175:
“…Shelley, their ears.”
Morgan, while doing her best to treat Rui, was observing the appearance of the two sisters… There was no mistake…
Lycanthropes.
As one of the oldest and most terrifying curses, lycanthropy could turn the most civilized humanoid into a rampaging beast. A cursed creature would behave normally in its natural humanoid form. But as time went on, many lycanthropes would have suggestive features of their animal form.
Upon closer inspection, one could see an unusual intelligence shining in their eyes, and they might even glow red in the dark.
A lycanthrope could choose to resist or accept the curse of lycanthropy. When resisting the curse, the lycanthrope would retain its alignment and personality in its humanoid form. It could live a normal life and bury its bestial impulses and anger deep within. However, when the full moon came, the curse would become too strong to resist and would transform it into its beast form. Only when the moon waned could its beastly nature be controlled again.
In some special cases, if the cursed creature was unaware of its own condition, it might not remember its transformation, and these memories would often haunt the lycanthrope as bloody dreams.
And… the curse of lycanthropy was contagious. A humanoid would be infected with the curse of lycanthropy if they were harmed by a lycanthrope, or if their parents were lycanthropes.
And there was a reason why Shelley had said they would understand after they saw them.
The Arcanists, that group of lawless, mad scientists… at the peak of their power, they dared to dabble in any domain, whether it was the gods’ or the taboo of life. They had once been keen on researching the crossbreeding of lycanthropes. After many generations of crossbreeding and cultivation, they had finally successfully obtained a stable, complete form of lycanthrope.
Those complete forms had a stable beast form, retained some human features, and most importantly, retained their sanity. But the appearance of those complete forms was a matter of luck, and their numbers were extremely scarce. They had served as servants in many floating cities… It was for this reason that the prison of this ruined floating city would let them pass.
And after the floating city fell, some of the surviving lycanthropes would continue to intermarry with humans and pass on this bloodline.
“Their talents are extremely outstanding. They are natural, complete-form lycanthropes…”
“It looks like a degraded version of a tiger-man, but it ensures the stability of the genes.”
If it were still the Thorium Age, they would have lived a much more miserable life than now. Dissection and observation of them might have been a common occurrence, and because of the high level of technology, they might even have been dissected while conscious by some crazed Arcanists. They might even have been crossbred like livestock.
When they were writing the textbook on higher demonology, they had once treated many Balors this way…
Erica also frowned, looking at their unconscious, tragic state with some pity and sighing.
“How did they end up here? This is not a place for little ones who haven’t even reached the high-rank to come.”
Just then, Lilith suddenly spoke, “If their stealth talent is outstanding, it’s possible to avoid the battle and come here.”
Morgan frowned and asked, confused, “There must be a reason for them to be here.”
This is not some park you can see everywhere. In the desolate desert, they couldn’t have just fallen in, right?
Patting Morgan’s shoulder, Shelley said in a low voice, “We’ll only know when they wake up and tell us themselves.”
…
“I regret it so much. Why didn’t I just take them out when they were unconscious?”
Wanting to slap himself twice, Shelley silently blamed himself…
Shelley was in the lead, with Lilith and Catherine on his left and right, and the priestesses and the cat-girls in the middle.
He had wanted to send the two cat-girl sisters, these two burdens, to the surface to stay with the excavation workers… but their stubbornness was beyond Shelley’s imagination. To not let Shelley and the others, their benefactors, venture into danger alone, they had almost threatened to kill themselves.
“I’ve really seen it all…”
But they weren’t completely useless. At least, when facing the uncertain bomb that was Rice, they were a good shield. And their recovery ability was also beyond Shelley’s imagination. Besides their initial weakness, after an hour, the two sisters no longer needed to be supported and could now even keep up with their pace.
And Shelley had another thought in his mind…
“What role do they play in the game of the Twin Fates?”
“And this gaze is really too…”
Scorching.
Her sister, Megan, was fine. She was just a little curious about his appearance and very grateful. Her sister, Rui’s, gaze… was as if she wanted to eat Shelley alive. Hmm, in a sense…
Shelley had seen her state in the corner of his eye during the battle. It was simply a seductive look, with a hint of shyness. And there was no concealment at all. This made Morgan, who was originally beside her, a little unhappy and had switched places with Erica.
“Hmph! An ungrateful woman!”
“And she’s wearing… so little.”
It wasn’t Morgan’s fault for saying that. The two sisters’ clothes, in other places… were indeed a bit too revealing. A typical Western Regions style, with an exposed navel, thin gauze, bare feet, and anklets… It would definitely make any adventurer from outside who came to adventure’s blood boil.
Both sisters had small frames and looked a little baby-faced, but their sun-tanned, wheat-colored skin made them look full of vitality. Megan’s short brown hair made her look very boyish, while Rui’s shoulder-length short hair was a little softer. Especially their one-gold, one-silver heterochromia was what interested Shelley the most.
“Just like a Persian cat.”
Following Shelley’s perception of evil and Megan’s pursuit of Rice’s scent, they finally arrived at a huge cave after three hours of advancing.
Looking at the thick, almost tangible evil aura, Shelley turned to look at the expressions of the crowd.
Flat, amused, firm, cold, resolute… all sorts of emotions, but not a trace of fear.
Shelley didn’t waste any more words and first activated the light ability on his body.
“Aura of Protection.”
“Aura of Courage.”
A paladin, in a battle against evil, strength was often not the first priority.
Morgan and Erica were not to be outdone. They shouted a spell together, “Aura of Good Fortune.”
“Aura of Misfortune.”
Feeling the power and courage in their bodies, Shelley and the others finally charged forward without any fear.
“For Justice!”
“For the Goddess!”
“Charge!”
…
Rice and the others’ gazes were all focused on that huge heart.
Thump, thump, thump.
It suddenly began to beat wildly.
Crack.
Then, a crack appeared.
Tyrannical killing intent, unwillingness, despair… heavy negative emotions seeped out from within.
“Hungry!”
