Chapter 17 The Smell of Blood

“This should be the lowest level.”

“This door has already rotted quite badly, let's use some force to pry it open.”

Two adventurers exploring the ruin, after many twists and turns, finally found the last area of the ruin.

The two adventurers had excited expressions, already imagining what kind of rich reward they would receive after they went up.

Throughout the entire exploration until now, not a single person had been sacrificed.

There was no need to worry at all.

Without much effort, the two adventurers pried open the broken door with a “crash”.

Thanks to the two being B-rank adventurers, destroying such an iron door was not very strenuous.

Well, of course, if it were a complete door, it would be impossible for the two of them to pry it open so easily.

It was thanks to the fact that the stones around the fixed iron door had almost weathered away, plus the iron door itself seemed to be in tatters.

“Hey!” The two adventurers high-fived.

Then the sound of armor moving rang out.

Following that was the sharp sound of metal scraping against the ground.

The sound of neat, uniform footsteps came from behind the pried-open door.

Cold sweat dripped down the foreheads of the two B-rank adventurers.

But soon, the two calmed down again.

They were B-rank adventurers, after all.

If they encountered a terrible danger, couldn't they just run?

The advancement of an adventurer's rank was exchanged for countless experiences teetering on the edge of life and death.

“Schlick——”

Then blood splattered all over the ground.

Inside the entire ruin, the patterns on every single stone brick emitted a brilliant light.

---

Groggy, Bray felt his head was very heavy.

“…” Bray climbed up.

Bray frowned, not understanding what had just happened.

It was very dark around him now.

The ruin, which had been brightly lit, seemed as if all the lights had been extinguished at once.

“No… this place… is very unfamiliar…”

This was not the place he was originally in.

Originally, Nisha and Virginia were chatting happily.

But suddenly, Bray lost consciousness.

Before he fainted… it seemed as if the patterns on all the stone bricks were glowing.

When he woke up, he was in this inexplicable place.

——“Was I drugged or something?”

A strange thought flashed through Bray's mind.

Thinking this, Bray slowly moved forward in the dark, and after the sound of footsteps rang out, an echo reverberated.

——“It seems to be a very open space.”

Bray narrowed his eyes and found that besides pillars, there were still more pillars around him.

Pressing his ear to the floor, Bray tried to find a place where there were people.

The sounds that came through were chaotic, but there was no doubt that there were still people in this damn place.

The cold floor, the cold pillars, everything around emitted a chill, making one shudder.

Suddenly, Bray's pupils contracted——

There was also the smell of blood.

Just like the thick, foul smell during the countless casualties in the fortress last time.

Bray touched the eyepatch on his left eye and let out a breath.

It seemed he had gotten himself into some incredible trouble again.

But standing still was not a solution.

The only thing he could do was to continue forward.

Standing still would not help improve the current situation at all.

Calming his mind, Bray tightened his grip on the broken sword behind his back.

Even if 「Final Echo」 drew no blood no matter what it cut, holding a weapon would make a person's heart feel a little more secure.

“What the hell…” Something tripped his foot, and Bray fell down at once.

His chin slammed hard on the stone brick floor, and Bray cried out in pain.

“What the heck tripped me…”

After Bray saw clearly, his expression became even more solemn.

It was a corpse.

An adventurer, neatly split in half from head to toe, lay before Bray.

The scene, unsuitable for children, also made Bray feel a wave of nausea.

The thick, un-dissipable smell of blood made Bray's heart sink.

As expected, a completely safe ruin or anything of the sort did not exist.

But since he was here now, Bray had actually already prepared for the worst.

Bray knew his own strength.

It wouldn't be strange at all if he were to be killed by something powerful at any time.

But to die inexplicably, Bray was not happy about that.

As Bray moved forward, the surroundings finally started to brighten up a little.

By the time Bray had advanced a certain distance——

Abruptly, the surroundings lit up.

The suddenly brightened environment made Bray narrow his eyes, a little unaccustomed to it.

Streaks of pale blue flames hung around each pillar, illuminating the entire area.

The flames were not close to the ground, but hung high above their heads.

But the flames did not bring the slightest warmth to the environment here.

Bray scanned the surrounding environment.

This was a place like an arena.

And at the same time, what Bray heard were screams.

The incessant screams stimulated one's scalp.

Whether male or female… the screams made Bray's breath catch for a moment.

“Splat——”

Half a corpse flew directly towards Bray, splattering his face with blood.

The huge impact even knocked Bray to the ground.

Even Bray was scared to the point his face turned ashen.

He pushed off the corpse pressing on his body and adjusted his breathing.

And after Bray caught his breath, he finally saw clearly what was happening around him, and also saw some familiar faces.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!” Virginia's face was covered in tears, curled up behind Blanche.

The trembling young girl was as pitiful as a frightened little animal.

However, the expression on even Blanche's face was not much better.

Fear covered Blanche's small face.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! Go back!!! I want to go back!!!” Virginia's terrified voice reached Blanche's ears.

“Young Miss, everything will be alright…” Saying such words, Blanche herself had no confidence.

The only hope they could place their trust in was Nisha, who was directing the struggling adventurers.

And what caused everyone present to be so terrified was a large group of “people” dressed in black armor, holding a knight's greatsword in one hand and a tower shield in the other.

「Knight Princess」 Nisha was currently the main pillar of all the adventurers.

Nisha, whose strength was comparable to an A-rank adventurer, was everyone's support.

“Prepare powerful strike spells!!!!” As Nisha's voice sounded.

Magic circles lit up one by one around them.

The chanting echoed in this arena, just like an epic.

“Frontline, hold!!!!!”

“Haaaahhh!!!” One by one, sturdily built adventurers stood at the front, raising their weapons.

And the black-armored knights on the opposite side also launched a charge.

Twenty black-armored knights charged at the at least two hundred adventurers.

Among them, there was no lack of B-rank and C-rank adventurers.

In normal times, such a group of adventurers, even against a regular army of ten thousand, would not be the slightest bit afraid.

However, now, there was not the slightest bit of ease on the faces of these adventurers.

Instead, they were filled with fear.

It was just that the fear was forcefully suppressed by the adventurers.

Any fear would cause this temporarily formed battle line to collapse.

“Schlick——”

The movements of the black-armored knights were as neat as if one person was swinging a sword. The swords, raised at the same time, fell at the same moment.

A knight order that could be called perfect!

But not a single person was in the mood to appreciate such neat and uniform movements.

In the brief clash just now, at least twenty adventurers were directly cut down.

Severed limbs were thrown all over the ground, and the weapons that had lost their owners fell to the ground, making “clanging” sounds.

Such sounds were infinitely amplified in the arena.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Blanche!!!!” Virginia's head was already buried deep in Blanche's back.

And Blanche was now also constantly trembling.

“It will be alright, Young Miss! It will be alright!!!! Young Miss!!” Blanche's voice grew louder and louder.

It was unknown whether these words were to give Virginia courage, or for herself.

Blanche used her trembling, delicate body to hug Virginia tightly.

“No matter what happens, I will not let you be harmed!!!”

Virginia was already crying so much she couldn't speak, her breathing seemed to stop, one breath at a time.

At best, Blanche's strength was that of a B-rank adventurer, and Virginia was probably at the level of a C-rank adventurer.

But the mental fortitude of the two was far from reaching the level of an adventurer, so all they could do was hide in the back row, filled with fear.

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