Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 115
“What do you mean? The other group was wiped out?!”
Not only Irene but everyone else jumped to their feet in shock.
“Sir Michael instructed us to gather our things and move together immediately. Hurry!”
At the knight’s words, everyone hastily prepared to leave.
The knight led the way. As they walked further through the winding path between the rocky cliffs, the wind carried a faint, metallic scent.
It was the smell of blood.
As they rounded a bend, everyone in Irene’s group was horrified by the sight before them.
“What… is this…”
The narrower plaza in front of them was littered with corpses.
Each body was mutilated beyond recognition. Some had been decapitated, others had limbs severed, and some had their abdomens torn open by sharp claws.
It was clear to anyone that this was the work of monsters.
Amid the bodies, Michael, who had been surveying the scene, stood up.
“These are the people who entered through the second entrance. I recognize a few of their faces.”
“The second entrance…?”
Princess Cecilia had entered through the first entrance. Those who had come through this entrance were part of a raid led by another high-ranking purifier, someone close to the princess.
Though she wasn’t quite as powerful as the princess, this purifier had immense purification abilities, and her knight was also renowned across the continent.
It was said that the two of them alone could clear a mid-tier dungeon without much difficulty.
And yet, their entire large-scale raid had been annihilated like this.
“What kind of monster could have done this…?”
At someone’s murmured question, the group huddled closer together, anxiously scanning the surroundings.
Then, Michael spoke again.
“There aren’t enough bodies. I was told this raid group had around 300 people, divided into three teams. We should be seeing at least a hundred bodies, but there are only about 50 here. That’s too few to call it a total wipeout.”
The calmness with which Michael delivered this information sent chills through the group.
If there were 50 people unaccounted for, where had they gone?
If they had managed to escape this massacre, it would be a relief. But if they had disappeared for another reason…
“They weren’t eaten, were they?”
The words, spoken aloud by someone in the group, cast an even colder air over the scene.
Meanwhile, Reyna, unable to handle the sight of the carnage, retreated to a corner and began vomiting.
Others covered their mouths or shed silent tears, overwhelmed by the horror before them.
Even those who had ventured into dungeons many times before had never encountered a scene as gruesome as this.
Irene, too, covered her nose and mouth with her hand. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t block out the thick stench of blood.
Any thoughts of treasure had long since vanished from her mind.
‘This can’t be happening.’
The Eye of Exploration had classified this as a mid-to-high-tier dungeon. None of the monsters detected inside were supposed to be particularly dangerous.
Suddenly, Irene recalled the discrepancies from her past life.
She hurriedly pulled out the map she had stuffed into her bag earlier.
In one corner of the complex dungeon map, a section had been blacked out entirely.
In red letters, the words [Unexplored Region] were written over it.
Irene was certain now. The monster that had slaughtered these people was hiding in that area.
“Michael.”
Irene immediately grabbed Michael’s sleeve. Sensing her trembling, he opened his hand and gently enveloped hers, calming her.
“It’s alright. I don’t sense any monsters nearby.”
His reassurance helped ease Irene’s shaking. After a moment, she regained her composure and spoke.
“We have to leave. Right now.”
There was no time to think about treasure. Their priority was getting out alive.
Normally, the other pairs would have raised their voices in protest, but this time, no one said a word.
The people lying dead here were far stronger than any of them. If they had been completely overwhelmed without even putting up a proper fight, what hope did they have against whatever unknown monster had done this?
The only reason the group wasn’t in a complete panic was because of Michael’s calm demeanor.
He would save them from any danger.
As long as they stayed by his side, they would be safe.
This belief was shared by everyone in the raid.
Michael examined the wounds on the bodies, wiped his hands, and then spoke to the group.
“We’ll maintain our current formation and head back the way we came. We won’t attempt to recover the bodies. There are too many for us to handle.”
It was fortress protocol to recover and protect the bodies of anyone injured or killed in a dungeon, even if they weren’t part of your team.
But this was an emergency situation that made it impossible to follow even the most basic rules.
