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Chapter 171: To the Basement

The splashing sound of footsteps resonated through the hall. The previously well-decorated hall had now turned into a sea of blood.

The long-haired carpet soaked up the blood and made me feel like I was walking on a wet dust cloth. All five men had drawn their last breath and no one was left to make another sound.

“Did I go a bit too far? I should’ve left one alive at least, huh.”

I didn’t know how to get into the basement. Leaving one of them alive to get that information out of him would’ve been a smarter choice, but it seemed that being under their lusty gazes made the blood rush to my head.

Well, that was a new experience for me, so let’s just overlook it this time.

There was a sea of blood around, as if it was a battlefield, but not a drop of it was on my body.

That was no surprise, however. I was actually smeared with blood, but it wasn’t reflected on my illusionary form. In reality, I was in a terrible condition, having vomited blood all over my upper body.

If there were onlookers, they would’ve found my appearance very out of place. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

The fresh smell of blood was filling my lungs, but I pushed it out of my mind.

First I had to inspect my gauntlets that malfunctioned in the middle of the battle. The thread might have gotten entangled inside as I couldn’t even wind it in. Not just that, I couldn’t even move other threads either.

At this rate, I could only use the thread that was already out, but it was only a meter long at best.

The left gauntlet had a big dent and its threads were entwined with my body. It was impossible to use it as a weapon at this point. It was a shame, but I had to detach it.

“…Oh well, I’ll handle it somehow.”

It was a shame that I couldn’t use those threads as weapons, but I still had my dagger so I could still fight. Plus, I also had that one-meter thread on my right hand. I could at least use it in close combat.

As for the dagger, I could also turn it into a spear if push came to shove.

In the end, I gripped the thread from my broken gauntlet with both hands and headed deep into the passage in search of Elliot.

Piano wires were easier to use now, but the Mythril one was on another level in terms of toughness and sharpness.

When it came to battles in passages like this or even the basement, the length of it wasn’t the most important part. I would still be fighting while holding the thread with both hands like this, so it was no problem.

As I proceeded in the passage, I noticed “something” strange. It was the blurry blood marks on a one-meter-long wall. I noticed it because of my small height, but a tall Adventurer would’ve had to look down to notice it.

“Hmm… Is it Elliot’s blood?”

Perhaps he was roughed up a bit during the kidnapping and got some scratches or something. Either way, he seemed to have used his blood to leave marks behind to let others know of his location.

Following those marks, I headed deeper into the passage. I arrived at the side of the kitchen that was near the back door. The blood marks continued to the storage room next to it.

I couldn’t feel any presence from the inside, so I went ahead and opened the door while staying vigilant.

There were fry pans and spare kitchen knives inside the narrow room. There were also pots and vases crammed inside of it. Despite all that, it was strangely empty near the wall.

“Are they even trying to hide it…?”

As I approached the wall, I saw blood marks on it just as I expected.

“There should be some apparatus nearby that moves this wall…”

The device was probably camouflaged somewhere nearby. Since I used to assassinate nobles back in the day, I was quite used to these kinds of mechanisms.

After looking around for a while, I discovered a switch under a pot and activated it.

With a small click, the wall opened up near the corner. The other side had hinges on it and it opened up like a door. As expected, it wasn’t to the level of a revolving door.

Beyond the door was a staircase made of bare rock descending downwards, with light magic tools installed on the wall. These tools were quite a commonplace article, so they weren’t quite as expensive.

These tools were installed as temporary means of illuminating the field of view.

“It’s still quite a luxury to install magic tools even in a hidden passage like this.”

I suppose my opponent’s economic strength was just that high. Well, he was a count related to the former Gritnir royals, after all. This much expense was probably a trivial matter to him.

There was a high chance that Elliot was held ahead. Depending on the situation, he could even be used as a hostage. I may have taken out some of their battle strength with the earlier thing, but I had to proceed carefully now.

Since Elliot was taken as a hostage, I went and did a frontal assault to decrease the enemy fighting power, but I wasn’t really used to this kind of battle.

If I could, I would’ve preferred defeating them stealthily.

As I was thinking that, I used my Stealth Gift and hid my presence. At the same time, I concealed my voice and footsteps and descended down the stairs.

I could periodically spot fresh blood marks on the wall, so Elliot was definitely up ahead. The stairs descended like a semicircle and soon reached the end. It wasn’t that deep, maybe four meters at best.

The ceiling was about two meters tall, so they have made the basement as deep as they could.

“So this is just a room to avoid human eyes, eh?”

Thanks to its shallowness, I was able to find it, so I suppose I should be thankful.

There was a short passage up ahead that leads to a door. I could see light from its gaps, so there was probably a room beyond it.

I silently approached it and pricked up my ears to listen. From there, I could hear an impudent voice of a man, as well as painful grunts that I was familiar with.

That voice definitely belonged to Elliot.