CHAPTER 315: 315

In front of him stretched a corridor drenched in darkness, but what little light he had revealed enough to make his stomach churn

Pieces of people floating in the swallow water..

Bodies weren’t just killed—they were torn, ripped, and splattered across the walls like meat thrown into a grinder. The tunnel floor was sticky and slick with blood, pools of it collecting in the corners.

One man’s head lay separated from his body, eyes frozen open in terror. Another had been impaled clean through the torso and hung limply from an iron spike hammered into the stone.

Kael moved forward slowly, his eyes scanning the silent massacre. He knelt by one corpse that had been cleanly split down the middle, almost surgically. Bones were cracked, organs spilled out in a chaotic heap. The smell was enough to make someone vomit, but Kael’s expression didn’t change—only hardened.

"What... What the hell happened here?"

He pulled a torch from his ring, and with a soft flick of his fingers, flame roared to life. The sudden burst of light revealed more.

Dozens.

Dozens of bodies, all mutilated in different ways. Some were burnt to a crisp. Others had limbs twisted the wrong way or sliced off entirely. One man’s rib cage had been torn open, his heart crushed in his hand—whoever did this left no time for death to even settle in.

Kael swallowed hard.These weren’t strangers.

He recognized them.

His fingers tightened around the torch as he stepped deeper into the chamber. His boots squelched on the blood-soaked ground. He saw markings scorched into the walls—symbols that looked like some kind of ritual had taken place. Something that involved dark arts.

His gaze dropped to a body slumped against the far wall. A woman’s arm, clad in armor, extended towards the center of the room. Her mouth was half open, as if she’d tried to scream. Her eyes were gone—cleanly removed.

Kael shook his head slowly, trying to piece it together. "They didn’t just die. They were used..."

The blood on the floor wasn’t just spilled—it had been drawn into shapes. Ritual circles. Binding glyphs. Something dark and old. He could feel it in the air, pressing against his skin like wet cloth.

There were no signs of a struggle. No burn marks from spells being cast. No sword slashes on the walls.

Only slaughter.

The kill had been too fast—too precise.

Kael’s steps quickened as he spotted the woman lying against the blood-soaked wall. His eyes narrowed when he recognized her battered face.

"L-Lord... Kael..." she croaked weakly.

"Rhys..." Kael rushed to her side and knelt down, heart sinking.

Her body was torn—everything below the waist was gone. Blood poured from her lips and pooled beneath what was left of her. Her armor was shattered, and her once-strong arms now trembled like fragile twigs.

Kael’s hands shook as he pulled out a healing potion. "Drink this. It’ll stop the bleeding—"

Rhys turned her head weakly and whispered, "No... don’t waste it..."

He tried to push the potion to her lips, but she swatted it away, the vial falling and spilling on the ground.

"It won’t help... I’m already gone... Save it... for yourself..."

She gave a bitter laugh, one that sounded more like a sob caught in her throat. Blood spilled from her mouth as she smiled with shaking lips.

"I still can’t believe... we were betrayed like this... They butchered us... like livestock..." she choked, eyes growing cloudy.

Her gaze drifted to the corner of the room. Kael turned to follow her eyes and froze.

There, mangled beyond recognition, was Baldur’s head. His body was crushed and torn to shreds. Flesh, bones, armor—nothing was intact. It was a death more brutal than anything Kael had ever seen.

His stomach churned. The air was thick with the stench of blood and death. He turned back to Rhys, fists clenched.

"You said... betrayal," he said, voice low and trembling. "Who was it? Tell me, Rhys. I swear—I’ll rip that bastard apart."

Rhys’ body twitched. Her lips moved.

"L-Lor... d... Gaaga..."

But she never finished. The light in her eyes dimmed and faded completely.

Kael sat still, staring at her lifeless face. A deep cold sank into his chest.

Just moments ago, she had fought beside them. Rhys led her people with pride. And now... she is gone.

Crushed, betrayed, and left to die like a forgotten piece of meat in the dark.

There wasn’t any emotional entanglement still he didn’t like it.Especially the betrayal part.

He looked around at the torn bodies and bloodied ground. Then he slowly stood up, face dark, eyes filled with fury.

"I promise you, Rhys... whoever did this—whoever gave that order..."

"I’m going to kill him."

His voice echoed through the chamber, cold and sharp, like death had just made a vow.

.......

The group halted just a little distance from the city’s outer border, dust rising beneath their feet as the horses neighed nervously and the guards gripped their weapons tighter. The sun was low on the horizon, dyeing the skies in an ominous crimson hue. As soon as Emilia stepped down from the carriage, supported by Lyria, her eyes fell on a group waiting for them at the edge of the forest.

Her eyes widened in horror, and a shriek escaped her lips.

"AHHHH!"

She stumbled back, clutching Elfie tightly as fear wrapped around her heart like a vice. Elfie hissed and growled on her shoulder, fur rising, the little creature’s body tense with danger.

The group that stood ahead of them exuded nothing but dread.

The man leading them had no eyebrows, no lips—only a raw, blood-smeared mouth that stretched across a pale, unnatural face. A crown of dark metallic spikes rested on his head, as if it had grown out of his skull. His eyes were sunken, but glowed faintly red. It was not just his appearance—it was the presence, the heaviness in the air, the stench of death that followed him.

Everyone froze. The air had turned heavy and cold.

Even the most hardened warriors of Kael’s side were startled, their faces twitching in disgust and instinctive fear.

The man’s eyes scanned the group lazily, pausing on Emilia before landing on Lyria. His voice, though lipless, rasped through the silence like a knife dragged against stone.

"A drago... a demoness... Oh Goddess, what a feast."

His head tilted up slightly, his tone now bizarrely reverent. "It seems... everyone is following your will, Crimson Mother..."