Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 358 - 47: Night Fiends in the Catacombs

Losa frowned, walking through the foul-smelling passage.

It was much more spacious than he had imagined.

When he first descended into the well, the passage was relatively narrow, but as he ventured deeper, it became more expansive, like a vast underground world.

Although Losa had known about the underground palace in Constantinople, and how it played a significant role when the Ottomans besieged Constantinople.

But the "underground palace" here was not quite what he had imagined.

"What exactly are we going to face next?"

Losa raised his head, stepped over a muddy puddle, and asked, "Just a bunch of rats?"

Anna held a flame for illumination in her hand and shook her head at his words, saying, "Rats, but not just a bunch, and what we need to deal with is the source of these rats."

"Are they carrying the Black Death?"

"Black Death?"

Anna was slightly taken aback, then recalled that many people who died during the Justinian Plague had blackened skin full of sores. The term "Black Death" was indeed quite fitting.

"I don’t know, but according to Li Yena, their bodies are covered with sores, they’re certainly not healthy rats, and they are very aggressive."

Losa frowned. He wasn’t worried about getting sick himself—partly because his physical attributes were quite high, and partly because, after acquiring the Dragon Bloodline, he was almost immune to all diseases.

"Were there so many rats rampaging during the Justinian Plague?"

"Rats were indeed numerous; according to records, they were rampant, but it was different from the current situation."

Losa sighed in relief; if it was just a rat outbreak, though tricky, it was still manageable, and its destructive power was relatively limited.

The Black Death was beyond his capability.

Even if a curfew was imposed, those rats and the fleas on them would continue to spread deadly bacteria to all corners known to the world.

"Can you still contact Li Yena?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Not anymore."

The three of them fell into a brief silence.

In any era, losing contact was never a good omen.

Losa comforted, "Perhaps she’s busy fighting, too occupied to respond to your message."

"Perhaps so, who knows."

Anna had a foreboding feeling, one she wouldn’t voice about how Li Yena could, even when fiercely battling with a man in bed, never forget to describe the man’s poor technique, only brutish crashing and the like.

Li Yena was a wild woman, but she was also a trusty companion, and their friendship had lasted many years.

The reason she invited Anna to Constantinople was that she was short-handed, filling the gap left by Nishaya, who was deployed to Jerusalem.

"Perhaps I should listen to her and have her contact some Demon Hunters."

She thought to herself.

The view ahead suddenly opened up.

They came to a spacious passage flowing with an underground river.

Various semi-dried filth occupied the exposed "muddy riverbed," emitting a pungent stench.

Losa cautiously glanced at the flame in Anna’s hand, realizing it showed no sign of exploding, and relaxed slightly.

At least the swamp gas here hadn’t reached the level of the dry toilet from Losa’s past life schooling days, where lighting a cigarette might cause an explosion.

"What’s that?"

Losa pointed at a pale skeleton not far away, his eyes stung by the unpleasant smell, making it hard to keep them open.

They approached for a closer look, and Anna said, "Obviously, it’s a water ghost’s corpse, gnawed clean, most likely by the kind of rats Li Yena described."

Some serrated tooth marks still remained on the skeleton.

"If it weren’t for the exceptionally hard bones of water ghosts and ghouls, the rats would surely snack on the bones too."

"Anna, I have a question. With so many rats in this underground palace, what do they usually eat?"

"Isn’t it already obvious? It’s these demons dwelling underground; once they’re eaten up, the rats will head for the surface."

So many demons were dwelling beneath Constantinople?

Losa frowned: "Where did these rats come from?"

"Who knows, perhaps from some self-righteous and evil wizard’s arrogant creation again."

Anna’s tone was sullen: "With so many demons underneath Constantinople, it’s normal for some wizards to come here and conduct their evil research."

She looked at Losa, a slightly mocking smile on her face: "Actually, the world’s perception of wizards as ’having long noses, lurking in some corner, conducting deranged experiments’ isn’t entirely misunderstood; even in my view, most wizards aren’t really good people."

"Are you one of the few good ones?"

"What do you think?"

"Of course."

"Thank you."

The group chatted as they walked.

The deeper they went, the worse the smell in the air became. Many places were completely covered in filth, like walking through a rotten swamp—everything here was terrible. Losa felt that Li Yena was right; this kind of job should be left to those poor Demon Hunters. For this, he was willing to pay a high price of five hundred Suludes.

"Anna, if... I mean if these rats really carry the Black Death, what should we do?"

"Find the Source of the Plague and cut off their life from the source."

Losa frowned: "Is there such a thing?"

"If it’s a Magical Creature, there will be. If not..."

Anna stopped talking, silently drawing a cross in front of her.

The atmosphere became somewhat oppressive, and the three resumed their journey.

It’s worth mentioning that, although Eve’s Physical Strength was average, she mastered a Floating Technique, which allowed her to keep separate from the filth while keeping up behind the other two.

This made Losa very envious.

The Floating Technique is not an easy Magic to master; it’s slightly less difficult than the Transformation Technique, but once learned, you can usually only float less than a meter, making its practicality quite limited.

This showed that Eve’s years holed up in the Empire Library were not wasted.

Ahead, a rapid flapping sound suddenly broke out.

A huge demon resembling a bat flew out of the darkness, quickly rushing toward the group.

"It’s a Night Demon."

Anna explained: "There’s no need to rush into action. Night Demons are among the more intelligent of the lower-level demons and might provide us with some information."

The Night Demon’s target was clearly not Losa’s group; its face, resembling a human’s, was full of fear.

"Move, move aside!"

The Night Demon awkwardly uttered human speech in a hurried tone. Though ugly, resembling a large bat with a gray scarf, its voice was surprisingly pleasant.

It’s said that Night Demons often disguise themselves as wounded young men or women, using their alluring voices to entice people returning home at dusk to approach.

Anna asked, "What’s ahead?"

"Quick, run!"

Though a lower-level demon, the Night Demon could sense the powerful Magic Power from Anna and Eve, along with the rich Dragon Species scent from Losa, leaving it no urge to resist.

"There... rats, many, eating flesh..."

It was clearly frightened out of its wits.

"You may go."

Anna frowned, turning aside and signaling Losa to make way.

"We’re just letting it go?"

In Losa’s eyes, if they encountered such a demon, they should eliminate it; who knows how many more it might consume later.

"Don’t worry. This Night Demon is likely a descendant of one I captured and left here."

Losa: "Hmm?"

Anna explained: "Don’t look at me with that look meant for those twisted wizards who breed demons. Night Demons eat not only humans but also demons. I cursed them and their descendants to never step outside the Underground Palace."

"They’re coming, Losa, protect Eve."

Anna instructed.

As she spoke, a rustling sound began from afar.

Swarming and tightly packed, as if endless, rats surged from the other end of the passage.

Getting a bit closer, Losa could finally see the rats clearly. Each was the size of a fist, their wet fur matted with sewer filth, and their skin covered in black sores.

Below their scarlet eyes were two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Anna clasped her hands together, quietly chanting a spell. A terrifying storm of Magic Power lifted her body; a radiant spectacle of magic spiritual light shone all around her.

"Boom!"

Bang—

The terrifying magic transformed into a shockwave, spreading rapidly. All the rats caught in its path were obliterated, as fragmented bodies and viscera rained down upon Eve’s shield.

The smell became worse.

After a while.

The relentless rat swarm was finally cleared, and Anna gently landed on the ground, exhaling slightly. In terms of Spiritual Power and Magic Power, she was already half a step into the Legendary realm.

A top-tier strong figure within the Wizard World.

Clearing the rat swarm hadn’t consumed much of her Power.

Anna’s expression relaxed a bit: "These rats carry a faint Magic Spiritual Light, which means they are Magical Creatures. Destroying their Magic Power source would dissipate this disaster."