Alacryan Arthur

Chapter 29

Kaspian Bladeheart POV

This case is really mysterious. The crocodile in the green swamp cave was a rather weak mana beast, at least compared to other den owners and it was known for its green scales, but this one had gray scales that were much steadier then what I am used to.

As the autopsy of its carcass had shown, the scales were mutated by its blood, but we weren't able to figure out what these changes caused.

We even tried to infuse smaller mana beasts with its blood, but they didn't react. Our expert in the study of mana beasts, as well as the expert for blood transfusions theorized that this might be, because the mana beasts were not crocodiles, so we put a bounty on an alive crocodile beast. Unfortunately they are pretty rare, so all we could do right now was to wait.

Well, that's not exactly right, the crippled adventurer Connor was still fighting the wound from the beast's attack, but it seems like some kind of poison was preventing the healing and causing a lot of pain. His pain didn't seem to come from the wound, but he described it as boiling blood.

Our Emitters couldn't do anything, as the poison had already reached his lower torso when the twin horns rescued them, so amputation wasn't an option anymore. The poison itself was also unknown to us and so the only thing they could do was limit the pain and try to support his body in the fight against the poison.

Now that I think about it, I should look after him, it's been a few days since I had last seen him.

On the way to his room I ran into Thomas, the leader of the group, who was also visiting him. He asked about the things we had found about the crocodile and I told him the few things we had found about it.

As we got closer to the hospital wing I started to hear screams. I started to run the rest of the way, with Thomas following me. The screams were coming out of Connors room and I rushed in through the open door.

Connor was standing next to his bed, choking one of the emitters, who shot me a pleading look, visibly on the verge of passing out.

I dashed toward Connor, trying to tackle him and force him to let go of the emitter, but he evaded me.

But how was he fast enough? He was only at the orange stage, while I was at the light yellow stage and accelerated my movements with wind mana.

Now he let go of the emitter and started focusing on me instead. He grabbed a scalpel from nearby and ran toward me with the scalpel directed toward my throat. The intent to kill was clearly visible in his eyes and I was shocked for a bit.

We had a few chats while he was recovering and he seemed like a nice person, not like he behaved now.

I managed to regain control over my body just in time for me to block the strike, but the strike was much more powerful than expected. The way he slashed at me, with each attack getting even faster and more fierce than the previous one, it was only a question of time, when I would get hit.

Meanwhile Thomas tried to help me, but he wasn't helping, as he was too slow to contribute in any way.

"Get him out and get help!" I shouted to him, while evading Connors' stabs. Thomas nodded and lifted the unconscious emitter to carry him out of here.

A sharp pain traveled through my body, Connor had hit me in my thigh, and the scalpel went in deep. I gritted my teeth but the pain cleared my mind. This was a chance. I had to attack him now, when the blade was embedded in my leg and he couldn't evade without letting go of his weapon.

So I swung my sword at his chest, forcing him to let go of the scalpel, so he could jump out of range, but as my sword came closer and I looked into his eyes I could already see that I had misjudged again.

In his eyes I could only see the bestial expression, filled with rage and hatred, and in the same way he behaved, and instead of evading he took the full force of the attack, so he could twist the knife in my leg. I let out another scream of pain and my sword connected to his chest.

This gruesome feeling, I had never wanted to feel again.

The feeling of my sword slicing through the body of a human, the horrifying feeling as the sword scraped along the lower end of his ribcage, how its course was altered when hitting the spine, finding a way in between two of its segments, only to exit the body on the other side. I could see his blood splattering everywhere, while his upper half fell backwards, while the lower one fell toward me.

I let go of my weapon, as I grabbed a piece of cloth nearby and started to wrap it around my own wound, which pumped out blood with each contraction of my heart. This was a bad sign, he must have cut my artery. If I want any chances of surviving this incident I need an emitter, and that fast.

I hoped that Thomas was already on his way back.

I focused my gaze on the upper part of Connor, who was still looking at me with the raging stare he also had during our fight. But it was strange, it seemed like he didn't even recognize me, no, it felt like these emotions were directed toward all humans, as he looked the same, when he attacked the emitter.

I bowed down, as he was unable to attack me.

"What happened to you?" I asked, more to myself than to him, as I didn't expect an answer from him.

I wanted to look away, I really didn't want to see another person dying, but something told me that I had to keep watching.

I could see his eyes turning back into their normal state, the slower his movements became.

He tried to say something, but a swell of blood came out instead.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked him in a calm voice, while grabbing his shoulder gently. Whoever or whatever took control of this body, it hadn't been Connor, and he was now in this state, because I failed to access the situation the right way, and because I was too weak to simply contain him.

"I'm so sorry" he let out, before closing his eyes forever.

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