"Number: 004."
"Name: Hidden Blade Cane."
… …
"sealed artifact Method: Completely submerged in blood."
"Description: It has the appearance of a dark brown, antique cane with faint golden patterns. There is a knob at the end of the cane with four settings, from 0 to 3. It often emits pained groans late at night."
"This item came from a collector in West Balam on the South Continent. He unintentionally acquired this cane at an antique auction. He originally intended to use it himself to display his status, but shortly after obtaining it, inexplicable supernatural phenomena began to occur in his home."
"First, the collector's son suddenly died without cause, followed by his wife, then his daughter. In less than a week, the entire family met with misfortune. Research confirmed that this item can devour Souls and use them as nourishment for itself."
"Research indicates that after devouring Souls, this item can enslave them and use their abilities from when they were alive. The Souls of ordinary people seem only to serve as nourishment and cannot be commanded; this was confirmed using the Souls of death row inmates."
"However, if they are the Souls of a Beyonder, the abilities of the Souls within the cane can be used to varying degrees through the different settings from 1 to 3 on the knob."
"Setting 1: When the blade is drawn from the end of the cane, a blade condensed from the victim's Spirituality will appear. Research shows that this Spiritual blade can harm Souls and Spirit Realm creatures. In Setting 1, only one of the victim's abilities can be used, and what kind of ability it is, is random."
"Setting 2: When the blade is drawn, a silver mist will appear on the blade. At this point, three of the victim's abilities can be extracted and utilized."
"Setting 3: When the blade is drawn, the screams of the Souls can be heard from within the blade. All of the victim's abilities can be used, and all abilities are enhanced, but this state cannot be maintained for long."
"Regardless of the setting, using this item consumes the Souls it has devoured. Consumption is relatively low at Setting 1, increases at Setting 2, and is overloaded at Setting 3, where the Spirits forming the blade will completely dissipate in a short time."
"This item can be utilized by devouring the Souls of the guilty. When Souls are preserved within the cane (no more than 5), submerging it completely in blood can soothe the Spirits within the cane, preventing it from unconsciously devouring nearby Souls and causing harm to the living."
"After the sealed artifact is lifted, it must be re-sealed within a maximum of 12 hours. Otherwise, the cane will become active and begin to indiscriminately devour the Souls around it." (Note 1)
As his thoughts turned, Roldor opened a pocket watch, glanced at it, and softly said, "It's been 42 minutes since the sealed artifact was lifted…"
Crunch, crunch.
Not long after, Lex and the others had entered the forest, treading on fallen leaves. Each step produced the sound described above.
At this point, the moonlight overhead was no longer enough to see the way, so storm lanterns were lit one by one and held high.
"Emperor Roselle should have invented flashlights," Lex let his thoughts wander, then suddenly felt someone approach, and heard a man speak.
"Rayleigh, you are Mr. Rayleigh who single-handedly took down a pirate ship, right? I heard people at the bar describe you, I shouldn't be mistaken."
Lex turned to look. A short man with a distinctly Loen face walked beside him and enthusiastically extended his hand.
Lex smiled slightly, but did not shake his hand or offer any response. He just wanted to finish this matter as soon as possible, hopefully get some sleep before dawn, and then he would leave Damir Port tomorrow.
Get far, far away!
"My name is Green Yale, it's a pleasure to meet you. So that Miss also came to you for help."
"Of course, how could she miss such a powerful Adventurer as you. Speaking of which, Miss Hana is quite pitiful; I deeply sympathize with her, but I can't help her with her situation."
"But I didn't expect that listening to a story would put me in danger. In fact, I think the Enforcers team would have been enough; there's no need to drag us into it, don't you think?"
This man, who called himself Green Yale, had no sense of disturbing others and talked incessantly.
Without waiting for Lex to respond, he pointed to another Adventurer nearby: "This Bearded Man is Sklef. You'd never guess, he's an 'Savant'."
"If you ask me, with his violent temper, he should join the Storm Church up ahead."
"See his rifle? He modified it himself. It looks very ordinary on the outside, but its power is not much worse than a steam-powered high-pressure rifle."
Lex was quite surprised by this.
He couldn't help but look at the Bearded Man, and Sklef immediately glared at Lex: "What are you looking at? Want me to put a hole in your head? Or two!"
Lex shook his head and raised his hands, indicating no offense, and Sklef snorted, then quickened his pace.
Including Lex, there were only three contacts who set off with the Enforcers. Counting the one who had already succumbed to the curse, that meant Hana had only found four people willing to listen to her story.
Indeed, as Green next to him said, a parish bishop, plus an Enforcers team, and seemingly also carrying a Sealed item, should have been ample combat power.
There was absolutely no need to drag the three of them along.
The bishop's actions were probably to easily control these three 'sources of infection,' to prevent Hana's 'story' from spreading further and the 'curse' from expanding.
But thinking about it, it's really bizarre. In my previous life, I would never have imagined that listening to a story could get you 'cursed.' This world is truly too crazy!
As they walked, a night wind blew from deep within the forest, carrying a faint scent of decaying flesh. As a hunter with keen senses, Lex almost threw up his dinner at the smell.
He frowned and pinched his nose.
Green, who was next to him and already a chatterbox, saw this and asked even more curiously, "What's wrong?"
"There's the smell of decaying flesh."
Green shrugged: "It's perfectly normal to have decaying flesh in the forest. Last time I saw a half-rotted corpse in the woods, buddy, you can't imagine how disgusting it was. Those fat white maggots, densely packed all over the corpse—"
Oh God, someone take this chatterbox away.
As soon as Lex had this thought, it was as if the gods heard his prayer. A black shadow suddenly darted out from the nearby bushes, tackling Green, and then the Adventurer's scream quickly faded into the distance.