Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 328: Horrors Upon Horrors

A single step into the Rune mansion and the entire party felt a cold chill. Some even sense a spectre passing by their shoulders while others caught a whiff of something rotting. Raven whoʼd been there before,,, continued carrying the group forward.

Led by Tan at the very front, they were shown to the ballroom, the man halls, and the other facilities all decorated with oil paintings of the goddess and the family as well.

But that wasnʼt everything the mansion had to offer. While passing by a candle-lit chandelier, the party froze the spot as the glass structure suddenly began to shake above them. Quickly moving out of its way, they expected it to fall, however, surprisingly enough it stopped in an instant–even frozen in the air slightly tilted to the right.

”That canʼt be normal, right?” Raven asked Tan, but to his surprise it was.

”Stuff like this happens all the time here,” shifting his eyes to the demi-girls whoʼd been let out not moments ago, the raccoon boy added further. ”Iʼm sure anyone with a good sense of smell can already smell something rotting in some corner too.”

For a moment none of the monster girls had a clue what he meant, but upon focusing on the sense of smell, a foul taste burned their throats.

”UGhh!” Covering her mouth, Mino folded her hand on her belly and held back the urge to throw up into her mouth.

”W-wh-what is…t-that?!” Ophelia asked, being one of the few whoʼd been spared the worst of the smell.

”A mouse, a cat, maybe even a dog in some corner, we donʼt know exactly miss Rudeia was far too fond of animals and adopted exotic breeds every other night,” Tan explained before taking the group into a spot where the smell wasnʼt as rancid.

The smell, however, wasnʼt the only peculiarity as both Erika and Amedith were suffering from an intense cold gripping their holy hearts. Even Mel wasnʼt free from such suffering as within those wooden painting frames, the columns, and underneath that carpeted wood floor, she could feel something warping around. But what was it exactly? She couldnʼt be any more unsure.

”Are we really gonna live here?” Somehow, even though she couldnʼt sense anything as strongly as the others, even Aria knew something was wrong about the place.

”Hereʼs the living quarters, finally!” Tan announced, his hand theatrically outstretched toward the line of rooms down the decorated hallway.

Walking down the red carpet behind the demi-human, the group couldʼve sworn they felt the gold-laced design on the fabric moving underneath their feet like a conscious structure of veins. Death and terror roamed the mansion but to the extent of even altering the real world? None of them had expected that.

ʼHow do the servants not notice this?ʼ Thought Raven, but then his eyes fell on the smiling maids lining the hallway. They werenʼt unaware of those terrors but rather had gotten used to them, it felt so ingrained in their service that the peculiarities escaped their heads. ʼGetting used to a place like this? I donʼt know if thatʼs a blessing or a curse...ʼ

Moments after those thoughts crossed Ravenʼs head, he was led into his room that once belonged to the late owner. The moment his eyes laid on it, however, he couldnʼt help but think of the horrific actions that had taken place inside that room. The bed, the blood-painted walls then coated with paint, and the echoes of screams long dead still rang in Ravenʼs head.

Only one step inside a rush of electricity ran up his spine.

Something was terribly wrong and he knew it. The place itself was hostile towards him even though his last visit had been just fine. Explore more at .com

”Itʼs agitated, this place...” He whispered, walking deeper into the room.

The others followed right behind him and were struck with the same feeling for a moment. Powering through the sensation, they walked inside the room to look around. Drapes on bed with an intense smell of perfume to mask what had happened inside their room every night, the maids have embellished the room well and yet somehow its haunting spirit wouldnʼt go away.

Looking around with a foul expression, Raven could no longer hide his scorn and decided to upturn the place.

”I want everything in this room, everything in this mansion except the walls burnt,” surprised by the request, Tan turned wide-eyed at Raven to question his decision, but upon facing his new master, he was reminded of his place as a servant and not an advisor.

”A-as you wish, my lord!” He answered before rushing out to the room to begin the preparation for the burning.

In the meantime, Raven turned to Erika with a request. Still appearing to struggle from a phantom force squeezing heart, she forced a smile on her face as soon as her eyes met Ravenʼs.

”A purification?” Raven suggested, the priestess nodded in response.

The place was haunted beyond reason, and not just by phantoms, but by something far sinister. It was almost as if a horror had created its nest inside the place, yet with no signs of corruption, the only explanation that remained.

”These people were worse than monsters,” whispered Liliyana, hiding the fact that she could see the lingering terror of the deceased emanating from every object, and every pillar around her.

ʼThereʼs people trapped in these walls…ʼ She was the only one who could see it, writhing within each brick were the limbs of Roswaltʼs victims. Their hands still moving, their eyes still quivering, their minds shattered to mince and yet their consciousness intact still. Their souls had never left them even when they poured into moulds and laid down as bricks into the mansionʼs walls.

ʼShould I tell them?ʼ Liliyana wondered, unsure if it would ruin any semblance of joy moving into the castle had left.

Before making her choice, she decided to follow the strongest trail of torment oozing from the ground. It was leaking from underneath the ground floor, and whatever it was Liliyana wanted to know before causing unrest.

ʼOur party might be fine if I reveal this but…ʼ Shifting her gaze to Rose, Maria, and Aerinʼs family, Liliyana knew she couldnʼt do the reveal in front of those four. ʼMaybe later tonight Iʼll tell everyone, but for now.ʼ

Locking her arms with Amedith while the others prepared for the cleansing, the devil fae began looking for a room where the lovers could quietly stay together until night arrives. Left in the dark about the morbid secret, the others did much the same and began settling into their new rooms–completely unaware that the walls confining them were living and breathing just like them.