The barn door made a creaking sound when Erlan pushed it open. That same long annoying sound that old wood always makes, like telling you that you shouldn't be here.
Erlan ignored the growing feeling in his gut as he entered, in contrast to what he was expecting, the inside was darker than it should have been, it wasn't completely pitch black but it was dim enough that your eyes needed a second to adjust to it.
Nothing jumped at them when they stepped him, no sound, no movement, just an emptiness that wouldn't go away.
And as he expected, the barn was clean, almost too clean. The hay was neatly stacked at the sides, the tools were hanging on the walls. There was no mess, nothing was broken, no signs of a fight or breaking in.
Mirea's head suddenly popped out behind him as she hugged his shoulder like she was afraid he might disappear or something.
She was so close that her cheek was pressing into his back which made Erlan twitched.
He turned his head a little and looked at her with a deadpan face. "…What the fuck are you doing?"
She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look, I'm just a girl, you know. I am allowed to be scared."
Erlan almost vomited blood on the spot.
Yeah of course, she was just a girl, a girl who could throw him across the barn if she felt like it. She could snap his neck and he wouldn't even feel a thing.
"Dumb head," he muttered. "You're like ten times stronger than me."
She snorted and ignored him, staying exactly where she was. Infact she hugged him even tighter as they both stepped forward.
He was about to say more, but the words died in his throat instantly. His expression changed rapidly and the joking mood, the complaining and their usual bullshit all vanished.
Mirea noticed it immediately.
"…What is it?" she asked in a low voice.
Erlan didn't answer right away, his nose twitched, his body shook a bit in response. Then he slowly turned his head and looked back at her, his face a bit pale.
"…I smell blood," he said.
"…Human blood."
Mirea's body shivered instantly.
She knew even if Erlan couldn't cultivate anymore, even if his cultivation was broken, his senses were still strange, sharper than normal. It has always being like that so if he said he smelled blood, then there was no "maybe".
There was blood.
And it was somewhere close.
"Stay behind me," he said without thinking much, It just came out naturally even tho he didn't have the power to do anything.
He took a step forward and that was when it hit him. The smell was not just blood, it had a rotting smell to it, a heavy sweet and disgusting stench that sticks to his nose and refuses to leave. That kind of smell that makes your stomach twists even though you don't want it to.
Erlan's face turned ugly, the worst part of it was that he could already see where it was coming from. Mirea could see it too.
Behind one of the neatly stacked piles of hay, something was sticking out, a leg. It was just a leg but there was flies all around it, lots of them. They were buzzing around like they owned the place.
Erlan and Mirea looked at each other, neither of them spoke for a second. "…Stay here," Erlan said finally. "I will check it out."
Mirea swallowed and nodded.
This wasn't about who was stronger anymore. It was about who could handle seeing something like this without breaking down, someone that could see whatever was behind those hays without getting traumatized.
And yeah… that was probably him.
He took a deep breath, then he walked forward, each steps he took was heavier that it should be and the smell only made things worse.
When he reached the haystack, he hesitated for just a second, then he grabbed the hay and pulled it aside.
And his brain kind of… stopped working. The leg was the only intact part, From the thighs up to the head there was almost nothing left.
The body looked like it had been torn apart by something that didn't just want to kill. It wanted to completely destroy, huge chunks of flesh was missing and the bones were exposed.
The chest was gone, and the face….? He turned his head away before he could even see it, he had seen enough.
His stomach lurched.
"…This…" he muttered. "This looks like a beast went completely crazy on him…"
Whatever attacked him was not normal because it was just hunting for food, this was a massacre and it enjoyed it.
Erlan clenched his fists in anger. 'This is just inhuman'
"Mirea," he said, forcing his voice to stay steady. "I think we should get out of here."
When he turned around to Mirea he froze.
Mirea was still standing on the same spot he told her to stay, her arms were wrapped around herself like she was cold. But that wasn't what made his blood turn to ice….
It was what was behind her!