“I think you can start contacting Finn now.”
Guardian’s voice carried a dryness that was hard to conceal.
When this fully armed Seventh Agency team felt their way through the final section of the nauseating sewer pipe in the dark...
They had expected to find another foul-smelling pit filled with cultists and disgusting waste at the end of the tunnel.
However, the moment the spell light illuminated the path ahead, everyone sucked in a cold breath.
Before them lay an absurdly massive underground cavern.
This was no mere sewer junction.
It was a colossal underground space!
In the center of this vast void stood a magnificent stone structure.
The building was a cold, ancient grayish-black.
It stretched upward, piercing toward the ceiling of the underground cavern.
It occupied nearly ninety percent of the available space.
“Good grief...”
Blaine, the deputy, couldn't help but gasp behind him.
On the city’s underground utility maps, this place was clearly marked as an “abandoned cistern.”
Directly in front of the building was a straight stone bridge.
The bridge was suspended in mid-air, with a bottomless, dark abyss yawning below.
On both sides of the bridge, lifelike stone statues were arranged in neat rows.
They were all draped in large hoods, their faces hidden from view.
But in the hands of each statue, a sharp stone dagger was held in a reverse grip.
The blades pointed downward.
Their postures were eerie.
As the light from the illumination spell swept over them, the shadows hidden beneath the hoods seemed to come alive.
“This isn’t right.”
Guardian narrowed his eyes, peering into the distance.
Following his gaze...
At the highest point of the massive stone building, a large emblem was carved.
According to their previous interrogation intelligence...
Since this was the headquarters where the Mist Veil Society was hiding...
The symbol on the front should have been the Lord of Mists’ signature Chalas Spiral.
But now.
The emblem hanging high at the top was a massive relief with a deathly white hue.
The left half was a human skull.
The right half was joined to the skull of a goat with twisted horns.
The human and goat bones were stitched together seamlessly, their hollow eye sockets staring coldly down at the group of tiny intruders at the bridge.
The stench of the sewer in the air had vanished at some point.
In its place was a metallic scent of blood and rust.
“There’s actually a religious building of this scale hidden under the North District of Hope County?”
Ms. Cecil looked up, her tone filled with astonishment.
Beside her, Guardian let out a bitter laugh upon hearing her words.
“Never mind you, even I didn't expect this.”
The veteran investigator’s eyes were filled with a deep sense of helplessness.
“I thought we were coming here today to wipe out a nest of Mist Veil Society rats.”
“Now it seems...”
“Things aren't that simple.”
“This isn't a rat's nest; it's the lair of a sleeping behemoth.”
He stared at the half-human, half-goat bone emblem.
A flash of deep dread flickered in his eyes.
“I thought...”
“The followers of the Goddess of Slaughter were completely wiped out in the purges decades ago.”
“I didn't expect I’d be so naive...”
Hearing this unfamiliar divine name, Cecil raised an eyebrow.
A trace of undisguised confusion flashed in her beautiful eyes.
“The Goddess of Slaughter?”
She seemed to have only seen this title in history books.
Guardian turned to look at this talented but relatively inexperienced special envoy.
“You’re still young.”
“When that bloody purge took place, you were probably still in grammar school.”
“You didn't live through that dark period of history.”
Guardian took a deep breath of the blood-scented air and slowly began to recount a buried past.
“The kingdom thirty years ago wasn't as polished on the surface as it is now.”
“There was a time when assassins were rampant in the country. Assassinations were as common as having afternoon tea.”
“The people hiding in the shadows to harvest lives were all fanatical followers of this ‘Goddess of Slaughter.’”
He pointed to the hooded statues on the bridge.
“The supernatural world is already chaotic enough.”
“Evil god cultists and out-of-control monsters cause trouble every day.”
“But with the addition of these professional killers, various illicit industries of slaughter multiplied frantically within the kingdom’s veins.”
Guardian’s tone carried a hint of resignation.
“But the most troublesome part was this.”
“Even though this ‘Goddess of Slaughter’ wasn't one of the seven official orthodox gods...”
“She was still considered a deity with a divine spark, part of a marginalized faith.”
“According to the religious management laws at the time...”
“The Seventh Agency couldn't simply define her followers as heretical cultists that had to be exterminated.”
It was a so-called “grey area.”
As long as they didn't perform human sacrifices or summon some indescribable cosmic horror...
It was very difficult for the authorities to take drastic action.
“However...”
Guardian’s tone shifted.
“The way these people operated had long since crossed the line of tolerance.”
“Because they didn't just kill transcendents.”
“They would target ordinary people for a few dozen gold crowns!”
As Guardian spoke, the look he gave Cecil grew serious.
“They had no bottom line.”
“As long as the price was right, they’d take a contract even on a newborn baby.”
“Murder for hire, crimes of passion, vendettas, even political assassinations.”
“These Slayers unleashed a wave across the country known as the ‘Crimson Terror.’”
Cecil listened quietly, her brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
She could imagine the terrifying sight of social order completely breaking down.
“At the time, ordinary citizens were constantly living in fear.”
Guardian sighed.
“Afraid that if they accidentally looked at a stranger the wrong way on the street or annoyed a bad-tempered neighbor...”
“The next morning, their entire family would be found dead in the street, neat and tidy.”
“Those were the days when even official transcendents had to sleep with one eye open.”
He paused.
The dim light hit his wrinkled face, making him look exceptionally weary.
“You might ask, if they were so arrogant, why didn't the authorities act sooner?”
“The reason they were so hard to eradicate...”
“Was because the well-dressed nobles and big capitalists at the top of the kingdom...”
“Were also all clients of these Slayers.”
“They used these people’s services to eliminate rivals and seize wealth!”
It was a sharp, bloodied blade. How could they bear to break it so easily?
“However.”
Guardian let out a cold sneer, seemingly finding a bit of satisfaction in the outcome.
“Thirty years ago, the situation spiraled completely out of control.”
“In the end, the late King finally made up his mind and stood firm against all pressure.”
“He deployed the nation’s most elite forces to tear this organization out by its roots and completely annihilate it!”
“That battle was a river of blood.”
Guardian wiped the cold sweat from his face.
“I just didn't expect...”
“Thirty years later, beneath the North District of Hope County...”
“A Temple of Slaughter this massive could still be preserved perfectly intact!”
“So...”
Cecil spoke with some hesitation.
“Does this mean the Mist Veil Society has likely conspired with the Slayers?”
Guardian shook his head solemnly.
“Personally, I very much hope that isn't the case.”
“If it is, Hope County isn't far from a complete upheaval.”
During the brief moment the two commanders were exchanging intelligence...
A young investigator ran back from a few paces ahead.
“Chief! We have something!”
He pointed at a spirit-measuring analyzer.
“The analyzer captured residual negative spirituality in the air at the foot of the bridge.”
“After a wavelength comparison...”
“It’s similar to the spiritual residue extracted from the crime scene at the Golden Rose Hotel.”
In other words.
The killer who had murdered for the relic had indeed fled into this grim Temple of Slaughter.
“However...”
The young investigator looked at the data on the dashboard, hesitating slightly.
“The similarity is only fifty-four percent.”
It was only a fifty-fifty chance.
Hearing this vague identification result...
Blaine, who was commanding from the rear, looked curiously at Guardian.
“Chief, the similarity is so low.”
“Do we... still pursue?”
This was the home ground of the Goddess of Slaughter.
Everyone’s gaze instantly focused on the stout, bald man.
They waited for the supreme commander’s decision.
Guardian didn't look at Blaine.
His gaze crossed the long bridge.
He stared fixedly at the half-human, half-goat pattern at the top of the stone building, a symbol of slaughter and madness.
His gaze gradually became resolute.
“Pursue.”
Guardian coldly squeezed out the word.
He would not back down an inch.
If the Mist Veil Society had truly conspired with the Slayers of the Temple of Slaughter...
If that relic fell into the hands of these Slayers...
He couldn't imagine what kind of bloodbath the entire nation would be dragged into.
As a veteran investigator who had once participated in the purge of the Temple of Slaughter...
Guardian would never allow it.
He would not let this terrifying organization rise from the ashes and sweep through the kingdom again.
Cecil seemed to read the obsession in the old investigator’s heart.
She turned decisively, leaving Guardian with only a sharp, efficient view of her back.
“I’ll report to headquarters and apply for maximum authority.”
“In the meantime, I’ll immediately notify the remaining team members to rush to the convent to move the bodies and keep watch.”
“I’ve got your back.”
With the two commanders’ wills unified...
From this moment on...
The once-shocked investigators were mobilized like a fully wound war machine.
Everyone understood that what lay ahead was a brutal battle.
...
At the same time.
Central District of Hope County, Golden Rose Hotel.
Inside Room 517.
A sudden, rapid vibration broke the dead silence of the room.
Finn, who was keeping watch by the window, lowered his head.
He pressed down on the Origin Web communicator at his waist.
He skillfully injected a thread of spirituality and received an encrypted message from Ms. Cecil.
The second he saw the content...
He stood up abruptly from his chair and faced the four investigators before him.
“Everyone, pack your gear.”
“It’s time for us to move!”
Rate on N.U.
