Chapter 57 – Altar of Blood and Scales
**[WESTERN FOREST – WALKING NORTH ]**
The **mist** thickened with every step — not dissipating but **condensing** progressively, turning the ghostly green of the bioluminescent moss into sickly gray-purple tones. Visibility dropped from fifty meters to thirty, then twenty, forcing the trio to walk closer together instinctively; separating even five meters already meant losing sight of one another completely in the opaque white.
**Temperature** continued to **fall** — not gradually but in sudden drops of two degrees every hundred meters advanced. Breaths began appearing as white clouds, fingers **tingling** slightly inside leather gloves, bodies occasionally shivering not from fear but from genuine, penetrating cold.
And the **distant roar** — no longer kilometers away but perhaps only **hundreds** of meters now — echoed through massive trunks, making leaves **tremble** on branches thirty meters above. The deep sound reverberated through bones, creating a visceral sensation of **imminent danger** drawing closer.
---
**San** — walking five meters ahead scouting, dual daggers drawn and ready, wounded shoulder still throbbing but ignored through forced focus — stopped **abruptly**.
He turned his head — expression **serious**, without his usual sarcastic tone:
"You **do** realize that if we actually encounter a dragon we'll be **eliminated** instantly, right?" — Voice low but clear. — "I'm not joking. Dragons are classified **Rank S** at minimum. The three of us together are **Rank C** at best. A difference of four full ranks. Mathematically impossible to win."
Pause, waiting for a reaction:
"So what exactly is the **plan** when we see a twenty-meter-long creature spitting fire that melts stone?"
---
**Julia** — three meters behind, hand pressing her still-aching side beneath the makeshift bandage, breathing controlled to manage the pain:
"That's **exactly** why we must maintain the greatest possible distance from the dragon." — Calm, rational tone; the leader establishing tactical parameters. — "We're only going to **investigate** the cause of the monster infestation and **retreat** immediately without engaging in direct combat. Reconnaissance, not confrontation."
She glanced back to check the third member:
"**Understood**, Jessica? No offensive magic without my explicit order, even if the dragon appears vulnerable. Absolute discipline."
---
**Jessica** — five meters behind, walking carefully to avoid roots, grimoire closed but hand resting on the cover ready, mana still **critically low** (120/600) severely limiting offensive capability — nodded **once**:
"Yes, yes, I understand perfectly. There's no point risking confrontation in unknown territory without first **fully understanding** the opponent's capabilities and establishing an appropriate risk-benefit strategy." — Pause. — "Competent **CEO** mindset. I finally approve of the conservative approach."
---
**Julia** hearing this — let out a low **laugh**, the sound escaping between her teeth despite the tense situation.
She looked at Jessica — the crazy CEO who had been humming "CEO CEO CEO" for the past thirty minutes — then at San — the parkour assassin who was afraid of heights but faced bat-humans without hesitation.
A thought **crossed** her mind as they walked:
*I think I'm finally living my dream.*
*Real adventure companions.*
*Exploring a dangerous dungeon.*
*And soon I'll see a real dragon for the first time.*
The image of her **little sister** — Maia, nine years old, braids, pink dress — appeared in her mind.
*I wish my little sister could see this with me too.*
Her smile **widened** — but then the next thought:
*I don't think she would accept it. She'd be terrified. She'd cry and beg to go home.*
She laughed again — louder this time, genuine.
---
**San** — hearing the laugh, turned his head confused:
"What was **that** exactly?" — Curious tone, not accusatory.
---
**Julia** — smile remaining, eyes **shining** with rare genuine enthusiasm:
**Nothing**, really. I'm just completely loving this mission despite the imminent mortal danger.
---
They continued **walking** — a comfortable silence returning, only the sounds of boots on damp moss and controlled breathing.
**Five minutes** passed.
---
Then **movement** above — not singular but **massive**.
**Hundreds** of shadows **crossing** the ghostly green canopy thirty meters up, creating a partial eclipse that blocked the already minimal filtered light. The sound of **wings** beating — not membranous like the bat-humans but something larger, heavier: WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP rhythmic, shaking the air.
And **cries** — not the high metallic shrieks of the bat-humans but **varied**: screeches, low roars, hisses — a cacophony of different species all moving **together** in the same direction the trio was heading.
---
**San** looked **up** — eyes widening as he processed the impossibility:
"This is **not** normal at all." — Voice tense. — "Normally different monsters **compete** for territory. And bats **flee** instinctively from larger predators. But they're all migrating **together** in coordination?"
Pause:
"Something very **powerful** or very **attractive** is in that direction, forcing convergence against natural instincts."
---
**Julia** — hand tightening on her sword hilt:
"Something is definitely **wrong**. Maximum alert."
---
They continued — speed reduced, steps more **cautious**, the trio closing ranks until walking in single file only two meters apart.
**Ten more minutes**.
And the mist **dissipated** — not gradually but **abruptly**, as though passing through a curtain. Visibility expanded instantly from twenty meters to **two hundred**.
And it revealed — a **geological impossibility**.
---
A **mountain** — not one of the giants forming the Zenk range to the north, but **isolated**, rising alone in the center of the forest like a broken tooth from the earth. Estimated height **three hundred meters** above the surrounding ground level, base width five hundred meters forming an irregular cone. The surface was not covered in vegetation but **smooth black basaltic stone** that gleamed faintly under the filtered light, suggesting ancient volcanic origin.
And at the **absolute center** of the south face facing the trio — a **cavern mouth**.
Not a natural hole but a **deliberately formed entrance**: a perfect arch twenty meters high by fifteen wide, edges **too smooth** for natural erosion, depth indeterminable because the interior vanished into absolute darkness after five meters, suggesting an extensive cave system penetrating the entire mountain.
And **around** the entrance — **impossible life**.
**Chimeras** — ten of them circling irregularly a hundred meters above the cavern mouth: lion bodies covered in golden fur, eagle wings beating powerfully with eight-meter wingspans, snake tails with green scales whipping the air, triple heads (lion/eagle/snake) roaring/screeching/hissing simultaneously in disturbing cacophony, total length five meters not including tail.
**Giant snakes** — six coiled around stones near the entrance: estimated length fifteen meters each, thickness of average tree trunks, black scales gleaming with red patterns forming **unnatural runes**, triangular heads the size of horses with fangs dripping phosphorescent green venom that **melted** stone where it fell, forming smoking craters.
And **other** creatures — manticores, griffins, small hydras, basilisks — total estimated **fifty** monsters of varying ranks (B to A) congregated peacefully without the usual hostile territoriality.
---
**Julia** — quick gesture; the trio **dived** behind the massive trunk of a giant tree ten meters in diameter providing full cover, bodies pressed against rough bark, breaths **held**.
She peeked sideways — observing.
---
And saw **transformation**.
**Normal bats** — small pigeon-sized unmodified ones — **landing** on the rocky ground thirty meters in front of the cavern entrance, gathering in a group of twenty individuals, remaining **completely motionless** for thirty seconds.
Then **purple energy** — dense unnatural magical mist — **emanated** from the cavern, flowing through the air like viscous liquid, **enveloping** the bats completely in glowing translucent cocoons.
And they **changed**.
Not gradually.
**Violently**.
Bodies **expanding** — bones **cracking** audibly even from a hundred meters away, skin tearing to expose muscles that reorganized themselves, membranous wings **growing** from thirty centimeters to three meters, legs **breaking** and inverting joints, faces **distorting** and elongating while retaining vaguely human shape but teeth multiplying into rows.
**Fifteen full seconds** of transformation accompanied by high-pitched **screams** of pain or ecstasy indistinguishable.
And they emerged — **bat-humans** identical to the ones the trio had eliminated an hour earlier.
---
**San** — whispering, voice **trembling** slightly with realization:
"So this is **where** they are forcibly evolved through concentrated magical exposure. No wonder this specific information doesn't appear in Ellis's extensive archives. They're not a natural species. They are **created** artificially through saturation from this cavern."
---
**Julia** — processing tactical implications:
"I think inside this cave there must be a powerful magical artifact that **absorbed** all the energy the governor said was released when the dungeon appeared in Zordis. The energy is being **accumulated** and concentrated inside this cavern, creating a forced mutation zone that transforms normal fauna into monsters."
Pause:
"If we destroy or remove the artifact, the infestation **stops** completely."
---
Before they could discuss further — the **ground** trembled.
Not an earthquake but **footsteps**.
**Heavy**.
THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.
Coming from **inside** the cavern, approaching the entrance, reverberating through stone and making small rocks **jump**.
And the creatures around — chimeras, snakes, manticores, **all of them** — **fled** simultaneously.
Not running chaotically.
**Flying/crawling** in orderly fashion in every direction like subjects retreating from an approaching king, clearing a fifty-meter radius circle around the entrance in five seconds.
---
Absolute **silence** for three heartbeats.
Then it **emerged**.
---
**Dragon**.
Not a creature.
An **EVENT**.
---
**Size** — twenty meters from snout tip to tail tip, height ten meters when reared on four legs, folded wingspan estimated thirty meters if fully extended, estimated mass fifty tons based on apparent muscle volume and density.
**Scales** — not uniform but **dual**: upper half of the body (back, top of head, outer limbs) covered in **white** scales the size of plates reflecting light in an almost blinding silver sheen; lower half (chest, belly, inner limbs, under jaw) covered in **black** scales that absorbed light completely, creating stark contrast that made the creature appear even larger through optical illusion. The transition between white and black was not gradual but **perfectly defined** in a horizontal line, suggesting unnatural design.
**Head** — classic reptilian but **massive**: three-meter-long triangular skull, jaws capable of opening one hundred twenty degrees revealing triple rows of serrated teeth each the size of a longsword, **eyes** — not round but vertical like a lizard's, electric-blue irises glowing with non-animal but **conscious** intelligence, pupils contracting with precise focus; upper head (forehead to nape) white-scaled, lower (jaw to throat) black-scaled creating a natural symmetrical mask dividing the face.
**Claws** — each paw ending in five fingers with **black** curved claws one and a half meters long gleaming like polished obsidian, sharp enough to easily pierce steel based on how they **gouged** basaltic stone with each step, leaving deep marks.
**Tail** — fifteen meters long, whipping laterally to balance the massive body, upper side white-scaled, underside black, ending in a two-meter triangular **bone blade** that sliced the air with a high-pitched sibilant sound.
**Wings** — folded against flanks but still visible: **black** leather membranes stretched over white bone structure, **purple** veins faintly glowing through the membrane suggesting magic rather than just blood flowed through them.
And **presence** — not merely physical but **magical**: air around the dragon **visibly distorting** like heat waves but cold, atmospheric pressure **increasing** until ears popped, ambient mana being **sucked** into the creature like a gravitational black hole, the trio's HUDs **flickering** frantically with severe interference.
---
**Roar**.
The dragon opened its jaws — throat **glowing** internal blue — and **released**.
A **SOUND** that transcended normal hearing and became a **physical phenomenon**:
Not decibels but **solid** pressure waves radiating forward in a cone, air **compressing** visibly into expanding concentric rings at supersonic speed, trees a hundred meters away **bending** violently like grass in a hurricane, recently transformed bat-humans **hurled** backward uncontrollably, slamming into trunks with lethal force (bones **snapping** audibly, bodies **falling** dead or incapacitated), still-flying chimeras **destabilized** and spinning, losing altitude shrieking before crashing to the ground, small rocks **lifted** and thrown like grenades.
---
**Julia** — **gripped** her sword, blade **embedding** into the tree trunk up to the guard, body pressed against bark holding the hilt with both hands at maximum strength, feet **sliding** backward across the soil even anchored, wind **roaring** around making it impossible to hear anything except the roar, hair **whipping** violently, eyes **closing** involuntarily because the pressure hurt her eyeballs.
**San** — two daggers **driven** five centimeters deep into the trunk, body horizontal parallel to the ground being **pulled** by the roar's force, arm muscles **burning** holding his entire body weight against the suction, wounded shoulder **tearing** partially making fresh blood stain his tunic but pain ignored because letting go meant being hurled a hundred meters easily.
**Jessica** — grimoire **open** to **page 12**, voice **screaming** an incantation no one—including herself—could hear, scarce mana (120/600) being **drained** completely (0/600) to create magical tethers **binding** her body to a tree trunk like a prisoner, mouth **forced** open by atmospheric pressure, eyes **wide** processing genuine terror for the first time in weeks.
---
**Ten full seconds** of continuous roar.
Then it **stopped** — abrupt, anticlimactic.
Silence returned except for a high-pitched ringing in the trio's ears.
---
**Dragon** — apparently satisfied with the dominance display, turned its **attention** to the survivors.
Bat-humans still trying to rise (three of twenty survived the roar), giant snakes coiled protecting heads, manticores prostrated submissively.
And it **spat**.
Not common orange-red fire.
**BLUE FLAMES** — estimated temperature three thousand degrees Celsius based on how basaltic stone **melted** instantly on contact, not burning but **vaporizing** organic matter completely; continuous fifteen-meter-wide jet from the throat in an arc covering a hundred-square-meter area ahead.
---
**Julia** — seeing the flames approaching, **shouted**:
**JESSICA**! SHIELD MAGIC **NOW**!
---
**San** and **Julia** — released their anchored weapons, **ran** — ten meters in three seconds reaching Jessica still magically tethered.
---
**Jessica** — mana **exhausted** (0/600) but emergency overriding limitation, voice **forcing** through raw throat:
**AEGIS… MAXIMA… PROTEGO**!
---
Last drop of mana — not just normal reserves but touching **vital core** at risk of life — **exploded**.
A translucent sky-blue **hemispherical shield** materialized with five-meter radius centered on Jessica, three centimeters thick but with magical density sufficient to stop a tank, glowing blinding intensity, structure **trembling** under the strain of maintaining integrity.
---
**Blue flames** **impacted**.
Not gradually.
**Total collision**.
**Massive** heat — temperature inside the shield spiking twenty degrees instantly, sweat **exploding** from pores, air becoming suffocating, skin **burning** lightly from mere proximity without direct contact.
The shield **held** — trembling violently, cracks appearing but not breaking; Jessica **screaming** with mental effort holding the structure through sheer will because mana was already depleted.
**Five seconds**.
The world outside the shield **transformed** — trees instantly carbonized to black ash, ground melted into black volcanic glass, monster bodies **vaporized** leaving no remains except dark stains, air distorting in massive heat waves.
Then the flames **stopped**.
---
Shield **faded** — Jessica **collapsing** unconscious; San **caught** her before she hit the ground.
---
**Dragon** — observed the destruction with apparent satisfaction, then **turned** its massive body, tail **whipping** and demolishing three trees in casual passage, walking back into the cavern and disappearing into the interior darkness.
**THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.**
Footsteps **fading**.
---
Absolute **silence** for thirty seconds.
---
**San** — holding unconscious Jessica, voice **trembling**:
"Are we seriously supposed to **face** that thing?!" — Uncharacteristically hysterical tone. — "That's not an enemy! It's a **force** of nature! Rank **SSS** minimum! We're **ants**!"
---
**Jessica** — partially regaining consciousness, voice **weak**:
"A good… CEO… knows their… **limits**…" — Irregular breathing. — "I think we already have… enough information… to report… to the governor… Especially since we're not… with our superiors…"
---
**Julia** — staring at the cavern, expression **determined** despite trembling hands:
**No**. — Absolute tone admitting no argument. — "We'll be **extremely** cautious but we're only going inside to gather more information about the artifact causing the magical instability. The dragon went back in. We have a window of opportunity."
---
**Jessica** — sitting up with San's help, eyes **wide**:
"Are you **INSANE**?!" — Voice gaining strength through incredulity. — "This is **way** beyond us absolutely! We saw what it does! One **roar** almost killed us! Fire **vaporizes** everything! And you want to enter its **house**?!"
---
**San** — small **ironic** smile curling his lip despite the situation:
"Look at the **lunatic** finally calling someone else crazy."
---
**Jessica** — ignoring San:
"We must know our **operational limits**! This far exceeds any sensible boundary for a level twenty-seven team!"
---
**Julia** — kneeling in front of Jessica, eyes **shining** with determination but also vulnerability:
**Please**. I'm asking you sincerely. — Voice **low**, pleading. — I know I might be being **selfish** but we still don't have enough information. We need to go inside at least to discover the origin of the artifact. The **governor** is counting on us. The **city** is counting on us. The children we saw playing with balloons are **counting** on us.
Pause — hand over heart:
**Chapter 56 – Altar of Blood and Scales** (continued)
"And I promise to give my life protecting both of you if necessary. I swear it on my honor as a knight."
**San** and **Jessica** looked at her in silence for five full seconds.
**San** sighed, a small smile appearing:
"You know perfectly well that I'll follow you straight into hell without hesitation, Julia." — Resigned but genuine tone. — "Even if it's complete suicidal stupidity."
**Jessica** — still hesitant, processing, calculating, finally yielding:
"If… if that's how it is, then you two will be my absolute personal bodyguards protecting an incompetent CEO who accepts suicidal missions."
**Julia** — relieved smile:
"I accept the responsibility with honor."
**San** — sarcastic tone returning:
"I'm only going to protect you because you're my designated team member, not because I like you or anything like that."
The three stood up — checking equipment, adjusting damaged armor, taking deep breaths.
They walked — toward the cavern, through the still-smoking charred field.
**Julia** stopped just before reaching the entrance and looked back.
And saw — an impossibility.
Trees that had been completely carbonized and reduced to black ash — **regenerating**.
Green sprouts emerging from the ashes, visibly growing one centimeter per second, leaves unfurling, trunks thickening — the process accelerated a thousand times compared to normal.
A thought crossed her mind:
*The magical energy from this cavern is REALLY powerful. It doesn't just transform creatures. It restores life. This is… completely unnatural.*
She turned — facing the darkness of the cavern.
They entered.
**[INTERIOR OF THE CAVERN – FIRST CHAMBER]**
Absolute darkness — sunlight not penetrating beyond five meters. The trio summoned torches from inventory (San and Julia) and a floating orb of light (Jessica — her last spell before mana was completely depleted).
It revealed — a natural tunnel: smooth black basalt walls faintly gleaming under the light as if polished, ten meters wide, fifteen meters high (enough for a dragon to pass comfortably), floor covered in fine dust and deep claw marks indicating frequent traffic.
They walked — fifty meters straight.
The tunnel forked — right continued straight (presumably toward the dragon's main chamber based on size), left veered into a smaller tunnel (three meters wide, five meters high).
**Julia** — pointing left:
"Let's start by investigating this one first. The smaller tunnel probably isn't the dragon's lair. Safer."
They entered left — the tunnel snaking one hundred meters and gradually descending.
And it opened into a small chamber: twenty meters in diameter, perfectly circular (unnatural), domed ceiling ten meters high.
And in the center —
An **altar**.
Black stone — not basalt but something darker that completely absorbed light, rectangular shape three meters long by two wide by one meter high. The upper surface engraved with complex symbols glowing faint blood-red and pulsing like a heartbeat; narrow carved channels forming a geometric pattern converging toward the center where an empty circle awaited something.
And around the altar — twelve bodies.
Not skeletons.
**Fresh**.
Humans — men and women ranging from twenty to fifty years old, wearing simple Kend clothing (tunics, linen pants, leather boots), positioned radially around the altar with heads pointing toward the center, chests opened through precise surgical cuts exposing empty rib cages.
Hearts missing — completely removed without damage to adjacent organs, suggesting extraction by someone with precise anatomical knowledge.
Blood forming a pattern — not scattered chaotically but channeled through carved grooves in the floor connecting the bodies to the altar, still liquid (impossible if days had passed) suggesting magic preserving it for an incomplete ritual.
**San** — vomited, turning aside, stomach contents emptying.
**Julia** — face pale, hand covering her mouth:
"This is… this is…"
The symbols on the altar — she partially recognized them from studies in the Ellis library.
Same style as the Great Forest where the Death Cult operated.
Same complex geometry.
Same blood-red glow.
**Jessica** — forcing professionalism through nausea:
"We need… to analyze… the symbols…"
**Julia** — hand trembling, summoned her interface, called the assistant:
"Jun. I need urgent analysis of these symbols."
**Jun** — miniature fairy materializing, seeing the scene, expression horrified:
"Goddess… Julia, this is…"
She flew close to the symbols — eyes glowing as she scanned:
"According to the database… this is related to a group called the Death Cult. A heretical organization banned by the Church three centuries ago. They practice human ritual sacrifices to… — voice trembling — …feed dimensional entities with fear and pain collected from victims during slow death."
She pointed to specific symbols:
"And within the Cult there is a sub-group called the Fear Mages — tasked with collecting concentrated negative emotions through psychological terror before the final sacrifice to maximize extracted energy."
**Julia** — mind freezing.
An involuntary image crossed her consciousness:
Dark forest.
Burning village.
**Maestro** — black cloak, hood covering face, skeletal hands extended.
People **SCREAMING** — not physical pain but absolute terror, faces distorted in pure horror.
Maestro absorbing the screams as sustenance.
Seven companions **DYING** around her.
Sarah. Marcus. Elena. Thomas. David. Kenji. Isabella.
All feeding the Maestro with their final fear before death.
**Julia** — staggered, breathing accelerating, vision blurring, hands trembling uncontrollably.
The Maestro was a Fear Mage.
The massacre wasn't random.
It was a **RITUAL**.
Collecting fear from ten terrified rookies.
And seven died feeding…
**MOVEMENT** above — silent, deadly.
Giant spider — body two meters in diameter covered in black fur, eight legs ending in sharp points, eight red eyes glowing, mandibles dripping green venom — descended from the ceiling via invisible web.
Positioned directly above the paralyzed Julia lost in traumatic memory.
It leapt — legs extended to impale, mandibles opening.
**San** — twenty meters away examining a wall, caught the peripheral movement, shouted:
**JULIA WATCH OUT!**
But it was already too late.
Spider half a meter away.
Julia not reacting.
**FLASH** of movement — impossible to follow visually.
Blade cutting air — sharp **SHING**, perfect horizontal trajectory.
Spider — divided into ten perfectly symmetrical pieces, body falling around Julia in a rain of chitin and green hemolymph.
**Julia** — blinked, processing, looked around confused.
Who…?
Voice — from the shadows of the entrance tunnel, bored and slightly irritated tone:
"Honestly… rookies are nothing but constant and unnecessary trouble."
Three figures emerged from the darkness.
**Garrett** — axe resting on shoulder, usual expression of disdain.
**Cassandra** — staff faintly glowing, cruel smile curling her lips.
**Marcus** — bloodied mace dragging on the ground making metallic scraping sound.
**Garrett** — looking at the altar, bodies, trio:
"So… you found this." — Tone not surprised. — "Interesting."
**[DEATH CULT ALTAR: DISCOVERED]**
**[JULIA: MAESTRO CONNECTION REVEALED]**
**[VETERAN TRIO: APPEARED]**
**[DRAGON: INSIDE THE CAVERN]**
**[NEXT: CONFRONTATION & TRUTH]**