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Chapter 445: The Fall of Usher House (5)

Madeline Usher.

Madeline gathered the remaining members of the Divine Archer Squad and set off in pursuit of Tudor and Bianca.

Riding hard, she crossed a bridge over the swamp and soon reached the foot of a steep slope.

“Abandon your horses and climb the mountain. It’s fine if you kill that scoundrel Tudor, but Bianca must be captured alive.”

Madeline, consumed by rage, could no longer disguise her true voice.

From her mouth which was split to the ears, came a sound like a trapped animal’s cry.

Her eyes were sharp and vertical like a reptile’s.

The fierce general of the demon army, who once led the vanguard of humanity’s downfall during the Age of Destruction, was gradually revealing her true nature.

Fududduduk—

With each movement of Madeline, there was a sound like feathers brushing against each other.

“I can smell it. The scent of young, fresh meat…”

Madeline climbed the mountain faster than anyone.

The scent trailed across rocks, piles of leaves, and the ends of sharp branches.

Madeline was tracking the blood trail left by Bianca as she fled.

“Hahaha— She must have been in quite a hurry. To run without even erasing her scent.”

The increasing number of traces clearly indicated that the prey was losing its composure.

Sweat, saliva, and mucus had fallen to the ground.

The most distinct scent, however, was that of blood.

Not only had they failed to cover the spilled blood with leaves or soil, but there were also unmistakable traces of footprints and hair everywhere.

Broken branches and disturbed grass also clearly showed the direction the prey had fled.

“Finally, I can say goodbye to this decaying body. Hahaha— The first thing I’ll do when I change bodies is whip this creaky body into pieces. It’s been so frustrating and tiresome.”

With a bright smile, Madeline reached the ridgeline.

Soon, the lake area on the other side of the mountain came into view.

Lake Lakedock.

This is the largest lake in the vicinity, along with the swamp surrounding the Usher family’s mansion.

Madeline and the Usher family’s Divine archer squad exited the forest and headed towards Lake Lakedock.

What they saw there was somewhat unexpected.

“…?”

Where there was supposed to be a beautiful lake brimming with water, there were piles of stones and mud,

Lake Lakedock had turned into a barren wasteland.

Continuous wildfires and drought had caused the water to vanish entirely.

“Has the drought been this severe?”

The lakebed was oddly dry.

If the water level had merely dropped, it would have been one thing, but for the lakebed to be cracked and parched to this extent was strange.

Here and there, small puddles of water remained, and in them, large fish were swarming.

…Splash! Crack!

Madeline reached into a puddle, pulled out a large catfish, and began eating it raw.

“This is strange. No matter how severe the drought, Lake Lakedock never dried up before… Hahaha— Does this mean the approaching Era of Destruction will be that harsh?”

Madeline threw the chewed catfish to the ground and turned her head to gaze at the glowing flames on the horizon.

The wildfire spreading in the distance was, of course, not a natural disaster.

Droughts, wildfires, and monster outbreaks were just the beginning of the omens to come.

This was a phenomenon resulting from the concentration of magic to open a massive dimensional gate in the sky.

“…Gate. The Gate of Destruction will soon open!”

Due to the growing anxiety over the continuous loss of their comrades, the demons decided to open the gate to the demon realm, which was originally scheduled to open decades later, a bit earlier.

This was also the reason they incited the Empire’s civil war sooner than planned.

“For that time, I must quickly change my body to something young and fresh.”

Thinking of the numerous plans she had after taking over Bianca’s body, Madeline felt her body heat up.

“Oh, I’ll have to create many children first! How delicious will the children made from my flesh and blood be! I’m already drooling.”

She swiftly descended to the bottom of the lake and headed towards the center.

As she passed between the towering piles of stones and dirt, the barren landscape inside came into view.

Whiiiiiiing—

Suddenly, a humid wind blew from somewhere.

“…!”

Madeline turned her head in surprise, her expression changing.

A sense of foreboding filled her mind.

Looking back at the piles of stones she had just passed through, she noticed that the path she had walked had changed slightly.

Madeline’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh, are you trying to confront me with a formation?”

Indeed.

The piles of stones scattered across the lake bed formed walls of a labyrinth.

The paths between them traced a peculiar geometric pattern.

Walking these paths would inevitably lead to hallucinations and illusions, causing one to lose all sense of direction and become trapped.

The structure was similar to the formation inside the Usher mansion that activated Bianca’s brainwashing, but far more complex.

“Hahaha— I’m also a member of the Usher family, you know. How cute, challenging me with a formation.”

Despite falling into the trap, Madeline remained very composed.

Looking around, she saw that the sharp, towering rocks and the walls of dirt and stone completely surrounded her.

Her eyes glinted with a sinister light.

“Heh… Not bad. It’s exactly like the Eight Trigrams Formation depicted in the Hell Scroll, created by Belial and Dantalian. Could they have betrayed and sided with the humans?”

But that couldn’t be.

Belial and Dantalion had already been killed.

However, the formation before her eyes was undoubtedly one of the traps they often used in large-scale wars.

How mere humans had managed to replicate it was a mystery.

“Who is it? That Bianca woman? No, there’s no way a mere human could imitate a demon’s formation this well. Hmmm…”

After pondering for a moment, Madeline chuckled.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. This has nothing to do with me. I am unaffected by such formations. After all, I already learned the structure of this formation from Belial and Dantalion. Let’s break it instantly.”

The opponent had likely set this trap to buy time.

But Madeline, having absorbed all the knowledge of the Usher family’s formations and even those of the demons, was confident she wouldn’t be trapped by such a low-grade maze.

“I’ll render all of this futile.”

Madeline lifted her head proudly.

“休 (Rest), 生 (Life), 傷 (Wound), 杜 (Stop), 景 (View), 死 (Death), 驚 (Fright), 開 (Open). Among the eight trigrams gates, entering 生 (Life), 景 (View), or 開 (Open) leads to survival, 傷 (Wound), 驚 (Fright), or 休 (Rest) leads to injury, and 杜 (Stop) and 死 (Death) lead to death, right?”

Madeline knew well which paths were exits and which were traps.

It was a technique famous even among demons.

“Hahaha— To those who don’t know the formation, it has a tremendous effect, but to those who understand it well, it’s nothing more than scribbles on the ground. It may seem impressive, but it’s useless!”

Madeline confidently strode forward, breaking through the paths of the formation.

…But then, in that moment,

“Huh?”

Madeline spotted the head of a catfish lying on the ground.

It was the catfish she had eaten at the beginning of the maze, from the puddle near the entrance of the formation.

For some reason unknown to her, she found herself back in the area where the maze had started.

Of course, the exit was still nowhere in sight.

“No, that can’t be.”

Madeline immediately moved.

She tried to exit through the gates she knew: 生 (Life), 景 (View), 開 (Open), but the scenery kept repeating itself.

Wary of potential injuries, she tried 傷 (Wound), 驚 (Fright), 休 (Rest), yet faced the same results.

Instead of finding a way out, she only felt increasing confusion, as if the sky and earth were turning upside down in her mind.

She didn’t dare enter the definite paths of death, 杜 (Stop), and 死 (Death).

“What’s going on? Wasn’t this the Eight Trigrams Formation? If so, I should be able to find my way out like this… huh?”

The formation drawn with dried blood on the ground was distracting Madeline.

Instead of finding an escape route, all she could see around her were dense walls.

[…If it comes to this, I have no choice but to advance towards the center of the lake. Hm. To think there’s someone who knows the demon’s formations. Who could it be? Could it be that demon hunter who’s been killing off our comrades? But isn’t he imprisoned in Nouvellebag?]

But the more she pondered, the further she went, the darker her surroundings became.

Madeline found herself reluctantly drawn deeper into the heart of the formation.

There stood a strange tree with a small torch hanging from it, and on the ground beneath, writings were inscribed in black blood.

Suppressing rising anger and impatience, Madeline walked towards the tree.

Eventually, she noticed inscriptions on the floor at the very center of the maze.

– The demon dies beneath this tree. –

Upon reading those words, Madeline snapped.

“How dare these wretched creatures provoke me…!”

However, it wasn’t just a mere attempt to ruin her mood.

Madeline quickly realized the true meaning behind it.

…Crash!

A heavy object smashed into the ground, resonating with the sound of a giant rock striking.

Thud, thud, thud…

The dry, cracked floor trembled violently, sending fragments of stone and dried mud swirling into the air.

[…!?]

Madeline’s expression contorted in dismay.

Now she understood why the bottom of Lake Lakedock had dried up so severely.

Shaaaah!

Water attack.

From afar, a colossal surge of water was rushing towards her at an astonishing height.