Flames spread across the town as thick black smoke curled into the sky. The sacrificial ritual was already underway. Even without seeing it firsthand, one could easily imagine the bloody massacre taking place.
"Damn it, the sacrifice has already begun!"
Veronica gritted her teeth and yelled down the chute, "The Death Walker is in town! We came to an empty nest! You two find an exit and climb out as fast as you can. I'm going ahead to save who I can—the car's yours!"
With that, Veronica drew a deep breath, clenched her fist, and smashed it forward.
With a deafening crash, rock fragments and powder exploded outward. Amidst the swirling dust, a gaping hole was torn straight through the castle's outer wall.
Gathering Monica into her arms, Veronica leaped. She dropped five meters, splashing muddy water everywhere as she hit the ground.
Wind surged beneath her feet as she sprinted toward the Town of Kafuno at blinding speed. Within a few breaths, her figure vanished into the oak forest.
High above, the moon seemed to have dropped another notch, looming even larger than before. A flickering orange-red hue danced across its cratered face, as though flames were madly whirling upon its surface.
***
At the very bottom of the chute, Wayne pushed himself up on hard, solid muscle. His head buzzed after smacking the wall during the fall.
Torches flickered along both sides of the corridor, guiding the path all the way to a corner at the far end.
Wayne realized he was sitting directly on top of William. The latter lay sprawled out, and looking down from above, Wayne could see a coy blush across William's face.
*Why the hell are you blushing like a bubbling teapot?!*
Wayne's scalp went numb from the cringe. Cursing under his breath, he scrambled to his feet. He closed his eyes and conjured images of Veronica's face and figure, which finally managed to banish the psychological shadow William had cast over him.
Before Wayne could turn around and climb back up, he heard Veronica's voice. His mind was still somewhat dazed, and he couldn't make out what she was saying. All he knew was that following a tremendous boom, the chute was completely blocked.
Wayne made two attempts to climb, but the steep chute offered no leverage. Each time he tried to shove the boulders aside, the opposing force sent him sliding right back down.
Annoyed, he snapped at William, "What are you standing there for? Help me out!"
William nodded repeatedly and stepped up behind Wayne, rubbing his palms together as he prepared to push him by the backside. Seeing Wayne's darkened scowl, William scratched his head sheepishly. "If you're embarrassed, I can go in front and let you push me instead."
*Have some common sense! You're a golden retriever weighing well over two hundred jin—can I even budge you?*
*Wait, you scheming top, don't think you can brush your ass against my hands!*
Giving up on heading back the way they came, Wayne frowned. "William, what did Veronica just say? I couldn't hear clearly. Did you catch it?"
"She said the sacrifice has already started and the Death Walker is in town. She's heading over first and told us to hurry after her."
William drew a deep breath. "Wayne, you need to prepare yourself mentally. Saving lives comes first, so we probably won't be able to break our curses on this run."
Wayne nodded. Priorities were priorities, and that was only right. Then he grumbled, "I know she's anxious to save people, but pulling the two of us out wouldn't have taken that long. Now look at us—we've got no choice but to push forward blindly."
"It's fine. We can ransack the Death Walker's lair while we're at it, just in case he has other plans in motion." William wasn't worried about Veronica. Scions of dragon blood possessed terrifying physical might; as long as Veronica felt like it, she could beat the Death Walker into a flat photograph on sight.
Capturing him alive, on the other hand, would be the troublesome part.
"That's true, but..."
Wayne hesitated. If this were a horror movie, splitting up was the ultimate taboo.
"With me protecting you, nothing's going to happen." William puffed out his chest and struck a bodybuilder pose.
Wayne's face darkened even further. In the middle of the night, inside a deserted castle, he could scream his throat hoarse and nobody would come.
He picked up a chunk of rubble from the floor and tossed it ahead to test the path. After several throws confirmed no traps had been triggered, he coaxed William into taking the lead.
"Veronica said the Death Walker is in town. We're completely safe..."
William muttered under his breath, testing every step as he led the way. Wayne's excessive caution was making him nervous too.
"Can't go wrong being careful," Wayne warned him. His supernatural senses gave off no abnormal warning, which meant the interior of the castle was safe—at least for now.
The two advanced along the torchlit passage. After several turns, Wayne caught the scent of liquor. He gestured to William, and the pair stepped into a subterranean storage cellar to look for handy tools.
Perhaps because this was the castle's only storehouse, alcohol and various everyday supplies were piled together. Wayne failed to find a crowbar, and William managed only to scrounge up a flashlight.
Not much help, considering they already had flashlights on them.
The good news was that as Wayne filtered the scents in the air, he confirmed there had been only one living person in the castle besides them: Mike, the one who tended the graves and returned to the Town of Kafuno every year.
*Why does this guy come back every year? Just to sweep graves?*
Wayne muttered to himself. Guided by the scents lingering in the air, he quickly found the exit from the passage.
A mechanism swung open a stone door, bringing the two out onto an elevated platform high up the castle. Square and remarkably spacious, it faced directly toward the castle's main gate, clearly designed with military defense in mind.
Night reigned without a star in sight. The massive moon looked down upon the earth, instilling a suffocating oppression in anyone who dared look up.
The weeds in the center of the platform had been cleared away. Drawn in black ink was an inverted triangle, enveloped in coiling plumes of dark smoke that twisted into the air, transforming into a chaotic mass of swaying black arms.
The arms varied in size—some belonged to adults, others to children, some male, some female. Hands large and small reached toward the sky, as though straining to yank the moon right out of the heavens.
The repulsive sight stirred a surge of hostility in Wayne's chest. An urge to destroy grew within him, slowly gnawing away at his calm reason. The degradation was sluggish, but it was already causing him deep discomfort.
William felt the same. Squinting, a burst of dazzling radiance erupted from his eyes. Driven by his magic, the brilliance of the sun washed across the platform.
He stood completely bathed in light, his formidable physique and resolute expression making him look invincible.
Yet Wayne sensed something amiss. The moment William moved to dispel the death ritual, Wayne's supernatural senses, which had remained dormant for so long, flared with a violent alarm.
A black arm peeled away from the dark mist and coalesced into a pitch-black creature.
A humanoid.
Its surface twisted and writhed like a nest of tangled black vipers. In place of eyes and a mouth were gray, hollow voids spiraling downward like bottomless pits.
The monster stood a head taller than William, completely devoid of a neck. Its torso and limbs were burly as a wrestler's one second and spindly as twigs the next, lacking any stable, fixed form.
William had turned into a miniature beacon of light. White steam rose around him, and rolling heatwaves pressed down on the black monster, making it wail incessantly.
There was no protracted clash. William shattered the monster to pieces with a single punch, then raised an orb of radiance with both hands and thrust it directly into the writhing thicket of tentacles.
The black tentacles surged downward in unison, swallowing William whole.
Like a hot knife through butter, screams erupted one after another, so piercing that they made eardrums throb and gums ache. Wayne, standing closest, saw his vision blur. Dizziness washed over him, and he nearly lost his footing.
By the time he came to his senses, the ringing in his ears lingered, and his stomach churned violently. He doubled over, but nothing came up.
Light had triumphed over darkness; William had successfully interrupted the ritual. The glow around him faded rapidly. Pulling a canister from his waist pouch, he used his last scrap of mana to activate the gadget. Frantically growing vegetation swallowed the inverted triangle whole, eliminating any possibility of restarting the ritual.
The magical gadget had been crafted by Veronica. Although William could not wield the power of the Goddess of Nature, the alliance among the Three Goddesses allowed his magic to activate charms made by Nature believers.
The rapidly growing vines rooted themselves into the masonry floor, pushing up a towering mound. With his mana exhausted and his stamina heavily drained, William's feet slipped, and he tumbled straight down.
*Thud!*
"Wayne, so heartless. I thought you'd catch me," William whined.
"Are you out of your mind? Look at how much you weigh!" Wayne indicated his helplessness. He would have liked to, but he was afraid of being crushed to death.
He stepped forward and helped William up. Following the castle's stone steps down to the garden, they spotted a shadow hovering over the tombstones in the distance.
Even though Wayne knew the entity couldn't harm him, he still felt a tremor of dread as they walked past.
*What if she suddenly tries to jump-scare me?*
William resolved the dilemma for him. As they walked by, he let out a sudden, ferocious roar at the specter, scaring the cowardly floater right back underground.
Catch the ghost off guard and scare the ghost half to death!
Wayne figured he'd learned a valuable lesson and would try it himself next time. William puffed up proudly. "Look at how spoiled they've gotten! Earlier I was just worried about alerting the Death Walker. Otherwise, as a proud believer of the Goddess of the Sun, do you really think I'd be scared by a few ghosts?"
*No need to explain. Being scared of ghosts isn't shameful.*
William's reasoning was sound, but Wayne had seen their true colors. A mage easily exterminating floaters and a mage being terrified of floaters were two entirely different matters—the two were hardly mutually exclusive.
Leaving footprints behind them, the pair exited the manor grounds. Trudging through the mud, they found the blue sedan. Wayne started the engine, flicked on the headlights, and sped straight toward the Town of Kafuno.
The fire was still spreading, and to make matters worse, the damn heavens had chosen this moment to cut off the torrential rain.
No longer worried about alerting the enemy, Wayne took the turns at full throttle. The tires lost traction and drifted a considerable distance, startling William into letting out a genuine Wilhelm scream.
Before long, the blue sedan pulled up before the town. Wayne's heart pounded relentlessly as his supernatural senses screamed an unprecedented alarm.
Danger!
Lethal danger everywhere!
"Wait, something's wrong..."
Wayne called out to William, who was about to charge headlong inside. Inhaling deeply, Wayne felt his scalp prickle. "We're too late. There isn't the scent of a single living person here. It's all the stench of rot..."
Decay so foul that it seemed as though everyone had been dead for ages and only just unearthed.
"How come I don't smell it?" William asked, bewildered.
Right then, a figure dashed toward them at top speed. It was Veronica. Behind her lay the blaze-engulfed town, along with silhouettes moving with twisted limbs and bizarre, stiff strides.
Veronica's face was coated in dust. She signaled for Wayne and William to get in at once, sliding into the driver's seat herself and starting the engine to flee.
"Wait, where's Monica?" William asked hurriedly.
"Cut the crap! Get in the car, there's no time to explain!"
Veronica urged them anxiously, but William's expression only turned colder. He violently wrenched open the driver's door, a faint ring of light flaring around his fist as he smashed it mercilessly into Veronica's face.
With a sharp snap, Veronica's neck broke and half her face shattered. Beneath that fresh, lifelike skin lay shriveled, withered dark-gray muscle and brittle, yellowed bone.
"Veronica would never leave Monica behind. Don't even think about fooling me."
William dragged the imposter out of the car. Wayne retrieved crowbars from the trunk—one for each of them. With a flurry of clattering smacks, they successfully disassembled the fragile counterfeit into spare parts.
Not far off, a large horde of fragile goods was slowly closing in, and the full moon high in the sky seemed to have sunk a little lower...
Chapter 13