After the explosion, the canyon fell briefly silent.
A moment later, broken cries of agony rose from deep within the rubble.
"Help... help... ugh..."
"My legs... Aaaah!!"
"Stay away from that black mist! Cough, cough..."
The voices carried gut-wrenching terror, drifting through the thick smoke and echoing across the empty canyon.
The air reeked of charred flesh, blood, and a foul stench like sulfur mixed with rotting meat.
Some knights had flesh and blood stuck to their armor, which had been corroded full of holes. They could not even scream, only gape as foam and bloody fluid spilled from their mouths.
Others rolled onto the ground and desperately tried to crawl uphill, their bodies half charred and half frostbitten. Their skin peeled off in patches, exposing bleeding muscle and stark white bone beneath.
A war wolf had half its body blown apart, its intestines trailing across the snow. Yet it still twitched unconsciously, its claws scrabbling wildly, as though searching for its master, who had long since burned to a crisp.
The entire valley seemed to have been dragged into hell.
And all of this was the fruit of Louis's preparations-the result of advance intelligence and meticulous calculations.
Bond stood on the high ground, staring down into the valley. His throat tightened, and his mind went blank.
He had fought in many wars and seen brutal battlefields where corpses piled up like mountains.
He had even witnessed more powerful Demon Explosive Bombs detonating on the battlefield.
But this was the first time he had seen such bombs used in conjunction with traps so precisely, efficiently, and thoroughly that almost no one survived.
"Is this... hell...?" Bond murmured.
This was not an explosion. It was a meticulously planned execution.
As though every corpse's final resting place had been decided before the