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Chapter : 35
Poisonous Miasma
The Guard Knights formed a defensive line, backs pressed together.
“What—what is this?!”
“Why are monsters coming out inside the Imperial City?! There—there’s a breach! Someone call for reinforcements, anyone!”
“There! Another breakthrough! Six o’clock direction!”
What burst up from beneath the ground was a lizard.
“A tail lizard?! Aren’t those things supposed to live near filthy wells?! Why are these lunatics crawling around here?! Block them! Risk your lives and stop them! Don’t let these monsters escape outside!”
A lizard with bones protruding from its back lashed out with its tail, raking a tree apart.
The ground caved in where its webbed footprints landed.
They were larger than a bear’s paw.
Viscous fluid dripped from beneath the webbing, a grotesque sight.
“Grrrk?”
The lizard twisted its head a full 180 degrees. Its eyes flipped upside down, hanging unnaturally.
“Captain! The night market is still in full swing! If those things get out looking like that, the surrounding area will turn into chaos!”
“Someone—someone call for reinforcements! If we stay like this, we’ll all die!”
When the monsters opened their mouths, a rotten stench poured out.
“Kyaaak!”
It was the reek of stagnant water. Worse yet, these monsters lived in rotting wells.
“Cover yourselves with aura! Those who can’t—hold your breath! If you don’t want to be consumed by the poison miasma, shut up and endure it!”
The knights wrapped their bodies in aura.
“S-something’s wrong with them. Are lizard monsters normally like that?”
Flesh melted and dripped from their tails.
“I—I’ve heard that high-grade monsters can look like that, but… why—why would a high-grade monster appear in the city?!”
All flesh touching bone corroded away. When the poison seeped into the ground, the soil bubbled and boiled.
“R-run aw—!”
At that moment, silence fell.
A monster lunged at a knight. It coiled its tail around its prey and slammed him straight into a wall.
“Grrk?”
The Guard Knights collapsed where they stood.
The creatures were lethally poisonous. Dark red fluid dripped from their fangs.
The ground slowly corroded under the poison.
The dirt blackened and burned away, the weeds around it shriveling and dying.
“Kyaaak…”
Someone muttered as if possessed.
“We’re going to die.”
Just as they squeezed their eyes shut—
“What are you doing, offering up your necks in front of monsters? Planning to shove your heads straight into their maws? If that’s the case, you’d be better off drowning yourselves in a bowl of water. What kind of worthless death is this?”
A torrent of biting rebukes rang out.
Benhamin leapt onto the lizard’s tail.
“Cut off the tail first.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“If you get hit defenseless by those tails, your ribs will cave in. Protect yourselves with aura. Those who can’t even protect their own bodies—fall back. You’re in the way.”
Aura-wrapped swords slashed mercilessly at the monsters’ tails.
“Burn away the poison miasma with aura as well!”
Being reptilian monsters, their scales were thick.
The monster’s eyes rolled backward and spun wildly before it twisted its neck once more in a grotesque angle.
“Kyaaak!”
The poison burned away in aura, black-red smoke billowing upward. It stung sharply, like acrid cigarette smoke.
“I thought it was strange that traces of dark magic were detected. So this is why they were lurking here.”
Benhamin severed the tails and slammed them to the ground. The cut tails twitched on their own.
“That was dangerous. If we’d been any later, we would’ve been consumed by the poison.”
Benhamin removed his robe’s hood and narrowed his eyes.
“What were you doing here?”
Among the monsters stood them—the guards.
“It—it wasn’t us! There was a drunk! He stabbed a passerby and fled, and when he shattered some glass bottle, those things crawled out of the ground!”
“This bottle, Your Majesty.”
The captain of the guard retrieved shards of glass from beneath rubble. The fragments were pitted and corroded by poison.
“It seems to be a bottle used to store poison miasma.”
“The quality is low-grade. Cheap, but strictly forbidden in the Empire nonetheless. I suppose I’ve been too quiet lately. Why are things that should never leave the market roaming the streets openly?”
Poison leaking from the monster corpses turned the ground muddy.
“Then… was it low-grade poison?”
“Low-grade poison couldn’t summon monsters like this. At most, it causes mild stinging.”
Benhamin placed the shard in his palm and withdrew his aura. His skin blackened and rotted as the poison seeped in.
“Poison that eats away flesh like this can’t be handled by something so low-grade. The container would’ve shattered before it could even hold it.”
“I understand what you mean, Your Majesty, but please take better care of your body. Who touches poison bare-handed?!”
The captain recoiled and snatched the shard away.
“Do you think your body’s made of iron?”
Benhamin narrowed his eyes.
The night market was at its liveliest.
“H-hey! Did you hear that?!”
“Hear what?”
“Didn’t the ground just shake?!”
Men drinking in the streets frowned. Wind in your lungs while drinking—what nonsense.
“Tch. Already drunk? If you’re going to get drunk, do it together. Don’t rush ahead alone! You were drinking too fast—stop now!”
“Wasn’t that a monster’s cry? I’ve heard that sound when I went on monster subjugations. Didn’t it sound like a beast…?”
They fell silent.
When nothing followed, the group snatched away the man’s bottle.
“Why bring up monsters and ruin the mood? This is the Imperial City. If something happened, the guards would’ve warned us to evacuate.”
Street stalls packed the area. People crowded together, pleasantly drunk, enjoying the night market.
The man tilted his head.
“Did I really imagine it?”
Haneli, passing nearby, met his gaze.
“….”
She turned her head away indifferently.
Her steps were neat and upright. Young acolytes followed at her side.
“Did the Pope order you to keep watch on me?”
“N-no, of course not.”
“Then stop staring. You’re making me feel like a criminal.”
Dragged out by young priests while drinking—how ridiculous.
“We’ll apologize properly later for the rudeness, High Priest.”
“It’s fine. What fault could you possibly have?”
Haneli pulled her robe over herself.
“I thought I’d finally get a long rest this time.”
They arrived in an alley behind the night market.
“Clergy like us are weak to poison miasma. Since divine power was bound by the ancient covenant, it’s incompatible with dark magic.”
“That’s enough talk. Burn it away.”
Haneli led the acolytes as she incinerated the poison.
Flames flickered at her fingertips.
Those with faint divine power showed a reddish hue.
True, untainted divine power was blue.
Haneli blanketed the area in divine power and burned it clean.
“Step back.”
“Ugh!”
“Something unclean has crawled onto the surface.”
Her arm dropped limply. Color drained from her fingertips.
“It slipped in through the dark shadows.”
Her vision slowly blurred.
“Hiding within those shadows.”
That which should never have trespassed upon this land had done so.
Things that once walked this land clawed upward from below, scraping at the ground.
Closer to death than anyone.
Parasitizing darkness.
The origin of all that is filthy and turbid.
“That thing.”
“I just want to drink and enjoy myself…”
“Now of all times?”
“I just want to gnaw on jerky and exist like that.”
To remain still like this.
But all of it was nothing more than a pitiful wish.
May that soul not grow weary.
May those cries fade.
May the lonely spirit that once wailed alone finally find silence this time.
“It’s a soul already exhausted. It was finally catching its breath, beginning to recover…”
Haneli turned her head.
“And yet, they’ll be thrown back into it.”
In the distance stood a lone man.
The guards secured the perimeter as he held his ground.
When he removed his robe, black hair fluttered softly.
He radiated a cool, dry presence—one that suited him perfectly.
“Your Majesty.”
Benhamin turned.
“What is it?”
“The monsters aside…”
Haneli tossed holy water to him.
“Are you out of your mind, touching poison with bare hands?”
Benhamin poured it over his wound, narrowing his eyes.
“Was that meant for me to hear?”
“You didn’t say a word the entire time I was burning it away. If I hadn’t spoken up, were you planning to skip treatment altogether?”
“As long as it’s treated, that’s enough.”
Detached.
Dry.
“That body won’t harden just because you abuse it like steel. You’ve always been like this—especially harsh on yourself.”
While the acolytes burned away the remaining poison, Haneli stood watch.
“His Holiness assigned me a school of troublesome little fish.”
“You complain, yet you keep them close.”
“If I shake them off, they scatter like lost minnows. Watching that is even more frustrating.”
“You’re close with them.”
“Too close. Taking care of each child isn’t easy.”
Haneli steadied her divine power.
“Please, take care of yourself. Even low-grade poison is still poison. A moment longer, and your flesh would’ve been burned away.”
“You sound just like the guards.”
“Please safeguard your body. If your path falters, I’d be the first to throw mine away—that’s why I say this.”
“A curse?”
“Advice. If the guards said the same, then it was loyal counsel. Don’t ignore the words of loyal subjects. This isn’t like when you were Crown Prince, recklessly courting death.”
Poison melts flesh. Dense poison burns away nerves and flows deep through the veins.
“Be more cautious.”
Benhamin agreed.
“How is it outside?”
“The Imperial City’s defenses weren’t breached. The outside world doesn’t know yet. With the night market in full swing, most noise is drowned out.”
Haneli withdrew her divine power.
“Will you return to the palace now?”
Benhamin nodded.
“Is the treatment complete?”
“Yes. You recover quickly by nature—it’s already healed.”
Haneli bowed.
“Please return.”
“I will.”
As Benhamin exited the alley, the waiting guards followed.
“The Empress has already returned.”
Benhamin nodded.
“It must’ve been her first outing in a while. To leave her with such a memory…”
After parting from Benhamin—
“Please board the carriage. The guards will escort you.”
Charlophe stepped onto the carriage.
The night market fireworks were at their most brilliant.
“What about His Majesty?”
“He’s dealing with the monsters. With the Emperor present, it’ll be resolved shortly. Please remove yourself from danger, Your Majesty.”
Charlophe nodded.
“Has something like this happened before?”
Most likely buried as an internal secret.
“….”
At that moment—
Kiiik. Kiiik.
Something scraped against the ground.
