Chapter 157: A Wretched Soul

Inside the bakery, the Shadow Fiend that had devoured the bakery owner was steadying its breath. The active mental energy and the vitality contained within the flesh of a human on the verge of death acted almost like a mild stimulant, casting a flushed red across its pale complexion.

This feeling was simply wonderful!

A trace of greed flickered in the Shadow Fiend's eyes as it looked toward the rear corridor. It knew there were still people in there. Its shadow continuously stretched at its feet, slithering into the dark corridor, passing through the closed door, and entering the dim living room.

The shadow expanded within the living room, and the sound of twisting bones echoed from the darkness, as if some terrifying monster were stretching its limbs. A distorted dark figure rose from the shadows.

However, the next moment, the shadow in the living room dissolved. It seemed to have sensed a slight anomaly among the shadows of the nearby buildings.

The moment the bakery owner died in terror, the nearest gargoyle had already noticed; it heard the abruptly cut-off scream.

A gargoyle is a puppet infused with a spirit. Unlike familiars and other magical entities, apart from its terrifying appearance, a gargoyle emits almost no aura whatsoever. It is extremely sensitive to sound and can distinguish the emotions carried within sounds.

Looking up from the ground, a gargoyle resembled some sort of giant bat in the sky, but as it beat its wings and approached the ground, this seven-meter wingspan monster fully revealed the terrifying reality of its physique.

The gargoyle made no sound whatsoever; even the flapping of its wings blended seamlessly into the cold winter wind of Digeau.

Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~

Like a ghost in the dead of night, the gargoyle hovered above the rooftops near the bakery.

The Sanctuary Archprelate, who had originally been standing on the second-floor balcony of a building at the end of the street, had now retreated into the shadows beside the balcony door.

The Shadow Fiend inside the bakery even held its breath instinctively.

There is no mistake, it is a gargoyle from the Black Castle! Did the Queen send people from the Black Castle to hunt me down?

Defeating a single gargoyle outside would not be difficult, even for the current Shadow Fiend, but gargoyles always appeared in swarms. If there was one outside, there might well be a hundred in the sky.

Aside from sensing the shifting shadows outside, the Shadow Fiend could perceive almost no aura at all. It strained its ears to listen to the movement outside, but could hear only the chilling winter wind of Digeau.

Such a terrifying creature!

A single gargoyle—something that members of the Royal Guard would casually scoff at during private chats—now exerted an oppressive weight that the Shadow Fiend could not ignore.

A mentally warped Black Wizard, a callous and sadistic executioner, an ancient fiend feeding on flesh...

Compared to the Sanctuary, the Black Castle had harbored far more madmen since ancient times, and the Dilga royal family maintained a zero-tolerance policy toward betrayal.

After a long while, as if having found nothing, the gargoyle ascended once more, silently departing the street.

Somewhere high above Digeau, Mulan, gripping the gargoyle token, had already noticed that a gargoyle had landed to investigate.

Although the gargoyle seemed to have found nothing, to Mulan, the gargoyle's abnormal behavior spoke volumes in itself.

Mulan muttered to himself, seemingly searching for the fleeing Shadow Fiend and Archprelate, while actually pondering how to bypass Sebastiana.

Sebastiana had been sitting atop the gargoyle's back reading a book all along, seemingly with no intention of paying attention to outside matters, though at this moment she glanced briefly in that direction.

"Professor Jon斯特 does not seem particularly eager to catch that fellow?"

"Perhaps I simply wished to see why the Sanctuary Archprelate did not make the first move."

Mulan looked toward the red-robed witch, whose gaze had never left the gargoyle.

Sebastiana finally lowered her book, while Mulan remained silent, looking off in that direction. He could not sense the Shadow Fiend, who had cloaked himself, but he could perceive the presence of the Archprelate.

That immense holy power—the same holy power that had nearly brought Mulan to a fatal crisis not long ago—must be located in that exact area, causing the dark side of Mulan's nature to instinctively contract with extraordinary instinct.

"Professor Sebastiana, if we were to make a move against the Sanctuary Archprelate, what are our chances of success?"

An expression of astonishment, hidden beneath Sebastiana's bandages, surfaced where others could not see.

"Professor Jon斯特, you want to make a move against the Archprelate?"

Mulan laughed.

"Hahaha, I was merely asking casually. No need to be so tense."

Sebastiana finally put away her book and began to scrutinize Mulan, who was hanging from the gargoyle's claws, with unusual seriousness. Only after a long moment did she speak.

"The Sanctuary Archprelate's tier is by no means low. This is the Digeau Grand Sanctuary; theoretically, he is the representative governing the entirety of Dilga. Even if we attacked together, we could not kill him."

Good grief, I merely asked what my chances were, and you jumped straight to whether we can kill him or not? The corner of Mulan's mouth twitched slightly.

"Professor Jon斯特, I heard you were a devout believer in the Holy Light. How could you entertain the notion of striking down the Archprelate?"

"I merely wished to discuss whether we might suppress the Archprelate in order to capture the Shadow Fiend. Professor Sebastiana, aren't you overinterpreting? As for faith, the Holy Light is pure, but the Sanctuary is not."

Sebastiana nodded, having already made her judgment: beneath Mulan Jon斯特's gentlemanly exterior lay a wild and untamed heart.

"Suppression is out of the question, but causing some trouble is certainly doable, should the necessity arise."

The corner of Mulan's mouth curved slightly upward. To please the Queen and to achieve his own goals—if possible, he intended to have both.

......

Inside the bakery, the Shadow Fiend finally relaxed, but it did not make another move. The recent scare had brought back its sanity and reined in its desires.

The Shadow Fiend itself was severely wounded, its foundation damaged, and with temptation right before it, its willpower would normally have been weakened.

However, such a craving for human souls and flesh could never be indulged. The more one gave in to desire at a time like this, the more one would continuously absorb the negative mental states and physical toxins of humans while devouring them. That euphoria would become addictive, growing increasingly intense with every instance.

The power of existence would be continuously tainted in the process, ultimately transforming the Shadow Fiend into a true monster, both physically and psychologically.

Even vampires, whose very nature inclined toward predation, were exceptionally cautious when selecting their blood meals, striving to choose superior sources of blood—such as humans with special physical constitutions and blood types, or pure virgins.

In the living room at the other end of the bakery's corridor, a pregnant woman was holding a four-or-five-year-old girl, hiding inside a wardrobe. The mother tightly covered the child's lips. Both mother and daughter trembled slightly, intense terror and sorrow shining in their tear-filled eyes.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Fiend began to gnaw on bread once more. It devoured more than a dozen loaves before stopping. After resting for a moment, it lowered its body, its form growing slightly shadowy until it finally shrunk down into the shape of a rat.

This place is no place to linger; I must flee at once.

The rat cautiously slipped out from the gap beneath the bakery's door and darted straight into the sewer entrance right outside.

The city of Digeau possessed a highly developed underground sewer network, and the Shadow Fiend intended to tunnel its way straight out of the city.

The Archprelate was also on the move, trailing along above ground at a steady, unhurried pace directly above the sewer's path.

As if the heavens were aiding the Shadow Fiend, the night, which had been reasonably clear, gathered heavy storm clouds in the latter half, bringing down a blizzard of heavy snowflakes that drastically reduced nighttime visibility.

I am a rat, I am a rat......

The Shadow Fiend fled continuously through the sewers, the filth and foul stench of various pollutions almost making it vomit. As a member of the Royal Guard accustomed to the finest material conditions in all things, when had it ever been reduced to such a pathetic state?

"Hiss......"

A colossal rat appeared around the bend ahead, fixing its eyes directly on the Shadow Fiend and pouncing forward.

'Courting death!'

The two rats locked in a vicious struggle within the sewer, kicking up splashes of filthy water.

Moments later, a single rat limped away and continued running forward.

'Dammit, it's just breadcrumbs...'

Yet the scent of blood seemed to stir even greater dangers lurking within the sewer network.

In its wildest dreams, the Shadow Fiend would never have imagined that it would one day feel wary of mere sewer rats and vermin, yet the reality of its current situation was both bizarre and pathetic.

In the winter of Digeau, even the tiniest morsel of food could trigger violent competition within the sewer's ecosystem.

What truly shook the Shadow Fiend to its core, however, was that just as it finally managed to shake off a mutated giant toad, a black cat appeared around the corner of the sewer ahead.

'My... magical entity?'

The rat froze rigidly in the sewer, staring blankly at the black cat ahead. The cat was licking its paw, then turned its head to look at the rat with a gaze that carried an intensely human-like intelligence.

"Meow~"

The shock of having one's spirit pierced by a certain force, the primal terror of facing a natural predator, the absurd and ultimate disbelief, alongside the negative emotions it had just absorbed—all these sensations crashed over it like a tidal wave, battering the Shadow Fiend's soul.

"Ah no, ah......"

The Shadow Fiend's spiritual resonance unraveled and shattered in that instant, its form snapping directly back to reality. Within the narrow sewer, the rat rapidly expanded, transforming back into a man......