Chapter 264: Chapter 132: I Almost Believed You
Outside the northern high wall, Bolsen, a Favored One of the Abyssal Sect, looked up at the red moon. His calm gaze gradually twisted with excitement.
"Night has fallen!"
"That bastard Thorn Demon is gone, so let’s use Caster City State as the next sacrifice! Hahaha..."
At his feet, countless bodies were piled high. Some were headless, some were missing their chests and abdomens, and others had completely vanished from the waist down.
"My great Sutle Dogs, it’s time to welcome our Commander!"
Behind him, a dozen or so Sutle Dogs obediently threw their heads back and howled, "ROOOAR—"
Bits of flesh and bone fragments were shaken from the corners of their mouths, scattering over the corpses below. It was the Abyssal Creatures’ way of making the bodies whole again.
Well, just a little bit.
At the western port, the scene was even more ruinous.
The wreckage of hundreds of ships had been cleared out of the harbor, while a dozen or so three-masted ships, distinctly pirate-like in style, brazenly sailed in.
From time to time, their hulls would run over the corpses floating on the water, sending them off on their final journey.
Onboard, thousands of pirates in motley attire downed their last cups of strong liquor, drew their weapons, and leaped into the port, charging toward Basil District.
"Our objective: Pillage Basil District and Natali District!"
"Kill anyone who resists!"
"Kill anyone who tries to raise the alarm!"
"And the pretty women, snatch ’em up for me!"
"Haha... Snatch ’em up!"
The countless people hiding in Basil District heard the commotion outside, and despair washed over their faces.
With the red moon overhead and those rampant pirates outside, survival seemed impossible.
Many fell to their knees, pinning their hopes on paths of faith long since unanswered. ’Oh, Dawn... oh, Storm... please, grant us the light of salvation...’
The Extraordinaries living in Basil District also reluctantly emerged from their hiding places underground, gathering in twos and threes.
They had evaded the exploitation of the City-State Council, the nobles, and the City Guard; they had dodged the Rune Array of the Vasquez People. But now, facing pirates who knew only destruction, they had no choice but to resist.
Located on the West Coast, the people of Caster City State knew all too well about the pirates who haunted the Cordo Sea.
Those men wouldn’t just kill you and take your possessions; they would even collect the corpses of Extraordinaries to sell to interested buyers.
For a sect’s sacrificial rituals, for a certain Wizard School’s research materials, or for some nefarious Alchemist who also favored using the bodies of Extraordinaries as ingredients...
"There are only two paths now. One, flee toward the central district. Two, stay here and hold them off. If we can just last until dawn, we can survive this."
"There’s not much time. Let’s vote."
The Mechanical Mage, Jilman, tried her best to keep her gear-like eyes still so she wouldn’t look so comical.
"The second option."
"Two."
"Me too..."
"Why is no one for going to the Central City?" Jilman asked probingly.
One of the Extraordinaries sneered, "Isn’t it obvious? Basil District is in this much chaos, yet we haven’t seen a single member of the City Guard or any of their investigators. That clearly means the problems in the central district are even worse."
"Besides, you heard the warning bells from Dawn at noon. Compared to everywhere else, the chance of a high-level disaster breaking out there is much higher."
Jilman nodded in agreement. "Since we all agree, let’s get ready. Survival is the priority. Don’t get bogged down fighting those bastards."
"So, Jilman, are you going to bring out those weapons already?"
"Yeah, you can’t earn money if you’re dead. Then it’s all someone else’s."
"...Fine."
Jilman reluctantly took out all of her mechanical weapons. Among them were several fine-grade hand cannons, the most powerful weapons she was capable of making.
’These weapons were her entire fortune, accumulated over all these years. And now they’re all gone...’
"Let’s go. To the south side of Basil District."
"Wha—"
"Idiot. Those pirates are heading for Natali District. If we go north, we’ll just run right into their main force. Go ahead if you have a death wish."
"..."
As the pirates descended, the tranquility of Basil District was shattered.
Screams of fleeing residents mixed with the roaring laughter of the pirates. Chasing, plundering, slaughtering...
Meanwhile, the gathered Extraordinaries broke through the pirates’ encirclements time and again.
"Ptooey! Damned scum!"
"I just killed three of those scumbags! Even if I die now, it’s worth it!"
"E-everyone... I can’t go on... Send me on my way." The weak voice belonged to an Extraordinary, and it made the others, who had just broken free from the pirates yet again, fall silent.
Everyone’s hearts sank as they looked at the Extraordinary, most of his body sawn off by a pirate’s Serrated Blade and bleeding profusely.
An injury like that could only be treated by a perfect-grade Healing Potion, but that kind of Magic Potion wasn’t something that Extraordinaries like them, skulking in the shadows, could ever hope to possess.
’Besides, in a crisis like this, even if someone had one, they wouldn’t take it out...’
BANG!
Jilman put a bullet in his head, ending his life.
"Tha—"
"Let’s go."
It wasn’t that the others didn’t dare to pull the trigger; they were simply unwilling.
No one knew if they would end up the same way. And when that time came, who among them would be able to choose a dignified path to death?
Similar scenes involving Extraordinaries like Jilman and her group were playing out all across the Caster City State.
Those with ill intentions, the vicious, and the twisted abominations who had long been corrupted and led astray all emerged now, plunging the already disorderly city-state into even greater chaos.
But for the ordinary people desperately fleeing for their lives, these were still not the greatest danger.
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