Depraved Noble: Forced To Live The Debaucherous Life Of An Evil Noble!-Chapter 488: Time To Dig!

As much as Cassius enjoyed their reactions, he didn’t want to waste any more time so he quickly said,

"But that doesn’t matter right now."

He straightened and gestured toward the talisman in Aisha’s hand.

"Give it to me. I’ll place it where it needs to go."

Aisha was still too shocked to argue.

"Y-Yes...right." She mumbled, quickly handing him the silver talisman. "Place it on the ground right over there with the largest mana flow. It should be stable there."

Cassius nodded, following her instructions. He crouched, pressed the talisman against the earth, and stepped back.

Aisha then immediately began muttering a new incantation under her breath to check if they succeeded, pulling out several small crystals from her storage ring.

She crushed them between her palms, releasing fine powder that shimmered as it scattered in the air.

For a moment, nothing happened—then the power floating vanished out of thin air.

Seeing this, Aisha’s eyes widened. She inhaled sharply—then grinned, a wide smile spreading across her face.

"We did it!" She shouted. "We finally did it! The array’s been broken! The damn barrier is gone!"

"Wait, really?" Julie blinked in disbelief. "It’s actually gone? Are you sure?"

"I’m sure!" Aisha said, laughing breathlessly. "We’re free to go in now!"

But Julie frowned, peering ahead.

"I don’t...see a difference. Are you sure we won’t just die the second we step inside? We’re not like Cassius—we have mana."

Aisha waved her arms excitedly.

"No, no! It’s completely safe now! Watch!"

She took a deep breath and stepped over the invisible line where the barrier had been.

Nothing happened.

She turned around with a victorious grin, striking a pose.

"See?! I told you! Totally fine!"

Skadi, however, narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Hmm...I don’t know. I still don’t believe you guys." She muttered, crossing her arms. "Don’t tell me this was all a prank!"

"You and Master are just trying to fool us, right? You said there was a big scary barrier here, but maybe it was fake the whole time! You’re just trying to make us look stupid!"

Aisha’s face turned bright red.

"What the hell, Skadi?! Why would I ever pull a prank like that during a mission like this?! This is life or death, you idiot!"

Skadi pouted. "I dunno...it’s suspicious. Nothing exploded yet. Usually things explode."

Even Julie rubbed her chin uncertainly.

"Well...it does seem a little too easy now..."

Before either of them could say anything else, Cassius sighed. He crouched beside the talisman, rubbed out one of the runes, and said,

"Fine. You want proof? I’ll show you proof."

He picked up his storage ring—which he had left outside the barrier earlier—and slipped it back on his finger.

"Watch carefully." He said.

He then reached into the ring and pulled out a long steel sword. Without warning, he threw it high into the air.

The result was instant.

A invisible beam of energy lanced down from nowhere, striking the sword midair.

In the blink of an eye, it disintegrated into ash, scattering like dust in the wind.

Seeing the destructive force, Julie’s mouth dropped open.

"Okay, okay! Never mind! Forget what I said!" She blurted, her face flushing in embarrassment.

Skadi’s ears flattened, and she waved her hands frantically. "I-I’m sorry, Master! I didn’t mean to doubt you! Please don’t turn me into sword dust!"

Aisha just glared at them both, exasperated.

"Unbelievable. I do all this work, break one of the strongest barriers ever made—and you two still thought I was lying?"

But before she could continue, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened instantly.

Cassius was standing right beside her now, that faint smirk of his back on his lips.

"Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Aisha." He said softly, his tone teasing. "You may have done great work—but remember, you’re also the one who lost the bet."

Her entire face turned bright red. She stepped back quickly, clutching her pouch full of crystals like it could protect her.

"Y-You—! Don’t remind me of that, you pervert!"

"Wait..." Skadi tilted her head innocently. "What was the rewarsd of the bet in the first place?"

"NOTHING!" Aisha yelped immediately, her entire face now crimson before spun around and quickly said, "Now, let’s go, let’s go. We have a mission to complete, and there’s no use in standing around wasting time."

Julie sighed softly and followed, shaking her head with exasperation at now casual they all were.

Skadi and Cassius trailed also behind.

As they approached the place in the mountai where the cult’s main entrance was hidden, Julie finally spoke up.

"Are we going straight through the main entrance?"

Aisha glanced back over her shoulder with a smirk.

"Why should we? The array’s gone—so no more precautionary barriers, no alarms. There’s no need to go knocking on the front door when we can dig our own."

She lifted her chin proudly.

"And considering we have a first-class Earth Mage among us—me—we’ll make our own entrance from underground."

"Wait, dig underground?" Skadi’s ears twitched as she frowned. "My fluffy tail’s going to get filthy! I don’t want that!"

Aisha gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes.

"Then, by all means, go charge in through the main entrance by yourself, Skadi. Two hundred cultists, maybe you’ll even look pretty while they rip your tail off."

Skadi’s tail instantly puffed up as she hugged it protectively, whimpering.

"That’s just mean, Aisha..."

"Then stop complaining." Aisha raised her wand and pointed it downward.

The earth beneath them began to tremble, pebbles scattering as the ground split open in a spiral motion. The soil twisted and folded away as if being carved by invisible hands, forming a downward slope large enough for all of them to pass through.

"Let’s move." Aisha ordered, stepping into the tunnel first.

The others followed in after her, the earthy air thick and damp. Julie raised her hand and whispered a short incantation; small orbs of green light appeared around them, floating alongside and illuminating the path ahead.

"How deep do you think their hideout goes?" Julie asked as they descended.

Aisha adjusted her ring as she walked.

"From what we gathered there’s a main chamber where the ritual’s supposed to take place—it’s about the size of a royal ballroom, capable of holding two hundred members easily."

"Around that hall are several tunnels that connect to different rooms and branches, like a whole network underground. It’s a labyrinth down there."

Julie frowned.

"Then we can’t just blast our way in. If we enter through the wrong place, we’ll alert everyone. We need to be strategic—enter silently, scout, then act. I’d rather not have two hundred enemies on us at once."

Aisha nodded in agreement. "Fair enough...But we need to find the perfect point of entry or atleast to scout without alerting them."

"Leave that part to me!" Skadi said, her tone suddenly confident.

"You?" Julie raised an eyebrow.

Skadi puffed her chest proudly and tapped one of her wolf-like ears.

"I’ve got these for a reason. I’ll find us the perfect entry point."

Aisha crossed her arms. "Fine, fine. Just make sure they’re good for something other than decoration."

Skadi ignored the jab and crouched, her ears twitching rapidly as she listened to the faintest echoes and vibrations in the soil.

"Go deeper." She muttered.

"Could you be more specific?" Aisha sighed. "Maybe in fleeces? Or any unit of measurement?"

"I don’t know numbers! Just...deeper!"

Grumbling under her breath, Aisha obeyed, forcing the tunnel to slope down even further. The soil twisted, and soon the air grew colder.

Finally, Skadi held up a hand.

"Stop! Here. This is it."

Aisha halted the spell, and the rumbling faded. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"You sure?"

"Yep." Skadi said. She then pulled out a small dagger and began scraping at the packed soil in front of them.

After a few tense moments, the blade struck something solid and it was actually a stone wall.

"There." She grinned and stepped back.

Aisha stepped forward, muttering an incantation as light flared at the tip of her wand.

The solid layer cracked and broke apart, revealing a small gap and they all quickly crouched and pressed their eyes to the narrow space—and all at once, every single one of them froze.

The sight beyond the crack froze their blood.

They were staring into a vast underground hall, lit by crimson torches and flickering sigils.

Hundreds of cultists in dark robes stood in a wide circle around an altar made of black stone.

Their voices rose in a low evil chant, hands moving in eerie synchronization.

In the center of the hall, the altar pulsed with an unnatural red glow—and around it was a wide moat filled entirely with blood.

The viscous, dark liquid reflected the torchlight like molten ruby.

Aisha’s fingers tightenes around her wand.

"Those bastards..." She whispered through gritted teeth. "All that blood...it’s from the victims. They must’ve slaughtered hundreds for this ritual."

Skadi’s eyes gleamed with fury, her fangs bared.

"Let me at them, Captain! Let me tear them apart. I’ll make them choke on their own blood!"

But Julie shook her head sharply.

"No. Calm down, both of you."

"But Captain—!"

Julie cut her off with a glare.

"There are more than two hundred of them down there. Eight high-level mages, at least. If we go in now, it’ll turn into a massacre—and not in our favor. We’ll be surrounded before we can even react."

Aisha clenched her jaw but nodded reluctantly.

"She’s right. We’d be walking into a death trap."

Julie took a deep breath, peering again through the crack.

"But the good thing is, the ritual hasn’t started yet. We’re early. That gives us time to plan this properly."

The tension began to ease—until Cassius, who had been eerily quiet, suddenly tilted his head.

Julie noticed first. "What’s wrong?"

Cassius didn’t answer at first. He kept listening, his expression tightening.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Skadi asked, ears flicking uncertainly. "I don’t hear anything, Master."

"There."

Cassius said quietly, looking not toward the hall—but below it. His eyes narrowed, as if he could see through the layers of stone beneath.

"There’s something down there. Something moving. It’s faint, but...it’s not part of the ritual."

Skadi frowned, trying to listen but hearing nothing.

"Below it? Are you sure, Master?"

Cassius nodded slowly, his tone firm as he said,

"Before we do anything up here...we need to check that out first."

The way he said it made even Julie hesitate.

"Cassius." She said carefully. "What exactly did you hear?"

Cassius didn’t look away from the ground. His voice was quiet, but serious.

"Something...calling."

And the weight in his tone was enough to make every one of them fall silent.