Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 362: Symphony of Fury II

Chapter 362: Symphony of Fury II

Purple fizzled away from Atticus’s obsidian ring. However, even though the ominous glow was gone, the hard-set expression on his features had not yet dissipated. He clenched and unclenched his fists, watching as the vile creatures on the floor wormed and squirmed like deranged animals.

"This is bad," Leonora said, taking in deep breaths to regulate her breathing. "Where are these things coming from?"

"I have bad news for you, Princess Leonora," Atticus lazily said. "You might not have a town here any longer. Unless you consider a ghost town one, of course."

Leonora kept her silence, not liking Atticus’s words but fully agreeing with them either way. He wasn’t wrong, unfortunately. It seemed like Wethstadt was more or less doomed after Alistair had his way with it.

It wasn’t just the streets of the red-light district. Even the open streets that were once lively and bustling had suddenly grown barren. The other teams belonging to Luis and Jonah had reported a severe and surprising lack of townsfolk. On the rare times they actually found someone, those people would either be dead or dying.

After some time, they started to understand why even the dead bodies of Alistair’s victims were nowhere to be found. It was because they had somehow been reanimated into walking corpses. Some victims remained dead while others had become mindless monsters that attacked anyone and everyone.

Unlike Alistair, who was directly affected by cinnabar, these infected townsfolk did not seem to have a mind of their own. They couldn’t think for themselves and acted as though they were being controlled by a mastermind. Atticus doubted that there was anything — or anyone — behind those creaseless brains of theirs, but it wasn’t a theory he was perfectly sure of.

Prince Nathaniel and Sirona would need to study this in order to make a definite statement about this phenomenon.

At first, Leonora and Luis had insisted on saving these people― they were after all citizens of their own kingdom, and as the ruling royal family, they had a duty to them. However, that stance quickly changed when they witnessed the infected murder a surviving child in cold blood. It became clear that if these infected townsfolk weren’t beheaded, soon enough, the remaining survivors would die out.

Beheadment it was! Atticus surely felt no guilt doing it. It was a matter of sooner or later, and at least now, he had a proper moral reason to send these townsfolk to their next lives.

"If second-generation vampirism leads to the victims becoming mindless monsters, then..." Leonora paused, heaving out a heavy breath as she turned to look in the direction of the royal palace.

Plain skies and the sound of wind responded. Otherwise, there was nothing. Her mind flitted back to Silas, whose status was currently left unknown. She hoped desperately that Silas was alright still and that the Vramidian Healer and Raxuvian Prince had some tricks up their sleeves that could save Silas.

"We need to get going," Atticus said. The sodalite in his hands pulsed before completely dimming down. "Jonah just sent word. They’ve sent a group of survivors to the borders and have taken them to the first aid camp right outside of town. There’s a suspected group of infected that had gathered somewhere near the town square, opposite a bakery."

Leonora nodded. She pursed her lips tightly into a straight line, clearing her mind before sheathing her sword. While she might be an expert pyromancer, Leonora loved her weapons, especially when they were lit on fire. That was where she had earned her nickname― ’hellkeeper’.

Due to the sudden shift in operations with the appearance of more infected victims, the teams under Leonora and Atticus were assigned to Jonah and Luis. Those two men were in charge of finding survivors and keeping them safe. Some of the knights deployed had been tasked with first aid duties and to keep guard on safe grounds.

That left Atticus and Leonora — the best fighters — to weed out and exterminate the infected ones.

At first, Luis and Leonora suggested they bring more knights with them, but Atticus vehemently refused. More knights meant that those who failed to keep up would only be infected themselves. There was no need to expose these men to the dangers when Atticus alone was more than enough. Leonora was simply there to serve as a backup in case anything happened.

While Atticus’s behavior had been cocky, Leonora soon understood why he said what he said. Seeing him in battle, Leonora was once again reminded of just how utterly useless she was in comparison and how much more she had to improve.

Why would she even think otherwise? She wasn’t the one who managed to single-handedly defeat a dragon.

"Let’s― Watch out!" The words had barely even left Leonora’s lips when a group of infected townsfolk suddenly pounced on them from out of nowhere.

Atticus had only barely managed to react in time to Leonora’s warning. He raised his hand, his ring instantly glowing as it created a protective barrier around them made of his magic. The piece of sodalite crashed onto the ground but none of them paid it any attention.

Leonora unsheathed her weapon, its silver blade quickly gathering flames around it as she gripped it tightly in her hands. The second Atticus’s magic shield dropped, she sliced out with a furious roar. In a blaze, the blade cut through the necks of the infected, cutting them down before they even had a chance.

Thankfully, this time, there weren’t that many of them. These monsters weren’t difficult to kill when it came to Atticus and Leonora, but they came in such large numbers that they could easily get overwhelmed if they didn’t pay close attention to their surroundings.

"Is that all?" Leonora asked.

"There’s someone there," Atticus replied.

Leonora readied her weapon but instead of another wave, all that appeared was a single girl. She was dressed in the garbs of a palace maid and by the looks of it, she didn’t seem injured, just a little roughed up. The moment she approached Atticus and Leonora, she dismounted from the horse she had been on, hastily coming over to Leonora.

"Princess!" the maid cried out. "You have to return to the palace immediately. It’s Prince Silas, he―"

Before the maid could complete her sentence, a loud explosion rang through the air. Three heads turned to look for the source, and to their horror, the part of the palace had gone up in flames. Smoke billowed into the skies.

From where they stood, they could more or less make out the general layout of the palace. By the looks of it, the explosion originated from where the infirmary should be located.

"Silas!"