Chapter 148 – Silver Gale
"So who are you and where is the real dog?" Father Benedict asked, walking up to the doppelganger that lay on the floor instead of Gorig. "Well, I can guess that the mut is probably dead, if you took its place, but who are you and what's your task here, little slimeman?"
"Go fuck yourself hairless monkey man." Said doppelganger spitting at him but the spit never reached him landing on the floor just out of reach as if the gravity worked differently around him, surprising Nu. A black charred spot was quickly formed on the floor where the spit landed, as the sizzling sound hissed.
"Why do you look surprised? Didn't you listen. Divinity is an omnipotent power of God. It can create anything. It can become a sword or a barrier, it can be gravity or force of attraction. It can be a brick of stone or it can be an untouchable spirit string capable of binding souls. And all this divinity that I acquired belongs to me. It obeys my will. In this basement, near this tank full of divinity, I am God." Said Father Benedict spreading out his hands with a mad expression on his face.
"It's not yours, you sick fuck!" Said Nu. "You can't even accumulate it inside yourself, right? That's why you have this aquarium. You are just a talentless loser."
For a moment she saw an eye twitch on his face, definitely being disturbed by her words but then he took hold of his emotions and sighed heavily.
"Yes, you are right. But who's fault is it? This damn church that depraved me of the original divinity and impaired my body for life, that's what they've done to me and to every other talented kid, they robbed it just like me. Am I destined to be talentless or was I born to be more powerful than that bitch Saintess? I will never know. They robbed me. Me and thousands of people like me. But they will pay. This world will pay for being dirty and corrupt." Said the man nodding his head in a crazed manner. "As for you… I know your intention. Don't bother, I am not going to be provoked by you to come closer."
"Afraid? I thought you were a God in this basement."
Said Nu peering at him with her angry eyes then gazed at Lilly that was squirming in incredible pain. She had an agreement with Noah. She watches over this woman while he investigates Black market. And she did not want to break the agreement by letting that psycho harm the girl.
As Nu looked around trying to think of something that might help them get out of this basement, Bishop suddenly stopped and gazed in the direction of stairs.
"Oh? Looks like we have other guests tonight. You really are a useless trash Theron. I gave you the exact location yet you managed to catch villagers attention and even brought a tail with you." Said Bishop spitting on the ex-nosferatu lying on the floor before walking up the stairs and exiting the basement.
*****
Noah's team did not need to enter the village as they knew exactly where to go thanks to Noah's lock on view skill that he spied on Theron's team with. They went directly for the kirk, passing by the village unnoticed by its inhabitants. However when they were almost at the entrance he suddenly ordered the spiders to a stop, while peering into the darkness.
"We are not your enemy." Said loudly Noah looking around. "Our team is on a mission from adventurers guild."
"What could an adventurer team need in a safe region?" Asked a rough male's voice from a dark forest.
"We are following a Vampire with his servitors, who pretend to be a noble."
"What bullshit are you spouting boy?" Came back a reply from the forest.
"He slipped from the danger region under the disguise and hid in a safe region bringing many victims in different villages until he was found. The guild sent our team for an investigation but that bastard managed to slip away right before we exposed him. We followed him for days before we reached here." Lied Noah mixing a bit of truth into his lie.
A silence spread in the forest after his words but Noah could hear some murmurs.
"How did he look?" Came back the voice a few moments later.
"Two carriages with Honorable Vespertine Household insignia. Stolen from an esteemed noble on the road. We are sure they should have passed here just a few moments prior." Said Noah.
"Show me your guild card." Said the sturdy looking man in dark armor walking out of the forest's lush but did not approach the team warrily gazing at the huge spiders.
"May I know who you are and why you wait in an ambush on this road?" Asked Noah. He knew who they were but he had to keep up the appearance of ignorance.
"My name is Mark. I am the village chief of the nearby Silver Gale village." Answered the man with his hand on the sword handle.
Jumping off the spider, Noah took out his guild card and walked forward.
"I am Tamer affiliated with Greenville town's adventurers guilds branch. These are my tamed beasts. They will not harm you." Explained Noah showing his card to the man that carefully studied the card and Noah's face, attentively, searching for any signs of fraud.
"Noah Lewenred? Greenville town you say? The one near the Great Tree Labyrinth on the outskirts of Western region? It's damn far from western region you got. How the hell could a vamp get so deep into the kingdom territory."
"It's not just a vamp. It's a Nosferatu." Said Noah as the eyes of the man in front of him widened.
"Highest class vampire? You are saying it got here?" Suddenly exclaimed the woman looking to be in her late fifties, jumping out of the forest. Once she was out a group of six more armed people showed up after her, all looking mean and dangerous.
"Yes. We have confirmed that he can walk under the sun without any trouble." Answered Noah.
"Fuck! If this is true, father Benedict may not be enough to take care of him! The barriers so deep in safe regions are not so strong to hold against high class monsters. The kids are in danger! We must hurry to the kirk."
"Kids?" Asked Noah pretending to not be aware of the situation. These were the same people that Theron asked for directions at the village. As Noah spied on Theron's group the whole time they traveled, after Theron made his way to the kirk he opened another screen with his lock on screen view to hold these people under surveillance, to make sure they would not pose any danger. It paid off to be careful as he heard their every word when they discussed their actions back then.
Noah already knew they would cross paths here with this team of retired adventurers, but right now he had to make it seem that he was a usual Tamer to not lose time on unnecessary suspicions from them.
"All nearby village kids had a study session with Father Benedict at the kirk today. We must save them!" Answered the woman.
"We would be glad to get help from retired adventurers of your grade. I assume you were at least a B-ranked team when you were active?"
"You seem overly astute for a G-ranked brat." Said the man gazing into Noah's eyes as if searching for the traces of the act. He was clearly still suspicious of their team.
"I am recognized for my rangers skills rather than the fight skills, which also brought me to participate even on A-ranked mission as you may see from my guild card." Said Noah.
"And your companions?" Asked the man gazing behind Noah sensing that the strength they packed may have been no less that his own companions
"They are the hard muscles of this mission. The Guild gave them to me as guards on this recon mission. But as you can see our investigation went very bad. One of our companions got captured and one hurt quite badly. I am acting as team leader for now. So have we cleared ourselves enough? Also you did not answer my question. I assume you were quite a well renowned adventurers team that now retired in the…what was it? Silver Gale village? Sounds like it's been named after an adventurer team. If you are so good to have a village name after you lot, it's not hard to assume you were at least a B-class team. But the fact that I spotted you guys so easily tells me that you are not at A-class rank, unless of course you guys lost your touch quite a bit.
The man smirked at Noah from hearing his explanation.
"Good to know guild still has promising youths. What I've been hearing in the recent years did not sound well. Yeah we've been high up the B-rank class at our prime. But it was decades ago." Said the man. "But there's no time to waste on idle chatter, I'll trust on your words for now, boy as it seems we are tight on time. Let's get to the kirk as fast as we can. If what you said is true about the Nosferatu, it may be that they need our help as fast as possible."
"We should approach with caution, though." Said Noah. The situation with the kirk and father Benedict they spoke of was quite strange. First it was quite dangerous because something blocked Noah's skill and their approach could have been already exposed. And second was that Theron was no doubt searching for that father Benedict for a reason. Most likely that bishop was an enemy and if they barged in without realizing the situation they risked getting into the trap. "If we barge in without knowing the situation inside we might bring more harm to the kids instead of helping…" is what Noah said to these people aloud.
The man nodded with a dark face, while the woman at his side bit her lower lip with force giving a barely discernible nod of agreement. Her anger and frustration was understandable as it's her granddaughter was the one out there face to face with a man eating monster.
*****
It was eerily silent around the kirk. Noah spotted the two carriages parked at the side at his eyebrows creased. It wasn't the fact that not a single servant was left to look after the horses that stood out the most but the fact that there were no horses.
Kirk had no stall or place where horses could be put. It was just a small building for people to pray and a small living space for the local bishop. Yet there was no doubt that two carriages came here pulled by the horses. Would they let them free? What for? This was nonsense.
The strangeness of this situation made Noah's suspicion toward the reasons for Theron's coming here deepen. Who was this bishop? Why Theron came here and why he needed Lilly so much. Also why would something go wrong in his plan wrong?
It was obvious that something did go wrong as there was no way Theron was planning to stay here for long. But with no horses and a team of servants at his side, would he leave on his own two legs? No. Whatever he was planning to do here seemed to go very wrong and now Noah only hoped that Lilly was still alive and well, because otherwise he wouldn't know how to look Samantha in the eyes in the best circumstances, but most likely gaining himself a mortal enemy in the worst.
Time was of the essence now. They arrived here quite quickly and there was still a high chance that Lily was still alive, but with every passing second that chance quickly diminished. And gazing at the Samantha's darkening face at his side Noah could figure that she was of the same thought as him.
"The barrier seems to be still active." Said the woman from the retired adventurers team. Her name was Milla as Noah heard from their discussion when he spied on them but as they did not introduce themselves well before coming here, he made sure to not use any names. She turned to look at Noah measuring him with her gaze. It was obvious she hoped his story was a lie as her granddaughter was inside and it seemed that there were no fight scenes here. If they tried to break in it may be they would be the ones letting the true enemy inside instead.
Her suspicion was explainable. A monster should have triggered the barrier around the kirk. It may be a rural place, but the church was adamant on protecting their face. Even this kind of small kirk had a decent protection. Nosferatu would have to force his way in and that would leave some obvious traces. Yet there was none here. What she did not know was that Therons and his people were most likely let in without a fight, and Noah did not want to explain to them that this bishop that they trusted with their grandkids teaching, most likely was an enemy as well.
"This could only mean they were let in." Answered Noah looking back at her. "Servitors are humans and they could find a way to force the bishop to comply. Taking kids as hostages would be a decent leverage, don't you agree?"
The woman went silent turning to look back at the kirk.
"He is right, Milla. And this scene looks strange enough for me to trust him for now. There is no way that a noble would have let his horses go. There is only one explanation I can give right now."
"They were eaten." Murmured Samantha at Noah's side.
"Yeah." Said Noah. "Vamps can regenerate quite quickly as long as they have enough source to reconstruct their cells from. We'll most likely find their carcasses inside."
"And not only their…" Said Brianna
"What?" Asked Milla shocked.
"Would the vamps eat horses that are useful to pull carriage if they have their servants. They treat humans no differently than food. Servants obviously the first choice to eat. Yet they used horses…" added Brianna.
"Oh no! Emmy!" Exclaimed Milla with her eyes wide before suddenly rushing out of the forest toward the kirk.
"Fuck! Milla wait!" Hissed Mark rushing out after the woman followed by his old teammates
Noah understood her feelings and could only sigh when he looked at Bri. Milla did not think of the situation in the same key, obviously underestimating vampires. But once Brianna pointed out what others did not say a sense of dread downed on the woman. If even horses were used, what of her granddaughter and other kids that were inside. There was no way she would have reacted adequately in this situation.
"What?" Asked Brianna looking back at him. "Someone has to check for traps. Let it be them." She said with a straight face.
Noah opened his mouth to say something but then closed it back. It was cruel to force these people to take the role of vanguard plunging into danger without information, by playing on the feelings of the poor woman. But then Noah realized that Brianna was not human. She was a monster and their lives don't matter to her a single penny compared to her mate's. She would rather have others risk their lives than her mate. Trying to reason with her based on his morals was stupid. Monster had other standards. So he only sighed again.