The group moved quickly along the stone-paved road.
Tia led the way, her steps firm. At some point, a silver scepter had appeared in her hand. The head was carved with a sheaf of wheat and a sickle, and gave off a faint golden glow that slightly dispelled the pollution around them.
The guards followed close behind, swords drawn as they warily scanned their surroundings. The priests murmured protective prayers, and a thin golden halo surrounded the group, barely holding back the pollution.
The players were scattered through the middle and rear of the group.
Zeng Lai walked near the back, observing the surroundings as he went.
Most of the houses lining the street had their doors and windows shut tight, but some doors had been smashed open. Inside was pitch-black, like an open mouth.
He thought he saw figures moving behind a few windows, but couldn't tell whether they were people or something else... No, they definitely weren't people. All the living had gathered in the church.
"Watch both sides," a guard up ahead quietly warned. "There may be contaminated creatures."
No sooner had he spoken than something darted out of a nearby alley.
Rats.
But they were no ordinary rats anymore.
They poured out through cracks in manhole covers, holes at the base of walls, even from the shadows beneath the eaves. Each was as large as a wildcat, with patches of fur missing and ulcerated, pus-covered skin exposed beneath.
Their eyes had swollen into blood-red orbs, nearly bursting from their sockets. Their incisors had mutated into hooked bone spurs, dripping with cloudy saliva.
They appeared in swarms. In mere seconds, they formed a terrifying mass, surging toward the group like a black tide.
"Fight!" a guard captain screamed.
Gunfire erupted.
The Ideal Nation's standard-issue pistols spat silver