Seducing the Guideverse With My System — Raising an Anomaly [BL]

Chapter 280: _Someone’s Going to Die Tonight

"Did this bitch really make an entire underground cave just to hide from me?" Ambrose couldn’t believe what spatial awareness was revealing to him.

Stretched below the tree he just uprooted was a dark underground cave—about ten feet deep and with a radius that spanned well over five hundred square metres give or take.

And from the blinking system meter... Orion was here!

[I don’t think calling her a bitch is appropriate these days...]

"Ugh, Aura, not now. We’re talking about someone who stole my son." His grip on Grave Keeper tightened. A slow smirk curved his lips, the rare excitement that came from battle stirring in him. "Since she’s dug her own grave here I might as well help bury her."

Just when he began pondering whether he should jump in immediately or think of a plan, he heard something that made his heart skip a beat.

"Daddy!" Orion’s scream echoed far deep in the cave. "I’m scared. Hel—ah! Let go of me!"

"Orion!" He roared, jumping in without hesitation. "I’m coming, buddy!"

The runes across Grace Keeper’s shaft glowed alongside his eyes as he landed on the firm ground below.

Those once silver orbs lifted, now alive with a dark blue light that illuminated the path ahead by a few feet. "Someone’s going to die tonight..."

Grave Keeper hummed in his grip as he straightened, advancing toward the direction his son’s screams had come from.

★★★★★

Miles away from the open field, in the same hotel room Kali had been in for hours... she had just successfully gotten the other Pantheon members to meet up with her.

She was still shaken by what she saw and felt while using one of her projections to find the Void Entity.

"We’re all here," Loki beamed, walking into the room as their eyes swept over Kali. "Well? From your message, it sounds like you’ve gotten a good update."

Kali stayed quiet for several long seconds, still trying to steady her breathing. Even now her chest ached faintly from where the backlash from the Void Entity had struck.

When she finally lifted her head, there was none of the confidence she’d worn earlier that day.

"I believe I’ve found them," she admitted at last. "Or... at the very least, I found where either Guild master Dorothy or the Void Entity itself has been hiding."

Apollo’s golden eyes brightened immediately. "You’re certain?"

"As certain as I can be from a projection." Kali nodded slowly. "The coordinates are rough, but they’re burned into my memory. An open field north of Aurelia. No nearby settlements. And oddly enough no wildlife whatsoever."

Wukong grinned, already spinning his aether staff over one shoulder.

"Then what are we waiting for?" His aura flared excitedly. "We head there now, flatten whatever’s hiding underground and bring the kid home."

Even Apollo found himself nodding.

"For once," he agreed, "I don’t disagree with him."

Kali’s expression didn’t change. Instead, it darkened. "That isn’t all."

The room gradually quieted.

"My projection reached the field," she continued, fingers unconsciously curling against her robe. "Something drew me there. I hadn’t even uncovered what exactly was hidden beneath the ground before..." She swallowed. "...before the Void Entity found me first."

Loki’s smile disappeared. "What do you mean?"

"It destroyed my projection."

Silence crashed over the room.

Apollo frowned. "That shouldn’t—"

"It wasn’t a normal dismissal." Kali interrupted quietly. "I’ve lost projections before. This..." She looked down at her trembling hand. "This was different. It swallowed the projection whole. Every sensation... every shred of feedback came rushing back into me at once."

Her voice lowered almost to a whisper. "I couldn’t even stand afterwards. I spent several minutes simply recovering before I had enough strength to contact all of you."

Nobody spoke.

Even Wukong slowly lowered his staff.

"So whatever waits for us there?" Kali exhaled heavily. "We should assume we’ve seen absolutely nothing yet. We’re walking into complete darkness."

The statement settled like lead inside the room.

Apollo folded his arms after what felt like forever. "Then I guess we should prepare for the worst."

Wukong’s grin returned, albeit noticeably smaller. "Good," he muttered. "It’s been a while since something actually sounded dangerous."

Loki, however, had already stopped listening. Their thoughts drifted elsewhere.

To Ambrose.

Had he already found Orion?

Or worse... Had he gone alone?

★★★★★

The cave only became stranger the deeper Ambrose ventured.

It wasn’t one massive chamber as he’d expected.

Instead, countless narrow passages branched away from one another, twisting through the underground like veins beneath flesh. Some corridors curved sharply.

Others split into three or four separate directions, forcing him to rely almost entirely on Spatial Awareness and Orion’s blinking life signature.

"This wasn’t dug naturally," Ambrose whispered.

Someone had obviously made this place. Every instinct screamed that much.

His boots echoed softly against the rocky floor as Grave Keeper illuminated the darkness ahead. Every few seconds he’d pause, checking the holographic marker hovering before him.

’Almost there.’

His breathing unconsciously quickened.

Then... The tunnel widened.

Ambrose rounded one final bend before freezing altogether. His breathing stuttered. "...Orion?"

There he was. His little boy. Lying quietly against the cave floor, his golden hair messy. Small chest rising gently.

Completely still.

For one horrifying second Ambrose thought he’d arrived too late.

"Orion!" His heart practically stopped as he broke into a sprint.

The scythe disappeared into his inventory without a thought.

Nothing mattered except reaching him.

"Buddy!" Ambrose dropped to one knee beside the child, hands already reaching to check him over. "Wake up. Daddy’s here. You’re—"

Something moved just then, tugging at his instincts.

Without warning the shadows exploded upward.

Pitch-black tentacles burst from beneath the boy’s body with terrifying speed, wrapping around Orion’s waist before violently yanking him backwards across the stone floor.

"No!" Ambrose lunged instinctively.

Alas, he never reached him as more tendrils erupted beneath his own feet instead. They coiled around both wrists. Then his waist.

One wrapped tightly around his throat while another locked around his ankles.

Before he could even summon Grave Keeper again... The darkness slammed him hard against the cavern wall.