372 Short Glimpse
VWOOSH!
With a gentle breeze, Skullius found himself looking at a wide corridor with beautiful decor – a red carpet on the floor and what seemed like a white and gold wallpaper on the wall which was plastered with multiple large portraits.
Multiple doors were scattered on either side of this corridor, all of them with tags that represented the commercial service provided in this building that the two had just burst into.
Indeed, it was an expensive inn.
The Discount Human only took a second to collect himself as the sudden speed he had been exposed to was way beyond what his body could get used to within a short span of time.
Beside him and Bek who removed his tight grip from his jacket, Skullius saw that there was a large, closed window, quite the mundane thing to stare dazedly at but for the Discount Human, it led him to speculate all kinds of crazy things.
‘Did we just pass through the window without breaking it?’ Skullius thought, gobsmacked by this inference.
He didn’t have much time to dwell on it however, as Bek’s whisper flowed into his ear.
“Don’t say a word…”
This wasn’t a command that forced the Discount Human’s body to act accordingly like before however.
Skullius didn’t question this and kept his mouth shut.
He fully concentrated on his [Elevated Mana Manipulation] which spread wide and collected all sorts of information from the surroundings.
Naturally, he wasn’t a Healer as Bek thought and he definitely wasn’t some powerful Energy Former with transcendent perception towards energies of different kinds.
He had let Bek keep thinking he was one because he didn’t want the man to pry.
How else would one be able to heal people of many different kinds of diseases and injury besides using skills related to a Healer class… or from having a powerful blessing, which to be fair was pretty distinguishable from a skill.
Still however, Skullius was determined to play his part.
SQUEAK…
A door approximately nine meters away emitted a low squeak as it opened wide, Bek becoming alert.
“Stay close,” he whispered to Skullius as a strange burst of energy covered the corridor up to the halfway point from where the door which was opening was located.
A man emerged from the door, dressed in casual winter wear.
His emergence from this room would have appeared normal… if he didn’t have the body of a woman in a silk dress slung over his shoulder!
The man’s eyes immediately darted to his left where Skullius and Bek were positioned, showing a hint of wariness.
The presence of these two was muted to an unnatural degree and only his peripheral vision had alerted him to their presence.
The man took action immediately, flicking his hand up to reveal a white marble-sized stone which he flung at the wall on the other side!
The moment the marble hit the wall, it dissolved into the immaculate decor on the hard surface, creating a warp of sorts with a whitish tint that retained the designs on the wall but with creepy curves and distortions!
Skullius’ [Elevated Mana Manipulation] picked up on the unique signature of this phenomenon.
The Discount Human guessed this was some sort of spatial effect but… with how he had experienced space manipulation himself on the mountain in his mini-world, he could tell that there was quite a big difference when this effect he was seeing was concerned!
The man with the body of a woman over his shoulder hurriedly shot towards the warped space but before he could finish taking his first step, he felt something grab his throat tightly and raise him into the air!
Bek had already crossed the distance and caught the man!
The body of the woman fell to the floor and Bek, with his awareness washing over her, confirmed that she was still alive from the pulse he sensed.
“Sneaky. I’ve seen many of your friends use these to escape me. It’s not going to work this time,” Bek said as he concentrated mana into his hand and sliced off the man’s arms!
SHWP! SHWP!
The limbs came off swiftly but then…
…!
“This is new.”
As Bek diced off the limbs, the blood he expected to flood out from the severed parts didn’t come.
What occurred instead was eerie and unexpected.
The entire body of the man slowly transitioned in colour from a beige tone that was dominant over his skin to a white one, his features turning rigid and hard as soon, a doll remained.
It had marks and balls at the joints with no features on its face at all.
Bek narrowed his eyes.
‘They have such things too?’ he thought before his senses picked up something else.
…!
The former Capital Order Knight dashed back at an incredible speed, his eyes squinting over the body of the woman.
He had sensed something below him.
The red carpet started to warp and get painted with a whitish hue, the floor turning into warped space around the unconscious woman who immediately began to sink in!
“Bek!” Skullius called, ignoring the ‘don’t say a word’ rule. “There’s more below us!”
The former Knight nodded as he darted away from the current circumstances, grabbed Skullius and flashed into the floor below, near a downward stretch of stairs.
On this corridor, four individuals were swiftly exiting from line of doors, carrying bodies of unconscious men, women and children, two having already created warp spaces on the walls while one had created one above where the body of the woman from before was emerging!
“Go downstairs and handle the others,” Bek instructed Skullius while pushing him down the steps that descended.
This time, Skullius’ body quaked as it was not a mere suggestion.
The Discount Human wordlessly followed the instruction, his body carrying him forward only for the first few seconds!
‘Damn this!’ Skullius thought before he whipped out the Elimparidis Stone Staff.
Strangely, his steps which had been silent before started to gain a crisp clap as they met the floor.
He was outside of Bek’s range of effect. Apparently, the man had active some strange power that erased most of their traces, including sound.
Upon reaching the corridor to this floor, Skullius saw two men who looked shockingly similar to the one he had seen first on the floor he and Bek emerged on, dragging four bodies!
Their attention was drawn to Skullius the moment he appeared and they looked to prepare to escape instead of fighting.
The Discount Human didn’t give them any time to react as he immediately used [Jump] to appear behind the two men!
The Staff immediately disappeared into Skullius’ ring and he quickly launched a heavy punch to the back of the head of one of the two men, the impact sending him flying with his head being smashed apart!
Before the other could show any kind of reaction to this, the Discount Human was already upon him as well, dishing a high kick to his neck!
The man slammed into the wall, his neck having bent unnaturally, but his face didn’t show any signs of pain or shock.
Instead, his body lost colour and turned into a white doll, much like the one from before.
The same happened to the other man.
‘What are these?’ Skullius thought as he reached out to touch them.
Bek flashed before Skullius and looked at the two dolls. He had quickly finished off the bastards he was facing and locked the people who were being dragged away in one room.
“This is different from what I’ve been up against. They seem to be changing strategies,” he said. “Also, it just occurred to me that these people are not just attacking the refugees. The locals are targets too. The rumours that led us to believe anything other than that was probably part of their strategy to cause some kind of internal conflict while they took advantage of the situation.”
Skullius’ brow rose.
“So even the locals too? But why hasn’t anyone mentioned it? Shouldn’t there be rumours about that too?”
“They are obviously covering it up. Even in such a tense situation, you still find the time ask foolish questions.”
Damn it!
Skullius swallowed a lump and let this insult pass.
“So what shall we do, smart man?” Skullius asked with a roll of his eyes.
“Do you sense any traces of their activity?”
The Discount Human closed his eyes and expanded his senses with [Elevated Mana Manipulation]. His skin tingled as it also seemed to sense oddities as always.
Then..
“Again?!” Skullius said out loud and immediately, white coloured warping shapes appeared over the dolls and the four bodies on the floor, quickly sipping them into the distorted spaces!
Bek could have rushed to grab the victims but he figured that these space warps were not stable as there was the possibility of him ripping them apart due to them already being held firm by the dancing space.
“Can you sense where they lead to?!” Bek bellowed.
“No,” Skullius replied with a tight expression. “There’s nothing else in the entire building.”
The former Knight hurriedly gripped Skullius and the two appeared outside with a single burst of speed!
Bek expanded his senses to see if he could catch a glimpse of any other activity but there was nothing.
He couldn’t clearly sense the intricate makings of spells and high level skills like an Energy Former but he could discern the basics as well as soul related signatures!
Yet…
Nothing.
Once again, Bek sped with Skullius, the two appearing outside the town.
“Anything?” Bek asked to which Skullius strained his sense.
…!
“Yes! Yes there is!” Skullius said but the problem was…
“There’s seven different energy signatures like those space things, in seven different directions! They are escaping!”
Bek expanded his own senses only to find the remnants and traces of mana around the exterior of Harifrast.
These people were escaping indeed, but…
“Not yet. They can’t get far, even with spatial means. Let’s pick one and follow in that direction,” Bek said before he once again dashed away with Skullius…