Secret Of Mizalas

"My Lord, you are here," the Grand Advisor said.

"Yes, what is it that you find?" Duke Zalrus asked.

The Grand Advisor had a grim gave before handing over a scroll to the younger man.

"You need to read this. Telling you alone will not be enough to describe the depravity of the man," he spat out, shuddering as he remembered everything he had read.

-x-

"And, done." As he opened the door, Ryker was welcomed with a powerful stench, one that almost send his nose to the heaven from how horrid the smell being.

He gagged from the smell before using his qi to filter it, allowing him to breath normally.

"Well then. Since this door is locked, there should be something interesting hiding behind it. I wonder what?" he said with a sing-song voice as he entered the room.

-x-

"Human Cauldron Art. By absorbing the flesh, blood and bones of other human being, one could go stronger at a faster rate as long as there is enough sacrifice,"

The first part and the Duke wanted to puke already. Nonetheless, he braced himself for more, knowing there is more to the Forbidden Art.

Sure enough, he was right, "The amount of people sacrifice will increase the power that can be gained. The more people sacrifice, and the stronger they are, the more powerful the practitioners will become.

With enough people, one could even transcend and reach the Spirit Grand Realm. However, the amount of peak Genesis Sea experts required will need to be at least three.

The sacrifice can either be dead or alive, however, the fresher they are, the better," Duke Zalrus proceed to skip it, having guess most of what he could find.

He stopped until he reach the part of using the Forbidden Art,

"An empty pool must be created first with series of Formation created inside of it. Throw a sacrifice inside and activate the Formation.

When the sacrifice melted into blood before entering the pool by it'd own, only then will the Formation will be completed. The step to follow would ne to throw the sacrifice until you are satisfied.

By then, enter the Blood Pool and absorb all the blood essence created and cultivate the Human Cauldron Art," he looked at the Grand Advisor before saying,

"We need to find the Blood Pool and destroy it,"

-x-

"W-what is this?" he rarely stutter, but he was sure the circumstances allow it. After all, what can be said when he just found a large pool filled with what he was sure blood.

The said pool was massive, around 300 meters in diameter. A look around reveal some smaller pools, each about 100 or 50 meters.

"Maybe the big one for the Duke and the smaller one for the soldiers," he said to himself.

As he observed the room, he received a message from his father-in-law. He poured his Soul Sense into it, reading the message.

"Search for Blood Pools," he frowned before looking at the Blood Pools in front of him.

"I already found it. It inside the underground floor," he send a message to his father-in-law. Quickly, he received a return message, telling him to wait until the others arrive.

He wonder the reason, but he was sure the man will explain it when they come.

-x-

Sure enough, Duke Zalrus explained everything. It also made everyone in the room that was still living think they had let the forces of Mizalas of too easily.

"We should have torture them some more. To learn such an atrocious Forbidden Art, and worst of all, practiced it, they don't deserve to be called human," the others nodded, finding the soldiers of Mizalas and the higher-ups irredeemable.

"I should have made them scream first. But it is already done. Now, we need to destroy this place. Then, loot everything before we destroy the mansion," the Duke said.

The others nodded as they get to work.

-x-

"That took quite some time," Konosti Family Head said with a grin, wiping of the sweat on his brows.

"Of course. After all, the mansion should some Formation embedded inside of it," Istoral Family Head exclaimed.

"Still, that is done. What's next my Lord?" Irus Family Head asked.

"Now, I believe the Duchy of Mizalas is empty of any inhabitants with the exception of maybe bandits. I think we will find a lot of empty towns and cities that would be easy plundering.

We should take good opportunity to get as much of it as possible before the nearby vultures sniffed out the current state of the Duchy," Duke Zalrus said as he talked about looting the entire Duchy like it was nothing.

However, elites of Kilrun had paid with their blood and sweat, with some losing their lives. And so, they merely grin at the thought of robbing the now empty Duchy clean.

"Understood, we will loot the entire capital first and then the nearby cities and towns," the Grand Advisor said on the behalf of the others.

"Remember, we will gather them all before splitting things up. Of course, you can put a mark on treasures you want. If there is nobody else that want it, it will be yours. If there is, we will deal it in a calm manner," they nodded before they head out, as the Duke head towards the border of Mizalas Duchy, hoping to gain something at the edge of the territory before moving inwardly.

-x-

After few hours of looting half of the Duchy, Duke Zalrus returned to the capital, where they agreed to go when they finished looting the entire Duchy.

"My Lord, what will you do with the Forbidden Art?" Konosti Family Head suddenly asked.

"Burn it," he answered quickly.

"My Lord, I have a better idea," his grin somehow turned malicious, "Give it to the Adventure Guild," the others looked at him, wondering why he suggest such thing.

"Hear me out, since the Adventure Guild did not put a stop to the mass murder of the citizens of the Duchy, they might be the first target, along with Academy.

Since that was the case, they will no doubt blame it on the Mizalas, and maybe the Kingdom of Mirnak as well. Then, it will be easier to claim the territory. Even if we don't claim it, we can still create buffer between the Duchy and the Mirnak Kingdom," he explained.

Duke Zalrus had a thoughtful look on his face before nodding,

"Alright, we will go with your idea,"