Chapter 170: The Sabbath
Calvin wasn''t idle either as Heisenberg and Ricardo made their escape.
There was one thing that he must do now that he had the carcass of a Corpse Eater inside this room.
Fortunately, Calvin had enough time to do what he must do.
Corpse Eaters were relentless monsters that know no pain, nor the existence of stamina. They were tireless and ruthless monsters that would chase you to the end until they had eaten your brains out. With this considered, Corpse Eaters were monsters that Calvin had always considered as a pain in the ass to deal with.
Especially due to their ridiculous regenerative capabilities. In fact, some Corpse Eaters such as the Graved Dead were able to regenerate their entire body so long as their brain stem exists. But despite this seemingly monstrous ability to recover making them an incredibly difficult enemy to deal with. Corpse Eaters still had a defined weakness.
Calvin had once authored a book about Corpse Eaters detailing his encounter with the living dead. In that book, he had noted and emphasized the existence of a particr concoction that proved so strong against the living dead that a single attack of his sword was enough to slice through their hardened skin and decapitate their heads.
The name of that concoction was the Corpse Eater Oil.
''Corpse Eaters might be tenacious bastards, yet not even the foulest living dead could withstand a de coated with the grease of their kin.''
Calvin noted in his book back then.
With how useful the Corpse Eater Oil was against the living dead. Surely, it would be expensive to create them, right?
But nope...
The Corpse Eater Oil only required a single ingredient.
A Corpse Eater.
More specifically, its skin.
If one fried a Corpse Eater''s skin with its own fat, and reduce it to a third of its size...
The foul liquid that would be left behind would surely be the Corpse Eater Oil.
Calvin would''ve loved to give Heisenberg and Ricardo a share of their own Corpse Eater Oil, but a single vial of Corpse Eater Oil was extremely time-consuming to make.
If Calvin wanted to make enough Corpse Eater Oil for him, and both Heisenberg as well as Ricardo. It would take him the entire day.
But ten minutes was enough for Calvin to coat the tip of his pen with the Corpse Eater Oil.
Unfortunately, the olddy might be a genuine Corpse Eater, but she was not even a Purveyor-Ranked monster.
Specters and other supernatural beings share the same ranking system coined by the Church of the Three Orthodox Gods. Monsters below the Purveyor-Rank were farmon than those ranked as Purveyor, and if the olddy was indeed at the Purveyor Rank.
It would''ve been impossible for Calvin to kill her earlier without the support of the Corpse Eater Oil.
The olddy''s death was a fortunate event for Calvin.
A smile crept upon his lips as he summoned his Aspect and transformed it into the shape of a dagger.
He sliced a huge chunk of skin from the olddy''s arm and then carried that skin into a nearby oilmp.
Calvin took that oilmp, removed its cover, and then ced a stone above the mes.
Then, heid the chunk of meat above the stone as an ufortable expression appeared on his face. Despite being used to smelling the foulest scent possible back then when Calvin was still roaming the Valley of Death and Sorrow.
He still felt nauseous being in close proximity with the disgusting flesh of a Corpse Eater.
As the meat sizzled, a scent that could only be described as the amalgamation of a thousand farts wafted out into the air.
Calvin had to take a step backward and nce at the olddy Cynthia whoid there with its true identity revealed.
A Witch...
Witches were feared by themon folk, not because of their mystical abilities to cause disaster and tragedy. There was no truth to their tales of midnight flights on broomsticks and their houses filled with delicious candies. In fact, themon folk feared them for their hunger and lust for flesh that was warm and fresh.
Ricardo must''ve immediately recognized the olddy''s identity and that was probably the reason why he had responded faster than Calvin and Heisenberg in the earlier scuffle.
Calvin wasn''t disgruntled by this though.
He was even relieved that Ricardo had moved that fast. If they were just a beat slower, then the Witch might''ve turned around and pounced onto one of them instead.
Witches were known for their speed and their ability to assassinate.
If ittched onto anyone, they could kill that person in just under three seconds.
Themon folk feared them for their ruthlessness, for they always tried their best to devour their prey alive and watch them suffer.
This was why the Witch became so infamous to the extent that parents even use them to scare their child off wandering at night.
"Fucking hell... Since a Witch exists here, then there must be a Sabbath..." Calvin mumbled.
Witches frequently gather in groups that themon people call as Sabbath.
It was unknown how the term itself came to light since anymon people who had witnessed a Sabbath couldn''t possibly live the next day to tell the tale. But the point here was that the Sabbath must be avoided at all costs.
Calvin opened his notebook and a rough map of the entire vige was revealed in front of his eyes.
The three of them entered the vige from the main entrance which was located in the southern part of the vige. Then, they went east, and the olddy eventually led them to this part of the vige which was directly opposite to where they discovered the olddy. In short, they weren''t that close to the vige center, but they weren''t that far either.
A grim look appeared on Calvin''s face.
The route that he gave to Heisenberg and Ricardo should be safe, but certainties didn''t exist in this world.
''What could go wrong, will go wrong.''
Calvin had survived long enough until the end of the invader''s invasion by living with this principle.
''I should probably check on those two just to make sure...'' Calvin''s eyes narrowed into slits.
He nced at the sizzling meat of Corpse Eater flesh and after noticing that sufficient oil had formed. He took his golden quill and coated its tip with the Corpse Eater Oil. Leaving the chunk of meat to sizzle and produce more oil for him when he returned, Calvin walked out of the small hut and proceeded to use the route that he gave Heisenberg and Ricardo to follow them and ensure their safe exit.
...
Heisenberg and Ricardo silently walked towards the end of the route that they had received from Calvin. None of them spoke at all, apparently embarrassed and ashamed about their cowardly conduct of exiting the vige instead of punishing the evil-doers with their own hands.
But could anyone really me them for their decision?
That was up to debate, and at this moment...
These two had no intentions to think about their pride and dignity at all.
They just wanted to live.
They didn''t want to die in this nameless ce without leaving any legacy for their families.
It was deep in the night, and not even the existence of the oilmps hanging over the closed doors of the houses that they were passing through was able to diffuse the unease in their hearts. Ricardo had his Predator Senses to back him up, and it made traversing through the night rtively easy since he could see through darkness as if he had the eyes of a cat.
Heisenberg, on the other hand, was struggling to make heads or tails in the darkness.
He was able to see through the darkness with the blessings of the Goddess, but it wasn''t as strong as the Vision of a Predator.
If aparison had to be made...
Ricardo could see everything around him in a distance of a hundred meters in diameter while in total darkness, while Heisenberg could see half of that.
In short, Ricardo''s vision was limited to a hundred meters around him while Heisenberg could only see roughly fifty meters around him.
"What are those in the distance?" Heisenberg broke the silence to ask.
Ricardo followed Heisenberg''s line of sight, and there he saw several old women dancing around a non-existence bonfire.
"Those women... What are they doing?"
"Are they dancing?" Ricardo mumbled in doubt.
"Can you identify them?" Heisenberg asked. Sweat dripped down his forehead. He could feel that the women were dangerous but as much as he wanted to avoid them. It was impossible for them to do so since the women were dancing around the southern entrance where the three of them came from.
If they turned around to use another exit, that would mean that they had to use the northern entrance which was a few hundred meters away from where they were right now. What''s worse, they would definitely need to pass through the vige center. The vige center must be where all the danger was concentrated. They must never venture there if they wanted to keep their lives.
"I can''t... I can''t identify them... But they seem to be wearing the same clothes as the Corpse Eater earlier. I think it''s safe for us to assume that these women are also Corpse Eaters."
"Yeah, no shit detective. I want to know what kind of Corpse Eaters are they! What are they? Graved Dead? Ghouls? Hags? Creepers?"
"I know... But I can''t identify them when we''re so far... All I know is that they are wearing women''s clothes..." Ricardo squinted his eyes in an effort to take as much light as possible into his retina to take a clearer look at the silhouettes dancing in the distance. But no matter how hard he tried, the silhouettes were still as fuzzy and vague as ever.
"We''ve got to move closer... I''m positive that I''ll be able to identify them if I can just catch a glimpse of what they look like behind those baggy clothes..." Heisenberg muttered.
As a Priest of the Church of All-Epassing Light...
He was more than qualified to deal with Corpse Eaters than Ricardo.
After all, it was his daily task to check the cemeteries for ghouls and exterminate them if they were present. Heisenberg was confident that he could find a suitable verse to exterminate these monsters in the gospel of the Goddess of Compassion and Light.
But that was in the condition that he had urately identified them.
If he couldn''t even identify what kind of a Corpse Eater those silhouettes were...
They might as well just turn around and regroup with Calvin or try their best to exit through the northern entrance.
"All right, let''s approach them... Stay clear of the windows and stick close to the shadows of the houses..." Ricardo advised.
"I know..." Heisenberg rolled his eyes.
Ricardo didn''t respond to Heisenberg''s clear displeasure as he needed to heighten his senses in order to react as fast as he could to any changes in the surroundings.
80 meters.
70 meters.
60 meters...
"Now that I think about it, how did you react so fast earlier? You were even faster than me." Heisenberg asked.
Ricardo revealed a smile, "It was because the moment that I saw that antenna, I was sure that the olddy was a Witch."
"Antenna?" Heisenberg asked, "Witches have antennas?"
"Yeah... By antennas, I mean that strand of hair that sticks out of their scalp the moment they abandoned their disguises. That is how you can reliably identify a Witch. That was such a close call earlier, Witches are known for their speed and assassination. If I had moved just a beat slower, then she might''ve pounced on Calvin and killed him on the spot." Ricardo was still feeling nervous about what he had done earlier.
"Are you sure that she was a Witch?" Heisenberg asked in doubt.
But his eyes were staring at the group of women dancing in the distance.
"Of course, I am! I''ve encountered one of them back at my first mission order with my colleagues and the captain... That mission sure was a nightmare, but fortunately, our captain was there and he handled those Witches for us." Ricardo beamed with a smile and looked iparably proud.
But Heisenberg was trembling.
Trembling out of fear.
"D-D-Did you say that Witches have antennas? If I recall correctly, Witches hunt in groups, right...?"
"What''s wrong with you, old man? Are you bing afraid of the dark? Hahaha, well yeah... Witches do hunt in groups, and themon people call their group as Sabbath. I have no idea how people knew that Witches hunt in groups though since my Captain always said that once anyone attracted the attention of a Sabbath, so long as they weren''t capable enough..."
"They would definitely not live the next day to tell the tale."
"T-T-Then, are you capable enough?" Heisenberg asked. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva as the fear in his eyes violently twirled.
"Capable enough to what?" Ricardo furrowed his eyebrows, "Just what the hell are you talking about? Wait... what are you looking at?"
Ricardo followed Heisenberg''s line of sight and his pupils immediately constricted.
His face paled and his lungs seemed to have lost the function to breathe.
"W-W-Witches! S-S-Since they are in a group... I-I-I-It''s the Sabbath!"
Ricardo finally discovered the identities of the figures dancing around in the distance. The strand of hair sticking out of their scalps were just too catchy to ignore. What''s worse, the moment Ricardo revealed the true identities of these women. The Witches seemed to have smelled the stench of fearing from their bodies.
The Witches froze and turned their heads to look right into Ricardo and Heisenberg''s eyes.
Death...
The two felt like death itself was staring right into their very soul, making them feel helpless and naked.
Then, in the very next moment...
The Witches opened their mouths and let out a piercing shriek that seemed to sound their death knells.
"WAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"