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The beam from the flashlight illuminated the thick darkness in the deepest part of the secret room.
At the end of the light beam was a corner.
There, there were no torture devices, no bloodstains, only a pile of... white, round things.
When Leon and Noah saw clearly what they were, the hearts of these two battle-hardened men went cold.
It was a pile of skulls.
Large and small, layered one upon another, they formed a small, pale hillock.
Judging by the size of the skulls and the bone sutures that had not yet fully closed, their owners were all just children.
The oldest was no more than ten years old.
The smallest was even still in swaddling clothes.
The stench in the secret room seemed to find its source at this moment.
The muzzle of the shotgun in Leon's hand slowly lowered. He didn't speak, nor did he make any unnecessary movements. But Noah could feel that this usually expressive man beside him was currently turning into a volcano about to erupt.
Noah stepped forward and crouched down.
His fingers gently brushed over one of the smallest skulls, wiping away the accumulated dust.
"It seems..."
His voice was very soft,
"The village's children are all here..."
Leon, furious to the extreme, appeared increasingly calm instead.
He turned around without a word and strode out of this tomb that buried a village's future.
Noah stood up, took one last look at the small hill built from the bones of the innocent, and followed him.
The two walked silently through the dark passages beneath the church.
Damp, cold, and dark.
The sound of dripping water came from the cracks in the rock walls, sounding like the never-ending sobbing of dead souls.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it made it hard to breathe.
Noah looked at Leon's tense back and suddenly spoke up.
"Want a cigarette?"
Leon's footsteps paused.
Noah's voice followed immediately.
"I don't have any anyway."
Leon was stunned for a moment.
He slowly turned around, looking at Noah's blurred silhouette in the darkness.
A few seconds later.
"Pfft..."
A repressed laugh squeezed out of his throat.
He took a heavy breath, and the murderous aura that had been bottled up in his chest, almost making him explode, strangely vented out with that laugh.
"Thanks, man."
Leon's voice was still a bit raspy, but his tense shoulders relaxed.
"I feel much better."
They continued forward.
After passing through the long and winding tomb passage, the way ahead suddenly opened up.
They stepped out of the mountain and onto a precarious, simple plank path built of rotting wood on the cliff face.
Beneath them was a bottomless, pitch-black abyss. Strong winds howled up from the valley floor, making the wooden boards creak as if they would fall apart at any moment.
Before they could get far,
"Waaaah!"
Over a dozen figures rushed out from the shadows at both ends of the plank path, howling.
It was the Villager guarding this place.
They brandished torches and farm tools, looking half-crazed.
Leon and Noah glanced at each other, not even bothering to raise their guns.
A villager raised an axe high and swung it at Leon's head. Leon dodged to the side, grabbed the man's wrist with his left hand, and pushed his back with his right hand.
"Aaaargh—!"
The villager let out a short, shrill scream as he tumbled off the plank path and was instantly swallowed by the abyss.
Another villager lunged at Noah from the side.
Noah didn't even look at him. Just as the opponent approached, he lowered his center of gravity and delivered a clean Mountain Lean, tossing the villager—who was taller than him—over his shoulder like trash and into the ten-thousand-foot abyss.
The two didn't pause for a second, walking one after the other along the narrow plank path as if taking a stroll in a courtyard.
Every villager who lunged at them was sent down the cliff one by one in the most concise, efficient, and polite manner.
When they crossed that rickety cliffside path, the whole world became quiet.
Ahead was a massive, brightly lit area.
The Quarry.
Countless searchlights lit the entire Quarry as bright as day. Various massive excavation machines stood silently in place like the skeletons of prehistoric beasts.
Eerily, there wasn't a single person inside.
Only the whistling sound of the wind blowing through the massive machinery remained.
The two cautiously entered the Quarry, and soon, their path was blocked.
It was a giant gate ten meters high, made of countless massive logs joined together like an ancient city gate.
The gate was held firmly shut by a massive bolt as thick as a water bucket.
"Hooo... shooo..."
"Hooo... shooo..."
A heavy, rhythmic snoring sound, like rolling thunder, was faintly coming from behind the giant gate.
Every time that sound echoed, the ground vibrated slightly.
Leon looked up at the exaggeratedly large gate, listened to the non-human snoring, and swallowed hard.
"Is there... a mountain giant sleeping inside?"
Noah also looked up. He remembered the contents of that diary and the massive skull that belonged to a 'child.'
"Perhaps..." His answer made Leon's spine tingle, "it's that seventeen-month-old 'little friend'..."
Leon: "..."
The two looked at each other, both seeing the same thought in the other's reaction.
Let's get out of here.
"Then we... should probably leave quickly..."
Leon decisively gave up on the idea of passing through here.
Was he joking? Waking up a giant infant that could eat an entire village clean? They were here to save people, not to deliver a midnight snack to a monster.
Following the map's instructions, the two immediately found an entrance below the Quarry leading to a deeper cavern.
The cavern was dark and damp, filled with strangely shaped stalactites.
Deep within the cavern, they saw that familiar eerie blue flame again.
A figure wearing a deep blue robe and a purple mask stood quietly by a burning campfire, as if he had been waiting for a long time.
Beside him sat an open, massive wooden crate, filled with a dazzling array of weapons and goods.
It was that mysterious Merchant.
Or rather, one of his 'brothers.'
Seeing the two approach, the Merchant didn't speak immediately, only tilting his head as if sizing them up.
Noah took out the blue enamel badge from his coat.
When the Merchant saw the badge, a hint of obvious joy immediately entered his raspy voice.
"Ah, a high-quality customer! Hehehe..."
He nodded approvingly. "It seems my brother has already had a pleasant transaction with you two."
"We have some things we want to sell to you," Noah said, getting straight to the point.
"Of course, of course!" The Merchant rubbed his hands, his eyes hidden in the shadows gleaming with anticipation. "I love buying all sorts of 'goodies'!"
Noah brought out the extremely luxurious gold and jewel-encrusted mask he had obtained from the factory safe.
When the mask, shining with brilliant light, appeared in the dark cavern, the entire space seemed to be illuminated for a moment.
"Ooooh—!"
The Merchant let out an exclamation like a hungry wolf seeing a fat sheep.
He snatched the mask away, cradling it in his hands and turning it over and over to look at it, even biting the edge of the gold with his teeth, producing a crisp 'clink.'
His obsessed look was ten times more exaggerated than when he had seen the spinels and emeralds before.
"A masterpiece! Truly a work of art! Hehehe..." He tucked the mask into his robes with lingering affection, then waved his hand grandly. "Generous gentlemen, my shelves are open to you! Take your pick!"
After a round of trading,
Leon now held a brand new, compact, and fierce-looking tmp submachine gun.
He also obtained a revolver with a silver-shining frame and an exaggeratedly large caliber.
The broken butterfly.
The power of this gun was far beyond even his previously modified shotgun.
Noah obtained a semi-automatic sniper rifle equipped with a high-magnification scope.
In addition, the Merchant 'threw in' several flashbangs, fragmentation grenades, a full box of specialized sniper rifle bullets, and two extremely rare boxes of golden magnum ammo.
They then used the Peseta coins they had scavenged along the way to purchase a full four hundred rounds of submachine gun ammo from the Merchant.
Their backpacks instantly became heavy.
Their firepower had received an epic upgrade.
With the transaction complete, the Merchant seemed extremely satisfied with this haul.
"Hehehe, to thank my two generous customers..."
He pulled a brand new badge from his robes and tossed it to Noah.
It was a silver badge, more complex in design than the previous blue one, with clearer symbols and a faint glow.
"Take it."
The Merchant's voice carried a subtle weight of solemnity.
"This is an Advanced Membership Badge, hehehe... With it, you can buy more and better things from us..."
His laughter echoed through the hollow cavern... As they climbed the passage leading out of the underground cave, a strong wind carrying the scent of moisture hit them in the face.
Noah and Leon stepped out of the narrow mountain. Below them was a ten-thousand-foot abyss, and above was a gloomy sky.
A plank path built with rotting wood on the cliff face extended outward.
The wooden boards let out a creaking wail, and the abyss below seemed like a gaping maw, swallowing all light.
"Where are we?" Leon asked in a low voice.
"According to the map, this should be a cliff not far from the Lake," Noah replied.
They moved cautiously along the plank path. The wind tore at their clothes. At the end of the path, an open platform appeared. From here, one could overlook the entire Lake. The surface of the water was shimmering in the wind.
"Look over there." Noah raised his hand.
Leon looked in the direction Noah was pointing. A motorboat was traveling across the Lake, leaving a white arc on the water's surface.
"What are they up to?" Leon muttered to himself.
Two Villager were sitting on the motorboat. They were looking around as if searching for something. When the boat reached the middle of the Lake, it stopped. The two Villager lifted something wrapped in canvas from the cabin.
"What's that?" Leon's brow furrowed.
The two raised their binoculars. In the field of vision, the Villager' movements became clear. The canvas-wrapped object was thrown into the Lake.
"What are they doing? So suspicious," Leon said, somewhat puzzled.
Before he could finish his sentence, the surface of the Lake suddenly surged. The calm water exploded, and a massive shadow burst out from the depths. A giant head broke the surface, and a foul stench seemed to reach them even from this distance. It was a massive Salamander, at least twenty meters long, its body covered in hard scales.
"Holy crap, what the hell is that!" Leon exclaimed.
The two Villager were terrified, their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. They scrambled back into the motorboat. The boat started up and sped toward the shore as if flying. The giant Salamander on the Lake let out a deafening roar, its massive body churning the water.
"That's one big fellow..." Noah pulled back his binoculars.
He pointed to a Boathouse in the distance across the Lake, where there was an altar marker. "That should be the Great Grotto Altar. So..."
"So we have to take out the big guy in the Lake." Leon took over, his expression turning grim. "Do you have any crazy ideas?"
"What do you mean by crazy ideas?" Noah countered.
"Call it whatever you want." Leon waved his hand. "As long as it works. We need to think carefully about how to deal with that big guy."
Noah observed the surroundings. A massive castle complex loomed in the distance. Its silhouette appeared even more towering in the twilight.
"Want to go explore the castle later?" Noah suggested.
"No!" Leon refused without a second thought. "I don't! Let's just finish the mission and get back quickly."
The corners of Noah's mouth curled up.
"Do you like fishing?"
"No," Leon shook his head. "I never catch anything... wait... you mean..."
Noah smiled but didn't say anything, leaving Leon's question unanswered.
"Hey!" Leon patted Noah's shoulder. "Stop being so mysterious. If you have an idea, just say it."
Noah only showed a mischievous grin.
"Why do I feel like this big fellow is a bit pitiful?" Leon asked, puzzled, as he looked at the giant Salamander on the Lake.
"Do you have some way to make it..." Leon didn't finish his sentence.
"We can find a fishing spot," Noah said, interrupting Leon. "Then, using its favorite bait, we'll 'fish' it out of the water."
"Fishing?" Leon was confused. "Where are we going to get bait?"
"Since it's a man-eating Salamander." Noah turned and walked back the way they came. "Then we'll find its favorite 'bait'."
Leon's whole body shuddered as he suddenly understood what Noah meant. Looking at Noah's back, he instinctively felt a chill.
"Wait a minute," Leon called out, "you're not planning to..."
Noah didn't turn back, his voice coming from ahead: "What else? Do you have a better idea?"
Leon's face scrunched up. He looked at the giant Salamander churning the Lake, then at Noah's back. This clearly wasn't his favorite way of solving things.
"A thing like that shouldn't like eating human flesh, right?" Leon muttered to himself.
Noah stopped in his tracks.
"Why do you think it drags people into the water?"
Leon froze.
"Why do you think those Villager throw tourists into the Lake?" Noah continued. "Do you think we'll get any good results if we just charge in there?"
Leon fell silent. He followed Noah and continued walking.
"What kind of 'bait' are we looking for?" Leon asked.
"A 'bait' with enough weight to make it take the hook," Noah replied.
Leon shook his head: "I don't like fishing..."
The two fell into silence again.
Noah turned around, the sound of his footsteps on the narrow plank path becoming somewhat faint in the howling wind.
"What else? Do you have a better idea?"
Leon watched Noah's receding back, then looked back at the Lake surging with waves from the giant beast's movements, and finally followed him while grumbling under his breath.
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