Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 328: Basement

Chapter 328: Basement

The Grand Hall was previously a disorganized graveyard. Bodies were strewn everywhere without meaning, instances of death coming without warning. Bodies were crushed under the weight of the chandeliers or hurled into the wall of paintings. Hearts crushed, a form-armed body standing till death. Now, the bodies were laid with purpose. Knife marks created after the matter and electrocution. Someone had arranged them too obviously.

Perfect.

Over twenty Whispers jogged about, adjusting everything as Daughter saw fit. She sat on the floor, yawning, her back to Dasha. Not having glanced at him, she beckoned him over.

"What do you think, Ripper? Are these bodies placed well enough?"

"I am impressed," Dasha replied. "Roland Blackwood will know someone had changed them."

Wounds were mismatched. Those that were killed by his fists were seemingly killed by the electric arrows of an archer.

"I’m impressed you’ve kept this a secret for so long. Haven’t the friends, family, betters, or weapon sponsors come yet?"

"They have. Some were killed. Others were convinced by El Naddaha to go back."

Dasha’s gaze swept over the area. Strangely, he found a mismatch with his own memories. "Who are they?" Near the front were seven bodies that he could not identify. That was not possible. Dasha remembered every individual he fought no matter how minor.

"Raoul’s elite squad. They returned and we couldn’t stop them. They were practically as strong as Raoul himself."

"When did they come?"

"This morning."

"You killed them?"

"I personally executed them, yes."

Dasha eyed her from the corner of his vision. Daughter wasn’t sitting because she was exhausted. It was a habit. Nothing more, nothing less. ’Seven Raouls and she does not have a scratch on her.’

"You have Arrow Zhou’s key, I hope?"

"I do."

"Hand it over." Daughter lazily lifted a palm. "I need it."

Dasha had no use for it and put it down. Daughter yawned, stretched her arms high, and got up. The tip of her thumb suddenly split up with a cut. Blood fell in thick strands. She materialized a magic circle from the red essence, twisting her own dripping blood and drawing a hieroglyphic of a griffin inside the freshly made circle.

No incarnations were necessary. She summoned a dozen miniature griffins who proceeded to zoom around the Grand Hall. One griffin appeared on her shoulder and she gave it specific instructions. "Keep watch from above. Make sure to let El Naddaha know whenever an ordinary person is coming."

The griffin purred as she stroked its chin, then nodded and flew off. Daughter put her arms behind her and quietly surged with magical energy. Her bare feet lifted off the floor and like a deity she flew to the second floor. Dasha jumped and joined her. Even as they walked to Raoul’s office, her feet never touched the ground.

The door to Raoul’s office was already torn open. The baby phoenix was gone. On the way, he noticed many of the doors were open and the monsters caged inside had disappeared too.

"This is what I wanted to show you." A giant magic circle was imprinted underneath the desk of the dead Guild Master. Daughter floated toward it. With a finger, the desk was moved aside. "Don’t you find it interesting that the Monster Hunters who famously disliked Wizards and Sorcerers had a complex magic circle like this?"

Dasha followed and stared. This was not here last. ’The circle’s outer layer seems to include symbols to hide the circle from any eye. I wonder how Daughter found it then.’

"They opted not to establish a Magical Territory yet paid to have this," Daughter continued. "They’re hiding something."

"It’s a ritual," Dasha stated. The outermost layers were to hide it. The inner layers were to establish something else. "Ten holes. Ten keys."

"Precisely. Two were kept by the Guild Master. One was kept by Arrow Zhou, his right-hand man, and the remaining seven were held by the elite squad that I killed today." Daughter began tossing the keys into the air. Without exception, their descent curved them toward the intended gap. She tossed two keys at a time.

The final two keys were Raoul’s. The keys were supposed to be placed at the center. Daughter did just that and the magic circle glowed once, twice, three times, and the floor of the magic circle terraformed into a staircase.

"A secret underground place. Now that’s more like it." Daughter smiled. Like a snake, she slithered through the air and went down. Dasha was fine being five steps behind.

The walk was very long and dark. No light was granted until Dasha activated Fire Finger. Daughter flew through the air and down through the passage like a mermaid swam in water.

They went deep, deep underground. Deep, deep into the darkness. That was what it felt like. They were inching toward something they were not supposed to. After what felt like a brief glimpse into eternity, they reached the bottom. The staircase opened into a vast, cavernous chamber, its boundaries obscured by the darkness.

Dasha’s Fire Finger cast an eerie orange light across the chamber and found a massive cage. The bars were twice as thick as any human and the shadows hid whatever was inside. Daughter flew over fast. Dasha was slower, caution reigning him back.

An overwhelming sense of coldness emanated from the cage. The light pushed back the shadows. Laying there, dead, was a mountain.

No, not a mountain.

A serpentine head so vast in size that Dasha’s Qi Sense could not scan it all. What he could see were dark green scales either mossy or polished like obsidian in the firelight. He looked up.

The eyes.

The eye sockets were with no eyes and larger than Yaegaki Shrine thriceover. Carved out and hollow, evil oozed out and the sensation of death staring Dasha Pang in the soul struck like an undeniable tsunami. Some scales were clipped to unveil black flesh. This mountain of a serpentine was unmistakably dead and yet the aura it exuded was unbearably malevolent.

So malevolent that Jack the Ripper’s mask shook as though it was in awe.

The light flickered.

"It’s Yamato-no-orochi," Daughter breathed out. "They kept its skull."