Chương 76: The Underground Lab

Kyle looked at the vast underground space with a shocked expression. His gaze landed on the blood pool at the center of the space and the pile of bones next to it. It was a gruesome sight; the blood pool shone an eerie glow as the light of the torches shone on it. He endured the nauseating stench of rot and blood and shifted his gaze to the ten giant glass pods standing not far away from the blood pool.

They were filled with a disgusting greenish-red liquid; a faint shadow could be seen floating inside of them, illuminated by the glow of the magic circles beneath them. The glass pods had a giant tube connected to the base, which extended into the depths of the blood pool. Even though he stood dozens of meters away, on a platform hanging on the wall, Kyle could hear the whooshing sound of blood being sucked from the blood pool into the tubes and into the glass pods. Kyle didn't know what expression to make.

'To think that such a place existed under Mirevale.' A wave of nausea washed over him. More than that, he felt a trace of fear. He looked at the giant magic circle encompassing the entire underground space, feeling that it was no good thing. Looking to the side, Selene's face darkened as she surveyed the space below, her jaw tightening with each detail she took in.

"Hey you! How did you get in here?" A roar tore through the underground space. It was a bald man wearing a dark cloak; traces of coagulated blood stained his robe, his bloodshot eyes staring right at them.

"A cultist." Kyle's expression hardened. He quickly looked around, noticing a few other hooded figures in various corners of the underground chamber. Selene's eyes were cold, and the air around her was distorted due to the high-density mana she unconsciously exuded.

"You cultist rats, to think that you have excavated such a large underground cavern without any trace…" She was shaking with fury.

"You're the rat! You bitch!" The bald man roared, quickly raising his arm and pointing it at them; red mana flashed on the surface of his palm, followed by the appearance of a blood-red magic circle. Three 1-meter-long arrows quickly condensed in front of the magic circle.

"Blood Arrow!" The bald man shouted. The arrows quickly rushed towards them. Kyle quickly unsheathed his sword and prepared to dodge, keeping an eye on Selene from the corner of his eye. She didn't look perturbed at all. She simply raised her staff and said, "Wind barrier." In the next second, a wall of wind appeared five meters ahead of them, just in time to completely stop the arrows.

The blood arrows exploded without creating even a small ripple on the wind wall, turning into countless small blood drops and scattering on the surrounding walls. The ground sizzled as the blood drops landed on it, leaving countless small holes behind.

"It's like acid," Kyle muttered, his expression serious. Mana circulated through his body as he sharply glanced at the approaching cultists. He slowly got into guard, preparing to attack. However, he was stopped by Selene.

"You don't need to." She raised her hand to stop him from attacking. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she calmly added.

"You have fulfilled your task by bringing me here; you don't need to get involved in the fight as well." Kyle looked her in the eyes; he could see the rage and murderous intent hiding beneath her calm facade. His intuition was telling him that he should listen to this woman, or bad things could happen.

"I understand." Kyle nodded and removed his hand from the sword hilt, casually walking back and leaning on the wall next to the entrance. The bald man's expression turned dark upon seeing the disregard Selene showed, but he didn't act rashly. He waited until all the other cloaked figures gathered around him before he spoke.

"Although I don't know how you managed to get here, it doesn't matter. We'll get the answer from your corpses." He cruelly said.

"Kill them!" He shouted before manifesting another spell. A 3-meter-long bloody spear appeared in front of each one of them, then flew sharply towards the wind wall. Selene didn't react from the beginning to the end; she just watched as they gathered and launched an attack.

"Boom!" The blood spears heavily crashed into the wind wall, barely creating a few ripples before exploding.

"How is that possible?!" The cultists exclaimed. Selene carefully looked around before settling back on the cultists.

"So it's just you, Thralls." She muttered.

"Look carefully; this is how you throw magic spears." She pointed her staff at them. Lightning crackled in front of her staff. In the next second, a purple magic circle manifested in front of the staff, followed by a 5-meter-long spear made of lightning.

"[Thunderlance]." She muttered. The lightning spear instantly disappeared, appearing right in the middle of the cultists' formation, impaling the ground, then exploding into countless tiny lightning bolts.

"Ah!!!!" The cultists howled, electrocuted by the lightning. After a few seconds, the lightning dissipated, and they fell onto the ground, their robes burnt, their bodies charred, twitching from time to time.

'Amazing.' Kyle's eyes twinkled as he looked at the fallen cultists. He felt that he would have suffered the same outcome if that lightning spear had exploded near him. Selene waved her staff, enveloping the two of them with a breeze, then took the lead to jump from the platform and onto the ground below. Kyle followed.

"Now you're either going to tell me what you're doing here, or I'll cripple you and take you back to the guild for interrogation," Selene said, her voice laden with frost. The bald man struggled to raise his head, blood seeping from his eyes. The blood vessels in his eyeballs were burst by the lightning, yet he didn't have a single trace of fear in his eyes, only madness and a nearly insane piety.

"... That was a fourth-circle lightning spell. The only one who can use it in this town is the vice president of the adventurers' guild. Selene Vaelrys." He paused, his eyes settling on Selene's luxurious attire.

"That's you, right?" He grinned. Selene raised her eyebrow.

"What, should I congratulate you? Maybe not all cultists are hopeless morons." She held her cheek and said, her eyes cold despite her smile.

"Heh!" The cultists sneered. He struggled to stand up, his eyes not leaving hers.

"You might have found this place somewhat, but don't think you won. You just slightly extended your death date." The bald man grinned; a maniacal smile appeared on his face. He suddenly gritted his teeth; a trace of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. Selene's expression changed. She quickly raised her staff and chanted.

"[Hold Person]!" A flow of wind flew from her staff and immobilized all the cultists, stopping them from moving even a muscle. She rushed towards them, but it was too late. The bald man was still standing up, forcibly held by Selene's breeze. He still held that maniacal smile on his face, but his chest stopped rising and falling, and his eyes slowly lost their light. Selene examined the other cultists on the ground, but they were all dead.

"They're dead." She said through gritted teeth. She was a second too late.

"They took their own life just like that?" Kyle slowly followed behind, his gaze sweeping across the cultists, surprised by their loyalty.

"That's how cultists are." Selene stood up; she didn't find anything of significance on their body. She took a deep breath and calmed her unease before walking towards the glass pods. The stench of blood got more nauseating as they got closer to the blood pool. The two stopped just shy of the magic circle surrounding the pods. The two stood in front of the pods. Only then did they realize how large they were.

"The things inside are at least 3 meters tall, right?" Kyle exclaimed. Selene's expression was extremely serious as she tried to discern the purpose of the magic circles below the pods. Seeing that she didn't respond, Kyle shrugged and walked around.

'Judging by the size of this skeleton pile, they sacrificed at least hundreds.' Kyle's eyes shifted between the skeleton mountain and the blood pool. He couldn't even imagine how many of these skeletons were from corpses and how many were from living people.

"Either way, the crimes of the cult and the Bloody Hand Gang deserve a hundred deaths." Kyle's expression was serious. After looking around for a while, he shifted his attention back to the glass pods. He felt that they were similar to the ritual that birthed the goblin abomination a few weeks ago.