Similar People

"Oh, then how did I expose myself?"

On the gloomy pier, the final game of chess unfolded. Despite it being a lethal strike, Lorenzo managed to dodge it. The man was surprised; he hadn't expected Lorenzo to remain so vigilant against him.

"Because I only just realized all of this myself."

As Lorenzo spoke, he slowly turned to face the twisted humanoid figure.

"This underground palace was designed as a Thermopylae from the start. It's incredibly easy to hide secrets here; you don't even need to station troops, as those demons alone are enough to resist anything."

He clutched his wound. Although no blood gushed out, the genuine pain remained.

"But you left yourself a way out here. Just as you said, 'and then there were none'—you claimed that included you, but this hidden river exposed you. You didn't want to die, so your previous state was merely a feigned death, wasn't it?"

Looking at Sabo, who had mutated into a demon, Lorenzo spoke while unable to suppress the astonishment in his heart. Clearly, he had been corrupted, yet he hadn't become a mindless monster; he retained his sanity despite his monstrous shell.

The previous shortness of stature was gone. His limbs had grown in a grotesque, elongated fashion, and his unique fingers had thickened, allowing him to grip his blade more firmly. On that mottled rapier, flesh-like tissue resembling tendons had grown, appearing to come alive under the influence of that eerie madness.

"Yes, I cannot die... No one can make me die."

Sabo's voice carried a hoarse, reverberating quality. He was nearly inhuman, yet he still held onto his final shred of reason.

"I am a deformed Viking. From the moment I was born, I was abandoned by Odin. My mother left me in the wilderness; she probably thought I would die, but I survived."

His eyeballs were squeezed together by the wildly growing tumors. Beneath the dark red veins, his faint gaze fixed upon Lorenzo.

"Mr. Holmes, I am a man born abandoned by the gods, but I am also a man born to resist. The cold winds of the North could not kill me, and a miserable life could not break me. It took me three fingers just to trade for a ticket to Inverwig."

"Many people have wanted to kill me, but none have succeeded. I will keep living, longer than anyone else."

It was like a horrific speech. As he spoke, viscous liquid dripped from between his sharp teeth, his entire being saturated with madness. Sabo was born to fight for survival; life was his only wealth, so how could he abandon it just because of a word from the Plague Doctor?

"Come to think of it, I was once a believer in the Gospel Church..."

Thinking of the past, Sabo laughed hoarsely.

"You were once a priest, so Mr. Holmes, have you also been abandoned by your god?"

His murky eyes held a trace of sorrow. Lorenzo found it hard to believe; he actually saw a glimmer of sympathy in the monster.

"I have never believed in gods. I was born in Florence, where there are only two types of people: believers and priests."

His gaze turned cold as he replied.

"Believers not only have to offer their faith but also pay money at the church. But priests are different; we only work on Sundays, and if we run out of money, we just take a little from the collection box. Life is quite comfortable."

Even though he had been a priest, and even a Templar Knight, Lorenzo felt not a shred of reverence for the so-called gods.

"Then why did you leave that place?"

Sabo asked.

"For a madman, you seem to have a lot of bullshit to say."

Lorenzo coldly refused, and then his body displayed a level of agility completely inconsistent with his injuries.

He raised his shotgun and fired abruptly. After the blinding flash, several pellets carried by lethal blood sprayed toward Sabo. But this time, it didn't hit. Sabo's elongated body moved with unprecedented swiftness—a speed his deformed shell shouldn't have been able to provide. He easily dodged the lethal gunshot, and then his sharp rapier swung down.

"I just think we are very much alike."

Sabo watched as Lorenzo slowly retracted his rapier, even though such a swift strike still hadn't managed to kill him.

The rapier shattered the wooden planks supporting the pier. Beneath the splintered wood, the footing for both men became increasingly narrow.

"I said it before: you are the one who made me, so I have always been curious about where you actually came from. I tried many methods, but the only information I could obtain was that you arrived in Inverwig six years ago."

Looking at the figure standing on the edge of the pier, Sabo said affectionately.

"A stranger covered in blood; at the time, no one thought you could survive with those injuries, but you did. You are just like me. We both fight for survival, and we came to Inverwig, to Old Dunling, for survival!"

Facing this fanatical admirer, the only response Sabo received was the sound of a gunshot. The agile figure easily dodged the shot, and his eerie, hooked claws suspended him against the damp rock wall.

"I am not like you, Sabo."

Looking up at the demon hanging upside down, Lorenzo's emotions remained completely undisturbed.

"How are we different? When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. We are the same kind!"

Sabo roared hoarsely. Accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound, white sacs bulged at the ends of his arm limbs. Then, the sacs ruptured, and new arms unfolded from beneath them.

"You have the same scent as me, Mr. Holmes. You also have secret blood flowing through your body!"

He shrieked loudly, and then his newly grown arms stabbed fiercely into his own abdomen. With the sound of bones cracking, a pair of sharp ribs were pulled out from within, like blades drawn from a sheath.

The hideous figure dropped the next second. Three sharp blades descended from the sky, and the fragile wooden planks couldn't withstand the immense force, shattering one after another.

Lorenzo easily dodged the attack. Despite his chest being pierced, he acted as if nothing had happened, moving rapidly across the wooden pilings exposed above the water, occasionally turning back to fire and counterattack.

"We are the same, Mr. Holmes. We are the same kind of people, willing to pay any price to live, even if it means consuming secret blood!"

The demon roared as he advanced. In the moment they clashed, the pier was already mostly destroyed, leaving only rows of wooden pilings for them to stand on.

The bone blades and the cane sword collided. Immediately after, another bone blade and the rapier struck from different directions. Lorenzo tried to dodge, but Sabo's free arm grabbed him, and then the bone blade and rapier pierced through the mortal body.

"Actually, I am already very old. I am nearly fifty; it's just because of this dwarf body that it's hard for normal people to realize."

"I have fought for survival my whole life, but in the end, I am trapped in this deformed body. My internal organs are failing, my breathing has become heavy, and I can't even raise the sails again."

Sabo poured out his heart while fighting. Just as he said, in his eyes, he and Lorenzo were the same—two starving wolves meeting on a narrow path. Only Lorenzo could understand how he felt.

"So, this is your reason for consuming the Secret Blood?"

There was not a trace of pain on Lorenzo Holmes's face. Despite being run through by a blade, he still posed the question to Sabo.

A flicker of sorrow crossed that twisted visage as Sabo replied.

"Yes. It is the only way I could survive."

Even though he had been transformed into something inhuman, Sabo was still alive, and for him, that was enough.

"Of course, I still have one final thing to do. If I kill you and that girl who ran away, no one will know I survived. I can go to a new place, just like when I first came to Old Dunling, and start a new life."

Sabo laughed maniacally as he spoke. The Secret Blood had severely corroded him; not only had his flesh been converted into that of a demon, but his very will was beginning to descend into madness.

"You cannot do it. The price of starting a new life is to completely abandon the past. Can you do that, Sabo?"

The words sounded like a mockery. At such close range, the shotgun roared like thunder. Shattered pellets tore through the demon's body, and immediately, a searing, fiery pain radiated from every inch of his flesh.

It was a ghastly white flame, erupting from the gaps in the bone blades that had pierced him. Like a heretic being burned at the stake, Lorenzo embraced Sabo, bathing them both in the holy fire.

With a shrill howl, Sabo struggled to break free from Lorenzo, using his sharp blade to hack away the burning flesh. Blisters from the burns covered his crimson skin.

"Sabo, we may be similar, but we were different people from the very start."

At the other end of the darkness, the flames died out. Lorenzo's voice drifted slowly toward him as he stepped across one wooden piling after another, gripping his cane sword and shotgun.

It was an indescribable sensation. It felt as if, from this moment on, the detective named Lorenzo Holmes had died, and some demon that had been lurking deep within the darkness had usurped his will.

"You became a monster to survive, but I have lived until now only to slaughter monsters!"

The roar struck straight at the soul. Lorenzo's wounded body began to heal in a grotesque fashion, and the tattoo spreading across his back seemed to come alive, slithering across his pale skin as if it possessed a life of its own.

[Secret Blood awakening at 7%, deviating from stability range, Silver-Binding Bolt beginning to melt.]

Blinding white radiance rose from those gray-blue eyes. Sabo could only see the sword light being stretched into rapid white lines. With the man's powerful stomp, the wooden pilings collapsed one by one, splashing water everywhere.

It happened in an instant. By the time Sabo realized what was happening, the man who had become a demon had already driven his cane sword into his chest, and the searing white flames were burning fiercely upon the blade.