Since everyone had gone upstairs, Raze decided he would check the basement of the house instead. It didn't take long to find—the trapdoor was tucked behind a shelf, and within minutes he had pulled it open and climbed down.

The moment he descended, the stench hit him.

Rot.

Blood.

Decay.

It flooded his nose immediately.

The entire place was pitch-black, but from the smell alone he could already tell something diabolical had happened here.

He summoned a fireball in his palm for light.

The sight that greeted him made his heart drop.

Rows of dungeon cells, each sealed with massive metal doors… and leaking from beneath them were fluids—thick, dark, and unmistakably blood.

His face twisted in disgust.

He stepped forward hesitantly, his foot sinking into a cold puddle of blood. He walked deeper, the light of his flame flickering across the grotesque scene. At the first dungeon, he peered inside—

—and saw what used to be a human.

Or at least… parts of one.

A pile of mangled flesh, unrecognizable. He couldn't tell if it had been a man or woman. Limbs chopped and rearranged into something monstrous.

He looked to the next cell.

More flesh. More blood. Another pile. Another horror.

"Why would anyone do this…?" he muttered under his breath.

For the first time since arriving in this world, something genuinely shook him. Disgust churned in his stomach. His steps faltered as he walked, but he forced himself forward.

None of this was in the novel. Yes, the story had death, darkness, abominations, twisted rituals—but never had the author described this. These sights went far beyond anything he had prepared for.

He passed dungeon after dungeon. Each one worse than the last.

Until he reached the final cell.

Something inside… was moving.

Someone alive?

Raze stepped closer, lifting the flame.

What he saw cracked his heart.

A man was chained against the wall—limbs separated, torso torn open. But more horror lay in the transformation overtaking him:

Half of his body was mutating.

Mangled black flesh—like that of an abomination—twisted across him, pulsing as black liquid dripped to the ground.

The other half remained human, bleeding and trembling.

Raze stared, his breath shaking.

The man slowly opened his one remaining human eye. He looked at Raze—fear mixed with desperate hope.

"H… help me…" he rasped.

Raze subconsciously took a step back. The sight before him was so grotesque he gagged. This was too much.

[... ]

Upstairs, Ella, Emily, and Gavin were about to enter the room. Gavin had caught up to them after hearing the explosion from the door.

With Ella leading the way—flame and light hovering over her hand—they walked inside. It was a large, clean, well-kept noble room. But on the bed lay an old, shriveled man, barely clinging to life. Beside him stood two women—a young lady and a maid—and outside the bed area, six more maids stood frozen. Eight people total.

They expected the women to react like the maids they met earlier, to immediately attack them. Instead, all of them just stared in confusion, shocked to see strangers inside the house.

One woman suddenly realized these four might have snuck in. Her face twisted in horror.

"What are you all doing here? You can't be here!" she screamed. "Get out before she comes! If she comes, we'll all suffer for it!"

The others stared with lifeless expressions, yet fear hid beneath their eyes.

Ella stepped forward to speak. "We don't mean any harm—"

"You've caused us harm already!" the woman screamed from the bottom of her heart. "When she returns, she'll have all our heads! She'll turn our bodies into piles of flesh for her entertainment! You don't know what you've done—you've doomed us all!"

Tears streamed down her face as she shook in terror.

Ella took a step back, shaken. The others looked equally worried.

"What do we do?" Emily whispered.

"Let's find Raze first," Ella said. "Whatever is happening here… this is beyond us. Something is diabolically wrong."

They rushed out of the room and down the hallway.

"Raze! Raze!" Ella shouted, but there was no reply.

Then they found it—the trapdoor leading downstairs. It was open. He had to be there.

They climbed down, and the moment they stepped into the basement, the same rancid smell hit them. Rot… blood… death. The horrifying sight stretched endlessly before them.

Raze stood at the very end.

"What is this place…?" Ella whispered, afraid to even take another step.

"Come closer and see," Raze said quietly.

They approached, but the moment they reached the first dungeon cell and looked inside, both girls instantly retched. Ella trembled uncontrollably as she gagged. Emily outright vomited on the floor.

Raze turned to look at Gavin, who stood frozen in place, his eyes shaking violently.

"You called them humans," Raze said, voice steady but cold. "You raised your blade at me for killing them. You said, 'Who am I to judge them?'"

He gestured around at the mangled bodies.

"Look at what you defended," Raze said. "Look at the actions of the people you called humans."

Gavin took a step back. "No, no, I didn't know they did this," he said, his mind spinning as his different minds clashed against each other. He really did rage because of Raze's action of calling the captain not human. Someone that did something like this was not human, yet he defended them.

Clap clap, clap.

Suddenly, heavy clapping sounds came from the darkness behind them, as the form of a woman took shape. They all looked at the figure as it formed.

Her eyes opened, glowing red, and then four wings sprouted from her back, like that of angels. Her figure was stunning and seductive, and it was only the outline they saw. She slowly walked into the light, standing there barely covered at all, only some sort of black liquid flowed over her most private parts and covered it. Her skin was ghost pale, her hair black as night.

"It seems you kids have tampered with my work," she spoke in hisses.

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