Chapter 946: The Cult's Rabbit Hole

Chapter 946: The Cult's Rabbit Hole



A little bit ago, and far back at Croc's city's outskirts, Jack, Pin and the murder paladins made their way across the swamp's edge, following the faint demonic trail of magic until they

reached a massive boulder shrouded with moss and vines.

The musty smell of the swamp's 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 Jack's 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 can't 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, we're 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 demon's cult hideout. Pin is certain..." She giggled, looking back at the paladins with a sadistic grin, "A demon lord won't care about the classes of his followers. Even if this was indeed a druid's grove, it's already been tainted by the demon lord's influence. Don't underestimate the severing queen's 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."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Pin stared at them, "This man had fought alongside Arad, the lady's powerful husband." She glared back at them, "Pin is certain, he's skilled." She tapped Jack on the back of his head, "Let's go, they'll follow after us."

The paladins didn't 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 won't 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 I've seen this big sister was showing it to me. It's a massive trap that can be created only inside caves."

Pin looked at the walls. She wasn't a native of the mortal world so she couldn't 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, "It's a death trap. We'll 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, it'll 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, it's like a hot spring. If they didn't build something to vent it out periodically, it might overflow to the main chambers. Or worse, once someone triggers it, there'll be too much gas that it'll cause a massive explosion and collapse the whole cave system." Jack smiled, "I'll check the geography of the location and try to figure out

possible vents."