Chapter 50
Around two hours passed before Yohan safely returned to Zul-Bha-Sair.
He reunited with the expedition members near the entrance after they finished cleaning up.
Together, they headed toward the temple.
At the southern gate, they met a group of priests.
There were three bandit subordinates who had still not awakened.
The corpse of bandit leader Serden.
One subordinate whose neck had been torn off.
Nargai.
Vembachis.
Arctella’s corpse.
And the unconscious Abnontha.
Nine in total.
The ghoul priests took them one by one and carried them inside the temple.
Pickman supervised everything.
Yohan moved away from the others for a moment.
He and Pickman held one final conversation alone.
“In the end, the dark mage leader is practically the only person you captured alive. And even he is nearly dead.”
“The bandit leader went berserk, so we had no choice but to kill him. The dark mages were so weak they kept dying from things that were barely even attacks.”
“……”
“Fights always have unexpected variables. Bringing even one back alive should be enough. Right?”
“Hmm…”
Pickman still looked dissatisfied.
He released a deep sigh and nodded.
“…A promise is a promise. It cannot be helped.”
Pickman cut the back of his own hand and drew blood.
Then he began chanting.
His blood attached itself to the back of Yohan’s left hand.
It became a mark.
A canine headed symbol representing the ghouls.
“When you eventually meet the Nightgaunts, show them this mark. They should cooperate with you.”
“Thanks.”
“Enough. Just descend already. We opened the gate long ago. There are a few others besides your group who also wish to enter the underground cities. Use the gate in the plaza.”
“Looks like there are more strange people besides us.”
“An unpleasant fact, from our perspective.”
Pickman briefly looked toward the distance.
Then he turned toward the temple.
“We are going to perform the ritual now. It has been a long time since anyone broke the laws this severely. He appears quite interested.”
“…An unpleasant fact, from my perspective.”
The two Apostles exchanged the same words as farewell.
Then they walked in opposite directions.
Yohan joined the others waiting near the entrance and headed toward the plaza.
Two priests guided them from either side.
“If anyone wants to remain in the city, say it now.”
Yohan suddenly spoke while standing before the gate that had appeared at the center of Zul-Bha-Sair’s plaza.
“After this, we’ll enter environments where staying behind won’t be possible.”
“……”
“You’ll have only two choices. Die fighting, or keep descending with me until the end.”
Even after such a direct warning,
no one spoke.
No one even appeared to hesitate.
Instead,
their expressions were filled with curiosity and anticipation for the next floor.
Yohan looked rather satisfied.
He touched the corner of his mouth.
“You’re finally starting to look decent.”
Just as they had on the eleventh floor,
they tightly connected everyone using Aura Link.
Then they jumped toward the thirteenth floor.
“……”
A breeze brushed against his ears.
Then a terrible smell pierced his nose and sent a strange shock through his entire body.
That confirmed one thing.
Abnontha was still alive.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Beside him lay the corpses of his two disciples, Nargai and Vembachis.
The five bandits were there as well.
“Kgh…!”
He was not tied down.
Yet he could not move his body at all.
Every bone had probably been crushed during the battle with Yohan.
Strangely,
there was no pain.
Something else was even stranger.
The natural desire to escape from this place had already disappeared.
The dark room was filled with cold so intense that it felt impossible to believe this was part of a desert city.
Only the faintest light allowed him to guess at the shape of the room.
And from the arched passage directly in front of him,
Abnontha sensed something even more ominous and gloomy.
“You are awake, blasphemer.”
Pickman suddenly appeared beside him.
He smiled widely at Abnontha.
It was the smile of a beast that had found prey.
“I would have been disappointed if he brought all of you back dead. As expected of Yohan Blake. An incredibly unpleasant human, but he understands our true nature far too well. Perhaps that is why I cannot completely hate him.”
In Pickman’s eyes,
Abnontha was already effectively dead.
And Abnontha knew.
He knew exactly what happened to dead people inside the temple of Zul-Bha-Sair.
So he desperately begged the ghoul before him for salvation.
Even with a body that had already lost the will to escape.
“L, listen… We made a mistake. I sincerely apologize. As you can see, we never tried to revive Arctella. I don’t even possess that kind of power, and I understand how blasphemous such an act would be. I only wanted to take her back to our homeland. I wanted to hold a funeral there and finally put my feelings for her to rest.”
“I see.”
“Of course it was selfish. I admit that. That is why I never complained when you recovered her. So please let me go now. Let me leave this place. Surely you can grant me that much. Right?”
Pickman responded politely as a priest, despite the long stream of nonsense.
