*Bam!*
One of Bloed's bullets hit a magic circle.
Almost at that instant, the fog started to dissipate.
"Done."
"Finally…" Liu Ying said with a sigh. "I can't believe I ended becoming a burden."
Bloed patted her in the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you already helped enough before reaching here."
Liu Ying nodded, but Bloed could see she was not completely convinced.
With the fog gone, the group could finally start to search the prince.
They went through the entrance the man of before was defending and reached a long corridor. At the end of the corridor, there was a giant iron door.
"This is the place." Illina said. "The prince is behind."
Without waiting for Javelin to say anything, Bloed unsheathed his saber and slashed towards the door.
After three slashes, the door fell apart.
After the events on Calice City, Bloed had done some modifications to his saber; the biggest modification being the fact that a magic-circle-like thing appears every time he uses [Molecular Disintegration].
This way, anyone that sees the saber's sharpness will think it comes from a technique Bloed practices, instead of the saber itself.
Bloed did not want to have people trying to kill him to steal his "demigod-level weapon", like Calice's city lord. Thus, this modification was necessary.
When the door fell apart, Illina and Javelin rushed inside.
But before their third step, their expressions changed.
"Ugh!" Both Illina and Javelin covered their noses and mouths and their expressions turned purple.
With the door gone, the fetid and foul smell trapped on the other side assaulted the group's noses.
It was a mix of rotten flesh and blood, plus urine, shit, vomit, and whatever thing you could think. The smell had been concentrated inside the room, being completely released when the door was opened.
Unfortunately, Illina and Javelin's great sense of smell meant they were badly affected by the sudden stench.
Bloed and the girls frowned, but their reaction was better than Illina and Javelin.
The place behind the door was completely dark, but with Javelin's illumination stone, they managed to get a glimpse of the situation.
And when they saw what was behind, the group was filled with anger and killing intent.
Tens of boys and girls, trapped like animals in small one-cubic-meter cages. Many of them were malnourished or injured, with whip marks on their arm and legs.
"God… How they dare!?" Liu Ying gritted her teeth in rage. I could feel her killing intent spreading outwards. It was obvious she wanted to cut the people responsible for it into pieces.
Even Regina, who normally was indifferent to everything, frowned visibly, disgusted with the scene inside.
"… This is worse than I thought." Javelin said with a sigh.
Bloed nodded. He never thought he would see such a cruel thing in his life.
For the first time, he realized how far humans could go due to greed.
"W-Who are you?" A boy opened his eyes weakly and asked the group.
As though it was a signal, several voices sounded after him
"M-Mommy… Where are you, mommy?"
"L-Little brother…"
"H-Help…"
"P-Please… Someone, please…"
Javelin looked away with a complicated expression. He could not bear looking at this.
"Illina, where is the prince?"
"W-Wait a moment." Illina sniffed the air trying to filter the terrible smells in this place.
A few seconds later, she walked towards a cage in a corner of the room.
"… P-Prince?"
The young boy inside the cage opened his eyes with difficulty and stared at Illina.
"S-Sis…"
"Prince!"
Instantly, Illina rushed to open the cage. "Damn, where is the key!" she shouted.
"Calm down." Bloed said. "Let me."
Several slashes of his saber later, and the cage and the chains were cut open.
"Prince!" Illina rushed and hugged the boy tightly. The boy inside the cage smiled relieved and closed his eyes. Seconds later, he fell unconscious.
Illina bit her lips with tears on her face and an expression of wrath.
Such cruelty. This was something inhuman. Bloed could not help but think that.
But when he thought things could not get worse, he heard Regina's voice.
"Master, come here."
Bloed followed at Regina curiously and he arrived at another room behind the place where the slaves were being kept.
And when Bloed saw what was inside, he felt his insides churning.
"… What in the hell?" Bloed's voice was hoarse.
Inside the room, several young men and women were lying in surgical tables, dead.
Around them, there were several cabinets with internal organs floating inside bottles. Eyeballs, torsos, hearts, lungs. Every kind of human organ was there.
Some of the people in the surgical tables had their chest opened. When Bloed approached them, he noticed signs of something growing inside their chest and afterward digging their way outside. Just like in the movie [Alien].
But the biggest shock was when he reached the last table.
Someone he knew was there.
Erika, the daughter of Calice's city lord.
She was dead, with her eyes opened wide in fear, and a giant hole on her neck.
Bloed felt his impulse to vomit. He had never felt so angry in a long, long time.
"… They were using people to experiment with something."
"The Blight?" Regina asked.
"Perhaps." Bloed said with a complicated expression. "I'm not sure."
"… Master, are you alright?" Regina asked concerned.
"Don't worry. It's just that seeing someone I know in this situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
"... Master."
To be honest, Bloed himself was not sure how he felt.
He simply… wanted to blow this place up.
"God, what is this?" Javelin entered the room at that moment. When he saw the scene inside, her brows crumpled.
Bloed shook his head and shifted the topic. "Has you already finished?"
"Yes. Illina and I will take the prince to our base to give him treatment."
"What about the other slaves?"
Javelin's expression was complicated.
"… We simply can't take them with us… That is not realistic…"
"Are you going to leave them here then?" Bloed asked.
"… I'll tell Madeline about this. She will come for them later."
Bloed thought for a moment before sighing.
"Maybe more enemies will arrive her by then and take them away. I have a better idea. Regina, can you blow up the roof?"
Regina instantly understood Bloed's intention.
"No problem. I will make sure that nobody is injured."
Ten minutes later, an explosion shook the entire Diadel City.
...
Three chapters today!
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