Yuric had the workers dig up the grave where Anna was supposedly buried. If there’s a child’s corpse here under the name of Anna, then the boy who calls her his sister can be ruled out as a suspect.
However…
“There’s nothing here,”
The workers who dug out the dirt found no body in the grave. There hadn’t been anything buried there to begin with.
‘So that’s why this spot was intact.’
Since he already knew there was no body in the grave,
Yuric realized that the woman called ‘sister’ must be involved in the center of this case.
After telling them to restore the grave to its original state, he left the cemetery alone and met Howell and Rochelina at the agreed location.
“How is it? Is she there?”
“There’s no one. Have you figured anything out, Mr. Howell?”
“The woman known as ‘sister’ is quite famous among orphans. She’s kind to them and often shares food.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Yes, it’s a trap.”
They had lured one by one, subtly or overtly, over time. Who would pay attention if just one street orphan disappeared? And even if they did listen, who would believe their words?
“Have you found the residence area?”
“We have, for now.”
“Then let’s move in as soon as we’re ready.”
“Without gathering more evidence?”
Yuric shook his head.
“At this point, the evidence is almost certain. Even if it’s not her, she’s definitely someone with something to hide. And…”
He paused briefly before continuing.
“The longer we wait, the more victims there could be.”
“…What do you think, Miss Rochelina?”
Rochelina, who had been listening quietly beside them, nodded as if to say she agreed.
After deciding to start working on it right away, they headed towards the residence area where the woman known as ‘sister’ lived. However, they didn’t enter immediately; first, they planned to call in the security force to surround the area.
When the security force sealed off the alleyways and the three mages began their entry, it was already dark.
Yuric approached slowly while detecting mana. There were no life signs inside. He checked if there was a barrier spell on the door, but there was none. Rochelina looked skeptical, but Yuric said this was correct.
“If there were a barrier spell here, it would only make me suspicious. It’s better that there isn’t one. I checked just in case. Installing a barrier spell here means they’d run if discovered.”
Although there was a latch on the door, Yuric forced it open using reinforcement magic, with a mana shield in place in case of physical traps.
The house was quiet. They sensed a faint trace of mana floating in the air, which had become a certainty.
As Yuric cautiously examined the interior, he found a suspicious iron door deep inside, with a spell on it.
“It’s a barrier spell. If you force it open, the circuit will break and reveal what’s underneath.”
Yuric observed the mana flow of the barrier spell. Fortunately, it was a simple barrier spell, so he could easily deduce the circuit by looking at the mana flow. Of course, such skill is beyond most experts.
He inserted the circuit into the end of the barrier spell, changing it to an infinite loop. Then, opening the door wouldn’t trigger any reaction.
“It’s done.”
Howell stared at Yuric with a look that said, “Look at this.” Even though it was simple, magic was still magic. Inserting a circuit and changing the flow was nearly theoretical.
With the spell neutralized, Yuric slowly opened the iron door, revealing a passage leading to a suspicious underground area. A strange mana was rising from the passage.
‘Alchemy.’
Yuric, who had some expertise in alchemy, could tell just by the smell. Although mana itself is colorless and odorless, mixed mana has different properties.
Yuric led the way, followed by Rochelina, and Howell cautiously descended the stairs, checking for any physical traps.
As they descended, they felt the mana growing stronger. This wasn’t a recent occurrence; it had likely been happening for months or even years.
Carefully descending the stairs, they soon heard lively laughter from below. People were there.
Of course, they didn’t use mana recklessly. If there were sensitive mages on the other side, they might be exposed instead…
Finally, the three of them reached the end of the passage and stepped into a spacious basement. The laughter of the people sitting in a circle around the middle suddenly stopped. Startled, they stood up, their voices trembling.
“Who are you?!”
Without warning, the three cast spells.
Yuric reinforced his limbs, ready to burst out at any moment, Rochelina created a mana doll and placed it in front of her, and Howell produced blue feather-like objects from his body.
There were six people in the basement.
Four men and two women. Except for one woman, they were all middle-aged. But there was only one mage.
‘That woman…is an alchemist.’
Yuric couldn’t tear his eyes away from the young woman’s face. Despite the situation, she showed no sign of panic, only glaring fiercely at them.
He felt an unusual mana coming from her. Not only the density but also the turbidity was shocking.
It was clearly contaminated mana.
And severely so.
There was a pentagram drawn in blood on the floor, with a cauldron on top, boiling something.
“Surprised? I didn’t sense a thing…”
The alchemist clapped lightly amidst the surprised crowd.
“This was supposed to be the final step…it seems the tail was longer than expected.”
She then cast a spell. Tentacles sprouted from her body and pierced the bodies of the people around her.
At the same time, the three mages attacked her. Her body exploded in various places, yet…
To everyone’s surprise, she didn’t die.
“Haha…”
Rotting flesh oozed from the torn parts, pushing out the tentacles.
“I’m immortal. Do you know how many humans I’ve eaten for this?”
She was no longer human.
A mass of contaminated mana.
An alchemist’s soul was trapped within.
“What a relief. I’ll eat all of you. And those outside too.”
The contaminated alchemist inflated her tentacles.
“And I’ll become an immortal god!”
The tentacles shot out. Yuric swiftly ducked to avoid them and launched himself forward, creating magical seals in both hands.
Mass magic.
One hit the tentacle, another the torso.
!
Mana collided, destroying the tentacle and torso. A terrible stench filled the air, like that of a long-abandoned corpse.
Rochelina controlled the mana doll to grab the tentacles heading toward her and held them firmly. Howell’s blue feathers spun into blades, slicing through the tentacles instantly.
But no matter how many times they destroyed the tentacles, they kept regenerating.
“It’s useless!”
Another tentacle shot toward Yuric. This time, it swung sideways, leaving no room to dodge. Using mass magic again, Yuric destroyed the tentacle and fired a white mana arrow at the alchemist’s head.
The arrow-like projectile shattered the alchemist’s head, but she recovered, albeit in a monstrous form.
“Haha…”
Despite her constant recovery, Yuric was sure this wasn’t true immortality.
Alchemy doesn’t change the essence; it restores lost essence. Yet, she was losing her essence.
“Immortal. Immortal.”
The alchemist had transformed so much that her original appearance was unrecognizable. It seemed her sanity was slipping away.
Tentacles now flew wildly, trying to catch them. Yuric thought they risked collapsing the entire ground if they stayed.
“Lure her. To the surface.”
Yuric signaled to Howell and Rochelina to go up. They seemed to understand his signal.
As the three hurried up the passage, the alchemist, transformed into an octopus-like creature, started chasing them rapidly.
“Eat. Eat…”
The moment the three reached the surface, the tentacles barely missed them.
The tentacles smashed everything around them. As they exited, the alchemist broke the door and followed.
“Eat…!”
The tentacles pounded the mana shield. Now, they moved faster than ever.
Rochelina’s mana doll charged forward, throwing a powerful punch, but it was smashed into the building wall by the tentacle attack. Howell gathered dozens of feathers, forming them into a rotating flower shape.
Howell’s attack tore apart the tentacles and torso, a powerful strike.
“Gahhh!”
But bubbles rose from the torn areas, and the body regenerated.
At that moment, Yuric created a massive mana pillar from the sky, smashing it down onto the alchemist.
!
With a loud crash, the mana pillar crushed the alchemist’s body, but she still didn’t stop moving.
“Gaaaah…”
Her voice was no longer human.
Yuric didn’t stop there. He struck again with another mana pillar.
The pillar fell on the bubbling torso, and the tentacles attacked desperately. The returning mana doll tore at the tentacles, while Howell cleaned up the rest.
Even as it tried to regenerate, the three mages poured mana blasts onto it, erasing it completely.
Panting heavily, the three mages watched the contaminated mana slowly disintegrate.
Outside the alley, the security force slowly approached, along with citizens who had heard the commotion.
“Do not allow anyone near here.”
Yuric relayed this to the captain of the security force and re-entered the building.
The basement was in shambles after the chaos. The five people the alchemist had fed on were already dead, their bodies twisted and crushed in the fight.
But Yuric’s attention wasn’t on them.
He had felt another life form’s presence deep in the basement.
Opposite the entrance to the stairway leading up, there was a thick iron door. Yuric unlocked and opened it. Inside were many iron cages, with children huddled in the corners, crying.
“Children…”
One of the children, recognizing Yuric, slowly approached the iron bars.
This was the child who had shown him Anna’s grave that morning.
“You’re safe. Thank goodness. Really.”
Yuric used a key hanging nearby to unlock the iron cage. But the children were still frozen in fear, unsure if he was a good or bad adult.
“The bad people are gone. Everything’s fine now. It’s okay, children.”
Yuric approached the children and embraced them.
“It’s okay. Everything’s over. It’s over…”
The children cried in his arms for a long time.
Soon after, Rochelina and Howell also came down to the cells. Yuric asked Rochelina if she could take the children upstairs. She nodded and took them up.
But one child remained. The one who had shown him Anna’s grave and given him plenty of dried fruit.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
“I want to check…something important…”
Shaking, the boy mustered his courage.
Yuric and the boy went deeper into the cells.
There were piles of clothes, turning the place into a nest for rats and bugs.
The boy searched through them frantically, ignoring the bugs crawling on his hands.
Finally, he found the children’s clothes and buried his face in them, weeping.
“I’m sorry, kids. I’m sorry, Liza. I’m sorry, sorry…”
Yuric stood silently, waiting for the boy to finish crying.
For a long time.
