"So they will use all the animals and monsters lurking close by, huh? Is it because the number of people is less than expected? Or was this predetermined from the beginning?"

Illyan muttered to himself as he looked at Faruin with cold eyes.

He was wearing his physician's robe, and his appearance was the same as the day he left the city. Of course, he made it seem like he had lived through some difficult times.

However, now he was in a dilemma.

He hurried back to the city but didn't know what he should do now.

In the original plan, he was supposed to be already inside the city, waiting with Aurelia.

Unfortunately, he was delayed because of that stupid woman.

Realizing that entering the city at this very moment was unwise, he climbed to the top of the mountain at which foot Faruin city was built.

From there, he could overview the entire city. Of course, for a normal person, it would be just a beautiful panorama while enjoying the view. Maybe a few could see small moving dots that were actually people inside.

However, Illyan could see even small details from a distance. The mountain peak was tall, but the city was also built high in the mountains, so the distance between him and the city wasn't that exaggerated.

Thanks to that, he could stay at the peak, where no one normally would see him, while observing the chaos ensuing in the city.

There were no fluctuations in his eyes despite seeing people dying there like pigs in a slaughterhouse.

There were people he warned, but whether they listened or not was their business.

He didn't have any responsibilities for anyone inside the city.

Except for Aurelia, who was his greatest ally and the granddaughter of his friend.

But she was the one who taught him about the Blood Array, so obviously, she knew where to stand to survive, so he didn't worry too much.

'Now then… How should I go about this? The array is already prepared for the sacrifice. I can't enter for now. Who knows what it will do to me. The best approach would be waiting for them to finish this and enter the citadel. Once they do so, I will sneak inside too and steal the thing they are after.'

Once Illyan decided what he would do, he sat down in a meditative position as he watched the tragedy underneath him...

……..

"Arrrgh?! W-what is happening?"

"Grooowwl!"

Screams and roars of confusion and fear resonated across the square of Faruin.

Aurelia, who was watching all of this with a cold expression, felt uncomfortable.

Many of these people were just innocent merchants and didn't have anything to do with this.

"But that's how it is, I guess." She sighed.

"What was it, young miss?" A young man, who wore a badge of the Heart Bearer Gang on his chest, asked her with a smile.

Unfortunately for him, she didn't even bother shifting her glance at him, let alone answering him.

His eye twitched, but he continued smiling as he bowed before turning around.

"Heh, Vatus really can't forget our young missus, haha!"

Other members merrily laughed as if nothing was happening.

Aurelia was disgusted by them. She wasn't a saint who would save innocent people and feed the starving, but at the same time, she felt that they were too unsightly for acting so happily around people who would die in a few minutes.

Just as she thought about that, the grooves on the ground shone at their highest intensity as a bloody light covered the square's space.

It was as if red smog appeared from the ground and covered the entire city, turning everything into the color of blood.

Even the skies seemed to be crimson from the square's perspective.

Every scream and roar disappeared as silence ensued.

One second, two seconds.

Everything turned red and stopped moving.

"Argh!" Finally, a sound travelled in the ears of everyone.

Aurelia felt like turning her head away, but she decided to watch. It was the least bit of respect for the people who would further her ambitions.

Men, women, and beasts alike started to scream as they collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain.

At first, their skin seemed to disappear as if melting, leaving only bloody holes on their bodies. Soon after, their open wounds started sizzling as a crimson hue emerged from them, merging into the blood fog spreading in the square.

Their bodies quickly lost weight, thinning so rapidly it was visible to the naked eye.

Their muscles atrophied, their fat burned away.

With their remaining skin shriveled, they began to look like living mummies.

Almost all of their vital energy was absorbed, and their blood slowly flowed through their wounds, covering the ground.

No matter if they were soldiers, merchants, prostitutes, or even trolls, none could withstand it as their vitality slipped through their fingers, seeping into the grooves in the ground, which made the array even more powerful.

"Eugh…"

It was then that finally the first person could endure no more and with the last death cry he fell down, breathless.

His body was skinless, his flesh bloodless.

Unfortunately, that wasn't all, as his body was completely dried up while more intangible energies seeped out of it, absorbed by the surroundings, leaving only an empty husk behind.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Even that husk started to crack before crumbling into ash, leaving no trace of the man behind.

Violent thuds came from all corners of the square as even the troll, with his strong vitality, had his energy drained away, forcing him to fall to his knees.

Screams of pain continued for several minutes, but as time passed, they grew weaker, and their number dwindled.

Aurelia, who had watched all of this, took a deep breath before exhaling turbid air from her lungs.

While she was used to slaughter, this was a little too much for her.

But…

'My Killing Intent... got sublimated a little. Using the Bloodthirst should now be easier.'

The first layer of [Thirteen Layers of Blood Energy] was the creation of Blood Energy.

The second layer was its circulation in the body, where both the Blood Energy and the body itself ground against each other, polishing both to higher levels. The Blood Energy would become purer, and the body would be tempered and better prepared to withstand larger amounts of it.

The third layer was opening the Blood Apertures. Seven facial apertures, which gatekept the senses of the body, were to be opened by Blood Energy, thus being strongly strengthened with the chance of gaining certain abilities from opening them.

These three layers were the ones Aurelia had learned when she was at the Novice Stage.

The next three layers corresponded to the first level of the Apprentice Stage, where one built the Magic Nexus, Magic Circuit, and Mental Well.

Aurelia was at the sixth layer, where she accumulated her Mind Energy inside her Mind Well.

However, her scripture wasn't just that.

To create the best foundation in her current state, she found a way to temper her body, energy, and mind to eliminate any flaws.

For her mind, she decided to use Killing Intent, as it was closely connected to blood.

The more living beings she killed, the stronger and purer her Killing Intent became.

The stronger the Killing Intent, the better the result in tempering her Mind Energy with the said Bloodthirst.

Now, seeing all of this, she felt her mental state sublimate a bit despite not being particularly happy about it.

However, she didn't have time to fully absorb the culmination of her breakthrough as the entire square started to shake once again.

Clicking noises were heard from beneath as the grooves filled with blood absorbed back all the crimson hue and began radiating enormous energy.

The blood inside them started to boil and was slowly absorbed.

The symbols covering the ground radiated strongly, and to the eyes of a normal person, they seemed blurred and shifting from place to place.

Statues aligned by Arun made clicking sounds as their bases suddenly depressed into the ground.

Dust arose when that happened, but it didn't impede the mechanisms at all.

Once the statues properly slipped in the holes, the mechanisms hidden beneath the main square churned, which made all the statues turn once again with rumbling sounds.

Only after each and every one of them turned towards the door of the citadel did they finally stop.

A second of silence ensued as the door started to shine with a bloody red radiance.

However, a lot of the people present didn't care for any of this.

"What is t-this?"

"This is hell…"

Instead, horrified, they lamented at the sight in front of them. Broken-down mummies of thousands of humans could be seen, with all the liquid and energies being sucked dry by the engravings on the ground.

Disheartened voices of people who watched this from the safety of the citadel's surroundings entered Aurelia's ears from behind.

While most people were in cahoots with Korin and others, there were still some lucky ones who were close to the citadel and survived.

The gang members could stop some of them, but not everyone.

But it didn't matter much since the quota for the sacrifice was met with ease.

Sounds of retching resounded as a lot of people actually vomited everything they had in their stomachs after witnessing this.

"Sir, why is this happening? My brother… My brother could have survived if he was a few meters closer…"

Laments of sorrow came out of the soldier's mouth as he knelt on his knees in front of one of the gang members, reaching for his leg with despairing eyes.

The gang member's eyes flashed with disgust, but he hid it immediately as he showed extreme sorrow.

"This… I don't know! Why would this happen? But if there is someone who would know this… Wouldn't that be academics who were manipulating all of these statues and whatnot? What were they even doing all this time?" the man yelled out as he pointed at the exhausted scholar.

That man's face paled for a moment when he heard the accusation before it turned crimson red as all the blood rushed to his head in his fury.

"How dare you slander us! We were just studying these ruins! Only a few were manipulating these statues!" He turned around to point at these people as he didn't want to bear the consequences of all this.

However, it was now when he turned around that he noticed Vanda's group was gone.

"W-what… I thought I saw them…" His shoulders slumped down as he wondered where they disappeared.

"Lies! You think you can just throw your schemes at the dead and just pretend it didn't involve you?! You shameful bastard!"

Another man, a soldier with a bloodied arm and sword, was filled with rage as he saw the weak and cowardly man trying to save his neck.

"Isn't it obvious? It was that robed bastard who suggested to the mayor this expedition! Haha! It was in the name of justice, but don't we know the truth? The rumors about these guys' underground arena?!" another voice came from the crowd.

No one saw who said it, but it riled up the people.

"H-he… He is right! They definitely have their fingers in this shit! Didn't you see how most of his people were missing from this place?"

"Even the most important academics are missing! The physician Kaoran and Master Korin! They are all together in it!"

"B-but weren't Korin's colleagues here this entire time? Where are they?" The timid voice of one of the merchants entered people's ears.

"They either died in the array because they lost their worth or they weren't here from the beginning! They are the robed men's allies after all! All kinds of sorcery could be happening with them around! Those monsters!"

All kinds of voices were heard all around the citadel. Some were coming from the soldiers and merchants with good wits and stronger will, while others were coming from unknown sources.

If anyone was looking at this scene without prejudice, they would realize there was a huge instigation happening right now.

However, only a few realized this.

Meanwhile, the gang members of both gangs were grinning madly under their noses.

Only Aurelia was frowning in disgust secretly, while Terren's group shook in horror. They didn't know what to believe.

But thinking about how Kaoran told them to go to the citadel...

"How can we know that robed men and academics are allies?"

Bor, who was saved by the group, made a small distance from Nord and Cara because of his fear but still asked loudly, wanting to know the truth.

After all, there was a time he was jealous of Ujir, who collaborated with one of them.

But now… He didn't even know where he was. He was probably dead.

Terren, who saw this, was angry but was stopped by Garran. He just shook his head at Terren, as now wasn't the time for this.

"Heh, isn't that obvious? It is a known fact that robed men continued to visit the academic institution for years! They definitely planned some wicked things there!" another shout was heard.

"Yeah! Recently, there were even some filthy creatures that were coming out of people's stomachs! Never had something like this happened! It was only after the Elder Physician Vael showed up that it finally calmed down! Don't you think that's suspicious?!"

After hearing this, Aurelia's eyes opened wide as she clenched her teeth.

At first, she planned to step forward to say something, but she didn't need to, as one of the Heart Bearer members immediately glared at the man who said this.

"Elder Vael is a blood-related member of our gang. Are you trying to say we have something to do with this?"

The man paled as he shook his head.

"No, no, I would never think such a thing! I must have had a lapse of judgment on my part to think that a kind physician like Vael was the culprit!"

Aurelia sighed as she let go of her clenched jaw while watching all of this.

The real culprits behind this were throwing all of their evil deeds at others, while the victims could only shake in fear as they were powerless.

She knew why they were doing this. Their plan was pushed forward. Because of that, they needed control over the entire city of Winterfrost to isolate it for the next few years. They got rid of their strongest enemy and now needed to sow discord between other powerhouses in the city.

Mainly, the mayor and the academic institution.

'However, the mayor was probably already in their arms,' Aurelia thought as she cast a side-eye at the man with an arrow in his chest being healed by one of their men.

On the other hand, most academics couldn't do anything at all. It was mostly their authority and reputation that was problematic for their plan. However, once the town was isolated, they couldn't ask for help even though there were many graduates from this institute across the Kingdom and even beyond it.

Thus, they were completely on the chopping board made by others.

And the only academics that had the way to defend themselves… Disappeared.

At least in the eyes of normal people.

Aurelia still felt their presence as bright as sunlight.

Vanda and her team were already standing in front of the shining door, prepared to enter it.

'Illyan, come quickly… It is time to fuck them over…'

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