Chapter 558: Sin and Sin

Kemisi stared, stunned. Doug, the Rat-man who had tyrannized the Wriggly Zone for years, was dead on the ground, just like that.

The Little Snake Maiden was dumbfounded, too. Her stunned expression was remarkably innocent and cute, but it was mostly filled with satisfaction.

“Why did you kill him?” Kemisi asked instinctively.

‘Fucking idiot!’ The Lord was so exasperated he almost laughed. “If I hadn’t killed him, was I supposed to wait for him to kill you?”

“Don’t be a fool. Think about everything he’s done to you. If I weren’t here, it’s obvious he was going to come for you tonight.”

If he wasn’t worried about damaging the trust he had just managed to build with them, the Lord couldn’t have been bothered to explain.

Kemisi was a classic case of someone who had been oppressed for so long that he wouldn’t fight back unless backed into a corner, preferring to stick to the established order.

“Ah… ah…” The Little Snake Maiden stammered, clearly trying to say the words “serves him right.”

A few hooded, black-robed Snake-men emerged from a cave behind them. After a curious glance in their direction, they immediately lowered their heads and scurried away.

People died every day in the Wriggly Zone. To them, it was a common sight, nothing worth gawking at.

“See? This world is survival of the fittest. The weaker you are, the more people will want to bully you.” Levi patted Kemisi’s shoulder before heading toward a nearby cave entrance.

Kemisi stared at the small knife in his hand. As if in a daze, he seemed to grasp something and quickly hurried after Levi.

…

The Dungeon was situated in a massive subterranean cavern.

The towering stone dome alone was nearly a hundred meters high, making it feel like they had walked into the belly of a Giant Beast. Spanning the cavern was a city built entirely of black stone.

The pitch-black city walls, dozens of meters high, were covered in unknown ancient patterns. Red-backed flags bore the embroidery of a bizarre creature that looked like a mash-up of countless different animals.

Here, the only things illuminating the cavern were the glowing mushrooms on the surrounding cliffs.

Simple, slanted, triangular houses built from wood were scattered as far as the eye could see, stopping abruptly about five hundred meters from the Dungeon, as if separated by an invisible boundary.

‘Frankly, it’s far more magnificent than I imagined.’

‘I thought it would just be a bunch of caves dug into the ground to live in, but I never expected there’d be an entire city hidden down here.’

Their destination was clearly not the city itself. At the gate stood a group of burly brutes on guard duty, each over two meters tall, with skyward-pointing horns, cat ears, and four arms.

They were bare-chested, showing off impressive muscles that looked as if they were forged from Fine Steel. A thick, long, yellow-and-black-striped tail, like a steel whip, swayed lazily behind each of them.

The arrival of Levi and Fatir didn’t cause any ripples, as people in hoods like them were a dime a dozen here.

Weaving through the crowded, triangular wooden huts, Fatir couldn’t help but cover her nose.

The stench of dead fish left to rot in the sun for days assaulted her nostrils, almost making her gag.

She scanned her surroundings, but her eyes went wide when her gaze fell upon a dark, cramped corner.

A curvaceous woman was pressed against a wall, clutching a small pouch she had just received. Her faded red dress was hiked up as a skinny figure humped against her from behind.

Just as Fatir tried to get a closer look, a hand covered her eyes and turned her head away.

“That’s not for innocent eyes. Less staring.” The Lord casually wrapped an arm around Fatir’s slender waist as they followed Kemisi, asking curiously, “So, you claim your eyes are covered, yet you still manage to see so clearly. How?”

“Levi, you must learn to see the world with your spirit,” Fatir said softly, not looking back at the scene. “It sees more, and more truly, than your eyes.”

‘So this must be the Wriggly Zone Kemisi mentioned. Chaos, stench, debauchery… that’s the order of the day here. No different from the slums in Gonda.’

“The Wriggly Zone is almost completely lawless,” Kemisi chimed in. “As long as too many people don’t die at once, the Night Wanderers from the Dungeon won’t bother to show up.”

He’d had time to think. Doug was dead, and that was that. No one was going to care about a single Rat-man dying in some corner.

With so many people in the Wriggly Zone, it was unlikely anyone would even notice he was gone. Before long, his corpse would be devoured.

“Are those guards at the city gate the Night Wanderers?” Levi asked curiously.

‘Setting all else aside, these warriors guarding the gate were truly magnificent specimens. As someone who appreciated beautiful women, money, and magnificent men, the Lord couldn’t help but feel a sense of mutual admiration.’

“No, they’re the Blood Warriors.” The young Snake-man’s face was full of envy. “They cultivate the Bloodline Combat Technique granted by the Divine Lord. They’re the strongest Samurai and the personal guard of the Night Wanderers, responsible for protecting the entire Dungeon.”

“We’re here. This is where my sister and I live.”

Soon, the group arrived at the base of a massive boulder. A simple house had been built against it, no different from the surrounding dwellings, with one exception: the stench was noticeably fainter here.

Levi noticed that everyone living here was a Snake-man like Kemisi. ‘It seems these Divine Servants are segregated by district,’ he mused.

The Snake-men here clearly knew Kemisi, and upon seeing him bring two outsiders, they all cast inquisitive glances in their direction.