After a brief struggle, she seemed to have reached some determination and patted her undeveloped, youthful chest.
"Then I'll take you there! Night is the easiest time to get lost; without a guide, it's easy to run into danger."
Flamel stood up from the wheelchair, took Haida's hand, and led her into this nameless town.
Taking advantage of this interval, Haida also had time to observe this suddenly appearing young girl in more detail.
Apart from having an appearance nearly identical to Dr. Fran's, there were also some differences between the two.
Flamel had no suture lines on her wrists and neck, nor did she have fluffy white ear feathers at her hairline. Like an uncut piece of jade, not yet bearing the characteristics of that doctor.
After the malevolent darkness descended, the streets were covered with rusted iron grids. Black liquid slowly dripped onto the ground, filthy and sticky, whether it was oil or rotten blood. Broken corpses lay scattered in every corner, crawling with flies and maggots.
As if a nightmare abyssal hell.
Haida could very clearly feel a sense of being watched from the shadows of every corner. But no monster dared to step out of the shadows to test the edge of the power sword 'Nirvana' with their lives.
Flamel, leading Haida, very carefully and earnestly avoided the wandering monsters. Her bare feet stepped on the rust-red ground, silently.
As the two passed by an alley at a street corner, they unavoidably encountered several "Straitjackets" hiding in the shadows. Haida promptly used the power sword 'Nirvana' to cut them all into pieces.
Watching Haida wield her sword cleanly, Flamel opened her eyes wide with some surprise.
"Sister Haida is so amazing! Whenever I encounter these monsters, I just want to stay far away."
"...It's not difficult; they are actually quite fragile."
Being so sincerely praised by a girl with Fran's face, even Haida, given her personality, felt somewhat inexplicably embarrassed.
The high-level Evil Spawn she usually faced mostly possessed tenacious vitality and high-speed regeneration; even after destroying vital points, she needed to tirelessly finish them off... Encountering monsters that died with one sword strike, she really felt a bit unaccustomed for a moment.
Flamel peeked her head out from the alley entrance to look around. When she returned, she already understood the forward route.
"After passing through two more blocks, we'll reach Hishem Hospital. We need to be even more careful on the way."
Her tone carried some gravity.
"Because 'she' is wandering outside the hospital. Although Sister Haida is very skilled with a sword... no matter how skilled someone is, they shouldn't be her enemy."
Before Flamel finished speaking, Haida quickly reached out and covered both her own and Flamel's mouths.
Haida's psychic sense screamed in her mind. Overloaded blood slid from the corners of her eyes, forming two tear tracks.
A dangerous omen spread from her spine deep into her limbs and bones, almost making her heart stop. The whisper of death was as if in her ear; even when facing the Cup's Servant, she hadn't felt this way.
Thud.
Heavy footsteps crushed the street.
With each step forward, the rusted iron ground creaked with a groan of unbearable weight.
Under the faint, lingering fire's illumination, "she" also revealed her figure.
— That was a colossus larger than a tower.
The remains of tens of thousands of dead formed its body. Creeping, spreading sickly green fungal mats wove its crown-robes. Constantly mutating living beings fused with each other, coiling into rings, falling on its head... forming its lofty crown.
—
A body of the dead, a crown of the living—what exactly was that thing?
Haida did not know, nor did she understand.
All she could do was follow her survival instinct: suppress breathing, slow her heartbeat, maintain maximum silence... until the other party left.
Was Haida afraid of death? The answer was probably negative.
As a Burial Attendant, even when fighting Evil Spawn to the last moment in the North District's snowy night alley, she hadn't felt fear, just somewhat unwilling.
But that didn't mean she would waste her life meaninglessly.
If she rashly confronted that towering colossus now, the outcome would likely only be becoming one of the living remains adorning its crown.
Flamel's first reaction when having her mouth covered and being held in Haida's arms was to struggle and panic.
This girl seemed to intensely dislike being restrained. Haida's actions seemed to awaken painful memories she didn't want to recall.
But with her almost petite arms... she obviously couldn't break free from Haida's embrace.
Flamel raised her head with some displeasure, then felt a drop of liquid fall on her cheek.
The sensation was dense and warm, carrying a hint of blood-sweetness lingering at the tip of her nose... That was the bloody tears sliding from Haida's eye corners.
Even just glimpsing the colossus's shadow by the lingering fire burning on the rusted iron, this Burial Attendant's psychic sense had reached the brink of collapse. Bloody tears were one of the most intense symptoms of psychic sense affecting the body.
Hence the saying, "The eyes are the windows to the soul."
Blood... Was she injured?
Flamel's initial struggle was just a stress reaction from being caught off guard, like a feline's instinctive displeasure when suddenly picked up.
Realizing there was no malice in Haida's actions, the girl pressed her lips together and, as if deflated, let herself be held like this.
Although separated by a layer of tough leather armor under the sister's robe, Haida's body still carried a soft warmth; the rhythmic thumping of her heart was close to her ear.
Time flowed slowly, every second long and almost agonizing.
Only when that terrifying giant finally disappeared at the end of the street did Haida release Flamel and gradually lift the previously near-absolute quiet state.
"Sister, you scared me."
Flamel's words carried some reproach, but her pale cheeks also held some shy crimson.
Whether due to having her mouth covered for a long time or some other reason.
Haida's gray-chestnut eyes narrowed slightly, her expression subtle.
Although Flamel was a younger version of Dr. Fran, and the two were quite different... Seeing the emotion "shyness" on this face that seemed to forever maintain a smile still made her feel somewhat unreal.
"Sorry, Flamel. I didn't have time to think about the situation earlier."
Dispelling some scattered thoughts, Haida honestly expressed her apology.
Even if unintentionally offending others, one must sincerely apologize and seek their understanding. This was her consistent style in dealing with people, also the basic etiquette upheld by Secrets-Hunters.
"...I'll forgive you this time, but next time tell me beforehand."
As she spoke, Flamel raised the long sleeve of her straitjacket to wipe the tear tracks formed by blood on Haida's cheek.
"Cough! Cough..."
With her spirit slightly relaxed, Haida weakly began to gasp softly.
This was the first time she felt her psychic sense nearly burst.
Although Haida had encountered many almost godlike transcendent beings during previous house calls, Fran was usually present then.
This doctor seemed able to weaken most mental influences around her. Probably the effect of that brass pocket watch.
Haida adjusted her breathing and asked Flamel about the monster that had just crushed past the roadside.
"Do you know what exactly 'she' is?"
She didn't expect this strange girl to give her an accurate answer, but from her earlier conversation... Flamel seemed to have some understanding of this colossus-like monster.
"I'm not sure either, only know she's been wandering here for a very long time."
The girl raised her eyebrows, trying hard to recall.
"This monster eats all living things she encounters, very terrifying. But she seems to only feed passively; if you don't run into her head-on, there's no danger. Even if discovered, there's a chance to escape if you run away in time."
Flamel had now cleaned the bloodstains on Haida's face, but her gray-white sleeve also became stained with a bit of crimson.
"Why use 'she' to refer to that monster?"
Haida was quite puzzled about this. That colossus, no matter how you looked at it, didn't seem like something that could be defined by gender.
"Hmm... About that..."
Flamel extended an index finger and scratched her cheek, seeming somewhat troubled.
"Probably intuition?"
Haida nodded slightly to show she understood, not pressing further.
It had to be admitted, the personality traits Flamel displayed were at least seventy percent similar to Fran's. When facing important questions, they both almost always chose this evasive way of speaking and tried to act cute to muddle through.
Actually, Haida still had many questions, but getting answers through direct inquiry from the girl seemed impossible.
For example: Why was she so familiar with this town? What was her relationship with Fran? Facing this hellish scene, why did she not show a single trace of fear?
If Flamel were just a girl encountered by chance in the town, Haida would maintain the highest level of vigilance and caution towards her, even possibly executing her if necessary.
But if considering her as Dr. Fran after undergoing some change, then everything seemed to have an explanation...
After all, the black linked chain of Hand Reaches the Moon still connected their wrists.
Flamel placed her fingers together across her brow, looking out as if surveying the block outside the alley shadows.
"Sister Haida, since we encountered 'her,' that means we're almost at the hospital. But walking directly on the street might run into that guy again. If we run into her head-on, that wouldn't be good..."
Haida keenly caught the girl's underlying meaning.
"Meaning... there is a path that doesn't use the main street?"
"Yes." Flamel nodded with a smile.
"My initial thought was, if Sister Haida couldn't handle those small monsters like me, we'd take a risk and run straight down the main street. Though there's a chance of encountering 'her,' at least we wouldn't be trapped in a narrow terrain with no place to escape."
She blinked her amber eyes, seemingly unintentionally glancing at the power sword 'Nirvana' on Haida.
"But if you can handle the small monsters, we have more choices. Going through alleys and buildings all the way can also reach the hospital, and it's not a detour, just a more troublesome process."
"See which way Sister Haida wants to go."
"...Let's take the alleys."
After a moment's thought, Haida chose the second route.
Although taking the main road was undoubtedly the fastest, if they really encountered that monster made of the dead and living remains again... her already weakened psychic sense probably couldn't withstand a second mental collapse.
"Okay, Sister Haida."
Flamel hooked up the corner of her mouth; she also leaned towards this choice.
After all, dealing with these twisted small monsters was a mere matter of lifting a hand for Haida; naturally, there was no need to provoke that big guy.
"The next part of the journey can be done just walking in the alleys. But there are three buildings in the middle we can't avoid; must pass through the building interiors."
As if worried Haida would regret it later, she additionally added some information.
"I understand."
Haida somewhat resisted entering this unfamiliar building interior; if trapped by monsters in some narrow spot, there would likely be no room to escape.
But compared to encountering that colossus... carving a bloody path through twisted monsters didn't seem so unacceptable.
"Then let's go."
As she spoke, Flamel again took Haida's hand, nimbly and agilely weaving through the narrow, broken alleys.
Darkness, deep and profound. The entire town at this moment had turned into an oppressive, extreme abyssal hell.
Rusted iron mesh covered everything, whether walls or the floor underfoot. Broken corpses were everywhere.
These still twitching, struggling bodies; some lay on the ground, already nearly melted into mud; others hung on sharp barbed wire, like stranded, rotting dead fish.
The sky was turbid and lightless, no stars or moon visible. Only a few lingering fires unwilling to extinguish burned on the iron mesh, providing a meager amount of light and heat.
"Three."
Reaching the back door of the first building, Haida noticed three differently shaped monsters lurking in the surrounding shadows.
No facial features, faces empty and twisted, skin a dirty death-gray color. In terms of appearance alone, they were many times more horrifying than ordinary lesser evil spawn...
"Don't stray too far from me."
Issuing an instruction to Flamel behind her, she held the power sword "Nirvana" with both hands, its tip hovering, then stabbed into one of the monster's heads.
"Woo..." Its cry when injured was grotesque and bizarre, like the sob of a weeper.
As the monomolecular blade split its tough skull, grinding the contents within, the shrill cry also abruptly stopped.
"First one."
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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