Descending into the belly of the beast, nothing but strange scratches kept appearing on the walls.

  During the unending march down the three-stories-long stairwell, their footsteps were the sole source of sound.

  Helped by Eden’s light, they finally arrived at the end, where a simple door waited to be opened.

  Olivia barely paused before pushing it open, leaving very little time for the others to prepare.

  Walking past the doorway, she sighed, her eyes surveying her surroundings.

  “I was expecting such a sight. Sadly, I fear you had the same idea, Keleanos.”

  Glancing over her shoulder, she was met by his own sigh.

  “You’re right. It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.”

  Keleanos blocked the entrance for a moment, acknowledging her claim.

  He walked forward and stopped next to her, his eyes fixed ahead.

  “Ugh…”

  Alice and Eden entered the brightly lit room, nearly blinded. They winced as the horrors within came into view.

  The other maids followed, each expressing varying degrees of disgust.

  Marisa and Laure couldn't help but turn their gazes away, while Claire was intently focused on the room, unable to process the awful things within.

  “There’s no sign of Yivern,” Keleanos said, sensing no hint of the Devourer’s presence.

  “That leaves us a moment to process the horrors around us.”

  Olivia took a step forward. Her foot landed on something brittle, which cracked and split beneath her heel.

  Glancing down, she noticed something white, as if bleached. It didn’t take long for her to understand.

  “Watch where you’re stepping. There are bones scattered on the ground.”

  She felt no concern for those already dead. She wasn’t here to save others.

  Except for Alice and Eden, the maids lined up along the entrance wall, waiting for their Master to proceed.

  Olivia moved to the left, while Keleanos took the right. Both maids chose someone to protect and exchanged a nod.

  The left side held fewer bones. Instead, pods of various sizes lined the area, containing dead human specimens. They hummed faintly as the green liquid within bubbled.

  “Are they dead?” Alice asked, a concerned frown on her face as she stared at the floating body of a man.

  “Most likely.”

  Olivia nodded, sweeping her gaze across the other pods. “This looks closer to guinea pigs than anything else.”

  Noticing the bloodshot eyes of the men and women suspended inside, she linked their state to the closest conclusion she could draw.

  “This is a testing ground for the drug. A sick and twisted laboratory where the Devourer worked.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  The words were almost spat out.

  Her hands clenched, and with uncontrolled strength, she threw her fist toward the container.

  But at the last moment, she set the brakes on her momentum and lightly bumped the glass.

  The pods shook, the liquid inside rippling violently from the impact—but the glass held.

  “You are correct about this place being the work of the Devourer.”

  Keleanos approached from behind, his eyes glued to the documents in his hands.

  “Creating the facility, working on the drug, finding test subjects… these documents have everything written on them.”

  He winced.

  “What sickens me is that it’s my mother’s writing all over them. All the knowledge used to make the drug seems to originate from her memories.”His jaw tightened, teeth gritting against one another.

  "The use of medicinal plants clearly comes from her knowledge, and it uses the most effective parts to mix its blood into the product." He pushed one paper aside and picked up the next.

  "It seems the drug is made to channel the energy of those who take it directly into its body. It resembles what Titania can do." He lifted his eyes to Olivia, who appeared deep in thought.

  "Like the soul link she made with Orion, right?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

  "Indeed." He placed the papers neatly on the table beside him instead of discarding them, his eyes lingering on the way the ink curled on the page.

  "We’ve lingered too long. Let’s move on." Olivia turned toward the back of the room.

  A light flickered above them, as if intentionally.

  While the rest of the room remained brightly lit, this section alone was steeped in shadow.

  The maids quickly regrouped around Olivia, cautiously scanning for movement, but nothing emerged.

  "Our friend is waiting. We can’t afford delays, can we?" Smirking, Olivia took the first step forward.

  They followed her in silence. Each time she passed beneath a light, the bulb popped, plunging the room further into darkness.

  What an ineffective way to try and intimidate us, she thought.

  At last, she reached the door and pushed it open without hesitation.

  The room beyond was unnaturally dark.

  Dark like a night without moon or stars.

  They couldn’t discern what lay inside, nor how far the space extended.

  All they knew was—

  "It’s here." Keleanos spoke with certainty, recalling the presence he had sensed earlier that day.

  As if responding to his words, a single light ignited at the center of the room.

  Beneath it, Yivern—wearing Rakia’s form—worked behind a surgical table.

  "I’m actually surprised you made it here so quickly." Yivern’s hands were buried inside a dead man’s chest, split wide open.

  No blood spilled as it rummaged through the corpse, as though it had already been drained dry.

  "I was kind enough to ensure you received a warm welcome. I was just about to come meet you myself." Without lifting its gaze, Yivern smiled.

  "The son of Rakia—something I had forgotten until now. And an unknown woman, accompanied by countless servants. Such an interesting gathering. Not one I expected to see in this world." The wet snapping of organs echoed through the room, settling a deep, incomparable unease.

  Keleanos felt sick seeing his mother's figure desecrated like this.

  Pulling the man’s shriveled heart free, it finally looked toward them.

  "How is your little servant doing? I can’t feel her life force being siphoned, so I suppose she’s doing well?" It smirked, Rakia’s lips twisting unnaturally.

  "Oh… maybe not. I made sure to curse the drug with a potent dose of my blood." The vile gaze and smile made Olivia’s body tremble.

  "Even if you removed the drug, it might already be too late for her. Hahaha~" The Devourer mocked her with Valkyrie Rakia’s voice, and Olivia clenched her fists, fury tightly restrained.

  One wing unfurled behind Yivern, stretching before its left hand as Olivia's breathing went out of rhythm uncontrollably.

  It plucked a single black feather before the wing vanished.

  "Well, it hardly matters. You’ll be joining her soon enough. I’ll make excellent puppets of you." It pierced the heart with the feather and shoved it back into the corpse’s torso.

  The body began to writhe until a veil of blackness consumed its skin.

  "Go, my creations."

  Nothing happened.

  But a heartbeat later, the room flooded with light, revealing thousands upon thousands of black shadows shambling toward them.

  On the surgical table, faint blue eyes glimmered through the darkness as the body collapsed to the floor.

  Gritting her teeth, Olivia glared ahead.

  "You’ll pay for what you’ve done to Alisa."

  The maids closed ranks around her, tears welling in their eyes.

  "Yivern," Olivia said coldly, "I’ll make you suffer."