BXBX NOVEL Chapter 205: Stranger
He also incinerated all of the demon eggs including the ones that are feeding on the grieving man's family. He had sent them away to Acala with a prayer and with the blessing of solar energy to restore their spiritual integrity. Within Acala's afterlife, no hurt will reach them.
The grieving man watched it all and was relieved that Cedric kindly saved his family from a damned fate. And for the last act of humanity in him, he followed Cedric's advice. He wrote a note that was sent to the City Lord detailing everything that happened before asking Cedric to end his life.
...which Cedric did because he's the one who offered it in the first place.
The poor man at least had some clarity before he died. He knew that he was unworthy to be called a father and a husband for doing that to his family. He died silently, accepting the fact that he would no longer be with his family anymore and that there was no one else he could blame other than himself.
To ensure that something like this won't happen again, Cedric sealed the leylines using the 『Aspect of the Sun』- the Sagely Totem that he initially took and refined after comprehending Astral Laws.
The sigil of the Sagely Totem is filled by Cedric's very existence and packed with the power of the Sunlight and Sunfire. Even Demon Lords would think twice before carelessly touching it and it will never disappear so long as Cedric is alive.
Additionally, it will also restore the integrity and vitality of the leylines over time. Cedric wasn't sure how long but every little bit helps. The healthier the leyline is, the better this city gets.
It will increase longevity in this area, allowing the next generation of humans to be born from this place to become stronger and more talented. In turn, this also meant increasing the quality of warriors who would join the resistance against the Demon Race.
Before leaving the Black Thread City completely, Cedric did one final thing.
He returned to his house and carved an underground room that only he would know existed. There, he left a formation core he created on the fly using the knowledge he got after mastering his sub-classes.
This Formation Core will protect this city, eliminating anyone touched by corruption who attempts to breach the city's security. His arrangements should last for a very long time and the cult shall never be able to lay their hands on this city so long as this exists.
Once he's done with that, he left the Black Thread City. He didn't tell City Lord Reiner of what he did because there's no need to. Cedric wasn't keen on making the old man feel indebted to him any more than he already was. Whether the old man connects this whole event to him or not isn't important to Cedric.
He did what he wanted to do, plain and simple. No need for formalities whatsoever, he wasn't looking for any form of compensation for doing this. He just wanted to, so he did.
**
Bam!!
"Can somebody tell me what's going on!!"
Within a dark room where the only light source comes from a few candles lit, a man who's sitting on a long table slams his fist on it with a twisted expression on his face. He's wearing a dark hooded robe but his deep crimson eyes glimmering with evil light was visible to everybody, and the aura he's releasing frightened the rest of the people with him.
"14!" He snarled, "14 branches of our cult lost contact in less than three weeks and none of you could investigate what happened!? What kind of bullshit is that!? Have I not given you sufficient resources to do that very simple task? Are you revolting? You must be right. You all are doing this on purpose!
Do want me to kill all of you, huh? Is that it?"
His anger was palpable and that's obvious to the rest of the people here. They've never seen him this way before but it's understandable why he's reacting this way.
Within 3 weeks they have received numerous reports of their cult branch going dark. They have attempted to make contact and even sent people to investigate what's going on but none have returned.
They've spent many resources to find out what's going on but even then, they couldn't figure it out. They have no idea if their men are still alive or not, some even started thinking that this should be a deliberate plot either from the government's side or their own.
"I wouldn't have been surprised if we only lost one or two because that's within my expectations. After all, Humans aren't dumb and they've been alerted by our presence within their ranks already."
"But 14! 14 branches in less than a month!? Are you fucking with me? However, these branches are the ones that are hidden real deep into civilization and it is also where most of our efforts are concentrated, yet we lost contact with all of them simultaneously?"
"I've permitted you to mobilize our remaining resources to investigate what's going on. We have state-of-the-art tools that allow us to move unimpeded and undetected, yet not only did we waste all of it, not even a crumb of intelligence came back!"
ϲ@σ@ո*т@ҽ-п%т&-Ъ*у--
"If you haven't realized this by now, then you're too fucking stupid! Our operations are essentially crippled! All progress we made during the past few years has been compromised!"
"This level of coordination would only be possible if somehow, someone leaked our private intel and deliberately targeted our operations! How do you expect me to not be suspicious of you lot when this information was supposed to be a secret amongst us!?"
Nobody spoke, even if some wanted to refute this person's words, they couldn't because what he said was the truth. Years worth of planning, efforts, and resources...wasted, all because of this mysterious sabotage that targeted their operations.
Flick Flick Flick
Due to how silent the room was, even a drop of a needle would be heard, more something like the sound of someone flipping through the pages of documents.
Everybody's head turned towards that person. It's one of their comrades, obvious by the same dark hood covering his face and body as the rest. They saw him calmly flipping through the pages of the documents as if none of what was happening concerned him.
The leader of this cult, the one who's been raging since the start of this meeting, narrowed his eyes at the member. He looked at the documents he was perusing and saw that those documents contained the history of their operations so far.
That sent shivers down the leader's spine. He hurriedly stood up and took out a weapon - a spear drenched in blood and corruption. He pointed it at the man who was still calmly perusing the documents and demanded:
"Speak. Who are you!?"
Flick Flick Flick
Instead of answering, that person continued reading through the documents as if he didn't hear anything.
Their leader's act alarmed the rest of the cult members so they too took out their weapons and prepared for a fight.
The leader's eyes narrowed. With a snort, he flourished his spear and sent an attack towards the man that's ignoring him.
That attack contains the strength of a half-step Planar Traveller Superhuman. It also contained elements that directly injure the target's soul, making it extremely dangerous.
But to their overwhelming surprise, the leader's attack wasn't even able to touch the man. It was burnt to nothingness mere inches away from touching him. It even sent harsh feedback to the leader.
Sigh...
As the leader flinched after dealing with the harsh feedback of his attack failing, they heard the man in question release a deep sigh. They saw him raising a finger and that caused all of the scattered documents on the table to fly towards him.
He neatly stacked them all before unceremoniously putting them in the inventory space.
"Inventory!" Someone exclaimed, "He's an impostor!!"
Everybody here does not have access to the Acala System, therefore they also don't have access to the inventory. That's their punishment for turning their back on humanity and Acala.
The fact that this man used a system function means that he's not their comrade. What's even more frightening is that had he not purposefully caught their attention or shown them that he could do this, none of them; not even their leader, would know.
His presence was muted. As in they couldn't feel anything from him, it's like he's a normal person. He perfectly blended with the surroundings as if he were some background detail, which is scary because that's also how he managed to be within this room without them noticing at all.
"Seven years..." he muttered gently, but due to the tense silence of the room, everybody heard him just fine. "All of you have been doing this for seven years. I'd applaud you but sadly, none of your actions were for the betterment of the Human Race."
The man then casually removed the hood covering his face, revealing his long scarlet hair and deep crimson eyes that stared at their very soul as if judging them.
"You lot deserve what's coming for you..."
Whistles!
Growl!