Eternal Life Society, Thousand-Face Claire

Which of them were hosts for the Bone-Eroding Insect?

Wei En covered his mouth and nose and looked around at the pedestrians.

The same hurried steps, the same ragged clothes...

Only a very small number of people were still dressed cleanly and neatly. Even if their clothes had been washed white and patched, they still retained a little dignity.

"What's wrong, Wei En?" Lacy asked when she saw him like that.

"Nothing. I've only been here a few times before, and every time I was in a rush. I just wanted to take a better look around."

"You haven't been in Kaster City-State for long, have you?"

"Not even half a year."

Wei En looked around and found no one obviously suspicious, so he had no choice but to give up. "The people here don't look like Alders?"

"Of course not."

Ariana immediately denied it from the side. "Proud blood flows in the bodies of us Alders. We'd rather die than stay in a place like this."

"These are all damned Basques. Just look at what they've turned this place into."

Basques?

Wei En looked them over again, and from the memories of his predecessor, he confirmed that most of the people around them were Basques.

Their most obvious trait was their ears—they were round, similar to a teddy bear's ears.

"I read in the Kaster Council paper before that several city-states in the kingdom's east often report news of Basque riots."

Ariana lifted his chin slightly and looked around in disgust.

"That's right. Ever since the kingdom's Iron Shield Knights army broke through Lowellser, the Basques from there have been wandering everywhere."

"Every now and then they jump out, as disgusting as flies... They really should have been slaughtered to the last twenty years ago!"

"Silence," Lacy snapped, glaring at him. "Ariana, your voice is too grating."

"Don't look at me like that, Lacy," Ariana said in dissatisfaction. "Back during the Battle of Black River, three members of our Holmes Family died in battle..."

"Are you planning to lay that blood feud on them?"

Lacy looked at the increasingly hostile gazes of the Basques around them and said sternly, "Ariana, if I hear those words from your mouth again,"

"I will, in the name of Logistics and the Investigation Department, send you to be reviewed by the committee!"

"Fine, I won't say it..."

Though he said that, Ariana did not put the people around them in his eyes at all. It was as if he were looking at a swarm of ants, his gaze full of coldness and contempt.

Lacy shook her head and said, "Marco, go find the City Guard. Apply in the name of the Secret Investigation Bureau for them to send a squad of guards over."

Marco nodded. "I'll go right now."

"The rest of you... pick up the pace. Find clues and complete the mission as quickly as possible, then leave this place." Lacy clearly did not want to waste time because of this.

At the same time, she secretly regretted agreeing to Yegor's suggestion and letting Ariana join in.

Then the group quickly passed through the area and headed toward the middle section of the Laos District.

Wei En followed in the middle of the team and only then realized they were maintaining a guarded formation.

Lacy took the lead, Ariana brought up the rear, while he and Tina stayed in the middle.

At the same time, he also noticed that Lacy, who had been so carefree back at the Secret Investigation Bureau, actually had a grave and serious expression on her face now, as if she were ready to deal with battle at any moment.

Was the slum very dangerous?

With that suspicion in mind, Wei En's eyes unconsciously swept over their surroundings.

As the group went deeper, the environment on the street grew increasingly terrible.

The scorching sun was clearly overhead, yet the surroundings seemed abnormally dim.

Dilapidated buildings lined up in rows. The mottled paint on the walls had peeled away, revealing an old, worn gray.

There were fewer and fewer pedestrians around.

More often, there were people with skin stretched over bone and sallow faces crouched in dark corners, watching them with hollow, numb eyes.

Even some children were the same, utterly lifeless.

In the silent atmosphere among the group, accompanied by a thread of chill, Wei En felt a trace of tension without realizing it.

This was his first time venturing deep into the slums, and the same was true for his predecessor.

After they went a little farther in, Lacy finally stopped. "We're here."

Ariana looked around and said in confusion, "Lacy, this place seems a little too..."

"Too quiet, right?" Lacy glanced at him. "Mm. I should have told you—more than three hundred people went missing here in total."

Crack.

Ariana nearly bit his teeth to pieces. "You'd better not tell me my job is to track all of them!"

"Of course not. These people all vanished in an instant. You only need to find one of them."

"Then let's begin. The smell here feels ominous."

"Smell?"

Lacy froze for a moment, then observed their surroundings again and frowned. "You sensed it too?"

Ariana's face no longer held its earlier composure. He said solemnly, "It wasn't that obvious before, but now it's getting stronger... It's like the smell of those rats in the gutters. Disgusting!"

"Then there's no mistake."

Lacy raised her hand, and that two-handed axe was dragged out of nothingness by her. Her expression turned grave. "Looks like this mission of ours is going to run into some trouble."

Wei En froze for a moment, then hurriedly drew the firearm hanging at his waist and looked around.

"Lacy... Officer, which number potion do we need? I'll prepare it in advance."

"Number Five!"

Hearing this, Ariana looked at him in surprise. "Don't tell me you don't know that 'rats in the gutters' specifically refers to those bastards from the Eternal Life Society?"

Wei En did not answer him. Instead, he opened the case in his hand, took out a bottle of potion marked "5," and loaded the whole thing into his firearm.

He sighed inwardly. It's only my first mission. Couldn't it be a little easier, a little simpler?

The Eternal Life Society... That Era Relic had been left behind by people from the Eternal Life Society.

Could that piece of parchment really have been lost by them by accident?

Ariana's expression turned ugly, and he said unhappily, "Lacy, he's still a rookie. This won't do. I suggest we withdraw from here immediately."

"Denied!"

Lacy kept holding the axe in both hands, watching their surroundings vigilantly while cocking her ear as if listening to something.

"But..."

"I said, quiet!"

"..."

Ariana pressed his lips together. He was familiar with Lacy's way of doing things. Before encountering an enemy she could not resist, she would not give up on the mission.

"According to the work regulations, I must obey your command. However, I suggest we wait until the City Guard arrives before taking action."

Lacy gave a slight nod, accepting his suggestion.

"All right, then. Leave this side to me."

Seeing that she agreed, Ariana said no more and looked toward the road they had come from.

Then he undid the buttons of his coat, casually tossed it aside, and murmured in a low voice, "Simon, Phantom, Hain, Sludan..."

Hm?

An oath, great guardian spirit—heroic spirits of the Holmes Family, in accordance with the ancient inheritance of blood, I beseech you...

Wei En heard the familiar Gonzalez Language and turned his head to look at him.

With that low chant, Ariana's entire head began to swell as if being inflated.

The veins and muscles on his face wriggled rapidly, and even his short hair began to lengthen and dance.

In just a few seconds, countless tentacles appeared around his head, expanding and contracting rhythmically as if breathing in the air here.

But Ariana's mutation still did not stop. A deep, powerful roar burst from his mouth. "Serosda!"

That voice was like a battle cry, like the unified shout of two armies facing each other.

Immediately afterward, all the tentacles broke away from his body and floated eerily around him.

...Fuck?

Wei En stared blankly at him, his forehead practically covered in question marks.

Was he sure this wasn't a distortion?

The language he had just chanted was clearly about guardians, heroic spirits, and bloodline inheritance...

So how had such a terrifying monster popped out?

"Lacy, I can't maintain this state for too long. You'd better hurry."

Lacy nodded and said, "Tina, spiritual vision."

As she spoke, she moved directly beside the white-haired girl and planted the haft of the two-handed axe into the ground. "Kuerde."

Shield guard?

Wei En pulled his gaze away from Ariana and turned his head to look at Lacy and Tina beside him.

At that moment, Tina let go of the hand that had been tugging at the corner of Wei En's clothes all this time, covered her eyes with both hands, and her long white hair danced without wind. "Tina Vision!"

Wei En only felt his vision blur, and the scenery around him instantly changed into something else.

All the surrounding buildings disappeared, becoming dark and deathly still. Only the spot where the four of them stood shone with light.

Hm?

As the darkness spread, several dim outlines slowly emerged around them.

This was...

"You pieces of trash actually dared show yourselves in Kaster?"

Lacy's voice turned even colder, tinged with hatred as she glared at the black silhouettes.

As her words fell, a languid voice followed, speaking slowly, its trailing notes distinct. "Oh~ have we been discovered?"

A woman?

Wei En edged a little closer to Lacy and tightened his grip on his flintlock, a fine sheen of sweat breaking out across his forehead.

He was certain the black silhouettes were not inside the buildings, but in an open area very close to them.

Invisibility?

Or some other ability?

"Was what happened here your doing?"

One of the black silhouettes tilted its head, as if sizing them up. "Are you referring to those adorable servants who used to live here?"

"Servants? You were preaching here?"

Lacy looked at the silhouette and gritted her teeth. "Aren't you afraid Dawn's flames will burn you to ash again?"

"Oh ho ho ho..."

The black silhouette covered its mouth and giggled, mocking, "Dawn's flames? Nothing but boring little tricks made by a bunch of poor wretches. How could they possibly withstand the Eternal Life Fire?"

"Lacy, stop wasting words on her!"

Ariana came closer. At some point, one eye after another had opened on the tentacles dancing beside him, looking at different black silhouettes in groups of two and three.

Lacy knew his ability would not last long, so she turned her head and warned, "Wei En, stay by Tina's side. If anything dangerous happens, shoot these sons of bitches!"

"Mm." Wei En nodded gravely, moved to Tina's side, and shielded her behind him.

Even though he knew it would not mean much, he would not just sit and wait for death.

Right now, he was far too weak...

Damn it. When I get back, I'm finding a way to get stronger.

"Eh? Are we starting a fight, broad-chested lady?" the black silhouette said, still unhurried.

Ariana roared, "There's nothing to talk about with trash from the Eternal Life Society!"

With that, he charged straight out.

The tentacles around him shot out one after another, letting out sharp hiss-whoosh airbursts like hidden weapons.

In an instant, they pierced through the surrounding black silhouettes, creating one shattered black shadow after another.

Lacy moved almost in sync with him, sweeping her axe sideways. "Asriel!" (Sigil: Blade of Gale!)

An axe-blade even more violent than the one he had seen before swept out.

Immediately after, she strode forward without hesitation and appeared beside the speaking black silhouette in an instant, chopping down with both hands.

"Alade!" (Sigil: Shatter!)

The black silhouette stood where it was without moving, letting the axe-blade slice through its body. "Oh? A witcher... is it?"

"A puppet?"

Lacy reacted instantly, flashing back to Wei En's side and frowning at the black silhouette. "You're with the Eternal Life Society..."

"Recognized me?"

The body of the black silhouette, split apart by the axe-blade, slowly merged back together. It still spoke in that long, drawn-out tone with lingering notes. "Claire, 'Thousand-Face' of the Eternal Life Society, sends you her greetings."

"Damn it!"

Ariana cursed, and the mutation on his head began to retract. In the blink of an eye, he had returned to his previous appearance. "I knew there was something wrong with how fragile these 'people' were..."

Lacy ignored him, staring at the black silhouette with knitted brows as she asked, "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"We only came to say hello. And to notify you, by the way, to take good care of that Era Relic. We will be taking it back..."

The voice slowly faded, leaving only a long lingering echo.

Thud.

Thud.

As several objects hit the ground, the black silhouettes collapsed one after another.

"What Era Relic?" Ariana looked at Lacy in confusion. "You didn't tell me about this?"

"According to work regulations..."

Ariana raised both hands, looking aggrieved. "All right, all right, I know. I'm only assisting you in investigating those missing people."

"As long as you know."

Lacy put away her two-handed axe. "Tina, undo your spiritual sight."

Tina nodded coldly, as if everything that had just happened had nothing to do with her. "Tina Vision released."

The darkness began to dissipate, and the ruined scene around them appeared once more.

Only the two extra gouges in the ground and the bodies scattered around made everyone clearly understand that what had just happened had not been an illusion.

"Officer Lacy,"

Just then, Marco hurried over, followed by a squad of more than a dozen armored City Guards.

"Are you all right? Something extraordinary seemed to have happened here just now..."

"What do you think?"

Lacy looked at the corpses around them and frowned. "Marco, clean this place up. The mission continues."

Ariana panicked. "It's still continuing? Didn't she just say..."

"Say what..."

As the surroundings returned to normal, and with the City Guard arriving, Wei En also let out a breath of relief.

He did not particularly care whether the mission continued or not.

At worst... he would just run!

Hm?

Only now did he notice that new prompts had once again appeared in his mind.

[You stepped into an unknown entity's Faith Collection Site. Evaluation: May I ask, was the coffin you dropped golden or silver? Reward: Survival Points +3.]

[Because your Spirit level is greater than level 20, you successfully resisted the corrosion of the Power of Despair! Special Reward: Spirit level +1.]

[You were scanned by Claire Yuli Biondini's spiritual perception. Reward: Survival Points +1.]

[You survived after battling Claire Yuli Biondini. Evaluation: How does it feel to use that divine skill, eye-contact assist, again? Reward: Survival Points +3.]

He had been mocked by the panel again...

What the hell kind of divine skill was "eye-contact assist"?