Chapter 285: That pig is long dead
The moment Damon’s body plunged into the lake, the venom reacted violently.
The poisonous waters surged like a living entity, rising in tendrils and lashing around him as if trying to consume him whole.
But instead of pain or decay, Damon felt something else entirely, ecstasy. His blood boiled, but not with rage. With power and satisfaction. He might as well have jumped into a pool of medicinal water. The whole thing was like a SPA treatment.
Several notifications continued to flash in front of him in rapid succession at first, and eventually slowed down, but they still kept coming.
After the whole weakness, the trial, and everything else that had happened, Damon decided to take it slow and enjoy the relaxation a bit. He closed his eyes and floated around with a small smile on his face.
Meanwhile, outside the dungeon, Ellora paced back and forth nervously, her crimson robes fluttering in the stagnant air. Her sharp eyes, usually so calm and cold, now flickered with frustration and unease. Every few seconds, she would glance at the entrance of the poisonous ruin, as if expecting it to cough Damon back out.
"He’s been in there too long," she muttered. "He is very weak at the moment. I should never have come out."
Beside her, Kaelthorn snorted coldly. "Don’t make excuses for weakness, and don’t be so overly dramatic. He’s just another arrogant lord who went in over his head and now can’t find his way out."
"Shut up!" Ellora seethed in anger. "Shut up, you fucking traitor! The only reason I have left you alive until now is so that you can redeem yourself by getting back in there and doing everything you can to protect our lord!" The vampire’s voluptuous chest rose up and down as she was boiling with anger from top to bottom.
Kaelthorn’s jaw clenched, his crimson eyes narrowing to slits. For a moment, he looked like he might lash out, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave a low, bitter chuckle and turned away, gazing at the dungeon entrance.
"You’re delusional if you think I give a damn about redemption," he muttered. "And you are a complete lunatic if you think he is still alive. Heh. That bastard probably died a long time ago. Became insect food or became a part of that creepy guy. Hmmm. I don’t know which will be more entertaining."
Kaelthorn turned towards the dungeon and laughed again. "Scratch that. It would be more amusing if he became a part of that creepy guy. That way, a part of him would still remain alive and his soul would suffer for all eternity." He howled with maniacal laughter as he kept imagining that scene again and again.
Ellora didn’t flinch. She simply raised one hand and pointed it straight at Kaelthorn’s chest. A ripple of blood magic surged through her fingers, forming into a jagged crimson spear that hovered mid-air, pulsing with lethal intent.
"Say one more word, Kaelthorn," she said, her voice low and sharp as a dagger’s edge. "One more fucking word and I will tear out your tongue, spike it to a wall, and make you eat it with your eyes wide open."
Kaelthorn’s laughter died abruptly. His lips curled into a mocking smirk, but he wisely said nothing more. Instead, he backed away with a sarcastic bow, his hands raised. "As you command, High Lady Loyal-to-a-corpse."
Ellora didn’t lower her hand until he was a good distance away. Then, with a shaky breath, she turned once more to the entrance. Her eyes burned with worry, her jaw tight with fear she didn’t dare voice aloud.
Then, finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and cooked up a flimsy excuse. "I might be disobeying his direct orders, but I need to go and relay an important message to him. So that trumps his orders." She mumbled something and then once again rushed into the same dungeon, knowing full well that there was life-threatening danger inside.
Kaelthorn scoffed. "What a fool. Why maintain such a loyalty to a rat who only served himself at the end of the day? All nobles are just heinous trash masquerading as someone worth bowing to," he finished with a sneer, his voice filled with disdain.
Kaelthorn’s eyes gleamed with dark amusement. He stood there alone now, watching as Ellora vanished into the poisonous ruins. The wind howled faintly through the shattered stones of the dungeon’s outer rim, but Kaelthorn remained still, arms folded.
"Tch. Let them both rot, then," he muttered. "One’s a delusional zealot and the other’s just an overbloated pig. The world would breathe easier without either of them."
Yet after a couple of minutes, he let out a sigh and decided to go back in anyway. "Fuck it. I am too damn curious. I need to see that pig’s squealing face attached to that freaking creepy thing with my own eyes." With a vicious glint in his eyes, he too dashed back into the dungeon portal.
"I am telling you... He is already fucking dead!" Kaelthorn laughed loudly as he ran across the many layers of the dungeon, his voice echoing everywhere.
His actions were definitely giving away their presence and ruining the only chance they had to take the monster by surprise, but he couldn’t give two shits about it. That slut can go ahead and die for all he cares.
His vicious laughter rang loudly through the dungeon floors as he finally arrived at the bottom-most floor. Right as he arrived, a loud explosion sounded as Ellora broke through the rocks blocking the entrance to the last floor.
Kaelthorn skidded to a halt just as the debris from Ellora’s spell finished raining down. Dust and poisonous mist billowed outward. His smirk widened as he stepped forward, slow and deliberate, his eyes adjusting to the shifting gloom.
"What a dramatic entrance," he mocked, voice loud enough to carry over the rumbling aftermath. "Why so much drama over a dead pig?"
However, just as Ellora stood frozen, he too abruptly stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide open and his jaw dropped to the ground.