Chapter 2056 - 551: Far Beyond the Demon King's Expectations_2

They were piled carelessly in the corners of the walls, like kitchen scraps.

"Those Demons!" Theresa couldn't help but curse, forced to raise the back of her hand to cover her mouth and nose so she wouldn't vomit on the spot.

"Saint Sis above… I can hardly believe this is something that happened in the Second Epoch." A Walking Knight let out a sigh he couldn't contain, silently tracing a cross over his chest, trying not to let his Spirit be shaken.

It was different from the slaughter on a battlefield.

There were no signs of struggle here.

At least on those most conspicuous corpses, there were no wounds left by any kind of fight.

"I fear even the Demons of Hell would find this… too blasphemous." Luo Yan tossed out a remark full of implication, then snapped his fingers. Countless vines stretched out from the walls, temporarily shrouding that mountain of corpses and sea of bones.

Forcing themselves through both physical and mental revulsion, the group skirted around that Flesh and Blood Altar and continued deeper into the rear.

After passing through a narrow, elongated passageway, the space before them suddenly opened wide.

Luo Yan flicked the Magic Wand in his hand. A gust of hot wind swept along the walls, soundless and unseen, and silently relit the torches around the chamber that had long since been extinguished.

When the light illuminated this vast underground hollow, the Knights from Campbell were once again stunned by the sight that met their eyes.

The dim torchlight revealed a scene like a pigsty, a vision straight out of Purgatory as depicted in the Holy Word Book.

Countless crudely built wooden cages were stacked layer upon layer along both sides of the cavern, all the way up to the dome. The bars of the cages were smeared with black filth and grease, as if gripped over and over by innumerable filthy hands.

What was locked in the cages were not beasts.

They were living Ryan people.

According to the survivors in the Refugee Camp, most of them were refugees driven out of Roland City during the great fire last Winter Moon.

They were naked from head to toe, crammed into the cramped space like livestock, making it nearly impossible to tell male from female. Their eyes were uniformly hollow, as if all light had been drawn out of them.

Many bodies were riddled with severe ulcers and skin diseases, the product of enduring an extremely foul environment for a long time.

Some had broken legs, the wounds already suppurating; others were missing fingers, the stumps crusted over with black scabs, clearly severely infected.

When the group bearing torches appeared at the entrance of the cavern, the cheers they had expected did not come.

On the contrary, the people instinctively curled up and clutched their heads like frightened cockroaches, desperately burrowing beneath their companions' bodies.

A few pressed up against the cage bars, apparently with nowhere to hide, began to kneel out of conditioned reflex, banging their heads madly toward Luo Yan and the others.

"Don't, don't kill me… I remember now, I still have two sons, let me write them one more letter! I beg you, give me another chance!"

"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you!"

"Master! Spare me, I'll never dare again!"

The people here were so far gone in despair they could not even shout for help.

Once the dignity of being Human had been stripped clean from them, what remained seemed to be only an animal's instincts.

Looking at these fellow beings who had been broken and domesticated like cattle, Erin felt a chill in her hands and feet, and a cold that seeped all the way into her Soul.

"Who did this!"

One Knight couldn't help stepping forward, his teeth grinding audibly. But his movement terrified the people in the cages, triggering a twisted commotion.

Luo Yan set his hand on the shoulder of that flustered Knight and spoke in a restrained tone.

"Calm down. They don't know any more than the ones who managed to escape. We don't need to squeeze the last drop of information out of them… let them go."

The Knight's throat bobbed, and in the end he loosened his clenched fist, lowering his head and retreating back into the line.

Luo Yan chanted a Spell, and milky-white radiance burst from the tip of his staff, sweeping across the entire cavern in an instant.

The warm light, like a belated spring breeze, smoothed over both fresh and old wounds, and allowed those terrified people to finally regain a sliver of composure… at least they no longer wasted what little strength they had left.

Lowering his Magic Wand, he looked to Erin.

"Their injuries are grave. I've stabilized them for now, but the follow-up treatment will have to be handled by professional Priests and physicians."

Erin nodded lightly, her voice somewhat hoarse.

"Thank you."

Luo Yan lowered his gaze.

"Don't mention it."

Theresa swept her gaze around, taking in the massive spiderwebs scattered across the ground and the viscous traces of arthropods clinging to the bars, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

"Strange…"

Hearing Theresa's voice, Erin immediately walked over.

"Did you find something?"

"Mm."

Theresa nodded slightly, pinching her chin with her forefinger as she pondered.

"If this place really was attacked by Earth Cave Spiders, then why did the spiders finish off all the rats, yet leave these Humans alone?"

The group exchanged glances, clearly sensing this was a point of suspicion as well.

Luo Yan didn't answer.

It was indeed a flaw in the story, but… what did it have to do with Prince Colin?

He, too, wore a puzzled expression and turned his gaze toward Sarah.

"Sarah, any ideas?"

Sarah was slightly taken aback.

"Forgive me, Your Highness, I…"

"Could it be because the spiders were full?"

Just as Luo Yan expected, a self-satisfied Knight stepped forward. After a brief hesitation, he ventured his own guess.

"After all, there were so many Ratmen corpses outside, or maybe they chased the fleeing Ratmen somewhere else and didn't have time to bother with these 'reserves.'"

Erin looked to Colin, instinctively seeking his counsel. Luo Yan, meanwhile, only shrugged, his expression calm as he spoke.