novelraw Chapter 862: In Belfast, He Lost His Beloved
Chapter 862: In Belfast, He Lost His Beloved
"You've come for her..."
A low voice suddenly broke the silence from behind. Deep within the cemetery, a hunched, swollen figure in a tattered cloak stood watching them.
"Who are you?"
Lu Li, standing before the headstone, turned and stepped toward the figure. Katerina saw the trace of sorrow in his dark eyes slowly fade away.
"Don't bring that filthy thing near me..."
The figure scuttled back, putting more distance between itself and Lu Li.
"What do you know?"
Lu Li stopped.
"If you want the answer, come inside..."
The mysterious figure chuckled softly and turned, heading for a dilapidated shack built in the depths of the cemetery."You alone. And don't bring that thing inside..."
His form vanished behind the shack's door, his slow words echoing over the cemetery.
"A heretic?"
Katerina and the others watched the disappearing figure, then turned back to Lu Li.
"Are you going?"
Lu Li did not answer. He handed the shard to Katerina and walked toward the shack.
The snow where the figure had stood was stained a sinister black, and a faint fishy smell lingered in the air, growing stronger as he approached the shack.
Lu Li ducked and slipped into the low shack. The stench instantly intensified, like deep-sea silt or rotting fish. It was impossible to tell if it came from the pile of refuse in the corner or from the figure, who had removed his cloak.
It was difficult to call it a "man," with its single eye wedged between fleshy growths.
Patches on its gray-green, slick skin resembled fish scales, and its body was disproportionately swollen.
Its hunched, bloated back was covered in sacs like a toad's. These sacs parasitized its entire body—on its joints, its limbs—and oozed slime with every movement.
It looked less like a human and more like some grotesque amalgam of fish and frog.
These changes were likely caused by the local contamination.
It sat at a decrepit square table and slowly began to speak.
"I... am a resident of Himmfast. My name... my name is... When that grace descended..."
"Where is she?"
Lu Li cut off his impending, rambling speech.
"Don't rush me!"
The creature growled in irritation, slime squeezing from its sacs and intensifying the stench in the shack.
It sank back into delusional muttering.
"Don't rush... don't rush... I'll tell you..."
"I... am a resident of Himmfast. My name is... Mike. I, unfortunately, missed the ceremony of the Lord's grace. When I returned, it was over, and I was left here forever..."
The creature lowered its head, its body beginning to tremble, making sounds like quiet weeping.
"I am a traitor... The Lord, He abandoned me... No, it was I who betrayed the Lord... But He still mercifully blessed a renegade like me!"
The trembling sent slime spattering onto the table, silently corroding the wooden surface; the source of the table's pits had been found.
Communicating with heretics was usually difficult—they were immersed in the distorted consciousness of a being superior to themselves.
The creature, calling itself a traitor, was a perfect example. It mumbled of remorse and pain, showing Lu Li the tightly packed, translucent particles like frog spawn beneath the growths on its skin.
It said this was its punishment.
"You said you betrayed your Lord, but He blessed you anyway."
Before the heretic could descend fully into delirium and madness, Lu Li pulled him back to the remnants of his sanity, allowing the story to continue.
"Yes... that's right. He left His breath in the city, so that I could continue to feel His grace..."
"I remember more... of the grace. Yes, the Lord granted me a body, so that my weak flesh would become as strong as His servant. But... something is missing. Something is missing... Something is missing... Something is missing... Something is missing... Something is missing... Something is missing..."
Slime seeping from the boils pooled at its feet. The heretic lowered its head, deliriously repeating the same phrase.
"Something is missing... Something is missing... Something is missing... Something is missing..."
"What is missing?"
"Missing..."
The heretic's head slowly rose, and the madness receded from its single eye, which was ringed with growths.
"A sacrifice."
"And then, she came..."
"When?"
The heretic, lost in its memories, did not answer Lu Li. It raised its head and mumbled:
"Holy, fair-skinned, beautiful. When she climbed out of the filthy earth... she shone, like a messenger from the Lord."
The heretic's single, bloodshot eye suddenly fixed on Lu Li, its breathing quickening.
"Just like you..."
"She didn't like me... I saw disgust in her eyes... She... was not... granted... by the Lord!"
"All beautiful things are so fragile... including her. I ate her..."
The heretic's single eye glanced toward something in the corner of the shack.
"That is her skull. She was so beautiful, I couldn't help but keep a part of her... Even now, I long to hear those lovely screams and taste the sweetness of her flesh..."
Lu Li listened in silence. He could feel something inside him tearing apart, pain and sorrow erupting from the cracks to consume his entire being.
"The Lord's grace is everywhere. It suddenly made me realize what was missing... a sacrifice... I... have not offered the Lord enough sacrifices."
The heretic's back heaved like a chest. Its short, thick neck stretched across the table as it leaned closer to Lu Li, hissing out a final, serpentine mumble:
"So, let me offer you to my Lord... or let me savor the taste of your flesh once more."
A dead silence fell over the shack.
Only the distinct beat of a heart could be heard.
Lu Li, his face a mask of cold fury, suddenly shot out his left hand, grabbing the heretic's deformed head. Pouring all his strength and emotion into the grip, he slammed it down!
Smash!
The square table shattered like thin ice. The heretic's head punched through the wooden planks and slammed into the ground with a sickening thud.
Drip... drip...
Lu Li released the crushed head, pulling back his hand, which was now dripping with blood.
The oozing slime and blood mixed, forming a thin thread that hung from his fingers.
It was a mixture of the creature's blood and his own.
A foul stench emanated from the crushed head. The slime hissed, corroding Lu Li's sleeve and palm.
But it wasn't over. From the breathless, headless corpse, a ghostly silhouette slowly drifted out.
Without the swollen growths and ugly boils—it was the heretic's original human form.
Its face held a look of confusion, as if it had just woken up. Seeing Lu Li, the shattered table, and the ugly, headless corpse on the ground, it seemed to realize something.
"I... succeeded! I have completed... the sacrifice! Great Lord, Your most faithful follower awaits Your call..."
A faint presence stirred in the void; the continuous crash of waves could be vaguely heard from the other side.
But just then, a hand shot out, seizing the ghostly soul by the neck and putting an end to its madness and ecstasy.
The hand burned the heretic. Its face twisted as it let out a continuous, piercing scream. And then, a moment later, its soul shattered like a soap bubble.
Silence once again enveloped the shack.