Chapter 138:

Chapter 138:

Blood scattered like rain.

Fragments of the hunting party leader, gruesomely chewed up, fell everywhere in the backyard, but even those were completely devoured by the tentacles.

In the midst of the horrific scene, the surviving human hunters were seized by convulsive terror.

“AAAAAAH!”

Bang, bang. Hesabel’s crossbow pinned the remaining ones’ heads to the ground. Soon after, the tentacles having finished their feast of Predation, disappeared back under the hues from beyond.

‘This is troublesome.’

Affected by the Dark Eucharist, all nearby human hunters were lost in terror, completely petrified. However, Isaac realized that the cleanup was not perfect. The last miracle invoked by the hunting party leader was a Red Prayer that transformed his body into a mist of blood.

Despite becoming a mist, whether still under the influence of the Dark Eucharist or not, he panicked and stirred the skies above Rougeberg before vanishing.

Isaac, clicking his tongue, quickly pulled out a human hunter whose head was buried in the ground. The hunter had an arrow piercing one eye, but since the other was intact, it didn’t matter.

“Where did your leader go?”

There was no need to wait for an answer.

Isaac’s eyes filled with a deep violet hue. Thin tentacles burst through his eyelids and swiftly burrowed into the human hunter’s eyes.

Soon, Isaac had extracted their operational tactics, emergency actions, and their original plans in meticulous detail.

And he clicked his tongue again.

“Headed to the tower?”

They already knew where Isolde was hiding.

***

Whirring, crunching, thud.

The blood-mist form of the hunting party leader, having frantically wandered, soon lost the power of the miracle and reverted to his original form.

He fell onto the roof and rolled down into the dirt of the courtyard, slamming his head into the ground. His mind seemed to clear a bit then.

He felt an unprecedented fear when swallowed by the Grasp of the Abyss, due to the effects of the Dark Eucharist, but he never wanted to experience that again. Tears were streaming down his face – tears he had never shed since becoming a human hunter.

‘I can’t face that monster again.’

He gasped for breath, walking aimlessly forward.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

His wrist, cut to invoke the red prayer, had not regenerated. It was a sacrifice to the Red Chalice, after all. Though he could restore his form, being heavily drained of blood by the giant tentacles, he wasn’t completely healed.

He had lost his wrist and his subordinates.Nnew n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com

And the angel he was supposed to serve, the Prophet of the Red Flesh.

‘If only we had stuck to the original plan...’

The original plan was to ambush Isolde in the tower. But when a banquet was announced, they thought it would be an easier place to kidnap her from. Little did they know the opposition was bait... and that they were dealing with a monster.

‘First, I’ve escaped to regroup...’

While looking for an escape route, the hunting party leader suddenly noticed something massive ahead.

It was the very tower they had planned to attack.

Staggering towards the tower as if hypnotized, he then realized the banquet was a trap to lure them out! He had foolishly taken the bait.

‘So, does that mean Isolde Brant, or rather, the Prophet of the Red Flesh, is still here?’

He staggered to the tower’s entrance and smelled something familiar.

A sweet scent.

It was both the lingering scent of the Doctrine of Thirsty Love and that of the Red Flesh.

The hunting party leader felt like he had grabbed a lifeline.

Even though his team was wiped out and he was severely injured, if he could rescue the Prophet of the Red Flesh, or even obtain a part of her flesh, he could recover immediately. His only chance to survive was this.

He tried to open the tower door, but of course, it was locked.

Isaac had a foolproof method of interrogation that could be used even if the subject was dead.

The hunting party leader likely knew a lot.

“Well then, I’ll leave the interrogation to you. But...”

Isolde looked at Isaac up and down with a peculiar expression.

“...you look surprisingly good in that.”

Although Isaac’s dress was disheveled from the fight and stained with blood, it wasn’t ruined. He naturally suited the outfit quite well.

Isaac wasn’t sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult but decided to return the remark.

“You too.”

“...Thank you.”

Thus, the two, having swapped their outfits, spent a long time searching for the right words, their gazes drifting through the air.

***

When Ilya woke up, he realized his hands were tied behind his back.

Noticing him awaken, Isaac, dressed in the same outfit and stunningly beautiful, turned around. His face was now completely different from when Ilya first saw him.

It was an expression devoid of any emotion.

“Wait, what is this...”

Ilya started to protest but froze upon seeing not just Isaac but also Dietrich in the backyard. He took a deep breath and greeted Dietrich again.

“Your Grace, if there’s been a misunderstanding...”

“Misunderstanding? You arranged for my daughter to be alone where Wallachia human hunters were hiding. I’m curious what misunderstanding there could be. If it weren’t for this friend, who knows what might have happened.”

Ilya gritted his teeth.

Everything seemed to incriminate him.

“I was trying to protect her! I didn’t know about human hunters either... Wait, what happened to those human hunters? Interrogate them. I don’t know anything!”

“They all ran away,” Isaac replied.

“It seemed they decided to flee since they couldn’t overpower a noblewoman, and catching human hunters in the middle of the night is difficult.”

Of course, it would be hard.

Except for the hunting party leader, the rest were already part of the backyard’s soil or had been deliciously consumed by the tentacles.

Ilya looked defeated.

But he recognized Isaac’s voice.

“The Paladin? Are you Sir Isaac Issacrea?”

Dietrich responded before Isaac could.

He stepped forward and kicked Ilya in the face, scattering the Eastern Inquisition’s formidable teeth across the backyard.

“Do you think you’re in a position to ask questions!”

Watching Ilya bleed, Isaac felt a twinge of regret.

Ilya had indeed tried to protect Isaac, and from delving into the hunting party leader’s mind, Isaac knew that Ilya was genuinely uninvolved with the human hunters.

But now, it was necessary to press Ilya firmly to the ground.

Ilya clenched his eyes shut and pressed his forehead to the ground.

“I’m sorry... I never intended to put the lady in danger. I just wanted to quietly pass on a message.”

“A message to be passed quietly?”

“About the Doctrine of Thirsty Love.”

“You mean the thing about Isolde eating the Red Flesh? That’s been resolved already.”

–TL Notes–

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to read up to advance 20 chapters or support me, you can do it at /Akaza156