## Chapter 460 – Kim Kat and the Haunted House
ㅡCreak.
I open the basement door and step inside.
The basement, cast in an almost deathly blue light, is surprisingly spacious, but this entrance seems to be the only one. The walls are black, covered in burn marks and handprints.
“The hell water from before.”
Were those their hands?
The resentment of the banshees who were trapped and burned alive in the basement.
They pounded on the walls and door of the basement until their last moments. That hell water I saw earlier must have been from this.
Thinking about that as I looked around, I soon spotted human-like shapes.
“What’s this?”
Completely charred bone fragments.
A huge number of them.
Probably the same number as the banshees haunting the mansion. They asked me to collect these remains. In exchange for that, they opened the way to the basement of the mansion, which had become a maze within the barrier, making it impossible to find the path.
Honestly, there wasn’t much to gain.
It was just a chance to clean up after an accident.
But that’s what I have to do now.
Anyway, these remains… Ah!
“Ah, shit!”
A bad feeling hit me, and I dashed through the space. If there are burned corpses here… maybe my friends too!
“Copson! Meria! Lina!!!”
Don’t tell me these bastards are already dead!
The banshee told me to go down before it was too late!
ㅡThud.
Suddenly, I saw Copson sprawled out in front of me. Startled, I leaped toward him.
“Oh, shit! Hey! Wake up!”
Don’t tell me he’s dead!
I immediately checked to see if Copson was alive or dead.
“You bastard! Wake up!”
ㅡSlap!
I immediately smacked him across the face.
No reaction.
“This is bullshit…! Don’t tell me he’s dead!”
If Copson died here, I wouldn’t know what to do. Startled again, I took off my gauntlet and stuck my fingers into his neck to check his pulse.
ㅡThump.
ㅡThump.
ㅡThump.
Thankfully, his heart was beating, and his breathing was normal. He was just lying there unconscious. He’s still alive, at least.
“Haa, shit.”
I finally felt relieved.
Meria and Lina were lying next to him.
I checked to see if they were alive, too. I checked their breathing and pulse. They were all alive, just lying there with their eyes closed as if they were asleep.
It doesn’t seem like the ghosts stole their souls.
It seems like the evil spirits moved the kids to the basement… but why? I remembered the banshee saying that ‘the mansion’s mistress will count soon.’
I don’t know what will happen when she counts, but whatever it is, aside from the banshee who asked me for a favor earlier, the other evil spirits’ goal is clearly to take people’s lives.
They’re after the lives of the living, just like they died.
“These bastards…”
But why aren’t they waking up?
I shook them, grabbed them, and slapped them, but nothing happened. They’ve completely turned into Sleeping Beauty.
Is it because of the mansion’s magic?
I don’t know, but it’s enough that they’re alive. What the hell is this? I can’t even ask these guys for help, so things are going to get even more difficult.
Then let’s move these guys outside.
“Huh.”
As I tried to lift Copson, I noticed more things.
“…”
Not just Copson, Meria, and Lina.
ㅡAdventurers.
People in all sorts of outfits were sprawled out here and there in the basement. They were lying there like they were dead, just like Copson. I roughly checked the ones in front, and some of them were seriously emaciated, but they seemed to be alive.
Could these all be missing people?
The adventurers who went to the mansion and the people who went missing from the nearby village?
I remember it’s been a while. If they’ve been lying here since then, they’re probably severely malnourished.
Well, my friends are more important than these guys.
Let’s move my friends outside first. The evil spirits seem to be planning to kill all the people in the basement.
I need to move them to a safe place and then figure out a way… it’s going to be difficult. No matter how good I am, I can’t fight while protecting three unconscious people.
This is bullshit.
I thought I could do something if I fought with the kids, but they’re in this state. I have to find a way.
ㅡHngggg! Hng… ! Ah, where are you… Sir Knight. Hng!
Just then, I heard the sound of crying again.
The nun ghost, the mistress of the mansion.
ㅡThe race queen.
The mournful crying coming from outside the basement was getting closer and closer.
Is she planning to come to the basement?
I have to make a decision.
ㅡHng…! Hngggg! Hng! Why, why won’t you save me… Sir Knight! Please, please, please… Hng!
I only have two bottles of holy water.
I don’t know if I can beat that powerful ghost with that. Unlike my own power, I don’t know the exact power of the holy water. That’s why I’ve kept it as a last resort.
And now is that last moment.
I approached the door.
ㅡSir Knight…! Sir Knight! Have you come! I’ve been waiting…! Hng! You’ve come down to the basement to save me!
The structure of the basement entrance had already changed.
It’s a different scene than when I came in.
What unfolded in front of me was a straight passage made of cold stone. From the other side of that passage, a blue-glowing race queen was floating in the air, slowly flying towards me.
ㅡHng! Finally, finally, finally. Finally…!
She sobbed and shed tears.
The tears that fell froze on the floor. Icy spikes like thorns rose from the frozen floor.
It was the manifestation of a bitter, cold resentment.
“Yeah.”
I answered, drawing my sword.
“I am the knight who has come to save you.”
The doctrine of Fusion Confucianism. Salvation is enlightenment. Enlightenment is relief. The dead must not interfere with the living. The only salvation was to help her pass on.
“Are you ready to be saved?”
I tell her the words she wanted to hear most.
“Ah, ah…! Ah! Aaa!!!”
At those words, the race queen cried out as if she was moved, sobbing.
“I’ve been waiting! I’ve been waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting! I’ve been waiting…!! I believed you would come!!!!”
The emotion in her face, which had brightened as if she had received a divine revelation. The tears that fell did not freeze. The floor that had already frozen melted.
“It was so hot. They humiliated us, locked us in the basement, and set it on fire.”
The race queen, who had been sobbing, began to shout incoherently.
It was a plea.
The first plea in the mansion, where there was no one to listen. I quietly listened to her words, holding my sword.
“No one came to save us. No one opened the door for us. We just, just held each other’s hands…!”
She cries out in pain.
She was not seeing the present time. Her burning eyes were facing the past tragedy.
“Screaming in pain… losing consciousness one by one… Ah!!! It’s hot! It was so hot! It was so hot!!! Why! Why!! Why, why did we have to go through that!!!!! Why!!!”
Inhuman screams.
I could sympathize to some extent because the banshees had shown me the truth of the mansion. The terrible violence inflicted on innocent women. She is a witness to the tragedy.
The screams continue.
“Hng, hngggg….! It’s hot… it’s hooot… It hurts, it hurts… Hng! Hngggg! It hurt so much… Hngggg! No one came to save us. So, so…”
Tears flowed endlessly from the race queen’s hands, which covered her face.
“You all must.”
Finally, when the tears stopped.
Suddenly, she lifted her face and stared at me coldly.
“Burn to death.”
The screams turn into curses.
The race queen’s eyes, which stared at my face after stopping her tears, were filled with deep hatred. It is said that if a woman holds a grudge, frost will fall even in May.
ㅡWhoosh!
At the same time, blue flames burst from behind her.
Isn’t it flames rather than frost?
In the end, it came to this. Her sadness and resentment were deposited and combined, turning into hatred. That is the essence of an evil spirit. There can be no compromise.
“You fucking bitch… I’m going to save you. Hey, hey. The knight has come. He came to open the door. I even brought fresh water to put out the fire.”
I subtly took out a bottle of holy water and shook it.
Will she be afraid of this?
“It’s too late.”
But the race queen didn’t look at the holy water. I don’t know what she’s looking at. Only an empty voice echoed. There’s no problem that can be solved with words anyway.
“It’s too late now.”
Now that I’ve come this far, I have to fight.
“It’s not too late, you idiot. I can solve it now. Problems are like that. They get solved over time. They disappear or go away. Problems can be solved that way too. So stop. Don’t harm the living anymore.”
I said that, but words didn’t work on the evil spirit. I don’t even know if she’s listening to me. She’s now trapped in her own resentment, looking at the past.
“Everyone burned to death.”
With an empty murmur, ㅡRustle.
Suddenly, the nun ghost’s appearance began to distort.
ㅡPatsuttsut!!
The blue flames turned into the crimson flames that covered the basement, and the beautiful skin and flesh were covered in black ashes, revealing burned bones. A charcoal lump even blacker than burnt ribs. The flesh falls off, and the bones rattle.
The race queen, who shed a layer and became a true evil spirit, approached me.
“No one came to save us.”
“I see.”
“The knight is the same.”
I can feel the heat.
“It’s getting hot, huh.”
It’s hot enough to make my skin tingle, but it can’t be compared to the heat they felt.
“The number has been filled. The knight is the last one.”
“Number?”
“The numbers of our dead.”
…I see.
So that’s why they gathered people in the basement.
“You must burn to death just like us.”
The number of people who lost consciousness and collapsed in the basement.
Those numbers probably match the number of women who were trapped and died there when the basement burned down. I must have filled that last number.
“Only then, only then… can I finally be saved.”
It was a kind of ritual.
Should I call it a self-requiem?
The race queen was trying to comfort her own soul by repeating the tragedy of that time and passing on their pain to others. Her thoughts were twisted by hatred and resentment.
You can never be saved by that kind of thing.
You’ll only fall into a deeper abyss.
“No. That’s not salvation.”
I open the bottle of holy water.
Then, a brilliant halo of light bursts from the mouth of the bottle, illuminating the basement. I sprinkle it on the blade.
ㅡSwish.
Will the holy water evaporate in the heat?
How much damage can I do with this?
I don’t know.
“It’s a path to a greater sin.”
I can’t abandon my friends. Likewise, if I can’t defeat that thing, I can’t get out of the mansion either. Then I have to fight.
“I know your grievances well. But, if you do that. If you try to pass on your pain to others.”
I raise my sword and aim it at the race queen.
“Wouldn’t that make you the same as those warriors?”
I take a step and step out of the basement door. The monster is now planning to burn the entire basement. I can’t back down.
In the first place, I have to defeat her, who is blocking the passage, to get out of here.
“Wabarat!”
Then I, Heavenly Demon Kim Kat, will never run away.
