The grand feast of Shadow Land began as scheduled.
After entering the castle, they only had to descend one floor to reach the Banquet Hall.
The heat was as intense as a blacksmith's forge, making Arsene feel as though his skin had grown scorching hot.
The scents of roast meat, stewed meat, and alcohol mingled together and rushed toward them.
There were still no lamps here, and it was just as dim as outside. Even at the feast, there were no torches or candles to be seen.
Yet this basement, where no lightning could be seen, was actually much brighter than the outside world.
There were strange round tables of various sizes. They looked like doughnuts or pizzas, with the outer rings slightly higher and the inner rings lower—even hollow. The floors beneath the tables had been opened up, and visible flames billowed within. Those flames licked the inner rings, which resembled iron grates, constantly roasting the meat placed on top.
The flames illuminated the entire room. It was still somewhat dim compared to the outside world, but to Iver and Arsene, who had already completely adapted to the darkness outside, the flames were so bright that their eyes almost hurt.
The warriors did not use knives and forks. In a sense, they used something like chopsticks—when eating roast meat, they used tongs that looked like long-handled pincers.
They picked up the raw meat they wanted from the baskets beside them and placed it on the iron grates of the low table in the center, letting the fierce flames lick it until it was cooked or charred before taking it back to eat. Alternatively, they would clamp the small pots of meat soup onto the inner ring in the middle, let them boil for a while, and then bring them