Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 335 Shadow, Only Shadow

What would you do if your child suddenly mutated into a ghoul?
Grand Duke Bellamor used every resource at his disposal—the church, the witchers, even the witches who worshipped Bazartos—no effort was spared as long as there was even the slightest hope.

The Witcher mentioned the method in "Take You to Know 100 Dark Creatures." They tied up the infected boy, and Bellamor invited a high priest from the church to stay with the child every day for a week, performing purification three times a day. He strictly followed the warnings in the book, and no matter how much pain the child seemed to be in or how much he begged, Bellamor forced himself to harden his heart.

However, a week later, the bad news still arrived as expected.

The treatment failed. The high priests were unable to purify the child from the plague, an infection they had never seen before. The prayers of the goddess of life had no effect on it. The witcher and the high priests could only offer the same advice—to end his life, which would be a relief for the child.

But this was not the outcome that Grand Duke Bellamor desired.

He locked himself in the house, facing the memorials left by his wife who had passed away when their child was born.

She was not born into a noble family, but was a witcher traveling in the empire. She had many like-minded witcher friends, including the high-ranking witcher who presided over the child's treatment. He was one of the most senior hunters in the Witcher Guild and a disciple of the Witcher Augustus.

You should let go when it's time to let go.

His wife always said this, a piece of experience she had gained from years of demon hunting. Most of the evil spirits they dealt with were caused by someone's excessive obsession. Forcibly keeping those souls that should have left would only lead to destruction.

She took her own death in stride—nine out of ten witchers in this line of work don't die a good death, but at least she died in her own home, not in some dark creature's lair that would never be discovered, and she even witnessed the birth of new life.

However, this time, Bellamore harbored evil thoughts.

Through his wife's notes from her time as a witch, he found a witch skilled in dark magic, a fanatical follower of Bazartos, who had also been a target of witch hunters.

The witch responded to Bellamor's invitation because she was curious that the husband of a high-ranking witcher would want her help. When she heard Bellamor's request, she gave a cryptic smile.

On the 14th, in front of the post office in Darkhearth City.

She left behind these cryptic keywords.

For the first time in his life, Bellamor realized that the witch seemed to know his wife better than he did. She knew why his wife had come to Darkhearth – the Witcher Guild was investigating a ghoul attack, and the clues had led them to Darkhearth. In the guild's records, the quest had been successfully completed.

But is that really the case?

The witch's question was captivating. Bellamor wanted to press for more information, but all he saw was her transform into a dozen or so bats and disappear into the depths of the night.

Bellamor's heart turned to the other side.

He faked the child's death, convincing the church and the Witcher that he had personally ended the child's life, and followed Witcher tradition by cremating the body to prevent them from becoming evil spirits.

Meanwhile, his most trusted henchmen, following the witch's instructions, arrived at the designated location at the opportune moment.

That was the first missing person case related to ghouls in Darkhearth, involving his child and his loyal subordinate.

However, his actions opened Pandora's box. After that, every month on the evening of the fourteenth, someone would disappear in the same place. The first person to disappear was a blacksmith in Darkhearth. He disappeared on his way home after finishing work and was last seen in front of the post office.

These missing persons were not infected by the epidemic; they seemed more like sacrifices, disappearing forever into the night.

In exchange, the child will survive somewhere he doesn't know.

Over the years, Bellamour has received some signs that the child is still alive, which is probably one of the few sources of comfort for him.

Ethan saw the deepest secret hidden in Bellamor's heart. When he learned that Fisher was investigating missing persons cases, he couldn't sleep all night. Bellamor had thought of killing someone to cover it up more than once. For him at that time, making someone disappear in Darkhearth was not a difficult thing, even if he was a third-level believer of the Society of Truth.

The church would certainly be happy to help him.

They could even define Fisher as a follower of an evil god and publicly execute him.

However, Bellamor ultimately suppressed those evil thoughts, which would open more Pandora's boxes, causing him to sink deeper and deeper into this path of no return.

Fisher disappeared before Bellamor could make any decision.

Two days later, his body was found in the suburbs, with marks on his body from being eaten by ghouls. Bellamor breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the matter would end there. But then Fisher's wife sent a letter to the Society of Truth, which brought Valerie there.

Mrs. Fisher's death was unrelated to this.

After Fisher's death, she was convinced that Sheriff Shuga had killed her husband, so she secretly followed him until one day she stumbled upon Shuga's private transaction with the Imperial Military Industry. She used this to blackmail Shuga into revealing details about her husband, but was shot in the head by an assassin from the Imperial Military Industry.

Her body was thrown into the furnace of the military factory and disappeared without a trace.

Bellamour remained silent.

Although Shuga was utterly wicked, he was a clever man who could effectively cover up the regular disappearances that occurred in Darkforge City and keep the Witcher Guild away from the city as much as possible.

"In other words, we are facing a very new ghoul virus," Ethan concluded.

No source of infection could be found; it appeared suddenly, just like a cold.

It has a natural resistance to the purifying energy of the Goddess of Life, which sounds more like an evolved virus that has eliminated its original weaknesses.

Even more coincidentally, today is the 14th.

Ms. Valerie chose this particular time to send the letter, perhaps also to coincide with the special date of the 14th. This explains her whereabouts. If she also saw the novel titled "Tales of Darkhearth," it is very likely that she went to that special place at that specific time.

"Perhaps she can also get treatment there... I mean Ivy."

Bellamor stared dejectedly at the ground.

Just now, many thoughts had flashed through his mind, such as perhaps he could call his musketeers to cover up the secret forever, but this idea did not last long in his mind.

everything is over.

The secret hidden for many years has been exposed to the envoy from the capital. If the disappearance case in Dark Furnace City can be stopped here, it may be a good result.

"If... you encountered that child on the other side, and he had turned into a ghoul, what would you do?"

"Bellamore asked."

All his darkest secrets were exposed to Ethan, yet he knew nothing about Ethan and was completely unable to understand this young man's thoughts.

“I know a friend who is a very good doctor. Maybe he can help.”

The day passed quickly. Before setting off, Ethan took a short nap. When he opened his eyes, it was already dark outside the manor. Ivy wrapped herself up tightly in the blanket, like a wriggling caterpillar. Her emotions were much more stable than the night before. Although her eyes were still bloodshot, at least she no longer had the urge to bite anyone.

This was thanks to the golden retriever on her head.

Ivy used a magical technique that even Ethan didn't know about, seemingly transferring some of her bloodlust to the blond hair on her head—the blond hair looked very excited and even headbutted Ethan's hand as he approached.

Unfortunately, Golden Retrievers have no teeth, can't eat, and are pitifully weak in attack.

"It's time to go."

Ethan asked, "Are you ready to reveal the secrets of Darkforge City?"

Ivy nodded.

Ethan carried the golden caterpillar on his back through the blanket.

The police station cordoned off the area near the post office to ensure that no other unlucky person would accidentally take their spot.

The smog along the way grew thicker and thicker, so thick that Ethan could barely see the road ahead. He even felt a strong sense of visibility in the deeper parts of the smog.

This is another strange aspect of many missing persons cases.

Each missing person was witnessed before they disappeared.

He passed the post office, and the road beneath his feet was subtly changing, becoming desolate and overgrown with weeds. It no longer looked like a city road, but rather placed him in the middle of nowhere, a place where ghouls roamed.

Immediately afterward, Ethan stopped in his tracks.

He saw an error message, and then the messages quickly merged into one.

Fireball (Sun), Proficiency: ∞. You have found your own path.

His skills popped up automatically, each with a red scratch on it. The scratches were so forceful, as if they were about to puncture the skill bar itself. Ethan could even feel the intense resentment in the force of these scratches.

He tried to contact these elements that were forbidden by the scratches, but unsurprisingly, he failed.

Below all the error messages, a new skill appeared, a skill that Winter had never written into "Fireball and Ice Arrow Magic".

Those were words written in an ominous color, like dried blood:

Shadow Bolt, Proficiency: ? ? ? , Shadow Bolt, only Shadow Bolt (^_^) .

(End of this chapter)