Published at 26th of May 2026 7:21 am

Chapter 209: Unknown Loss

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Chapter 209: Unknown Loss

Everyone present could barely breathe beneath the pressure. Ash suffered the worst of it. Being this close to the thing wearing the cult leaders body, let alone hanging from its grip, was too much for the boy to endure. Thankfully, he passed out before the pain could fully settle in.

Turning its ruined head slowly, the demon looked across the battlefield. Even without eyes, every person there felt its gaze pass over them, stripping them bare without resistance as cold sweat broke across skin and hide alike.

Now this is curious. You are not imps. Not anymore.

The possessed cult leader drew in a long breath through what remained of its nose. Wet flesh shifted as it licked its lips and grinned wider.

And there it is. The Network. But you are not shard-born. No... no, this is something else entirely."

Its head tilted slightly, neck cracking.

So where is the one holding your leash?

Silence answered him.

For the first time since arriving, the demon seemed genuinely surprised. The cult leaders ruined face stretched further into a smile until the corners split open and blood began to run down its jaw.

You can resist a Lords questioning?

A low chuckle rolled from its throat, thick and wet.

Now I am truly interested in

A large section of the demons remaining torso suddenly bulged outward, flesh swelling unnaturally before rupturing open with a spray of hanging organs. Looking down at the damage, the demon lord frowned.

It seems this vessel was less durable than advertised."

Turning its ruined visage to Bile.

"You there. Tell your master I desire to speak with him. Face to face. That is the only circumstance under which I will consider removing my curse.

Turning back to Ash, the golden crown floating between its horns slowly rotated, revealing a black jewel. Before anyone could react, light burst from the gem and carved a burning sigil into Ashs forehead.

The smell of scorched flesh spread through the air.

No. This alone is not sufficient.

Its gaze drifted before settling on someone. Sniffing again, the demon slowly licked blood from its gums as drool spilled from its ruined mouth.

"Oh? Mating with a human. How indulgent."

Its grin widened.

Baal's horns flared with black light for a brief moment

Then Lynn exploded.

There was no buildup. She didn't even have time to understand what was happening. One second she stood frozen in fear beneath the demons gaze

The next, she was gone.

And something inside the brood went with herthe fear.

Lynn wasn't one of them. She belonged to their father.

And standing still while something took what belonged to him was impossible for them.

Bloodlight erupted from the brood.

The smile stretched across the demon lords ruined face disappeared immediately.

"It can't"

A black tendril suddenly lashed through the air and wrapped around the arm holding Ash. In the next instant, it sliced clean through flesh and bone, freeing the unconscious boy.

Triss appeared beneath him almost immediately, catching Ash across her back midair.

"Umbral Felis? A kitten dares"

The brood didn't give the demon time to finish.

A rifle shot from Synapse smashed straight into the cult leaders face, rupturing charred flesh and snapping the ruined head sideways. Widow followed immediately after, her Javelin piercing through the demons neck hard enough to spray black blood across the crater.

Then Tomb arrived.

Laughing through the ruined cult leaders mouth, the demon barely managed to look up before an enormous hammerlike fist slammed down onto him.

The impact shook the ground.

Another fist followed. Then another.

The earth quaked beneath Tombs relentless barrage as blood and broken concrete blasted outward with every strike. Teal had to brace herself just to stay standing while the giant kept pounding the demon into the crater floor.

Only after numerous deafening impacts did Tomb finally stop.

Slowly lifting his fists, he revealed nothing beneath them except a bloodied stain smeared across shattered stone.

Nothing remained. Only a ruined puddle.

But the pressure never left.

"Tell your master to hurry. If I am forced to wait too long... who knows what I might do."

Black miasma suddenly erupted upward from the stain and spread across the sky in a single violent surge. For one horrible moment, it looked like darkness itself had swallowed the clouds whole.

Then it vanished. Gone instantly.

The moment the pressure disappeared, two screams tore across the ruined battlefield.

One screamed in grief. The other in rage.

Stumbling forward, Teal collapsed beside the mangled remains where Lynn once stood, hands trembling as she stared down at the gore spread across the broken concrete.

Nearby, Min shook violently.

Staring at the bloodstain that had once been one of her menone of her friendssomething inside her finally snapped. She dropped to her knees hard enough to crack the dirt beneath them and started slamming her fists into the ground over and over, mud and blood spraying across her arms.

"FUCK! FUUUUUUUCCCKK!"

It was over.

The cultists were dead. The camp was gone. Smoke still drifted from the crater while embers floated through the dark air, yet not a single person there felt good about the victory.

Levels had been gained. Lessons had been learned. But the cost sat heavy on everyone present.

For different reasons, yes, but the taste of victory still felt bitter in their mouths.

His bloodmask slowly receding back across his face, Bile stood frozen for a long moment before finally crouching down into the dirt. Ever since gaining his class, he had seemed untouchable behind the mask to his younger siblings. Cold. Certain.

Not today.

Today, the old Bile returned.

His shoulders shook beneath the blood and grime coating his body while fear twisted through both his mind and flesh.

They had let the Broodfathers woman die, and the demon who did it had escaped.

The terror he felt staring into the face of a demon lord had been nothing compared to what he felt now. All he could do was hope their father finishes his quest without problem.

And that he returned in a forgiving mood.

----

Halting for a moment, Seo-jin felt something shift through the broodlink. A thin trickle of fear bled through the connection, faint enough he almost missed it beneath the wet breathing of the tunnels around them.

Did you all feel that?

All three brothers nodded immediately. If they felt it too, then there was no mistake. Something was happening with the brood. Something big.

Tossing the remains of a crab torso aside with a wet slap, Snare wiped gore from his face while doing his best to keep his robes clean.

Should we move faster? Nothing so far has posed enough of a threat that increasing our pace would be too much of a risk.

Thinking for a moment, Seo-jin pushed himself up from the corpse he had been sitting on, flesh squelching beneath his feet.

Im starting to think increasing our speed isnt going to help.

Looking around, he couldnt shake the feeling they were going in circles. They currently sat in one of the many clearings they had come across. Every one looked the same: a large chamber of pulsing flesh slick with moisture, with two or three tunnel exits waiting on the other side. Each tunnel led to another clearing, then another, and the pattern kept repeating.

The only thing that had stopped him from noticing it sooner was that every new clearing appeared untouched. No tracks. No blood. No sigs of recent passage.

Just endless fighting. And never getting anywhere.

Normally this wouldnt have been much of an issue. Kills were always welcome, but not here. They quickly realized nothing in this place granted experience. Every fight only left them more exhausted. Luckily, there was plenty of meat to refill their stamina, the air thick with the smell of cooked crab flesh and blood.

Still, the trip so far hadnt been entirely pointless. There had been one important discovery made: Seo-jin could still use his skills.

During one of the fights, he had tried something. He started visualizing every time he had ever used Rend, tracing the feeling backward until he reached the few uses without Butchers Wrath. What the activation felt like. The way his claws extended and thickened. The pull of Soulmass leaving his body. The spike in damage. Every detail. Then, in the middle of combat, surrounded by screeching crab demons and wet snapping claws, he recreated the entire process in his mind with absolute focus.

Butchers Wrath finally responded.

He still hadnt mastered it, and his other skills remained out of reach, but it was something.

Kicking a crab demon aside hard enough to splatter ichor across the fleshy wall, Panic looked around with an almost bored expression. Underneath it, irritation simmered.

No soul. Not really. Theyre ugly. Dont like this place.

Foods good.

Up to his wrists in a puddle of blood, Pain heated the liquid until steam rolled from it, boiling crab legs inside. He pulled one free, cracked the shell between his jaws, and slurped the meat out with a loud hiss.

Stop eating. We need to think

Thinkins your job.

Snarling at Pain, Snare knew arguing was pointless. Depending on his older brothers for anything besides violence was a waste of breath.

I do have a theory, Broodfather.

Speak it.

Resting against his staff, Snare glanced around the clearing as the walls pulsed slowly around them.

Im not deeply knowledgeable about this sort of thing, but Ive never heard of a place capable of cutting users off from their shard. Have you, Broodfather?

Scratching at one of his horns for a moment while he thought, Seo-jin shook his head after a moment.

I haven't.

Nodding, Snare continued.

To sever a User from their shard would require an extremely powerful spiritual interaction. Something close to ripping a soul from its vessel. I cant imagine your class quest involves that.

He paused, tightening his grip on the staff.

My theory is that we havent been transported somewhere physical. We were transported spiritually.

His eyes lifted toward Seo-jin.

Somewhere inside you, Broodfather.

Both Pain and Panic wore the same expression, like theyd both been beaten over the head with the stupid stick. Pain recovered first, jerking his hands from his soup pot and hissing as he frantically blew on the bubbling surface.

It would make sense for your class quest to involve a mechanic like this. Far more sense than some outside factor being responsible. If Im correct, then my earlier suggestion to increase our pace was wrong.

Snare adjusted his grip on the staff as the fleshy walls behind him gave another slow pulse.

I think the way forward requires something introspective rather than physical.

Pain and Panic somehow looked even more lost.

Introspective, huh?

Seo-jin snorted.

Fine. Lets test your theory. If youre wrong, Ill let you do the fighting by yourself for a while.

Without changing expression, Snare bowed slightly as Seo-jin lowered himself into a cross-legged position on the damp ground.

Even as a theory, I would not voice it if I lacked confidence. Take your time. Well make sure you arent interrupted.

See that Im not.

Closing his eyes, Seo-jin started with the only thing he could think of. Every cultivation User the original Seo-jin ever met talked about controlling the breath. Everything came from the breath.

At first it was rough, uneven pulls through lungs still heavy from battle, but he quickly forced it under control.

Slow breaths. Even breaths.

The wet sounds of the tunnels faded little by little as he focused entirely on the air entering and leaving his body. He knew part of whatever this was involved clearing the mind, so he tried to let everything else fall away. The brood. The Dead Hands. The endless tunnels. Only the breath remained

Endless teeth flashed through his mind.

The Maw.

His breath caught hard in his throat, like something enormous had tried to swallow him whole, but only for a moment.

Just the breath. Focus.

Again. In... out... in... out...eventually, slowly, his mind sank back into darkness

Guts exploding alongside a gurgled scream.

Anger flared hot in his chest. Grinding his teeth, he forced the image away. Again he calmed himself

Wailing bodies.

He steadied his breathing once more

Flesh tearing apart in an arc of gore.

Enough!

His claws clenched so tightly blood dripped from his palms, warm against his fingers.

If I cant find it, so be it!

This time, instead of focusing on his breath, Seo-jin focused on the violence.

The memories of gore.

Tearing apart Carrion Hounds and hearing the silent killers scream in agony. Corpse Worms, their slick texture, the taste of their translucent skin squishing in his jaws.

Imps.

Slaughtering hundreds of his own kind. Killing his way through the fleshfields of the Maw. Butchering demon beasts across the boneyards while rot and blood soaked the ground beneath his feet.

His consciousness drowned in violence and decay. Images layered over one another without end: ashkin dying, humans dying, flesh opening beneath claws and teeth. Somehow he felt connected to every memory while standing outside them at the same time, reliving the carnage while watching it unfold from afar.

A fever of violence overtook him.

Bloodlust leaked from him like sweat, thick and suffocating, and in that momentat the peak of it all, when every image compressed into a single crimson point sharp enough to cut through the concept of death itselfa lone image surfaced in his mind.

Two colors. Gold and violet.

The Cradlebloom.

Seo-jins eyes snapped open.

Its here.

As if responding to his words, every exit leading out of the clearing suddenly sealed shut with a wet, grinding sound.

The three brothers reacted instantly, backing toward Seo-jin and forming a perimeter around him as flesh shifted and tightened around the chamber.

With a thought, Tiamat and Bahamut burst from Seo-jins back. The moment the serpents fully emerged, both unleashed deafening roars that shook the clearing, bloodlight spilling from their eyes in thick streams.

I know youre there. Stop hiding and show yourself.

Seo-jins voice stayed calm despite the pressure building in the room.

Or are you afraid Ill eat you again?

Even Snare looked confused now, his eyes moving around the clearing as he tried to figure out who Seo-jin was addressing.

Silence answered him.

Only shifting meat, cooling corpses, and the thick smell of iron and vomit filled the clearing. What felt like minutes dragged past before the walls finally trembled.

Unworthy. Unwanted. Impure.

The voice filled the chamber like wind forced through dead lungs. All around them, the fleshy walls convulsed and twisted, veins bulging beneath the surface.

Responding immediately, the broodlings lowered themselves and prepared to strike.

Seo-jin didnt move.

His eyes remained fixed on the center of the clearing, where a single vine had pushed up through the pulsing flesh.

Tainted. Interrupted. Unfinished. Revenge.

That final word confirmd it.

His growing suspicion had been right.

This wasnt a quest. It was a trap.

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