「Textile Factory.」

Even though it was already evening, the place remained bustling. Officers in uniforms moved through the building, inspecting every corner and leaving no stone unturned. The female workers had been gathered, and the huge machines that previously operated day and night had ceased their roaring.

"Sir!" an officer standing before an oversized fan called out loudly. "There's something wrong here!"

A fan this large theoretically had no place in a textile factory. Furthermore, there were traces on the blades that looked suspiciously like blood. To a professional officer's eye, it was highly suspicious. Investigators hurried over, their gazes following the traces on the floor behind the propeller.

"Go ahead!" the one in charge ordered with a wave of his hand. "Take it apart!"

"Yes, sir!" his subordinates complied.

Whatever the issue, once the object used for concealment was dismantled, everything would be exposed.

CLICK! BANG!

With a loud crash, the huge propeller fell, revealing the hidden passageway behind it.

The passageway was pitch-black, leading straight underground. It resembled the gaping mouth of a massive beast, emitting an eerie and terrifying aura.

WHOOSH!

An officer lit a torch and, holding it high, stepped into the passage. After advancing several tens of meters, unsure how deep underground they had gone, the dark, narrow passageway suddenly expanded. Their view opened up dramatically.

"This..." An officer faltered, freezing in place. "What is this?"

Before them lay an enormous plaza. Above it hung countless, densely packed cocoons. The cocoons' outer layers were covered with a viscous liquid, which occasionally dripped down their curved surfaces to the ground below. The ground itself was slick with this fluid, resembling a transparent layer of water. Countless, densely packed pipes connected hundreds of cocoons, forming a gigantic pattern.

It resembled...an inverted altar!

In the center of the altar stood a massive stone statue. The firelight was dim, making its specific details unclear, but they could vaguely discern something resembling a spider—a half-human, half-spider entity!

The officer's voice echoed through the chamber, lingering.

More officers poured into the chamber, only to stop in their tracks as a chilling dread permeated the area.

"It's so cold!"

"What's going on here?"

The officers whispered among themselves. One, mustering his courage, approached a cocoon, torch in hand. A shadow flickered inside it, as if something hid within.

The next instant—SWOOSH!

A dark figure tore through the cocoon, violently piercing the officer's throat. Fresh blood sprayed into the air.

As if on command, the multitude of hanging cocoons began to shake violently, and dark figures darted out from them.

SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

HISS! HISS!

The screeches merged into a wave of sound.

Countless bizarre figures leaped from above, plunging into the crowd of officers. Cries of agony erupted almost immediately.

"It's the spider women!"

"Run!"

This place was clearly a breeding nest for spider women, with countless more hatching from their cocoons, lying in ambush. This nest was more than ten times larger than the one Carl had encountered.

SWOOSH! SPLATTER!

A dense swarm of spider women instantly overwhelmed the officers. These 'creatures' fed on flesh and blood. They tore open the officers' chests and abdomens, crouching to gnaw on the still-beating viscera within. Their eyes, starved and bestial, gleamed as they frantically scrambled for the flesh on the ground.

In the blink of an eye, only tattered scraps of clothing remained.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Having dealt with the officers below, the spider women raced up the passage and soon burst out onto the ground.

"Spider women!"

"Be careful!"

The officers searching the textile factory shouted in alarm as swarms of spider women leaped out. The female workers shrieked in terror, and the vast factory erupted into chaos. Most of the officers were ordinary people. Even the Knights and Attendants among them, trained in Breath techniques, were no match for such a multitude of spider women. One by one, the spider women leaped from the passage, their bloodthirsty craving driving them toward every living being in the area.

A portion of them rushed towards the north city gate.

Open the gates!

Welcome the Mother Goddess!

The instincts deep in their Bloodline compelled them, and they surged toward the city-guarding soldiers, forming a torrent in the darkness.

BOOM!

「North City Gate.」

Complete chaos!

"It has begun." Cesar Foster, Family Head of the Foster family, held an exquisite cane as he gazed out from a high building. From his vantage point, the chaos at the North City Gate was faintly visible.

"Have your people move as well. Try to hold back the city's reinforcements and buy them time."

"Yes." Behind him, a shadowy figure bowed in acknowledgment and slowly retreated.

"Cesar, my friend," a heavily armored Big Man standing beside him said in a muffled voice, "are you sure you can open the gate?"

"A respected scholar once said that nothing in this world is absolutely certain. If someone claims otherwise, they are a liar." Cesar shook his head. "Robert's death is a great loss to us. The chances of success may be less than half."

"Less than half?" The Big Man's eyes narrowed. "If you can't open the gate, the General will not spare you. I don't want to see my friend's head roll on the ground."

"I've done my best." Cesar gave a bitter smile. "If this fails, the Foster family will fall into the Abyss forever. Do you think I don't want to succeed?"

"Don't worry..." he murmured. "The Purity Potion requires a virgin to be concocted. The people of the Noble Council know this, yet they still demand it incessantly.

"Many have even sent their own maids in exchange for the Potion. If this gets exposed, they too cannot escape the kingdom's laws. I've made an agreement with them: they won't interfere in this operation. Otherwise, I'll hand over the evidence I hold, and then no one will escape."

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