Norris accepted the thanks from Vera’s group with a complicated expression. He seemed about to speak, but in the end said nothing and silently took position behind the newly arrived “Aidin.”
Aidin, Farr’s right-hand man and a power in Mushroom Capital, was naturally recognized by Vera.
Another round of thanks was waved off by Aidin.
By now, Gavin and all his men had retreated into the basement and activated a defensive barrier.
The faint purple curtain sealed the entrance completely. No one knew what they were doing inside.
Per the Boss’s orders, Aidin had already crushed the alarm crystal. Farr’s people should arrive soon.
Gavin’s judgment upon seeing Aidin had been correct: even if they ran now, escape would be difficult.
Against Gavin, Lin Jun could have acted himself. Defensive arrays, no matter how strong, consumed mana.
A temporary array like this; how long could it last under continuous Puchi self-destructs?
But that would leave too obvious traces, especially with Vera’s group as witnesses.
Without certainty of sufficient reward, Lin Jun chose to let the authorities handle it.
With Aidin present, the intelligence would eventually reach him anyway.
Farr’s response was swift. Just two hours later, Sorarin arrived with over forty fully armed knights.
By then Norris had quietly slipped away. Only Aidin and Vera’s team remained.
“Lord Aidin.” After a quick briefing, Sorarin immediately ordered a fierce assault on the barrier.
Under concentrated magical and physical bombardment, the makeshift array crumbled in less than ten minutes.
Aidin, cradling a perfectly round Puchi, followed the vanguard into the basement.
What greeted them defied all expectations: no desperate last stand, no pleas for mercy.
Only corpses lying peacefully across the floor, and a large sacrificial array drawn on the ground.
The cultists who had retreated were now the sacrifices in the array.
Even more nauseating, the corner was piled with half-rotted bodies. The entire basement reeked of suffocating decay.
Everyone covered their noses. Only Aidin remained expressionless.
Yet two people still lived in the basement.
A middle-aged man curled in the corner sobbing nonstop. He had been one of the “farmers” attacking Vera, yet for some reason hadn’t joined his comrades in the array.
The other was Gavin, charred black and unrecognizable.
“Silver light cleanses the remains, the ritual forms the path home. Fear not, dread not…” Gavin knelt at the array’s edge, mumbling garbled prayers.
Even with intruders, he remained oblivious, continuing to whisper:
“My god, I have failed your expectations and am unworthy of reincarnation. Let me bear this sin alone. Please have mercy and save their souls!”
Sorarin’s gaze swept over the piled corpses, voice thick with suppressed rage and disgust. “Sacrificing innocents for your evil god’s mercy? You inhuman lunatics!”
Gavin slowly raised his bladed claw. Sorarin instantly went on guard. The surrounding soldiers gripped their weapons.
“This is merely your ignorance.” Gavin’s eyes flicked to the sobbing man in the corner, tone arrogant. “Just like him.”
Before his words finished, his claw suddenly stabbed at an tricky angle.
Not at the ready Sorarin, but through his own skull.
Gavin died instantly; no saving him.
Lin Jun, watching through a Puchi, felt nonexistent goosebumps rise.
He had thought they were dark mages dabbling in abyssal magic. Turns out they were genuine lunatics!
Dark mages were evil in method, not mind. They still pursued normal desires: power, authority, wealth, fame.
Even the Ark fanatics who preached “sacrifice” mostly sacrificed others.
But these cultists were truly brain-broken. They worshipped some entity and sacrificed not only others but their own lives without hesitation!
Worse: their god actually existed!
Bad vibes!
Under [Insight], the corpses were completely empty; no souls.
Lin Jun already knew which god they served: Nephryla, God of Death.
A diamond-tier committing suicide; Sorarin and the others couldn’t stop him.
They could only take the one living captive for interrogation and begin identifying the victims, trying to confirm identities.
Vera’s team was only allowed into the basement at the end. Halfway down, the stench forced them to cover their noses.
When they saw the horror below, support mage Fiyin was first to break; she turned and ran back up. The others turned pale as paper.
Their client Barton suddenly rzuhed to the most decayed corpse in the corner, cradling it and sobbing his friend’s name.
This was Vera’s team’s first direct encounter with cultists’ deeds. Though victorious, a heavy weight settled on every heart.
The farm’s aftermath was fully handled by Sorarin.
Victims’ identities were gradually confirmed. Those with kin were notified; the unclaimed were buried in the mushroom-covered cemetery.
Lin Jun tried decomposing one corpse. As expected: nothing.
The captured survivor spilled everything with almost no pressure.
“Priest Gavin came looking for ‘high-grade vessels.’ I don’t know what those are. I just followed orders to grab people. I really don’t know anything else! They made me do it; I couldn’t refuse!”
“Why did you join Hand of Passage in the first place?”
“They said… joining would let me ascend in the next life, no longer mediocre like this one. I’d never have to struggle my whole life as a bottom-feeder again… I really didn’t know it was this evil at first!”
“Then why didn’t you die with them in the end?”
“That was a sacrifice! I saw it; the ritual was exactly like when they sacrificed others! I… I didn’t want to be sacrificed! I didn’t want to…”
“Besides this farm, do you have other bases?”
“There was one in the abandoned village, but it’s been given up. Others… I really don’t know…”
…
After personally conducting the interrogation, Sorarin’s brow remained furrowed.
The coward was clearly just a peripheral member; his intel was of limited value.
Most critically…
Sorarin looked at the compiled list in her hand.
The basement victims were less than half the missing persons.
So where were the rest?
Clearly, the cultists lurking in the dark were far more than this one group. The danger was far from over!
In the following days, Mushroom Capital’s patrol forces doubled. Even the Church sent several squads to help hunt hidden cultists.
This kept the mushroom garden’s D-rank list from updating for quite a while…
(End of Chapter)
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