The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 26 - 22: The Truth

Chapter 26: Chapter 22: The Truth

"Come back, you bastard! We haven't settled the winner yet!"

Bruto's indignant roar came from the other end of the battlefield.

The Bagula Demon that Bruto was dueling was becoming increasingly ethereal. Its face was also full of anger, its left arm grotesquely twisted outward, clearly Bruto's handiwork.

The young Dwarf's condition wasn't good either. His face was battered and bruised, his armor smashed to pieces by the iron fists of the ape demon, and even the reinforced shield had a chunk missing, looking like a chipped plate.

Bruto, still displeased, walked over to Lancelot, loudly complaining:

"What's this about now? How can it just run off in the middle of a fight?"

"That was Kuka's summoned assistant. Once a Summoner is killed, the entities they've summoned immediately return to their original location," Tijana explained, hands on hips, "If you're unsatisfied, our Arena is always recruiting volunteers, and the rewards are very generous."

"Uh, are you... Tijana?" Bruto only then noticed that the Succubus before him was no longer Grace. He quickly bowed his head in greeting, "I mean, good day, madam. That's... Grace? What happened? Why is she tied up?"

"She tried to stab your companion in the back," Tijana explained succinctly, then raised an eyebrow at Lancelot, "It seems you were prepared for this and have been waiting for her to slip. Care to explain why?"

"There were too many suspicious things about her," Lancelot said, bending down to pick up the fragment of the Twin Bridges Town Emblem, "First off, does this emblem have any functions other than masking our presence?"

Upon seeing the emblem, Grace cried out in horror, but Tijana promptly gagged her with her whip.

"This emblem allows me to hear and see the affairs around it, and it has a positioning function that lets me teleport to its location in the form of summoning."

"So you witnessed the entire process," Lancelot nodded, "That makes it much easier to explain."

"Is this... concern for our safety?" Bruto eagerly interjected.

"Hahahaha, you are really... adorable," Tijana laughed delicately. "No, I'm worried that Grace is in a very weak state and you foolish males might get ideas."

"Ouch," Bruto grimaced. "That hurts a little; we are all gentlemen here."

"A flaw that needs urgent correction," Tijana mocked mercilessly, then turned to Lancelot, "My Knight, please continue."

"From the moment I saw her, I felt something was off, not like she was... well, more like a naughty child who played too long and missed dinner time. By the way, do Succubi really get knocked out from that sort of thing?"

"Maybe, do you want to find out for yourself?"

"Uh, no, I don't. Where were we?"

"The anomaly upon first meeting."

"Right. And then there was her reaction when I said I wanted to rescue the captives," Lancelot turned to look at Grace, "I'm not sure, but it seemed like she was trying to use the Charm ability on me then, trying to persuade me to give up the rescue to protect her back to Twin Bridges Town?"

"She indeed used the Charm ability then," Tijana said disdainfully looking at her servant. "It was terribly clumsy, truly embarrassing."

"If I hadn't already been suspicious, I might have agreed," Lancelot observed.

"But you've also brought yourself into greater danger, I warned you, if she was alright, you should have come back as soon as possible."

"I appreciate that, but I think she let slip about there being surviving prisoners accidentally. This prisoner could likely testify to things extremely unfavorable to her, which is why she strongly opposed any rescue attempts, otherwise she wouldn't have tried to use charm to interfere with my decision-making."

"That makes sense, but it doesn't explain your caution when you were chasing Kuka."

"She said she was kidnapped by Kuka using his abduction ability, which according to my information, a Bagula Demon can only use once per day, meaning Kuka shouldn't have been able to use that ability again without sufficient rest." Lancelot pointed out the biggest contradiction, "But based on Grace's description, Kuka and she were engaged in a prolonged, intense...activity, which doesn't sound like enough rest, yet Kuka still used the kidnapping ability just now, trying to deal with Bruto first."

"That is indeed an obvious flaw, well done, your mind is always very clear. But I still don't think you would have dodged Grace's final sneak attack based on this alone, you completely missed her attempts to distract you, and your body started moving even before I voiced my warning."

"I suppose I can't hide anything from you." Lancelot helplessly gestured toward a certain direction, "Dingke, come out and say hello to everyone."

A ripple-like glow emerged from an apparently empty tree trunk, and the silhouette of a bat gradually became clear. It flapped its wings, flew over, and transformed back into its Quasimodo Demon form:

"Lady Tijana, I am Dingke, the magical pet of Master Lancelot."

Tijana looked surprised, "An elite Quasimodo Demon, these little fellows can indeed be very useful if utilized properly. No wonder you seem to have eyes on the back of your head, it turns out you actually do have eyes watching your back."

"You flatter me." Lancelot humbly said, "I am used to making thorough preparations beforehand."

"Demons should be thankful that mortals have such a habit for being over-cautious," Tijana maintained her superior level of sarcasm as she pointed to Kuka's lair, "Now go in and bring out all the prisoners for me, I want to hear what this little wretch doesn't want me to know."

Lancelot and Bruto obediently crawled into Kuka's huge hut. Thanks to the former owner's size, the hut was very spacious, but the overpowering stench was almost suffocating. Inside, it was filled with various items: the wreckage of wagons, smashed boxes, barrel mounds (most of them empty), a few piles of Gold Coins, and a large hole dug in the ground.

Bruto just glanced at it and then started retching violently on the side.

The pit was filled with half-eaten limbs and mutilated bodies.

Lancelot silently stared at the pit, reminding himself repeatedly of where he was.

"Stop looking, it's no good for you, no matter how much you look, you'll never get used to a scene like this."

A hoarse voice rang out behind him.

Lancelot turned towards the sound and saw that there was a cage, like the ones used for transporting prisoners, and it held four or five humans, one of whom, a tall, thin man, was leaning on the bars waving at him.

"I heard some wonderful noises, has that Bagula Demon been killed?"

"I avenged those in the pit." Lancelot turned back and patted the still retching dwarf, "Bruto, we need your hammer."

"What?"

Lancelot pointed at the newly discovered prisoners.

Bruto staggered up, walked unsteadily to the cage, and looked up at the approaching inmates, managing to spit out two words.

"Back off."