Chapter 342 - The Ark Of Mad Hatter's Disease

And the bodies have started decomposing. Something was wrong. Even if they had been dead for a full day, they won't be as bad as the state they are in now. It looked like they died about a few days ago. But the reports around them all seemed to be the present day.

Moments passed and now she could get rid of the decomposing smell. But at the cost of the bodies fully decomposing. This was extraordinary. These bodies were all human, no Magecraft was involved at all. And no foul play as well. Was it another thing?

She tried remembering what Gab told her about poisons, that they could be both ingested and inhaled. Some would take quite a while to have a lasting effect while most have an instant effect. It's usually those that can be ingested that have an instant effect..

She looked at the bodies closely, it was hard to see if it was ingested or inhaled since most of the bodies have fully decomposed. But then again, no normal researcher would be ingesting any substances that they were testing. Mavislin tried to get another scent and she widened her eyes.

She was wrong, there was Magecraft involved but it was mixed with whatever poison that the people have either ingested or inhaled. She rushed out of the room, scaring Bryan and Rina. The two were done talking and tried heading into the room when Mavislin suddenly barged out.

"The two of you need to get as far from here as possible. NOW!" yelled Mavislin as she pointed towards the Birthing Chambers.

The two were shocked but immediately complied and headed towards the Brithing Chambers. Since they were in such a rush, they failed to see what was truly going on in there. Mavislin followed behind, trying to rush them along. But they weren't inside yet.

"What's the deal?" asked Rina, slightly annoyed that they had to sprint all of sudden.

"The substance that was exposed to the people in there and the rooms around that was the same I've encountered years ago. It is a substance that can be both inhaled and ingested. It's called 'Mercury', and high levels of it can cause death," explained Mavislin.

"But that doesn't explain why they turn against each other," protested Rina.

"Mercury inhalation can cause a wide variety of symptoms, but most commonly it can lead to something called the Mad Hatter's Disease. That's according to the Time Mage. That disease would be rampant during the 18th to 20th centuries."

"That's five centuries well into the future! That shouldn't be known over here!" exclaimed Rina in shock.

"Tell that to the meddlesome leader of the Vigilante. You can't stop a Time Mage from doing what he does best," said Mavislin, shaking her head while placing her palm on her forehead.

"But you can control what comes out of his mouth," murmured Bryan, to Mavislin's ears.

"He is still your superior!"

"On the plus side, without his information, we wouldn't have known about the Mad Hatter's Disease," said Rina, in between laughs.

"Despite being in the future for the human race, us Mages have information about this since some Mages has the power to decompose organic things into its base substances. We call it, 'Lunacy's Disease'."

"But the researchers showed signs of hurting each other as if they'd just turned on each other," said Rina, recalling the way that researcher held her knife.

"Correct but if you had stayed to see the bodies properly, you'll find that most of them showed signs of self-harm. Were the researchers suffering any mental illnesses before this?" asked Mavislin.

"No, definitely not. It was one of the requirements to get a full mental and physical examination so that we wouldn't risk situations like this. But I am positive that none of them are self-harmers," answered Rina.

"How sure can you be? Most of them died while banging their heads onto the stone tables and smashing their heads with glass bottles," questioned Mavislin.

"I am the leader of that particular brigade. They were all my partners and underlings. But most of them are around my expertise since they were in the facility for a long time. So, the substance caused the victims to go insane?"

"That is correct. The recorded symptoms are paranoia, giddiness, a slight form of vomiting, and skin rashes. Some of the limbs showed signs of rashes but I couldn't tell too much. The bodies started decomposing, which led me to believe that Magecraft was at play."

"Which Magecraft? I don't sense any Elemental Aura or Energy around the area," said Rina, looking confused.