Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Retch!
“This smell is revolting!”
Within the dark waterway, the sound of boots stepping through the stinky sewage echoed in the tunnels. After Edward discovered the truth about the threat of the ghouls, he immediately contacted Tucker from the City Guards and met with his superior.
After presenting convincing evidence, Edward got their assistance to begin looking for places in the city that the ghouls may be lurking. They also agreed to help him find those people who had already been infected so that they could be immediately isolated and treated.
Edward then had all of the details and intelligence from the previous attacks forwarded to him. The identities of the bodies, their places of death, and all other information was sent to Edward, who began diligently analyzing it.
The deceased represented all classes of society, from the nobles to the slaves, and officials to boatmen. There was no pattern or obvious connection, based on their revealed identities. The only similarity was that all of them were young men with good physiques.
Perhaps that was why they were chosen. The culprit was selectively creating ghouls en masse, then filtering out the stronger ones to upgrade into high-class ghouls…
Edward had no idea how many ghouls were already in the city. So far, there had been more than a dozen recorded deaths. When the investigation was widened to include disappearances, the number rose into the hundreds.
Tallying the unreported deaths within the underbelly of society was difficult. There were too many undocumented people in the city with complicated backgrounds. As such, investigating those matters was almost impossible.
Edward immediately remembered the slate tile that he had discovered before, which led to the sewer. The city of Babus was a mid-career work designed by Faragrant, the famous architect who later went on to design St. Sarl City.
Edward navigated the semicircular tunnels of the sewers with the aid of an oil lamp. The tunnels had a sloping curve in the center, with high sides. Their width was close to four meters.
The whole structure was made of stone. Like a developed irrigation system, it connected the entire city. Even if a downpour hit Babus, this canal system could easily purge the torrents from the city.
“I didn’t expect that there would be such a large space underground. Master Faragrant truly considered all of the practical aspects of urban planning, as he designed such a developed underground drainage system! This is truly the work of a master.”
From this stunning underground drainage system, one could sense how ahead of his time Faragrant was. The same underground drainage system was later used in the sophisticated designs of St. Sarl City.
Although Edward was neither an architect nor an artist, as a learned wizard, he was well-versed in many types of knowledge. Hence, Edward had a great admiration for these true masters of their crafts.
Edward began exploring from the suspicious location he had found before. He closed his eyes and used his mind power to navigate the underwater channel, while comparing the scene with the map of Babus in his head.
Blood stains?
There are also some blood stains here!
It’s headed over here!
Edward’s keen eye instantly tracked the clues he sought, as he found the recent traces of a large number of people. There were muddied footprints and traces of armor having rubbed against the stone walls.
Edward followed the tracks and gradually approached the core of the sewers. The passages here had become more and more complicated. The connecting passageways were much wider, as he headed deeper and deeper within.
Normal people would have lost their way in such a complicated network of tunnels, yet Edward could easily navigate the routes. He found more and more traces of people and was sure that he had found the hideout of the ghouls!
Whoosh!
The sound of rapid footsteps treading water approached from all directions, coming straight toward Edward. Edward immediately frowned.
How is it possible? They found me?
As the steps approached and surrounded Edward, he became sure that his location had already been given away. Edward also surmised that he was quite close to their nest. Edward recalled the previous few moments.
So, it was a witchcraft alarm!
Edward saw that the horde was bearing down on him quickly. Within the blink of an eye, several red-eyed ghouls with ragged clothes appeared and rushed towards him.
Roar!
Edward was standing in the corner of a passage as more than a dozen ghouls suddenly attacked him from three different directions. Edward immediately pressed his palms on the wall, and the entire underground waterway transformed into interlinked stone spears, which gouged through all of the ghouls and nailed them to the walls!
Yet, they still did not die but continued to struggle. Edward turned and ran.
He sensed countless ghouls chasing him. He chose to escape, but as he turned the corner, he ran into another horde of them. After running through a few more passages, Edward discovered that he was surrounded.
Edward knew that the number of ghouls probably far exceeded his imagination, as the great ghoul army filled every corner of the sewers! Edward immediately used his special ability and Blood Witchcraft to wipe out an oncoming ghoul horde with a large number of stone spears. As he did so, a road of blood opened before him.
Edward reached out and his hands were covered with a layer of stone. His arms turned limestone white and hard like marble.
Edward rushed through the path, his heavy stone fists smashing the remaining ghouls into pieces and knocking them away. Though they continued to rush him, Edward did not care, as he dealt with them easily, his hands covered in that thick layer of stone.
At this time, a figure in a black cloak rushed towards Edward. He immediately drew a sword, slashing at him. Edward immediately used his armored hands to catch the sword. The exchange caused a loud clatter.
However, Edward immediately discovered that his opponent’s sword was actually oozing a strange mind power fluctuation. His own stone armor was being disarmed.
Realizing this, his complexion changed.
“A special ability!”
By the time he moved to react, it was too already late. His opponent grabbed the sword from Edward’s hands, nicking his hand and slicing up from below. Edward quickly dodged to the left, but he was still grazed and fell to the ground.
Edward had received a long wound, which ran along his chest. Fortunately, he had taken quick measures to avoid the brunt of the blow. Otherwise, he would have been gutted.
While he was incapacitated with this serious injury, Edward slammed the stone wall and immediately, the ceiling of the entire passage collapsed. A large number of ghouls were crushed to death, and their path was closed off.
He opened a slate tile that led out to Babus. Edward climbed out, soaked in blood, and collapsed on the ground. He was rattled, and although he applied some emergency treatments with witchcraft and dressed his wound, his face was still ashen.
His fatigue was not due to the injury alone. He could also sense a strange force, which was constantly eroding his body and suppressing his mind power. When his mind power could no longer resist it, this strange force would interfere directly with reality and transform his body.
Edward immediately remembered the curse witchcraft that the great Sage Anthony had told him about. It probably referred to this exact strange power.
Edward supported himself with the wall as he slowly limped out of a dark alley and back onto a main street. He was preparing to go home to deal with the injury and research a method to counteract this sinister curse witchcraft when an alarm suddenly sounded throughout Babus. Edward didn’t know the bell’s meaning, but the crowds on the street panicked as the answer became devastatingly clear.
“The king has died!”