The entrance Snoc found was on top of a cliff, below the cracked gap in the surface. The gap was so narrow that a person had to contort their body to squeeze in. The space below was also very tight, and one had to arch their back to barely move through. On the other side of the wall, there was another small gap covered by a protruding boulder. They had to squish their bodies in again, and after crawling through this hole a bit more, they arrived at an artificial tunnel big enough for a person to walk through normally.
“I am honestly impressed by these guys’ abilities. To avoid getting noticed, they managed to find a place like this and dug a tunnel through.” Zich was impressed. The space below the gaps between the boulders definitely existed naturally, and using this natural terrain, the Bellids had created a secret passageway.
“It’s as you say. Those trash bags have such an unnecessary skill.” Weig also couldn’t help but admit the Bellids’ ‘skills’ as he grumbled. If they didn’t have Snoc with them, they would have had great difficulty finding this place.
“The passageway continues on straight from here,” Snoc said while pointing toward the other side of the cave and Nowem cried in agreement.
Koo!
“It’s not a very complicated passageway. It goes straight and does not split. At the end of the passageway, I sense a cavity of considerable size.”
“That must be those cockroach bastards’ nests.”
There was no need for them to say anymore.
“Let’s go in,” Weig said. He already had his sword out and seemed anxious about digging his hand into the Bellid followers’ blood. Weig appeared like a madman crazy for blood. Even Zich wondered if it was all right for a holy knight to act like this. However, Zich had no reason or intention to disagree with Weig.
“Yes, let’s go.”
“Isn’t it better to call more people?” Hans asked if they should go with more support, but Zich shook his head.
“It’s better to suppress those guys as fast as possible. Considering the size of the passageway, I don’t think there’s that many of them anyway.”
Snoc had already told them that the size of the cavity wasn’t that big. Even if the place was packed with Bellid followers from corner to corner, there was a limit on how many of them there could be in one space. Additionally, it was more efficient for a select number of people to move in a narrow space like this. Above all, Zich and his companions were easily the most skilled fighters in the joint army.
The team began to move across the passageway. The rainwater from outside began flowing inside, and the rain was still pouring down heavily. Thus, Zich asked Snoc, “How long till we reach the cavity you sensed?”
“It won’t take too long, sir. If we continue at this speed, we will arrive there in the time it would take to drink a hot cup of tea.”
“Even though we are that close to it, I can’t feel the power they would have amassed from the city sacrifice ritual. As I thought, they must have really played some tricks to hide their powers.”
“I think so too. We might have wasted a lot of time if we had searched the area by trying to sense their powers.”
Weig and Zich’s opinions aligned. Zich looked at the other side of the passageway warily and glanced around to see if there was anything suspicious.
“…What is that?”
There were holes about the size of fingers all over the passageway. They clearly didn’t seem to be naturally made, and when Zich looked down, he saw that the floor was full of holes submerged in water.
“I scanned the entire passageway, and it appears that these mysterious holes are everywhere. They’re quite deep too,” Snoc explained. Zich stopped walking momentarily and searched the holes. With only one eye open, Zich tried looking inside one of the holes. He didn’t see much, and he only saw complete darkness.
“I’m sure they aren’t here for interior design,” Weig said uncomfortably while tapping on these holes. Whatever intention the Bellids had when making these, it clearly wouldn’t be good coming from them.
“I think they might have made these holes to make the cliff crumble more easily. By weakening the inside, the passageway would crumble faster,” Zich said and pried his eyes away from the holes.
“As I thought, everything they do is up to no good,” Weig snorted. He didn’t even appear to be surprised anymore. Of course, this didn’t mean that his rage had quelled at all.
“Let’s go, Sir Zich. We have to crush them before they do something more ridiculous.” Weig's voice sounded enraged.
Zich and his companions began to walk again. They didn’t make their presence known by making a commotion, but they didn’t try hard to conceal their presence either. Since their path was a wide-open passageway without traps or many obstacles, it was hard for them to hide their presence. As they had expected, when they reached the end of the passageway, they saw Bellid followers greeting them.
“They came!” Weig immediately stepped forward while holding his sword. Since the space was so small, it was clear that he would become a hindrance if more than two people fought, so Zich stepped behind Weig. However, Zich was ready to fight at any time, and it was the same for Hans and Snoc.
“Sir Weig, please be careful when fighting. If we slam the wall too much, the passageway could collapse because of us, and we could be the ones to cause the cliff to crumble.”
A wall filled with holes obviously lacked durability. It might be fine if only the passageway broke, but the passageway’s collapse could cause a butterfly effect and cause other areas to crumble. So it was better for them to be careful. Even Snoc wouldn’t be able to stop a mass-scale collapse. Furthermore, they needed to find the true nature of the city sacrifice ritual and destroy it.
“I will keep that in mind!” Weig said and rushed toward the Bellid followers. The Bellids did not stay still. About fifteen followers extended their hands at the same time.
Splassssh! The level of water flowing inside the tunnel grew exponentially higher. It reached their ankles instantly, and it seemed as if the tunnel would be full of water soon. Of course, Zich’s group wouldn’t immediately drown, but their movements were restricted. They also couldn’t suppress their breathing forever. Most importantly, the water also added another aspect of danger.
Bamm! Since the Bellids controlled water, the force of their skills became significantly greater. Sharp streams of water flew towards them, and strong water pressure pulled on them from below. However, Weig ignored all these disadvantages and rushed forward. As someone with all kinds of experiences, this situation posed no threat to him.
Burst! Weig strongly kicked the water to break the pressure that rose up to squeeze and destroy his leg. He sliced apart the sharp water streams flying towards him with his sword. Even though he couldn’t help slowing down, the Bellid’s attacks did nothing to him but slightly tie down his feet for a bit. When Weig approached them, the closest Bellid follower pulled out his weapon and attacked Weig.
Bam! Bam! It seemed as if he was skilled as he exchanged a couple of attacks with Weig; the Bellids behind him also intently focused on attacking Weig. However, this was the extent of their retaliation.
Crassh! The Bellids’ formation broke down from Weig’s heavy blow, and Weig did not miss this opportunity to strike back.
Slice! Weig’s sword smoothly cut his opponent’s neck. Blood spouted out like a fountain, and the cut-off head splashed into the water. Bright red blood flowed from the head and dyed the water red. However, no one paid any attention to that sight. Weig continued to rush forward without much emotion and sliced off the Bellids’ heads. The tunnel was full of water, but this disadvantage wasn’t enough to stop Weig.
It did not take long for the narrow tunnel to open up and widen; they had reached the joint space at the end of the tunnel. There were about fifteen more followers gathered together, but something else caught the attention of Zich’s group.
‘The Bellu statue.’ The statue, which was infamous for its fish head, stood in the center of the space, and a complicated and strange magic circle was drawn around it. Judging by how it didn’t disappear even when the space was filled with water, it must have been drawn with a special substance or had the magical ability to protect itself.
Zich carefully scanned the statue. ‘I can feel it from here now.’ The statue emitted a subtle amount of energy. It wasn’t very threatening—just the amount of energy coming off from it was weak, and the amount of energy it actually had was probably much greater. ‘There’s probably the power they made from the sacrificial ritual there.’
Now, there was only one thing left for them to do—they needed to destroy the magic circle surrounding the statue and crush it. Then, the power would have nowhere to go and scatter in all directions. Weig seemed to have the same thought as Zich as he clutched his sword and began moving to cut the Bellids. However, the Bellids could also clearly guess their reactions and retaliate.
However, so far, none of the Bellids could even stop Weig from Zich’s group. Moreover, since their environment changed from a narrow tunnel to a large space, there was no need to leave the fighting to only Weig. Zich, Hans, and Snoc all joined the battle. In an instant, four Bellids lost their lives. There were still about ten Bellids left, but their future didn’t look too bright either. It was clear that it won’t take long for the rest of the followers to also die. A look of conflict and hesitation passed the Bellids’ faces for a brief moment, but soon, their eyes were full of hardened resolve.
‘Are they planning to do something?’ There was no need for Zich to wait for them to carry out their plans; Zich immediately swung his sword. Numerous sword slashes cut through the water, and as the water separated and the reflections on the water shook, it was a strange and beautiful sight. Of course, as Zich’s targets, nothing could be more chilling.
However, the slashes couldn’t reach the Bellids and were shattered into pieces as if an invisible hand had strongly crushed them. ‘They crushed them with the water pressure.’ It was a method that the Bellids often used. However, its strength was incomparable to before.
Zich scanned the Bellids; they had all gathered around the Bellu statue and had their hands on it. ‘Are they borrowing the statue’s power?’
Zich began to feel an explosive power coming from the statue suddenly. Something that was hiding the statue’s power had disappeared, and it was a large enough power that even Zich felt threatened.
The Bellids were beginning to use the statue’s power directly. The attacks that they unleashed were on a completely different level than before. As if they were paying back Zich and his group for hindering their plans, they fiercely let out their attacks.
It was definitely a dangerous situation, but there wasn’t a weak person in Zich’s group. They all soon joined forces and began retaliating. Even while receiving strong attacks, they progressed forward steadily. Even though it would take them a bit of time, they could definitely achieve victory.
Zich sensed a presence coming from behind and sighed. He didn’t even have to think about who the presence was because the answer was way too obvious.
‘Glen Zenard.’
Glen slowly appeared into view.