Chapter 349 (2/2)

Ophra demurred for a moment, “All recent dead. And the area that the bodies have gone missing are all on the west side of the mountain, using the range’s centerpoint as a guide. Those that had died on the eastside did not suffer such a fate. That aside, there are no eyewitnesses. All the bodies disappeared when no one was looking. I had sent men to keep an eye out on this and when there were someone watching the bodies were fine. The moment someone looked away it disappeared.”

The marshal angrily clenched her fist as she finished. While she was certain she will get to the bottom of things, come hell or high water, the latest incident was almost like a mockery and that really got on her nerves.

The asectics pondered for a moment before asking, “Have you checked the graves?”

Gelton nodded. “Yes, we did. The keepers had checked the graves and found that only the newly dead were missing. The old graves in the cemetary were fine. Only those that were recently buried were missing.”

“So they ‘need’ fresh corpses.” The hoarse sounding female ascetic said. Doubt was apparent in her voice, “A necromancer?”

“Unlikely…” Ophra crossed her arms, her voice almost mocking. “While necromancers aren’t who you’d invite to a ball, they are still a legal school of magic. As long as they follow the proper rules and regulations, they can experiment all they want. The most foolish of necromancers would not take such a risk to raid the holy grounds for corpses. The disappearance started about half a month back and the number of rock monsters have exploded. I’ve keen to believe that this is the work of some heretics seeking some power of old. They better not let me get my hands on them…”

“Actually, we might have something of a clue,” Big Beardy decided it was time for his to disclose the matter regarding the tunnel and he stood up. “When we came here, we did pass by the outpost that you mentioned. I’m not sure if you had checked what’s underground…”

“No, we have yet to check there.” Gelton shook his head. “But as you know, most other places did not have the same tunnel structure.”

Big Beardy was slightly surprised. “Other places? Means you have checked underground? So all the other places don’t have any tunnels at all?”

Ophra shook her head resignedly. “No. The first time a body went missing we went all out on the search, underground included, but we did not find any tunnels. We never bothered looking underground after that. Seems like we need to refocus our investigation… may be there is something insidious undergorund. Bishop Gelton, what do you think…. Bishop Gelton?”

Gelton was deep in his thoughts when Ophra called him and it took him a while before he responded. “Oh, of course. I will send men to check the place. But I remembered something else…”

“Something else?” Ophra frowned.

Gelton motioned as he spoke. “The heretics seems to have powers beyond our understanding and have something to do with the unnatural changes on the Dragonspine Ridge. I’m starting to think maybe the evil acolytes of the mage emperors have seeped into this holy ground. Lady Ophra, I cannot leave the diocese, so I hope that you can make the trip to the royal city for me. Report this to His Holiness the Pope and his Royal Highness on this. This is not a diocese level crisis anymore. We need help and reinforcements from the highest level.”

Ophra broke into a smile as she heard it. “Seems like you do have some sense of urgency after all.”