Colin walked over for a closer look. The altar was entirely red, as if molded from mud mixed with some kind of liquid, and it gave off a strange, foul stench.
He then walked over to several wooden doors and opened them to look inside.
Behind the first wooden door seemed to be a storage area for food and supplies. It was filled with crates and various miscellaneous items.
Behind the second wooden door was another long, narrow passage. It was likely an escape route leading somewhere.
Colin carefully inspected the pitch-black corridor. Kase, standing beside him, said, "I have a feeling someone went this way."
"Maybe," Colin said. "Yuri did say before that we shouldn’t give chase if this happened. We’re not in the best shape ourselves."
"He’s still paying us, right?" Kase frowned. "Honestly, I really don’t like the feeling of our prey getting away."
"Of course. We can only hope Yuri has other people stationed outside the city," Colin said.
Colin wasn’t just making excuses for himself; he truly felt this was the most they could do.
This route out of the city was, in a way, the Fish Eye Gang’s lifeline. Even the Water Police Team hadn’t found this hidden secret passage. There was no way their small team of Adventurers, new to the area, could have found it in advance and planned accordingly.
At the very least, they had ruined the Cultists’ efforts for the time being, and that was enough.
As he thought this, he walked to the third wooden door and yanked it open.
The moment he opened the door, an indescribable stench assaulted him.
The reek was so acrid that tears and snot immediately streamed from Colin’s eyes and nose. He forced his eyelids to stay open, but the scene inside the room made him instantly regret his decision.
After seeing there were no living creatures inside, Colin quickly shut the wooden door.
"What’s in there?" Orelia asked, having just walked in.
Colin rubbed his eyes and said, "Sacrificial offerings made by the Cultists. You don’t want to see it."
"Just some things made from skin and bones, carved to look like dragons, and some unused materials... But it really stinks in there," Kase said calmly, rubbing his eyes.
He had just opened his eyes when he saw Colin’s strange look and asked quizzically, "What?"
"You missed the blood-soaked torture instruments," Colin said, walking to the side to catch his breath. "Just seeing that stuff makes me sick."
Even though he had gotten used to life in this world, he still couldn’t stomach such an inhuman scene. When he thought about the numb prisoners around them, he felt even worse.
These refugees had only left their homes behind in search of a way to survive, only to meet such an end.
A wave of fear washed over Colin as he thought about it.
Faces that appeared and disappeared in the tavern, the scene in the sewers with the Carrion Insects, the sacrificial cellar from the fight with the Jackal Wolfmen... Scene after scene he had witnessed flashed before his eyes.
’Just a few months ago, when I was still living in the slums, wasn’t I also a potential victim?’
’Back when life was a struggle, I could still turn a blind eye to these things.’
’Now that I’ve lived a peaceful life for a while, my tolerance has definitely weakened... Those Cultists really deserve to die.’
Seeing that Colin was genuinely upset, Kase didn’t say anything more.
Colin returned to the previous room.
Ale was staring blankly at the crocodile-like monster corpses on the ground.
Nearby, the Imp’s corpse had melted into a puddle of black ooze—after any Evil Demon is killed in the Mortal World, its soul returns to its home plane to be resurrected. They aren’t truly killed, though this kind of revival often causes the dead Evil Demon to lose a portion of its power.
"Ale, Ale?"
"Hm?"
Colin had to call her name twice before Ale snapped out of it.
"Let’s talk on the way. Do you have any idea where these Cultists came from?" Colin said, picking up his Giant Sword from the ground.
"Those are Dragonspawn, created from Dragon Eggs," Ale said. "As for the Cultists, I can only confirm that they have the blood of a Green Dragon in them. They grafted tissue from an Evil Dragon onto themselves to get into that ghastly state."
"The one from Sharp Claw Forest nearby?"
"That’s... not certain," Ale answered hesitantly. "I can only say they’re definitely not the good guys."
"First, let’s see if these Cultists have anything on them that can prove their identity. As for the refugees, let’s leave them for now and deal with it after everything is over," Colin sighed. "Then we’ll go check the docks. Something’s definitely not right on Yuri’s end either."
The group turned back to check the bodies of the Cultists and the monsters.
After a careful look, they found nothing of note.
This wasn’t surprising. If someone had really escaped, they certainly wouldn’t have left any valuable intelligence behind.
Overall, these guys were similar to some Cultists who worshiped Evil Demons—all of them were madmen who actively sought the bloodlines of powerful creatures to strengthen themselves.
After dealing with things here, the group followed the sewer toward another district of the city.
As they moved forward, a thousand thoughts raced through Colin’s mind.
’Just as Ale said, it’s actually very difficult to figure out the origins of this bunch of Cultists.’
’That’s because, compared to Cultists who worship Demons, whose factions are relatively distinct, the classifications for Dragon Cults are utterly chaotic.’
’First of all, the classification of Giant Dragon species themselves is a mess.’
’There are ten common types of Dragon Species in this world, which can be broadly divided into Metal Dragons and Color Dragons.’
’The former are mostly Good Dragons who are benevolent toward mortals. Ale’s Golden Dragon bloodline is related to the Golden Dragons of the Metal Dragons. Besides them, there are also Silver Dragons, Bronze Dragons, Red Copper Dragons, and Brass Dragons.’
’The latter are the greedy and violent Evil Dragons. The White Dragon the group saw earlier at Snow Deer Ridge was an Evil Dragon. The other Evil Dragons—Red, Blue, Green, and Black Dragons—are all stronger than White Dragons.’
’Most Dragon Species, after living for a few hundred years, will grow in both Power and Intelligence to a level far beyond mortals—with the exception of White Dragons.’
’Of course, these transcendent creatures would want to establish their own factions to achieve their goals. At the same time, most of them can grant power to their followers in various ways.’
’And so, all sorts of Cults worshiping some powerful Giant Dragon or other came into being.’
’On top of that, many Giant Dragons are in the habit of using all sorts of aliases to run their Sects, which further muddies the waters. And that’s not even getting into the obsessive dragon-lovers who form Cults out of their sheer adoration for Giant Dragons.’
’When you really count them, it feels like there could be hundreds of Cults that worship Dragon Species.’
’Figuring out the origin of a single Dragon Cult is as difficult as trying to determine which river a specific drop of seawater came from.’
Lost in thought, the group continued onward and upward.
After climbing a few ladders and prying open a manhole cover above them, Colin and the others climbed to the Surface, arriving next to a warehouse at the docks.
This dockside storage area consisted of several huge wooden storehouses surrounded by a fence. They could also see some members of the Water Police Team patrolling the area.
In addition to the underground passages, the Fish Eye Gang had also bribed the Water Police Team and the dock master to secure a hidden warehouse for themselves on the edge of the docks. Yuri was over there.
The party found an opportunity to vault over the fence and into the warehouse compound.
Colin tightened his grip on his Giant Sword and led the others, creeping cautiously forward along the walkway between the storehouses.