Chapter 110 — The Scene Behind the Door
It looked like the entrance to a cellar.
Thick walls enclosed the space on either side, carved with strange, indecipherable symbols.
Gideon deliberately kept his distance from the "door," scanning the area with sharp eyes. A moment later, his brow furrowed.
From the walls emanated a subtle ripple of power—like a barrier separating whatever lay beyond.
A seal? Gideon wondered.
Indeed, faint psychic energy seeped through the cracks of those runic carvings, whispering out from the door itself. Whenever anyone drew close, the force tried to prod and unsettle their minds.
"It looks like the seal's weakening… and whatever's inside probably isn't friendly."
Gideon took several steps back. For a moment, he thought this might be the "sealed ritual" the High Priest had mentioned.
But judging from Sadie's wide-eyed curiosity, even she had never seen this place before.
Lance, meanwhile, rummaged through his bag and produced a collection of tools—paperclips, scissors, a long strip of iron. The basics of a lockpick's kit.
In his other hand, he gripped a cross that Gideon had given him. As he approached the door, the oppressive sensation in his mind faded. Once again, he was struck by how powerful the priest's relics truly were.
He crouched by the lock, ready to work, when Gideon's dry voice stopped him.
"You're just going to… pry it open like that?" The priest's look said are you kidding me?
Lance blinked, confused.
"What if the door is trapped?" Gideon continued.
"What if something powerful is sealed inside?"
"What if opening it unleashes something catastrophic?"
Three simple questions—and Lance realized how careless he had been.
"Then… what should I prepare?" He frowned, genuinely at a loss.
Gideon sighed and gestured back toward the stairwell.
"There's only one way out of here. If something blocks the entrance, we'll be trapped like rats. Set up wards against mist around the door. And when you pick the lock, at least put a shield in front of yourself."
Under his guidance, the three hunters quickly realized just how much more they could do.
They rushed to follow his instructions, setting layers of defenses around the chamber. Meanwhile, Gideon arranged a fresh circle of relics near the threshold.
At last, Lance returned to the door, propping a salvaged breastplate—taken from the slain elite monster—between himself and the frame.
He slid his tools into the lock.
Click.
The wooden door cracked open slightly—
—and immediately, a torrent of black vapor surged out.
Lance froze, caught off guard. But the waiting relics absorbed it all in a hiss of light.
Only then did he let out the breath he'd been holding. If he'd opened it recklessly, he would already be choking on corruption.
Deep below the fortress, in the shadows of a hidden throne, a skeletal hand clenched into a fist.
When the last of the black haze was purified, Lance pushed the door wide.
The sight beyond made all four of them stop in their tracks.
Gideon's brow knit tighter. Sadie and Ralph stared in awe. Lance's face lit with excitement.
"It's here! My research was right all along!"
The chamber was small—barely more than a vault. At its center lay a shallow pool. Floating above the water hovered a black-and-gold orb, exhaling thick clouds of miasma that seeped into the corners of the room and beyond.
This was the source—the poison mist that smothered the Plague Zone, the same black aura Gideon had seen within the Hive Queen.
"Miss Sadie, I'll need you with me," Lance said, eyes fixed on the sphere.
Sadie frowned. "And how exactly do you plan to destroy it?"
"With my blood."
Lance raised his arm.
"I've dissected monsters before. They all carry this same black essence. Only Cursed Blood can purge it. Perhaps this is the fate of the Benek line."
For decades, his family had pursued this goal. Now, standing before the culmination, patience steadied him.
"Don't worry, Lady Allard. You need only stand by and watch. If something goes wrong, abandon me and escape."
Sadie tightened her grip on the cross, then turned toward Gideon.
Lance did the same, knowing the priest's judgment mattered more than anything in her eyes.
For a moment, all three waited for his verdict.
"…Strange." Gideon rubbed his chin, scanning himself. "There's no psychic assault. The relics blocked all the energy leaking from this chamber. Which means what we're seeing is real."
But that was the strange part.
Before the fight with the elite monster, Gideon had thoroughly searched the fortress. If his memory was right, the space above this cellar should have been another room.
Which meant this chamber—and its ominous pool—shouldn't even exist.
It had to lead deeper underground.
Instead of being below another chamber as it should have been, the cellar floor was unnaturally flat, smooth—wrong.
Gideon quietly shared this doubt with the others.
"Maybe you just misremembered," Lance shrugged. "The fortress is complicated. It's easy to mistake the layout."
At those words, Gideon's instincts went razor-sharp.
Moments ago he'd only suspected—now he was nearly certain.
That exact kind of dismissive line was the sort of classic foreshadowing he remembered from horror tales, spoken right before something went terribly wrong.
And more than that—Lance wasn't acting like himself. His demeanor had shifted, nothing like the man they'd first met at the castle gates.
Gideon said nothing. He simply pulled out an exorcism scripture and a vial of holy water, retreating several paces with a solemn expression.
"Before we go in, each of you drink this."
He tossed the vials one by one.
If any of them hesitated, or refused, he would leave immediately.
He didn't have proof yet, but he strongly suspected someone was already under the influence of the evil aura here.
Sadie and Ralph exchanged startled looks—but without hesitation, they popped the corks and drank.
Lance, however, frowned. "What is this?"
"Holy water. It purifies corruption within the body."
"Father Gideon… in this situation, I cannot comply."
"That's your choice. But if you refuse, then I can't continue helping you."
"You…! We had an agreement!" Lance snarled, fists clenched in rage.
Gideon calmly opened his exorcism text and beckoned Sadie and Ralph closer.
"Mr. Lance—don't you think you've been acting… less cautious than when we first met?"
His words hung in the air like a knife.
A strange silence fell.
Sadie and Ralph's eyes widened in sudden realization. They too sensed the abnormality.
Lance clutched his head, as if struggling against his own thoughts.
"If you want to complete your family's goal—then drink."
Gideon's voice cut through like steel.
Lance swayed, then twisted open the stopper.
"Ugh… ahhh—!"
He collapsed, writhing on the ground, drenched in sweat.
Just as Gideon prepared to begin a ritual, Lance staggered back to his feet, panting.
"…Thank you, Father." His voice was hoarse.
"My desire to achieve our family's 'goal'—it was used against me."
The moment he swallowed the holy water, his clarity returned. Only then did he realize just how irrational he had been.
From Gideon's perspective, the relics had never reacted, which puzzled him at first. Hearing Lance's confession, it clicked.
"No wonder the holy artifacts stayed silent…"
With that scare behind them, all three hunters took a step back, their vigilance sharpened.
"Mr. Lance," Gideon said, his voice steady as he pointed toward the chamber and the hovering sphere.
"Since your mission is to purge that thing… you won't mind leaving it to me, will you?"