## Chapter 578 – Nice to Meet You, Friend

A cold, metallic iron gate stood before us.

The mist-covered plain was blanketed in snow, surrounded by a mountain range. The iron gate, located in such a clearly secretive place, looked more suspicious than anything.

The cultist groveling on the ground said it was the entrance to the basement.

Was this the heart of the human trafficking operation?

The cultist had said he was just a small root. Their power was vast and widespread.

“Saint! It feels like the entrance to hell itself…!”
“Krrrreureureureuk…!”
“This is…! Where their sins are hidden…!”

The brass-winged madmen and Elise were on the verge of a fit. I calmed them down and asked the cultist,

“Hey, you said we just go down to the basement, right?”
“Y-yes…”
“Did you guys build this?”

Creating an underground facility in a place like this would be impossible without considerable financial resources. Manpower, money, materials, and distribution channels—all had to be gathered for a large-scale construction project to dig a tunnel in such a secluded place.

If the cultists could do that, it meant their power was greater than we thought.

That naturally meant the business providing their funds was also large. Inevitably, nobles or merchants were likely involved with the cult.

What a terrible thought.

Of course, it was speculation.

“No… As far as I know, they just…recycled an existing facility…”
“Recycled? Who used it originally?”
“I…don’t know about that…”
“Hmm.”

I didn’t know if he was lying.
Well, it wasn’t important right now.

Anyway, this place was an existing facility that the cultists had occupied and were using. I couldn’t investigate the previous owner.

“Open the gate.”
“Understood…”

The cultist, kneeling, struggled to touch the gate, and—click. Suddenly, the lock was released, and the gate opened.

—Darkness.

The stairs leading down to the basement were pure darkness.

—Tsupat!

Winia immediately used light magic, and Vakerel took the lead.

“Then…! Let’s enter!”
“What about the cultist?”
“It would be best to leave him here for now.”

Vakerel ordered a paladin and a priest to guard the entrance with the cultist. So, a total of seven people went down to the basement.

Me, Claudia, Winia, Elise, Vakerel, a paladin, and a priest.

I hadn’t heard about the size of their forces. He didn’t answer that either, as if he were mind-controlled.

Whatever the case, we could obtain meaningful information by investigating this place.

“Hmm… A facility like this in a place like this…”

Winia stroked the stone wall as if amazed. As she said, the underground facility was quite well-made. It wasn’t just a hole dug like a tunnel; it was finished with stone.

The walls, the stairs, and the ceiling were all made of stone.

“It reminds me of the Necropolis we went to a long time ago, Saint. Isn’t it similar?”
“Ah.”

The Necropolis.

“It is. It’s just like that, isn’t it?”

It was a dungeon we had gone to a long time ago.

It was a place where ancient warriors were buried, and there were countless skeletons. That place, like this one, was a high-quality underground facility.

Could there be some connection?

“Necropolis? The Dark One said he went there a long time ago?”
“Yeah. It felt similar to here.”
“Then we can call this a dungeon too.”

A dungeon.

“In the desert too.”

Claudia said.

“There were royal tombs, endless underground tombs. I’ve been there a few times, and I wonder if it feels similar to this place?”
“Royal tombs in the desert? When did you go to such a place?”
“I’ve lived that long…”

Claudia hesitated, about to open her mouth.

“…I’ve been there a few times. I’ve done all sorts of things.”
“Hehehe, what did you go there for?”
“Treasure hunting was the main goal, but inside, there were only monsters guarding the tombs. They were quite strong.”
“Wow.”

Monsters guarding tombs!
It was such an inhuman story!

“What kind of monsters were they?”
“Hehe, I don’t know the details about their identities.”

The desert Claudia lived in didn’t seem like a place where humans could live. We talked like that as we descended the underground stairs, not knowing how far they would lead.

“…This is the end. Please remain silent from here on.”

Eventually, we reached the end of the underground.

Vakerel, with a hardened face, grabbed the doorknob in front of him. Everyone had already drawn their weapons.

Winia lowered the intensity of her light magic, and Vakerel opened the door.

—Squeak.

As the door opened, a purple light, like amethyst, seeped out.
Purple light… It felt somehow familiar.

The basement was filled with purple light, so much so that light magic wasn’t needed.

Anyway, we very slowly infiltrated inside.

—…

The inside was quite spacious.

Not only was it spacious, but it also felt clean, like a proper underground facility. It was well-maintained. Since the cultists had been using it until recently, it was only natural.

There were quite a few paths leading to various places.

“Never neglect your surroundings. Paladin, check the rear. Let’s move in formation.”

We formed a formation as Vakerel instructed.

We placed Winia and the priest in the center and moved slowly, watching in all directions. Both Winia and the priest could use hemispherical shield magic.

If any projectiles flew at us, they could protect us.

—Thump, thump.

We wandered inside for quite some time.

“Sound… Saint. Captain Vakerel.”

Elise, who was next to me, stopped the exploration team.

“I think I hear a sound somewhere.”
“Sound?”
“A sound, you say? Tell me more, Sister Elise.”

Had Elise caught some kind of sound?
We immediately closed our mouths and listened.

“…”

It sounded like something was there, but it also didn’t… Maybe only people with good hearing could hear it. But Claudia was just pricking up her ears and didn’t seem to know anything.

“Elise? I don’t hear anything?”
“I felt like I heard something fleetingly… I think it came from over there.”

Elise didn’t seem to know for sure either.

“Let’s follow Sister Elise’s lead for now.”

Since we didn’t know anything else, it was better to search in the direction Elise said she heard something. So, we proceeded through the underground facility with Elise in the lead.

As we went, another staircase leading underground appeared.

“…Did you hear it from here?”

Winia pointed her staff at the place and said.

“Hmm… I think I hear something, but…”
“Katt. I don’t know.”

It seemed that no one except Elise had heard the sound. Well, it was likely that Elise had heard the fleeting sound. It meant there was something below.

Then we had no choice but to go down.

“Captain Vakerel. We have to go down if there’s something like this anyway. Shall we go down for now?”
“I understand. Let’s go down. If you heard a sound, there might be something there, so be prepared.”

Vakerel went down first with his blade forward.

We followed right behind him. Since the purple light filled the underground, our vision wasn’t limited, so we could go down without hesitation.

It was when we entered the second basement level.

—Gweuieoooo…
—Hooong…. Hoooooong… Oong…
—Miyaeeeeeeel…

A low, no.

Absolutely unkind, crazy sound began to be heard. From this point on, we had no choice but to be extremely tense.

It was clearly the sound of cursed bastards covered in hatred.

“…”

Were the cultists holding a murder banquet using the people they had procured through human trafficking? We walked down the straight corridor of the second basement level with our mouths tightly shut.

The bizarre sound seemed to be coming from the room right in front of us.

—Kyureureureureuk…!
—Giik! Giiiiiiiiik! Giiiik! Giik! Giiiiit!!

And when we faced the truth hidden in the second basement level.

We had no choice but to tear at our hair.

“W-what the…!”
“Ooh…! Oooooooo!!!”
“Th-that’s…!”

Inside the fairly large and high basement, long, long chains overflowed as if we had entered a snake pit, and those chains were all restraining “something.”

—Niaaaaaaaang!! Niaaaaaaaang!!
—Boong! Boooong! Bobobong! Boobung! Boongbong!!! Bongbongbong!!!
—Daaaaaaaaaa! Wee! Roroo! Mik, taaaaaaaaak!!! Ooh! Koom, tak! Ssen! Biaoooooot!!

Deformed monsters were screaming grotesquely while restrained by numerous chains.

“What the hell is this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“How impious!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“M-monsters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Vakerel, the paladin, and the priest tore at their hair and shouted in harsh tones. Elise’s eyes were wide, and Winia looked very tense.

“That’s…”

Claudia’s eyes looked like she was seeing something disgusting.

—Clang! Clang!
—Clatter! Clatter!
—Thump! Thump! Thump!

The monsters staring at us and shaking their limbs and chains madly was, frankly, too surreal.

Was this reality?

“S-Saint. W-what is this…!”

Elise grabbed my wrist.

—Kkimina, hak! Osam! Dotak koom! Kkiiiiiing!!
—Dramak! Dirmak! Rmaktihat! Disam!! Oooooo!
—Miyaaaaaaoooooong!!! Miyaaaaaaoooooong!!!! Mayaoooooooong!!!! Nijeoheoooooook!!

The monsters, covered in strange brown fur, apricot-colored skin, red entrails, and pure white bone-like things, looked similar to the Flash Golems I had seen in the past.

Their abnormally swollen arms had dozens of fingers and horns, and their faces looked as if a novice plastic surgeon had forcibly made a pig’s head look like a human face.

Five monsters, with no uniformity and completely jumbled, were chained and restrained, constantly opening their mouths and uttering strange languages.

“Abominations!!! The cultists’ abominations!!!”

Vakerel shouted.

Abominations… Right.
That’s what abominations are.

“C-Dark One, snap out of it! What are you frozen for!”
“What?”

Snap out of it?
Is my mind…

“F-FUCKING SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

This shocking reality couldn’t exist!!!

“Subjugate them! The abominations are currently restrained!!! We must burn and destroy those cursed creatures!!!”

—Paaat!

In an instant, Vakerel and two paladins jumped at the abominations. Only then did I fully come to my senses, grab my sword, and look around.

I didn’t know what was going on, but the cultist bastards were creating all sorts of fucked up monsters!!!

But that wasn’t important right now!

The battle had begun!

—Kwaang!

I immediately kicked off the ground and headed to the left.

The restrained abominations were so shocking that it was easy to miss that the basement was quite large, and above all, a black figure was moving on the side!

“Cultists appearing from the left passage!!! Winia!!! Intercept them!!!!”
“…!”

The black figures were cultists!
They were lurking inside!

—Hwareureuk!

The fireball that flew towards me was a strange purple color. —Kwaang! But it was soon extinguished by Winia’s Fire Bolt.

“Intruders!!!”
“Release the abominations!!”

The cultists were holding wands and seemed to have the locks for this place.

“Those bastards!!”

I immediately used the Celestial Demon’s Descent Footwork to close the distance with them.

There was a small path on the left side of the basement. The cultists in black clothes were running towards it, but they weren’t faster than me!

“Die!”

I instantly closed in on them and stabbed them with my sword.

—Pook!

“Ugh, ughaaaaaa!!”

The cultist, pierced through the back, screamed. I immediately pulled out my sword and stabbed the one in front of him in the back of the head.

Kwajik!

“Kkihaak!!!”
“You fucking bastards!!!!”

From behind, the screams of monsters were erupting along with terrible sounds of flesh tearing. I sprinted through the passage and slaughtered all five cultists who were running away.

They weren’t very fast or strong, so killing them was very easy.

But the last one was the problem.

—Kwaang!

The one farthest away suddenly hit the wall with his palm, and—Urreureung! The basement began to shake.

Was it a self-destruct button!

“Hehehe! I’ve released the seals on the abominations! Now, no matter who you are, no one will be able to return alive—”
“—Shut up!”

I didn’t care if it was a self-destruct or not!

I immediately swung the Life-Saving Sword, the Hwalin Sword, and blew off the bastard’s head before returning the way I came to join the others.

“Crazy!”

When I returned, three abominations, freed from their restraints, were rampaging.