Chapter 19

18. The Port of the Wolf (2)

-Peeeeek!!!!

The sound of night watchmen’s horns echoed from all directions.

Well, it was a horrifying scream. Not only someone with sensitive hearing like Fernandez, but also the city’s night watchmen and others hunting the Lycanthrope must have heard it.

But Fernandez had a distinct ability that set him apart from others.

“I smell blood.”

-Two of them.

“One is stronger. Let’s give up on that one.”

A fishy scent of blood vibrated through the sea breeze. The stronger smell must have been the scene of the murder or the feeding. Then, they had to track the one with the weaker scent moving away.

“What will I say when I meet the master?”

-Hey, old man, nice to see you?

“Hmm… too cliché…”

Fernandez clicked his tongue and ran through the night streets. Alleys disappeared behind him in an instant. It was a movement that was almost beyond human.

Fernandez had started to love the overwhelming power of this body.

*

The creature’s movements were faster than expected. It wasn’t a path a simple bloodthirsty wolf could take. The creature seemed very familiar with these alleys. The scent in the air gradually faded.

“Damn it. I think it noticed.”

-Seems like it. It’s deliberately twisting its path.

Since they were tracking by scent, circling the same spot made it hard to follow due to the lingering scent in the air. Fernandez wiped the sweat from his forehead and leaned against the alley wall.

The creature was smarter than expected. It wasn’t just a simple lunatic. Seeing this, it definitely seemed like the master’s work.

“What now?”

-How about checking the scene?

“There must be night watchmen all over the scene now. The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, or something like that?”

-There might be such superstitions, or there might be traces of the creature.

Well, there could be traces the night watchmen didn’t notice. It wasn’t a bad idea. But… Fernandez smiled as he looked into the dark night streets.

“There’s a professor who specializes in this kind of thing.”

-It’s not bad to pick up scraps.

From the darkness of the alley, a figure in leather clothes approached like a shadow. Fernandez raised his hand and waved.

“Ah, Carl. We meet again.”

“Knight Angelo. Coincidence?”

It was Professor Carl Romano. Carl raised a gleaming silver longsword towards Fernandez.

“I wish it were a coincidence.”

“It’s not. I’m also chasing the creature.”

“A wandering knight tracking faster than me… quite a plausible story, huh?”

“Confidence is good, but it doesn’t look good.”

Of course, he was a figure worthy of arrogance. Professor Carl Romano. The youngest full professor at the Royal Hunting School and a Trophy Hunter who has been hunting monsters in the field for five years.

Seeing a strange foreign knight moving faster than him in the pursuit of a Lycanthrope, Carl’s thoughts were obvious.

“So, you want to go together, huh?”

“You’d want to accompany me, wouldn’t you?”

“Well, that would be more certain.”

Carl glared at Fernandez with sharp eyes. If Fernandez were the Lycanthrope, keeping him close would indeed be a more certain hunting method.

Though somewhat dangerous and troublesome. At least to Carl, a lunatic was more of a nuisance than a danger.

“I lost the trail here. Carl. Where should we go?”

“Well, how about suspecting the man at the end of the trail?”

“If it’s really the Lycanthrope, would I admit to being the murderer? Let’s not play word games. We don’t have time.”

“Hmm. Logical.”

Carl chuckled and tapped the wall with the tip of his sword.

“What makes you say the trail ends here?”

“The scent got mixed here.”

“Tracking by scent? Feeling more like a beast… but whatever, fine. The direction is roughly right.”

-Scratch.

Carl spoke as he scraped the stone wall. Sparks flew as the blade scratched the wall. At the end of the direction the sword pointed, there was a bell tower.

“Everyone’s vision is stuck below. If I were the Lycanthrope, I’d hide up there.”

“Why?”

“People don’t look above themselves. Most monsters hiding in civilized society dig into such places.”

“Are you saying a lunatic has reason?”

“If it had no reason, it would have been caught on the first day. If it’s a creature that has harmed five people in five days, it’s strange not to have reason.”

Fernandez looked at the bell tower. Climbing the tower wall to hide? Certainly, a creature climbing the bell tower at night wouldn’t be visible to the naked eye.

“Besides, I’ve been checking one tower a day where it could hide. That’s the only one left, so if it’s not there, we’ll have to rethink our hypothesis.”

Fernandez nodded. Carl smirked, placed a quarrel on the crossbow string, and pulled the pulley. Carl and Fernandez walked towards the bell tower.

The moonlight was the only light source in the alley. In the dark alley, Carl’s blade and Fernandez’s eyes gleamed.

*

“Guh, kuh, guh.”

Valian sobbed as he looked down at his blood-soaked hands. When night fell and the moon rose, he was swallowed by the monster lurking beneath his skin.

Every night, the monster devoured the hotly pulsating heart. Time slowed when the monster ran and sped up when it tore out hearts from corpses.

In this bizarre sense of time, Valian cried in agony.

“Huhuhu… huh…”

The pain when the monster tore through his skin was horrifying. But when the monster chewed through human arteries and tore ligaments…

Both the monster and Valian screamed in ecstasy. In the terrible howling of their souls, they became one.

A cursed sense of kinship. His mind was slowly assimilating into the monster.

As days passed, he felt the assimilation rate increasing. Valian licked the cold blood of the victim on his hands.

“Gods of the Temple… gods…”

Valian was a devout believer who donated weekly and worked diligently for his family. At least until he devoured the brains of a cleric and tore out his family’s hearts. Now, he had neither family nor religion.

“Your god can’t help you, Valian.”

“Huh… huh…”

From the corner of the wall, a man in a robe emerged from the shadows. He whispered in Valian’s ear.

“But I can help you.”

“Kuh… I… I…”

“You are the chosen one, Valian. Chosen as a predator. Your transformation is a blessing. Embrace it fully. What you ate is not your kin. Prey. Your food. Now, look below.”

Valian blankly followed the man’s finger and looked down at the streets. In the distance, night watchmen with torches were running around.

The faint lights from tightly closed windows, the port streets along the distant coastline.

They were small and pitiful, like ants.

“Look at those insects. How can they be your kin? Look, Valian. Open your eyes. They are running around to hunt you. Now, tell them. You are not the hunted, but the hunter.”

“Kuh… kruh…”

The man was right. None of them could run faster or bite stronger than Valian. Their teeth were weak, and their grips were frail. Valian was superior to all of them.

“Kuh… kruh…”

“Bite. Swallow. Chew. And in all those moments, remember only one thing. Remember your father. Your father. The great hunter Yekaset…”

Yekaset. At those words, the mouth…





The moment he rolled around, his heart and muscles pulsed violently. The monster beneath his skin began to thrash again. His pupils dilated in his bloodshot eyes, and thin drool dripped from his fangs.

Valian’s muscles began to swell massively. Tendons coiled like snakes around his forearms.

“Grrrr!”

“Huhu… go. Valian. Offer a sacrifice for Yekaset.”

Valian threw himself out the window. The man watched and laughed.

“Yekaset’s sacred tree has seven. If he offers two more with his own hands, we’ll find the third seal of Yekaset…”

*

-Uuuuuu!!

“…Huh?”

Fernandez and Karl stopped in their tracks as they walked toward the bell tower, startled by a sound that seemed to tear through the night sky. A terrifying howl, as if dozens of wolves were howling in unison, echoed.

“Location?!”

“East!”

Fernandez shouted as he identified the direction of the sound and ran. Karl hurriedly followed.

“Wh-what kind of sprint is this?!”

Fernandez ran like a warhorse. Each step echoed with a heavy thud proportional to his strength. He quickly disappeared into an alley.

“Damn it!”

Karl panted as he chased after him. Though confident he could outlast most men, Fernandez’s speed far exceeded his expectations.

“Is that not a Lycanthrope? Then is it a troll?”

Karl stared blankly in the direction Fernandez had disappeared and ran.

*

-Uuuuuu!!

“Grrr… grrr…”

Valian cried as he pulled out the heart of a night watchman. He felt the heart throbbing in his grasp. His tears were drops of pleasure diluted with faint sadness and pity.

“Forgive me… forgive me… grrr…”

Valian barely managed to move his jaw, which had grotesquely protruded due to his madness, to speak human words. Drool dripped and soaked his chin.

Now, there was no longer a monster beneath his skin. What writhed beneath his skin was not a monster. It was Valian himself. Realizing this, he felt oddly pleased.

-Crunch.

Valian crushed the heart and licked the flowing blood. The hot, fresh blood flowed down his throat like sweet manna.

“Hey. Is there still a person left in there? How many have you killed?”

“Grrr?!”

Then, a man spoke from behind Valian. Valian stepped back, wary of the man who had suddenly appeared within arm’s reach. How had he not noticed until now?

“How many murders is this?”

The man slowly walked toward Valian, who was crouching defensively.

“Grrr…”

“Let’s have a little match. Bite this.”

The man, Fernandez, charged at Valian like a madman. Valian swung his arm in panic to counter, but Fernandez had already closed the distance.

-Wham!

“Ugh!”

Fernandez delivered a short punch to Valian’s abdomen. A lightning-fast strike! Valian’s left arm twisted and fell toward Fernandez’s head.

-Thud!

“Huff!”

Fernandez extended his wrist and caught Valian’s left hand. Long claws dug deep into Fernandez’s forearm. Blood spurted out.

Fernandez, covered in his own blood, tightly gripped Valian’s jaw.

“Grk?!”

“Here we go?”

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Fernandez swung Valian’s snout and slammed it into the wall. The force was tremendous.

Valian resisted with the strength of a werewolf, digging his feet into the ground, but soon his strength began to fade.

-Bang! Bang!

“Gah! Gah!”

The repeated impacts slammed Valian’s head.

No, it slammed Valian’s head into the wall!

Fernandez looked at Valian’s now-shortened snout and let go.

-Thud.

Valian’s body collapsed weakly to the ground. He curled up and trembled. Fernandez stroked his right arm, which was gushing blood.

As a Diemonica, there was no threat of infection from lycanthropy, but the wound from the disease wouldn’t stop bleeding easily.

“Can you talk now?”

“Grr… it hurts… it hurts.”

“That should clear your head a bit. What’s your name?”

Valian looked up at Fernandez with eyes filled with fear and pain.

“Valian… and you…?”

“A priest. How many have you killed?”

“Five… five… no, six. Six people…”

Valian sobbed. As his sanity returned, misery and guilt choked his soul. Fernandez slowly approached Valian’s side.

“Since it’s not seven yet, there’s still a chance to save your soul. Valian. Can you repent? Do you believe in a god?”

“The sea… Maclaren.”

“I am a priest of Vaitas, but as a priest of the Temple of the Gods, I will perform the sacrament. Lost lamb of the Temple, Valian. Confess.”

“…I killed my parents. I killed a priest of Maclaren… and others. I ate five corpses and swallowed six hearts.”

Valian wailed at his irreversible sins. Fernandez had seen countless like him. The corruption of demons always eroded civilized society this way.

First by coercion, then by accident. Once their hands were soaked in blood, there was no turning back.

But fortunately, there was still a chance to save this werewolf’s soul. Before he ate the seventh heart, before he received Yekaset’s blessing… the corruption of the demon.

That his killings stopped here was nothing short of a miracle. Fernandez took out an incense burner from his robe. It was a reporting tool issued to Diemonica Inquisition Officers during operations.

-That’s not what that’s for…

‘Sacraments are about appearances. As long as the believer feels at ease, something that looks convincing is enough.’

Fernandez manipulated the burner to release smoke. He held it over Valian’s forehead. Valian’s sensitive nose protested in pain.

“Grk…”

“Valian. Do you admit your sins and repent?”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

“May the Temple of the Gods bless you. Here, a follower of Maclaren returns to the fold.”

Fernandez drew a holy symbol on Valian’s head and put the burner away. As he slowly drew his sword, Valian nodded.

He had no will to live, and Fernandez had the duty of an Inquisition Officer to kill a werewolf capable of committing a seventh murder.

“An old man named Gian-Kel… Priest. Be careful of that man.”

“Thank you. That’s a big help.”

“…Macto Superlaudo.”

“Macto. Brother.”

-Crunch!

Fernandez’s blade scattered moonlight in the dark alley. For a while, he stood still.

-Was that sincere? The confession.

‘If I return the hunter designated as Yekaset’s offering proxy to the hands of the Temple of the Gods, it’s the best candy to feed my master. Faijashi. My master won’t receive the demon’s blessing for a while after this failure.’

-Hmm…

Fernandez looked at Valian’s severed head and sheathed his sword.

‘But being a priest isn’t so bad.’

Fernandez closed Valian’s eyelids and stood up. He sensed night watchmen approaching from afar.

Perhaps due to their fear of werewolves, they had taken a long time to arrive. Fernandez hid from them.

‘Gian-Kel. Master. Keep the arcane vision safe.’

The Inquisition Officer will come for it.

***

And at the entrance of the alley where they had disappeared, Karl slowly appeared. He thought as he looked in the direction Fernandez had gone.

A Vaitas priest with overwhelming combat power and the authority to perform sacraments. There’s no other being that fits that description.

‘He was an Inquisition Officer.’

Demon, heretic, and witch hunters. The hounds of Vaitas. Karl dismissed his suspicions about Fernandez. But that didn’t mean he would give up the competition.

‘The Royal Hunting School can’t lose in a hunt.’

Having heard the name Gian-Kel, he was at least on the same starting line as the Inquisition Officer. Karl slowly left the alley.

‘Let’s consider the werewolf hunt a loss and focus on winning the dark mage hunt.’

The Phaeirn Royal Hunting School has a curriculum that teaches bounty hunting, fugitive hunting, and criminal hunting.

*