Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 172
The large insect Irene had caught the day before was released, and a new, even bigger insect sat on the table today.
This particular insect, notorious for attaching itself to people and sucking blood until they felt faint, evoked no sympathy from Irene. She began tapping it lightly with the tip of the dagger once again.
Around the 500th attemptâŚ
âThis is getting boringâŚâ
The insect barely reacted anymore, as if it had grown indifferent to her prodding.
âHow did Michael even think to use something like this?â
She didnât know what had happened in the dungeon, but Michael seemed unusually familiar with this dagger.
Even though its effect depended on an impossibly low probability, he had requested it urgently, as if certain it would be useful.
âShould I just take it back to Michael and ask him?â
Just as she was pondering thisâ
Pop!
The insect on the table suddenly exploded with a loud sound.
âGah!â
Startled, Irene flung the dagger away and instinctively curled up.
After a moment, she cautiously raised her head.
When she saw the state of the table, she reflexively covered her mouth with her hand.
âUghâŚâ
The once-plump insect was now obliterated into pieces. The table was splattered with fragments and its viscous bodily fluids.
âDid⌠the effect activate?â
The dagger supposedly had the power to instantly kill its target when activated.
Judging by the scene on the table, it seemed its effect wasnât just fatalâit utterly annihilated its target.
Irene retrieved the dagger from the floor, carefully cleaned its blade with a cloth, and promptly sheathed it.
âI should give this back to Michael.â
Keeping such a dangerous and temperamental weapon wasnât worth the risk.
After a brief moment of thought, she placed the dagger in her bag and stood up.
She didnât have any pressing tasks to attend to today.
âMichael should be finishing up his dungeon subjugation and returning soon.â
In that case, going out to greet him personally after some time apart seemed like a good idea.
* * *
After tidying the table as best she could, Irene left her room.
Despite it being summer, with the sun still high in the sky, an unusual chill lingered in the purifiersâ quarters.
The emptiness left behind by the distortion dungeon incident was palpableânearly half the rooms were now vacant.
Some had died in the dungeon, while others had returned to their hometowns, unable to bear the shock of losing their pairs, vowing to try again next year.
As a result, the once-bustling hallways now felt eerily empty, with even the maids who used to roam frequently nowhere to be seen.
âThat ghost story⌠itâs unnerving.â
Though the fortress had launched an investigation, they still hadnât identified the source of the bloodstains.
Naturally, no one could figure out who might have orchestrated such an incident either.
âStill, they thoroughly inspected all the purifiersâ quarters, so it should be fine.â
The moment the incident was reported, the knights and fortress staff had swept through the area from the rooftop to the basement. They even used the artifact Eye of Exploration, which was designed for dungeon surveillance, to comb through the premises.
Yet, as expected, they found nothing.
âEven so, itâs unsettling.â
Even though the search had yielded no results, the Eye of Exploration had lingered for a long time over the spot where the bloodstains had been found.
âWhich means thereâs definitely something thereâŚâ
Lost in thought, Irene turned a corner and froze in place.
ââŚâŚâ
At the far end of the dim hallway, something was moving.
Blink. Blink.
She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again to make sure she wasnât imagining things. The movement at the end of the hallway was still clearly visible.
It wasnât a hallucination.
Irene held her breath, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. After a moment, the shape became clearer.
âThatâŚâ
Her eyes widened as she recognized it.
She knew what it was.
âTentaclesâŚ?â
It was the same appendage she had seen in the dungeon, slithering rapidly toward Michael to grab him.
The last time she had seen it, it had been severed and retreated.
Now, it was at the corner of the hallway, gently waving its tip.
As if shyly greeting her.
