Norris accepted Veyra’s team’s gratitude with a slightly conflicted expression. He seemed as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent and simply stood behind “Aiden,” who had just arrived again.
As one of Fahl’s closest aides and a major power in Mordu, Aiden was someone Veyra naturally recognized.
They offered another round of thanks, but Aiden merely waved it off.
By then, Gavin and his subordinates had retreated completely into the basement, activating a defensive barrier.
A faint violet light curtain sealed the entrance tightly. No one could tell what they were doing inside.
Following Lin Jun’s instructions, Aiden had already crushed the alarm crystal—Fahl’s people would be on their way soon.
Gavin’s earlier assessment after seeing Aiden had been right: even if they wanted to flee now, it would be nearly impossible.
As for Lin Jun himself, he could have easily intervened. Magical barriers like that—no matter how strong—always consumed mana to sustain themselves.
A hastily drawn formation like this wouldn’t withstand a few rounds of exploding pujis.
But doing that would leave too many traces, and with witnesses like Veyra’s group present, that wasn’t ideal.
Since the potential reward didn’t justify the exposure, Lin Jun chose to leave the matter to the authorities.
With Aiden on-site, the final intelligence would reach him sooner or later anyway.
Fahl’s side responded swiftly—barely two hours later, Soralin arrived, leading more than forty fully armed knights on horseback.
By that time, Norris had already slipped away, leaving only Aiden and Veyra’s party to stand guard.
“Sir Aiden.” After a brief debriefing, Soralin immediately ordered her troops to assault the defensive array.
Under a barrage of physical and magical attacks, the temporary barrier lasted less than ten minutes before collapsing completely.
Cradling a round, squishy pujis in his arms, Aiden followed the vanguard into the basement.
To everyone’s surprise, there was no desperate resistance waiting for them—no trapped beasts lashing out, no pleas for mercy.
What greeted them instead was a room full of peaceful corpses and a massive sacrificial formation painted across the floor.
The cultists who had retreated earlier now lay as offerings within the circle.
More nauseating still were the piles of half-rotted bodies stacked in the corners, the stench of decay choking the air.
Everyone instinctively covered their noses—except for Aiden, whose expression remained impassive.
There were, however, two people still alive inside.
A middle-aged man crouched in a corner, sobbing uncontrollably. He had been one of the “mushroom farmers” who’d attacked Veyra’s group but, for some reason, hadn’t ended up among the sacrificed.
The other survivor was Gavin—his entire body charred, his face unrecognizable.
“Silver radiance purifies the souls of the fallen, the ritual completes the path home… no need for fear… no need for sorrow…” Gavin knelt beside the array, muttering a broken prayer.
Even when the knights entered, he didn’t react, only continued whispering to himself:
“My god, I have failed your expectations. I am unworthy of the cycle of rebirth. Let this guilt be mine alone. Please, in your mercy—save their souls!”
Soralin’s gaze swept over the piles of corpses, her voice trembling with fury and disgust. “Sacrificing innocent lives to seek a false god’s mercy? You monsters have no humanity left!”
Gavin slowly lifted his weapon. Soralin instantly raised her guard, her soldiers tightening formation around her.
“This is only your ignorance,” Gavin sneered, glancing toward the crying man in the corner. “You’re just like him.”
Before anyone could react, he twisted his blade—not toward Soralin—but straight through his own skull.
Gavin died instantly, beyond any hope of saving.
Watching through a pujis, Lin Jun felt phantom goosebumps crawl over his nonexistent skin.
He had thought they were just deranged abyssal mages—but no, they were genuine lunatics.
Abyssal mages might be twisted, but at least they were rationally twisted. Their “evil” was in method, not in mind. They still sought power, wealth, prestige, survival.
Even those zealots from Ark who preached “sacrifice” mostly sacrificed other people.
But these cultists were different—they truly believed. They worshiped something real, offering up others without hesitation… and even themselves.
Worse still—their god actually existed.
What rotten luck.
Through his [Inspiration] vision, Lin Jun saw that all the corpses were hollow—soulless.
He already knew which god they served: the Death God, Nefrila.
A diamond-rank killing himself was something Soralin’s team couldn’t have stopped even if they tried.
They took the only surviving captive away for interrogation, while others began counting and identifying the dead.
Veyra’s team wasn’t allowed into the basement until the end. The moment they descended halfway, the stench was so unbearable they had to cover their noses.
When they finally saw what lay below, Fein—the support mage—was the first to break. She turned and ran back up the stairs, retching. The others’ faces were ashen.
Their employer, Barton, suddenly threw himself onto one of the most decomposed corpses, clutching it and sobbing uncontrollably, calling his friend’s name again and again.
It was the first time Veyra’s team had confronted the aftermath of a true cult’s deeds. Though they had survived, their hearts felt weighed down by a stone.
The follow-up investigation at the farm was left entirely to Soralin’s command.
The identities of the dead were gradually confirmed. Those with families were returned to them; the rest were buried in the mushroom-covered cemetery.
Lin Jun tried decomposing one of the corpses—unsurprisingly, there was nothing to gain.
As for the captured survivor, it didn’t take much effort to make him talk:
“Priest Gavin was looking for a ‘high-grade vessel’! I don’t know what that means—I just followed orders and helped capture people! It wasn’t my idea! They made me do it!”
“Why did you join the Hand of Passing in the first place?”
“They said… that if I joined, I’d be reborn into something greater in the next life! That I wouldn’t have to live like this again—no talent, no power, struggling forever at the bottom… I didn’t know it would be this evil!”
“Then why didn’t you die with them?”
“That was a sacrifice! I realized it too late! The ritual was the same as the ones they used before—when they killed others! I didn’t want to die! I don’t want to be sacrificed! I—I…”
“Besides that farmhouse, do you have other strongholds?”
“There used to be one in an abandoned village, but it’s been abandoned now! The rest—I really don’t know!”
…
After conducting the interrogation personally, Soralin frowned deeply.
The coward was clearly a peripheral member, and his information was of little real value.
The most troubling part was—
Soralin looked down at the report in her hand.
The number of dead in the basement didn’t even reach half of the missing persons list.
So where were the rest?
It was clear: the cultists lurking in the shadows were far from eradicated. The danger was far from over.
In the days that followed, Mordu doubled its patrols. Even the Church dispatched several squads to aid in hunting the hidden cult.
Because of that, the D-rank personnel roster for the Mushroom Fields hadn’t been updated for quite some time…