In the northern coastal area of the Kingdom of Fiore, where mountains meet the sea, this place could have been a nice tourist spot.
But due to the cold winter and snow-covered roads, almost no one would come here for several months.
From the best sightseeing spot, if one headed southeast, they would enter a large mountainous area.
Not far into the mountain, in a secluded hollow, someone had built a makeshift dwelling.
In the front hall of the dwelling, four people in black robes were gathered around a small heater, warming themselves. A kettle on the stove was steaming.
"Hey, Raven and the others should be back soon, right?"
"They're always so slow at everything. Even catching a brat takes them forever."
"Better than you killing someone in the street. If we attract the Council's attention, we're in trouble."
"Those fools couldn't find us in ten years, and tonight…"
They chatted idly, and whenever they mentioned tonight's events, each one showed an expression of anticipation.
They had been planning this for so long, and finally, it was about to begin.
It had taken them a whole year just to find "the place where Carnibro slumbers" and then several more months to figure out how to summon the demon.
Then they had to set up the altar, capture sacrifices...
Finally, today, their wish was coming true! After tonight, neither the Council nor anyone else would be able to stop them.
The world would belong to them!
From inside the dwelling, the voices of children crying and talking could be heard, but the men ignored it, clearly used to the sound.
They just needed to check in from time to time to make sure none of them were dead.
In the room, a dozen children were huddled in the corner.
Some of the kids were quietly crying out of fear. They didn't dare cry loudly, as that would get them whipped by the men outside.
Some children, having been here longer, were too tired to cry anymore. They either sat against the wall, staring blankly, or had fallen asleep, only to wake up and possibly cry again, or remain in a daze.
The black-robed men only needed them alive and certainly didn't care for them properly, which meant the room was filled with an indescribable stench.
Among the children, there were two who neither cried nor became numb.
"Brother, I'm cold."
"Come closer, let's huddle together to keep warm."
"Okay." The little girl snuggled closer to her brother. "Brother, I'm hungry."
The gray-haired boy hugged her. "Go to sleep. You won't feel hungry if you're asleep."
"Okay." The little girl obediently closed her eyes.
But moments later, she opened them again. "Brother, why hasn't Reese come back?"
"She went home already. She was the first to pass the test. Go to sleep; maybe when you wake up, we'll have moved on to the next stage too."
"Okay."
The boy was lying. He had been lying to his sister for a whole day and night, saying that this was a test set by their parents and the uncles outside.
If they passed it, they would be amazing grown-ups, and they'd have a cake as big as a cart wheel to eat when they got home.
As for the children crying from being whipped, they were just too scared, and the uncles were only acting.
He knew well that this place was dangerous, and Reese…
She probably wasn't coming back.
The boy observed the dim room. There were no windows here, and the walls were solid—escaping would require waiting until the bad guys outside fell asleep.
But last night, it had been a different group guarding, and they hadn't slept at all.
So, the only chance would be when they were taken outside like Reese.
Hopefully, it would be with his sister.
Creak~ The wooden door opened, waking up a few of the sleeping children.
Some of them had tears welling up, but didn't dare cry out loud, as the man had a whip in his hand.
Crack! The whip still came down, striking a child who hadn't woken up.
"Get up!"
"Ah! Waaah…"
The child cried out in pain, but immediately received two more lashes. The pain in his arm and back made him want to cry more, but he didn't dare make a sound.
The black-robed man scanned the room to confirm no one was still asleep, then shouted, "All of you, come out!"
Fearing the whip, the children struggled to stand up from the ground.
The gray-haired boy cautiously held his sister's hand, blending into the group.
Could this be the chance?
But as soon as they reached the front hall, his heart turned cold.
There were at least twenty black-robed men outside; even if each one only watched over one child, it was more than enough.
The possibility of escape was too low.
The black-robed men drove the children out of the dwelling and along a path leading to the altar.
Some children were wearing thick coats and could hold on, but others, in thinner clothes, had lips turning purple from the cold.
The black-robed men didn't care—as long as they didn't freeze to death on this short walk, it was fine.
The man who had been guarding the dwelling asked, "It's not dark yet, why are we starting early?"
"Raven never came back, and he didn't send the agreed signal either. He might've been killed, and waiting any longer could lead to problems."
"That idiot… But if we start the ritual early, what about the lack of sacrifices? And the timing isn't right either."
"The boss, Shadow Ghost, will figure something out. At worst, Lord Carnibro will be weaker when summoned. We can just offer a few more quality sacrifices later."
"So that's how it is… Hey! Those two kids! Grab them!"
…
"This place is really hard to find."
Rhodes used the clothes he had collected in Poppi Town as a scent source for the Shadow Wolves to track.
He also shared the vision of the Shadow Wolf, trying to locate the place.
Unfortunately, either too much time had passed, or the dark magic cult had done something to the children—their scent couldn't be detected at all.
In the end, it was by trying to trace the smell of blood that he found the altar.
Rhodes and Erza hid on the mountainside near the altar, using two Stone Beetles disguised as rocks as cover.
The snow on the sunny side of the mountain was less, and no one noticed the addition of two rocks.
From their vantage point, they could see that a platform had been built in the valley using stone and wood, with a dark red magic circle painted on top.
With Erza's sharp eyes, she could immediately tell that it was drawn with blood, but as for whose blood…
Erza wished she could go down and cut those bastards to pieces right then and there.
"Killing them now won't do any good. We need to confirm the children's situation first." Rhodes placed a hand on her shoulder. This was not the time to be impulsive.
"I know," Erza said in a low voice. "Any leads? Maybe we should..."
If Rhodes couldn't figure it out, she was inclined to knock everyone below out and interrogate them one by one about their hideout.
In this environment, the river crabs were too conspicuous, which greatly affected their scouting efficiency. But finally, Rhodes saw who they were looking for.
"There! Someone's coming this way; they should be here in a few minutes. The children…" Rhodes gritted his teeth, "they're with them."
These beasts—what had they done to the children?