novelraw Chapter 902: Unbearable Losses
Chapter 902: Unbearable Losses
Loose stones and sand trickled down into the Old Sewer.
The Eternal Night and the tide of fog had already receded. The gloomy sky, a symbol of oppression, felt far more liberating than the cramped tunnels; only the anomalies had shrunk back, cowering in regions of this world yet undiscovered.
The skeleton that had blotted out the sky was gone, but its power still lingered in the air.
But every path of retreat had been cut off. Lu Li had nowhere to run.
While the anomalies dared not approach, Lu Li pulled out his dagger, sliced open the wound on his leg, and squeezed out the pale pink blood mixed with some unknown pus.
As he methodically tended to the numerous wounds on both legs, sensation—and pain—began to return. The venom had only paralyzed, not corroded or digested.
His numb, swollen legs would need time before he could stand. Lu Li’s gaze swept the distance: the anomalies still kept their distance, their fear palpable even among the creatures of the Old Sewer.
The enforcer’s silhouette did not reappear either.
Lu Li slid a hand into his empty coat pocket, then scanned the ground around him. The wooden box with the eyeball was nowhere to be seen; it had likely been sent flying, but finding it would be difficult.
He searched every surface around him until he finally spotted the corner of the wooden box, half-hidden at the edge of the ruins.Leaning on a rock, Lu Li pushed himself up and staggered on numb legs toward the wooden box.
Creak—
An anomaly, pinned by debris, waved its forelimbs, struggling and pleading as Lu Li drew near. It didn't look as grotesque as the usual anomalies of the Old Sewer; at worst, it was merely ugly, resembling a hairless squirrel.
Lu Li picked up the wooden box and opened the lid, revealing the eyeball resting at the bottom. Then he pushed aside the collapsed wall, freeing the anomaly pinned beneath it.
A sinister tremor suddenly rumbled once more from the depths of the earth. Lu Li frowned, looking back at a cliff face that was shaking violently, shedding fragments of rock.
With a crash—
Large chunks of rock broke away. A maw, lined with tiny teeth, pushed its way out of the cliff.
Ophelia emerged from the depths of a writhing wormhole, leaping from the worm’s mouth.
“Found... you!”
“Where is Katerina?” Lu Li asked, his brow furrowed.
Ophelia had arrived too quickly...
“What? In Inns...mouth... Watch out!”
Ophelia shrieked a warning, and the anomaly Lu Li had just saved clamped its jaws around his calf, its three-lobed lips parting to bite down hard.
The instant Lu Li felt the pain, he seized the creature and lifted it. His left hand, imbued with the power of Atonement, delivered its punishment, and the anomaly died in agony amid incomprehensible pleas for mercy.
Worst of all, the anomaly’s teeth carried venom, and strength was draining from his body.
“Take the body...”
Lu Li whispered weakly, then collapsed and lost consciousness.
...
Every time Lu Li lost consciousness, he saw the bizarre dreams of Lu Li.
This time was no exception.
In a chaos like gray fog, where time and space were indistinguishable, the sleeping Lu Li saw a lighthouse in the distance. He was leaning against the trunk of a tree shrouded in shadow, covered in blood. Nearby lay thick, dictionary-like books. When he tried to get a closer look, Lu Li fell into a deeper sleep.
Then he awoke.
A dilapidated ceiling slowly came into focus. Prusius, leaping and shouting incomprehensible words amid a storm of chaotic thoughts, ran out of the room.
When Ophelia entered the room, he understood the first sentence she spoke.
“Your kindness will be your undoing.”
What was confusing, however, was that the coherent words came from Ophelia.
“Mr. Lu Li, while you had a high fever, Miss Ophelia repeated that phrase for two days straight,” Prusius explained in a timely manner.
“Two days...”
Lu Li’s memory was still trapped in the dream that had lasted only a few dozen seconds.
“It was a weak poison that should have worn off in a few hours, but since you are a frail human, the antidote is also a poison to you.”
An old woman appeared, wrapped in a faded, patterned blanket, her hair in dozens of linen braids. She leaned on a crutch made from the leg bone of an anomaly. With every step, a loud clatter echoed from beneath her blanket.
“She is—”
“A traitor to the Great Tree, a witch. Antilisia Michael,” the old woman said, dipping her crutch and lowering her head.
“It was Grandma Antilisia who saved you,” added Prusius, who had been interrupted.
“Show some respect. I’m only thirty,” the witch raised her crutch and rapped Prusius on the head, continuing her approach to the bed.
“It’s a good thing you thought to bring the body. Otherwise, the last legendary exorcist would have died a pathetic death in the jaws of the weakest of anomalies.”
“You know me?”
Lu Li caught the mingled scent of potions coming from her.
“Many anomalies in the Old Sewer care little for what happens on the surface, but I am different.”
The smell of mixed potions suddenly intensified. The witch leaned close to Lu Li’s face, touched his cheek with a thin, moist, forked tongue like a snake’s, and then pulled back.
“Don’t worry, vengeful spirit. The poison in his body has weakened,” the witch said, ignoring the sudden warmth that filled the house as she turned and hobbled away on her crutch.
“I must be going now.”
“Wait, Grandma Antilisia, how much for your help?”
“No need. Just give Dean Rolens my regards when you see him.”
“He’s the dean of the University of Claire,” Lu Li remarked, watching the witch’s back.
“I went to the Great Tree from there. He was always so proud of me, before I betrayed humanity.”
Amidst her calm narration, the clattering sound gradually faded into the distance.
“Where are we?”
Lu Li averted his gaze.
“Glossy Station. A long way from Midnicht Central Station.”
“The crystal... is still here,” Ophelia said, producing the wooden box. Its surface was now encrusted with crystals.
That was good news. At least they still had a bargaining chip to trade for the Ancient God’s eyeball.
“Let’s find a new box.”
“Mm... And Elder Sister... where is she?” Ophelia asked after handing the wooden box to the Merchant, Antoni.
“Her mother took her.”
Lu Li recounted what had happened before he met up with Ophelia.
“You will... Your kindness will be your undoing,” Ophelia repeated once more.
“Trusting... an anomaly... twice.”
Lu Li remained silent.
That little creature, always so used to speaking in its shrill voice, had left them.
“We’ve lost another companion.”
Prusius’s tail drooped and he whimpered. He missed Katerina.
“Can we find her?”
Only when Prusius couldn’t bear it any longer and asked Lu Li, receiving an affirmative answer, did his sadness finally lift.
Then Prusius recounted what had happened to them after they had separated.
A fleeing Ophelia had encountered a steam-powered silhouette fighting its enemies. With a wave of its hand, it had brought down an entire district behind Ophelia. Saved, Ophelia returned to the first level and summoned a Merchant to find Lu Li and the others. In the end, it was the Merchant, Antoni, who located Lu Li through his senses.
As a result, of the thirty-odd cultists who had followed them, less than half remained. A dozen or so, including Bishop John, may have been lost forever in the depths of the Old Sewer.
“Mr. John had an eyeball, but he didn’t use it,” Prusius added.
“What... do we do... now?” Ophelia asked.
“We return to Locou.”
They would stay there for a few days, waiting for any surviving cultists to return by following the marks left by the Church of Shadows, and also waiting for a deal with the steam-powered silhouette.
But if that didn’t happen, Lu Li would have no choice but to admit defeat.
For this task given to them by the Ancient God, they had already paid far too high a price.