Volume 7 Chapter 36 - Hell On Earth
There were sharp screams that came through the wooden planks and entered the dark basement, entering Balk’s ears that made him unable to stop his trembling. The sleepiness that he felt suddenly disappeared as he became tense.
He turned to the side to find that his youngest daughter Huica was still asleep, not being woken up by these screams and he let out a sigh of relief.
However, seeing the dark bloodstain that still didn’t fade from Huica’s face, his expression couldn’t help becoming much darker again.
These riots had already lasted for five days.
When he knew that something was off four days ago, Balk had carried his two year old daughter Huica to hide in this hidden basement and they hadn’t stepped out in the last four days.
He knew that the Drow Race Kingdom’s capital Drow City had fallen into chaos. The damn Drow Race were hunting down all foreigners, so if they were caught by them, he and Huica wouldn’t be able to escape a pitiful end.
But……was there a use in hiding here?
The preserved goods in this hidden basement wouldn’t last long and the most important thing was that there was no medicine here.
Huica had been showing signs of having a cold yesterday and now she had a fever. Although this let her fall asleep, so he didn’t need to worry about her making noises that would attract the Drow Race outside, she was still only a two year old child in the end. If she didn’t get treated, she couldn’t last any longer.
Balk put his hand to Huica’s forehead and feeling the heat there, he secretly made a decision.
No matter what, he had to think of a way to go out today.
Other than getting some medicine to treat Huica, he had to verify what was going on outside and find a way out of this hell.
Although Balk was clear that now that even the capital Drow City had fallen into chaos like this, then the situation outside of Drow City wouldn’t be any better.
The entire Drow Race Kingdom for an outside like him would be like hell.
He was only a normal person and carrying a two year old child to escape the Drow Race Kingdom that wasn’t small would be an impossible mission.
However, he didn’t have a choice.
Compared to staying here waiting for death, he had to make a bet.
Balk took the only bottle of clean water left and carefully used a small cup to feed Huica a few mouthfuls. Then after thinking about it, he took the remaining food and swallowed it with the remaining clean water.
The stench that came through the floorboards and the musky odor of the basement combined which created a scent that made one want to vomit. The things in his hands had already turned hard and didn’t have the taste of food at all.
However, he still ate it in large mouthfuls, doing his best to stuff them into his stomach.
He knew that he had to have enough strength for this task that he was about to take.
While eating to build up strength, Balk also looked at the light that came through the floorboards above him.
When this light gradually dimmed before fading, Balk took a deep breath. He gave Huica a few mouthfuls of water and after confirming that she wasn’t in danger even though she was unconscious, he focused his mind and moved towards the exit.
After listening for a bit and confirming that there was nothing outside, Balk silently pushed open the floorboards.
The moonlight filled the room and Balk narrowed his eyes as he looked around. The first thing that he saw was a pure white body.
This body that had lost all signs of life was Balk’s wife.
Four days ago, when the Drow Race hoodlums came into Balk’s home, although Balk saw that the situation was bad and carried Huica into the basement ahead of time, because of something that happened, his wife and his eldest son Roman had fallen into their hands.
Balk’s wife was r*ped by the hoodlums before being killed. His son Roman was also killed by them.
Looking at Roman’s incomplete corpse that he couldn’t recognize near his wife’s corpse, Balk’s dead heart couldn’t help trembling.
If it was possible, when he heard the screams of his wife and son four days ago, he would have already charged out to go all out with those thugs.
But for Huica, he had endured it.
He didn’t know how he had survived these days. If it wasn’t for Huica, he would have already collapsed.
However, right now even Huica was in danger, which forced this man who his wife scolded for being weak into taking this risk.
After taking a deep look at his wife and his son’s corpse, Balk didn’t touch them as he carefully went over to the fireplace and took the ash from it to put on his face and hair.
He was someone from the Lampuri Kingdom and was born with naturally red hair. The people of the Drow Race had natural gray hair, so if he went out, he would be easily recognized.
After carefully putting on his camouflage, Balk looked down at himself. After confirming that he didn’t smell too much, he looked outside before silently heading out the door.
It was already the middle of the night, so there was already no one on this remote street.
But he could still see the flames in the sky in the distance and he could hear the wild laughter and screams from time to time.
It was clear that the Drow Race thugs were still committing murder and having fun.
Balk didn’t know how many outsiders like him were in Drow City, but he was certain that there weren’t many that had lived through these riots.
The medicine shop was on the other end of the street, so Balk had to go down the entire street.
It was a good thing that this was a remote street and no one was there, so Balk was able to safely make it to the medicine shop.
This medicine shop was opened by someone who also came from the Lampuri Kingdom. Because they had the special medicine provided by the Moon Shadow Tribe, which was very effective, their business had always been good.
However, this shop had clearly been ransacked. Not only was the door blown away, the inside was a complete mess.
With the moonlight and his memories, Balk was finally able to find some herbs in a medical kit in the corner of the store.
He was very happy at this time that he picked up some basic knowledge from chatting with the owner of this store, otherwise he wouldn’t know what to do with the herbs in front of him.
After obtaining the medicine, Balk didn’t immediately go back home. Rather he left this street and began exploring outside.
He had another mission which was to find out the situation in the city to prepare to leave Drow City.
Balk’s home was in the western part of Drow City and was only three blocks from Drow City’s west gate. It wasn’t considered far, but it couldn’t be considered close.
The most important thing was the road that led to the west gate, it wouldn’t be as remote as the street that he was currently on.
As expected, after Balk went down another two streets and came to the main street, he bumped into a group of Drow Race clansmen.
Balk’s heart was tense and he tried to stay as calm as possible as he moved forward.
“Hey, brother, it’s this late, where did you just come from?”
The group looked at Balk and a young man loudly greeted him.
From the bottles that they had and the scent of alcohol, he could see that these fellows had clearly been drinking.
Balk replied with a forced smile and saw the things that two of the Drow Race clansmen were holding, causing his eyes to open wide and he couldn’t say anything else.
The two Drow Race clansmen were holding round things and when he looked carefully, he saw that it was two heads!
With the flame on the street and the moonlight, Balk could see the expression on their faces and he felt his stomach churn, almost vomiting the food that he had just forced himself to eat.
Seeing the ugly look on Balk’s face, the one who greeted him patted him on the shoulder and loudly said, “Hey, brother, do you still have something you’re unhappy about? Relax, if you’re unhappy, we’ll go find another outside to make you happy. Brothers, do you all agree?”
“Alright!”
The Drow Race clansmen behind them loudly cheered out.
Balk forced down the urge to throw his fist in this person’s face and said with a smile, “There’s nothing I’m unhappy about, I was just about to……”
Before he finished, two Drow Race clansmen came over and one of them raised a large cask of wine to his mouth. He shouted in a stuttering voice, “No matter what the unhappiness, it’ll be better with wine. This is fine wine from the dwarves, it’s beautiful.”
How could Balk dare to drink at this time? He quickly dodged out of the way.
But the drunk wouldn’t let someone refuse his drink. He had two other Drow Race clansmen hold Balk down as he brought the cask to his mouth to force Balk to drink.
Balk turned his head and hit the arm of that Drow Race clansman, causing the cask in his hand to fly away and wine spilled all over.
That Drow Race clansman wasn’t angry, rather he broke out in laughter.
“Good, brother, so you’re this wild in drinking your wine! I like it! Come, come, let’s do this again……”
But then his voice suddenly stopped and he pointed a finger at Balk in shock.
Balk was stunned and noticed that there was a cold feeling from his head. His heart was shocked and he roared out deep down that this was bad.
“He has red hair! He’s not one of us! He’s an outsider from the west!” The one who was forcing Balk to drink suddenly shouted out.
Balk no longer had any scruples and used all his strength to break free of the two Drow Race that were holding him. Then he kicked out at the stomach of the Drow Race that called out before turning to run.
The Drow Race clansmen reacted after being stunned and they all chased after him while shouting.
Balk knew that it was impossible to escape on the main street, so he turned to go down a side street.
But as soon as he turned the corner, he saw another group of Drow Race clansmen coming at him.
Balk’s heart turned cold.
This was the Drow Race Kingdom’s capital and the Drow Race were all over the city, him as an outsider could only face them alone.
But how could he face them alone when he faced countless enemies?
Seeing the Drow Race clansmen coming from behind, Balk felt like he was in an abyss as deep despair welled up.
Could it be that he couldn’t find a way to escape this hell on earth with Huica?
But at this time, there was a strange howl that came from the sky before a pillar of flames landed in the Drow Race clansmen ahead of him.
“Hong!”
With a powerful explosion, that group of Drow Race clansmen in front of him were blasted away.