Chapter 156: That Young Man


    ''Her daughter? The Spectre is her daughter?'' Calvin stared at the old woman in shock. Finally, pieces were starting to fall into ce.


    ''So that was the reason why she wasn''t trying to hurt the old woman earlier...''


    ''But if it is really the truth, then what was the old woman so afraid of?''


    ''Is she afraid of the Vige of Tulog?''


    Calvin furrowed his eyebrows.


    The enclosed circle-shaped fence system surrounding the Vige of Tulog made it so that the ce was pretty much secluded from the outside world.


    But this seclusion also meant that it wouldn''t be easy for them to harm anyone outside of the Vige since understandably, there was only one single exit where they would being from and that was pretty far from where these two wooden huts were located.


    Calvin stared at the old woman and said, "She''s your daughter?"


    "Oh, I''m sorry..."


    "I have no idea that she was rted to you..."


    "Well, I guess, I could see it since she does resemble your beauty. But anyway, everything was just a huge misunderstanding. I heard you screaming earlier, so I thought that someone out there was here to harm you, and since she just suddenly appeared..."


    "I assumed that she was the one that made you scream like that."


    "Please calm down, madame... My intentions are pure and I bear no harm..."


    Calvin had already dissipated the Emperor''s Veil and the suffocating air, detectable only to those beings attributed with evil had disappeared.


    The half-bodied woman didn''t seem to be that agitated anymore.


    She had calmed down as the old woman was giving her a tight embrace.


    Eventually, she turned to look at Calvin and eyed him from top to bottom.


    It seemed that she had recognized that everything was indeed just a misunderstanding, so she finally calmed down.


    "What do you want?"


    But the question that she asked first was riddled with nothing but coldness.


    "Why did you evene here?"


    "Seeing that you managed to almost harm my daughter, you are not just an ordinary adventurer."


    The old woman''s eyes were strangely full of rity at this moment.


    Calvin turned serious.


    "Madame..."


    "Yes, I am not just an ordinary adventurer."


    "I came here to visit the Vige of Tulog and cleanse the vige from the curse of sleeplessness..."


    He took out the Mission Order from his chest pocket and opened it in front of the old woman.


    "I am a Soldier from one of the three Judiciaries, specifically the Cavaliers."


    "I see..."


    "So you are a believer of the Goddess of Compassion and Light."


    The old woman let out a sigh, "Perhaps it is better if I told you everything."


    Calvin took a sharp breath, "May I take a guess first, Madame?"


    "Oh?" Surprised, the old woman stared at Calvin withplicated emotions on her face, "It seems that you are also quite smart, despite being only a Soldier in one of the three Judiciaries. Go on, guess... I''ll tell you if you are right."


    "I''ve noticed some clues earlier, but I''ve only confirmed it just now."


    "Madame."


    "You..."


    "You''re also a Spectre, right?"


    "Just like your daughter?"


    The old woman stared at Calvin in shock. A smile spread across her lips as her body slowly turned transparent. Then, at the very next moment, her lower body detached from her upper body and dissipated into innumerable light crystals. It turned out that the daughter was not the only Aswang...


    But mother and daughter were Aswangs!


    Calvin''s pupils constricted from the shock.


    He had predicted the old woman to be a Spectre due to the fact that she was able to touch a Spectre despite being supposedly a human. He had noticed that the old woman didn''t seem to have the Vision of a Predator, so to be able to touch a Spectre. She must also be a Spectre herself!


    "Madame Liz..."


    "You must''ve noticed the talisman ced in your hut despite it being no one to be protected in there. Well, since you must be knowledgeable about Specters. I don''t think that I should exin to you why there was a talisman in that room now that you know that I am an Aswang, right?"


    "Ah! Are you saying that..."


    "Yes, it is exactly what you think it is."


    Calvin fell silent.


    He had to take a moment to process this information that he had just received.


    Specters were beings that needed the nutrition of other Specters to involve.


    In short, to be even powerful.


    A Specter must consume.


    Madame Liz was basically saying that she ced that talisman of protection in that wooden hut so that she could protect her vulnerable lower body that any Specter could easily snack on if it was left unattended.


    But where was her lower body located?


    Simple, it was inside the stone bed.


    Her lower body must be inside the stone bed in the wooden hut where Calvin stayed earlier.


    Then, did that mean that...


    Calvin looked up to Madame Liz and she shook her head before saying.


    "I know what you are thinking."


    "My daughter''s lower body must be inside my own stone bed. That is what you are thinking, right?"


    "But no."


    "You are wrong."


    "My daughter... You must''ve already detected her resentment, right?"


    "It''s intense... And the only way for me to quench it is to find her lower body."


    "Only when I find her lower body can she let go of her resentment ande with me to reincarnate." Madame Liz let out a sigh.


    Calvin stared at Madame Liz andpared her to the half-bodied woman.


    Indeed, the wisps of Nether Qi surrounding the half-bodied woman was reeking of negativity, hatred, anger, and hopelessness. Whereas Madame Liz''s Nether Qi was radiating the light of hope, relentlessness, and the burning desire to seed in her goal.


    The stark contrast between the Nether Qi of the two must be the reason why Calvin didn''t notice that Madame Liz was a Specter earlier.


    He had been too focused on evil-attributed beings since he found out that the Vige of Tulog was under a curse.


    He tunnel-visioned and forgot to watch out for beings whose attributes were opposite of the dark.


    Calvin nodded his head and he stared at Madame Liz as if hinting for her to continue.


    "We were originally from the Vige of Tulog. A few years ago had passed since we were exiled from the vige, but the scenes from that day are still fresh in my mind."


    "It was a rainy night..."


    "The Vige was lovely, it was lively and full of life."


    "But all of these ended when that young man came to live with us."


    "One of the hunters from the vige found him unconscious outside the Vige and given our nature of hospitality and kindness to others..."


    "We did not hesitate to bring him back with us so that he could recuperate and recover."


    "But little did we know that bringing that young man would be the worst decision that we would ever make..."


    "The winters are harsh for our Vige, the smog carried by the textile and matchstick factories in Ashmelion are always blown over to our Vige creating harsher winters with snow as ck as charcoal. Whenever that snow appeared, we would almost certainly starve since it would bring with it the death of the nearby wild game that we need to survive."


    "Fortunately, just as the animals around us adapted to survive by mass migration whenever winter was about to arrive. Our Vige also thrived by hunting these games while they were in the middle of their migration. But attacking those beasts mid-migration meant that our hunters would almost certainly face a group of boars, wolves, or even foxes at once."


    "Battles would always be fierce, and not a man was clean of blood when they return from their hunt."


    "Women would cry for their husbands, while children would cry for their fathers. The elderly would help carry those crippled and dead from the harsh hunt, but all of these changed when the young man spoke up, ''Death is not the end.'' He said and with a flick of his hand, those that were crippled had instantly recovered..."


    "Even missing limbs reappeared."


    "It was as if he was a Prophet send to us by the Goddess..."


    "But his kindness wasn''t without an exchange. Every time he would heal someone he needed the sacrifice of a virgin. But since we were a vige that isted itself from the outside world. We quickly ran out of sacrifice. That was when the Vige Head decided to offer my daughter to that young man as his wife..."


    "If I was still as ignorant as I am the first time I saw his miracle, I would''ve readily agreed."


    "But I was an ignorant no more."


    "I saw what he did to those women..."


    "He sucked them all dry, from their neck, he sucked them all of their blood, and once the women were dead. He reconstructed and repaired them as their puppets. Everything fell into ce when I saw what he had done. So that was the reason why the lovely youngdy of the Vige Chief had be so cold and indifferent despite being so cheerful and lively the day before she was about to marry the young man."


    "I knew what was about to happen, so I have to act fast. It was close to impossible for us to escape without causing some kind of amotion, so the night of the wedding ceremony. I deliberately caused a fire. Under the confusion, I got my daughter out of the hall, and I dragged her away from her dream wedding without any exnation, whatsoever..."


    "I know, that was a big mistake. I should''ve told her what I have seen, but I was just too afraid that the young man might notice that there was something wrong with my daughter since she''s the type of person that would wear her heart on her sleeves. If I told her about what I have seen and she bes wary of the young man a few days before her marriage, that would be a catastrophic mistake."


    "But if I had known what she was about to do, then I should''ve told her my ns because right when we were about to escape by riding a boat on the nearby river that I had prepared beforehand. She pulled me back into the vige and told the young man that was trying to kidnap her and mess up the marriage."


    "Obviously, the young man was furious."


    "He threatened to kill me, and only after my daughter begged him to spare me did he finally decide to let go of the matter."


    "But I wasn''t willing to give up when I was so close to seeding."


    "I screamed, I yelled, and I cried out..."


    "I told everyone what I had witnessed, but no one was willing to believe me since the people whom I have seen that had been devoured by the young man was also standing within the hall where I was being punished. I knew that they were already dead. I knew that they were nothing but puppets for the young man, but without any proof. I was swiftly branded as mentally ill and was then sentenced to be exiled."


    Madame Liz stopped her exposition to take a breather.


    The half-bodied woman floating beside her seemed to be more agitated as Madame Liz revealed everything to Calvin.


    "I was unable to ept the punishment given unto me, so I screamed. I screamed all night until I finally attracted the attention of that young man once more who made me witness a scene that I would possibly never forget. Lying on the wedding bedchamber was the lifeless body of my daughter that had her blood sucked dry and her lower half severed from her body..."


    "Her lower half was nowhere to be seen. I assumed that the young man had consumed it for his sustenance and that was when I grew crazy... I attacked the young man but he was far stronger than me. Eventually, I was overwhelmed and I suffered the same fate as my daughter..."


    "I was publicly executed and my body was thrown into the pond just outside the vige."


    "When I became a Spirit, I managed to recover my body from the pond, but it was only after a few years did I realize that the young man might''ve thrown my daughter''s body into that pond too, so I would always go there every day to fish... Despite it being just a puddle anymore, I still go there to fish."


    "I know that what am I doing is futile, but what choice do I have?"


    "If I want to remain sane being so near that cursed vige, I must never lose my raison d''etre."


    Madame Liz let out a sigh.


    Calvin''s face had already turned grim.


    ''So that was the reason why she was trying to fish something out of a puddle... She was doing it to fight against the effects of the curse!''


    ''But that young man...''


    Calvin reviewed the entire Bestiary in his mind, but before he could think deeper into it.


    He suddenly found the old woman bowing in front of him.


    "Madame! Why are you....?"


    "Young man... Since fate led us to each other, please let me ask you for a favor. Since you are going to cleanse the Vige of Tulog from the curse of sleeplessness..."


    "I implore you to please find the lower body of my daughter! Only when her lower body''s found can she possibly let go of this resentment and only when that happened can I possibly be at peace."


    "I''ve wronged my daughter once by letting her marry that monster, so, please... Let me correct my mistake!"


    "I implore you, young man!"


    "Only you..."


    "Only you can help us!"


    The old woman said in a desperate voice.


    Calvin''s pupils reflected deep shock as he stared absentmindedly.


    But he wasn''t staring at the old woman.


    He was staring at a transparent window floating in front of him!


    Ding!


    [S-Tier Quest: Exodus has been unlocked!]