C155: Tracing the source
Victor flew high up in the sky, putting considerable distance between himself and the smoldering ruin of the church before halting midair.
He had already transformed back into his humanoid state. His black hair moved in the wind, his black eyes cold beneath the light, and his pale skin looked bloodless.
The sun was setting on the horizon, casting an orange glow that spread across the landscape, painting the distant treeline in shades of amber and crimson.
Victor felt a spike of irritation as he looked directly at the sun.
Simultaneously, the dense swarm of bats that had followed closely behind him spread around his body, forming a black cover that shielded him from the sunlight. Their wings overlapped like living curtains, fluttering constantly as they circled him in the air.
'I cannot contact Florence. She must have been caught,' he thought, his gaze turning toward the distant silhouette of the Baroness's estate.
'That is likely the doing of that wretched woman,' Victor gritted his teeth.
Florence must have done something incautious, exposing her true nature to the Inspectors. She must have also leaked the information about his identity to them, hoping to save her own skin.
Because in this whole village, only she knew his real identity.
The Golden Trader might also harbor suspicions regarding his nature, but he doubted they possessed any concrete evidence. At most, they should only have suspicions, and they surely would not care.
Victor knew for a fact that although they were greedy creatures, they certainly would not involve themselves in the affairs of White Church personnel unless profit demanded it.
Judging from how decisive those mutton shunters were, his deduction was likely accurate.
As to why he could no longer sense Florence, the most logical explanation was that the Baroness Amanda had finally woken from her stupor and had taken the maid into custody.
"Should I kill her?" Victor pondered for a moment. Frankly, he didn't care about the insignificant servants of his. They were useless, only used as bait, and often killed by those Tear Drop stationed at the border of the forest.
However, Florence was different. She was a competent servant in his mind, and he had a high hope for her.
Having lived here for ten years, he had a soft spot for her. If it weren't for the curse of the Unloved Fellow ring, he would surely have her stay by his side as a nun instead.
In his mind, he didn't think the Inspector would kill her. She should be the source of information. And since they know about him, Florence must have used his information in exchange for her life.
‘?’
Victor looked down at his own hand, his brows knitted together.
‘Did I lose the ring? Where did I drop it?’
His memories rushed back at once.
The first time he was attacked, transforming back to his original appearance. The first ambush he had received from Hazel. At the time, his arm fell off and exploded into blood.
The ring should still be there.
Victor narrowed his eyes, his pupils contracting as he scanned the empty air in the distance.
As he pondered, he had perceived something.
Something was hovering in midair at a considerable distance.
A transparent, ethereal pair of eyes that was staring directly at him.
Victor spoke into the empty air.
"You have awakened."
One of the abilities of the Foreteller Path: [Pry Eyes].
It seemed the Baroness had awakened from her hazy state.
The transparent eye twitched in response.
'She must have realized by now that the idol is siphoning her remaining power,' a cruel smirk spread across his lips as he held the idol up in his hand.
'What of it? The plan is already set in motion. Once I eliminate those Inspectors, you will be rendered helpless, bereft of any means to oppose me.'
‘But… why is she not attacking?’
Yet, it remained strange that she did not attempt to coordinate with the Inspectors to launch a combined assault against him.
It was as if she were waiting for something.
Looking at the eye that simply stared at him in silence, Victor felt that something was wrong.
It felt like the eye was mocking him.
‘Did she foresee something? Her power has likely severely diminished, perhaps even fallen back to the Apprentice Stage. It shouldn't be possible.'
Victor’s thoughts raced. He knew he shouldn't underestimate a Foreteller.
However, since he could not know the answer, he gave up trying to understand her.
‘No matter.’
Still hovering in the air, Victor stroked his clawed hand idly. He waved his hand and turned his head away.
As he and the swarm of bat prepared to depart—
"?"
Victor squinted toward the direction of the setting sun, focusing on a dark speck in the orange light. In his vision, he could make out something small flying toward him.
A small, glinting object, its surface reflecting the sunlight like a tiny mirror.
'A coin?'
Victor waved his hand, summoning a thick layer of his own blood that spread around him in a protective circle.
Yet the coin simply plunged through the blood barrier without slowing its velocity even slightly, passing through the viscous fluid!
"???"
Victor tilted his head to avoid the coin. With his heightened reflexes, he didn't feel threatened, as he could see the object clearly.
But the moment he tilted his head, the coin also adjusted its trajectory!
"W—"
The coin plunged directly into his eye!
"Aghhh!"
His eyeball exploded in a wet spray of vitreous fluid and dark blood.
The silver coin lodged itself deep into his socket, embedding itself against the bone. Victor clutched his face, wobbling in the cold air as pain exploded through his skull, blood poured between his fingers.
"Who dares!"
Not foolish enough to remain in one place for too long, especially when another attack might follow, Victor immediately flew through the air in a frantic circle to throw off the aim of this unseen attacker.
His remaining eye scanned the surrounding sky, its violet iris flaring. Blood trickled from the destroyed eye socket, but Victor used his own ability to stop the bleeding.
[Tracing!]
His enraged gaze swept across the air as he circled the sky like a wounded vulture.
He finally perceived something, hovering directly above the spot where he had been struck.
A bird hovered there.
A single, ordinary small sparrow without any flock.
its wings beated quickly as it flew away.
A small amount of blood from his ruined eye socket transformed itself into a condensed bullet, launching itself toward the fleeing bird!
*Chirp!*
The blood projectile pierced the sparrow, killing it instantly.
Victor’s figure blurred and appeared right in front of the falling bird.
He snatched its limp body from the air, his violet eye flaring with malice.
"[Tracing!]" he invoked again, tightening his grip on the small corpse.
"Let's see who you are!"
Victor gritted his teeth through the pain, focusing on the vision of his ability.
He could perceive something within his spiritual vision. A thin, transparent thread extended from the bird's corpse into the distance.
He focused his will upon the thread.
Immediately, his vision blurred, the world stretching and warping as his perception was dragged along the invisible cord.
It zoomed through the air, beyond the borders of the village, deep into the dark canopy of the forest.
It zoomed toward a strange mansion, a large manor he had never before seen in all his years of watching this place.
The vision continued, plunging through the mansion's walls and into the attic, into—
"Wh-what?"
*Snap.*
Before he could see what lay inside the attic, Victor's head jerked abruptly as though a lighting struck his mind!
Something was interfering with his vision!
His sight blurred once more, the images scrambling and reforming.
It resolved into the grotesque visage.
Into a face of a beast.
“!”
A Stag, its features twisted into an unnatural smile.
Its hollow eyes looked directly into his own.
One of its elongated "legs" pointed into the heart of his vision.
Victor's mind suddenly turned sluggish, his thoughts swimming. His body stiffened, pain flared through his whole body, yet he couldn’t move a single muscle.
It was as if something was actively tearing through his consciousness and invading his mind!
In a mere fraction of a millisecond, Victor severed the connection, forcibly cutting off his own ability!
“Huff, huff…”
Cold sweat poured profusely from his body, soaking through his blood-colored coat. His hand trembled violently, and his heart rumbled against his ribs, pulsing with a frantic, panicked rhythm.
"H-how?" he gasped, his remaining pupil dilated violently.
The strange mansion.
The mansion hidden within the forest.
His memory raced back through the village records he had studied over the past decade.
The entity that was said to dwell in those woods.
The vile beast.
"Deaf," Victor breathed, a slow smirk curling his lips despite the wild, thundering beat of his heart.
“How coincidental. You have appeared.”
He covered his smirk with his hand, momentarily forgetting the searing agony of his ruined eye socket.
“I want it,” his smile widened beneath his fingers, his greed battling with his lingering terror.
“My Lord, you will be delighted.”