Chapter 65: Attached Flesh?

Their reaction was understandable. After all, you just don't see people with a Lv.8 System Authority frequently. Not to mention, this man in front of them looked so underwhelming and harmless that they just couldn't believe it.

Just so you know, there's only a handful of people who have a Lv.8 System Authority like Cedric here in this city; there's the City Lord of course, the Royal Child who's seeking refuge here, two personnel from the Empire that's stationed here, and Cedric himself.

There are more out there, of course! But all of them clearly know their worth. They're heavyweights, VVIP, and are not shy to flaunt their status. Cedric however, was way different than them, that's why they're having a difficult time believing it.

Hell, Arishem himself only had a Lv.7 System Authority, and he only achieved that after amassing so many contribution points. The two he's with only reached Lv.5 and that took them decades to reach it.

Cedric on the other hand wasn't all too surprised that Arishem knew of this. He was already half expecting him to know. He might not know the guy but he could at least tell that he's an important figure amongst the authorities.

"You know, I'm actually surprised that you didn't check it out yourself. I thought that you would since...you know..." Arishem trailed off.

He was expecting that Cedric would take this personally because of what happened to Harold and the RMC.

"Like I said, I only felt a sinister presence." Cedric shrugged. "Briefly, at that. I initially didn't think of telling you but my instinct told me to do so. Plus, I was preoccupied when it happened so..."

In truth, Cedric could've interfered, yes. He had the means to do so, after all. But really...he couldn't just say that he didn't want to be cockblocked now could he?

Plus, it's not yet time for him to take the center stage. Yes, he could've moved stealthily but doing that carries the risk of exposure to the wrong people and he didn't want that...not yet at least.

"Anyways, here's what happened..." Arishem then proceeded to tell him everything that occurred last night in that operation.

Cedric listened closely and took note of a few important bits of details like the issue with the 12 Zodiac Saints, the ideologies of the cultists, etc.

"...however, despite talking a whole bunch that night, the female cultist we captured was adamant about keeping quiet. While that's understandable, it's annoying. We used all manner of ways to make her talk but only a few were effective."

"We discovered that she's keeping more information from us. Actually, we confirmed it. That said, none of the methods that worked were able to get that information out of her."

"Her colleagues were also tight-lipped and it's fucking annoying." Arishem continued.

"Hmm, so that's why there's a lot of movements since this morning. I'm guessing that you sent teams to scour the city for more hidden camps?" Cedric casually asked as if he hadn't just revealed the fact that he could sense the teams of supposed assassins moving around the city.

"Ha! I knew you would notice." Arishem cackled, "Be honest with me brat, how far do your senses reach?"

"Also..." Cedric brought out his 『Symbol Master's Quill』, a tool he used to draw symbols.

He then took out a bronze plate and carved a symbol on it in front of his visitors. He ended up making five carvings of the same symbol that only he understood.

"This is something I invented recently. I called it the 'Mind Passage Rune'. In simple terms, it provides direct passage to the psyche of the person the rune is attached to. It's effective up to Tier 5 according to my estimates but...I haven't tested it on anybody before, so it 'might' fail. The worst outcome of failure is, of course, the death of the target."

"Still, if you run out of options...maybe you can try that? Up to you, though."

Arishem accepted the runes with a solemn expression. Inwardly, he couldn't help but think that this kid was just too full of surprises.

He had never seen this rune before, and that's to be expected since Cedric did say he invented it. That said, he had his fair share of experience regarding symbols and he could tell the quality of these things. Inwardly, he was already at least 70% confident that these things would work.

"Hmm?"

Arishem looked up and saw that, out of nowhere, Cedric hummed strangely and frowned. He then looked outside of his window as if he noticed something they didn't.

The old man and his companions tried to unfold their senses to see what he was looking for but they failed to notice anything.

"What's wrong?" Arishem asked.

"My neighbor's in danger, I think. There's a foul presence attached to her. I don't know if it's connected with the cult though." Cedric murmured while standing up.

Still, that was enough to greatly alarm his visitors because they didn't notice anything at all. Just a reminder, they're assassins and they're always on guard. The fact that they didn't sense anything wrong yet Cedric did, was greatly alarming.

Cedric then moved at an impressive speed. It wasn't too fast for the trio but clearly fast enough for a supposed Tier 2.

It wasn't long before the four of them were now standing over Erica, whom Cedric had just seen earlier.

The trio looked at the girl and was inwardly shocked when they saw her face. They knew who she was but now's not the time for that.

In a surprising burst of speed, Cedric placed runes all over Erica's body. When he was done, the runes lit up and it revealed something that made them all shiver in disgust.

It was a pulsing flesh of eyes and mouth attached to Erica's upper body.

"Now, what the in the ever-loving fuck are you?" Cedric muttered in disgust.