656: Chapter 20 – Offering_1 656: Chapter 20 – Offering_1 “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t kick .” Chester had retreated into a corner, crying out, “After Betty chose , and then the day before yesterday, those people told the ti was almost up.
I told her that I had a relative living in a big city up north where we could live, and I could take her with .
She originally wanted to live up north, and was delighted with my offer.
But she wanted to tell Uncle Dak, which would have ruined my plans.
So, I scared her using the examples of Uncle Dak previously preventing her from going north.
I swore that if she said anything, she’d be stopped, and wouldn’t be able to go with .
And she believed it.
She didn’t know what to do, so I suggested she leave a note for Uncle Dak, and then I led her here.”
“In the room upstairs, I knocked her unconscious, and shut her up in the secret room.
I tore off her thigh with the tools used for processing prey.
She woke up in pain several tis during the process, but I shut up my ears with cotton, not daring to listen to her screams.
Finally, after I’d ripped off her leg, I left her in the secret room, changed my clothes, and went to attend the community therapy eting in the morning.
After the eting, I kept dragging Uncle Dak with , making sure he didn’t have the chance to return ho in the middle of things.
I got him drunk at the evening party, so he wouldn’t find out that Betty had disappeared early.”
“After I got Uncle Dak ho, I went straight to Neil’s.
You’ve guessed it, I killed Neil in the wild, left Betty’s leg nearby, mixed so of Betty’s belongings with Neil’s, creating the illusion they ran away together, then ca back here to wait for Uncle Dak to discover Betty’s disappearance the next day.”
“I’m not quite following,” Catherine asked, “You hurt Betty, you said it was because the ghouls seduced you.
But why did you have to kill Neil then?
He is a good friend you’ve known since childhood, closer than a brother, and this matter has nothing to do with him.
Why did you get him involved?”
“I wanted everyone to think Betty had run off with him, so they wouldn’t suspect .
At this point, Chester no longer clung to any slim hope and hid nothing, answering straightforwardly, “I have to stay in the town for a bit longer, so I needed to create an environnt not tainted by suspicion in order to do so.
I thus ca up with this plan intended to guide everyone towards the idea that they had both run away.
If everyone remained unsuspecting it would have been all the easier if suspicion did arise, I’d lure them to investigate Neil’s corpse.
Once discovered, they would mistake Betty and Neil’s death as victims to a wild beast – no one would ever suspect .”
“A very good plan indeed,” Catherine nodded, “But, having already obtained such wealth and status, why insist on staying in the town?
Couldn’t they have whisked you away from here?
Not only would this prevent you from having to kill Neil, but would also reduce the risks to yourself.”
“They said the ritual wouldn’t be successfully completed until the sixth day.
If my actions were discovered midway, the ritual would fail, causing their church significant losses.
I wouldn’t get any money, and I would face severe punishnt.
So, I had to divert everyone’s attention away from Betty and as much as possible.
This way, I would have enough ti to carry out the ritual.
Initially, I didn’t contemplate doing this.
But when they told to find a way to distract attention, I decided to proceed in this manner.”
“Oh, that’s right, a specific person within a specific range.” Catherine slapped her forehead in sudden realization, “In that case, I have no further questions.
Does anyone else have any other questions?
If so, now would be the ideal ti.”
“I have a few things I want to ask him privately.” Dak, the father, was more and more terrified with every explanation from Pannis.
He didn’t want to imagine what his daughter had gone through, but the thoughts just kept intruding.
Only the Snowfielder’s unique resilience and a habitual reverence for Upper Rank professionals suppressed his urge to rage out of control.
At this mont, he clenched his fists, “I want to ask him why he was so ruthless towards my daughter.”
“I suggest you wait a bit until the last mont to ask.
I’m afraid your questions might scare him to death.
He’s still of so use right now, we can’t let you scare him to death just yet,” Pannis said, “Catherine, did you bring the belongings?”
Wordlessly, Catherine produced Betty’s remains and handed them to Lina.
Upon receiving them, she trained her gaze on them over and over again, glanced at Old Dak, and sighed with a hint of resignation on her face, “I will try my best, but…
I suppose we can discuss this after all is done.
By the way, elder sister, this is for you.
I got it from below.
It belongs to those Divine Servants.
It seems to be for imdiate clotting to prevent the living pillar from bleeding too much and dying.
Likely, there should also be accompanying dication to stimulate the living pillar’s senses, so as not to be tornted by pain, to prevent unconsciousness and avoid sinking into madness.
However, I didn’t find those and I wasn’t very keen to look.
I’m going down now.
Would anyone want to accompany ?
Be prepared ntally before you go.
However, it would be inappropriate for n to accompany – her current state is not suitable for n.”
“I’ll go.” The more serious Lina sounded, the less anyone else wanted to accompany her.
Only Ava, who had a deep interest in observing human nature, followed behind Lina.
“What I’ve seen today is confusing, I hope whatever awaits below will deepen my understanding of today’s events.”
“Regrettably, it will only bewilder you further.” Lina didn’t stop her but warned as she descended the challenging ladder.
“I understand your longing to comprehend human nature, but rember this: the man we’re dealing with has completely lost his humanity under the deluge of his greed and desire.
Observing his actions will not give you a better understanding of human nature.”
The chamber was tucked deep underground.
The two ghouls, who were forrly Legendary Rank professionals, were skilled at Earth-attribute magic.
Hence building this chamber within a span of three months was a straightforward task.
Lina and Ava climbed down the ladder and reached the bottom.
Lina held up her lantern and led Ava along the tunnel into the heart of the underground chamber.
The space was shrouded in darkness, and the ordinary oil lantern could only illuminate a small area.
With the feeble fla from her lantern, Lina walked a round along the chamber’s walls and lit several Crystal Energy lamps that adorned the wall, making the chamber bright.
The layout of the chamber was eerie; countless arrays were etched in each direction on the walls with a sinister, dark red hue.
At the center of the chamber, there was a marble altar surrounded by an array that was too dense to decipher, but intriguingly, the altar itself had no array inscribed on it.
On the altar lay a person – a young girl.
Her limbs were laid out; her three intact limbs were nailed to the altar with nurous long thorns.
What remained of her amputated limb was also nailed down.
Even her torso was pierced by more than a dozen thorns, each skillfully avoiding any lethal organs, causing imnse pain but leaving no real harm.
The magic equipnt Lina had previously removed could effectively staunch the bleeding caused by the thorns.
The nailed person would thus be subjected to excruciating pain with every tiny movent, yet it would never prove fatal.
It was Betty, fashioned into a living pillar, impaled onto the altar.
The only part of her body not nailed down was her head.
However, an iron hoop fixed to the altar held her forehead tightly, keeping her head immobile.
Her eyes had been dug out; her mouth held open by a large iron ring.
Her tongue was cut out, and the corners of her mouth started to crack.
A vast wound was inscribed into her neck, skillfully severing her vocal cords, preventing her from even uttering a whimper, let alone a single word.
One of her arms was grotesquely deford.
Upon closer inspection, one could discern that each bone in that arm was ticulously crushed, down to the fingers.
Moreover, judging by the shape of the crushed bones, it wasn’t done directly but was rather clamped bit by bit, possibly by enormous iron pincers.
The remaining limbs were fortunately unhard, a silver lining amid the dire circumstances.
Betty’s body was tightly covered with a fine-shed trap made of thin and tenacious tal wires.
Each wire dug into her skin, pressing it into diamond shapes of approximately two square centiters.
thodically, the malicious perpetrator used steady hands – typically seen in hunters skinning their ga – to carefully yet slowly remove these diamond-shaped segnts of skin and muscle, before casting them carelessly around the altar.
The magic equipnt and accompanying dicinal potions fulfilled their purpose, effectively preventing Betty from dying, leaving her to consciously endure every bit of pain in the process.
From the looks of the scene, this horrifying act was not perford just once.
Almost all the skin and the subcutaneous fat from Betty’s anterior body had been extracted.
Most layers of her muscles were also carved out, revealing patches of white bone underneath in so non-vital areas.
Despite her ordeal, her remaining muscles flickered periodically, and the occasional weak gasp could be heard from her held-open mouth.
It was clear she was still very much alive, and horrifically, was also lucid throughout the ordeal.
Betty’s eyes were gone, and she couldn’t see anything, but her hearing was intact.
Since Lina had spoken to her when she entered the chamber earlier, she didn’t react with fear.
However, her muscles were twitching more frequently, and fresh blood began to seep from the once-treated wounds again.
(To be continued.
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