Our Family Has Fallen

But with a "bang" of a gunshot, the largest of them exploded, followed closely by blows from swords and axes. The Honor Guard’s surrounding attack covered his massive body with scars in just a few moves, and he finally fell.

The astonishing physique cannot block sharp blades.

It shows that after losing the ability to heal constantly, the Champion also ends up as a corpse in a gang fight...

On the other side, Balistan charged with his Shield and collided, defending against the monster’s heavy arm strikes with his Shield and even had time to swing the Morningstar Hammer to break the arms reaching for him.

The relatively small figure of the monster managed to hold it firmly, which naturally created opportunities for the other companions.

Reynard slashed with his sword on the monster’s body, creating exaggerated wounds that revealed bones.

And Dismas either thrust his Short Sword, piercing through or tearing out large wounds, the tricky wounds covered with blood endlessly flowing.

Even Fergus joined in the fray, grabbing the monster’s leg and biting it repeatedly, causing a leg to become bloodied and unable to stand.

The monster wasn’t killed directly; it bled out its Life Force and died slowly.

The enormous size brought no advantage, unless the excessive blood flow was considered beneficial...

With the monster down, Dismas finally had time to slowly reload his empty pistol, still panting heavily, his body not yet recovered from the previous battle.

Yet it didn’t affect his hand movements; he has faced harsher battles, and this scene couldn’t faze him, because he’s no longer the Dismas who couldn’t even hold a gun steadily.

After reloading, Dismas placed the gun muzzle close to the monster’s head and fired another shot, causing it to burst open.

Raising the gun muzzle to scatter the smoke, finishing with a shot is a good habit...

All the other monsters were killed, this time Lance was the slowest, but in his hands was the worst fate.

It was truly beaten to death with punches, leaving no part of the body intact, with bones and flesh all mangled.

Lance casually performed a Sacrifice to clear the corpse, then had time to look at everyone and Grendel’s somewhat abstract "masterpiece."

He could only wave his hand to signal putting it down, then walked over to Sacrifice the corpse.

The spiritual feedback from that thing was considerable; no wonder it was Champion flesh, but after witnessing many big scenes, Lance felt indifferent to it.

It’s like having a thousand dollars in savings; every time you deposit a hundred, you can feel the change.

But when you have a hundred thousand in savings, that hundred dollars becomes less perceptible.

However, someone like Lance certainly believes the more, the better. How could he refuse what the ancestor gave him?

Lance continued clearing the remaining corpses, also greeting the teammates, but stopped in front of Dismas, showing surprise with a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"I see a resilient warrior, seems you’ve finally come out."

"I’ve been idling too long."

Dismas still wore that slightly worn coat, with the unchanged Red Cloth around the neck. The recent battle made him look somewhat battered, but no one dared to underestimate him.

One could see that his face was slightly more gaunt than before, but rather than immaturity, it was more aptly described as losing the restless exterior and becoming composed.

He and Reynard were part of Lance’s initial team, and as Hamlet developed, Reynard’s solid expertise could even lead armies.

But Dismas was originally from a street gang, then went through a series of tragedies leading to a broken family, ending up in prison.

He broke out for revenge but found everything outside had changed, couldn’t find his enemies, accidentally killed a mother and child, and became tormented by guilt, turning into a living dead.

Before coming to Hamlet, meeting Lance, he was essentially a soulless shell. That’s why Lance impressed him, he sought redemption or perhaps death in Hamlet.

Yet Hamlet was unique, and Lance more peculiar, allowing him to feel life’s significance.

But Lance was busy with various affairs, and Dismas himself is quite loose, indulging in vices easily, soon getting entangled in pleasure.

Lance advised him but ended up not caring anymore, as long as there weren’t any problems.

Soon, he was defeated by Margaret in a match—his proudest aspect, a direct defeat, shaking him from decadence.

He later found his enemies, unraveling the nightmare within, elevating his state to a new level.

He distanced himself from the town’s environment, quitting gambling, alcohol, and even abstaining.

Dedicated himself to the most dangerous fronts, washing away the decadence with blood from Giant Spiders, Pigmen, and Heretics.

In battle after battle, Dismas broke free from decay, honing his will, and climbed back up.

By the time Lance saw him again, he had completely transformed, reaching the Master Rank on his own merits.

Even Lance couldn’t help but marvel at his toughness.

Now, Dismas stands firmly by the Lord’s side, as always.

Lance briefly understood the situation here.

Uh... seems like a side effect of his own doing.

Guess the ancestor was anxious, since the [Heart of Flesh] was prematurely harvested.

The subsequent solution will be what it is; those troop movements probably need someone to notify, lest the excessive troop movement.

These minor matters require no attention from Lance, instead, he’s curious about the collapsed area.

Although it’s close to the ruins, still within the wilderness area, why only this place collapsed with nothing nearby?

"I’ll go down and take a look."

Lance, fearless, left the words and jumped directly into the collapse pit.

Everyone was not surprised by the Lord’s strange actions, maintaining a calm demeanor.

Upon going down, Lance sensed something was off, the collapsed soil mixed with bricks and stones, with curiosity casting his gaze toward the small tunnel revealed by the collapse, hesitated slightly but took out a torch and walked in.

Only by crouching could he squeeze through the tunnel buried by half of a dirt heap. Continuing deeper inside led to a complete passage built with bricks and stone, clearly once part of the sewer system.

But Lance has ventured into the Beast Lair many times, quite familiar with its interior, here the dry ground, stale but not foul air, only a moldy odor, doesn’t match any trace of it.

Besides, Lance calculated the position and couldn’t find a previous path leading here in the Beast Lair layout.

It wasn’t long before Lance found an unusual skeleton, huge, barrel-like thick, neither human nor common animals like pigs, more resembling a snake but yet...

Lance quickly realized it resembled the bones of a Flesh Devourer.

Though its estimated size larger and longer than even a large Devourer, the Giant Devourer’s flesh bones were twisted and lack length, not fitting this.

With questions, Lance had to continue inspecting for more information.

Saw the surrounding with signs of massive struggle and damage, one part of the skeleton inside the passage, the other buried in collapsed bricks and soil, indicating an attempted escape after being buried by the collapse.

But why did this thing appear here?

Lance realized something, hurriedly ran back, squeezed through the crevice then returned to collapse area.

Yet his goal wasn’t to leave but was searching for something on the other side, focusing intently over every inch of space.

Soon, he made a discovery, casually planting the torch into the dirt heap beside him, conjured a shovel in his hand and began digging, transforming into a mud digger under the torchlight, indeed soon unearthing something from the buried soil.

Another opening leading into the unknown darkness...