The dragon's harem

Chapter 946: The Cultʼs Rabbit Hole

A little bit ago, and far back at Crocʼs cityʼs outskirts, Jack, Pin and the murder paladins made their way across the swampʼs edge, following the faint demonic trail of magic until they

reached a massive boulder shrouded with moss and vines.

The musty smell of the swampʼs rotten water, the flies and bugs buzzing around in the air, the soft mud beneath their boots, and the bug-infested dead trees...they stood beside the boulder, looking around and waiting for demons to jump out of the murky water.

Pin climbed Jackʼs back and stood above his head, staring at the boulder with glowing red eyes. She giggled, biting her nails, ”I can feel it, their demonic magic.” She smiled, ”They are close, it shall be a bloody party.”

As her bloodlust seeped out, the paladins pulled their maces and hammers and looked around for anything to smash. But, nothing came out besides more flies and mosquitoes, those canʼt be hit with ease.

”They are here? Beneath the rock like worms?” One of the paladins stared at the massive boulder, noting that it was over five meters tall and three meters wide {16.5 feet, and 10 feet} The dark green plants and vines seemed to twist around the boulder, sticking their roots deep into its core, pulsing with strange magic.

”Filthy Maggots!” Another growled, ”Squash them beneath my boots!”

The boulder was either created or moved by magic recently.

”This looks more like the work of a druid.” One of the paladins said as he looked at Pin, ”Lady Pin, weʼre trying to find a demon cult, not a druid circle.” He was a smart one, a man skilled enough to notice the difference in magic. It was indeed druidic magic that moved the boulder, not a demonic one.

”Indeed, druids can get angry if someone trespassed onto their territory.” Another paladin said with a sore face. Nothing hurt more than stumbling on a druid grove and getting chased down by a bunch of bears or hungry vultures.

”No...this is the demonʼs cult hideout. Pin is certain...” She giggled, looking back at the paladins with a sadistic grin, ”A demon lord wonʼt care about the classes of his followers. Even if this was indeed a druidʼs grove, itʼs already been tainted by the demon lordʼs influence. Donʼt underestimate the severing queenʼs art of...torture.”

The paladins gulped down, imagining the druids forced to turn into animals and then getting slaughtered for food. For some reason, that was the common thought amongst them.

She pointed at the boulder with her long and twisted finger, ”Johnny, push it away.”

Hearing her words, the largest of the paladins cracked his knuckles with a puffed chest as he moved forward, he was the one with the most strength out of everyone present. If anyone is to push the boulder away, itʼs him.

With a grunt akin to that of a bull, the paladin pushed against the boulder with his shoulder, his face turning bright red with veins bulging out.

As Jhonny pushed the boulder aside, it surprisingly moved with ease. What was revealed beneath the boulder was a long, twisted hole, deep, silent, and ominous. As Jack stepped beside it and pushed some dirt with his foot, they couldnʼt hear it hit the bottom.

The exhausted Jhonny looked at Jack as he sat on a relatively clean stone. Even if the boulder was easy to move thanks to the soft ground, it was still a massive boulder. ”So, any bastards inside?”

”Itʼs deep...” Jack looked back, ”Iʼve got some ropes, but it wonʼt carry the heaviest of us.”

”That hurt man! I just moved the boulder for us!” Johnny shook his head, ”Itʼs muscles... muscles!”

”Doesnʼt change the fact my rope canʼt carry you.” Jack looked at him, shrugging his shoulders. ”Sorry, but they are price-to-performance perfect to carry my...relatively lightweight body...” He looked at his heavy artificial arm and leg.

”Iʼll stay here and guard, slay any cultist that tries to escape. This hole is as black as the abyss, even I can smell the evil of that demon lord rushing out of it!” Johnny nodded with a giggle ”May Erisʼs blessing be with you. And give them some kicks in my stead.”

Jack giggled, ”Playing wack-a-cultist with a single hole and a warhammer? That should be fun enough.”

Pin looked at the hole, ”Down the rabbit hole... Be ready for anything...demons are far too powerful than you think.” She could sense it, the strange twists in Lunaraʼs demonic essence.

Jack pulled a torch from his magic pocket and looked at it for a second. It had enough clothes and oil. ”Letʼs take a look then.” He smiled and Pin reached with her finger toward the torch, touching it with her nail. A small red spark flashed, and the torch burst ablaze.

He crouched down and extended his arm down, trying to illuminate the dark hole. As the flames flickered and the shadows danced, he could see the faint figure of jagged stones and pebbles piled up deep into the darkness. ”I can see the floor, that might be gravel or soft dirt. Itʼs probably ten meters deep.” He looked back at the paladins with a worried face. ”A deadly fall. Iʼll go down first; you follow me afterward.”

A ten-meter fall, thatʼs thirty feet, falling that low into terrain they didnʼt know. It might be filled with spikes for all they know. Thatʼs a high risk, so Jack wanted to go first since heʼs a rogue, he has the tools and knowledge to survive such a fall.

”We paladins charge first!” One of the men behind growled, ”You stay back, we shall explore the safety of the entrance.” While Jack was the most reasonable option to explore the hole, the paladins couldnʼt resist pushing their pride forward.

Pin stared at them, ”This man had fought alongside Arad, the ladyʼs powerful husband.” She glared back at them, ”Pin is certain, heʼs skilled.” She tapped Jack on the back of his head, ”Letʼs go, theyʼll follow after us.”

The paladins didnʼt look so happy about her decision as they mumbled to each other, but no one voiced a complaint.

Jack fired his hook at the boulder and slowly lowered himself down with a rope, stopping right before touching the ground. He waved his torch around, looking closely at the ground and walls. He is a trapper, and such simple tricks wonʼt fly past his head.

The ground was indeed trapped, beneath the soft sand and dirt lay countless metal spikes laced with deadly poison. He could notice them due to the faint smell filling the air, the smell

of Black Boa poison.

”Since the pressure inside the cave is low, wind flows from the outside and to the inside. That means smelling the poison before jumping in is impossible even for someone like Arad. Smell travels by air, and if that air is pushed in the opposite direction, you get this...” He looked at the walls as Pin stared at the ground, trying to sniff the smell that Jack smelled.

”The walls seem to have been carved by magic, look at those smooth twists and turns, they never form naturally.” He extended his hand forward, ”The last time Iʼve seen this big sister was showing it to me. Itʼs a massive trap that can be created only inside caves.”

Pin looked at the walls. She wasnʼt a native of the mortal world so she couldnʼt tell if those rock formations were natural or not.

”Some caves are filled with explosive gas, so you dig several air holes around it. When someone walks in with a torch, the whole place turns into a massive oven. The burning room is usually several layers away from the main chamber of the hideout.” He started winding his rope up to get out. ”I bet there are a lot of burning traps inside that are designed to set the place ablaze if a stranger walked in.”

Unlike what it looked like from the outside, this place was a deadly trap, charging inside blindly would only lead to countless deaths.

As the paladins stared at him, Jack shook his head, ”Itʼs a death trap. Weʼll get roasted alive if we step inside. And there are poisonous spikes everywhere... Those hurt a lot, especially when you fall on your butt.” He walked to the side and sat on the ground, pulling several bottles and trinkets from his pocket.

”Wait a bit, itʼll take me some time to disarm everything.” He started working and Pin looked at him with a surprised face. ”You can disarm the fire thing?”

”Natural gas never stops coming out, itʼs like a hot spring. If they didnʼt build something to vent it out periodically, it might overflow to the main chambers. Or worse, once someone triggers it, thereʼll be too much gas that itʼll cause a massive explosion and collapse the whole cave system.” Jack smiled, ”Iʼll check the geography of the location and try to figure out

possible vents.”