Stomach-Chewing Grass

"Fiends... although we have struggled against them for endless ages, we still do not know what they truly are, where they come from, what they consist of, or what they seek..."

"Perhaps some knew these things, but they took their secrets to the grave. This is all I know, yet everything should have its own name, even those filthy monsters. Thus, the saints named them after the entities in mythology that stood against the gods."

Lorenzo whispered these ancient secrets; merely recounting the story placed an inexplicable pressure upon the girl.

The girl breathed heavily, maintaining her silence. She listened to Lorenzo's words, yet she did not wish to say anything more.

Just as Lorenzo had said, this was forbidden knowledge. In Eve's current state, it was best she did not come into contact with too much of it.

"Is... is that the exit?"

In this moment of despair, the faint light ahead grew brighter. Eve felt somewhat dazed, moving her weary feet forward.

As if she had grasped some form of hope, she recovered a sliver of strength and ran desperately toward it. She could feel it—that was the exit. Once she left this place, she could bid farewell to these monstrosities, and this damned nightmare would end. But just as Eve was a few steps from the light, Lorenzo tackled her to the ground. The girl tried to speak, but he clamped his hand firmly over her mouth.

"Don't make a sound. Something is wrong."

Lorenzo's voice was very soft, the calmness in his pupils still dominating his excited body.

Eve did not struggle much. Under Lorenzo's restraint, she only heard his cold, indifferent voice.

"When facing madness, all you can do is remain rational. Absolute rationality, do you understand?"

He admonished her sternly. Lorenzo had experienced this situation many times before. After enduring immense pressure in the darkness, everyone tended to lose their composure upon seeing the light, much like people who had lived underground for a long time and would fervently embrace the sun upon reaching the surface.

However, such an ending would not be pleasant. The scorching sunlight would instantly sear eyes that had adapted to the dark. In the light that followed their escape from the darkness, perhaps a more terrifying monster awaited Eve.

Under Lorenzo's control, the two moved forward slowly. Finally, she shifted her gaze toward the front, beyond that light.

There was nothing of the sort Lorenzo had been wary of; it was merely a deep pit. The passage where Eve and Lorenzo currently stood was above this massive chasm, connected by a staircase that rose along the pit wall.

Eve had assumed the banquet hall was the largest underground space in this palace, but clearly, this was the true expanse.

Endless light poured down from above, seemingly from high-intensity electric lamps. It was so bright that the two felt dazzled just by shifting their gaze upward, making it impossible to observe.

The entire pit was at least several dozen meters deep and illuminated with blinding clarity. Torches were lit in layers around the pit walls, serving no apparent purpose. Looking downward, the bottom of the pit was covered in blood-red mist, revealing only a blurry mass of red.

"I suspect this is a place of sacrifice."

Lorenzo looked at the bottom of the pit. Although it was obscured by mist, past experience kept him on high alert.

"So, your job in Florence back then was... to fight these things?"

Eve spoke slowly. Whenever Fiends were involved, she instinctively avoided them. She had only seen one once, but the impact the Fiend had left on her was profound.

"Yes, but that's not the whole story. We generally have a mature hunting system. We hunt them before people fully mutate into Fiends, rather than waiting until they have completely transformed."

Just like Wall—as long as a person had not fully mutated into a Fiend, they were still human in essence and could be easily killed with swords and guns. But once that mutation was complete, they became non-human entities that required non-human methods.

"Is that why a priest like you knows swordsmanship?"

Eve suddenly felt that Lorenzo's life experience could be called legendary.

"Bologna Swordsmanship is a required course for every Temple Knight, and becoming a priest is a prerequisite for becoming a Temple Knight."

His voice was very flat, but his brief sentences revealed Lorenzo's former status. Eve was somewhat bewildered. She remembered the descriptions people gave of Temple Knights: knights favored by the gods, possessing noble characters beneath their gleaming white armor, wielding swords ignited with holy flames to uphold order and peace.

Although she wasn't sure how this ill-tempered man could be associated with the word "noble," Eve was still very curious.

"That must be a very prestigious status. Why did you come to Inverwig to be a detective?"

Even if the influence of the Gospel Church was not as powerful as it once was, being a Temple Knight remained incredibly prestigious within the Holy Gospel Papal State. In the eyes of the believers, these knights who guarded the Seven Hills were practically angels descended to earth.

"It's simple. I lost my purpose for existing, or rather... I was laid off."

Lorenzo did not really want to bring up the past, but under Eve's questioning, he spoke anyway.

"Fiends were wiped out a long time ago. There was no need for me to stay there... You might not believe it, but I, Lorenzo Holmes, have a dream."

As he spoke, he actually laughed.

"To be a detective?"

What a hell of an inspirational story. Facing Eve's question, he nodded vigorously.

"Honestly, Florence is no place for a human to stay. Unlike the progress and openness of Old Dunling, that place is like a dying saint—full of rules and faith everywhere."

Perhaps triggered by the memories, even though Lorenzo hated them, he rambled on.

"It's even more intense in the Seven Hills, the capital of the Holy Gospel Papal State. Only the most devout believers are allowed to go there. They say it's the holiest place in the world, where no Fiend can set foot. The reality is that the Templar Crusaders are stationed there; even if Inverwig attacked, it would take them days to break through."

A thick, fishy stench wafted up from below. In the midst of their conversation, something fell from above.

It was a black shadow that descended rapidly, crashing heavily onto the stairs in front of the exit. It was a corpse. With the violent impact, the entire body shattered slightly, and dark red blood began to flow slowly from it.

"Of course, if I ever have the chance to go back, my greatest wish is to dump a bucket of cow dung on the streets of the Seven Hills... You know, those believers take pride in dying in the Seven Hills. You could spill a bucket of water, and you might be burying several cardinals underground."

Lorenzo said this while striding out.

"Of course, that's a story for another time. What I need to do now is investigate why Fiends, which have already been wiped out, are still alive."

His words ended like the low growl of a lion. He kicked the corpse down into the deep pit. That kick was filled with emotion; it seemed this guy was truly unhappy.

The corpse slid and then landed on the surface of the pit floor. With the violent impact, the thick red mist was blown away slightly, revealing the terrifying, ghastly face from behind its hazy veil.

"It's a sacrifice... Someone is farming these things."

Lorenzo's voice was colder than it had ever been. It was now certain that everything tonight was no accident; this was a long-planned scheme in the dark, and it all revolved around the mysterious object known as the Sacred Coffin, which in turn was linked to the Fiends.

This was merely the tip of the iceberg; what lay deeper, colder, and darker remained unknown.

Eve looked down into the deep pit, where something seemed to be crawling out from the stomach. She couldn't hold it back and leaned over the edge, dry-heaving.

The ground was covered in bones and flesh. Just like the red tide that had hunted them earlier, the foul-smelling meat was covered in tiny, fine fuzz.

As the corpses fell, the flesh seemed to come alive. The red fuzz wound around the bodies like silkworm silk, layer upon layer. Accompanied by the faint sound of gnawing, the corpses were reduced to nothing but piles of bones in just a few breaths.

"It's Stomach-Chewing Grass, a plant-like Fiend. It has no mobility, but its danger lies in its predatory nature. Once you are caught by those hair-like tentacles, it will pierce your skin and devour your body."

Lorenzo stood at the edge of the stairs. This feeling of returning to his old line of work was truly unpleasant.

"Be careful. This thing cannot move, so to hunt, it has evolved to cooperate with symbiotic partners—other mobile Fiends. They are responsible for the hunting, while the Stomach-Chewing Grass's lethal properties provide them with sanctuary."

Eve tried her best to summon her courage. Although she was terrified, just as Lorenzo had said, if she didn't want to die, she had to force herself to be strong.

"What should we do?"

Looking at it this way, there was no way for the two of them to go down; there was no path other than turning back the way they came.

Lorenzo didn't answer, merely bowing his head to study the terrain. Eve suddenly had an ominous feeling and asked tentatively.

"Are you planning to kill it?"

Eve said fearfully. That thing called a Fiend—Eve had been so overwhelmed by the so-called mental pressure just from that one glance that she couldn't imagine swinging a sword at it. And even if she had the courage to swing, what then? Could such a bizarre, twisted thing really be killed by swords and guns?

There was such a vast expanse of blood-red demonic grass.

"Do you know? Most Fiends share a common trait: they loathe light and fear fire and silver."

This was knowledge accumulated by the Gospel Church over thousands of years, currently stored in Lorenzo's mind. But knowing it didn't change anything; forget silver, there wasn't even any fire here, save for the few torches providing illumination.

"Eve, this thing is being kept in captivity. Look at the edges of the pit bottom. It's churning and boiling, but it never overflows. You have to understand, while it cannot move, it expands extremely rapidly. Church records state that a single Stomach-Chewing Grass once devoured an entire town. To contain it, the Church burned the whole town to the ground."

"You mean something is restricting its movement?"

Eve seemed to understand what Lorenzo meant. This detective's observational skills were truly sharp; if it were her, she wouldn't be thinking of ways to counterattack at all, her mind filled only with thoughts of escape.

"Yes. I think I know what is going to happen tonight."

The fragmented pieces of the puzzle clicked together in Lorenzo's mind. The detective picked up the details of the night one by one, and he finally understood what Sabo was planning to do.

"Tonight, Sabo is preparing to launch a premeditated attack against the entirety of Old Dunling."

The detective's face turned ghastly. How many people were in Old Dunling? One million? Two million? As long as there was enough flesh, it was only a matter of time before this Stomach-Chewing Grass covered the entire city.

"This is also why he said no one would survive tonight. Forget the Underground Palace; once these things break free, the entire Lower District will fall tonight."

Sabo's words echoed in his mind. He was acting according to the instructions of that mysterious Mentor. Whether it was the deaths of those people or the promise that no one would survive tonight, it all tied back to the mysterious Sacred Coffin, because those dead had all come into contact with it.

Lorenzo seemed to have grasped a key point. He realized that the Sacred Coffin had once been kept here.

Sabo had destroyed everyone connected to it, and now he was going to destroy this place as well, simply because it was linked to the Sacred Coffin.

"Shrike... what on earth did you transport?"

Lorenzo whispered. If he could make it out alive tonight, perhaps he really would need to have a serious talk with Shrike.

In the eerie silence, another sound seemed to emerge—the grinding of gears dragging iron chains, likely rusted from the dampness. The sound was piercingly sharp.

Eve looked up. The sound came from above. The high-intensity light from when they first entered had dimmed, allowing Eve to observe.

The top of the deep pit was a funnel-shaped iron mesh, above which were densely packed fluorescent lights. Although the light had faded, against the glare, she could only see a twisted black shadow. Countless hands reached out from the edges of the shadow, as if it were composed of hundreds of people.

Suddenly, a drop of water fell from the shadow onto Eve's face. The liquid was warm. The girl wiped it gently with her hand, only to find her palm stained red.

"I think I know what that is," Lorenzo, standing beside her, said suddenly.

"That is the shackle restricting this Fiend."

The dense array of fluorescent lights provided high-intensity illumination, which to a certain extent limited the activity of the Stomach-Chewing Grass. Now, as the lights flickered out and the iron mesh fell away, the object wrapped within became clear: it was countless corpses.

The one that had fallen accidentally earlier had come from there, and now they were all plummeting to the bottom of the pit.

The next second, the light vanished completely. Just like when they encountered the Fiend in the hall, darkness swallowed everything around them.

Both of their breathing grew heavy. Then, countless gnawing sounds erupted from the darkness. It was the Fiend feeding; for it, this was an incredibly sumptuous feast.

"What is happening?"

The girl received no answer. Lorenzo remained silent, merely pulling her toward the corridor behind them. In truth, he knew exactly what was happening. This was a feeding. Given the nature of the Stomach-Chewing Grass, it would inevitably expand after being fed, and now, the high-intensity lights that had restricted it were extinguished.

Just as Sabo had said, the real "no one survives" was about to begin.