The Line

The building was put on complete lockdown and a couple of workers ran into the back rooms to inform the others.

Just as they were about to make their escape, the city guards and the Seshat familia made their move.

Mallory had a look of boredom on her face upon seeing everything play out so well without much margin for error.

The people in the private rooms who were a mixture of different job roles had been busy in their work or experiments.

Some were underground while some were in a room located on the ground or upper floors.

The first ones to be subdued were those on the ground floor then teams split up to handle each floor at a time.

Scholarly and robed clothed people were dragged out from the rooms one after another and then were forced onto their knees.

In the main office, there was a large safe which had been located behind a large painting but it only took Oars a couple of attacks with his spear to open it up using brute force.

Many documents were gathered together and various rooms were checked for harmful and possibly banned herbs.

Mallory pointed towards a flower which had a strong ominous aura surrounding it. "Put this with the ones that are dangerous and use them as evidence. Although poisons can be used as medicines… the collection of poisonous herbs is too much for simple treatments. We need to find a skilled person who knows herbs well who can identify what type of poison had been used on the dark elves so we can see if the herbs used to make it have come from here."

Franco put his hand on his chin. "Hmm.. there is one place that could work but their word may not be taken as truth. His reputation is.."

Mallory shrugged. "All we need is his professional opinion and knowledge, not his reputation or anything like that. It is enough to assist and identify the herbs for the investigation. It is better to have someone not related to them or without grudges so this can be carried out without bias."

Mallory kept walking around the building while looking around until she reached the basement.

Her eyes fell onto a strange deathly aura lingering behind a wall so she started to feel around the wall and the things near it.

Her hand pushed against something which seemed like some kind of lever and the she grabbed onto it then pulled.

A click followed with the movement of some mechanisms which created more noise as the wall had opened up.

Mallory stepped inside and was almost swallowed up by the intense aura that had been inside. "Urp.."

The aura was not the only thing which made her feel revolted because there was a strong smell of blood, decay, strong body odour and entrails within.

Mallory turned to Oars who appeared behind her. "Did you bring something to light this place.. there seem to be some candles inside glass lanterns inside but we need to light them."

Oars could smell the intense smell within and hesitated to enter along with Mallory for a moment before stepping in and lighting the path. "This.. what have they been doing?!"

There were many books and research notes laying around near many desks but that was not what caught their eyes, there were all kinds of torture and restraining tools all over the room.

Blood and entrails had stained the floor from a long time ago, although it may have been frequently cleaned out when there was a need to, the stains and smells were difficult to remove from the room.

There were many people of different races chained up against the walls and each of them were weak from loss of blood or other causes.

Some had research notes nearby and jars of mixed herbs or liquids along with some ways to inject, apply or feed them to those people.

There was one man who had his arm removed and a monster claw had been attached to him along with all kinds of notes nearby which described the failure and rejection of a body part being replaced with a monsters.

There was another which had been injected with monster blood and had strange reddish black veins which had become enlarged and highly visible over his skin.

In other places there were hung up or restrained monsters which had gone through a lot of draining and other experiments while there were notes on their findings on the applications of each monster.

There were potions nearby and some empty ones which suggested that they had been repeatedly wounded and drained before being healed with one of them so they could be kept alive for later uses.

Monster drops or blood had been used as ingredients for items or potions before but within the potion maker or alchemist communities, it was still very taboo to do such experiments that used them in such ways.

Each experiment was an example of when human curiosity and arrogance ended up taking things too far.

From human experimental subjects to using people as potion, poison or medicine testers, each subject hidden in the room seemed to have been kept hidden within for the sole purpose of their evil deeds not being exposed.

Their grand achievements in the past were built upon the suffering of those brought to that room.

Many could argue that what they had done was a calculation for the betterment of humanity, the sacrifices or the lesser or few for the greater or many but no arguments or reasoning could explain away the horrors committed in the room.

There were certain lines that should not be crossed to achieve certain things and those above had long stepped past it and created their own personal place of madness and hell.

"Hahahhahaha ahahahahah"

Between the moaning and groans from the pain people were enduring there was a mad laughter among them which attracted Mallory's attention towards the back of the room.

She passed some talismans to Oars and said. "Perhaps some may still be salvageable.. we can gain much from those living if they can write or speak."

Flashes of light started to happen around the room and Mallory slowly walked towards the sound of the laughter holding Valis in preparation for what she would encounter.

Once she saw the figure chained up and bloodied, Mallory let out a sarcastic laugh. "Fate really is a strange and cruel mistress."

Before her eyes was a chained up figure which had been injected with monster blood and many notes detailed the trials of combining different drugs and medicines to allow the body to accept the monster blood and inherit the power of the monsters.

There was a crazed look in the reddened eyes of the person opposite her while the veins on their body were looking like they were on the verge of bursting.

What caught Mallory's eyes was not their poor and mad state but it was something else entirely.

The grip on Valis became tighter as she listened to the mad screams and laughter from them.

"Hahahaha gyahahahahahaha!"

"Hahaha how funny!"

"How hilarious!"

"Is this a ghost I am seeing in my last moment? If so then this is too funny."

"Have you come to laugh!?"

"Come on and laugh with me!"

"Gyahahahaha kekekekeke ahahahaha!"

Mallory just stood on the spot watching the display silently before speaking up. "Do you want to die?"

The voice stopped suddenly upon hearing her speak then spent a while in silence before finally answering in a confused and weak voice. "Mallory?"