Taking advantage of the chaos in the Imperial Capital, over a dozen black-clad figures silently slipped into the passage leading to the dungeon.
Leading them was a tall woman. A dark red flower was tattooed on the right side of her face, faintly visible in the darkness.
Her code name was Qiangwei, and she was one of the executives of the Demon King Cult.
She was efficient and never dawdled, and her loyalty to Melina was unquestionable. As long as it was a mission assigned by Her Highness the Divine Maiden, she would complete it even at the cost of her life.
“Keep up, and stay quiet.”
Qiangwei swept her sharp gaze over the cultists behind her. “Our goal is to investigate the dungeon as much as possible. Do not get dragged into fights along the way.”
“Understood!”
The group made their way down the passage.
Not long after they officially entered the first layer, a young cultist couldn't help but whisper:
“I heard the dungeon is crawling with fierce magical beasts. Is it really okay for us to just walk in like this? Beside, how does investigating the dungeon benefit Lord Demon King?”
“Shut up.”
Qiangwei said coldly without looking back:
“Since the Cult Leader sent us here, she naturally has her reasons. Are you questioning her decision?”
“N-No, I wouldn't dare!” The young cultist quickly shook his head.
An older cultist beside him patted his shoulder and comforted him in a low voice:
“Don't worry, our mission is only to investigate. If we see any magical beasts, we can just avoid them.”
Hearing this, the young cultist finally relaxed quite a bit, thinking that if that was the case, there shouldn't be too much danger.
But just then, several scouts from the front rushed back in a panic:
“Q-Qiangwei, milady...! You need to come look at this!”
Hearing their words, Qiangwei immediately followed them. Then, they beheld a shocking sight.
Both sides of the path were piled high with the corpses of various magical beasts.
“Ugh...”
Although most of the Demon King Cultists had seen blood, such a gruesome scene was hard for even them to stomach.
Qiangwei suppressed her nausea, squatted down to examine them, and reached a shocking conclusion. “These are sword wounds, and they are incredibly continuous, proving they all died to the exact same strike!”
“They all died to the same strike?”
There was a hint of disbelief in the young cultist's voice:
“These are dungeon monsters... Who could possibly kill them all with a single strike?”
No one could answer his question. They had all originally thought they were the first group to enter this dungeon, but now it seemed someone had beaten them to it, and their strength appeared to be terrifyingly immense.
Qiangwei frowned slightly. Fortunately, she noticed that these corpses had already been there for several days, and the dungeon was already beginning to decompose them.
Therefore, the monster responsible for this scene should have already left.
“Don't be afraid. These traces are from several days ago, so that person should have already left. This actually works in our favor; we can just follow this cleared path forward.”
With that, she quickened her pace and took the lead. Seeing this, the other cultists could only steel themselves and follow.
Along the way, they saw more and more corpses of magical beasts.
The bodies lay scattered in all directions on both sides of the passage. Some were cleanly sliced in half, some were pierced through their vitals, and others looked as though they had been directly crushed by some immense force.
The wounds on every single corpse were clean and precise, without a single wasted movement.
“What kind of monster could possibly do something like this...”
Many cultists in the group felt a creeping sense of dread.
“Don't worry about that. You only need to record as much as you can about the dungeon. If there's danger, I will cover the rear.”
Although Qiangwei urged them forward with a calm face, a faint sense of unease also lingered in her heart. However, reminding herself that this was a mission entrusted to her by Her Highness the Divine Maiden, she forced down her anxiety and continued forward.
Since they encountered no obstacles along the way, the group quickly crossed the first and second layers, finally arriving smoothly at the third layer.
After walking along the path of corpses for another ten minutes or so, they spotted a dilapidated town ahead.
The moment Qiangwei stepped into the abandoned town, she immediately sensed something was amiss.
An indescribable, suffocating oppression hung in the air, as if something were watching them from the shadows.
Most of the buildings on both sides of the street had collapsed. The walls were covered in cracks and moss, and the ground was littered with broken pottery and rusted metal utensils. Everything exuded a bleak aura of long-time abandonment.
“Stay alert, and keep moving.”
Qiangwei said in a low voice, her right hand already gripping the weapon at her waist.
But just as the group crossed an alleyway, Qiangwei, who was leading the way, suddenly halted.
“Wait.”
She raised her hand, her gaze landing on the ground not far ahead.
A massive monster corpse lay sprawled there.
The beast was as large as two carriages combined, its entire body covered in a crystalline purple carapace bristling with sharp spikes that gleamed faintly even in the dim light.
Though it had been dead for some time, its intact form and the carapace that still emitted faint fluctuations of mana proved that this magical beast must have been incredibly powerful when it was alive.
“Is this... a Crystal-Spine Beast?”
An older cultist gasped, his voice laced with obvious shock:
“I once saw records of this magical beast in my family's ancient texts. It's an Overlord-class monster. It's said that even an entire fully armed order of knights would struggle to escape unscathed if they crossed paths with it.”
“Then how did it die here?”
Another cultist squatted down to carefully examine the Crystal-Spine Beast's corpse, the confusion on his face deepening:
“And what's strange is... there are no wounds on its body. No blade cuts, no traces of magical burns, and not even any signs of damage on its carapace. How on earth did it die?”
Qiangwei also frowned.
She stepped forward and personally inspected the Crystal-Spine Beast's corpse. Indeed, there was no external trauma whatsoever.
This powerful magical beast had died quietly right here as if it had simply fallen asleep, without a single scratch on its body.
This was far too abnormal.
She stood up and surveyed her surroundings. The feeling of being watched was growing stronger and stronger.
“Everyone, be careful. Something is wrong here.”
She warned in a low voice.
The cultists raised their vigilance as well, gripping their weapons tightly as their eyes continuously scanned the surrounding shadows.
But all around them was dead silence. Aside from their own breathing and footsteps, there wasn't a single sound.
“Hmm... Perhaps I'm overthinking. Let's go, keep moving.”
Under Qiangwei's direction, the group resumed their march toward the center of the town.
But after only a few steps, a shroud of white mist suddenly enveloped them. One of the cultists stopped in his tracks, staring down at his hands.
He watched as his hands shriveled up at a speed visible to the naked eye.
“M-My hands...!!!”
He let out a terrified shriek.
Qiangwei whipped her head around, only to behold a sight that made her scalp tingle with dread.
It wasn't just that single cultist—everyone in the entire group was aging at varying speeds.
Hair was turning white, skin was wrinkling, and backs were bending. It was as if an invisible hand were spinning the hands of their life clocks, pushing them forward at a frantic pace.
“Retreat! Retreat quickly!”
Qiangwei shouted with all her might, but her voice had already turned raspy and hoarse with age.
In a panic, the cultists scrambled to run back the way they came, but their bodies were aging far too rapidly.
Some collapsed to the ground after only a few steps, their legs giving out. They struggled to crawl back up, only to find they no longer possessed the strength to even support their own weight.
Others slumped against the walls, gasping heavily, every breath seeming to deplete the final remnants of their life force.
The young cultist collapsed to the ground, staring at his own wrinkled hands with eyes full of despair and resentment before his consciousness faded completely.
Watching her cultists fall one after another, an unprecedented wave of despair welled up in Qiangwei's heart.
She gritted her teeth and used the last of her strength to pull a piece of parchment from her bosom, wanting to at least convey the message that "the dungeon is extremely dangerous" to Her Highness the Divine Maiden.
But her fingers were already too stiff to obey her commands. The pen slipped from her grasp and rolled onto the ground.
She collapsed to her knees, her body slumping forward as her forehead pressed against the cold ground. Her consciousness began to blur.
In the final moment before her awareness dissolved completely, only a single thought remained in her heart:
Please stay away from the dungeon, Your Highness the Divine Maiden...
When the white mist finally dispersed, silence returned to the streets of the abandoned town.
Only over a dozen desiccated corpses lay scattered in all directions, becoming the newest residents of this town forgotten by time.
Rate on N.U.
