Our Family Has Fallen

Chapter 427: Chapter 281: Beast Lair_2

Neither the camp nor the items from the tomb were meant for him, but rather, they were for dealing with that thing guarding the camp. No wonder they built a camp in a low-lying area.

The matter of that sewer system is still the fault of the Ancestor.

In the game’s storyline, while the Ancestor was collecting and studying various rituals, he discovered a particularly interesting summoning ceremony: the Flesh Sacrifice.

The Flesh Sacrifice was notoriously difficult to master. To summon those creatures from the Otherworld into reality, a physical vessel was necessary.

In essence, that meant flesh offerings, and the Ancestor extended his sinister grasp towards his own subjects.

At the same time, the timing of the chanting was crucial—if one couldn’t vocalize correctly at the exact moment, the ritual’s process could abruptly fail.

The Ancestor was undoubtedly a genius, but his first attempt at summoning was immature, and the results were disappointing.

However, at the time, the Ancestor was still the Lord of Hamlet; he had ample money to squander and, likewise, plenty of sacrifices...

As his research into the rituals deepened, the Ancestor quickly found that the state and type of host flesh were key factors in the summoning ritual.

But the materials used for the ritual still affected him, as the frequent disappearances drew some unnecessary attention.

At that time, still concealing his true intentions, he dared not continue causing disappearances and had to find alternative materials. In his experiments, the best results came from pigs, whose flesh was most similar to that of humans.

Yet, the Flesh Sacrifice and summoning ritual were not so easily successful; on the contrary, his obsession waned with each trial and its inevitable disappointment.

Not only that, but the ritual’s progression was fraught with difficulties, and an excess of waste flesh accumulated, becoming... quite troublesome.

Heaps of twitching, writhing, shrieking, snorting chunks of flesh piled on top of each other, and the existing premises could not store such a vast amount of waste material.

Fearing discovery, the Ancestor naturally couldn’t casually dispose of these items, which had come to be occupied by indescribable beings from another plane.

So, when an excavation beneath the old manor breached an ancient network of waterways, the Ancestor already had a plan for disposing of these wastes.

Hamlet, a city no inferior to Totnes, certainly wasn’t built overnight but evolved through numerous expansions and renovations.

In this process, these leftover, abandoned sewers, of which even he as the Lord was unaware, became the perfect vessels.

The Ancestor quickly cleaned them out, tossing all the flesh waste into the deserted sewers.

Thus, the ancient sewers once again came into use by the Lord of Hamlet, transforming into a dumping ground filled with maws, limbs, tissues, and skeletons.

But in places unseen by the Ancestor, massive piles of contorting, grotesque bodies fused together in the horrific darkness...

After resolving the material and waste disposal issues, the Ancestor was finally able to fully engage in his research. One day, he successfully summoned what was referred to as the ”Great Being.”

However, it was unclear whether the problems lay with the ritual or the materials; the creature he summoned was both brutish and dumb. Besides that, it required a vast amount of flesh to maintain its form.

But by that time, the Ancestor had clearly lost all interest in the creature. After casting the summoned being into the sewer, he forgot about it, turning his attention to his next technological endeavor.

The deformed monster was not so easily killed, though. Instead, it displayed extraordinary strength befitting its name ”Great Being.” It survived in the sewers with its mangled body and went on to create even more deranged creatures...

After discovering the abandoned ancient sewer, the Ancestor had always treated it as a waste disposal site, throwing down anything, which unwittingly provided the creatures below with the conditions to survive.

Even the catastrophe that destroyed Hamlet years ago failed to kill it, allowing it to thrive and grow into an infamous main instance in the game.

Its infamous reputation was well-deserved; the monsters within were as repulsive as the visuals depicting them.

Players preferred to call it by a name other than the ancient sewer—Beast Lair!

Lance had entered it countless times back then, and reflecting on it now, there was still a sense of nostalgia.

At the time, the Ancestor could hardly have imagined that he had casually tossed two bombs into the ancient sewers.

But did the Ancestor really care?

He probably didn’t mind at all. Arranging for the camp to guard the exit of the Beast Lair was likely just to ensure that the creatures inside didn’t interfere with his plans.

But what impact did the discovery of the Beast Lair have on Lance now?

The Beast Lair, unlike the Witch, was out of the Ancestor’s control, as could be seen from the fact that the camp was established here.

Lance was clear that his target now was the old manor on the former site, and that was why he had chosen not to delve deeper into the Beast Lair.

Whoever wanted to wipe the Ancestor’s ass was welcome to do so; he certainly wouldn’t bother.

Because Hamlet is some distance from here, yet it’s right beneath the Ancestor’s ass.

The Beast Lair is like a bomb, and when it explodes, the first to suffer will be the Ancestor.

However, finding the sewer here also means that the old site is not far from this place.

As long as he completes the sweep of the wilderness and repairs those damaged old roads and outposts, he will completely lock down the Ancestor’s passage to the outside.

Originally, because the Heretics in the game were too powerful, he had always viewed the Ascension Sect through a filter.

But up to now, having encountered quite a few elite Heretics, their strength was not very impressive; most of them were just small fry.

Even those who had undergone multiple Flesh Rites to gain Supernatural Power were not that great.

The strongest method of the Ascension Sect is still the qualitative change brought about by the parasitism of the ”Seed.”

But for Lance, that’s all there is to it.

He even felt that his careful step-by-step approach might be too cautious, giving the Ancestor more time.

Should he, perhaps, be more aggressive and lead his troops to charge directly?

And just as he was slightly distracted, strange noises came from around him.

”Kill them!”

”For Ascension!”

”Don’t take away my Ascension!”

Almost at the same time as the sky’s anomaly, several enemies rushed out of the surrounding dense forest.

Without even looking, he knew from their shouts that these individuals were followers of the Ascension Sect.

It wasn’t until they were within ten paces that he realized these were not ordinary individuals. They were Ascension Cultists, uniformly equipped, their bare chests displaying exaggerated muscles, and they had a distinctive appearance.

These were the elite, specifically there to ambush them.

But Lance’s squad was no ordinary team and did not panic; instead, they instantly reacted and prepared to meet the enemies.

But at this moment, looking up, he could see a rift in space as if it had been forcibly torn open by something, and the entire gray night sky was dyed with a dazzling purple.

In this instant, everyone seemed to sense the anomaly.

Geralt and Junia seemed to remember the night they encountered the Wizard, his hand holding the Twisted Statue that summoned the power of the Otherworld.

And now... Lance, whose inspiration was so high, naturally noticed it too. Subconsciously, he thought it was the Collector who had found him.

Wearing the ”Collector’s Showroom” brings with it a negative trait, which is attracting the Collector’s attention.

But in just an instant, he realized something was wrong, for the appearance of the Collector caused ripples in real space, like ripples on water.

Not this kind of violent tearing apart, let alone the erosion of reality by the Void rift, which was growing larger and larger, with no intention of stopping.

Spiritual Vision unfolded. Lance instantly locked onto the Ascension Priest hiding in the darkness.

”It’s the Sorcery of the Sect of Ascension!” he yelled, a musket appearing in his hand.

But before he could fire, a huge, non-human tentacle stretched out from the Void rift. Incredibly, the target was not Lance, but Junia.

For some reason, Lance’s mind instantly understood how the Priest inside the tunnel had died, along with the surrounding mutilated corpses.

Without hesitation, without even thinking, by the time he registered what was happening, he had already rushed over and pushed Junia away.

The tentacle, without a doubt, viciously struck Lance. The great force from the Void sent him flying.

All of this happened in an instant. Even though each of them had reactions far beyond ordinary people, they hadn’t managed to react in time. All that could be seen was Lance lying on the ground...