Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 146: Nightmarish

Liam didn’t need to peek inside the trapdoor to smell the new wave of far more intense stench of blood. It was so pungent and overwhelming that the very area changed, gaining starker reddish tones.

Despite the ruined, abandoned state, Liam felt light-headed under that dense scent. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how intense it had been at its peak, but that uncertainty didn’t stop him from reaching a conclusion.

Whatever had existed down there had probably been powerful enough to create the entire Mutated Battlefield, confirming Liam’s hypothesis on the unnatural magical beasts.

The scent of blood wasn’t the only thing to intensify. The sense of kinship Liam smelled also deepened, becoming clearer than ever. It was an instinctive belonging, no different than a pup recognizing its mother by its nose.

Still, instead of approaching the trapdoor, Liam inspected his surroundings. That intense scent was bound to spread far, but the magical beasts didn’t worry him since their absence from the area already told him how they might react.

Nevertheless, the Mutated Battlefield featured someone that Liam couldn’t help but find scarier than level three creatures.

Priest Eustace was involved in the mission in ways that Liam didn’t fully understand. That branching expert could be a mere representative, only mediating eventual issues once the six teams left the formation.

Yet, the Priest could also be above Liam right now, acting as a proper overseer. His far superior level would even prevent Liam from sensing anything until it was too late.

Since that powerful representative had done nothing to stop the Rising Waterfall Sect’s cheating, Liam had felt safe using his blood, believing he was alone.

However, Liam hadn’t expected the blood scent to be so intense. Cultivators even had magical methods at their disposal, so there was a chance that Priest Eustace had found out about the event, rushing there right now.

’I’ve been careless,’ Liam acknowledged. If that trapdoor truly only reacted to specific bloodlines, he had basically announced his greatest secret to anyone looking, and he wasn’t good enough with words to come up with lies if questions arrived.

Tense seconds went by in which Liam almost expected the very sky to descend upon him. Yet, nothing arrived. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed the Church gave the Sects total freedom once they were inside the Battlefield.

’Now that I think about it,’ Liam realized, ’They would have never tried to kill me here unless they knew they could get away with it.’

The thought was reassuring, but Liam still cursed his naivety. The more he learned about the cultivation world, the more he realized how much he had to watch out for, especially when it came to his greatest secret.

’Well, it’s open now,’ Liam eventually thought, noticing how the concentric circles were dimming. He seemed to be on a timer, so he headed for the stone staircase, wanting to see where it led before the trapdoor demanded more of his blood.

The steep staircase led Liam deep underground. Only the steps were smooth, while the relatively spacious passage was a mixture of rocks and soil, which eventually expanded into a vast chamber with similar surfaces.

No braziers burned, but a red halo kept visibility decent despite the area’s dimness, allowing Liam to study everything and experience unavoidable alarm.

The chamber was circular and had a short ceiling. Five huge, formerly cylindrical items stood at its edges, while metal platforms occupied its center, the latter also forming a circle.

Everything was red, but large patches of what looked like dried-up blood tainted those desk-like platforms, the rocky floor underneath, and the areas around the five containers.

But that wasn’t the end. The five containers were broken, most of their dirty glass shattered, leaving only sharp pieces protruding from their ends.

Meanwhile, the tilted desks had sets of bones held onto their surfaces by mostly rotten straps. They were only partial, damaged remains, but Liam could make out vague human shapes.

The scene was nightmarish, worse than anything Liam had ever seen, and it worsened as he strolled around, finding more concerning details.

Liam had initially connected those bones to human remains, but they revealed details he recognized upon closer inspection.

That was impossible since Liam had no deep knowledge of human anatomy, and the problem lay exactly there. What were supposed to be human remains instead showed bones that Liam had seen in his hunts.

Liam recognized joints that should only belong to wolves, pelvic areas too big, small, or twisted to belong to humans, and oddly-shaped spines and rib cages that he instinctively found unnatural.

Those deviations weren’t too big, but the bones’ exposed state made them impossible to dismiss, especially since the skulls weren’t exempt from that trend.

Of the few intact skulls, some were stretched, while others had cavities in places where no humans had eyes. Yet, their teeth were the worst offenders, almost always triangular and sharp, even featuring proper fangs.

Liam kept his thoughts to a minimum, postponing them to complete his inspection. He went for the containers next, each carrying a picture carved into the metal bases from which the shattered glass rose.

The carvings depicted five stylized animals. Liam saw a horse with two long whiskers, a two-horned turtle, a three-headed and six-armed ape, a bird with vast wings, and a wolf with huge fangs and claws.

Other than those strange details, the chamber had nothing of value, and Liam didn’t search too hard for something that might. After confirming that he had seen everything, he hurried back to the staircase, climbing out of that frightening scene.

After reaching the surface, Liam waited for the dimming concentric circles to go completely dark. The trapdoor closed at that point, but Liam began to kick around debris, covering his tracks as much as possible.

Obviously, Liam didn’t forget to wipe clean the spot where he had poured his blood, heading straight for the lake’s edge next. As soon as he stepped into the water again, he whipped out the stone tablet, quickly creating an underground chamber there.

Once the chamber closed and the strips of inscribed paper were set, the chance to finally rest had arrived, but Liam was in no condition to do any of that.

Liam sat in a corner, hugging his knees, his poor understanding not hindering the realization that he had stumbled into something far bigger than him.