On the walls of Okhma City.
Craterus stood high above the city, watching the Black Tide in the distance gradually forced back. At last, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. Lord Bai E has grown visibly stronger."
"The Black Tide shouldn't spread again anytime soon."
He turned and headed down from the wall, instructing the guards who remained behind:
"Report any news at once!"
Craterus hurried to Okhma's square, watching the citizens' reactions closely along the way.
Most were anxious and afraid.
After all, this was the first time the Black Tide had come so close to them.
"Lord Craterus, something terrible has happened!"
A patrolling guard spotted him and rushed over, shouting:
"People all over the city have suddenly grown weak and collapsed. It looks like a plague!"
"A plague?" Craterus's eyes widened. How many years had it been since he last heard that word?
Okhema's waters had the power of Fagina. Citizens who had bathed in them were far healthier than people from other city-states.
And from the guard's account, this sudden plague had spread widely.
"How could that be... Have you given them the sacred water?" Craterus asked.
"They drank it, but it did nothing!"
The guard's face was grim.
"We suspect someone poisoned them deliberately. Please come with me at once, my lord."
"All right."
Craterus followed the guard to the clinic in Cloud Stone Celestial Palace.
Citizens lay packed together inside. There were so many that the physicians had laid out extra bedding across the floor.
"How could this happen..."
Craterus looked at the people sprawled on the floor, their faces twisted in pain, and his feelings grew tangled.
The heroes had only just left the Holy City, and already this had happened.
Worse still, Feng Jin, the finest physician in Dim Light