– Chapter: Whispers of the Deep Hell
Location: Unknown Depths – Cavern Below the Forest of Spirits
As they go more deeply in the cave
The silence was different here.
It wasn't the kind that followed a battle, or the hush before a predator pounced. It was ancient. Pressing. As if the stones themselves had forgotten how to echo sound.
Anay stepped lightly, blade drawn but angled low. The soft glow of Kael's flame orb lit the tunnel ahead, throwing elongated shadows over walls slick with moisture and time.
Behind them, the mossy tunnel had long vanished. Before them: something else. Something older.
Liora was the first to sense it.
"Stop," she whispered. "Something's wrong."
The air shifted. Thicker. Heavier.
Kael slowed beside her. His usual grin faded. "Feels like... we're walking through oil."
Anay squinted ahead, his voice calm. "There. Down the incline."
They crept forward, and then saw them.
Bodies.
Dozens.
Twisted, crumpled, piled across the uneven stone floor like discarded leaves. Goblins, swamp beasts, even a few lesser ogres — all lying still, expressions frozen in horror. No blood. No slash marks. No signs of struggle.
Anay crouched, studying a goblin corpse.
"Looks like they fought each other... maybe a territorial clash."
Kael, standing behind him, shook his head slowly. His tone lost all of its usual playfulness.
"No... they don't fight each other like this. Not goblins. Not beasts either."
Liora's breath caught. Her fingers twitched around her weapon.
"Nervous tremors in the air..." she muttered. Then, her voice cracked. "De... Devils."
The word rang out like a cracked bell.
Anay rose. "Devils? Are they that strong?"
Kael's face hardened. "Yes. Stronger than anything we've faced so far. Stronger than most Guardians, if they come from the deeper Circles."
Liora added, voice low. "They don't just kill. They consume. Break.
They either steal your soul or bind it... and use your body as a puppet."
Kael scanned the room slowly. "No wounds. No weapon strikes. No blood trails. Just fear. And stillness. That's how they feed."
Anay tensed. "You're saying... something from the Nine Hells did this?"
Liora looked around, her aura shimmering faintly. "I pray not. If it's one of the Nine... or even the Seven... we need to leave. Now."
"What are the Nine and Seven Hells exactly?" Anay asked.
Liora answered, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Nine Greater Devil Courts. Seven Demon Abyssal Thrones. The higher you go, the more intelligent and dangerous they become. Some command entire legions. Others can reshape reality in small zones."
Kael rubbed the back of his neck. "We don't stand a chance if it's one of them. Even a lowborn devil can crush entire teams."
Anay stepped forward again, aura pulsing around him now like a protective wind. Zettai Anant resonated faintly in his soul, as if sensing the wrongness in the air.
"Then how do you know for sure this was done by devils?" he asked.
Kael pointed slowly at a beast corpse.
"Because there are no wounds. No weapons. No element traces. And one more thing..."
He moved toward a wall and brushed away some moss, revealing faint claw marks etched deep in the stone—not from the goblins. Symbols. Ancient, spiraling runes.
Liora paled. "Infernal Sigils. Binding glyphs."
Kael nodded. "Only devils use these. It means something was summoned here... or broke free."
The silence thickened.
Liora: "We leave. Now."
But just as she turned, the cave pulsed.
A slow, deep beat. Like a distant heartbeat beneath stone.
Then a whisper. Dry as bone.
"Don't go... you came this far. Stay... feed me."
Kael spun, summoning a shield of fire around them.
Anay gripped Zettai Anant tighter in his soul ready to take it out. His aura erupted, a deep violet storm swirling around him like the eye of a cyclone.
Liora unsheathed her blades. Her crystal aura shimmered into a dome, encasing them.
A figure stepped from the shadows.
Not beast.
Not man.
Not alive.
A humanoid form cloaked in rotting velvet. Black mist coiled around it like breathing smoke. No eyes. Just a hollow crown of horns... and a mouth that split too wide.
Devil Entity: "Three spirits... strong... young... ripe."
Kael whispered. "It speaks Old World... that's a high-tier devil."
Liora: "We hold the line. Nothing gets past."
Anay's eyes glowed. "No retreat."
But then from behind 2 more came..