At this point, the situation inside the den was nothing short of dire.
Everyone who had fallen into this underground place focused only on themselves—trying to hide, trying to survive, trying to make sure the demon roaming somewhere in the darkness did not notice them...
But Seth was different.
He didn't plan on abandoning the small boy who was clinging to him—the same child who risked himself to warn them about Reymond's betrayal.
The boy's timing had been too late, but his intentions were good.
And Seth, even in a place like this, could not bring himself to ignore that.
"Come on."
Seth whispered, his voice barely audible.
He gently pried the boy's hands from his leg and instead lifted him into his arms.
The child was quite light for his age. It was perhaps due to malnutrition...
Seth moved quickly but silently, his eyes scanning the gloomy periphery...
He spotted a dark corner, partially shielded by a large, broken wardrobe that looked like it had been smashed by something huge.
He set the boy down behind it, crouching to be at his eye level.
"You need to stay here..."
Seth said, his tone soft but serious.
"Don't make a sound. No matter what you hear, you stay hidden. Do you understand?"
The boy nodded, his lower lip quivering.
Seth wanted to immediately find his own hiding spot, but he knew he needed information to process the situation first...
"Is there anything else about this place that you know?"
He asked.
The boy shook his head, his face falling.
"No... I only knew the location of the door because the man upstairs told me to say it..."
He mumbled, referring to Reymond's instructions.
The disappointment on Seth's face was quite evident hearing this...
Seeing Seth's expression, the child looked panicked, as if he was afraid Seth would leave him because he wasn't useful.
He eagerly grabbed Seth's sleeve.
"Ah... but I do remember a weird looking woman coming into this place once!"
He whispered urgently.
"She was tall and smelled like flowers. But she came through this dungeon... I never saw her enter through the warehouse gate upstairs..."
Seth felt a small surge of relief.
'That means there's an exit somewhere in this den!'
Of course, Seth also speculated that the woman might have gone through the dungeon through supernatural means, but Seth would rather think positively in a situation like this...
Delighted by this crucial clue, he gave the boy a small, genuine smile and patted his head in praise.
The boy straightened proudly, even with fear still shaking his shoulders.
"I'm going to check around first." Seth whispered.
"Stay here. I'll come back for you soon."
Hearing the familiar words "I'll come back for you," a deep fear flashed in boy's eyes.
He wanted to protest, to beg Seth to take him along!
But the kid held back his words...
Instead, just as Seth turned away, the boy whispered—
"Um… mister… my name… it's Matthew."
Seth paused.
'This kid... is he telling me his name so I can grow a connection with him? So that I'll feel responsible and make sure I don't leave him behind?'
Seth was amused at how cunning the little boy was trying to be, but Seth did not mind his little tricks.
Everyone, no matter what age, had their own way of trying to survive.
Seth smiled despite the situation and gently patted Matthew's head again.
"I'll remember that. Wait for me, Matthew."
Then he stepped away, activating [Null Presence].
His figure faded like a shadow sliding into another shadow, but even with that ability, Seth did not dare walk carelessly.
He chose a pathway that felt "less noticeable," a route that ran along the rough, uneven wall of the underground.
The den was more spacious than he had first thought.
It was also strangely devoid of objects, as if it had been swept clean.
The only source of light came from the walls themselves...
Odd, glowing symbols were etched into the stone, pulsing with a faint, sickly green light.
Seth assumed they were powerful engravings, a kind of magical prison designed to keep the demon trapped inside...
It was most likely this same power that made the door at the top of the stairs repel them so violently!
The magic was designed to keep things in, not let them out.
He hadn't informed the others about Matthew's information yet...
He needed to confirm it himself first.
Blindly leading the group could get them all killed if the exit was a myth.
As he walked deeper along the pathway, the disgusting smell became unbearable...
It was a foul cocktail of rotting meat, squirming maggots, and decay so potent it made his eyes water.
He had to cover his nose and mouth with his sleeve.
His stomach churned violently when his eyes adjusted to the area and he saw the details: piles of bones, both animal and human, were stacked up in corners like gruesome firewood.
Some were picked clean, while others still had tattered, rotting flesh clinging to them.
He gagged, his body lurching involuntarily, but he fought back the vomit, swallowing hard.
Making a noise now would be suicide...
The horrifying scream, a mix of countless voices twisted into one, became more and more frequent the deeper he went.
His back was soaked with a cold sweat that had nothing to do with the temperature...
Pressing on, his heart pounding in his ears, Seth finally saw it...
In a larger chamber ahead, the source of the screams moved.
It was a demon, but not like any he had imagined...
It was a massive, writhing chunk of pulsating flesh.
Perched on top of this mountain of meat was one tiny, human-like head that would periodically contort and let out those soul-chilling screams.
All over its chunky body, numerous teeth gnashed in rotten gums and arms—dozens of them, of all sizes—wiggled and grasped at the air as if searching for something to grab.
'How terrifying...'
The thought was an understatement.
There were no words to describe the pure, primal horror that washed over Seth...
He immediately averted his gaze.
He realized that just looking at the creature for too long was dangerous!
He felt a strange pressure building behind his eyes, a creeping sense of madness that threatened to unravel his calm and rationality...
It was a being that defied nature, and nature was fighting back just by him witnessing it!
Seeing that the demon was currently occupied with its own tortured screaming, Seth quickly and quietly skirted the main chamber, taking a narrow, winding path that was quite far from the monstrous entity.
He moved with painstaking slowness.
He did not fully trust that his [Null Presence] could make him completely invisible.
After all, Reymond and that strange statue back at Fredero Tangen's house were able to bypass his ability!
Just as he was beginning to lose hope, thinking Matthew's story might have been a mistake, he saw it.
At the very end of a narrow tunnel, barely visible in the faint green glow, was a metallic ladder.
It was rusty but sturdy, and it led straight up into a dark shaft in the ceiling...
'There really is an exit through here!'
Seth thought to himself in relief...
But just as he was about to step forward to check it out, a cold shiver shot down his spine.
His instincts screamed at him to freeze!
He slowly turned his head.
There, in a shadowy corner he had almost missed, stood another figure. It was a tall, unnaturally thin man dressed in a pristine, dark suit, standing with his face mere inches from the wall, perfectly still.