The eccentric doctor never makes a misdiagnosis!

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In other circumstances, these undead creatures exhibit extraordinary resilience. Even if their bodies are hollowed out, they will not die until their life force is completely exhausted.

Terence breathed a sigh of relief, his previously furrowed brows relaxing slightly.

"If it were a vampire, it would indeed be possible for them to survive for a while after suffering this level of damage."

But as another question arose, his expression turned serious again.

"But ℃—』&【「】″、‰腫转×ˉ: Since the 'Oath of the Bud Moon,' the vampires have no longer belonged to the 'outsiders.' How did they end up here?"

"Ho, ho..."

Just then, the vampire corpse on the ground let out a resentful and frenzied howl. He clearly felt the fresh and sweet scent of flesh and blood lingering in his mouth, within easy reach... yet it vanished without a trace in an instant.

Moreover, that sudden, explosive bite had exhausted his last bit of life force, and death was imminent.

"Sister Haida, the sampling is complete. Dispose of them in a safe and harmless manner."

Fran yawned, clearly having lost interest in the stench-filled, dissolving corpses.

"Ah."

Heda lifted her black nun's robe, filled her magazine with silver-core bullets, and then fired a finishing shot at each of the dissolving corpses.

The firelight flashed, and these "corpses," which were already thought to be dead, died one after another after letting out mournful cries.

"Although we've figured out what these 'corpses' are... why are they in this half-dead state, with their internal organs all intertwined and fused together?"

Child, who had remained silent throughout, then very politely raised his hand and asked a question.

He didn't ask about the headless corpse. After all, it looked like the chief hunter's doing... Everyone knew that Yaheng had been here before.

As the only coroner present, his questions could only be answered by Fran.

"They suffered physical damage far beyond the limits of their self-healing abilities, making full recovery impossible. Yet their organs retain extremely high activity..."

"Therefore, the abnormally proliferating cells formed a large amount of 'callus tissue,' which wrapped and fused all the internal organs together."

As she spoke, she picked up the scalpel and pointed to the bloody, mangled gash on the carotid artery of the dissolving corpse.

"The teeth marks left by the blood donation are a simple ritual for transforming inferior vampires. It is also known as 'blood servant'."

泰罢）浯∨∪］·…∵〔毶＜△`≌'浇·<硫≤。 QUN: Luns has roughly figured out the sequence of events.

A chilling anger welled up silently. However, he suppressed his emotions and did not show it.

"In other words, these vampire corpses were all transformed from the previously missing..."

“That’s right.” Fran nodded.

“Only high-ranking vampires can perform blood transfusions so easily. In other words… a rather unruly individual has been here.”

Professor Terence gently touched the burning brand of the Holy Symbol on the back of his hand, his gaze tinged with melancholy.

"I'm quite curious, which 'Moon Clan' is willing to break their oath to seek death?"

At the dawn of this millennium, the vampires, under the budding moon, rebelled against their great mother who controlled devouring and suffering, breaking away from the heretical order. They ultimately submitted to the deity who danced alone beneath the cobalt blue moonlight.

It was with the help of the White Cup that they were able to change their old beliefs. Therefore, there is an ancient pact between the existing vampires and the White Cup Order... This is a secret that is almost common knowledge among the Exorcists.

The rampant creation of blood servants in Norrington is undoubtedly a transgression and provocation against the oath.

After a moment's hesitation, Haida spoke.

“Professor Terence, Vivian and I had contact with a vampire. After being severely injured, he used [Blood Transformation] to hide in the sewers. The earlier case of the missing wanderer has also been largely confirmed to be his doing.”

"Please forgive me for only revealing this now. According to the Funeral Court's commandments, information can only be shared with collaborators after it has been confirmed that the mission is genuinely connected to classified information."

Terence nodded slightly in acceptance. He was somewhat familiar with the terms and conditions of the funeral home and had little dissatisfaction with them.

Although Sister Heda possessed the inherent strictness and somewhat rigidity of a funeral maid, she was at least communicative. She was neither a reclusive loner nor a silent fanatic.

Oh, it's hard to imagine that her father is a perfect combination of both of those qualities, and yet she is so normal...≈∩陆、⌒

"They are able to use vampire secrets such as [Blood Transformation]. Although it cannot be confirmed that they are high-ranking vampires with titles, they are more than capable of creating blood servants."

For the White Cup Order, the unusual movements of the high-ranking vampires were even more important than the mission itself.

With this in mind, Terence pressed Heda for more details about him.

Did that guy reveal his name? Did he behave in any suspicious way?

"He carried the scent of sand and dust. The reason he ambushed me was to retrieve the missing 'false sun' sword of the Sunforge Order."

Since there was no longer a need to follow confidentiality agreements, Haida was not stingy with her explanations.

A vampire going to find the alchemical sun of the Sunforge Order—is he courting death? Terence was visibly taken aback. At the same time, he also gleaned another crucial piece of information from Haida's words.

The high-ranking vampire ambushed Sister Haida, then severely injured her to the point that she had to use the extremely dangerous "Blood Transformation" technique to escape into the sewers, right? ...I can imagine how horrific the situation must have been.

Moreover, the situation of this vampire was very strange, and Terence felt something was amiss. As a result, his anger at the possibility that the "Moon Familia" had broken their oath subsided somewhat.

"At least we've identified the culprit. In any case... we have to find him."

Haida, on the other hand, seemed to have been prepared for this.

"This is also the goal of our exploration mission."

Instead of untying the portable bag on her back, she took out an arm wrapped in bandages.

“The engravers of the Funeral Court etched a hunting prayer on this arm, which will lead us to our master.”

Not only did they severely injure him, but they also left him with one arm?

Although Haida didn't deliberately show off her spoils, Terence still felt a hint of surprise... Compared to other hunters with such strength, she was far too young.

Speaking of which, displaying spoils of war is also a tradition of the Funeral Court's hunters.

For example, after completing a certain hunt, Hei Rong would seamlessly switch from casual conversation to asking, "How did you know I just beheaded a priest?"

Haida threw the arm covered in hunting prayers to the ground, and it immediately stretched its joints and began to crawl on its fingers.

Chapter Seventy-Two: Birthday Banquet Hall

The heretical hunters of the Funeral Court are masters of the art of seeking, tracking, locking onto, and slaughtering.

They are often referred to as "hounds" by followers of other esoteric sects precisely because these creatures are exceptionally tenacious. They are valiant, persistent, and ruthless...

Being targeted after your whereabouts are exposed is just the beginning of the nightmare; if you are lucky enough, there is still a chance to escape.

And if the hunters obtain enough flesh and blood to establish a connection with the main body... the nightmare will never end unless death comes.

Professor Terence stroked his cane, looking with considerable curiosity at the severed arm on the ground that was constantly raising its fingers and climbing forward.

[Hound Metamorphosis] This fragile type of ritual can actually be constructed directly on the skin of an arm... The engraver who handled this arm must have at least master-level ritual skills.

Seeing that the paleographer's gaze never left the arm on the ground, Haida began to explain some of the currently known information.

“Professor Terence. The arm bone of this severed hand is made entirely of an unknown metal and is etched with encrypted prayers… The Secret Service has not yet fully deciphered the origin and content of the prayers.”

Out of the hunter's usual caution, she only revealed the parts that "could be disclosed".

In fact, according to the interim research report submitted by the cipher expert Zoparos half a month ago, it can be basically determined that the prayer originated from a branch of the ancient Attila language family.

Simply put... this guy has a very close relationship with the Sunforge Order.

"Metal skeleton and prayer etching?" Terence's brows furrowed slightly, lost in thought.

Since the Moon's Kin knelt before the "Moon of Rebirth" and became "Moon Listeners," they have been engrossed in the study of spirits. However, this art of interfering with and modifying the physical body is clearly not their area of ​​expertise.

Of course, they might be secretly involved in this field. But rather than speculating about it out of thin air, it's better to focus on the Sunforge Order, renowned for its alchemy and forging...

"So perhaps this matter has nothing to do with the Moon Familia. After all, not all vampires have joined the 'Moonlight Oath'." Although it was all just speculation, this conclusion still put Terence at ease.

The White Cup Order abhors oath-breaking above all else. If this matter is not handled properly, it could even ignite a clandestine war.

However, to send a vampire to find the alchemical sun of the Sunforge Order... it's absurd that only the person who assigned the mission could come up with such a thing.

But if the mastermind behind it all is the Sunforge Hall, then everything can be explained. In this world, only those craftsmen who worship the sun all day long are most likely to find a way to let the vampires bask in the sunlight again.

Fran remained silent, following Sister Heda with light, graceful, and quiet steps.

Her pale, frosty eyebrows were relaxed, her expression light and cheerful. Although she was clearly in a dark, cramped sewer, it was as if she were out for a spring outing…

Under the effect of [Hound Mimicry], this severed arm has acquired some canine characteristics. Of course, it has no sense of smell and doesn't wag its tail... it's simply searching for its "master" based on blood ties.

The Norlington drainage system is a winding, meandering system, but the deeper you go, the more open and spacious it becomes, like stepping into a cold, damp underground labyrinth.

Suddenly, the severed arm, which had been crawling rapidly on the ground, abruptly stopped and began to look around restlessly.

Haida's gray-chestnut eyes narrowed, and a long-suppressed excitement quietly welled up inside her.

The Funeral Maids and Heretic Hunters mostly maintain restraint, only unleashing the hunting frenzy passed down through the Funeral Court when tracking down evil offspring...

“We’re getting closer.” As she spoke, her nostrils flared, as if she had caught a whiff of something.

"There was a strong smell of blood around."

Upon hearing this, Child took down his sniper rifle, which was wrapped in waterproof leather, from his back, ready to engage the enemy. However, the White Cup Exterminators were not as martial as the Hunters; silver bullets were not part of their standard preparations.

Professor Terence also tried sniffing a few times, but found nothing except for the heavy moisture and the faint smell of decay.

What do you mean by "extremely strong"? I've always been curious about how you guys can identify scents so accurately, since there aren't any olfactory-related secret techniques in the Hunter's system... Oh, or maybe I'm just ignorant...

Fran stood obediently beside Vivian, clearly not considering himself a combatant.

"hiss!"

As a hoarse hiss suddenly rang out, a strangely shaped "person" slowly emerged from the shadows around the corner. His joints were almost completely reversed, and he was now facing down, with his palms on the ground, climbing in an "arched" posture.

“A blood servant, and it’s tainted with some kind of contamination, exhibiting a certain degree of distortion.” Haida didn’t hesitate; almost reflexively, she pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

Sparks flew and smoke billowed. The silver-core bullet, inscribed with the Hunter's Prayer, shot along the rifling and instantly pierced the skull of the blood servant.

With a strange whimper, the blood servant collapsed heavily to the ground. Dark red, thick blood and pale brain matter slowly seeped out.

Just as Haida was about to give chase in the direction he had appeared, a sudden change occurred.

Suddenly, dozens of bizarrely shaped blood servants appeared in the shadowy corners. Most of them were dressed in rags, with deformed and proliferating limbs hanging from their skin, soft and bloated.

"Seventeen." In a single glance, Haida had already completed the count.

She wasn't interested in mowing the lawn, so she didn't draw her power sword, "Ne." These few low-quality enemies could be dealt with one by one with a pistol... and using a sword might get her clothes dirty.

Haida swiftly executed her battle plan, the roar of large-caliber firearms ringing out incessantly. With the crisp clatter of the seventeenth spent cartridge hitting the ground, the last remaining blood servant lost its ability to move.

"What amazing accuracy..." Child couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Apart from the first one, the other blood servants weren't slow-moving stationary targets. They moved their bodies rapidly using both hands and feet, like some kind of arthropod... but they still couldn't escape being hit by the silver-core bullets.

Although Child felt he could achieve similar accuracy with a little effort, he ultimately suppressed his restless urge to fire, considering that the bullets for this guy weren't cheap.

That vampire is nearby, within arm's reach...

Following the severed arm that suddenly began to move, Haida was the first to step into the corner of the pipe where the Blood Servant had first appeared. The concrete under her feet felt strange, as if it were wrapped in a layer of still-wriggling flesh.

As the lantern in her hand dispelled the gloom, the sight that came into view made her pause involuntarily.

This place has become a breeding ground for flesh and blood... Scattered human bodies are held together by pale pink membranes, like some kind of cocoon formed by knotted blood vessels and muscles. You can even see the lymph nodes constantly throbbing beneath the skin.

There were probably more than ten people inside the cocoon. Some had already turned into rotten, withered bones, while others, though weak in appearance, were still breathing.

"what is this?"

Vivian looked at the sticky, slippery, flesh-pink floor, and her stomach instinctively began to convulse.

Terence stepped onto the flesh-covered ground with a grim expression.

"A bench of white bones, a window frame of blood and flesh... The second type of ritual of the Crimson Cup, the [Birth Banquet Hall], is generally used to gather life force. The corresponding ritual under the God of Hunting system is the [Land of Immaculateness]."

The rather simple birthday banquet hall seemed to resonate with him in some way, so much so that he felt a burning stinging sensation from the red cup brand on the back of his hand.

"The scale of the ritual traces wasn't large, as if it was temporarily constructed by one person... Was that vampire a 'loyalist' who didn't switch allegiance to the Red Cup?"

He observed the formation of the entire bed of flesh and blood, his gaze filled with a hint of doubt.

Meanwhile, Heda, following the guidance of the severed arm, found Byes, located at the deepest part of the birthday banquet hall. He was covered in bandages, and his severed limbs had grown back.

But compared to his previous carefree and playful demeanor, Byas's posture now carried an almost eerie piety. He knelt on the ground, his hands clasped together, and a candle made of leather tinder surrounded him, burning silently.

The whispering prayers, as faint as a mosquito's buzz, had somehow become clearly audible.

“This desolate and filthy place has been transformed into a sanctuary by the Mother’s command. This place is a slaughterhouse for skinning and fleshing, but also a cradle for nurturing and giving birth… How fortunate that even the traitors who have fallen to the moon of deceit can offer their service to Him…”

He slowly got up and turned around, staring blankly at Haida.

“You’re insane.” With that, Haida took the power sword “Nirvana” from the sword box on her back.