Volume 6, Chapter 40 – The Fallen Turned Beast

Rushing out of the tavern, Evelyn ran straight for the street without looking back. But the screams had already stopped. Unable to find her target, Evelyn spat and randomly grabbed a nearby man.

“Which direction did the sound come from!”

Intimidated by Evelyn’s presence, the man pointed with a trembling hand towards an alley and stammered.

“L-Left.”

Evelyn immediately looked in the direction the man had pointed. There was nothing suspicious in the gray, deep alley, as if the perpetrator had already fled.

“Tsk.”

Letting go of the man, Evelyn plunged into the deep alley. Yisi and Camilla, who had come out a step later, also quickly followed. Considering the possibility of a bloody scene, Yisi ordered Mary to stay in her room, preferably not leaving Edith’s side for a moment.

With no forks in the road, Evelyn soon found the place where the screams had come from.

It was in the backstreet of the inn, at least a hundred meters away.

A rather tragic scene.

What was presumably a corpse lay on the ground. The surrounding walls and puddles were covered in blood. Fragments of organs were stuck to the walls, and the rich, nauseating smell of blood filled her nostrils. Yisi couldn’t help but be glad that she hadn’t brought Mary with her.

If she had been constantly watching the Omniscient Map, the tragedy might have been avoided. Yisi’s heart sank slightly. Although she knew this was impossible—even machines that didn’t need sleep required rest, let alone a human who had to sleep—but even so, the thought would still occasionally flash through her mind.

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If she had the identity of a police officer, she would surely be so consumed with guilt over the cases that happened every day that she couldn’t even lift her head. Making an untimely joke in her mind, as if to expel all the foul air from her chest, Yisi let out a long sigh, took a step forward, and patted Evelyn’s shoulder. The latter’s expression was unusually ferocious, reminiscent of a beast that would pounce and kill at any moment.

“Are you alright?”

The moment Yisi’s hand touched Evelyn’s shoulder, she clearly felt a murderous intent from her. However, after Evelyn’s brain processed that Yisi was not an enemy, the ferocious aura around her gradually dissipated.

Evelyn must have been reminded of her childhood self. Because her father had kindly harbored a Fallen, her family’s future was completely destroyed by them. When such a thing happened again before her eyes, Evelyn naturally would not stand by and do nothing.

Evelyn shook her head, her silver pigtails swaying slightly.

“…Hah, this tragic state is no longer a simple murder.”

Like prey gnawed on by a pack of wolves, or as if a giant arm had pierced through its abdomen, grabbed hold, and brutally torn out its flesh, the being that was once a woman was now just a tattered corpse. The pale white ribs and the still-warm internal organs exposed to the air were a sight that anyone who saw it would never forget for the rest of their lives.

The foul smell of blood made Camilla cover her nose and frown repeatedly.

“A beast? A werewolf could produce the current effect. They like to devour internal organs.”

“Impossible. The city guards might overlook a Fallen, but they would never let a werewolf into the city. Besides, Mary mentioned a Fallen—” Halfway through her sentence, Evelyn held the Staff of Divine Retribution horizontally in front of her. “I’m afraid it’s a Fallen who has already gone berserk. This kind of thing is not uncommon. That Fallen shouldn’t have run too far. □□□—[Hawk’s Eye].”

As Evelyn finished her incantation, an imperceptible transparent ripple spread out from the Staff of Divine Retribution. When the water-wave-like transparent ripples touched the walls, the waves would return along the path they came, feeding back information to Evelyn.

The principle was similar to radar.

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But it could only be used when there were not many people around.

Sensing that Evelyn had closed her eyes and begun to use her detection magic, Camilla, who was not on good terms with her, held her breath and became vigilant of her surroundings.

And immediately after that, a squad of five paladins, who had arrived a beat later after hearing the sound, also entered the alley. When they saw the corpse in front of Evelyn, everyone’s face turned pale.

Yisi made a shushing gesture to the paladins.

“Evelyn is looking for the Fallen. Don’t make a sound.”

“W-We know…”

However, just as the leading paladin’s words fell, the paladin at the very back of the team finally couldn’t stand the bloody scene and threw up.

“Ugh—”

A paladin explained sheepishly.

“Many of us here have just become paladins, so…”

“Above!”

Forcibly interrupting the paladin’s words, Evelyn suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze fixed directly above the alley. It was at that moment that a black shadow loomed over the paladins’ heads.

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It was the Fallen.

Just as Evelyn had said, what jumped down from the roof was a male Fallen whose dark red markings had spread to his forehead, and who had already gone berserk. The man’s face was ferocious, and his blood-stained, pale white teeth were exposed. Like a beast, he pounced from the air towards the vomiting paladin.

“Get out of the way!”

“□□□—[Ice Lance].”

While the paladins were scattering in a hurry, Camilla, who had already entered a state of vigilance, finished her incantation. A meter-long cyan-colored ice lance instantly flew towards the pouncing Fallen. If he didn’t dodge, this spear would directly take his head. However, although a Fallen who had gone berserk had lost their reason, their perception of danger had become much sharper.

The man made an incomprehensible strange sound in his mouth. Before the ice lance could touch him, it changed direction on its own and shot towards an empty wall.

Snap.

It turned to dust in the blink of an eye.

“Be careful, his ability is to deflect ranged attacks. He was among the people who ambushed me before. Try to use close combat!”

“Yes!”

Although they had not been on a formal battlefield, the paladins were not novices without combat training. After hearing Evelyn’s command, they all drew their longswords and, divided into two groups, surrounded the Fallen who had landed on the ground.

Yisi couldn’t help but look up at the roofs on both sides of the alley—they were at least ten meters high. An ordinary person jumping from this height would definitely break a bone, if not die. But the four-legged Fallen was like a wild cat. Even the sound of his landing was very soft. He scanned the Fallen from left to right with a vigilant and aggressive gaze.

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“Attack!”

“Gaga!”

Has he lost the ability to speak…

This was the first time Yisi had seen a completely out-of-control Fallen. She protected Camilla behind her and let the situation develop on its own.

Several longswords slashed at the surrounded Fallen in the middle at the same time. But the Fallen, as if he had eyes all over his body, used his small size to his advantage and weaved between the blades, narrowly avoiding the longswords. Then, taking advantage of the moment when the paladins were retracting their strength, he pounced on the paladin who had little strength left from vomiting before. His movements no longer resembled those of a human; he had completely turned into a beast.

“Gah!”

The man who was pounced on let out a cry of surprise. As if enjoying the man’s panic, the Fallen grinned, revealing a cruel smile. Then he raised his right hand—his five fingers were twisted and deformed, and his nails had become long and thin, no different from animal claws—and stabbed fiercely at the man’s neck.

“S-Save me!”

“Die!”

One of the paladins standing by shouted at the Fallen, now probably better called a beast, and swung his sword at the beast’s waist. The fierce force seemed to be about to cut the beast in half. But the beast, who had sensed the danger in advance, immediately let go of the paladin, leaped with all four limbs, used the surrounding walls as a pivot, and turned nimbly in the air, opening its mouth wide and hugging the knight who was swinging his sword at him, as if it would bite off the knight’s neck as soon as it made contact.

Evelyn, who had her magic ready, had been waiting for a long time.

“□□——[Holy Suppression].”