Chapter 581
Chapter 581
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 581
Chapter Title: Good Friends to Meet
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"Iyaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
"Grrrrrrruk!!!!!!"
The frenzied screams, laced with extreme overreactions, dragged on for quite a while.
Tears were already streaming endlessly from Barkrel's eyes in hot rivulets. He dropped to his knees, clutching the remains of an abomination, and wailed in the most despairing tone imaginable.
"What...! What sin did these people ever commit!!! Why must the innocent be turned into such horrific monsters!!!!!!!"
It was the most gut-wrenching cry.
The holy knights and priests knelt too, tears pouring from their eyes, while Elise, utterly shocked, kept bellowing furious shouts.
"Holy Lord!!!!! We must exterminate any possible remnants of these heretics!!! Their purpose doesn't matter anymore!!! Summary execution for the lot of them is the only answer!!!!"
"She's right!!!! Elise!!!!!!!"
This was worlds apart from the warbands during the Holy War who massacred civilians and built profane heretical structures from their corpses.
They had fused living people together, twisting them into screaming monsters.
Judging by the sheer volume of the abominations, this couldn't have been the work of just one or two victims. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. Those innocent lives had been tortured endlessly, overlaid with vile sorcery, and reborn as cursed beasts.
"Wooooooooh!!!!!!!"
The agony of imperialism...! No, this was far worse!!!!
Drip, drip, drip.
Tears flowed from my eyes too.
And so we wept together, howling at the top of our lungs.
"Sis... Darky's crying..."
The helplessness of being unable to stop this brutal reality was just too much.
"Don't cry, Darky. Come here. Yeah?"
Winia approached with a worried look, set down her staff, and pulled me into a hug. I buried my face in her chest and sobbed endlessly.
"Winiiaaaah...!"
"Aww. Poor Darky. Was it that shocking?"
Winia gently stroked the back of my neck as she spoke. Strangely, her warm touch started to calm me down.
"Your heart's seriously so fragile."
More than anything, my once-ironclad resolve had taken a massive hit right then. As I sat there, Cloudey came over and took my hand.
"Katt, how pissed off do you have to be to cry like this?"
"I'm furious! I'm going insane!!!!"
A reality like this should never exist!
That's exactly why the faithful purge heretics with inhuman ruthlessness. In a world where individuals can seize transcendent power, if the wicked treat others' lives like bugs just to achieve their goals, disasters like this will happen over and over!
And then the world crumbles!
The adults despair, the children wail in grief!
Children's tears!
The children's flowing tears will unleash a massive flood! We must build an ark to prepare for that day! To survive the apocalypse and the new world!!!
"Katt... so what should we do with the heretics?"
"Just like Elise said!!! Kill them all!!!!"
"Heh heh heh, that's right. But first, you need to calm down, okay? Take slow breaths. Clear your head."
"Hoo, huuu... huuu...!"
Just like Cloudey said, I had to calm down if I wanted to slaughter them all. Following her lead, I breathed slowly, washing away the fog in my mind.
"I'm good now. Thanks, Winia, Cloudey."
"As long as Darky's calmed down, that's what matters. Now tell them to clean up the mess. We need to cremate this stuff."
Winia picked up her staff again.
Cremation, huh.
I went straight to the despairing Barkrel, grabbed his shoulder, and said,
"...Captain Barkrel. This was truly horrific and shocking. But we can't back down. We have a duty to slaughter every last heretic that might still be down here!"
"Well said... Paladin!!!"
Barkrel pulled himself together and sprang to his feet.
"But! Cremating them now would hinder the search! We'll just tidy up these remains and resume the investigation!"
Having poured out his tears, Barkrel issued orders with practiced ease. He was composed now. But his kind eyes churned with endless rage.
"This place must be a vital facility for those heretics...! There have to be solid clues about their identity and goals! We need to find those too!!!"
"Absolutely right, Captain Barkrel!!!"
Just as Barkrel said, there had to be a reason those heretics made these abominations. There'd be a reason for reviving the corpses too, and for brainwashing the heretics themselves.
Why were these abominations even created?
Why must innocent people be transformed into monsters and made to suffer?
It must have taken enormous funds and manpower, that's for sure. No way they'd make something like this just for kicks.
Which means maybe...
Maybe something even more horrific.
These abominations might just be the prep stage for something far more cruel and twisted.
Abominations as mere stepping stones.
This could be some kind of research.
Creating even more heinous monsters as their goal?
Flash Golem.
Muscle Giant in the slums' underbelly.
Those were probably heretic creations too. Still, these abominations seemed weaker than those vile giants from before.
Everything's a mystery anyway.
We need to investigate this place.
We roughly gathered the corpses, then took a quick break to discuss and chew on some jerky. After that, we headed down the path beside the basement room.
There lay six heretic corpses I'd killed, sprawled out.
No idea if there were more heretics around.
"Holy Lord. You did splendidly. Taking out the heretics first in that moment. We would've struggled if they'd lived."
"Trash like this? Kill on sight."
We only found necklaces with their symbols and basic items on the bodies. There were wands too, so we pocketed those.
Further down the path, another room appeared.
"Th-this is...!"
"Hmm... looks like a prison or something?"
Just as Cloudey said, it felt like a prison cell.
"..."
Iron bars and small chains. Experiment tables, scattered drugs, and bizarre tools everywhere.
"...They kept people locked in here."
I checked inside the bars, but nothing special.
No one there.
As if there never had been anyone.
"They all turned into abominations...!!!! Grr, grrrruk...! Grrruk!!!!"
Barkrel trembled as he flipped open what looked like a logbook on the experiment table. Unreadable script, of course. We gathered any evidence-like items and stuffed them into the priests' bags.
And so we pressed on through the basement.
The purple lighting still glowed. Meaning there was a light source somewhere. And that source was likely tied to the heretics' core operation.
The underground was a tangled mess like an ant colony.
We passed what looked like a garbage dump and several rooms where heretics might've lived. But no matter how much we searched, no solid clues turned up.
"Holy Lord. Those abominations aren't something you whip up easily. They require complex methods and advanced profane knowledge. There must be blueprints detailing the process, and the odds are high they're here."
"...Yeah, makes sense."
Elise's point was spot on.
Not just anyone could make something like that. You can't just stitch people together. There had to be special treatments and procedures. Of course, the heretics might've noticed us and fled with their stuff by now.
"Above all, the facilities."
"Facilities?"
"Looking at the underground's size, I doubt those massive abominations could move freely. Unless there's some huge secret passage mechanism, they'd be trapped in that room forever."
Definitely. Their size was way too bulky.
No passage would fit them.
"So the odds are high they were made right in that room. Dragging people in for procedures and such."
"Hmm... Captain Barkrel. What do you think? Elise makes a good point."
"Hearing it out, yeah."
We'd pretty much covered the second underground level.
No stairways down, sadly. Nothing special on the first level either, so this might be it.
"Then let's head back to that room."
"Got it."
The abomination room reeked with a foul stench when we returned.
Secret passage, huh.
"Let's check this place out first. Winia, can you light it up?"
"Sure."
Tsskt.
The light spell lit up the basement fully. In the brightness, the gruesome scene was laid bare.
Shattered corpses and massive chains.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Then Cloudey approached the right wall and ran her fingers along it.
"Cloudey? Find something?"
"Feels like a seam or something?"
A seam?
"Lady Cloudey! That might be the door to a secret passage!!"
Elise shouted at the same time.
"A s-secret passage?!"
Everyone rushed over to check the wall. Just like Cloudey said, there was a faint gap. We'd missed it in the dark—it was a passage!
"No way to open it? Holy knights! Priests! There must be some mechanism! Find it quick! Secrets are hidden inside!!! "
"Yes, sir!"
"Right!"
Secret passage.
"Aw, shit?"
Earlier, when that heretic struck the passage wall, the abominations' restraints had released all at once.
Something had to be there.
I bolted that way.
"Darky, where you going?!"
"Wait up!"
Winia followed me there.
"Darky, what is it? Something here?"
"That heretic hit here before, and the abominations got loose."
"Yeah... so something's here?"
"I think."
"Hold on."
Winia closed her eyes and tapped the wall with her staff.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
Each tap sent blue waves seeping from the staff's tip, spreading across the wall. Some kind of magic.
"...This is tricky magic."
"Detection spell?"
"Yep. Definitely something there. At your head height, Darky. Touch it."
I reached up as she said.
"Here?"
"Something feels there, but honestly, not sure if blindly tapping's safe."
Sounded like a button. Better discuss before hitting it.
"Over here! Everyone, come!!!"
"Found something!!"
"Winia's spell revealed some kind of control device here. But we don't know what, so hesitant to press."
"Hmm... Tricky. But it's our job. We'll fall back to the next room—give it a go."
The whole party retreated to the adjacent room, and I slammed the spot Winia indicated.
Kugugugu!
The brick sank, and the area shook.
I dashed to the next room too.
"Oh shit! This ain't gonna collapse?!"
"Holy Lord. It's fine. Vibrations stopped."
"Katt. Seems okay. Shall we check?"
We cautiously returned.
"Th-the door opened!"
The right wall had fully parted.
The secret passage was open.
Or not quite a passage—it felt like one big room split in two originally.
"Let's go in!"