"Cough, cough…" Two muffled cough echoed in a rock-filled dark tunnel.
The tunnel seemed to extend endlessly with no trace of light. Only rock, dust, and stones could be seen.
Suddenly, a soft bam sounded.
Then, another.
And another.
Finally, several nearby rocks fell, revealing a metallic ball underneath.
As soon as the rocks covering it fell, the metallic ball turned into metallic sand and revealed three people inside.
They were Bloed, Liu Ying and Aya.
They had fallen here after the tunnel collapsed.
"… Are you alright?" Bloed took a lantern-like object from his storage device and asked the girls.
Liu Ying and Aya nodded. They only had some small scratches and a bit of dust in their bodies despite how close to death they were.
"… Where are we?" Liu Ying asked while coughing.
Bloed shook his head. He looked around, but the only things he could see were rocks and more rocks.
Furthermore–
Bloed looked up, but he could not see the slightest bit of light.
In other words, they were trapped underground.
"Such shitty luck." Bloed muttered with a sigh.
"… At the very least we were not crushed by the rocks." Liu Ying smiled wryly.
Bloed could only nod when he heard that.
Certainly. They survived, so they could be considered lucky.
Moreover, at the very least, it did not seem like this place lacked oxygen. So they did not need to worry about dying anytime soon.
"That damn fellow! I swear I'm going to punch his guts out if I see him again!" Liu Ying gritted her teeth in frustration. It was obvious she was very upset by the fact they were ambushed like that.
"We need to leave this place first for that." If there is an exit.
Bloed did not say the last part out loud.
Liu Ying frowned. At the same time, Aya looked at Bloed with a worried expression.
"… Bloed, what are we going to do now?"
Bloed furrowed his brows. "Wait a moment. I want to verify something."
The girls nodded. Bloed then closed his eyes and used his mind to communicate with the outside world.
The first good news was that his connection with Oculus still existed, however, the eye in the sky could not be used now it was separated from Bloed by a layer of rocks and stones.
And the second good news was that he could still communicate with Regina.
But when he communicated with Regina and learned of the situation on the surface, Bloed wrinkled his brows.
"The Church of Slaughter?" He muttered to himself in confusion.
"Is anything wrong?"
"… Bloed?"
Liu Ying and Aya tilted their heads when they saw Bloed's expression.
"… Sorry, I was thinking about something. It looks like I have more bad news."
""Huh?""
Seeing the confused expressions of the two girls, Bloed smiled wryly and gave them a quick explanation of the situation on the surface.
Liu Ying's face turned grave, and Aya became worried.
"… Is my father alright?"
"Don't worry, he is alright." Bloed smiled softly to reassure the cat girl. "It's not easy to poison powerful powerhouses because they will feel when the poison starts to harm their bodies. Thus, the poison the Church of Slaughter used is not lethal and only affects their ability to use mana. However, such kind of poison is ineffective against Regina. And with her strength, protecting your father should not be a problem. However, it means we should not expect any help from them soon."
Aya sighed in relief, however, she still seemed uneasy.
After all, it was a fact her father was currently in a dangerous situation.
"But the Church of Slaughter? What in the hell are they doing here?" Liu Ying asked with a confused expression.
Bloed furrowed his brows. He also had the same doubt.
After all, even if the God of Slaughter was considered an evil and crazy god, Bloed did not think even for a second that someone that managed to achieve godhood was a fool.
However, his current move could only be described as crazy. He had antagonized three countries and two powerful churches at the same time. Moreover, none of the five parties was weak.
That was not something someone sane would do.
Unless–
"… There is something he can win of all of this."
"Ah?" Liu Ying was startled.
Bloed furrowed his brows to organize his thoughts. Soon, a clear image of the situation appeared in his mind.
In fact, many of the things he did not understand before became clear.
"… What if Atai is a member of the Church of Slaughter as well? If he is, why did he choose to participate in this competition? Why did the Church of Slaughter do something like this? And why did the elves take part in a battle for a deposit of mana ores they usually don't use?"
Liu Ying and Aya were startled by Bloed question. But after they analyzed his words, their eyes opened wide.
"… Do you mean…"
"Yes." Bloed nodded with a grave expression. "I fear that there is something more valuable than mana ores in the mountains in this territory. And whatever it is, it's valuable enough for the Church of Slaughter to make such an outrageous move."
Liu Ying and Aya's expressions turned grave.
Bloed's expression was not much better. In fact, he was feeling really unlucky now.
Because if his conjecture was right, then it means the purpose of the attack against Regina, Eve, and the others was not to kill them.
Instead, it was to distract them while other people of the Church of Slaughter searched for whatever the God of Slaughter wanted.
He could only hope they are not unlucky enough to meet the people of the Church of Slaughter.
Bloed sighed. 'There is no point in worrying about that now. Instead–' Bloed then looked at the tunnel they were in. He could see it extended to the distance, but he did not know where it led.
But judging by the fact the oxygen here was abundant, Bloed was pretty certain this tunnel led to the surface.
"Let's go. For now, we should try to find a way to get out of here."
…
Meanwhile, on the surface.
"U-Ulises… W-Why?"
The young prince looked behind him with an expression of disbelief.
Because Ulises, his long-time friend, was stabbing a dagger in his back.
"Sorry, your highness. It's not personal. It's just that you are no longer useful."
"… Y-You…" The young prince coughed a mouthful of blood. He could not believe that Ulises, the friend he trusted the most, had betrayed him like this.
At that moment, several people appeared behind Ulises.
They were powerful practitioners, each one with fierce expressions and bloodthirsty auras. Moreover, they had the image of a wolf tattoed on some parts of their bodies.
When the young prince saw that, he opened his eyes wide in astonishment.
"… T-The C-Church of S-Slaughter… Cough… U-Ulises, h-how dare y-you to betray your people for t-these c-crazy people?"
"My people?" Ulises tilted his head and looked at the prince with a mocking look. "Hahaha, what a funny joke! When I was nothing but trash that everybody looked down on and even the servants treated like a fool, where were you or the Church of the Sun God? No, the one that helped me back then was the God of Slaughter. He made me who I am today. Since the start, he is the only god I believe in."
The prince's eyes shook.
He wanted to open his mouth to say something, but only more blood came out, exhausting his last bit of life force.
Just like that, he breathed his last.
Ulises looked at his corpse with an indifferent expression before addressing to the men behind him.
"Let's go. We need to hurry where the elves are. Otherwise, Atai is going to steal all the credit."
The men of the church of slaughter nodded respectfully and followed after him.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels