The God of Jesters
Chapter 455 - 7.17.4 Easily caught.

Chapter 455: 7.17.4 Easily caught.

Sitting alone away from attention, Farhad could feel certain changes in his body. And with a hint of effort, he could even transform part of his finger darker and somewhat immune to the sunlight that would have burnt his finger..

’This oddity, I never experienced this in the monastery.’ The monastery he used to live in a few months ago had a certain job for him.

Among the old of the Church of Red Sun, many wished to be purified by the flames of gods that Farhad possessed. Making him consume many of these legendary priests or knights who had become monks in old age.

Though painful at first due to the bloodline they held, he was never able to experience the odd feeling of copying any of their talents or abilities.

But here in this place, just after devouring a piece of ghoul flesh, he awakened new abilities. ’Just what kind of being am I?’

From this, it was easy to see what needed to be done on his end.

Hunt mutants and variants of the ghouls and devour them. ’... Jester really turned me into something monstrous.’ Farhad was not a fool, he understood how broken this was and if the word of it were to get out, he would obviously be thrown out of the hunt and probably sent back to the monastery in hopes of suppressing his growth.

Part of which he somewhat agreed with, such strength was not needed for a nobody like him. But then again, with the way the world has been regressing towards chaos, greater strength also means a greater sense of security for him, as well as for those he holds dear.

’So should I expose it? Or keep it a secret?’ Farhad had such thoughts for a bit, before choosing to keep it a secret.

They can’t kill him as long as he is not a direct threat. And if they do kill him, a true war between the Military and The Radiant order will start over the ownership of the flames of Samadhi.

And Farhad is sure about one thing, during this bout, the people from the Church of Red Sun will truly try their best in order to hold that flame for themselves, for they are the greediest for its power.

’Let’s keep it to myself, unless I am at my limit, I can’t display these talents to them, no matter what happens.’

******

Not too far from Farhad, Vance Clifford smiled for a bit. He had noticed the little changes in Farhad’s palm, and although he didn’t notice any changes on Farhad’s face, he understood that Farhad was contemplating something.

’Remira was right about this.’ Originally, he was against Farhad’s involvement in this war. He even had bits of suspicion that Farhad might be the reason why the Ghouls are so Weird now. But he had no proof, nor any reason to scrutinize the truth out of Farhad.

Nor does he possess such proof at the moment.

But what he did know was that there was a relationship between Farhad as well as Ghouls in one way or another. ’Many have wondered what kind of undead he is.’ Remira in her time had decapitated Farhad multiple times and hence made it possible for the Order to obtain multiple samples of his flesh.

Which matched none of the undead types that existed in the world, which meant he was unique or a variant of an undead itself.

And from the looks of it, Vance can finally see whose variant Farhad actually was. ’Dangerous, as I had expected, killing him seems worth it, even if our relations with the Military broke down.’ He was a grandmaster now, killing someone like Farhad was not much of an issue. And considering he only helped Cynark with their ghoul problem this time was due to strengthening the relations between the two parties.

One can see how much Vance was ready to sacrifice for his desire to end such an oddity.

But he never moved from his position, just sighing after thinking things deeper.

’He is the only link to that nightmare wraith... there is just too much depended on his life.’ There truly was too much.

If he were to kill Farhad, then Cynark would use it as an excuse to directly take ownership of the flames of Samadhi, as the justification would be on their side.

If Farhad were to die due to an accident during this war, then although Radiant order wouldn’t face such scrutiny, they would still have to answer why Farhad died when there was a grandmaster in their group.

’Master did say the wraith likes to mess with us.’ He didn’t know if this was all the intention of that bizarre wraith to cause him such confusion, what he could tell for certain was that he couldn’t let his mind get clouded by such random thoughts.

’Still, it’s better to prevent him from obtaining new fragments of the ghouls for now.’

*****

"Stay on the back, support from a distance, we would require your help if we fall into an ambush." these words were spoken by Priest Boman, though in truth, this was a suggestion made by Vance long before their group meeting.

All done in order to make sure that Farhad doesn’t catch on that he is being watched by him. "I don’t get tired or die so easily... walking ahead I can deal with ambushes easily. I wonder why Priest thinks of not utilizing me today?"

"You will not always be here and these Knights need to learn how to deal with unpredictable situations on their own."

"Isn’t that dangerous? We are at war and not in a controlled environment."

"You shouldn’t worry and take a rest today, if the need arises, I will call you today."

And so began the 2nd round of exploration in the cave structure which had too many turns that one might get lost if not for the people here being superhuman.

"Sir, I wonder how you know if the direction we are walking is the correct one?" Farhad asked Vance, who like him, stayed on the side, while the Knights from the military, Radiant Order as well as the dusk Knights did their cleaning.

"It’s simple, the ghouls live much deeper into the ground and when they crawl up, they usually come out in a slant and their tunnels going below always merge together."

"So we have to keep attention to looking for a downward slant in any of the paths we find." This was the most simplistic way to reach deeper into the ghoul layer used for a long time. But it didn’t mean it was always correct.

Exceptions existed along with intelligence among the ghouls, won’t be notice how fast they are being found out and try to fix the issue before it gets bad?

"It’s a dead end, wrong path again."

"The oxygen here is also lower, normal soldiers might just die..." One of the Knights cursed, feeling a bit of trouble breathing.

Although Superman in strength, they were still humans in the day and required air and food intake to stay alive. Meaning such an environment they found themselves in might be manageable to a level, but they also struggled, unable to play to their full strength.

"Then we go up, once we find the right path, we can use oxygen pipes to transfer air down below. "

The men moved along with Farhad, who didn’t seem to be struggling at all, which surprised a couple of Knights who were ignorant of his true talent, but they didn’t mention it much, as there were always some Stoic bastards who can maintain their cool even in the face of death.

This was understandable considering the person in question has survived countless life-threatening injuries right in front of their eyes.

So it wasn’t odd why he didn’t seem that affected by it all.

*****

"Two more days should be enough to reach the heart of the nest, the direct threat to the barracks can be dealt with by then."

Obviously, this alone was not the only giant nest that existed on the battlefield, but it was the one closest to the barracks and in turn the city of Durum, hence a direct threat to both.

Not to mention the ghouls spawned by it kept messing with the trucks that were transporting provisions to the battlefront. So dealing with them at the fastest was the correct choice.

And Farhad agreed to some extent. But inside he wondered whether Priest Boman had caught on to his action and was now acting ignorant about it all. ’Well anyway, I can ascertain that someone noticed me devouring the ghoul’s flesh.’

As for that someone, it’s obvious who it could be. ’Either Priest Boman or someone whose words he will listen to.’ Farhad didn’t turn to look at Vance, but in his heart, he was already guarded against the Radiant Knight who appeared approachable, but knowing Remira, he wouldn’t put past Vance to have his own extreme sides as well.

’Still treating me like a threat.’

And as Farhad was having such thoughts, he felt something below his feet.

’Hmm?" he looked at it, along with Vance as well as Priest Boman, who noticed the oddity. "Move away," Vance shouted, but Farhad had already made his move.

A giant bone grew out of his palm which he stabbed right below his feet, causing blood to spurt out, which instantly started to burn under the sunlight. But Farhad attack was not over yet, it never over until the death as been confirmed.