Chapter 81: Premature Birth, Demon of Blood

(My apologies everyone, I am truly, damnably busy lately; this chapter is a bit short.)

A violent tremor shook his frame. The hooded man from Sewintan had sensed nothing at such close range, yet the traitor from Alastair was shredded in an instant, his corpse severed in two, meeting a wretched end.

Instinctively recoiling, he channeled his battle aura and drew his exquisite enchanted longsword from its scabbard. Odit was terrified by those malicious, blood-red eyes. What on earth was that thing? A so-called "Blessed Vampire"?

Those blood-red pupils, devoid of human emotion, held only pure malice—a malice that lacked the wisdom or desire that typically births evil in mankind.

It was a creature born with inherent malice toward all things in this world. It was dubbed a "vampire," but it was closer to the pure concept of a "demon"—a blood fiend.

"Damn it, what are those researchers back home even doing? How could a byproduct of Elfin turn into this? I recall this thing being a benevolent, peaceful messenger of life. How could it create something so evil? Has He... gone mad?"

A bead of cold sweat traced a line down Odit’s temple. It was only when his subordinates began coughing and patting each other’s backs that he snapped out of his shock and bewilderment.

A hooded man behind Barit asked between coughs, "Captain, what is the situation? This gas... *cough*... it’s unbearable. It’s not too severe yet... *cough*... but if the concentration rises, the men... *cough*... might not hold out. *Cough*—*ack!*"

Odit was the leader of these Sewintan infiltrators. Their ultimate goal was to destabilize the capital, plunging Alastair’s royal city into chaos to facilitate Sewintan’s further plans.

As the hooded man spoke, his coughing grew violent, culminating in a spray of blood from the depths of his throat. His mask turned a deep, visceral crimson. A heavy, metallic stench began to permeate the space, already thick with the acrid odor of chlorine gas.

"Hah!" Odit exhaled sharply. Seeing that the bloody tumor made no further moves, he calmed down momentarily, though the suffocating sensation in his lungs and respiratory tract made it difficult to focus his thoughts.

What Wang Yu and the others did not know was that while Lubi’s claim about their highest combat power being a high-ranking official knight was true, that knight was the only one they had. The rest were arranged for them by Alastair’s internal traitors, including Lubi himself, who claimed to be from Sewintan.

To infiltrate Alastair and better exploit Elfin, the Source of Life—the only entity that had successfully entered the capital—the other Sewintan personnel were all technicians nearing the level of alchemists; their physical prowess was only slightly above that of an ordinary person.

And now... their inside man was split in two, leaving no way to learn of further plans. The mission was effectively ruined. Moreover...

He glanced at the yellow-green gas still pouring in, thickening and deepening. Odit did not know what this gas was, but the rising chorus of coughs and screams made the origin of the gas irrelevant.

Before long, these researchers would all be dead. There was no saving them; even he, a high-ranking official knight, could not intervene. In this environment, where toxic gas corroded flesh and displaced breathable air, he could not last long. Suffocation and corrosion would eventually claim even him, despite his superior physical strength.

Ignoring the hooded man who had just patted his back and was now kneeling on the ground, struggling to breathe, Odit turned his gaze back to the bloody tumor.

After the "Blessed Vampire" inside had suddenly reached out to kill the Alastair man, it had made no further moves beyond swallowing and chewing the remains.

When he and the traitor had first arrived, the tumor showed no signs of life. It had been dormant while they traded insults, but why... why did it suddenly move?

Observing closely, he noticed corrosion on the tumor's surface. The yellow-green gas had dissolved into droplets on its skin, pitting the flesh with craters.

Within the translucent, fleshy mass, he could see pulses of blood being pumped toward the corroded areas, rapidly repairing the surface...

So that was it. It was the gas. The corroded tumor desperately needed sustenance to repair itself. If left to the gas, it would die just like them.

Its vampiric nature compelled it to seek blood to heal its wounds, and the Alastair man closest to it had become the perfect choice.

Understanding this, Odit sighed. The tumor, which the Alastair people called a vessel for new life, would likely suffer a "miscarriage." Yet, even this "premature" creature filled him with deep apprehension.

If it had been allowed to grow as intended, with sufficient blood, how powerful would it have become? It would certainly have been enough to throw the capital into disarray.

But now, given the concentration of the gas, there were likely many people outside preparing for this. The gas would not stop. If it continued to be corroded, the tumor had no choice but to be born prematurely. However...

He looked at the researchers, most of whom had already collapsed from the chlorine gas. Odit’s expression turned cold and stern. At the very least, he would ensure the "birth" wasn't too difficult. He wanted to see what kind of monstrosity those superstitious fools in the kingdom had actually created.

A hooded man gasped for air, blood leaking from his nose and mouth. The encroaching suffocation and burning pain signaled his end. Tears and mucus streamed down his face, born of terror and despair. He crawled on hands and knees toward the sewer exit.

"If I can just reach that place... if I can just reach it." The exit was not far—a corner, twenty meters away. The dying man no longer cared where the gas came from or if an ambush awaited him. The instinct to survive left him with only one concept: to get out was to live.

*Thwack.* A hand suddenly clamped onto his shoulder, hauling him up from the ground. The hooded man looked up in astonishment at his savior, recognizing the emblem of the gate on the center of the hood.

"Captain! Quick, let's go together—*cough*—let's get out..." The man looked at Odit with desperate hope; with Odit’s strength, escaping would be easy.

"My apologies... the Gate of the Abyss does not accept failure. At least, not before the final attempt." The eyes beneath the mask, which bore the emblem of a deep purple gate, were cold and ruthless. The apology was merely a vestige of his humanity. On the hooded man’s hidden face was only resentment and disbelief. In the next instant, Odit snapped his neck.

He dragged the corpse to the side of the bloody tumor and tossed it on. Seeming to sense the offering, the surface of the tumor rippled like liquid, extruding several tentacles that pulled the body in and piled it beneath the mass.

Odit, leader of the Abyss Gate strike team, watched the twisted, evil creature with a cold gaze. He continued to kill his surviving subordinates in the same manner, piling their bodies beneath the tumor that birthed the "Blessed Vampire."

Dozens of corpses were stacked together, each face frozen in extreme agony and resentment, blood spilling from their orifices. The scene of this mountain of corpses was a hellscape that would shatter the mind of any witness.

"Damn it, this is enough. If my mind weren't still clear, I’d suspect my 'sanity' had dropped below the critical threshold defined by the old fools at the institute... This thing is, heh, quite the prize. I hope you birth something powerful enough. Don't disappoint me."

Odit took one last look at the bloody tumor in the mountain of corpses and turned toward the depths of the sewer. He needed to avoid inhaling more chlorine gas. After that, he would see if the creature born from this tumor could bring enough chaos to the outside world.

What he did not know was that at this moment, beyond the blood, poison, and hellish pile of corpses, something unique to the capital had been triggered. A certain madness had begun to permeate the sewers.

The Shadow of the Capital—that void inverted by a strange artifact—had begun to dissipate, drawn out by the convergence of despair and hatred.

This was the madness manifesting here. Unbeknownst to him, a twisted smile began to spread across Odit’s face, and he no longer felt the burning sensation of the chlorine gas.

Some believe they are far from the abyss, when in reality, they have already stepped into it. What he faced would not be what he had imagined.

At that moment, the tumor, wrapped in corpses, began to pulse like a heart. The nearby bodies had been reduced to husks, their blood entirely drained.

Though it was undoubtedly a premature, incomplete birth, the creature emerging was terrifying enough. As scarlet bat-like wings pushed out from the fleshy sac, those eyes, filled with pure malice, turned toward the sewer exit. Out there, there was more blood...