Under other circumstances, these undead creatures would exhibit extraordinary resilience. Even with their bodies hollowed out, they would only perish after their life force was completely depleted.
Terence breathed a sigh of relief, the deep frown on his brow easing slightly.
"If it's a vampire, it is indeed possible for them to linger for a while after sustaining such severe injuries."
However, as another question arose, his expression couldn't help but grow serious again.
"But ever since the 'Budding Moon Covenant,' the Blood Kin are no longer considered 'Heterodox.' How could they appear here?"
"Huff, huff..."
At that moment, the dissolving vampire corpse on the ground let out a resentful, maddened screech. It had distinctly sensed the fresh, sweet scent of flesh lingering in its mouth, so close... yet it vanished completely in an instant.
Moreover, that sudden, violent bite had exhausted its last bit of vitality. Death followed immediately.
"Sister Haida, sampling is complete. Proceed with the neutralization."
Fran yawned, clearly having lost interest in these constantly foul-smelling dissolving corpses.
"Right."
Haida lifted her black nun's habit, loaded her magazine with silver-core bullets, and gave each dissolving corpse a final shot.
Gunfire flashed. These bodies, already presumed dead, emitted final howls before truly dying.
"Although we've figured out what these 'corpses' are... why are they in this half-alive state, with all their internal organs fused together?"
Child, who had remained silent throughout, now raised his hand politely to ask.
He didn't ask about the headless bodies. That was clearly the Chief Hunter's handiwork... Ahern had been here, a fact everyone tacitly acknowledged.
As the only coroner present, his question obviously fell to Fran to answer.
"They suffered physical damage so severe it exceeded their self-healing capacity, preventing full recovery. Yet their organs retained extremely high vitality..."
"Consequently, abnormally proliferating cells formed a large amount of 'scar tissue,' encasing and fusing all the internal organs together."
As she spoke, she picked up the scalpel and pointed at the mangled wound on the dissolving corpse's carotid artery.
"Fang marks from the Blood Gift—the simple ritual for converting lower-grade vampires. Commonly known as 'Blood Servants.'"
Terence had already pieced together the general outline of events.
A sliver of cold anger welled up silently. However, he suppressed the emotion and didn't show it.
"So, these dissolving vampire corpses are all transformed from previous missing persons..."
"Correct." Fran nodded.
"Only a high-ranking Blood Kin can perform the Blood Gift conversion so easily. This means... a rather rule-breaking individual has been here."
Professor Terence lightly touched the painfully burning holy symbol scar on the back of his hand, his gaze carrying a hint of gloom.
"I'm quite curious which 'Moon's Favored' is so eager to court death by breaking the covenant."
At the dawn of this millennium, the Blood Kin, under the Budding Moon, betrayed the great mother who presided over consumption and torment, left the Heterodox sequence, and ultimately pledged allegiance to the goddess dancing alone under the cobalt-blue moonlight, raising her skirt.
It was with the assistance of the Pure White Cup that they managed to change their old faith. Therefore, the existing Blood Kin have an ancient covenant with the White Cup cult... a secret known to nearly every Error-Purger.
To so brazenly create Blood Servants within Norlington is undoubtedly a transgression and provocation against the covenant.
After brief contemplation, Haida spoke.
"Professor Terence. Vivian and I previously had contact with a Blood Kin. After sustaining heavy injuries, he used [Blood Transformation] to hide in the sewers. The earlier cases of missing vagrants have also been largely confirmed as his doing."
"Please forgive me for only informing you now. According to the Burial Court's creed, confidential information can only be shared with collaborators after confirming the mission's direct relevance to it."
Terence nodded slightly in acceptance. He was somewhat familiar with the Burial Court's regulations and wasn't overly displeased.
Although Sister Haida carried the inherent meticulousness and a touch of rigidity of a Burial Attendant, she was at least someone one could communicate with. Neither a reclusive lone wolf nor a silent fanatic.
Oh, it's hard to imagine her father was a fusion of the above two, yet she turned out so normal...
"One capable of using [Blood Transformation], a Blood Kin secret art. Although we can't confirm if it's a titled high-ranking Blood Kin, it's more than sufficient to create Blood Servants."
For the White Cup cult, abnormal movements of high-ranking Blood Kin are even more important than this mission itself.
Considering this, Terence pressed Haida for more specific information.
"Did that fellow reveal his name? Did he exhibit any suspicious behavior?"
"He carried the scent of wind and sand. His reason for ambushing me was to retrieve the Sun-Forging cult's missing 'False Sun' sword."
Since the non-disclosure agreement no longer applied, Haida didn't withhold information.
A vampire looking for the Sun-Forging cult's alchemical sun? Is he seeking death? Terence was visibly taken aback. Simultaneously, he caught another key piece of information from Haida's words.
A high-ranking Blood Kin ambushed Sister Haida, was severely wounded to the point of having to use the heavily side-effected [Blood Transformation] to escape into the sewers, right?... One can imagine the situation must have been quite gruesome.
Moreover, this Blood Kin's circumstances were strange; Terence felt something was off. Consequently, his anger towards the possible covenant-breaking by the "Moon's Favored" subsided somewhat.
"At least the culprit's identity is confirmed. No matter what... we must find him."
Haida, however, seemed prepared for this.
"That is also the objective of our current reconnaissance mission."
She unfastened the portable pack on her back and took out an arm tightly wrapped in bandages.
"The Burial Court's engraver has etched hunting prayers onto this arm. It will lead us to its owner."
Not only severely injuring him but also taking one of his arms?
Although Haida wasn't deliberately showing off the trophy, Terence still felt a flicker of surprise... Compared to other hunters with similar capabilities, she was remarkably young.
Come to think of it, displaying trophies is also a tradition among the Secrets-Hunter cult's Burial Court.
For instance, after completing a certain hunt, Black Banyan would seamlessly transition from any conversation to "How did you know I just took a Deacon's head?"
Haida threw the arm covered in hunting prayers onto the ground. It immediately flexed its joints and began crawling forward using its fingers.
---
Seeking, tracking, locking on, slaughtering—the heterodox hunters of the Burial Court were experts in these arts.
The reason they were often called "Hounds" by followers of other secret cults was precisely because these individuals were extraordinarily tenacious. They were martial, relentless, and would stop at nothing...
Being spotted after exposing one's location was only the beginning of a nightmare; if lucky, there might still be a chance to escape.
But if the hunters obtained enough flesh and blood to establish a connection with the main body... the nightmare would never end until death arrived.
Professor Terence stroked his cane, looking with great curiosity at the severed arm on the ground, using its fingers to scrabble and pull itself forward.
The fragile third-category ritual [Hound Mimicry] could be directly inscribed onto the skin of an arm... The engraver who processed this arm must have possessed at least master-level ritual expertise.
Seeing the relic expert's gaze fixed on the arm on the ground, Haida proceeded to explain some currently known information.
"Professor Terence. The bones of this severed arm are entirely made of an unknown metal and are etched with encrypted prayers... Regarding the origin and content of the prayers, the Confidential Division has not yet fully deciphered them."
True to the Secrets-Hunters' consistent caution, she only revealed the "disclosable" parts.
In reality, based on the progress report submitted by the Confidential Division's cryptologist Zoparos half a month ago, it was basically confirmed these prayers originated from a branch of the ancient Attilan language family.
Simply put... this guy had deep connections with the Sun-Forging cult.
"Metal bones and prayer etching?" Terence's brows furrowed slightly, deep in thought.
Ever since the Moon's Favored knelt before the silk hem of the "Molting Moon," becoming "Moon-Listeners," they had immersed themselves in the study of spirits. This art of interfering with and transforming the flesh clearly didn't align with their area of expertise.
Of course, perhaps they had secretly ventured into this field. But rather than suspecting this without basis, it was better to focus first on the Sun-Forging cult, renowned for alchemy and forging...
"If so, perhaps this matter has nothing to do with the Moon's Favored. After all, not all Blood Kin joined the 'Budding Moon Covenant.'" Though mere speculation, this conclusion still brought Terence some relief.
The White Cup cult most despised oath-breakers. If this matter couldn't be handled properly, it could even become the spark for a covert war.
But come to think of it, sending a Blood Kin to look for the Sun-Forging cult's alchemical sun... Whoever assigned such an absurd task really had quite the imagination.
However, if the mastermind was the Sun-Forging Main Temple, then everything could be reasonably explained. In this world, only those artisans who worshipped the sun day in and day out were most likely to find a way for Blood Kin to bathe in sunlight again.
Fran remained silent, walking beside Sister Haida, her steps light, elegant, and utterly soundless.
Her pale, frost-like brows were relaxed, her expression relaxed and pleasant. Despite being in a dark, cramped sewer, she looked as if she were out for a leisurely stroll...
Under the effect of [Hound Mimicry], the severed arm had acquired some canine characteristics. Of course, it had no sense of smell and couldn't wag a tail... It was merely following the connection of shared blood to find its "owner."
The pipes of Norlington's drainage system twisted and turned, but the deeper they went, the more spacious the surroundings became. It was like entering a cold, damp underground labyrinth.
Suddenly, the arm rapidly crawling on the ground halted and began to look around restlessly.
Haida's gray-amber gaze instantly sharpened, a sliver of long-suppressed excitement quietly rising.
Burial Attendants and Heterodox hunters maintained restraint most of the time, typically unleashing this lineage's inherited hunting fervor only when tracking Evil Spawn...
"Getting close." As she spoke, her nostrils flared slightly, as if catching a scent.
"There's the smell of blood nearby. Very strong."
Hearing this, Child took his waterproof-leather-wrapped sniper rifle off his back, preparing for combat. However, White Cup Error-Purgers weren't as martially inclined as hunters; their standard preparation didn't include silver bullets.
Professor Terence also tried sniffing the air a few times but gained nothing besides heavy moisture and faintly drifting decay.
What does "very strong" mean? I've always been curious how you can identify scents so precisely, given there are no olfactory-related secret arts in the Secrets-Hunter system... Oh, perhaps I'm just ignorant...
Fran stood quite obediently next to Vivian, clearly not considering herself combat personnel.
"Hiss!"
A hoarse hiss suddenly sounded. A misshapen "person" slowly emerged from the shadows of a corner. Its joints were almost completely reversed, currently back-down, hands on the ground, moving in a "bridge" posture.
"A Blood Servant, and tainted by some corruption, showing a degree of mutation." Haida didn't hesitate, firing her gun almost reflexively.
Bang!
A flash of fire, a puff of gunsmoke. The silver-core bullet etched with Secrets-Hunter prayers spiraled from the rifled barrel and instantly penetrated the Blood Servant's skull.
With a strange gurgle, the Blood Servant collapsed heavily to the ground. Dark red, thick blood and pale brain matter slowly oozed out.
Just as Haida was about to pursue in the direction it came from, a sudden change occurred.
Unnoticed, dozens of oddly shaped Blood Servants had emerged from the shadowy corners. Most were in tattered clothes, mutated, overgrown limbs hanging from their skin, soft, rotten, and swollen.
"Seventeen." With one glance, Haida had completed the count.
She wasn't interested in mowing down fodder, so she didn't draw the power sword "Nirvana." This number of low-quality enemies could simply be dispatched one by one with a pistol... Using a sword might dirty her clothes.
Haida swiftly executed her combat plan; the roar of large-caliber gunfire echoed continuously. As the seventeenth shell casing hit the ground with a crisp clink, the last standing Blood Servant also lost mobility.
"What incredible marksmanship..." Child couldn't help but voice his admiration.
Except for the first one, the other Blood Servants weren't slow-moving stationary targets. They scuttled quickly on all fours like some kind of arthropod... yet still couldn't escape being hit by silver-core bullets.
Although Child felt he could achieve similar accuracy with effort, considering his ammunition wasn't cheap, he ultimately suppressed his restless urge to fire.
The Blood Kin was nearby, close at hand...
Following the suddenly scrambling arm, Haida was the first to step into the pipe corner from which the Blood Servant had emerged. The feel of the concrete underfoot was strange, as if coated with a layer of wriggling flesh-membrane.
As her lantern dispersed the gloom, the sight that met her eyes made her pause momentarily.
This place had transformed into a fleshy breeding ground... Scattered human forms were fixed together by pale pink flesh-membrane, resembling some kind of cocoon formed from tangled blood vessels and muscles. One could even see lymph nodes squirming beneath the skin.
The cocoon probably contained over ten people. Some had already turned to rotten, dry bones; others, though pale and weak, were still breathing.
"What is this?"
Looking at the sticky, slippery pinkish flesh-colored ground, Vivian's stomach instinctively began to churn.
Terence stepped onto the flesh-membrane-covered ground with a somber expression.
"Bone-white benches, flesh-paned windows... The Red Cup's second-category ritual, [Birth-Feast Hall], typically used to gather life force. The corresponding ritual in the God-Hunting God system is [Unblemished Land]."
This somewhat rudimentary Birth-Feast Hall seemed to resonate with him, causing the Red Cup scar within the skin on the back of his hand to burn painfully.
"The scale of the ritual traces isn't large, as if temporarily constructed by one person alone... Is that vampire a 'Loyalist' who didn't change his old faith to the Red Cup?"
He observed the formation state of the entire fleshy breeding ground, his gaze carrying a hint of puzzlement.
Meanwhile, Haida had followed the arm's guidance to find Byers at the deepest part of the Birth-Feast Hall. He was wrapped in bandages, the limb lost in their first encounter having regrown.
But compared to the playful, mocking attitude from before, Byers now held a posture of almost eerie piety. He knelt on the ground, hands pressed together, tallow candles encircling him, burning quietly.
A whisper-thin prayer had gradually become clearly audible.
"Abyssal filthy land, transformed into a sanctuary by the Mother's decree. This place is a slaughterhouse for flaying skins, yet also a womb for birthing life... How honored am I, a traitor-kin who fell to the Deceptive Moon, to still offer service to Her..."
He slowly rose and turned, his gaze vacant as he looked at Haida.
"You're mad." As she spoke, Haida drew the power sword "Nirvana" from the scabbard on her back.
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T/N: Hey readers~! New Translator here! Before I say anything, I'd first like to thank the original author for creating this wonderful story. Without them, I wouldn't have the chance to share this adventure with you. I hope my translation does justice to their work, and that together, we can enjoy this story.
With that said, I'm happy to let you know I'll be uploading daily chapters. And for those who wish to support my work and gain early access, I've set up a Patreon where advanced chapters will be available.
[email protected]/PeakTL