Pillar of Yita

As soon as they entered the underground, a pungent smell of blood assailed them, ten times stronger than above ground.

Elisa, who was walking in front, suddenly let out an ”ah,” instinctively taking a step back and almost bumping into Fang Hong. Fang Hong quickly steadied her with his hand, while his gaze went past Miss Nightingale’s shoulder. By the flickering light of the resin torch, he finally saw the scene ahead, which immediately made his stomach turn.

In the darkness, the cellar appeared rather cramped.

And in this narrow space, at the center of the cellar, a five-pointed star array painted in blood stood out prominently. Although the viscous blood had dried into a heavy black, it still instilled a feeling of evil and unease. At the vertexes of the pentagram lay scattered pieces of bloody flesh—

A head with eyes tightly shut was placed right at the entrance, its face pallid, eerily ”gazing” at the group.

Beside the array, there were a few tallow candles, long burned out. Further away, in the room’s corner, there was a pile of dismembered limbs like a mountain, blood flowing everywhere, and the gray wall was covered with thick black spots, writhing beyond the torchlight. Upon closer inspection, one could see a densely packed layer of flies.

Among the flesh, a river of white meat flowed, made up of countless maggots crawling among the bones. Tianlan turned pale upon seeing this, retreating three steps as if punched in the face, and dry-heaving loudly.

She didn’t even dare to make a sound, only stammering:

”I, I suddenly feel unwell, I’ll go up first.”

Then she grabbed Gita’s hand and ran back the way they came without looking back.

Luo Yu looked up before casting an apologetic glance at the others and also chased after them. Fang Hong didn’t stop the three, since Parker and Xiangzi had already come down earlier to look around; there was no danger down here, so they didn’t need so many people.

Even though the Papalarians had been here once before, they still hesitated at the entrance, not daring to step inside. It wasn’t the nauseating stench that deterred them, but the countless insects in the cellar.

The faces of the others didn’t look good either. They weren’t strangers to gruesome scenes; Dolifen’s hell-like inferno was similarly horrifying.

But that was within the Phantom Realm, quite different from experiencing it firsthand.

Only Atira looked at the scene with a somewhat calm expression, turning to everyone:

”This is a typical ’Blind Followers’ ritual.”

”They were summoning Dika here, likely to mass-produce ’Blood Worms.’ That ’Blood Servant’ was one of their test subjects,” she looked inside the cellar, her face uneasy. ”It seems their ’experiment’ wasn’t successful, otherwise they wouldn’t have left so many corpses, but the existence of the ’Blood Servant’ shows they weren’t completely unsuccessful.”

”Perhaps they succeeded in their experiment before moving on. Though there might be few samples, they still managed to produce usable ’Blood Worms.’

”What do the ’Blind Followers’ want?” Elisa asked quietly, her voice uneasy. ”To cause panic using Blood Worms, in Tansnier?”

Atira shook her head: ”In history, they certainly have a record of that.” Though she left unsaid, everyone understood from her gesture that the ’Blind Followers’ might do it, but not necessarily in Tansnier.

”These people are truly unreasonable...” Elisa shook her head anxiously. ”What’s their goal in doing this?”

”Even more unreasonable,” Luo Hao answered alongside, ”is that the Invoker might be involved.”

”How’s that possible?”

”It’s not strange; have you forgotten the origins of those slaves?”

Elisa shut her mouth, visibly distressed.

Mr. Abed also stood in silence beside them before speaking: ”I must report this to the Princess.”

”Naturally,” Fang Hong agreed, his gaze reluctantly leaving the scene below, ”But it’s not urgent right now. Let’s investigate this place first, Mr. Abed.”

The latter listened and nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Luo Hao put the Great Shield aside and asked everyone: ”Shall we take a look inside?”

Elisa glanced distastefully into the cellar.

Fang Hong stopped Hilveld, who was about to enter the cellar, and whispered: ”Wait outside for me.”

Miss Ship’s Officer looked up at him, gave a gentle smile, and didn’t protest.

Then Fang Hong turned to the Elf Miss: ”Miss Atira, could you please look after Hilveld and Tangtang.”

The Elf Miss quietly observed him and nodded. Thinking of potential trouble, it was likely to be in the cellar. She understood Fang Hong left her behind as an excuse, as a Believer of Nature, she wasn’t accustomed to these settings.

Then she spoke: ”Wait, Ade.”

She reached for her nape, removed the amulet with Ameya’s Holy Emblem, and hung it on Fang Hong’s chest.

”Now you can go.” After completing this, she nodded.

Fang Hong held the Holy Emblem somewhat perplexed, faintly feeling Ameya’s gaze returning to him once again. He was slightly surprised but didn’t hesitate, turning to the others: ”Luo Hao, Parker, Mr. Abed, let’s go inside.”