Hastur would never say that before arriving at the Almshouse, he had already glimpsed a bit of fate.
That glimpse had shown him this very stone wall, right here.
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Bang! Bang! Bang!
The zombies picked up stones along the edge of the hole, smashing the nearby stone wall one after another, and that nauseating smell grew even stronger.
Hastur was slightly better, just looking pale, but Lecturer Fron couldn't hold it in anymore, leaning against a stone wall and gagging.
"The smell of corpses?"
"Yeah, and it must be a lot of corpses to make it smell this strong."
Maric gave a definite answer. By his estimate, there were at least dozens of corpses inside, maybe even close to a hundred.
He could hardly imagine what kind of thing could be born in a place like this.
"In your limited knowledge of mysticism, is there anything about burying people in the ground to nourish something?"
"…"
Maric glanced at Hastur speechlessly. Even in this situation, he couldn't forget to mock him; it seemed his mentality was still good.
"Regarding rituals of sacrifice and burials, usually only the Death Pathway applies, but such bloody massacres and corpse piles are more consistent with Devilic behavior." Maric said, his pupils dilating.
A Devil?
Could all of this have been caused by a Devil?
Hastur didn't speak. He too thought of Devils. The Abyss Path was undoubtedly the bloodiest and most brutal Beyonder pathway.
Beyonders of this path were fundamentally different from ordinary humans.
Whether in their daily role-playing or ascending to higher sequences, they were required to abandon their humanity, paving their Beyonder pathway with blood and cruelty.
"Devils often perform sacrificial rituals with fresh life to obtain Beyonder power from the master they worship. If things go badly, you two need to be extra careful."
Maric warned seriously before leading two zombies into the hole first. Hastur and Lecturer Fron followed with the lamp, leaving one zombie to guard the entrance.
Entering the hole, passing through a narrow tunnel about ten meters long, they reached a relatively spacious secret chamber.
Crunch, crunch…
As they walked, the ground occasionally made cracking sounds as bones shattered underfoot.
Lecturer Fron's face turned pale, and his legs felt numb; he didn't even dare to look down.
This place, rather than being a secret chamber, was more like a large burial pit.
Maric took the kerosene lamp from Lecturer Fron's hand, cautiously examining the surroundings.
The soil here was very loose, and many burial pits appeared on the ground.
Maric had the zombies dig a few pits. They weren't buried deep, and inside were white skeletons, all decapitated, or rather, their heads were missing.
Judging from the size and shape of the skeletons, they were all children under fourteen.
Hastur and Lecturer Fron both thought of what Professor Wayne had previously said, that someone was burying children here at the Almshouse.
This… was where the children were buried!
Looking around roughly, at least seventy or eighty children were buried here!
Compared to the few corpses that condemned Dean Darn before, this was utterly incomparable.
Lecturer Fron suddenly spoke: "From here, about fifty meters forward, wouldn't we be right under the Almshouse's cemetery?"
During the day, he had searched the Almshouse with several policemen, passing by the bell tower area. The nearby cemetery had left a deep impression on him.
Maric stopped, surprised: "You mean someone moved the bodies from the cemetery and buried them here?"
"If the distance isn't far." Lecturer Fron said, a chill running all over his body. He unconsciously moved closer to Hastur, holding the kerosene lamp tightly. The warmth from it eased his fear a little.
Hastur secretly rubbed his fingers, opened his spiritual vision, scanned around, then frowned and said in a deep voice: "Maric, with so many corpses here, shouldn't their spirits linger?"
"The Church has special personnel to deal with that, so normally there wouldn't be any lingering spirits."
"And if there were no church personnel?"
"Then there definitely would be…"
Maric's expression changed sharply. Holding the oil lamp, he quickly approached Hastur and Lecturer Fron while warning the two zombies to stay alert.
Reaching Hastur, he lowered his voice: "Their spirits after death were eaten by something!"
A Devil's sacrifice! Maric was now certain of it!
In this dark environment, something might already be watching them from the shadows.
"Let's leave first. Tomorrow, we'll dig directly down from the cemetery and let the sunlight in."
Hastur's face was equally grim as he protected Lecturer Fron and headed toward the entrance.
Just then, a bell rang from the darkness.
Ding ling ling!
Ding ling ling!
The sound was urgent and approaching quickly!
Hiss! Something in the darkness seemed to open its mouth, revealing its fangs.
Bang! The zombie guarding the front was struck by a great force, sent flying, and slammed into the wall!
"Go! It's here!" Maric shouted in a low voice, urging Hastur and Lecturer Fron to leave quickly.
They soon entered the narrow tunnel, moving toward the entrance under the dim light.
Bang! Another dull sound echoed in the darkness.
This time, by the light of the kerosene lamp, Maric vaguely saw what that thing looked like.
"Fuck! --"
Maric's face turned pale as he cursed; exactly what he said, Hastur didn't catch.
They quickly passed through the ten-meter-long passageway. Lecturer Fron stepped out of the entrance, glanced at the zombie still guarding the place, and finally relaxed a little.
"Take off your coat! Give it to me!"
Hastur spoke, and Lecturer Fron immediately complied, taking off his coat and handing it to Hastur.
Hastur smashed the glass of the kerosene lamp and lit the coat worth one gold pound and four soli.
Flames roared up. Hastur waited for Maric to back out, then threw it into the passageway.
The bright flames lit up the short corridor, revealing the thing that had been following them.
Heads, fresh, young heads, were fused into the head, back, and body of a panther-like creature.
The creature was covered in black fur, stood two meters tall, and was about three meters long. At this moment, it bared its cold, gleaming fangs, drool dripping from its mouth.
Around its neck hung a string of bells with a dull yellow sheen.
The jingling sound from earlier came from these bells.
Hastur recognized two of the heads, one belonged to Amy, the other to Simon.
They were the two children they had caught ringing bells during their last visit to the Almshouse in the middle of the night!
He hadn't expected them to be dead already, and transformed into such a terrifying monster!
Now, many things made sense.
The true Beyonder item was the string of bells around the creature's neck.
The bells Amy and Simon rang were ordinary; ringing those bells was simply a signal to this monster that the child was a chosen sacrifice and ready to be hunted!
The Devil hiding in the Almshouse had deliberately thrown those bells along the children's path, waiting to see who was unlucky enough to pick them up and couldn't resist ringing them at night, whoever did became the next sacrifice!
Bloody and cruel!
Hastur rarely felt anger, but it rose in him now, only for him to quickly calm down again.
There were still things he didn't understand: why the children's personalities had become so indifferent and quiet, as if gradually losing their humanity.
Was it because of the bells' Beyonder power?
Who was plotting these things in secret?
Were the children buried underground just to raise such a monster?
"Watch out for that string of bells."
Hastur warned Maric, in case the bell sounds caught him off guard.
"Lecturer Fron, stand farther away with the lamp."
Hastur gave the order, then twisted open his cane, drawing out a sword hidden inside.
Before coming to the Almshouse, he had returned home to fetch this special cane, and now the sword within was finally put to use.
Maric glanced back curiously but quickly focused again on the monster at the end of the passageway.
Perhaps used to prowling at night, the monster seemed wary of the bright fire, hesitating to charge forward.
But only for a moment, it opened dozens of mouths on its body and exhaled, a gust of foul-smelling, cold wind suppressing the flames.
"We can't let it snuff out the fire!" Hastur warned.
Maric understood, crouching slightly as fur grew over his face and arms, his fingers turning into claws. With a low growl, he lunged at the monster!
Hastur followed behind, sword in one hand, kerosene lamp in the other.
In the narrow passage, Maric engaged the monster head-on while Hastur looked for an opening to strike.
In their first clash, Maric used his wits, dodging at the moment the monster pounced and raking a claw across its body, leaving a bloody gash.
Hastur crouched low and took the chance to slice the monster's leg.
The cane-sword was sharper than he had expected; with one strike, he nearly severed the creature's bone!
Its front leg wounded, the monster staggered, howling in pain. All the heads on its body cried out together in a mournful wail.
The sound waves rippled out like water, shaking Hastur and Maric's minds; their ears rang, and strange sensations overwhelmed them, leaving them dazed and sluggish.
"Sound is forbidden here!"
Hastur bit his lip hard, the pain clearing his head for a moment, just enough to enforce the rule.
The wailing ceased, and Hastur and Maric regained their senses.
The monster, taking advantage of that brief opening, retreated some distance.
It shook its head, trying to jingle the bells on its neck, but no sound came out.
A hint of confusion flickered in its eyes, almost foolish.
Maric gave it no chance, leaping forward with his werewolf physique, while Hastur followed and struck twice, piercing two holes that bled profusely.
Though small, the wounds gushed uncontrollably.
Injured again, the monster seemed to realize that fighting in this cramped corridor restricted its agility. It turned and fled out of the passageway!
Naturally, Hastur and Maric wouldn't let it escape so easily.
Maric gave chase first, while Hastur instructed Lecturer Fron to return along the original path, then grabbed the kerosene lamp and followed.