Chapter 464 - Continued (1/2)

Fulke and the rest swiftly caught up with Ceni who was standing at the entrance of the worn-out structure.

”What is it?” Fulke asked in a feeble voice but didn't get a response. Instead, Ceni moved aside, letting them see what was inside. Tey all went closer, peaking their heads in one by one.

First came the smell. The smell of death and excrement mixed together.

There was only one room inside the structure which was filled with half-eaten human corpses. There were obvious bite marks along the abdomens and the necks, many of them missing limbs and internal organs.

On the back right corner was a small pile of human faeces with the smell of urine mixed in. Different types of worms wriggled on the ground, occasionally falling from the decaying bodies. At a first glance, there were several dozen of them. It looked like they had been dead for a little while.

Three of the youngsters including Riane instantly threw up what little food they had eaten.

”Move back,” Fulke pushed all of them aside and entered the structure. He came out a few minutes later.

”He isn't here, nor are your friends, Princess. It looks like most of them were severely injured and died of natural causes. But having to spend their last few hours in such a manner and then having their remains being feasted on by those monsters, it is not an honorable death,” Fulke commented despondently. By 'he' he obviously meant Hao Xuan.

Ceni let out a deep breath, almost falling to the ground in a moment of weakness. But it was unknown whether the relief she felt was for her friends or Hao Xuan but either way, she was grateful.

”Thank you,” she mumbled meekly and stood up straight using a rock as support. Fulke nodded in response. Ceni looked towards the dark pit that seemed ever more threatening under the cover of darkness.

”We have to go deeper into the hole, that's the only place they could have been taken. I can still feel them closeby.”

”Alright, let's go,” Fulke agreed quickly. From what they had seen so far, it didn't bode well for the survivors. After making sure the youngsters were alright they went in.

As they entered the hole, the sound of rain and the battle outside weakened and when they were just a few meters in, it became deathly silent. The only noise came from their own breathing and footsteps.

Thankfully, there were still some sources of light left along the path down otherwise they would not have been able to see very clearly.

Some 5 odd minutes later they finally arrived at the bottom, in front of the giant door that was bent inwards from one side. Fulke motioned for them to stop.

”There are signs of a battle here,” he pointed at the remnant Qi floating about in the cracks on the walls and multiple burn marks that looked like that were made by something sharp and extremely hot.

Fulke opened his hands and his massive cleaver appeared. It had a curved, pointy front end and another small gap in the center of the blade itself. This way it could be held with both his hands horizontally.

It was glowing with a bright red light in the darkness. From the outside, it looked there was magma flowing inside the blade.

The temperature actually rose by several degrees as he channeled some Qi into it.

Hazel was using her Azura longsword while Ceni held two red swords with a similar design as the ones Dai Zhi had, but there were no runes on her.

Riane called out her weapon which surprised everyone. It was a paper fan with some intricate designs on it.

The three young men all used swords as well.