Inner City Shadows

Seeing the living corpses slowly closing in with rigid steps, Rosie raised the round shield slung behind her back and drew her one-handed sword.

“Is their head the weak point?” she asked in a low voice, her gaze locked onto the slowly approaching figures.

“Run.”

Alysia didn't answer her question. She turned around cleanly and started running back the way they came.

Rosie blinked, then turned to follow.

She was a beat slower than Alysia, but once she hit her stride, her speed was by no means slow.

The living corpses let out muffled, raspy growls behind them, but their stiff legs were clearly no match for two agile living people.

The rigid figures were soon left far behind around the street corner.

Only after weaving through two cross alleys and completely isolating the sound of footsteps and growls in the darkness behind them did Alysia slow her pace.

“Those people aren't truly dead,” she said, her white breath slowly dispersing in the cold air. “The plague corrupted their bodies and turned them into living corpses, but they can still be saved.”

Rosie said in surprise, “They look like that, and you can still save them?”

Alysia shook her head. “My abilities are insufficient to save them.”

“Then who can?”

Alysia looked up, her gaze cutting through the snow-swirling, dim street toward the direction of the military camp. “The Knights blockading the city must be waiting for someone who can cure the plague to arrive.”

“Who could cure a plague of this scale?” Rosie pressed.

Her original self had been just a lowborn civilian girl who had never traveled far from home or seen much of the real world. Naturally, Rosie had no way of knowing things her predecessor didn't know.

“A High Priest of the Temple of Light, or an elven Archdruid. Only someone of that level can handle a plague like this,” Alysia answered. “Considering this is a human kingdom, I think a High Priest of Light is most likely, since the God of Light is your primary faith.”

Rosie nodded slightly in agreement.

She understood a bit about the belief system of this world.

There weren't many faiths in this world; the main pantheon consisted of Five Gods:

The God of Light symbolized justice and order.

The God of War symbolized strength and glory.

The God of Wisdom symbolized knowledge and wisdom.

The God of Nature symbolized life and balance.

The God of Art symbolized skill and emotion.

And the God of Light was indeed the dominant faith among humans, as legend claimed that the first human was created by the God of Light.

Though it was the primary human faith, religious beliefs in the North were actually quite complex.

Followers of all Five Gods could be found, along with various niche faiths.

Even her predecessor's gambling addict of a father worshipped the God of Wisdom, believing it would help him calculate odds at the casino...

The reason behind this chaotic mix of faiths was simple: imperial power reigned supreme!

The Norman royal family intentionally fostered this environment to suppress divine authority.

Furthermore, the Temple of Light was nowhere near as dominant as the monotheistic church from her previous life.

Thus, the entire kingdom only possessed a handful of small Temples of Light, usually staffed by just a few clerics keeping up appearances.

To request a High Priest of Light, one would have to go to the Grand Temple of Light in the Holy Kingdom.

Even if the Grand Temple attached no conditions and the High Priest set out immediately upon receiving the news, reaching Stratholme would still take a month.

Of course, going without conditions was impossible, so the High Priest's arrival would only be later.

Rosie pondered this quietly.

In any case, religious stuff had nothing to do with her.

She had been a staunch materialist in her past life, and now she only trusted her Adventure Guide.

As for gods, that depended on what benefits they could bring. If needed, she could be a believer for a moment.

Just then, Alysia pulled an emerald-green seed from inside her black cloak and handed it to Rosie.

“Keep this on you. Before it completely withers, it can prevent you from being infected by the plague.”

Rosie took the seed. It felt slightly warm to the touch—so much so that she squeezed it to confirm her sense of touch wasn't playing tricks on her.

She carefully tucked the seed into her inner pocket against her chest. “Thanks.”

Alysia nodded slightly, her tone as calm as ever. “You're welcome. Let's go.”

The two set off once again. This time they changed their strategy, no longer walking openly down the empty main streets, but staying in the shadows of the buildings as much as possible.

Whenever they encountered plague-infected victims wandering aimlessly along the streets, they gave them a wide berth ahead of time.

They made it through without incident.

When they crossed the last intersection, the inner city walls appeared ahead.

Shrouded in darkness, the inner city's heavy gates were tightly shut, with no sound coming from behind them.

The battlements above the gate cast a jagged outline in the night, devoid of any patrolling guards.

It went without saying that after the plague broke out, the high-ranking officials and nobles of the inner city, terrified of infection, had immediately severed passage between the inner and outer cities, shutting the commoners outside the walls.

However, judging from what Rosie had seen along the way since entering the city, the inner city had likely fallen long ago as well.

Alysia walked straight to a relatively low section of the wall beside the city gate, crouched down, pulled a seed from her black cloak as usual, pressed it into the soil, and softly incanted a spell.

Moments later, vines climbed up over the wall.

Alysia climbed up first as before, and Rosie followed closely, scrambling up hand over foot along the vine to peer inside.

Then she froze.

The scene in the inner city was completely different from the outer city.

Although the outer city streets were dead silent, they were at least intact.

The inner city was a totally different story.

The streets were littered with shattered wood and pottery shards, with overturned lampposts, capsized carts, and debris scattered everywhere.

Most striking were the mangled corpses on the ground.

Dark brown stains smeared the walls, ground, and steps, some already dried and blackened.

It looked as if a tragic, desperate battle had been fought here.

Even the falling snow couldn't entirely cover the tracks.

Alysia slid down from the top of the wall, landing lightly on the inner city street.

Rosie checked the height and sensibly walked toward the stone stairs nearby.

The elf crouched beside a mutilated corpse, observing it carefully for a moment.

She stood up and said to Rosie, who had just come down the stone stairs, “This was caused by biting and devouring.”

“Biting and devouring? Eating people?” Rosie's mouth twitched.

Alysia didn't answer Rosie directly. Her gaze passed over Rosie's shoulder, looking toward the end of another nearby street.

Rosie turned to look as well.

In the darkness, three figures were moving.

They hovered on all fours among the shadows of the walls and ground, like beasts foraging in the dark.

“If I'm not mistaken...” Alysia's voice dropped extremely low. “Those should be ghouls.”

Just as her words fell, the hunched figures in the shadows froze simultaneously.

Then, as if receiving a single signal, their four limbs sprinted across the ground in rapid succession, charging toward their position.

The sharp sound of air being split suddenly rang through the quiet street.

Rosie had just drawn her one-handed sword when a crossbow bolt abruptly sprouted from the forehead of the lead ghoul.

Someone's here?!