Eliminating the Source of Infection

Shabriri had never seen anything so strange.

As far as he knew, practically nothing could withstand the Frenzied Flame, including its control over people's minds. No one could resist it, whether they had once been a brilliant sorcerer or the most devout believer in the Golden Order.

Something capable of countering the Frenzied Flame was even more unthinkable.

His understanding extended only as far as the Erdtree's system. If the Erdtree couldn't do something, he assumed nothing else could either. Yet there was always something greater out there, and there was a reason the Frenzied Flame had never managed to cause much upheaval.

Before the Erdtree arrived, and even during its early days, far too many mighty beings had run rampant across the Lands Between for the Frenzied Flame to get a turn. If Shabriri hadn't spread slander to condemn the Nomads' great caravan and truly awaken the Three Fingers, things might well have remained peaceful.

Burning in the Cold Flame, Shabriri likewise suffered agony so unbearable he wished he were dead. The pain made even his soul tremble.

"It affects not just the body, but the soul as well?" Shabriri asked in anguish. "Is this a flame that brings death?"

Zhao Si didn't answer him, merely asking, "You're Shabriri, aren't you?" As he spoke, the shortsword in his right hand had already pierced Shabriri's throat.

"How... cunning... you didn't even wait... glrrgh... for my answer..." Shabriri spat bloody foam as he uttered his final words. "You... aren't worthy..."

With that, he went still. Only his body had died, however. Zhao Si clearly saw a mass of Frenzied Flame emerge from Shabriri's eye sockets and vanish. Unable to extinguish Shabriri's Frenzied Flame, Zhao Si could only pull out his shortsword and let the charred corpse slump to the ground.

"He got away." Along with the pain, words came from the burn mark.

Zhao Si raised his wrist and frowned. "Who exactly are you?"

There was no response. Just then, Blaidd? and the others entered the church.

"How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?" Helena asked with concern.

Zhao Si smiled and moved his arm. "Thanks to your incantation, I was able to take care of Shabriri."

"We've killed all the infected villagers. Once we burn the bodies, our job will be done." Blaidd? pointed at the charred corpse on the floor. "Was this the source of the infection?"

Zhao Si nodded. "Yes, he was Shabriri. But this was only a shell."

"A shell?" The others didn't understand.

Zhao Si sighed. "His soul seems to have fused with the Frenzied Flame. After his body dies, he'll possess another fresh corpse and come back to life."

"Seriously? Someone that terrifying actually exists?" Splattered with blood, Alberich looked thoroughly displeased. "Doesn't that mean it'll never end?"

"It won't," Zhao Si said helplessly.

I wonder if Destined Death could kill him.

Shabriri had merged with the Frenzied Flame and learned Corpse Possession by exploiting a bug in the Erdtree's system of returning souls to the tree. He could return using someone else's corpse. He was practically the embodiment of a ghost that refused to go away.

Good old Yura, who had come from the Land of Reeds, had his corpse possessed by Shabriri after dying in battle.

Wait. At that thought, Zhao Si felt his skin crawl. The Finger Maiden Hyetta, who suddenly appeared after Irina died... both were blind, and they looked so alike...

Zhao Si swallowed and couldn't help complaining, "Why is the protagonist such a pawn? Did everyone else have it all planned out?"

Complaints aside, the work still had to be done. They piled the corpses together and burned them clean. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust-that was the best ending. As for burying them in the tomb beneath the Minor Erdtree, that was out of the question. Who knew whether any lingering Frenzied Flame might affect the Erdtree's roots?

The unconscious Milos was dumped beside the road. Blaidd? didn't want to bother with him. Earlier, they had checked Milos's eyes and confirmed that they were intact, with no Frenzied Flame residing in them. What a bizarre case. He had merely fallen under its control because he had gone mad, without actually being infected by the Frenzied Flame. Perhaps his curse had protected him. That, at least, was something to celebrate.

Zhao Si offered no opinion on this. Though he felt a little sorry for Milos, he didn't know whether bringing him along might lead to something bad. He was only an ordinary person, after all. He didn't have that much "kindness" to spare.

The flames roared, as though purifying something. In a religious sense, fire was sometimes considered pure because it could cleanse corruption. Yet this so-called "corruption" was nothing more than villagers who had fallen ill. Shabriri was still the one to blame.

Zhao Si felt eyes on him. Following those gazes, he discovered uninfected villagers hiding in their homes and secretly watching. Their eyes held no joy at having survived the disaster, only hostility toward Zhao Si and the others.

Alberich noticed where Zhao Si was looking and turned toward the survivors too. With forced nonchalance, she said, "Being this sort of 'hero' inevitably carries a touch of tragedy. Ah, enduring pain, misunderstood by fools..."

Before she could finish, Zhao Si cut her off. "This isn't being a hero at all!"

They were merely the Two Fingers' Envoys, Assassins, cleaners sent to deal with problems. They had the Two Fingers to thank for establishing the Roundtable Hold and allowing the Tarnished to operate in the Lands Between. Did the Tarnished, who should have been exiled and left in a state of "false death," really need any feelings beyond gratitude toward the Two Fingers and the goddess Marika?

Alberich planted her hands on her hips. "What's with the temper?"

"I'm not losing my temper," Zhao Si said, feeling a little embarrassed. "It's just... oh, you don't have to comfort me. I understand. It's just my first time doing something like this. I'll be fine once I get used to it."

Zhao Si accepted Alberich's kindness, and she shrugged without saying anything more. Black smoke from the burning pile of corpses drifted into the sky, while the nauseating smell of burning flesh spread through the area. With so many bodies burning together, it was easy for them to burn incompletely, so Blaidd? had told everyone to dig a large pit beforehand and throw the corpses inside to burn. He watched them until the entire pile had burned away.

Only when practically nothing remained apart from bone fragments that simply wouldn't burn did they bury everything beneath a thick layer of earth. Helena contributed plenty to this task too, while busily casting restorative incantations on the others to replenish their stamina so they could work more efficiently.

By the time everything was taken care of, it was already late. They couldn't see the setting sun, but they could see the stars twinkling, though the starry sky remained motionless. That Dark Moon seemed remarkably close to the ground. The moon was astonishingly large.

Wait. Zhao Si noticed something rather strange. If I can see the moon, why can't I see the sun?

His mind had been so full of the Frenzied Flame these past few days that he hadn't had time to pay attention to the sun. It wasn't easy to see it in Leyndell, since the city lay mostly beneath the Erdtree's shade. But the Weeping Peninsula was so far from the Erdtree that they should have been able to see the sun.

Surely.

After dealing with the plague-stricken village, the four of them rode back, planning to report to Edgar, the lord of Castle Morne, before deciding what to do next.

But they hadn't gone far when a "caw, caw, caw" sounded from the woods, like the call of some kind of bird, especially unpleasant to hear. The moment that birdcall rang out, every other sound in the forest ceased. A foul gust blew into their faces, carrying a smell of decay like that of a tomb.

Blaidd? motioned for the other three to stop. He had sensed something wrong up ahead. Zhao Si's brows knotted together. One problem barely settled before another came along.