[Vol. 8] Chapter 240: A Sign of Disaster
Suddenly, a few sounds echoed sharply through the quiet cave, sounds that clearly didn’t come from Sasha talking to herself. The girl, who had been resting with her eyes closed, was startled. After days of high-stress, life-or-death fights, her nerves instantly tensed up. She opened her eyes wide and grabbed her longbow.
“Who’s there!?”
No one answered. The simple traps she had set near the cave entrance hadn’t been triggered either. Sasha was briefly confused, but then she suddenly realized something and turned around in surprise.
The young man who had been lying unconscious on the ground… was now slowly opening his eyes and coughing lightly.
This guy… is actually alive!?
His will to live was unbelievably strong!
To be honest, ever since she had randomly saved him a few days ago, then spent three more days being chased and fighting, Sasha had never had the time or ability to properly treat his wounds. A doctor from the caravan had done a quick check and basic treatment, but with injuries as serious as his, and constant movement day and night, it would’ve taken someone like Miss Violet, a high-level priestess, to actually keep him alive. Even just surviving was already unexpected.
She never imagined that just three days of rest would be enough for him to wake up on his own. No wonder those assassins were chasing him so relentlessly, he must be hiding some huge secret.
But Sasha had to admit: this was the best news she’d had in days.
Thinking that, she quickly moved to his side, helped him sit up, and gave him some water. After a moment, the young man seemed to regain a little awareness. His eyes were now fully open.
“…?”
It was only then that Sasha noticed something strange, his eyes weren’t normal. They were slit like a dragon’s. Even though he was clearly still very weak, the moment she met his gaze, she instinctively felt a sense of pressure. She quickly looked away without thinking.
It was distant, ancient, and out of place.
It felt as if… those eyes didn’t belong to the same person at all.
Seeing that the young man had recovered a bit, Sasha shook her head, pushed aside her doubts, and impatiently asked him:
“How are you feeling? Can you speak?”
The young man nodded slightly. He moved his dry lips and managed to speak in a hoarse voice.
“...Where am I?”
“We’re a few hundred li from Saint Tyr City. We—”
She didn’t waste time. Sasha briefly introduced herself, then explained how her caravan had found him badly wounded by the roadside, how they were later attacked by mysterious assassins, and how she eventually left with him while the rest of the team continued on a different path.
After hearing this, the young man looked obviously downcast and filled with guilt.
“I’m sorry… this all happened because of me…”
“Alright, alright. What’s done is done. What’s the point of saying sorry now? So, who are you really? Why do you have a token from the [Light Worshipper Church]? And what’s going on with those assassins?”
Sasha suddenly shot out several questions like a machine gun. The just-awakened young man looked overwhelmed, but after a short pause, he nodded.
“That token isn’t actually mine… it belongs to my lady. My name is Ricardo, and I’m one of her personal attendants. She sent me to deliver an important message to the outside world, but… some people don’t want that letter to reach its destination. That’s why they’re doing everything they can to stop me.”
“Delivering a letter?”
Sasha raised an eyebrow on instinct, but then her face quickly shifted to a look of confusion.
"But when we checked and treated you earlier, we didn’t find any letter on you. Don’t tell me… you lost it?"
The young man who called himself Ricardo gently shook his head.
"The message is in my mind. Only the token and insignia are meant to prove it's real."
"...Alright then."
Sasha could tell that Ricardo didn’t fully trust her. It was obvious that he was holding back some information. But that made sense, if she were in his shoes, she wouldn’t easily trust a stranger she’d just met either, even if that person had saved her life.
"So where were you going? And who are you delivering this message to?"
"…To the Saintess or an angel of the Holy Empire's eastern border. It's where the frontlines are, in the buffer zone. Time is very short, and this message is extremely important. It could affect the lives of many people and the entire situation. Even if it costs me my life, I must deliver it."
Not knowing what to say for a moment, Sasha thought hard and tried to comfort him.
"Okay, don’t stress too much. The situation is a bit tricky right now, but my teammates already went to Saint Tyr City to get help. I think they should be back in about a day or so..."
But as soon as Ricardo heard that, his expression changed completely. He suddenly sat up and tightly grabbed Sasha’s wrist!
"You said they went to Saint Tyr City!? No, they can’t go! They must not go there! Can you contact them? Tell them to come back right now!"
"...Huh?"
Sasha was startled by the sudden, intense look on his face. She frowned a little but forced herself to stay calm and asked seriously.
"What are you talking about? Why shouldn’t they go to Saint Tyr City? That’s the capital of the Theo Province. What could possibly be wrong there?"
"Damn it, you don’t understand… you don’t understand..."
Ricardo clutched his head in pain. In his strange, dragon-like vertical pupils, a red glow flickered ominously, giving off a faint, eerie feeling. He muttered like he was possessed.
"I... I can see it. That terrifying scene. Flesh being torn apart, the city becoming a living hell. It's not just Saint Tyr City… The entire Theo Province, and even the east… You don’t get it, this is all part of a huge conspiracy from the very beginning!"
…………………………………
“Squelch~”
The sound of soft, wet flesh bursting underfoot snapped Elunie Light out of her daze.
"Did I… succeed?"
She looked around instinctively, but the sight in front of her made her gasp in horror.
What she saw was so horrifying, not even the phrase “mountains of corpses and rivers of blood” could describe it.
Flesh, there was flesh everywhere.
The city’s shape had warped. Buildings made of stone and steel had sprouted lumps of meat, squirming like living things. Elunie stepped back in shock, but her foot landed on something soft and squishy. Half of her foot sank into it.
"!?"
She looked down and realized even the ground itself had turned into a strange, fleshy substance. The whole city had somehow merged into one twisted mass. Just from touching it, the flesh started creeping up her leg like it wanted to swallow and turn her into part of it.
"Vmmm~!"
At that critical moment, golden-red light burst from within her like starlight. It formed into a beautiful, glowing staff in her hands, one she knew very well.
"In the name of Heaven, drive out the evil!"