I felt pain all over my body from what just happened, a lot of my bones, one of my ribs specifically was fractured as I struggled to walk up straight and even stand up properly.
I walked through this dark sewage tunnel for a few minutes before I see something twinkle at the distance...I didn't mind it. How long have I been walking in this place? It stinks so bad, I wanna rest.
My mind was wandering around about what just happened earlier.
Clifford died because of the poison I gave him. It wasn't because of the blessed, it was because I didn't trust that kid.
Kel and Hedin died to buy me and Rast some time to escape. They were dragged around like toys by the Blessed.
Lastly....Rast. He died sacrificing himself by pushing me off to the canals. Kel and Hedin's sacrifice were just in vain.
As I walked through this tunnel for a longer while, my legs collapsed on the spot. The sobs that I was holding back since earlier finally broke out and filled the entire sewage with it.
I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. I am sorry I couldn't save you. I am sorry for being so weak. I am sorry for being powerless. I am sorry...I am sorry.
Everything was my fault...my fault.
But as I had those thoughts inside my head, The face of the Blessed appeared on my head. He was smug, he was sneering at me. Mocking me.
A wave of rage rose within me, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stop crying on the spot. Despite the pain in my liverside, I tried my best to get up from the cold ground and continued walking forward.
"I will kill him"
Glaring at the twinkling light ahead, I took another step, completely disregarding the pain that I was feeling.
I will kill that Blessed. I will surely kill him, no matter what. Then I will not stop there, I will also kill that noble who hired him. All of them.
"I will kill him"
I chanted over and over again with malice in my tone. I glared at the light ahead before I finally saw what it was.
It was an ugly large fucking rat which was eating some sort of human corpses. Bone crunching could be heard as the rat which looked like it was on steroids continued eating up a bunch of corpses.
I glanced at the corpses that it was eating and saw that it was a bunch of familiar corpses. It was the thugs in the slums. The ones that are on the fight club more specifically, the ones that died there. It also seemed like it was guarding something as ahead of it was a dead end wall with an iron door on it.
"Is that the exit? Or is that where the butchers throw the thugs that died in the arena?"
Has the butchers been feeding this monster all this time? I knew Levin was crazy but I didn't know he was a psychopath crazy. This monster has been living under our house all this time? It was a disgusting sight but my stomach has been trained for this. I tried to back away to not catch its attention and run away from this place, but it seems like It was already too late as I had already caught its attention.
"Fuck"
Gritting my teeth to brace myself through pain, I tucked tail and ran away despite all of the injuries that I have. Behind me, the monstrous rat which looked like it was on steroids also turned to chase after me.
Tremors happened in this stinky place as its overgrown body failed to control its momentum and crashed onto a wall, seeing that, I used that opportunity to run faster, but because of the injuries I sustained, I couldn't run any faster than my current speed.
Eventually then, the monstrous rat rose from the pile of rubble and chased after me again. Because I was not faster than the rat was, It eventually caught up to me and grabbed hold of my body with its bulging hands.
"Shit fuc—"
Before I could make out my curse word, it slammed me to a wall which made me tap out of my consciousness and get it back again. The injuries that I just got from the blessed worsened. It was even harder to breathe now and...do I feel my ribs breaking?
The abomination also still has not let go of me, it was still holding me by its bulging hand as it inspected me to see if I had died.
'Why the fuck is this happening to me?! Am I going to die here? Am I? At least let me kill that blessed and avenge my brothers..!'
While I was fighting the inner demons inside my mind, the thought about the blessed once again ignited the flames of fury in my head.
"I will...kill him"
As if obsessed, I uttered those words through gritted teeth with the blessed's face in my head.
Glaring at the oversized rat, I grabbed hold of its finger with both of my hands then bent it using all of my remaining strength.
Surprised by my sudden struggle, the rat let out a deafening pained screech as I successfully bent its finger, dislocating it, and then tried to smash me to the wall again, but I didn't let it do that because I jumped down from its grasp the moment it loosened its grip of me.
Struggling to walk because of my fractured ribs, I took this opportunity to escape from the rat while it was busy crying from its dislocated finger.
'What a wuss, crying over one injury'
I scoffed at the rat behind me as I was running away with hitched breath due to the pain I am having.
Well, it feeling pain does make sense....it probably hasn't felt pain just from how perfectly toned its body was, and what's more it was also very well fed...spoiled even.
Knowing full well that I cannot outrun that monstrous rat, I decided to play it smart and looked for another way out, when I saw a large culvert pipe good enough for an average adult human to crawl into. It was a perfect escape route....if not only for the stinky water coming out from it.
'That is clearly shit'
I grumbled and left with no choice, I decided to crawl into it and hide there. Once inside, I endured through the unbearable stench that is beyond human comprehension and crawled through the ends of it.
"King of the Slums now King of the Shit"
It took me a lot while before I could reach the end of this pipe and once I was there, I saw an unexpected sight.
The previous sewer tunnel full of murky water definitely do not look like it now. This place appeared to be more like an underground hallway. There are still the waters from the gutter, but unlike the other side where it was flooded with murky water, this one definitely looked like it was well maintained. It was even well lit by some sort of fire lamp on the wall.
"Hopefully no monsters like that just now would appear in here"
I silently hoped as I walked through this underground hall. It didn't really take that long for me to reach the end of this hallway as the one that awaited me at the end was a door, a room to be precise.
Halting my steps infront of that door, I looked around my surrounding to see if there was some kind of trap awaiting for me the moment I open this door, but I only found nothing except for this door.
"Maybe this is not a room but an exit?"
I wondered, hesitating to open the door. The reason why I was hesitating was actually because I felt that something weird was on the other side of this door. The feeling definitely isn't the hostile feeling nor is it the good feeling, it's more like...if I open this door, something weird will definitely greet me there.
"Whatever, I need to rest and eat soon so hopefully this is an exit"
I twisted the doorknob of the door and pushed it aside. It slowly opened and then when I saw what was on the other side, I was very surprised that it made my mouth hang for a few seconds.
There was some sort of a laboratory on the other side. There were also a few books on its shelf and on the study, there's also a book or maybe that's a journal.
Glancing at the other table with a bunch of empty flask, glass tubes and a beaker displayed in there, I could clearly tell that this was a mini laboratory.
Why? After all I also used to own one...I make my drugs in that lab and also my front pharmacy business.
"Was the owner of this room a druggie also?"
I mused while wiping the test containers off their dust and also cobwebs.
"It must have been a while since this was taken care of"
I mumbled before grabbing one of the books from the shelf and read through its title.
[ Human Anatomy: The Study of Acupunctures ]
"Huh...."
I let out a mused sigh before putting the book down and went to read the other books.
[ Study of Herbal Medicine ]
[ Herbs and Drugs ]
[ The Periodic Table of Elements ]
[ Chemistry: The way of the world ]
No matter how much I think about it....every book in here seems to be science related. I mean it is a laboratory so it obviously is...but how lucky am I to stumble upon such place when I am in desperate need for it?
"Well, no matter...I gotta find way to treat myself"
I mumbled before searching this place further, only to find nothing but the name of the owner of this place.
[ Dr. Granula Veshein ]
"So a worthless place then. Luck my ass."
There is nothing in this place that could be of help for me right now, the books may be helpful but it sure wouldn't magically treat my injuries.
There are the necessary equipments for experiments too but I lack the resources...no, there are no ingredients even.
"You should've left some things you bastard..."
I cursed at Granula's nameplate and very soon then, my eyes landed on the book and journal beside it. I read through the book's name.
[ The Studies about The Blessed and The Damned ] written by: Granula Veshein