Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

The gods worshipped by these Black Knights are not righteous. In fact, this sect is regarded as cult by some other churches. But it is precisely because of this that the Black Knights are even more ruthless towards those who worship evil.

On the one hand, they used this to draw a clear line between the two sides; on the other hand, they understood better than priests of other churches just how necessary it was to eliminate these followers of evil.

However, no matter how much importance is attached to it in theory, there are bound to be oversights in practice. These enforcers, having just been reprimanded by Raslaufer and only found the cultists' trail under Raslaufer's guidance, felt somewhat embarrassed and quickly left the cellar, leaving no one to guard it.

Therefore, after they all disappeared into the kitchen cellar, the couple suddenly changed their expressions, raised their arms in a mocking manner, and clapped.

Next came the three travelers, and then the four lone travelers.

The innkeeper wiped his face, and his facial muscles suddenly changed, transforming into an exceptionally handsome face. With a playful smile, he looked the group of people up and down, who were on guard.

This face was extraordinary. Although it lacked any superfluous features, its skin was a deep reddish-purple, and between its sharp, upturned ears, two red glints shone faintly in its black eyes. On its forehead, a pair of horns resembling those of a goat had sprouted. Behind the "innkeeper," a tail with spikes and rows of decorative metal studs swayed slightly, like a venomous snake searching for its prey.

“Damn it, a Tiftin!” Vondar immediately recognized what these unusual appearances represented. “A devil-cursed fellow!”

"Have we stumbled into the lair of evil? And it's not just one cultist here, but everyone here is?!"

“It’s because there are so many ignorant people like you in the world that I ultimately chose this path,” the mortal creature that looked like a devil sneered. All the guests around stopped clapping, turned around stiffly, and walked towards the second floor. “Relax. If it’s really such a big target, even if those Black Knights are stupid, they will find me.”

"I've always been the only one here, ever since this hotel opened."

“No wonder…” Angelita’s eyes narrowed slightly. “When the judge asked you about the inn, the spell didn’t work at all… but how did you avoid the other questions?”

Tiflin gave a look of disdain, as if simply listening to Angrita speak made him uncomfortable, but he cleverly concealed this feeling when his gaze swept over Leslaufer.

He raised his hand and pointed to the single earring hanging on his ear, which was wrapped with a thorn-like pattern: "Breaking this level of spell is not difficult, especially when under the master's protection."

"If that lovely young man hadn't covered it up with his piety towards the gods, I wouldn't have been hunted down by them. However, those judges are no longer a threat—the dark underground breeds monsters that devour them alive, leaving only one alive to go back and deliver the message."

"You used Leslaufer?" Bella's arms instantly grew thicker. As her mastery of the Wild Form gradually improved, she could now transform into an even more deadly creature with just a thought. "What a despicable trap!"

“I didn’t, and neither did this… Raslaufer,” Tifflin shrugged indifferently. “They found the cellar themselves and jumped in. Those monsters were meant to hunt in the dark underground. I never kept them; I just left them to their own devices.”

"You're a druid? Then tell me, isn't doing this in accordance with the laws of nature?"

"The core of natural law is the cycle of life and death, the relationship between predator and prey, but these relationships are built on a foundation of balance. You have artificially created unnatural dangers, disrupting this balance. And the duty of a druid is never to encourage destruction and suffering." Bella is no longer the same as before, and faced with this question, the druid answered with ease.

With a low growl, scales and feathers sprouted all over her body, and the next second, a Deinonychus even stronger than Blackclaw appeared in the hall.

Having never seen a dinosaur before, the druid naturally couldn't imitate Blackclaw's form, but now, a ferocious afterimage swept across the dimly lit hotel lobby, and a terrifying claw kicked straight at Tifflin's face!

Chapter 326 The Cellar Up and Down

"Stay away from me, you freak!"

Tiflin hurriedly dodged the ripped-open claw, igniting a flame in his palm. However, before he could throw it, Raslaufer's elbow struck his chin like a hammer. Tiflin's physique was not much different from that of an ordinary human; how could he withstand such a blow? A cracking sound of bone breaking rang out, and his jawbone was shattered into countless pieces.

"Stop! Stop!"

Tiflin hurriedly rolled behind the counter, narrowly avoiding Dobler's next punch. He then extinguished the flame in his hand, lifted his chin with his other hand, and restored it to its original state: "Damn it, this is the second time. You've hit the wrong person!"

Raslaufer coldly withdrew his fist, but then saw Tifflin move his jaw, which had just recovered, and quickly said, "You've got it right, we've only known each other for a short while! You should be on my side, just like you lured those Black Knights away earlier!"

“Nonsense,” Leslaufer scoffed, casually breaking off a splinter from the smashed counter and swinging it toward Tiflin’s throat. “Is this how you plan to beg for your life?”

“You should believe me!” Tiflin dodged another attack in a sorry state, and when he spoke again, the tone that came out of his mouth was completely different from any other language in this world.

“I am a follower of Grand Duchess Philna, just like you! Look at my earrings, the thorn pattern is proof of that!”

Everyone else was stunned; they couldn't understand what the cultist was saying. However, Raslaw and Daisy could understand him with ease!

"Ah..." Zheng Ling's exclamation resounded in both of their minds at the same time, "So it's family. This is awkward."

"What are you saying?" Leslaufer frowned slightly, but Daisy wouldn't hear his reaction. The devil cunningly separated the two mental links at the same time to increase his control over the situation.

"Who do you think you and the demon you've come into contact with are connected to?" Zheng Ling didn't dare to directly reveal the existence of her master, but instead said vaguely, "His magic and bloodline can be traced back to Phrygsos in the fourth layer of Hell, so there will naturally be a connection between them."

"Each other? I have no idea." "Because you are not a spellcaster, and you have no idea how to truly use your already limited magic power."

At the same time, Daisy also asked, "Then why didn't he mention me? Shouldn't you be closer to that Grand Duke?"

Zheng Ling immediately became dissatisfied: "It's as if you and I signed a contract!"

"Oh."

"What are these guys doing? Does the Demon Grand Duke need to worry about giving them orders?" Leslaufer continued to slowly approach Tifflin, while questioning Zhengling through their mental link.

"Well, most agents in the material plane only have very vague appointments, such as collecting information on precious souls. The believers who actually receive concrete orders are actually not many."

"In other words..."

"In other words, he can die."

Tiflin didn't understand why Raslaufer's expression suddenly turned into a sinister grin after a brief moment of composure, but he was certain of one thing: he was probably going to die.

"Wait! Damn it, I know what you're up to!" Tiflin's eyes darted around, and he finally came up with another plan. He shouted at the others, "You! Your companion is just like me, a follower of the devil!"

"Originally, we kept to ourselves, but since you insist on killing me, don't blame me for being ruthless and unjust! Perhaps you hid it well, but you clearly understood the infernal language I just spoke!"

"Do you think you can continue to pretend to be someone you're not? You and I are the same! We're both just pawns in purgatory!"

Tifflin shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping that Raslaufer's companions would do what he expected. If Raslaufer were to be even slightly distracted, he could seize the opportunity to escape again, just as he had done before.

However, what puzzled him was that even though he spoke so confidently, none of those people showed any worry or doubt. In fact, they looked at him as if he were a fool.

In this material plane, can demons really roam freely?! Then why should he suffer such treatment?!

“A follower of the devil, you might be more believable if you said Old Ray had sided with the abyss,” von Dahl said, curling his lip. “Stop arguing. At least face your death like a man.”

"you--"

Tiftlin wanted to say something more, but Raslaufer had no intention of giving him any more chances. The devil's arm gripped Tiftlin's throat, and as the latter began to struggle, two muffled sounds echoed in the hall. As Raslaufer turned around, all that remained in front of him where he had been standing was a corpse with its neck limp and rotten.

“Bella, go outside and call Blackclaw,” Doble pointed to the door. “The rest of you go and get ready. We’ll probably have to go down to the cellar to check.”

"The priests of the Black Knight Cult are quite skilled at prophecy. If all those inquisitors really did die here, and we were also present, they might come looking for trouble with us."

"You can do that?" Daisy exclaimed. "We didn't do anything, we even helped them deal with that cultist!"

“They don’t believe in Adas, so don’t expect them to reason with you,” Leslaufer frowned. “Although I’m not particularly afraid of them, it’s still a hassle. Compared to that, it’s better to save people.”

Knowing that there are monsters in the cellar is not a wise choice to go down, but being targeted by a not-so-kind religious group is not a good thing either. Compared to the other, the former can at least be solved simply and brutally with force.

Bella, still in her Deinonychus form, immediately went out to find Blackclaw, while the others returned upstairs to don their gear. As Raslaufer stood once more before the entrance to the kitchen cellar, a slight, cool breeze rustled the gaps in his armor.

“It’s pitch black, I can’t see anything,” Daisy said, raising her faintly glowing rapier and peering down. The magical light illuminated the area around the ladder below the cave entrance, but the effect of the light spell weakened as soon as she moved a little further away. “Something feels… off.”

"Hey, are there any survivors down there?"

The poet's shouts had an effect. With a "thud," a head rolled up, its pale face facing upwards, staring blankly at the crowd.

Chapter 327 Light in the Cave

"Holy crap!!"

The sudden appearance of a bloody human head startled Daisy, who was staring wide-eyed down at it, causing her to scream and nearly jump up in fright. However, after the head, there was no further movement in the cellar, as if the head had moved on its own and rolled into the light.

Fontaine instinctively reached for his smoke bomb at his waist; had Reslaufer not intervened quickly, the dwarf would likely have given the poet an even greater fright. But all that was secondary; the important thing was…

The surrounding darkness was clearly not normal.

“It is dark magic, without a doubt,” Daisy said after calming herself down and taking a moment to discern, “but it is not as powerful as dark magic. It only weakens the surrounding light, which is why my light spell is still effective.”

"I think... you guys wait for me a moment."

As Daisy spoke, she slung her rapier back over her waist. Just as the light faded from the cellar, Raslaw and the others heard a rustling sound, as if a large number of limbs were rubbing against the ground. But if the inquisitors had all met with misfortune, what was below could not possibly be a giant spider or some other arthropod.

From this perspective, it's clear that Tifflin was trying to sway Bella's will with wordplay, but unfortunately, his skills were quite lacking. He was exposed by the priest when he tried to bewitch the priest, and his attempts to sway Bella were ineffective. The same was true for Leslaufer and the others.

"I firmly believe that the light is just ahead!" Just as the noise seemed to be getting louder, Daisy immediately plucked the strings of her guitar. As she sang the lyrics, a perfectly round ball of light appeared in the cellar, illuminating the surroundings and even the entire inn as if it were daytime!

This time, everyone could clearly hear the agonizing screams coming from below!

“Those things down there are afraid of light!” Raslaufer’s eyes suddenly sharpened. He stepped forward and plummeted straight down into the cellar. Before he even hit the ground, his two-handed greatsword slashed out like a whirlwind. With a mere touch, a limb covered in eerie green sap flew up and fell in front of him.

Its owner, however, dared not look after his own body, and instead scurried into a half-person-high hole in the corner of the cellar, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"No wonder……"

Mary slid down the ladder at the end and looked around, finally discovering the source of the "automatic" head: a headless soldier's body lay behind the hole. Although the attire made him look like one of the Black Knights, the thin armor on his back had been completely torn apart, with nine-tenths of the flesh gone, revealing the bare bones.

“They probably thought the cultist had run off this way,” Angelita frowned, “but they didn’t expect to have alerted the monster inside.”

Are any of their survivors still here?

Angelita's question quickly turned into a counter-question. Here, only that corpse was still telling their story; as for the others, they were probably no longer able to hear this question.

“Luckily they didn’t actually drop the bomb,” von Dahl wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and looked around at the structure. “Those cultists definitely didn’t take good care of this place. The structure is completely dilapidated. If it had really exploded, half of the hotel would probably have collapsed.”

"But the most important thing is this hole. If we do it the way I do, we definitely won't find it."

"I should have put the Daylight spell on my sword..." Daisy pursed her lips, genuinely distressed about her magic power. Maintaining such a powerful illumination spell consumed just as much as those destructive spells, but against that unfathomable cave, no matter how bright it was, it would still be insufficient without a portable light source.

“What would happen if we opened up the top of this wall?” Leslaufer stood at the entrance and examined it from both inside and out. “The tunnel behind the wall is high enough. If we could knock down this section of the wall, the lighting should be much better.”

“But it still can’t turn, especially this kind of bend,” von Dahl nodded, then shook his head. “Dwarves have dealt with many underground monsters, and their tunnels are usually rugged and treacherous. Light will eventually run out.”

This magical darkness, though fragile, renders ordinary light ineffective; only magic can defeat magic. To create a situation where enemies flee in terror, the same spell must be used again. But then…

“Let’s begin, one more time,” Leslaufer finally decided. “After that, we just need to minimize our consumption. Now that we know that light is their weakness, we have no reason to give up on it.”

Daisy nodded, and soon, as the source of the dazzling light behind her suddenly went out, another illumination spell, though seemingly slightly dimmer, was applied to the greatsword in Raslaufer's hand.

Light flowed gently like water through the tunnel behind the hole in the wall. Leslaufer walked in front, carefully examining the walls on both sides and above, not missing a single crack.

He and Angelita had been attacked by a group of chokehold monsters hiding in the walls before. If the same carelessness were to happen a second time in a different place, it would be far too careless.

Perhaps there was no trace of the chokehold monster here, or perhaps they simply didn't find an opportunity to attack. In any case, the group didn't encounter any danger until they turned the fourth corner.

“Such intense light is a nightmare and poison for creatures accustomed to living underground,” the dwarf squinted slightly. Although he had lived on the surface for many years, being so close to the light source still made him subconsciously uncomfortable. “If they don’t escape in time, they might be blinded.”

"However, we've covered quite a distance, so why haven't we seen those Black Knights yet? If they're still alive and in danger, they should notice our lights soon and come closer to us, right?"

Feng Dahl looked around, tapping the walls on either side with his fingers: "Both sides are solid, so it's unlikely you'll get lost if you just follow one path... Aha!"

As the dwarves shouted excitedly, at the edge of the darkness that had just been dispelled by the light, a figure crouched on the ground with his back to the group, deep in thought. However, right above his head, a huge purple-striped spider was silently climbing over the uneven tunnel ceiling, its six eyes seemingly fixed on its prey.

"Hey, buddy!" Seeing this situation, von Dahl had no reason to stand idly by, so he immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "It's dangerous over there, get out of there and come here!"

"Keep your head down and walk quickly, don't—"

Chapter 328 Monster Attack

When people encounter danger, observing their surroundings is almost an instinctive subconscious reaction, let alone in such an underground environment. Even reminders from acquaintances cannot correct this habit, let alone when a dwarf suddenly appears to remind them what to do and what not to do.

Therefore, before the dwarf's warning had even finished, the figure had already raised its head and was now face to face with the spider!

Fortunately, Raslaufer and the others were not just in the habit of giving verbal warnings. The moment they saw the man and the hunter who was trying to catch him, Raslaufer and Angelita rushed out at the same time. The moment they saw the spider on the top of the head, a flaming arrow hit the spider's head almost simultaneously.

The beast's entire focus was on its prey, and by the time it sensed danger approaching, it was too late to escape. A strange hiss erupted from its mandibles, and with a sudden burst of energy from its eight limbs, it abandoned its prey and leaped straight towards Angelita!

However, how could Raslaufer disregard Angelita's safety? At the same time as the spider's movement, Doppler also leaped up, and in his hands, the speed at which he swung the blade of his two-handed greatsword was clearly faster than the spider's mouthparts and limbs!

A sound like shattering porcelain suddenly rang out in the cave. A man and a spider passed each other in mid-air. However, when Raslaufer landed, there was only a white mark on his shoulder armor, while the purple-striped spider scattered and fell down. All four segments of its right side were cut off, and half of its head and half of its abdomen rolled independently on the ground.

If it weren't for the fact that insects' nervous systems differ somewhat from those of ordinary creatures, this single sword strike would have been enough to kill it. However, even as it landed, the spider instinctively swung its other half of its limbs, attempting to tear at Angrita, but the latter wouldn't give it that chance. The long sword pierced through its carapace, and after a final, intense spasm, the faintly glowing purple markings on the spider's body finally dimmed.

“What a fierce big guy,” Raslaw flicked the white mark on his shoulder armor with his finger, dragging his greatsword straight toward the person. “Hey, are you alright?”

The impact of that creature, much larger than a normal giant spider, went beyond that; the immense force left his arm joints numb. If it had been someone else, it's likely that this wouldn't be the spider lying scattered on the ground.

The man, already terrified by the near-fatal scene, collapsed to the ground. Seeing Raslauver approaching, he hastily scrambled backward on all fours, as if afraid Raslauver would tear his limbs off as well. If it weren't for the solid rock wall behind him, and the fact that he wasn't a pangolin, he might have leaped all the way to West Inazumas in that brief moment.

"Calm down!" Just as the man's fear was about to reach its limit, and his mind was on the verge of collapse, Leslaufer suddenly shouted, rushing forward and slapping him across the face. "There's nothing to be afraid of! The monster that was going to kill you is already dead!"

This set of actions seemed to have worked; the man raised his hand to cover his swollen cheek, but his eyes, conversely, became clear.

"You...you didn't come here to kill me?"

"Nonsense, otherwise you would be dead if I slapped you like that." Leslaufer snorted, looking the man up and down. "What are you doing here? What are you doing here?"

"Me? I'm... I'm a member of the Black Knight Order who just came down!" The man, still somewhat disoriented, hesitated for a moment before hurriedly shouting, "You beat me up upstairs, don't you remember?"

Leslaufer narrowed his eyes, but unfortunately, he had just attacked again, so it was impossible to tell whether the other person was one of the members who had been beaten up before: "Why are you alone? Where are your armor and weapons? Where is your judge?"

"Armor...weapons?" The man struggled to his feet, seemingly desperately searching his memory. "That's right! The Inquisitor! He and the others were also attacked by that monster. We have to go save them quickly!"

"My equipment... my equipment was completely corroded by that thing's acid. I had no choice but to retreat here and wait, but they've been gone for a long time, and no one has come back yet..."

"Acid? Can you describe what that monster looks like?" Vondar asked. "Is it some kind of cave spider?"

“No…it’s definitely not a spider. It looks like some kind of lizard, or maybe a snake or a crocodile or something,” the man described dejectedly. “The monster had so many limbs that it was impossible to count them all. When it charged out, a whole bunch of heads almost blocked the entire tunnel. Let me think…maybe eight, or maybe seven!”