Dhein stood motionlessly, fear overwriting his system. This abomination wasn't a demon, it wasn't a monster in the records of imperial biography either.
It looked straight out of a horror novel.
He thought he was going to die there, but instead of attacking them, the monster leaped up, destroying the wooden floor with the sheer force of its legs. It went straight through the roof and out of the building.
Zarria's heart pounded rapidly in shock. This sort of creature was not like anything they'd ever seen in their lives. A human transforming into one of those was even more unheard of.
Her brother stood calmly through it all. She just couldn't fathom what was going on in his mind. He led them to this place and found out about a traitor somehow. How much of this has he managed to calculate?
She could never hope to match his level.
Seeing that Dhein wasn't planning to fight the monster, Zarria figured that he had more important things to do here. Matters like these were usually left to her, so she understood that she had to go after that abomination before it hurt innocent people.
Zarria turned to Fiorelle who was equally shocked. They nodded at each other before running out of the building to chase the monster down.
As the two ran out of the building, leaving Dhein alone, he let out a quiet, shaky breath. The amount of information he just acquired in this confrontation was enough to make his head throb in pain.
According to Sike, some mysterious group of people were planning to actually capture Shina. But just when he was about to say that the princess had managed to disappear before they could kidnap her, he suddenly turned into that abomination.
It was as though someone wanted to silence him...
Still, Dhein couldn't help but tremble in fear. All of this was somehow connected to Shina, and if she hadn't left the moment she did, maybe she would have been in danger for real.
But that didn't guarantee her safety. She was still out there, unaware of the dangers lurking around her.
To make matters worse, she was absolutely clueless about where to go!
If possible, he would have liked to warn her about everything he just discovered. But he didn't even know where to find her.
He could only hope that her hiding spot was good enough to protect her from the traitors in his clan.
Dhein sighed. Then, he said in a low tone:
"I hope you're done hiding."
A few seconds later, footsteps resounded eerily in the silence.
"You're just as sharp as they said. Maybe even more."
Dhein would have jumped in shock if that was an option. Covering the fact that he was startled, he turned to the dark corner where a figure of a man stood.
"You're the only one who managed to notice my presence. Though I already expected this, discovering that my concealment technique doesn't work on one person still shatters my ego, you know?"
The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a slender man in a dark robe. He had pale skin and brown, slicked back hair.
'And who the hell is this?!'
Dhein had never seen this person before, but he could tell this man was extremely dangerous. He was standing there all this time but none of them even noticed! It was also possible that this man had been following them from the beginning.
'Did he think I noticed him because of what I said?'
He said "I hope you're done hiding," referring to the princess. But it also sounded like something a person would say after discovering someone's hidden presence.
Whatever the case was, it worked in Dhein's favor. And since Fiorelle wasn't around, he could once again use his fake reputation to his advantage!
He smirked and then spoke.
"Did you really think anything is safe from my gaze?"
The mysterious man responded with silence. Dhein continued.
"You made a huge mistake going against me like this."
He stepped closer towards the man and Dhein saw a hint of fear cross his pale face.
"It's over. How do you want to die?"
The mysterious man changed his posture from relaxed to one that was prepared to make an escape at any second.
"You were the one behind the princess' disappearance, weren't you?" the man asked with a tense voice.
Though Dhein was nervous himself, he was so used to hiding his emotions that all the pale man could see was calmness.
"That's right. I saw through your plans from the very beginning. There's no use plotting against me."
Dhein didn't know crap what he was talking about. The only thing he knew was that speaking with confidence even when clueless had saved his butt many times.
The man frowned in anger.
"Well played, Dheinyrus. Well played."
He stepped backwards and then assumed a wide stance which alerted Dhein.
'Shit! Is he actually going to fight me?!'
"But we will try again," he continued.
"As many times as it takes. The ones to conquer heaven will be us."
With that, the man vanished all of a sudden.
'I—Is he gone...?'
Dhein looked around and it really did seem like the man had already left.
That was terrifying.
***
The jet-black creature was fast. Running on all fours, it zoomed through the narrow streets, threatening to slash any passersby with its deadly claws.
The crowd began to panic. Everyone ran in random directions, ensuing chaos which eventually led to a riot.
As an innocent little boy was about to get his head chomped off, Fiorelle, with the help of the great spirit of life, controlled the vines beneath the earth to grab him and pull him out of danger.
Zarria dashed past them, closing the distance between her and the abomination.
It tried to escape through narrow alleys or by climbing rooftops but Zarria followed it anywhere.
Borrowing the power of the god of mana, Zarria used wind magic to push herself forward with even greater speed. She flew like a cannonball, becoming a blur in the sky, before burying her fist onto the monster's skull.
They both fell from the rooftops to the ground with the prior momentum of their movements. Unlike Zarria who gracefully landed on her feet, the monster rolled and crashed to the concrete ground.
She let out a deep breath, shaking the disgusting blood off her hand.
Just when she thought it was over, the creature's body began disintegrating rapidly, turning into dust.
"What the..." she muttered.
Neither monsters nor demons do that. Just what kind of creature was this?
Zarria was about to dive into deep thinking when she heard a blood-curling scream nearby. Aside from this feeling being horrifyingly familiar, she also realized she knew exactly where the scream was coming from.
With the skirt of her gown already torn halfway, she bolted towards the source of the scream.
She found Fiorelle, with a terrified expression, watching the boy they had rescued earlier writhe in pain on the ground. It was the exact same scenario they saw inside the brothel.
They subconsciously hoped that they were wrong, but the boy inevitably went through the same transformation as Sike. The new creature emerged from inside his body, tearing his flesh to manifest itself to the world.
Seconds later, more people produced the same scream of intense, unbearable pain. And before they knew it, several people of the slums had turned into the same kind of monster.
Before the monster that used to be the boy could run away, Fiorelle had already entangled its limbs with thick vines. She looked at Zarria with a grim expression.
Zarria looked back at her with eyes opened wide.
Would killing this monster mean she also killed the boy?
Could they turn these people back to normal?
But if they don't kill it now, it will hurt the normal people.
Zarria's breathing was heavy as she stared at the child of spirits.
'Dhein... what do I do?'
Cutting Zarria's thoughts, a man fell from the sky, striking the immobilized monster with a sword. The blade went through the monster's spine, killing it with one strike.
Fiorelle gasped in shock. They looked up and saw a young man with short, dark hair, blue eyes and a seasoned face. He wore a coat with military themes but casual enough to be considered a civilian.
Augros Uthalonica didn't have to pull his sword out of the creature's body because it had already begun to fade to the wind. Zarria could tell that even he was surprised by this.
"Lady Wixorn, Lady Theocheirós. Can you tell me what is happening?" Augros asked with a calm tone.
Zarria clenched her fist and pulled herself together.
"We don't know either. Some people just suddenly turned into these creatures."
Augros nodded.
"I see. I understand that you're hesitating about what you should do, but we must act based on our current knowledge when human lives are at stake. It's fine to fear making the wrong decision, but in this situation, we must prioritize the lives that we can still save."
Augros turned his back on them, preparing to jump into the chaos.
"We can regret it all later."