This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 395, Section 394: The Evil God Neferella
Norris accepted the thanks from Vera and the others with a slightly complicated expression. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he didn't speak and just silently stood behind "Aidin," who had returned.

As Fal's right-hand man and a powerful figure in Modu, it was impossible for Vera not to recognize Aidin.

Another round of thanks was waved off by Aiding.

At this moment, Gavin and his men had all retreated to the basement and activated the defensive barrier.

The pale purple light curtain sealed the entrance completely, and no one knew what they were doing inside.

As instructed by the boss, Aidin has already crushed the alarm crystal, and Far should be sending people over soon.

Gavin's assessment after meeting Edin was correct: even if they ran now, it would be difficult for them to escape.

Facing Gavin, Lin Jun could also take action herself. Regardless of the defensive capabilities of magic circles, they ultimately consume magic power to operate.

How long can this obviously temporary defensive magic array withstand the continuous self-destruction of "Puji"?

But that would leave too obvious a trace, especially with witnesses like Vera present.

Unsure of whether she would receive a sufficient return, Lin Jun chose to hand the matter over to the authorities.

Anyway, with Aidin present, the final intelligence will eventually be shared with him.

The response from the Far side was indeed swift; just two hours later, Solalin arrived with more than forty fully armed knights.

Norris had already quietly left, leaving only Aidin and Vera's squad behind.

"Lord Aidin." After briefly understanding the situation, Soralin immediately ordered her men to launch a fierce attack on the defensive magic array.

Under the intense impact of magic and physical force, the temporary barrier collapsed in less than ten minutes.

Aiding was holding a round, chubby little pig.
Follow the vanguard into the basement.

To everyone's surprise, there was neither a desperate struggle nor a desperate plea for mercy.

What appeared before everyone was a ground littered with peacefully deceased corpses, and a large sacrificial array drawn on the ground.

Those cultists who retreated have now become sacrifices in the magic circle.

Even more disgusting was the fact that there were many half-rotten corpses piled up in the corner, and the entire basement was filled with a suffocating stench.

Everyone covered their noses, but Aiding remained unfazed.

However, there were two living people in the basement.

A middle-aged man was huddled in a corner, weeping incessantly. He was one of the "mushroom farmers" who had besieged Vera, but for some reason he had not fallen in the sacrificial circle like his comrades.

The other was Gavin, whose body was charred black and whose face was unrecognizable.

"Silver light cleanses the soul, the ritual solidifies the path home, there is no need for worry, no need for fear..." Gavin knelt at the edge of the magic circle, murmuring a mumbled prayer.

Even as the crowd burst in, he remained oblivious, muttering to himself:
"My God, I have failed your expectations and am unworthy to enter the cycle of reincarnation. I will bear this sin alone. Please have mercy and save their souls!"

Solalyn's gaze swept over the pile of corpses in the corner, her voice filled with barely suppressed anger and disgust: "Sacrificing innocent lives to gain the mercy of an evil god? You inhuman lunatics!"

Gavin slowly raised the blade in his hand, and Solalyn immediately assumed a defensive stance, while the surrounding soldiers also gripped their weapons tightly.

“That’s just your ignorance.” Gavin’s gaze swept over the man still sobbing in the corner, his tone arrogant. “Just like him.”

Before he finished speaking, the sharp blade in his hand suddenly stabbed out at a tricky angle.

Instead of attacking the well-prepared Solalyn, he pierced through his own skull.

Gavin died on the spot; there was no way to save him.

Lin Jun, who was watching everything through Puji, felt goosebumps rising on her skin.

He initially thought they were some evil sorcerers who played with abyssal magic, but they turned out to be a bunch of real lunatics!
While evil mages may be evil, their evil lies in their methods, not their minds. Evil mages, like normal people, have pursuits such as power, authority, money, and fame. Even those guys on Ark who constantly talk about "sacrifice" are ultimately sacrificing others.

But this group of cultists is completely different. They are truly insane, believing in a certain being. They not only sacrifice others without hesitation, but they can also easily give up their own lives!

What's even more terrifying is that this evil god actually exists!
unlucky!

From the perspective of "Inspiration," those corpses are all empty, devoid of souls.

Lin Jun already knew which god they worshipped—Neferella, the goddess of death.

A diamond-level character wanting to commit suicide is something Solalyn and her team can't stop.

They could only take the only survivor they had captured back for interrogation, while sending people to begin counting the bodies in the basement in an attempt to identify the victims.

Vera's team was only allowed to enter the basement at the very end, and they had only gone halfway when the strong stench forced them to cover their mouths and noses.

When they saw the horrific scene below, the support mage Fei Yin was the first to break down and turned back to the ground. The faces of the others were also as pale as paper.

Their employer, Barton, suddenly lunged at a corpse in the corner, which was in the most decomposed state, and broke down in tears, calling out his friend's name repeatedly.

This was the first time Vera and his team had directly confronted the actions of cultists. Although they were victorious, everyone felt as if a huge boulder was pressing down on their hearts.

Solalyn was fully responsible for the subsequent management of the farm.

The identities of the victims were gradually confirmed. Those with relatives were notified, while those without relatives were buried in a cemetery overgrown with mushrooms.

Lin Jun tried to dissect a corpse, but as expected, she found nothing.

The captured survivor confessed everything with almost no effort:

“Priest Gavin came to find ‘higher vessels,’ but I don’t know what ‘higher vessels’ are either. I just followed the leader’s plan to capture some people, and I don’t know anything else! They were the ones who gave the orders, and I dared not disobey!”

Why did you initially join the Hand of the Dead?

"They said... that joining would allow me to be reborn and not be like this life, where I have mediocre talent and can only ever be at the bottom no matter how hard I try... I really didn't know it would be so evil at first!"

"Then why didn't you die there like them?"

“That’s a sacrifice! I can see it now, the ritual is exactly the same as when we sacrificed other people before! I… I don’t want to be sacrificed! I don’t want to… I…”

"Besides that farm, do you have any other bases?"

"It was in an abandoned village before, but that's been abandoned. As for the rest... I don't know anything else..."

……

After personally completing the interrogation, Solalyn frowned.

This coward was clearly just an outsider, and the intelligence he provided was of very limited value.

The key is……

Solalyn looked at the list she had compiled in her hand.

The number of victims in the basement is less than half of the number on the missing persons list.

So, where are the remaining missing people?

Clearly, there are far more cult members lurking in the shadows than just this one group, and the danger is far from over!
In the days that followed, the security patrol force in Mushroom City doubled, and even the church sent several small teams to assist in the search and capture of lurking cult members.

This meant that the list of D-level personnel at the Mushroom Garden couldn't be updated for a very long time...

(End of this chapter)