniform was gone.”

“At first, I thought someone was playing a prank. I kept waiting for someone else to come into the changing room to help me get another uniform... but I waited a long time, and no one came.”

“Later, I vaguely heard many screams outside, so I hid in the changing room and didn’t come out. When it got quiet outside, I came out... and saw so many dead people!”

“Then... then I just kept running outside. I felt like something was chasing me from behind, but when I looked back, I couldn’t see anything... And then, I saw you all...”

Felt something invisible chasing her...

Behind, Avena and Adele exchanged glances, both seeing the answer in each other’s eyes.

It was likely the “Judicator’s” black shadow. Ordinary people with higher sensitivity, under extreme fear, could indeed vaguely sense it or see a faint phantom.

However, if an ordinary person actually saw it, they would likely go mad... Perhaps the woman before them was too panicked and hadn’t truly seen the black shadow.

That had inadvertently saved her life.

After comforting the woman and having an “Ascetic” hand her a long robe, Uris headed directly into the manor.

Avena and Nia followed closely. Adele wanted to shrink behind her sister again, but her sister was too far ahead. She reluctantly followed Avena, maintaining a subtle, ambiguous distance.

Physicians normally stand at the back... No, Physicians should stand at the back! Adele thought, overcoming her fear and openly hiding behind Avena.

“This way. We went up this way before.” Uris recalled the route she took with Ciel earlier, mentally counting steps, and headed directly towards the reception hall on the right side of Deton Manor.

Another corpse... the same method of death, a single fatal blow, clean and efficient.

Could Ciel really do something like this?

Avena found it difficult to reconcile the corpse before her with the calm, intelligent, cooking-adept, sister-caring, well-behaved Ciel she remembered.

This wasn’t just a contrast; it was like she was a completely different person.

-

Following the open secret passage downwards, the smell of blood grew stronger.

In the sanctuary below, they saw several different kinds of corpses. These bodies had their heads or hearts crushed by some blunt object, a very different, less painful method of death.

“These are the cultists I dealt with.” Uris paused for a moment, then pointed towards another secret passage. “That way leads up to where Ciel was before.”

“Ugh—” Behind them, a first-tier transcendent, likely unused to seeing dead bodies, vomited at the sight of the carnage.

The continuous trail of blood and corpses cast a shadow over everyone’s hearts. Tension spread through the group.

Many “Ascetics” might not have even fought an ordinary person since completing their Reconstitution Ritual, let alone faced such a terrifying second-tier entity.

Following the passage Uris indicated, the group cautiously advanced upwards. Soon, a row of shattered bookshelves appeared before them.

Peering through the gaps in the bookshelves, they saw a lavish office. On the office’s red carpet, a dark red bloodstain was particularly conspicuous, mixed with bits of brain matter.

“This is...” Avena frowned, looking at the blood trail leading towards the door.

“It’s the corpse of that cultist ‘Missionary’,” Uris confirmed. “I don’t sense Ciel’s presence.”

“Sis... the body was dragged away,” Adele peeked out and whispered a reminder.

“Dragged away?” Uris’s heart sank slightly.

Transcendents assimilated by their potions develop an unusual craving for spiritual materials and other transcendents.

They continuously consume these materials or corpses, especially those of similar paths, to accelerate their own potion assimilation until their sanity is completely annihilated.

“Nia.”

“Yes, Milady.”

From here, Uris no longer needed to lead the way.

Nia followed the blood trail outside, with Avena and Uris close behind.

Adele hesitated for a second, then shut her eyes tightly and ran after them.

Can’t fall behind... can’t fall behind... Adele kept reminding herself.

In situations like this, falling behind was the worst thing to do. In knight novels, those who cleverly tried to escape alone always got several pages dedicated to describing their gruesome deaths.

Just as they exited the small study-turned-office, they saw that the blood trail had doubled.

Following the trail, two became four... soon, the bloodstains merged into a solid path, making it impossible to distinguish individual trails.

“It’s all transcendent blood...” Adele commented. Dealing with blood daily, she wasn’t surprised by this material.

Just how many had been killed?

Following the blood trail downstairs, the group stopped outside the steel gate of the underground exchange area.

The previously open gate was now shut tight. Corpses were piled outside like cargo.

The putrid stench of blood assaulted their nostrils. Avena pressed her lips together tightly. After a moment, she said, “Nia, open the door.”

Whether Ciel had been assimilated or not, having killed so many people, she would definitely be taken in for investigation by the Church of the Savior Goddess...

“Ciel... is inside...” Uris seemed to sense something and spoke, her voice trembling slightly.

Nia slowly stepped forward, raised the silver-white shield in her right hand, and slammed it against the steel gate.

Boom—!

The thick gate buckled inwards dramatically. The gate mechanism embedded in the wall warped under the impact, causing exaggerated cracks to appear in the surrounding fired concrete and brickwork. The chandelier overhead swayed, dislodging debris, like an earthquake.

Nia retracted her shield, gathered her strength, and punched forward with the silver shield.

Boom—!

The gate was instantly blasted inwards, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the dust settled, the scene inside left everyone stunned.

The once spacious and luxurious exchange area had been cleared into numerous circular zones. Within each zone lay shriveled, horrifying corpses or materials burned to ash. Eerie sacrificial ritual arrays were etched onto the floor with blood.

And in the deepest part of the exchange area, a petite figure with red hair, barefoot and wearing a torn black maid dress, stood with her back to them, facing a massive array on the wall, her hands outstretched.

The girl’s body was almost devoid of color. Countless fine blood threads emerged from all over her body, converging onto the sacrificial array on the wall before her.

Poof—

The headless female corpse hanging upside down before the array burst into flames.

As it burned, the entire blood array pulsed with an eerie crimson light. A vortex composed of blood mist formed before the array.

One, two... massive tentacles, a meter in diameter and trailing hooked chains, emerged from the vortex. The tentacles writhed, tearing at the blood mist vortex, as if something even more terrifying was trying to break through from within.

Voom—!

Almost everyone present felt a terrifying buzzing in their minds. Spiritual alarms screamed wildly in their heads.

As the tentacles tore wider, a horrifying, tooth-filled maw emerged from within, but became stuck in the blood mist vortex, unable to push further out.

“Gurgle... gurgle...”

Sounds like bursting blood blisters in a boiling swamp of gore and flesh rumbled from the giant mouth, seemingly communicating something with the girl whose back was turned to them.

The purple eyes circling the lipless maw swiveled, individually fixing upon each person standing at the entrance, unleashing unrestrained madness and killing intent.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

At this moment, the first-tier transcendents, whether “Missionaries,” “Physicians,” or “Detectives,” were overwhelmed by extreme fear. They screamed and cried, turning to flee.

It was a primal tremor before the ancient unknown, a terror potent enough to shatter faith.

The Sacrificial Saint’s Relic on Avena’s chest blazed brightly. Adele downed three potion vials in one go. Uris’s white shadows instantly shielded the four of them. Even Nia, the third-tier “Crown Guard,” lowered her stance slightly, adopting her highest level of alertness.

And the girl with her back to them, seemingly disturbed by something, painfully raised her left hand to clutch the left side of her hair and slowly turned her head.

Her bloodstained, pale face showed hints of pain and displeasure. Her crimson eyes swept casually over the four who remained.

“So noisy...” A hoarse, sickly voice came from the girl’s lips.

The sound struck their ears like a heavy hammer, causing their hearts and breaths to momentarily cease.

Nia’s gaze was fixed on the terrifying maw behind the girl. The whispers in her mind intensified under the stare of the eyes surrounding the maw.

It was like countless tormented souls screaming and wailing in her ears.

Weren’t they supposed to be dealing with an out-of-control second-tier transcendent?

What were these sacrificial rituals?! And what was that thing behind her?!

“Milady, something’s wrong! We might have to leave!!!” Nia determined almost instantly that she couldn’t protect Lady Avena in a fight against whatever was before them.

Something was terribly wrong. They had to retreat!