With the new information, they arrive inside the castle. Unfortunately, Duke Daemon didn't have much family support, so the only Gracia in the castle was the Duke himself.

But Sylvester had no worries as he had already gotten a map of the most critical routes from the Duke. So, Sylvester knew that the Witch was most likely at the castle's bottom level, a few hundred metres below the surface.

That was where the Witch had created her workshop. In Duke's own words, he was not allowed to go in there either. That instantly raised many questions.

Boom!

But, the moment they stepped into the castle, the giant, tens of metres tall gates got loose and started to fall on them. But thankfully, they were so big that they needed time to fall, enough that all the men could jump aside.

Thud!

A cloud of dust emerged, and they coughed. But Sylvester used a simple air spell to clean the whole area to ensure he had his eyes on his men at all times.

He had more worries now, though. "It seems that Witch has placed many traps for us. This is going to be a very annoying journey. Sir Dolorem and Elyon, you two have the best natural sense, so walk with me at the front. Bishop Lazark, please create a few skeleton undead and send them fifty metres ahead of us."

"Understood, Lord Bard." Bishop Lazark took action fast and went out to summon an undead skeleton that was at some point buried underground nearby.

After that, in the lead was the undead. Sometimes, the poor undead got shot with an arrow coming from the ceiling. Sometimes it caught fire spontaneously, and sometimes it tripped and fell due to sudden spikes on the land.

Not only that, Elyon and Sir Dolorem were also announcing whenever they'd sense anything strange. They had already smelled some oil hidden in the ceiling that was to fall on them and start burning them.

"What a mad woman. For how many years has she been preparing for this?" Gabriel wondered annoyedly. Everyone else shared his thoughts as well.

"The Duke said he had given the Witch all the permissions to do whatever she wanted in the castle. She was, after all, the Duchess. Her man must have been busy working while she did all this. Let's keep moving." He ordered, and the march continued.

Over time, they came across a lot of traps. But then they arrived at a place Sylvester purposefully wished to reach. It was the treasury room of the castle, and it was just behind a steel door. The same door whose key Sylvester had gotten from the Duke.

"Let's keep moving, men!" He urged everyone.

But he had a small chat with a furry boy on his shoulder. "You have the key, now go in there, take more than half of all the gold and valuables, and return to me fast. I will purposefully go slow until you're back."

Miraj's mouth had an unnatural grin the whole time. "Hehe… I am speed, Maxy. Worry not. I'll be back in a jiffy."

And with that, Miraj zoomed away like an arrow. Jumping from Sylvester's shoulder and going to the large metal gate. He then waited until all the Inquisitors had left to open it and slid inside sneakily.

Thud!

But, what waited for him, even he was not prepared. He fell on his furry ass in shock, and his blue eyes shone gold. His jaw hung open, and drool fell like a waterfall.

"B-B-Banananana…" Miraj was officially broken… and perhaps, in love with money.

…

Eventually, nearly twenty minutes later, Miraj returned to Sylvester with a big shining smile on his face. He looked particularly white and furry for some reason.

"How was it?" Sylvester asked.

Miraj grinned and showed a gold coin between his jaws. "Hehe… Maxy, we're rich! Very rich!"

'How much was it?' Sylvester wondered in silence. But he couldn't speak loud as they finally reached the serious parts of the basement.

After going below the third level of the basement of the castle, everything turned crude, as if nobody had bothered to keep this part tidy. There were no torches. There were no carved walls. It had started to appear like a cave system that went narrow as they proceeded.It all felt like a mountain was carved and went deeper, one level at a time. They found nothing on those levels, but now and then, they'd discover wild rats big enough to be called dogs—those needed to be killed as they were annoying.

"Fuck! These bastards don't know what fear is!" Felix cursed as he swung the sword to kill the rats.

Sylvester didn't want to spend too much magic as he feared he'd need it in the confrontation against the Witch. So he used his spear as well. There were five hundred of them anyway, and the rats were weak. So it was not much of a bother.

"This is annoying!" Sylvester added.

But they made progress no matter what. After who knows how long, they arrived at the bottom level. Everything was pitch black, and the surroundings seemed like a carved cave with damp walls.

They were deep underground, and there was a sea just a little east of the castle, so it was understandable. But what caught their eye was the large, rusted metal door at the end of the cave.

The door blocked the only path, so it was the only way to go. It was made of some sort of blood-red metal, and on the door was the carving of some strange runes, as well as a skeleton head with a crown. Even above the door, a few skeletons were carved on the stone.

"Why do they always use skeletons?" Felix wondered. "It's the worst way to tell everyone 'Oh, the evil witch is here! Come in!'. So dumb."

Sylvester chuckled and walked closer to it to observe. But he was careful not to touch it. "Hmm… the runes are ordinary, but not what we usually see. It's supposed to do something to us if we try to force it open. But what?"

"Let me try something." Bishop Lazark said and sent the undead to touch the door.

Bzzz!

The Undead got electrocuted, and it was very intense.

Sylvester sighed and lifted his right palm. "It seems the only way inside is to obliterate this thing. So, everyone, step back."

Then he chanted a short hymn from the past and sent a smaller beam of light directly at the door. Now, this attack was strong enough to make deep tunnels into the formidable Wall of Void. So, what was a steel door?

Not to mention, whatever that witch did with it was dark magic. And the bane of Dark magic was the light of one true bard.

Boom!

The Inquisitors prayed under their breath at the sight. Their belief in Sylvester went more profound every time he showed them his halo, hymn and power.

He didn't use it for a long time, however. Merely after three seconds, he stopped and looked. "Ah, it seems I went a little overboard. There is no trace of the door left."

Felix agreed. "Perhaps you have become too strong for these mortal tasks. Next time, allow me to do such things."

Clack! Clack!

Meanwhile, Bishop Lazark sent the undead inside first. They had no idea what was on the other side, so they were cautious. Not to mention, everything was dark, and some sort of fog was there too.

Sylvester looked back. "Men of Inquisition, did you bring your masks?"

"Yes, Lord Bard!" They roared.

"Masks up! Stay vigilant and blow anything that moves—as long as it's not the Cardinal," Sylvester ordered, and also put on a compulsory mask to protect himself from the Soul Eater demon-like situation.With that, they slowly moved inside. Bishop Lazark was guiding them down the path. "No obstruction found. But it seems the area is vast."

"I smell something!" Beastkin Elyon spoke suddenly. "I smell… rotting flesh and a lot of ash."

Sylvester was also smelling something. 'I smell so much rage, jealousy and hate from inside. But why is there no death like that time? Or… was it a false flag back then? Perhaps the scent of death was from the Grand Wizard hiding in the castle?'

He still stayed on guard and took each step with care. On the first look as he stepped inside. He felt like he was walking on sand. But, on another look, it turned out to be ash as it was too fine.

Then he looked around, and as far as their regular torches could go, they saw nothing. Just dark emptiness and smoke all around.

'This is bad. She can strike us if we don't have a clear view.'

So he raised his right hand above his shoulder and used normal light magic to act like a lighthouse. Of course, his light was far more intense than any touch could achieve, so he lightened a lot more area.

"Felix and Gab, throw light crystals as far as you can." He ordered.

With that, slowly, they started to see the entire vicinity. But, to find the witch, it didn't take long as soon a light appeared ahead—akin to fire. It was like a burning pot in the arms of something—someone—inhuman.

"Good lord! What is that abomination?!" Felix shouted in fright.

Shhh!

All swords were out instantly, and magic spells were ready to be thrown. The abomination in front of them was enough to cause nightmares, let alone be standing in front of it.

Sylvester, too, felt his scalp tingle. For some reason, he found this more frightening than the Soul Eater or a Bloodling. Because in those cases, he knew they were not humans and hence so ugly. But here, the Duchess he had seen was a beauty of no limit—precisely opposite of what he saw now.

Even Gabriel, the occasionally abusive priest, activated his light magic, making his palms shine. "W-What the hell is that, Sylvester?"

Sylvester took a deep breath and started walking forward to allow the Inquisitors more space to move. However, he still remained alert from the creature. It appeared humanoid but was at least nine feet tall. It was not a human, however, as the face seemed too—ugly. Plain yellow face, creepy smiling lips, two shining yellow dots as eyes.

The attire was even more frightening, for she wore some sort of a gown with many torn pieces of human skin. The headgear was pointy and made of cloth. Around the neck was a necklace made of human arms, numbering dozens. Meanwhile, near the bottom of the gown were little humanoid creatures—as if they were babies—but demonic looking.

[A/N: See the Witch]

Worse was the fact that Sylvester could see at least a dozen more similar shadows in the back. They were definitely not full humans.

"Duchess Artemis?" Sylvester asked.

"Hehehe…" An ear-piercing giggle resounded, followed by a whispering feminine voice. "Welcome, Lord Bard. So you have killed my husband? You did beyond my expectations. But now you must choose."

The horrifying womanly creature threw hundreds of crude cotton dolls on the ground from a bag. "Each of these Blood Dolls is tied to Duchy's nobles. So tell me, will you save this Duchy or—Or let hundreds die for a single Cardinal?"

She moved aside and revealed the nude body of Cardinal hung on a stake, covered with minor cuts and on each cut was a leech, drinking the blood. The man appeared pale and thin as a skeleton—likely had a few more minutes left to live.

"Hehehe… Choose, Lord Bard! Tick Tock! Time is of the essence!" The Witch laughed menacingly, standing still.

________________________

GT = 1 Bonus chapter.

Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.

APE TOGETHER STRONG!