The arms of agony, they reached for Mercedes'' body. Being forced into their embrace, the merchant reluctantly stepped into their length and was swiftly plucked in. Darkness enveloped her the moment she was inside the vault, there was no ground to stand on, just darkness stretching as far as the eyes could see. But then came a glimmer of hope, far away yet the only thing that could be her guide.


    Floating through the darkness, her own body merged with the essence of the ce, she reached for the item–a blood-filled goblet with a blooming necroflower. Holding it in her darkness-merged flesh, she felt its weight bending the world around her. However, for some reason as she began pulling herself back to the entrance, the weight lightened but the blood inside the goblet began to rot.


    ''Can I not bring this outside? But if I don''t, these guys are gonna kill me!'' Between allowing the blood to rot entirely and trying to for something else, she couldn''t figure out what was for the best, and in her harsh attempt to just get things over with, she pulled herself out of the dark clutch of agony and fell face first out of the vault.


    The blood pooled in the goblet was split by Raven''s feet, yet the necroflower had survived and the instant it hit the floor, bony fingers began growing out of the tiles like des of grass. Discover more stories at empire


    "Necroflower!" Squealed Linkle, excitedly.


    Rushing quickly forward, she conjured a leather glove on her hand before pressing the flower between her palms and making it disappear. The necromantic magic around the ce stopped the moment the flower was gone, and had she not done that, the vault would''ve flooded with more than just a handful of undead skeletons.


    Assessing the situation further, Raven turned his gaze to the spilt blood. Walking closer to Mercedes, he offered her a hand, and although the merchant was reluctant at first, she epted his help before walking to the very back of their group.@@novelbin@@


    Getting to his knees, Raven reached out to touch the dried blood. It was viscous yet tough, almost likeva that was moments from setting into a rock. Whatever it was, its magic had drained and the little potency that it must''ve had was sucked up by the necroflower as Mercedes brought it out of the darkness.


    "Linkle, whose blood do you think this could be?" Raven asked, still kneeling on the ground.


    Turning her attention to the mage, Linkle judged the bloodstained from afar before weighing in with her opinion.


    "If it could keep a nercroflower alive for so long then I''m sure it either belongs to an immortal or an exceptionally strong monster," reaching out to touch the blood herself, she ran her finger through the viscous liquid to judge if it had any traces of mana left.


    But that''s when Galleria decided to speak up, surprising everyone around her.


    "Aran used to speak of a god''s body being recovered from one of the inds that Queen na had enshrouded in her magic, could it be that…?" Folding her hands, the guardian of the treasure, mused over her thoughts.


    "W-wait, you don''t mean to say that''s a god''s blood, right?!" Instinctively stepping back, Shamisha, the most scaredy of them all, grabbed Mercedes by her arms while failing to up her pretense of being strong.


    "OUCH!" Yelped the merchant with the sorceress''s nails digging in deep. But even so, Shamisha refused to let go of her arm.


    A moment of silence set into the room after what had been said. Raven remembered hearing of Lantherem''s body being buried under the ind named the god, and thus he was more easily epting of the fact that another god could''ve been buried under one of these inds.


    "If Lantherem was buried under his ind, maybe the other gods were at least buried under those around their main stay?" He muttered, and with nothing for them to refute the im, the others had to ept that fact until they could prove otherwise.


    "Would honestly exin why Aran was as strong as a lesser god," getting off the floor, Linkle brushed the dust off her knees before looking around at the group. "A god''s blood can give you power, even godhood, so if he really found a dead god''s body, it would make sense why he was so strong and even why he wanted to capture Lantherem."


    "He said it was to secure trade routes and the natural resources around the ind, not to mention some bber about iming what belongs to the people of Aranuvia…" Galleria retorted, but Linkle quickly shot back.


    "And you''re gonna believe a man who almost made your n go extinct?" The dragoness'' heart set heavy upon hearing those words, she knew Linkle was right and since the king of Aranuvia was decided based on power, it made perfect sense why Aran would want to im the dead god''s body.


    Getting off the ground as well, Raven kept staring at the blood pile for a moment. Slowly bringing his attention to Linkle after that, he ced a hand on her shoulder and made her turn around.


    "Forget everything else, tell me can you make use of this blood or is it garbage at this point?" He asked.


    Shrugging her shoulder, Linkle heaved a sigh.


    "I''m assuming the necroflower consumed whatever benefit the blood could''ve had, there was a reason why it was potted in the goblet of a god''s blood after all, it needed sustenance and it took everyst bit possible." ncing sideways at the blood, she knocked its now rock-hard edges with her heels. "It''s gunk, nothing we can make of it."


    ''Good thing we have the flower then.'' Raven thought and Linkle felt the same, but with the flower degrading over time without proper feed, the witch urged everyone to get back to Athenia as soon as they could.


    Not a momentter, the party would be back in ''Phordite mansion, busy with extracting the poison of the flower, while the rest gave their stations final touches before the battle with Tariyaan. It was finally time to infiltrate the hells, but first, the n had to be revised with the addition of the necroflower.


    An assassination or a sh between armies, a decision had to be made, and the general inside of Raven was nning it out every living breathing second.


    ''You''re not a soldier but a general, think, discuss, and execute. I''ll make sure not a single one of us dies !'' With that promise to himself, he isted himself in his thoughts with no distractions deterring him.