Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Desperate Maiden (Bonus Chapter for Reaching 5,500 Cumulative Recommendation Votes)

Going out of the city at night was a dangerous matter, and in many cases, numbers were not especially helpful.

White Dove did not dispatch a large search party. Instead, she assigned Chu Yun a helper bearing the codename Hound, a second-tier canine beastkin ranger with an exceptional talent for tracking.

Different beastkin races possessed different gifts, and canine beastkin were best at following scents.

White Dove did not continue with Chu Yun. After leaving behind the location of a safehouse and a means of contact, she departed.

Chu Yun first went to the mage’s inn. He slipped inside, took a private garment belonging to Anna as Hound had requested, and only then did he ride out together with Paimon and his companion.

At that hour, most of the carriages at the city gate were entering the city, and only a few were leaving.

The two of them reached the dirt road outside the city. First, she judged the directions taken by the departing carriages from their wheel marks. Then, after walking some distance along each route to avoid interference from other scents, she began to distinguish them by smell.

This ranger called Hound not only had a keen nose, but also knew some nature magic. Through those spells, she could further strengthen her sense of smell and her tracking ability.

“The carriage went this way.”

Hound’s voice was rather deep, likely deliberately lowered. Her face was hidden beneath a hood and mask, making her features impossible to see, and it seemed she had also sprayed herself with some special potion to erase her own scent.

In truth, most members concealed their faces. Only people like White Dove, who handled contracts, did not hide their appearance. Instead, they used disguises similar to human-skin masks.

Chu Yun did not believe that was White Dove’s true face. The Black Crow organization’s business was not limited to intelligence. Its other work, however, was generally only taken by these codename-bearing core members. Whether it was murder, arson, theft, or pursuit, so long as the price was right, they would do it. That was why they needed disguises to protect themselves.

“What’s so special about this direction?” Chu Yun asked in confusion.

Hound answered coldly with two words: “The graveyard.”

“This… could it be that her family tomb was robbed? There’s no need to run off to a ghostly place like that in the dead of night.”

“Or maybe the child’s family is dead?”

“No, but nighttime is so dangerous. Even if someone had died, there’d be no need to rush this much.” The more Chu Yun thought about it, the less sense it made.

The two of them followed the traces on the ground, working together with the beastkin’s sense of smell as they moved onward. As they went farther, the wheel tracks on the road dwindled until there was only one set left. The scent was also drawing closer and closer. It seemed there could be no mistake: Anna was near the graveyard.

“Wait.” The woman riding on Paimon’s back suddenly called for them to stop.

Chu Yun patted Paimon on the head, and Paimon halted.

“What is it?”

The woman slid down from the dragon and said, “My task is only to find the person. She’s not far ahead, and my work is done.”

“I’ll leave now. Whatever happens afterward, I know nothing about it, and I won’t tell anyone about tonight.”

“There’s a disgusting presence there. You need to be ready for battle.” Perhaps because the reward was generous, the woman offered him this warning.

“Though from that woman’s scent, she should still be alive.”

Hearing this, Chu Yun grew even more anxious.

“You can still leave now,” the woman said, then turned and walked away without looking back.

Chu Yun was at a loss for words. How had things ended up like this? It sounded terribly dangerous.

He went forward a little farther. When he reached a point not far from the graveyard, he had Paimon stop.

“You wait here. If the contract is broken… then you can leave on your own.”

“Master~ Paimon wants to fight too~ Paimon is really strong now!” Paimon did not want to stay behind.

“Don’t worry, I’m only saying if something goes wrong. I value my own life more than anyone. If it’s too dangerous, I won’t bother with her.” Chu Yun patted Paimon’s head, then vanished from the mirror hanging from its body.

Entering the mirror world, Chu Yun hurried toward the graveyard. He too gradually sensed the foul presence the female ranger had spoken of.

Thick dark elemental energy shrouded the sky above the graveyard, and countless corpses had shoved open their graves and crawled from the earth. They wandered the perimeter like the walking dead, refusing to let any living person enter.

A shrill, anguished scream came from the small chapel behind the graveyard. From the sound of it, it was a little boy, and mixed in with his voice were other people’s cries.

Chu Yun activated the ability of his ring of invisibility to slip past the low-ranking zombies. The closer he drew to the chapel, the more tragic the cries became.

When he looked inside through a shattered window, what he saw was a terrifying monster.

“What in the world is that?”

The creature inside the chapel was not the undead spirit Chu Yun had imagined, but a hideous, bloated thing with an octopus’s head. Its tentacles were currently wrapped around the boy’s head, while the child’s body was being swallowed bit by bit.

Besides the boy and Anna, there was also a weeping woman who looked as though she were the child’s mother, two women in nun’s habits, and a powerfully built gravekeeper.

All of them were bound tightly, unable to move. They could only watch in despair as the monster committed its atrocity. At this time of night, no one would be coming to the graveyard. Even if someone did, they might not be able to stand against this creature.

Chu Yun was just about to strike and test the monster’s strength when he heard, to his surprise, that it could speak. Its words sounded strange, however.

“Anna, hold the wedding here with me. Become my woman.”

“Otherwise I’ll eat them one by one, and then mate with you and produce a brood of offspring.”

The monster’s voice was grating and vile, its words filthy beyond measure.

“Cassido, stop! How did you become like this? How dare you do this? The teacher will never forgive you!”

At the mention of the teacher, Cassido’s body trembled slightly, as though afraid, but he quickly recovered.

“Stupid woman. My current power is no weaker than hers. If she comes, I’ll just eat her too.”

The monster was very confident in its strength. After saying this, the tentacles on its face crazily spread across the gravekeeper’s body and yanked him over.

“Help! Somebody, help me!” the gravekeeper cried out in terror.

Anna cried in near collapse, “Stop, Cassido!”

The monster, or rather Cassido, had already extended several tendrils to wrap around the gravekeeper’s limbs and head. Hearing Anna’s voice, it asked again, “I can stop. Didn’t I say it already? As long as you agree, I’ll let them go.”

“The people who just died did so because of your hesitation. Do you still want to keep killing more people?” The monster tightened its grip, and the gravekeeper’s body was pulled taut.

“I, I…” Anna did not want to let anyone die, but she could not bring herself to offer herself to such a hideous creature.

Even if she would likely be forced in the end, she simply did not have the courage to face it before the final moment.

“Aah!”

While she hesitated, the monster had already torn the gravekeeper apart. Blood stained the floor of the chapel red.

The monster seemed to relish the gradual collapse of Anna’s mind. To it, that fear and despair were also exquisite delicacies.

“Don’t do this…” Anna finally broke down.

Although she was a mage, she was still only a fragile woman who had not endured much of life. At this moment, she was utterly despairing.