Chapter LXXXIX - The Devil (part 2)

The paths that they were going through were large, but this path was especially larger. There seemed to be an entrance far ahead that looked to be destroyed. Pebbles and rocks can be seen around the entrance, and blood is flowing out from the inside.

The stench… this is definitely the source.

Starting from five meters outside the entrance all the way to the room, it is all just a whole pond of blood. How deep it is, there is only one way to find out.

Cony braves herself for what is coming. She was the one who is more capable in handling gore, so she was the one who took the first step.

Her boots slowly stepped on the puddle of blood, creating a small sound of liquid being stepped on.

WOOSH…

"Hik!!"

A wind flew from the inside, along with an extremely heavy pressure.

This pressure could actually kill them if they got hit for more than one second, but luckily the pressure only lasts a tenth of a second.

But that much already made everyone drop to their knees.

"Wha… what was that…???"

Valey muttered as she held her chest tightly. Her heart was stopped for a tenth of a second, and her body is shivering heavily from fear. She tried to turn her gaze at the others in front of her, and they are not doing any better than her.

Barett is breathing very heavily. His breath is uncontrolled, and he is having his face on the ground, trying to control himself. Jrake was still standing, but that was because he was right next to the wall. Cony too, even though she's the closest to the source, she will still be able to stand.

Most likely… because her feet died and could not fall to the ground.

They took some time to recover, and after ten minutes, they began to move again.

Their boots stepped once again on the blood pond, slowly entering the cave in front of them.

The room was... red.

The floor was covered by an ocean of blood. The ceiling and the walls were stained and covered in red juice. The light crystals that were lighting the room were simply covered in blood everywhere, turning those bright blue and yellow lights into a much dimmer red light.

Piles of corpses in pieces can be seen as shadows, some even burned to charcoal. In the pile, they recognized a body of a hellhound with two heads, much larger than a normal hellhound in size.

There are… a ton of those.

How many? It is simply impossible to count, considering how many pieces were there in the pile.

But, it is certain that there are hundreds of hellhounds in the pile, many more were spread in the room. There are also a few that were struck to the ceiling, making blood drip from the skies for a long time.

But… the scene did not stop there.

A single giant corpse of a hellhound can be found. Everyone thought that this corpse was a pile of many, but in fact it was just one single giant corpse.

It was definitely the owner of that gigantic footprint that they found along the paths.

Everyone was even more frightened when they noticed the shadow looming on top of the giant corpse.

Two antlers on top of its head, decorated by really long red hair. A single large black wing was being wide opened behind its back, but it immediately closed when the pair of bright red eyes turned its gaze to them. 

The sharp fingers on its hands were holding a piece of the hell hound's corpse. The bright red eyes surrounded by darkness are staring at them, with no expression shown aside from annoyance.

A devil…

Everyone thought of the same thing. They all were very frightened of the carnage scene they just found, but this level of fear when they saw the devil was even beyond imagination.

They couldn't pee their pants, because they were too afraid that the devil would do something. They couldn't move at all, because those pairs of red eyes will see it. They could not run, because a single flap of that single black wing will be enough to catch them.

They do not want to imagine what will happen if the devil attacks them…

They were indeed afraid, but there was no pressure holding them down. They can still move if they want to, but the fear is stopping them from even doing a single thing.

Their thought process was disarrayed, because of how insane this level of fear is. From just being stared at for a few seconds already got their breathing to stop.

But, there was something else…

This devil… felt peaceful.

"Oh... It's you guys..."

The devil opened her mouth and spoke. The heavy voice can be heard by everyone, and they all immediately felt more at ease when they heard it.

The voice was fearsome, and yet it was calming. It was heavy, but it felt friendly.

Slowly, the antlers of the devil disappeared into ashes. The wings too, also disintegrates into the air.

Rath went ahead and lifted a lantern towards the giant corpse, and they were able to see clearly what was sitting above the giant corpse in front of them.

They all recognized her face, and yet none of them was brave enough to say anything. Cony stepped forward, ignoring the fear in her heart and called out.

"Ri… ze…?"

The soft voice leaked out from her mouth, and it was heard by everyone's ears.

The silhouette closed her eyes, and slowly her body lost consciousness. She fell to the ground towards the others, and Cony immediately rushed in to grab her.

She landed in her arms, and Cony removed the hair from her face.

Her eyes were still open, and she is still conscious… barely.

"Yo… you guys… good…?"

.

I… am tired…

I'm genuinely tired… I'm flaunting my arms while on Valey's back, and I couldn't move them much.

I tried moving my fingers, but I couldn't form a fist.

My body is totally dead. I can't move a single muscle.

But, I am still conscious. Unlike Hod over there at Jrake's back, that guy was dead long before my fight was finished.

He probably couldn't handle the pressure I was emitting, so he fell unconscious the entire battle. After all, his position wasn't actually that far from the battle.

Right now, we are still inside the second dungeon that was thousands of meters below the original. The path to the exit was very long, so it will take a while until we reach the exit hole.

Along the way, everyone told me about what happened.

According to Jrake, Fran and Cane was able to kill the dungeon's boss. The duo worked together because no one else could move properly. And thanks to their fantastic teamwork, they were able to defeat the higher White ranked dungeon boss.

I whistled in response to that. Who knew that Fran and Cane were capable of working together.

Valey properly described how the dungeon boss was like. She said it was a different type of hellhound with three heads and six eyes on each. It also had five tails, all flaming and capable of whipping someone to death using a flame slash. It could also regenerate any wounds inflicted on it.

"Hey... I fought one of those..."

Everyone recalled what they saw back then. The giant footprints, the corpse I was sitting on. They knew I was not lying.

"Hahah! That's not possible Rize! The three headed hell hound was the dungeon boss! How can there be one?"

Valey chuckled while saying that, but deep inside she knows that I am not lying. 

My next few words confirmed it.

"... Ehhh... But I'm serious... I called it Cerberus... In my place, it means the guardian of hell... Like, literally. Also, you know… shooting flames… like a dragon…"

Hearing how the monster I fought can shoot flames from its mouth confirmed the truth. The three headed dungeon boss also had the ability to shoot flames from its mouth, like a dragon. 

The similarities couldn't be anywhere closer.

"But… the one I fought… had eight eyes…"

Valey turned her gaze and stared worriedly at Jrake.

The hellhound that I fought was a different type than the dungeon boss that Fran and Cane fought. If it had more eyes, it is possible that it was in fact more dangerous.

To think that there is another dungeon boss down here, and for her to face them on her own, along with hundreds of other hell hounds…

They were immediately reminded of the scene from before. 

The devil's carnage.

The stench, the ocean of blood, piles and piles of pieces…

And the form they saw. The wings, claw-like hands, and the antlers.

That scene will never disappear from their memories. It was burnt to their deepest memory, and shall never disappear.

"... Say..."

I wrapped my arm around Valey's body and hugged her even tighter. My eyes started to lose energy, and I had to close it.

"If I die, one day... Will you guys be sad...?"

"That's... An obvious question! Of course we will be sad."

"Really... That eases me... A little..."

That moment, I lost consciousness and fell asleep.

Valey can only stare at the other adventurers present with a very worried expression. Aside from me, only Hod was unconscious on Jrake's back. They walked the rest of the path in silence, but then Valey spoke out.

"Guys... Let's keep this a secret."