Even though he had said that, the words the drake said were only now starting to seep in.

(“Wait hell? As in hell hell?”)

(“At this time I am reminded of that idiom in your world that states you must have a hamster running on a wheel in your head instead of a brain.”) The drake said unamused.

(“Shut up, can't a guy reminiscence?”)

Agnes looked ready to leave but Tibaut stopped in his tracks, much to her chagrin.

(“Yes it leads to hell, where else would the demons that habituated this place centuries ago have come from?”)

(“I don't know, magic circles!?”)

(“Hah, to bring a legion of hell’s rats through such a method would take several years. It's far more efficient having an entrance to hell.”)

(“Wait a minute, those cultists bastards aren't planning to-”)

(“Let me stop you right there human. There is no one considered human that could possibly open that gate once more.”)

“Phew.” For a first, he was thankful his idea had been shot down.

As he looked around, he noticed several fallen pillars and sword marks around.

(“Must have been one hell of a battle.”)

(“Of trust it was, humanity was really scrambling to save themselves during this time.”)

Agnes watched as he continued to walk around the room and sighed before deciding to start searching it.

“U-u-umm what are you looking for?” She asked.

“Oh, no, this place is kinda strange now that I think about it. I'm just taking a look around, it shouldn't take too long, honest.”

Agnes continued searching around the room and Tibaut decided to let her.

(“Well, it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look down here.”)

There were several wooden operating tables in the corners of the room. Well, they were regular-looking tables but they had restraints on them, in addition to blood, dark and foul-smelling stains and a black substance over some parts.

“Ugh, this priest is a sick bastard. How many people has he done this to leave these tables in this state?”

The smells were a bit much and he looked inward in the room. He found a notepad on a pillar with several names on the first page with symbols next to them.

“Tayla… X.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

It didn't take a genius to realise what the x beside their name meant. Several other names, most likely female, followed with x's beside them. There were dates beside them as well, which led back to over several weeks ago.

(“What a coincidence.”) The voice stated.

(“What is?”) He asked.

(“I do believe this happened about a week or so after Elizabeth and Ezekiel carried out their attacks against this so-called cult. In desperation, they must have done this. What a shame, they might have still been alive for a hero to save them, if they didn't carry out their half measure.”) They snarkily remarked.

(“S-Shut up. This would have probably happened regardless with these bastards.”)

(“Really now?”) The drake responded, unconvinced.

He continued looking at the page and noticed only four names had a tick beside them. It was easy to intuit it was the girls in the room with him.

(“How the hell did this even happen?”)

He flipped the page and got a block of notes the priest must have made.

-Given we have a steady supply of these women thanks to our generous benefactor, in addition to Zama's report I feel the need to truly test the effects of the divine powder. Saito’s demise showed we truly don't know much about the powder.

The top of the report was an overview of the experiments he was going to do. It explained that the powder could grant power, and its power somehow increased within this dungeon.

“A powder that increases powder. Is it the same one Cormac used?”

(“No, that was made from a natural stimulant. It didn't increase his power, only fooled his body into using more power than it should. ”) The voice answered.

(“You're surprisingly helpful sometimes.”)

(“You answer with such confidence sometimes, I feel obligated to show your stupidity.”) They answered with a snicker.

He rolled his eyes before continuing his read. (“Jeez, this guy put more effort into this than I did my lab reports.”)

The paper continued and documented the effects of various doses of the powder alongside their analogous amounts if this test were to be performed outside the dungeon. Though, he admitted it wasn't very accurate as he only did one test outside.

“Choking on their own blood? Blood exiting the pores!? Mana ripping the subject apart from the inside!!!” He had to put the board down for a moment. “What the hell is he using on them?”

(“...”)

He stopped reading the paper out of disgust and had no issues reducing it and the board to cinders.

He looked around just in time for-

“Pwah!?”

one of the monster girls to stick a bottle in his mouth. It tasted bitter and had a minty sensation to it. The liquid was green but he had no idea what I could have been. And the bottle was so far into his mouth the only way he could eject was through his nose, which was solid no in his book. Well, the monster girls seemed quite friendly to him. And more importantly, if it was poison he could easily cure himself.

He downed it with little issue. This was objectively a bad drink but he had sampled and lived off far worse.

After downing it, the girl hugged him.

“Hey, I'm injured here.” He said while half-heartedly trying to get her off. “?”

He felt his abdomen and it wasn't anywhere near as noticeable as earlier. Did the pain subside?

(“What comes in a green bottle in your video games and makes you feel better?”) She said with the cadence of a kindergarten teacher.

“A healing potion, huh? Where'd she find this?” He found it tiring to respond to their taunts and said only what he needed.