Chapter 522, Section 521: Malice
Upon entering the town, the delegation members sensed something amiss and became vigilant.
Number 10 disappeared as he walked, and even his footsteps vanished. Number 4 also crawled out of Inanna's arms and onto her head, making it easier to deal with any sneak attack from any direction.
Only Sword Saint Puji continued to swagger along at the front of the group, seemingly without any sense of vigilance.
The scattered adventurers in the town, upon catching a glimpse of this brightly bannered and well-armored group, almost instinctively shrank back into the shadows.
Looking at the desolate and bleak scene before her, Inanna whispered to the person beside her, "Was this always like this?"
Beside her was the mission manager named Ronan.
"Something must have gone wrong. I'll send someone to find out right away, Lady Inanna."
However, before the people could be sent out, a surge of magical energy suddenly erupted from the tavern next door!
The heavily armed guards on the flank of the team reacted extremely quickly. Almost the instant the fluctuation appeared, they took a step forward, and their giant shields slammed into the ground with a "boom." They activated their defensive combat skills, erecting an iron wall on the left side of the team.
The anticipated attack did not occur.
"I'll teach you to cheat, you son of a bitch!" Accompanied by a savage curse, a figure was swept up by a violent gust of wind, smashing through the half-closed wooden door of the tavern and slamming heavily into the newly erected shield wall!
He was an adventurer warrior with a fierce face, his armor stained with wine.
He was dazed and disoriented from the impact, and as he scrambled to his feet, he cursed, "Damn it! Which bastard was leaning on me from behind, and I bumped my head..."
Before he could finish speaking, he looked up and met the cold gazes of the heavily armed guards, and saw the gleaming blades of halberds protruding from the gaps in their shields, all intent on killing him.
The soldier's curse got stuck in his throat, and his rage vanished like a fire extinguished by cold water, leaving only a wisp of smoke.
He stood frozen in place, even his breathing became soft.
Immediately afterward, a middle-aged man wearing a rumpled mage's robe and holding a staff imbued with magical light chased after them aggressively from the tavern: "Today I'll teach you a lesson for your cheating hands..."
His words also came to an abrupt end.
Upon seeing the fully armed delegation outside the door, especially the weapons pointed at him, the mage's lips twitched, and he instinctively wanted to shrink back inside.
"Sir, please wait." Ronan's calm voice rang out, and two guards had already silently blocked the entrance to the tavern.
The mage was "invited" to the center of the street and stood with the warrior.
Under the watchful eyes of the armed delegation, the two appeared exceptionally small and awkward. Even as Number Four repeatedly tapped their faces with its tentacles, they dared not show the slightest dissatisfaction.
Ronan rode forward, his gaze sweeping over the two men. He didn't pursue their actions of disrupting the group, but instead cut straight to the point: "What happened in this town? Why are there so few people?"
The soldier swallowed hard and spoke first, his voice still a little weak: "Sir, I don't know either! When I arrived here three days ago, the town was already like this! People... people seemed to have been blown away by the wind, but the shops still had most of their stock, so it didn't seem like they had been gone for a long time."
The monk calmed down a bit and added quickly, "I arrived relatively early and searched several rooms. Some of the food was rotten, but not too badly. The people who disappeared were at most... no more than a week ago. But apart from the apothecary area, there were no signs of a struggle anywhere else."
"A pharmacy?"
The team found the apothecary, which had clearly been looted by adventurers and was in complete disarray.
Under the guidance of the mage, some signs of fighting were indeed found, but not many. Either the fighting stopped in time, or the difference in strength between the two sides was too great.
During their subsequent conversation, the two mentioned the various rumors circulating in the town over the past two days.
Some say the demon army found their way across the Lake of Corruption and raided the town; others say the Scarecrow Abyss curse was unleashed, turning everyone into scarecrows and dragging them into the abyss; still others say it was due to cult sacrifices, elves and dwarves driving them away, mutated monsters, or even a backstab by a puck.
Overall, it's not very valuable.
Ronan finally signaled to the guards to release the two: "Stay where you belong."
He left those words behind, turned his horse around, and returned to Inanna's side, and the delegation began to move slowly again.
They cannot stay put just because of a little uncertainty.
What no one knew was that, unlike the mission's fruitless efforts, Sword Saint Puji noticed something amiss.
He was somewhat familiar with this scene; the familiarity stemmed from his experiences in his youth…
Not only that, he also discovered a suspicious-looking fellow.
Other adventurers hid and observed from the shadows to avoid trouble, but that guy not only concealed his figure but also exuded an almost unbridled malice.
This guy, who doesn't even bother to hide his malice, is no different from someone who wears "I have a problem" written all over his face in front of the Sword Saint, even without using his perception skills.
Incidentally, while he was in the mushroom garden, he could also feel this unbridled malice from time to time. The difference was that the malice was much greater, so much so that he couldn't even find its source and could only guess that it came from the mushroom master.
He also felt that this guy, who hid behind the scenes and controlled everything, was obviously ambitious and cunning, and shouldn't be bothered by those trivial matters from the underground city back then.
After observing the delegation for a while, the malicious fellow quietly slipped away.
Sword Saint Puji originally intended to follow, but in its perception, Number Ten, who had also concealed his figure, had already moved first.
After getting to know Number Ten, the Sword Saint has come to appreciate him quite a bit.
He never expected that there would be such a reliable person, at least more reliable than his own apprentice.
The only problem is that he's too aloof. Occasionally, when he tries to chat with Number Ten, he gets almost no response.
Since Number Ten had already gone after them, the Sword Saint didn't move again, after all, he still had to protect his niece's safety.
The mission returned on the 10th after some time had passed since its departure.
It was stained with some blood, but there was no fresh blood, so it must have been someone else's. The two tentacles on its left side were also regenerating, but they were almost finished.
As soon as it returned, it shared its tracking results on the microbial network.
"Behind this mountain is a ravine where a group of black-robed people are hiding, performing some kind of sacrificial ritual. They're probably a cult among humans," Number Ten said uncertainly, since it had never seen a cult before. "They're quite powerful, but there's no sign that they're coming to ambush us."
“A cult!” Inanna’s eyes widened as she recalled the various terrifying rumors about cults.
"Go and take them out?" Number Four perked up.
“They are not weak. Their leader must have reached the Hall of Fame level. They spotted me from afar. Our group is an envoy, not an army.”
The most crucial point for Number Ten is that the other party doesn't seem to be planning to provoke them, so there's no need for them to take the initiative to bite off such a tough nut.
It only cares about the task assigned by the Bacteria Master to protect the Pink Puji; as for the rest, whether it's a cult or a demon, as long as they don't get in its way, that's fine.
However, the Sword Saint clearly did not think so.
"A cult? The Hand of the Dead?" Some things won't change just because the Sword Saint has become Number Fourteen. His tentacles, which were wrapped around the sword, were already itching. "Isn't this perfect!"
(End of this chapter)
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