They’re all just lost souls under the knife.
Until the battlefield gradually cald down, everyone began to feel sothing was amiss.
"There are knights and priests here."
"Those pign are frenzied, what are they protecting so fiercely?"
"We’ve caught a big fish!"
Without wasting words, they continued to delve deeper, but what followed in the torchlight made their hair stand on end.
The cave was filled with countless... "sows"!
They seed incapable of speech, their hair disheveled like ghosts, their naked bodies fouled with excrent and filth, curled up in a corner, utterly devoid of self-awareness.
"Ah! Won? How could there be..." Baldwin stood frozen, his mask unable to hide his trembling voice or his trembling hands.
Not having leprosy, and having just slain a pigman knight, this scene stirred a strong impact in him.
"Damn it! I should slowly drain those beasts’ blood before killing them!" Dismas, who was reloading ammo, couldn’t help but curse, his expression twisted in rage.
Even the usually taciturn Tadiff gripped his axe tighter.
Having been in gang dungeons and prisons, he had never seen anything so disgusting. Killing pigs had been just a job, but now there was a new emotion called anger swelling in his heart.
Paracelsus remained sowhat calm, her gaze scanning the scene illuminated by the flas, though discomforted, her heart was as cold as ice from dissecting countless corpses, she calmly voiced her guess.
"This is a breeding ground for pign. They capture humans for reproduction. No wonder I’ve never found a female pigman in all my dissections; they have specialized."
"So what do we do now?" The other three, at a loss, sought guidance from the doctor.
But the next words from Paracelsus frightened them.
"Kill them all. They have no reason to live, end their pain."
Such cold words plunged the three into silence until Paracelsus spoke again softly.
"What do you think they eat here? Look at the bones scattered everywhere."
Paracelsus knew Lance, and if they didn’t kill these won now, it would pose a problem, offering no value in rescue.
She had so sympathy, but not everyone could accept her brand of rcy.
In the end, Paracelsus was indeed ruthless, knowing when to act.
She drew her dagger and plunged into one, her anatomical expertise allowing her to know how to end their suffering.
Pigs squeal when slaughtered, but these won seed already dead, with no response, even more horrifying were those who, upon approach, voluntarily knelt and raised their backside towards them.
This ignited a naless rage in the group.
Dismas had no choice but to step forward, plunging a sword into the neck, a quick end to endless suffering.
Tadiff then took up his axe, joining in the act of rcy.
Only Baldwin found it hard to accept, taking the torch to explore the pigpen.
Heaps of filth, flowing sewage; the beast lair was ever thus, even in this place.
Corpses littering the ground, so still decomposing, others re bones.
In the torchlight, visible were tooth marks on the bones, not from pign, clearly human.
Baldwin understood and realized why he wouldn’t choose to stop them.
When the torchlight reached further, it revealed a nest of piglets, mostly deford and hideous; only a few looked remotely normal, albeit with ugly pig heads.
Perhaps aware of being discovered, they squealed sharply, attracting the others’ attention.
Baldwin found himself montarily at a loss as the piglets looked up at him in fear.
Paracelsus noticed Baldwin’s frozen stance and understood. Without wasting words, she walked over, uncorked a bottle of green corrosive potion, and poured it onto the piglets.
Flesh and bone dissolved, and the piglets let out soul-piercing screams that echoed throughout the cave.
Though the screams were short-lived, the potions quickly reduced them to sludge.
"These pign dare eat humans, capture won for breeding, which already shows their threat to humanity. They are enemies of mankind. Do you want to wait until they grow up to devour people? Or to abduct innocent passersby?"
Paracelsus’s words served as both a reminder and a warning not to hesitate in such matters.
As she said, she and Lance had discussed human experintation, well aware of his lack of tolerance for non-human monsters, especially those harmful to humans.
Clearly, if the Lord knew of today’s events, none of these pign would escape death, only their demise could quell his wrath.
Baldwin said nothing, simply nodding to indicate his understanding.
Yet the pign were unwilling to relinquish such an important place, and their screams had already summoned reinforcents.
This played right into Baldwin’s fiery hands, his broken sword nearly striking sparks.
Compared to the previous two teams, the third team, composed of Boudica, Balistan, Alhazred, and Laura, was much calr.
"This way, fate tells there are gains ahead." Alhazred’s skull candleholder glowed dimly.
Without dissent, after marking the path, they proceeded in the direction the scholar indicated.
Alhazred’s ability proved itself, for thanks to the scholar, they always sensed pign in advance.
In combat, they maintained the upper hand.
Apart from restraining pign, they were also exploring the second half of the beast lair in preparation for an honor guard sweep.
The lack of frequent pign barriers sped up their actions, reaching farther locations.
Until... abruptly, Alhazred halted, trembling as if suddenly ill.
The candle’s fla weakened, dim as a firefly, with the skull’s sockets seemingly glimpsing a twisted fate ahead.
His unnatural behavior heightened the others’ vigilance, wary of their surroundings.
"I wonder if it’s ’cause you haven’t eaten?" Boudica couldn’t stand it, seeing no enemy, she asked the scholar.
This left the other two speechless, as if hunger was the cause; clearly, it was her own hunger speaking.
However, Alhazred wasn’t ordinary, quickly regaining composure, bringing back news.
"We can’t proceed further; this is beyond us. Let’s return and notify the Lord."
This statent sowhat discontented the others, especially Boudica who outright disagreed.
"No way! Flee before seeing anything? The boss wouldn’t approve here."
Boudica naturally resists retreat, she never withdrew without encountering an enemy, not while on missions with Lance.
What monster hasn’t she faced down?
Alhazred wasn’t moved by her words, knowing Boudica’s nature, he had long matured beyond emotional control.
He’s also aware the Lord, once inford, would press on, fearing no challenge.
But the Lord wasn’t present.
If he possessed the Lord’s strength, he’d have continued; he was forced to stop where he was.
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