Chapter 213

Chapter 210: Bat

In the depths of the ruins in the King Campus of the Royal Sacred Crown University.

Above the dark corridor, rhythmic footsteps echoed as Dorothy cautiously moved forward, stepping on cracked stone floors, with a zombie puppet holding a lantern providing limited illumination for her.

In the dim light, Dorothy examined her surroundings. The vast corridor was empty except for scattered debris. The stone walls were pitted and chipped, as if someone had used chisels to strip off the original plaster. Every few steps, she encountered rooms without doors, but a quick glance revealed they were empty.

After descending from the altar room, Dorothy had reached the deeper parts of the ruins. She found that the complexity of the ruins far exceeded her imagination—there were staircases, side passages, and rooms. She could only proceed by marking her path and relying on her intuition.

The complexity of the deeper ruins was beyond Dorothy’s imagination. There were stairs, crossroads, and numerous rooms, with poor visibility making it akin to a maze. Dorothy had been searching for quite some time but found nothing. Every corridor and passage was empty.

‘Great… This ruin isn’t just a maze; it’s also devoid of anything besides stones and dust! As Beverly said, this place has been stripped clean by several societies.’

As Dorothy wandered through the ruins, she thought about how the Eight Pinnacle Nest had only utilized the first two levels, primarily focusing on the altar on the second floor. The rest of the maze-like area was ignored since it contained nothing.

‘Fortunately, I prepared beforehand. The magic box contained water, food, and oil, allowing me to stay down here for a while. Otherwise, I would have had to turn back.’

While thinking, Dorothy continued moving forward. Soon, the corridor ended before her, revealing another downward staircase.

‘Another downward staircase. Starting from the torture chamber on the first level, this is the fifth one. How deep is this ruin?’

Dorothy muttered to herself as she looked at the staircase. She then checked on the small zombie puppet left on the first level, confirming their connection was intact.

‘It’s not too deep. We’ve probably descended less than a hundred meters. I’ve explored this level thoroughly, but found nothing. Time to go further down.’

With that, Dorothy began descending the staircase.

Just as Dorothy had reached a new level and walked a short distance, she suddenly froze, her expression turning serious.

“Someone’s coming up? Those guys actually escaped?” Dorothy frowned, looking upward. The small zombie puppet she had stationed on the first level heard the increasing footsteps approaching from the entrance corridor.

…

Thistle hurriedly moved through the corridor, soon exiting into the torture chamber on the first level of the ruins. He was immediately stunned by what he saw.

“What happened? Where did everyone go?”

Standing at the entrance to the torture chamber, Thistle exclaimed in astonishment. Before him was an empty torture chamber. Not only were the prisoners in the cages gone, but even the guards he had ordered to stay behind were nowhere to be seen. The scene was eerily silent.

Initially, Thistle had been worried when two students from the Secret Knowledge Society mentioned a group of ragged people suddenly emerging from the inner area. Now his fears had come true.

“It seems I was right. We were tricked.”

At that moment, a cold voice came from behind Thistle. Claudius, pale-faced and bald, stood beside him, observing the scene.

“We were tricked… Is this a trap set by the black dogs? They not only lured us into an ambush but also attacked our base?”

Thistle said in disbelief, while Claudius briefly surveyed the area and entered the torture chamber. Thistle followed closely behind.

“The smell of bl**d is strong. There are bloodstains on the ground. There was a fight, but it wasn’t intense. The guards were subdued with little resistance…”

Observing the surroundings, Claudius murmured. Thistle added worriedly,

“No one is here… Could they all have been captured by the black dogs?”

“It’s unclear who is responsible at this point…”

Claudius replied. Suddenly, he focused his gaze upwards, sensing something.

Claudius fixed his eyes on a direction on the ceiling where he saw a gecko staring at them.

With a wave of his hand, a bat flew out of Claudius’s sleeve, swiftly heading towards the gecko on the ceiling. The gecko tried to escape but was caught by the bat’s claws and brought back to Claudius.

“This gecko…” Seeing the struggling creature in Claudius’s hand, Thistle recalled the gecko that had once attempted to peek over the spider web corridor.

“This is a flesh puppet created and sustained with the power of ‘Cup.'”

Claudius said coldly, then threw the gecko to the ground, smashing it into a bloody mess. He quickly moved to the end of the torture chamber, taking the stairs to the second level. Thistle hurriedly followed.

On the second level, where the altar stood, Claudius scanned the surroundings. He noticed a brick on the floor in front of a wall covered with a black cloth. Thistle immediately spoke up.

“That wall was dismantled. It must have been those guys!”

Ignoring Thistle, Claudius turned to look at the entrance leading further down. He said coldly,

“They went down, and they should still be below.”

As he spoke, a shadow enveloped Claudius. The shadow then dispersed into countless bats flying in the air.

Amidst the chirping sounds, dozens of bats rushed toward the staircase leading to the lower levels of the ruins. As they entered the ground and delved into the deeper maze, the bats began to search every path and room meticulously.

In an instant, Claudius searched the ruins at high speed, looking for hidden enemies.

…

“Huff… Huff… Great… Why are there more of these creatures now?”

In the depths of the ruins, on a dark corridor, Dorothy ran, with a zombie puppet holding a lantern to light her way.

Dorothy was extremely nervous, unable to believe that such an unexpected situation had arisen.

‘Who is this person? Not only did they find my small zombie puppet, but they also summoned so many bats to come after me…’

Running, Dorothy thought anxiously. She knew about the bats because she had placed human-shaped zombie puppets at key points in the upper levels to prevent getting lost. Through their eyes, she saw swarms of bats approaching. Her zombie puppets were surrounded, drained of bl**d, torn apart, and eventually rendered useless.

Now, Dorothy realized that there was a large group of bats searching for her from level to level. At such a density, no matter where she hid, she would be found.

Faced with the bats, Dorothy knew running deeper into the ruins was her only option.