Simon straightens slowly, chest rising and falling as he looks over Cassandra and the knights.
Some of the knight apprentices kneel on one knee, heads bowed as they catch their breath.
Others stand hunched, hands braced on their knees, armour smeared with blood and frost.
Kade remains upright, breathing steady, eyes never leaving the darkness ahead.
Simon wrinkles his nose.
A stench rolls through the compound.
Rot.
He turns his head and freezes.
The dog corpses are decaying.
Not slowly.
Not naturally.
Flesh collapses inward, skin darkening and sloughing away as if days have passed in mere minutes.
Bones show through.
Cassandra crouches beside one of the bodies, her fingers hovering just above the surface without touching.
"These dogs were transformed by alchemy," she says quietly.
Kade steps forward and kicks the remains of the large dog aside.
It crumbles.
"Isn't our target a cultist?" he asks.
Cassandra's gaze moves from one corpse to another, then settles on the spot where the large dog fell.
"Linda can transform an ordinary dog into something with the strength of an official knight," she says. "She must be a Fifth-Tier Alchemist Apprentice."
The air tightens.
"And the murders," Cassandra continues, "were likely part of a ritual. Preparation to break through into the Official Alchemist realm."
Eyes widen.
All except Bell's.
Bell stares at them, bewildered.
Alchemists, to him, belong to old stories and half-forgotten legends, not rotting monsters and ice spells.
Kade's expression hardens. "She's prepared everything."
"Yes," Cassandra replies. "And we cannot wait for reinforcements."
She stands. "We have to stop her before the ritual is complete."
Kade nods once. "Then we proceed carefully."
They move again, deeper into the compound, following Cassandra's quiet guidance.
Simon and Bell take the rear, pistols drawn, scanning every shadow.
Bell leans closer to Simon as they walk. "If Linda's weaker than you and Kade, why does everyone look like they're walking into a battlefield?"
Simon doesn't slow down. "Alchemists are different."
He keeps his eyes moving. "They're all-rounders. With preparation, even an apprentice can kill a Great Knight."
Bell swallows.
"And this is her base," Simon adds. "She's turned it into a fortress."
They pass what looks like piles of discarded stone and rubble lining the path.
Simon takes two more steps.
Then hears it.
A soft scrape.
Stone shifting against stone.
He turns sharply.
The piles move.
"Captain Cassandra," Simon shouts, "the stone piles behind us!"
The rubble twists and rises, forming crude humanoid shapes.
Stone limbs grind together.
Dark sigils glow faintly across their surfaces.
Without warning, the stone figures raise their arms and launch chunks of compressed rock.
Projectiles scream through the air.
Simon and Bell dive sideways.
Cassandra snaps her hands up. "Ice Shield."
A translucent wall of ice forms instantly, stone bullets shattering against it in explosive sprays.
Simon hits the ground hard, rolling across broken concrete.
He grunts and pushes himself up onto one knee.
The stone monsters advance, each step heavy and deliberate.
Simon raises his pistol, sights shaking, and fires.
The shot sparks against stone.
No damage.
Bell fires twice more.
Same result.
"They're useless!" Bell shouts.
Kade steps forward, sword already glowing faintly with earth energy.
"Knights, advance!"
The knight apprentices fan out, blades flashing.
One charges and strikes a stone monster's leg.
The blade chips stone but doesn't sever it.
The monster swings its arm and sends the knight skidding backwards.
Cassandra moves, voice calm despite the chaos.
"Ice Arrow."
Multiple shards lance forward, striking joints and necks.
Stone cracks spread.
Kade charges straight into the centre of the formation.
His sword glows brighter.
He slams it down into the chest of one stone monster.
Earth energy pulses.
The stone collapses inward, shattering into rubble.
A knight follows up, smashing another creature's head with a downward strike while Cassandra freezes its feet to the ground.
The battle becomes a coordinated dance.
Cassandra controls the field—freezing, slowing, breaking balance.
Kade breaks the core constructs with overwhelming force.
The apprentices finish what's left, targeting joints and weak points revealed by cracks.
Stone bullets slam into ice shields, into armour, into the ground.
One knight stumbles, struck in the shoulder.
Another takes a glancing hit to the leg.
But none fall.
Minutes later, the last stone monster crumbles under Kade's blade, collapsing into a lifeless heap.
Silence returns.
Dust settles.
Cassandra raises her hand, preparing a healing spell.
Kade lifts his own hand, stopping her.
"These injuries won't affect us," he says. "Save your strength for what's ahead."
Cassandra hesitates, then nods.
They move again.
The compound grows quieter.
Heavier.
They stop before a building that stands out immediately.
The walls show fresh repairs.
Mortar is still pale.
Metal braces are newly fitted.
And a steel door where there should have been wood.
Cassandra closes her eyes briefly.
Her voice is firm when she speaks.
"They're inside."
Kade steps forward, rolling his shoulders and planting his feet firmly into the concrete.
"On my mark," he says.
Earth-attribute fighting energy surges through his arm, flowing from his core to his fist in a dense, compact wave.
His knuckles glow with a dull earthen light.
"Tremor Fist."
He punches the steel door.
For a heartbeat, nothing happens.
No dent.
No sound.
The fist remains pressed against the cold metal.
Then the tremor arrives.
It does not explode outward—it sinks in.
A low vibration ripples through the door, subtle at first, like a distant hum.
The steel begins to quiver.
Bolts rattle.
The vibration grows stronger, deeper, shaking the frame, the hinges, the surrounding walls.
Hairline fractures spread across the surface like spiderwebs.
The hum becomes a roar.
With a thunderous crack, the steel door shatters into thousands of fragments.
Hinges tear-free.
Concrete around the frame collapses inward.
Metal shards spray outward and clatter across the floor.
When the dust settles, a clean concrete room stands beyond the broken doorway.
Bare.
Smooth.
Empty.
Kade scans it once, then glances back.
"Move."
He steps inside.
The knights follow, then Cassandra, Simon, and Bell.
Simon's eyes sweep the room from end to end.
It is small.
There are no corners to hide in.
"No one's here," Simon says. "We can see everything."
Then he hears it.
A grinding sound.
He turns sharply toward the doorway.
The shattered steel fragments tremble.
They glow.
Crimson light pulses through the metal like liquid fire.
The shards lift from the ground, twisting unnaturally, pulling together.
They fuse.
Reform.
In seconds, the steel door rebuilds itself behind them.
But it is no longer steel.
Dark red cracks spread across it like blood vessels.
The same veins crawl outward, branching onto the walls.
Then the floor.
Then the ceiling.
The air thickens.
A metallic stench assaults their senses.
Blood.
Simon's stomach turns.
Bell shouts, "What the hell is this?"
Cassandra spins slowly, eyes wide, scanning the walls as the veins pulse rhythmically.
"We're trapped," she says. "Linda projected a Blood Abyss tunnel here."
The walls throb faintly.
The space no longer feels like a room.
It feels… alive.
Ahead, the tunnel narrows and bends sharply to the right, disappearing into darkness.
Footsteps echo.
Fast.
Wet.
A cracking laugh follows, high and sharp.
The knights snap into formation instantly.
Weapons up.
Shields forward.
From the darkness, shapes burst into view.
Short.
Broad.
Their skin is blood-red, slick and pulsing.
Small horns curl from their skulls.
Their arms end in sharp, clawed hands dripping with dark fluid.
They sprint on bent legs, mouths split wide in jagged grins.
Blood imps.
One leaps.
Cassandra shouts, "Careful! Don't let them scratch you—poisoned claws. Destroy the head or sever it!"
The first imp lands on a knight's shield.
The knight twists and slams his sword upward, cleaving through its neck.
The head tumbles, body collapsing instantly.
Another imp darts low.
Bell fires.
The bullet punches through its skull.
It drops mid-stride.
Simon fires twice more, staggering a third imp long enough for a knight to crush its head with a downward strike.
The imps are fast.
But reckless.
They rush straight in, shrieking.
The knights hold discipline.
No wild swings.
No overextension.
Kade steps forward, each strike precise, decapitating or smashing skulls with brutal efficiency.
Cassandra controls the space, freezing the ground beneath the imps' feet, slowing their movements just enough for clean kills.
The battle is careful.
Measured.
They take time.
No one rushes.
No one takes unnecessary risks.
Minutes pass.
The last imp screeches as its head is destroyed under a shield bash.
Silence returns—briefly.
They move forward.
The tunnel curves and stretches.
Every few minutes, more blood imps attack.
Small groups.
Ambushes from bends and recesses in the living walls.
The knights begin to tire.
One apprentice takes a shallow cut across the arm.
He screams as poison burns through his veins.
Cassandra reacts instantly, casting Small Healing Spell, frost and green light sealing the wound as the pain fades.
They keep moving.
Step by step.
The tunnel finally opens into a wide chamber.
Everyone stops.
At the far end of the room, a figure is pinned against the wall.
Charlie.
Blood-veined tendrils bind his wrists and ankles, stretching him spread-eagled like ropes grown from flesh.
He is pale, eyes wide with terror and exhaustion.
On the floor before him kneels an old woman.
Linda.
Her back is hunched.
Her hair hangs loose and matted.
In her arms lies a young woman, limp and unmoving.
Linda rocks gently, stroking the girl's hair.
"Lia," she murmurs softly. "Wake up. Lia, please open your beautiful eyes."
Her voice trembles, fragile, broken.
Charlie struggles weakly against the restraints.
"Linda," he says hoarsely, "stop this madness."
Linda does not look at him.
"Lia is dead," Charlie continues, voice cracking.
Linda's rocking slows.
The chamber holds its breath.