146 Creeping Hunger (1/2)
”What's so special about Qilangos's magical item?” Audrey asked slightly confidently.
She considered it carefully and suddenly realized that she had a decent ability to locate people in Backlund.
Firstly, her father was one of the most wealthy, connected, and reputable nobles, while she was quite popular amongst the younger generation too. Hence, in the upper-middle class of the society, she had quite a few resources to take advantage of.
Secondly, the two Beyonders that she knew had their own circles as well. Apprentice Fors was originally a clinical doctor, and was now an author. She knew quite a number of people in the literary world and publishing industry, as well as among the middle-class doctors.
Arbiter Xio Derecha had helped many middle-lower class people to coordinate and mediate disputes over a long period of time. She was also quite famous in East Backlund borough among the working class and mafia. She had a lot of hidden channels.
Plus, considering the Beyonders that they knew and their circles of influence, their ability to look for a person wasn't to be belittled.
Towards Justice's question, Alger answered almost straightaway without hesitation or thought.
”No one knows the real name of the magical item, but the people who have come into contact with it call it the 'Creeping Hunger.' Qilangos uses a living person's soul and flesh to satisfy it every other day. Otherwise, it would consume its owner as a replacement.”
”This could be one of the most important clues to seek out Qilangos,” Audrey said, creasing her eyebrows.
She felt utter discomfort and extreme hatred towards any evil item that desired a living human's fresh blood and soul.
”Yes, but in a big city with at least five million people, a few vagrants going missing wouldn't be noticed,” Alger reminded her. ”Ever since he got his hands on the Creeping Hunger, Qilangos has been very difficult to deal with.”
”He was originally a Wind-blessed. He possesses great Beyonder power in domains related to water, wind, and the weather. But, later on, people realized that he could drive his targets crazy, enter the dreams of others, summon light to purify a dead soul, sing to strengthen himself, and change his appearance… There's almost nothing that he can't do,” Alger described in detail. ”We suspect that those are all effects that came from the magical item, Creeping Hunger…”
Before he finished sharing, Derrick Berg, who had been listening quietly, suddenly blurted, ”Shepherd!”
Shepherd? Sequence 5 of the Secrets Suppliant and Listener pathway? Hmm, among the six-member council in the City of Silver, there is a new elder who's a Shepherd. Sun had mentioned that she's strong enough to fight against a Sequence 4 expert, well—an evil spirit of the same grade… Klein's expression changed slightly, but it was covered by the gray fog. Justice wasn't paying any attention to him either.
”Shepherd?”
”Shepherd?”
Justice and The Hanged Man asked in unison. One sounded completely confused while the other sounded shocked, as though they had heard the title of Shepherd elsewhere before and knew something about it, but didn't understand the actual situation.
Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Derrick suddenly panicked a little. No matter how quiet, depressed, and vexed he was, he was a boy after all.
He hurriedly explained with a stammer, ”What I meant was, the traits that The Hanged Man described were like the Beyonder power of the Sequence job, Shepherd. Every Shepherd can swallow another's soul into their body, including wraiths and evil spirits. They control these souls to do their bidding with a unique method, which allows them to make use of their abilities, just like a god letting his lambs out to graze.
”Hence, no one knows how many powers a Shepherd has. That depends on how many Beyonder souls they have swallowed, and that makes them very scary. They're almost like a High-Sequence Beyonder.
”However, there are people who suspect that there's a limit to the number of souls that a Shepherd can consume and let out to graze, and that the souls inside them could be replaced as well.”
So that's what being a Shepherd means… The Sequence pathway that the Aurora Order has in its control is enigmatic… No wonder they worship the True Creator, no, the Fallen Creator… Klein was suddenly enlightened, but he didn't nod, taking on the appearance that he knew so long ago.
Meanwhile, he sighed inwardly. Sun, you are a boy after all. This is very important information, very important insight. You could've exchanged it for valuable things, but you just revealed it all! Just like that…
Yes, the ability demonstrated by the magical item Creeping Hunger is similar to a Sequence 5 Shepherd… I wonder if other Sealed Artifacts have the same powers of Beyonders? I wonder which Sequence the Sealed Artifact 2-049, the Antigonus family's puppet, resembles…
After listening to Sun's explanation, Alger seemed to have sorted out the puzzle in his mind as he nodded in silence.
Audrey got even more curious and pressed, ”Which Sequence pathway is Shepherd from? Which number is it?”
”The Secrets Suppliant pathway, Sequence 5.” Klein seized the opportunity to answer so as to demonstrate that he knew everything.
”Secrets Suppliant… Aurora Order…” Audrey suddenly recalled Mr. A, who was a suspected Oracle of the Aurora Order, and she immediately felt heavy-hearted.
She started thinking seriously, thinking of what price she could pay in exchange for Mr. Fool to take action and rid off that disgusting fellow effortlessly. However, she couldn't think of anything that would move Mr. Fool into doing so.
As expected, a figure akin to a god wouldn't be easily moved… There aren't many things and matters that would garner their interest after all… Audrey sighed.
Putting her impulse aside, she nodded to The Sun gratefully, thanking him for giving them a new perspective on Creeping Hunger, so that they could deal with it more reasonably and efficiently.
”Mr. Hanged Man, I'm willing to accept the mission. But I can't guarantee if I can find Rear Admiral Hurricane, Qilangos.” Audrey looked opposite her when she spoke.