Records of the Weakest Emperor

Chapter 173: Are You Willing?

The attack happened so suddenly that Calvin only had enough time to activate the rune in his hand.

A barrier of translucent light appeared in front of him and shielded him from the sound wave attack. He managed to escape unscathed, however, the house where he was hiding wasn't so lucky. It was demolished almost immediately the moment the sound wave collided against it. It was as if the house wasn't even made out of concrete, but cardboard.

"Reeee..." The Banshee sharply whistled when it noticed that the enemy whom it considered as lower than an ant had actually managed to survive against its attack. The empty eye sockets that had nothing in it now burned in a crimson light formed from resentment and killing intent.

'That was close...' Calvin let out a sigh of relief. A sound akin to glass shattering rang out in front of him as the barrier that he hastily summoned through Runecrafting finally shattered. It had sufficiently served its purpose. The barrier gave Calvin enough time to prepare the Mortician for a battle.

The Mortician was unharmed from the attack due to the barrier, but it didn't mean that it was easy to bully.

When the Banshee directed its killing intent to Calvin, the stench of formaldehyde and blood surged from the Mortician.

The Mortician walked forward, meeting the Banshee halfway as a fierce battle unfolded between the two.

Both existences were only a few steps away from the Purveyor rank, and their battle sure was earth-shaking.

Calvin stepped backward, he was unqualified to intervene in their battle for his mortal body was just too weak against the Banshee.

But just because he wasn't strong enough didn't mean that he would only remain as a spectator in this battle.

As soon as the Mortician took to the field, a serious expression appeared on Calvin's face as he mumbled.

"By the Emperor's Commandment, all shall obey!"

Swoosh!

A sudden storm swept up as a powerful shockwave visible to the eyes manifested with Calvin at its center. As the storm started billowing, the expression on the Banshee's face changed as its body twitched out of terror.

"Reeee!" The Banshee shrieked and was about to retreat when the Mortician appeared right behind it.

A scalpel manifested in the Mortician's hands and it looked like he was about to tear open the Banshee to prepare it for its burial.

The Banshee was a High-Tiered supernatural being similar to the Mortician. This tier was only lower than Purveyor, and since they were of the same tier. The Mortician shouldn't win this battle so easily. But the Mortician had someone to support him.

The holder of the Emperor's Commandment was right there to suppress the Banshee's abilities through the commandment's natural suppression against evil-attributed beings.

Banshees fight in a similar fashion to Specters. Even though they were unable to turn incorporeal in the middle of a battle, they were able to use the darkness to confuse their enemies with optical illusions. However, this optical illusion was basically useless in front of a Predator due to the existence of their Predator Senses.

But the true reason why the Banshees were far scarier than other Specters was because of their core abilities.

One of them was a strong shock wave attack through their scream, while the other ability was to summon friendly skeletons to obstruct their enemies in the middle of the battle.

The Banshee possessed quite a bit of intellect. It recognized that it was being overpowered by its enemies so it retreated and used the darkness to scurry away from the battlefield. However, how could the Mortician let his prey go now that the battle had already started? He was quick to pursue and he had caught up to the Banshee in a blink of an eye.

But the Banshee wasn't out of cards yet. When the Mortician caught up to it, the earth shook and the shadow created by the darkness coalesced and formed the figures of several skeletons that slowly climbed off the ground. These skeletons surrounded the Banshee in a protective formation and they stared menacingly at the Mortician.

However, before any of them could even fart.

A fierce gale of wind swept through their bodies, instantly shattering their skeletal remains as they turned to ashes once again.

"Reeee!" The Banshee was furious. It glanced at Calvin, but once it felt that heart-palpitating aura coming out of Calvin's body.

It staggered backwards out of fear.

An opening was made with the destruction of the skeletons.

How could the Mortician let go of this opportunity?

The Mortician stepped forward and its scalpel danced through the air.

Sealed and with no cards left, the Banshee couldn't do anything other than scream.

Its fate sealed with the ruthless attacks of the Mortician.

[Gained 5 Ascension Points]

[The Mortician's Ascension Points: 83]

[17 Ascension Points necessary for Ascension to Purveyor.]

A smile crept up Calvin's lips as the veil of darkness surrounding the streets vanished.

The oil lamps that had been extinguished burned with vigor once more.

It was as if nothing had happened.

If not for the fact that the demolished house remained demolished, Calvin would've thought that he had been in an illusion.

"You've done well." Calvin praised the Mortician. He hadn't expected that it was able to finish off a similar-ranked supernatural being. It seemed that nurturing the Mortician was now slowly being worthy of consideration for Calvin.

The Mortician faintly nodded.

No emotions could be deduced from its empty and listless eyes.

But as it disappeared, a hint of a smile could somewhat be seen from its lips hidden behind its medical mask.

Unfortunately, Calvin hadn't noticed this vague display of emotion at all.

The Mortician returned to the golden quill and Calvin was able to continue his journey once more.

"I have to find more monsters for the Mortician to consume... I must be able to increase his strength to at least the Purveyor rank before I try to dig deeper into the secrets of this village. Not having a stronger ally doesn't really make me feel safe." Calvin whispered into the air.

He followed the route that he had been using and he soon arrived at the southern entrance where he couldn't find any trace of Heisenberg and Ricardo.

Calvin even took to a nearby rooftop but he still couldn't find Heisenberg and Ricardo.

"Did they really walk out of the village? Why aren't they at the previous location of the tunnel?" Calvin pondered. Then, an idea came to his mind as his Predator Senses activated. A golden hue filled his eyes and the previously empty road leading to the southern entrance revealed innumerable clues.

"Footsteps... these footsteps are too large for it to belong to an average person. What's more, the steps are irregular. Some times too wide, some times too narrow. These footsteps must've come from a Witch." Upon realizing this, Calvin's pupils constricted, "If these footsteps came from Witches, this can only mean that someone had startled them..."

"Could it be that Heisenberg and Ricardo disturbed the Sabbath leading to them being chased by the Witches?" Calvin shook his head, "No, I don't think so... I doubt that they are that stupid to actually dare to disturb a Sabbath."

Calvin's deduction made sense, but it was incorrect. He had made a mistake by assuming that Heisenberg and Ricardo had the same visual acuity as him in the darkness as the holder of a golden class. Fortunately, Calvin wasn't the type to make such a rookie mistake. He instantly recognized this easily-missed established fact as a grim look appeared on his face.

"Those two... Are they still alive?" Calvin didn't dare to delay anymore.

He chased after the clues revealed to him by his Predator Senses and he soon arrived at the end of the clues.

It led to a dark alleyway.

Calvin had just activated the Emperor's Commandment earlier, and even though the Emperor's Commandment was an ability that he could use freely whenever he wanted. It still had its own drawbacks. Calvin could use the ability whenever he wished, but consecutive usage of the Emperor's Commandment would still drain his spirit.

Being the cautious man he was, Calvin attempted a Coin Divination Ritual but the results were inconclusive.

In short, divination was useless in the Village of Tulog.

Someone or something was interfering.

Left with nothing, Calvin had no other choice but to summon the Mortician as the faint silhouette of a young man floated behind him.

The young man looked incredibly cold, yet imposing.

The scalpel he was holding in his hands, and the indifferent crimson light in his eyes made him look terrifying.

As Calvin approached the dark alleyway, he didn't bother hiding his presence nor his footsteps.

Step...

Step after step, Calvin was going closer to the alleyway.

But as soon as he peeked at what was hiding in the alleyway.

A fist came flying his way.

"Do it!" The voice of an old man rang out as Calvin hurriedly ducked his head to avoid the fist.

Calvin's pupils constricted when he realized that the old man who had sent the punch was Heisenberg.

Meanwhile, the young man behind Heisenberg screamed.

"Water Anchor Arrow!"

The arrow that the young man prepared beforehand was unleashed.

It was then, that Calvin let out a scream.

"Hey, hey, hey! Chill! Chill! It's me, Calvin!"

The arrow swept past Calvin as he avoided it by a hair's breadth.

Heisenberg's pupils narrowed.

The nauseating presence that he had detected earlier had disappeared the moment he saw that Calvin was the one walking towards the alleyway.

Heisenberg looked around and after finding not even a trace of that malevolent presence, he harshly dragged Calvin into the alleyway where he scolded.

"Why in the fuck did you approach us like that? Are you trying to give us a heart attack?"

"Yeah, I almost killed you, man... Come on..." Ricardo still couldn't believe that Calvin had avoided his attack despite the close range.

"It's fine, all's well that ends well. I'm uninjured anyway, so let's move on from that..."

"What I want to know instead is why are the two of you hiding in this dark alleyway? Didn't I already give you two a plan on what to do so both of you can escape from this place?"

Ricardo revealed a bitter smile.

Heisenberg looked exhausted.

"Man, you gave us a path to escape, but it was barred by the Sabbath!"

"So my deduction was right, the two of you did indeed startle the Sabbath!" A twinkle of enlightenment flitted past Calvin's eyes as he asked, "Then, if both of you met the Sabbath why are you still alive?"

"I knew you were going to ask us that question..." Heisenberg sighed. He was still terrified about what happened just half an hour ago, "We weren't supposed to live. But something saved us."

"Something saved you?" Calvin asked in doubt.

"Yeah, I know it's unbelievable, man. But something did save us. And that thing, that thing is probably scarier than the Sabbath." Fear flashed across Ricardo's face.

"Scarier than the Sabbath? Just what did happen? Explain to me, right now." A serious expression was now plastered across Calvin's face. If there was indeed something scarier than the Sabbath, then it must be stronger than the Banshee and the Mortician.

Heisenberg and Ricardo explained everything that happened to Calvin, and at the end of their explanation, Calvin couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure that it wasn't the voice of a young man?"

"No, we're positive that it was a young woman... She was crying... But her cries weren't the cries of someone that needed help. She seemed to be crying for something... She's crying because she needs something." Heisenberg said.

"She's crying because she needs something..." Calvin instantly thought of a few supernatural beings such as the Siren.

However, the Sirens were supernatural beings whose habitat were bodies of water. There was even a legend among sailors, that once any sailor out there heard the cries of a woman in the middle of the ocean. They must turn their ships back at all costs, even if they would barge into a storm.

This was how terrifying the Sirens were.

But they were obviously so far away from the nearest ocean, so there couldn't possibly be any Sirens in this village.

In that case, just what were Heisenberg and Ricardo talking about?

Could it really be the Saintess of Death?

Calvin thought for quite a while before he reached a final answer.

The clues that he had gathered so far were insufficient for him to make a proper deduction. In short, to uncover the secrets behind this village.

He must venture to a place of great danger.

And what place was more dangerous in this village than the village center?

A decision was swiftly made and Calvin turned to ask both Heisenberg and Ricardo.

"What are your plans?"

"Our plans?" Heisenberg bitterly laughed, "I don't know... We obviously want to escape, but we're afraid if the Sabbath's still there. No, it's obviously still out there looking for us since we injured one of them."

"Oh, you managed to injure one of the Witches from the Sabbath? Did you only injure one of them, or did you manage to kill?"

"No, we couldn't kill them." Ricardo shook his head.

"Damn that complicates things... Witches hold grudges and they will remember your scent. They are also ruthless in their pursuit, so I understand why the two of you aren't willing to come out of this dark alleyway."

"Yeah, that basically means we're fucked." Heisenberg couldn't even hold back his curse.

"Not necessarily..." A mysterious smile flitted across Calvin's lips, "I have a way to deal with the Witches."

Heisenberg and Ricardo revealed shocked expressions on their faces, "Really?"

"But the question is, will you be willing to do it?"