79 Running for Dear Life

Valentine felt strangely weaker despite the fact that Jacco's War Drum was still beating with a steady rhythm. He also felt oddly thirsty and his lips were parched. He felt like drinking the sewer water at that moment to quench his thirst but held back because it was an extremely bad idea. He looked at Luuk and saw that his lips were in a similar condition to his and his face was getting paler.

"Guys, I feel very thirsty all of sudden!" shouted Jacco from the back.

"I think it's the creature's power," concluded Valentine.

The creature seemed to have the ability to suck up their power, similar to a Leyak. However, unlike a Leyak, it didn't suck up his lifeforce, only his power, and probably body moisture as well since he felt parched right now. It would be disastrous for them to prolong the fight in that condition.

The rat-snake creature had already recovered its confusion and continued charging at Jacco. Valentine could only barely got his attention by attacking its side, but as before, he didn't manage to injure the creature because of its hard feathers.

"Hiss!!"

Its attention was drawn by Valentine and it quickly headbutted the man.

Thump!

The creature's attack sent Valentine flying several meters, hitting the ground hard. It then slithered quickly with its large body towards Valentine who was lying on the ground in pain.

Luuk opened his fist and returned the intention to attack Jacco back to the creature, and after pausing for half a second, it suddenly changed direction towards the man who was beating the iron plate strapped on his stomach.

Badum! Badum!

Valentine got up from the ground with difficulty and breathed heavily. He was in much more pain now while gradually becoming weaker and weaker. Without the War Drum's effect, it would have taken him much longer than that to get back on his feet.

"We need to run!" he shouted at his teammates.

"But how? This thing is faster than us!" replied Luuk.

The more they spoke, the drier their mouths became. It made it more difficult to focus, but letting their minds wander right now would mean death. Valentine thought hard of a way out of this perilous situation.

Right now, the creature was blocking their exit. They would need to get past it to get out, and even if they managed to do so, it would still be fast enough to give a chase. They had to attract the creature's attention somehow.

Clang!

Luuk attacked the creature to get its attention so it wouldn't attack Jacco. If the War Drum stopped, their chance of getting out safely would be gone as well. It was a good thing that the giant snake-rat was easily irritable.

"Hiss!!" it hissed at Luuk and lunged at him.

Luuk tried to evade its attack but the thing was faster than him. It headbutted him and sent him flying back, hitting a wall hard. Luuk's whole body was overcome with pain, but he had to quickly get up to avoid the thing's subsequent attack.

Valentine quickly darted at the creature that was about to bite Luuk with its sharp fangs. Its attention was solely placed on its prey right in front of it without noticing the other man who was quickly getting close to it. Seizing his chance, Valentine swiftly jumped and stabbed its left eye that still remained intact.

"Squeak!!

The creature let out a cry of pain. Blood came gushing out of its left eye, splashing the man that was still holding on to the dagger that was stuck in its eye that was now blinded. Now, it had no more eyes to see with and was writhing on the ground in agony. Valentine pulled out his dagger and jumped to safety.

"Now! Run!" shouted Valentine.

Luuk and Jacco quickly seized the chance and got away from the battlefield, but Valentine stayed behind. If the three of them ran now, the creature would catch up quickly, so he had to distract it first to give his teammates a chance to widen the distance between them.

"What's his plan?" asked Jacco while running. His left hand was still beating the drum to give them more stamina while his right hand was busy keeping the candlelight burning.

"I don't know, but we can trust him," answered Luuk. He was still in pain, so he couldn't run as fast as usual.

The sound of the drum beating was getting fainter and fainter until it was completely drowned by the sound of the sewer stream. The creature didn't have any intention of chasing the two who were running away because, in front of him, there was now a single prey, which was much easier to handle than two.

Valentine, who was now alone with the creature, observed it carefully. Without its eyes, the snake-rat how had to rely on its acute sense of smell and hearing. Valentine had got an idea to fool its sense of smell; he just needed to buy time for his companions.

"Come here you little shit!" he said while spitting at the creature, provoking it.

The creature was enraged, especially since it knew Valentine was the one blinding it. It quickly got up and lunged at him with its sharp fangs, but Valentine was ready to dodge. Without its eyes, it still could move very accurately towards his standing spot, so he only barely dodged the attack. His left shoulder was still grazed and he got a flesh wound. The rat-snake creature quickly turned around, ready for a follow-up attack.

"Fuck!" he groaned and took a step back.

Without the War Drum, Valentine was getting weaker very quickly. He couldn't hold on for much longer, so he quickly ran over to the corpse near him and pulled its tattered jacket by force and put it on quickly around his right shoulder to mask his own smell. He avoided his left shoulder to avoid infection but tried to cover as much of his body as possible. He was lucky that the creature only ate the man's flesh, not the clothes. He then chanted quietly.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare my presence a secret!"

A thin yellowish mist enveloped his whole body before quickly vanishing. The rat-snake creature now couldn't distinguish Valentine from the corpse either by smell and he made no sound at all for it to pinpoint his location. It got confused and slithered carefully towards where the corpse was, sniffing around it.

Seizing his chance, Valentine stealthily moved away from the corpse towards the sewer exit, still wearing the dead man's jacket. Although already greatly reduced because the man's corpse was almost all eaten, the rotting smell still filled the whole area, so him moving away shouldn't be detected by the creature as long as he didn't make too much noise. There was something inside the jacket that was rather heavy, so he had to move carefully not to cause a rattle.

He kept moving cautiously and stealthily, slowly widening the distance between him and the thing. The rat-snake creature was still standing around the corpse, trying to look for its living prey, but couldn't find it anywhere. It didn't want to continue eating the rest of the corpse at the moment because doing so would make it vulnerable to attacks. The creature stayed on guard while sniffing about and listening intently for any source of sounds.

Once he felt that the distance was enough, Valentine quickly ran with light steps while still covered by the corpse's jacket. His Concealment covered the sounds of his footsteps, while the smell of the corpse masked his own. The creature never realized that its prey had managed to slip away.

He kept running and the farther he was from the thing, the more his condition recovered. However, he was still extremely thirsty and needed to drink water as soon as possible. He made a turn to the left and entered the narrow tunnel with a rusty iron ladder at the end. Before climbing up the ladder, he reached into the tattered jacket's pocket to find the thing that had been making it heavier, and as he had guessed, there was a wallet there. He stuffed the wallet inside his coat and got rid of the jacket. He was wearing gloves, so he wasn't worried about his fingerprints being there.

Valentine climbed up the ladder and met up with his companions who had been waiting for him. Luuk looked beat up, while Jacco's appearance was still the same as before entering the tunnel. He had been the only one safe from any attack so far. Once Valentine was out of the sewer, both Luuk and Jacco covered their noses at the same time.

"You stink!" said Luuk in disapproval.

Valentine shrugged without saying anything.

"Did you lose it?" asked Jacco worriedly; he didn't want to have to fight the creature again.

"Yes, hence, the smell," answered Valentine shortly.

Valentine's clothes and face were covered in the creature's blood, so he definitely couldn't be seen in public in that condition. He went behind the dumpster and sat down with his back against the wall.

"Make sure no one approaches," he said to the other two.

Luuk and Jacco were curious about what he was going to do, but they did what he requested. Luuk watched the surrounding intently while Jacco dragged the manhole cover back to its original position, closing the sewer entrance securely.

Valentine took out his knife and slit his palm. He let the blood pool in his hand and then started chanting,

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, offer this blood as a medium,"

The blood on his hand emitted a strange yellowish mist that quickly spread out to his surrounding.

"For I declare this place under the Shroud of Secrecy hereafter!"

He dropped his blood on the ground next to him and for a second there was a wave of spiritual energy that made people feel like they had forgotten something. Valentine's anti-divination had been put in effect. Now, divination about anything involving him or his teammates should be impossible.

With his anti-divination ritual done, Valentine closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. It didn't take him long to completely fall asleep, and not long after, Graham woke up. He pinched his nose in disgust because of the smell and quickly chanted.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order the rotting smell sticking to me to go away!"

His sudden spell chant drew the attention of the other two, who turned around and looked at him. They could see something that looked like a concentration of stench floating away slowly from Graham, and after that, they couldn't smell the stench of a dead body anymore from the man. Although the disgusting stench had now gone, he was not done yet. He also had to get rid of the monster's blood from his body.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order the blood that stuck on my clothes and face to go away!"

The blood that had hardened on his clothes and face suddenly became liquid again and quickly dripped to the ground beneath him, masking Valentine's blood that had been there earlier. He was now clean, except for the dirt caused by hitting the wall and floor of the sewer and the ripped part on his left shoulder caused by the creature's attack. He chanted one more time.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order the trench coat that I'm wearing to mend itself!"

The threads around his left shoulder moved by itself and covered the torn part, making it look like new. However, the area around the fixed part was now slightly thinner because the threads had been used to create the patch. After three successful spell chants, Graham was now done. He got up and dusted off the dirt from his clothes and walked over to his companions.

"Let's get back now," he said.

"What about the loot?" asked Jacco.

"They are all with me. I'll need you to tell Ivo that I need him to take me to the black market tomorrow. After selling everything and deducting the money for the bullets, I'll give you guys your share." he explained.

Jacco nodded and said, "Sure. Tomorrow is Saturday, so he should be free."

The detective had never gone back on his words so far, and he needed the assistance of his man, so Jacco could trust him to some extent. Luuk literally lived next door to Graham, so he could come over any time to get his share, so he had no objection either. However, he was curious about the black market, and tomorrow was Saturday, so he was free,

"Can I come with you tomorrow?" he requested.

"Sure," Graham replied shortly, and then added, "Now, let's get out of here,"

The three men walked out to the street and stopped public motor carriages to take them home. Since Jacco lived in a different direction, he took a separate one from Graham and Luuk. They parted ways and went their own ways.

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