After dealing with the immediate trouble and earning a brief moment of rest, Morgan noticed that the one clearing the way had not set off again. Instead, he was crouched on the ground, fiddling with something. She stepped forward and could not help asking.
"Samael, what are you doing?"
"Testing a theory..."
The Ancient Serpent smiled faintly and answered gently.
She had called him by name without thinking. It seemed that after everything they had gone through together along the way, the distance between them had quietly closed quite a bit.
"A theory?"
"Catch."
Samael pushed aside the black monster's remains and casually tossed a pitch-black object to the sorceress behind him.
Morgan instinctively raised her hand, caught it, and examined it with a frown.
It was a hard black horn-like object shaped like a branch, still carrying a scorching residual heat. The naturally formed spiral patterns on it had a primitive, ancient quality that felt very familiar to her.
Only, what it contained was the aura of death and ill omen...
In a daze, the resonance brought by Britannia's blessing caused several blurred images to surface in Morgan's mind.
"Fairy motifs?"
Samael nodded slightly. He pinched up a bit of ash between his fingers and rubbed it gently, letting it fall before his eyes like fine sand. In the darkness, his serpentine vertical pupils split into cross-shaped petal patterns of light, his gaze deep and distant.
"If I'm not mistaken, they should be [Black Dogs], a type of fairy."
The Black Dog, also known as the "Demon Hound," and by the academic name Barghest, was a special kind of fairy found in England.
They often appeared as dogs with burning horn-like appendages and eyes, dragging chains as they foretold death in the city.
According to legend, when a heroic figure died, Black Dogs would emerge from the shadows, roaming the streets in packs as if caught in a frenzy.
At the same time, they were not merely fairies that foretold death, but fairies that brought death. In the wilderness, they were known for their brutality and bloodlust, frequently attacking living creatures that strayed into their territory, humans included.
"Burning appendages, crimson eyes, swirling black mist... They are indeed similar. But without mass deaths, why would they attack cities in packs?"
Morgan looked thoughtful, then frowned and shook her head.
"What if something, or some specific condition, changed them?"
"You mean they went berserk!"
With Samael's reminder, the sorceress understood at once. Then her brow tightened, and she could not help murmuring in confusion.
"But children represent new life. That runs completely against the death they pursue. Why would they abduct infants...?"
"The answer is something only they can tell us. Let's go, Your Excellency the Magus."
"No need for such affected formalities. Just call me Morgause."
"Very well, Morgause. Let's pick up the pace. We should be almost there."
Samael brushed the ashes from his hands and laughed easily. Then, gripping his sword in one hand, he moved forward to clear the path.
Morgan followed closely behind. As her wand lightly tapped the ground with each step, rippling blue-black patterns of light spread rhythmically outward, quietly probing for hidden danger.
Sure enough, those territorial, aggressive, and ferocious black monsters launched several more waves of attacks against the two intruders.
But under the combined strength of Morgan and Samael, those berserk fairies were without exception reduced to ash and scattered, dust to dust, earth to earth.
"Waaah..."
Just as the two of them pushed forward to a valley hidden beneath branches and leaves, the infant girl in Samael's arms seemed to be startled by something. Her little face turned deathly pale as she woke with a start and burst into loud crying.
Morgan hurried forward, dripping a few more drops of honey potion between the infant's lips and casting several calming spells before finally stabilizing the little one's emotions.
Samael handed the child to Morgan to look after, then stepped forward a few paces. Drawing his sword, he parted the tangled vines at the edge of the valley, revealing chunks of dark red rock and bones scattered all over the ground.
Some of the yellowed bones were larger, covered in bite marks and claw scratches. They seemed to belong to adults.
Several of the corpses had shriveled, curled limbs, no longer than a forearm.
"These are..."
Morgan froze slightly, her expression stiffening.
"Most likely."
Samael sighed helplessly, and a cold, sinister glint appeared in his eyes as he looked ahead.
As they went deeper, bone fragments lay scattered everywhere. The path looked like a mass grave dug through by wild dogs.
Threads of red-black aura filled the air, forming a miasma that spread throughout the valley. Its putrid stench was exactly the same as the smell of death on those Black Dogs.
"Roar! Roar!"
Halfway through the valley, dozens of towering black Demon Hounds, clearly elite-class monsters, roared as they charged out from the mist. The black aura swirling around them ignited into raging red-black flames, releasing an astonishing heat that seemed capable of burning life itself away.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
In an instant, sword light like falling morning stars and beams of Mana that stirred up raging Ether tides blasted forward together, brutally plowing through that narrow stretch twice over.
Dozens of Demon Hounds were torn apart by cutting wind pressure and violent Mana before they could even scream.
Under the force of the impact, the red-black fog in the valley also dispersed.
Judging from the carved rocks nearby and the orderly arrangement of the ruined logs, this seemed to be a dilapidated fairy ruin.
Red-black mycelium grew from the nearby infant corpses, crawling over the walls and the ground as it spread toward the mottled altar at the center.
A half-meter-tall lump of flesh hovered above the altar, writhing from within and giving off a muffled sound like a heartbeat.
Did those Demon Hounds abduct human infants for this?
Morgan pressed her cherry-red lips together, a trace of coldness appearing on her face as she swung her wand forward.
Screech!
Before Samael could stop her, the sharp tip of the wand had already pierced the fetal membrane formed by the lump of flesh. Dark red blood sprayed out.
At the same time, an infant with two black horns on her head, several matted strands of blond hair, and shrunken skin curled up on the cold rocky ground, trembling like a puppy just born.
"Woof..."
After struggling several times, the weak little thing still could not stand. She could only barely open her eyes and let out a low whimper.
This little creature had a blue left eye and a red right eye, a beautiful pair of mismatched pupils.
The blue was lively and intelligent, while the red was violent, radiating an intense urge to attack, as though two extremes had been fused together.
This unblessed life struggled stubbornly on the cold rocky ground, desperately trying to adapt to the world beyond the fetal membrane.
She tried to stand several times and fell several times.
Morgan stood where she was and stared for a long while. Finally, she turned to the ally beside her and asked quietly.
"Samael, do you think we should let her live?"
"It's true that this child was born tainted by sin, but in reality, she hasn't done anything. From a legal standpoint, she's innocent..."
The Ancient Serpent stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then looked at Morgan with a smile and slowly spoke.
"So why not let her live?"
"What's your reason?"
"Whether human or fairy, as long as one lives, one will make mistakes. Once she truly steps onto that path, you can sentence her to death then. Wouldn't that be perfectly reasonable?"
Under the night, Samael's expression was filled with meaning.