The outside world was starting to fell into darkness, yet the division 0 had no way of knowing as they were trapped within the smelly sewer system underground.
Heimfher and everyone else stopped, he focused his attention towards Murph, waiting for his next course of action.
"A door?" Murph said, he looked into the shadowed space and noticed a metal door, similar to the one that were usually seen in prisons.
The rest of the members including Heimfher soon walked forward, they stood right beside Murph and also saw the metal door.
"Is this some sort of a management room? Do sewers usually have this?" Harith asked.
"Im not sure, never been into a sewer before until now.." Bentley replied, he stared at the small holes on the metal door in order to see what was inside.
"Huh? There's something inside."
Hearing Bentley's words, Murph and Duskiell immediately approached the closed door and stood right before it.
SLAM!
They both kicked the metal door hard enough and forced it to open, revealing a room behind it that seems to be abandoned.
It didn't take long before everyone was able to see the inside of the room that was previously obstructed by the door, the room there wasn't that spacious, but it was filled with empty bookshelves and desks, there was also a magic circle draw on the floor using some sort of liquid that had dried but still left a deep color.
"Ugh! What is this.." Heimfher suddenly covered his nose after he smelled a pungent scent that made even his eyes teary.
"Urgh.. That's not a plesant thing to smell.." Carlessa also showed the same reaction, along with Lena and Bentley.
"This smell.. It's like blood." Bentley added.
Heimfher and everybody else entered, and when they were investigating, checking every corner of the bookshelves, opening all the drawer of the desks and even scrubbing the magic circle to see what kind of liquid it was, they came to a conclusion that the scent of blood that they've been smelling was indeed coming straight from the room, more specifically the magic circle.
.
.
"There's nothing in here.." Duskiell said, he frowned for a moment, he checked everything and was disappointed to find nothing that could be a clue or explanation as to what the room was.
"Except for this magic circle.." Murph responded shortly after.
"A ritual must've been held here.. And from the dried blood stain that was used to draw the magic circle, we can assume whoever did the ritual, is not someone affiliated from the church— They're more likely to be either an unaffiliated individual, or were a member of a secret cult."
While he was analyzing the magic circle, looking at the now dusts that was once items that were used to do the ritual, Heimfher on the other hand began checking the walls behind the bookshelves.
Srrrttt!!
He pushed one of the bookshelf and slipped his body to the back of it, grazing his hand against the cobblestone walls while also keeping his fireball small enough to not lit up anything but still exude enough light to see his surrounding.
One bookshelf after another, Heimfher kept checking while the others had given up and regrouped back around Murph, and when he was on his last bookshelf, Heimfher was grazing the walls like before, except this time, he found something.
"Huh?..." He gasped, surprised by what he was seeing.
"W- what is this.."
On the cold and cobwebs-stained walls, Heimfher saw a drawing of a scythe cutting a bleeding wilted rose with the word 'Morswalth' written with bloods right beneath it.
Upon discovering the symbol, Heimfher instantly went to Murph and told him what he just found.
"M- Murph!" He said as he rushed towards him.
"Heimfher? What's wrong?" Murph asked, he and the others, especially Duskiell, looked at Heimfher with curious eyes.
"I- i found something.." Heimfher asnwered, he guided Murph and everyone else to see the symbol from before.
Moments later, when all of the division 0 members had seen the ominous symbol, their face suddenly turned into distress as they seems to know what the symbol was.
"Hey hey.. I knew something deeper was going on, but seriously? This deep?.." Duskiell said, the corner of his mouth twitched at the sight of the symbol infront of him.
"Don't tell me this thing is the real deal?.. No way right?!" Harith added, no matter how Heimfher sees it, he can only tell that Harith was afraid of the symbol.
"Yeah.. I don't think anyone would be brave enough to impersonate them.. It's obvious now, this room was used by them." Bentley said to answer Harith, he looks calmer than the rest, but he also couldn't hide the sweat that was forming on his cheek.
"This is.. So they're the one that created the chimera, that makes sense now.." Carlessa also expressed the same worries as everyone.
Lena didn't say anything, but Heimfher knew that she was also feeling uneasy about the symbol, despite everyone looking all scared and panicked, Heimfher himself still doesn't know what the symbol meant, this was the first time he had seen such drawing.
"Is this symbol belongs to some powerful being?" He asked, he just had to know about what's so scary about the symbol beside the fact that it was a scythe cutting a bleeding wilted rose in half.
At first, Murph was about to answer, his head already turned towards Heimfher, but right when his mouth opened, Duskiell interrupted by walking infront of him.
"This drawing is the symbol of a secret cult order called 'The Dead Deity' and they are known to worship one of the taboo gods, the God of Death.. He's an abyssal god, which meant that he is not exactly 'good' or 'benevolent'" Duskiell explained, his usual unserious demeanor was nowhere to be seen in his eyes, it's like he knew that this finding was nothing to be joked about.
He then continued his speech.
"Think of it like good gods and evil gods, all of the main religion gods were good gods, while evil gods such as the God of Death, the God of Misery, the God of Disaster, and the rest.. Are– Well, they're not exactly evil, but their power can only bring destruction and corrupt the human race—
"Like what i said earlier, The Dead Deity Order worshipped the God of Death, and you know what the follower of death do? They kill, should be obvious— They sacrifice, they massacre, they offer human souls as if we're farm animals—
"They are an evil cult, and they are wanted by not only the entire kingdom of Nephemis, but the entire continent of Terraphim."
Duskiell ended his explanation with a sigh, he walked towards the magic circle once more, leaving Heimfher with Murph and the rest.
A powerful cult, wanted by the everyone, that means this secret organization was able to escape all of the detection from an awakened like Bentley every single time, if all of the authorities couldn't catch the Dead Deity Order, that means they must've had a poweful awakened, either as their leader, executives, or members.
While Heimfher was trying to process everything Duskiell had said, Murph suddenly spoke to him while he looked at the symbol.
"The text 'Morswalth' refers to their God's name.. The God of Death, Morswalth." He said, keeping both of his hands inside of his coat pocket.
"...I see." Heimfher replied quietly.
A few minutes later, Heimfher left the room along with everyone else, after not finding anything inside, Murph ordered his division to leave and search further.
But the search in that room wasn't all for nothing, they might have not found any clue, but atleast they found out who was behind the rogue chimera that somehow ended up in the sewer and wreak havoc in the city.
"I was worried that someone or something will ambush us from behind, but it seems like those who were previously using that room, had already left the city or is in hiding." Carlessa said, she seems to have regained her composure and was no longer afraid.
"Maybe they left after unleashing that chimera." Bentley responded calmly.
"Hoohh? You may be right, but it's unusual for them to depends on a chimera instead of their own power." Duskiell also added to Bentley's words.
"Hmm, someone capable of creating chimera must have borrowed another abyssal god's power, i don't know if they're an advanced awakened or not, but i doubt it can do anything other than summoning or fusing.. That means, whoever created the chimera, most likely doesn't have an offensive magic."
The surrounding became quiet again, Heimfher saw Murph resting his chin on his hand as if thinking about something, then a few seconds later, Murph decided to tell everyone to leave the sewer.
"Let's end the search here, we'll have to inform the capital about this, arguably.. This discovery is more important than the missing cases, if those people from the Dead Deity Order is still in this city, they could cause a disaster that may injure or for the worse, kill many innocent civilians." He said.
Murph was hesitant to drop the missing person investigation, but knowing just how much of a maniac the people from an evil cult could be, he had no choice but to allocate most of the manpower for a something more dangerous. He initially thought of working together with people from the capital bureau, but then he had another idea.
"..Ahh—" Murph turned his head to see Heimfher and Bentley.
"Heimfher, Bentley– And Duskiell, this might came from nowhere, but can you three continue the investigation on the missing people? Carlessa, Lena, Harith and i will investigate this Dead Deity Order."