Ghoul? !
Ed was shocked. How could this nocturnal scavenger appear during the day? Or in a crowded restaurant.
Compared with the monsters seen on the subway that day, the ghouls that broke into the restaurant were stronger and more deformed. The scarlet body that walks on four legs like a dog is covered with horny spikes and abscesses, but it has a disturbing face similar to that of a human.
Are you going to take action, here? Ed did not move rashly and remained seated. His left hand secretly reached for the gun holster hidden under the right armpit of the coat...
Before he could take action, Catalina had already stood up and walked towards the crowd who were fleeing in fear. She grasped the dark blue leather-wrapped sword hilt and drew the long sword from her waist.
Screams and shouts came and went. At this moment, the ghoul was like a mad dog on the street, rushing through the crowd in a panic.
It jumped over a dining table, knocking the food on it and flying around, and tried to escape through the front door, but Catalina stopped her at the door.
The sword body is as smooth and smooth as a mirror, with two parallel blood grooves left in the middle, vaguely reflecting the radiance. In the center of the cross-sword grid's hollow pattern is a diamond the size of a grain of rice.
Seeing that the road ahead was blocked by people, the ghoul inspired a terrifying ferocity:
It bared its sharp fangs, its thick hind leg tendons jumped up, and flew towards Katarina holding the sword.
The bright and hot white light flashed past, like the flash of a camera, creating a strong contrast in the surroundings.
Even Ed, who was standing behind Catalina, couldn't help but blink, trying to relieve the visual discomfort.
The ghoul's eyes were unpreparedly burned by the strong light, and he let out a painful wail in mid-air, but it stopped abruptly——
Katarina turned sideways to dodge the slash, and drew a top-down blade wheel in the air. Wherever the sharp edge struck, the ghoul was immediately cut in half.
Even though it was cut off at the waist, the scavenger monster’s broken upper body was still struggling on the floor:
The blood-stained pupils were like cracked riverbeds, with yellow and white pus splashing out from them; at the cross-sections with clear bones and flesh, foul blood flowed out, and indistinct murmurs were still muttered in its throat.
Catalina's face was frosty. Her left hand grasped the octagonal weighted ball handle at the end of the long sword. She hung the long sword upside down with both hands and raised it high:
"In the name of the Holy Spirit, your evil ends here. Monster."
After saying that, she pierced the ghoul's back with the sword blade. The monster twitched for a moment and finally lost its life.
Ed, who was sitting aside, said nothing, staring at the ghoul's corpse - its right leg was still struggling to bounce like a headless frog, with burnt marks on it.
Someone chased it off the rat trail.
Seeing that the crisis was over, the panicked crowd gradually regained their composure. An unknown person cheered, and the crowd burst into applause, blessing and applauding this brave girl.
"Stay calm, ladies and gentlemen, the crisis has been resolved, please help those around you -"
A radiant blush appeared on Katarina's face, she waved her arm to shake off the blood on her sword, wiped it clean with a napkin, put it back into its sheath, and spoke loudly to everyone.
She coordinated the division of labor among everyone, and the panic was quickly calmed: "...This lady fainted, help her to a ventilated place to rest. Remember to cut her corset from the back to keep her breathing smoothly."
"Are you from Oakland?"
A sharp-eyed gentleman in the crowd recognized the signet ring on Catalina's finger. Before Catalina could reply, he had already raised the red wine on the table and cheered:
"To Miss Oakland!"
"To Miss Oakland!" the crowd cheered one after another.
Ed gradually felt that something was wrong with the situation. Catalina was supposed to travel secretly this time. If the news reached the Oakland family, he would be in danger.
At this time, he did not dare to walk up to Miss Catalina and speak in front of everyone, so he lowered his hat and walked to the back door, pinched his fingers and blew a harsh whistle.
The whistle really caught Catalina's attention, and she looked in Ed's direction with a puzzled expression. Ed quietly raised his hand, motioning for her to come over, and then walked out of the back door.
Two minutes later, Catalina finally broke away from the enthusiastic crowd and followed her out the back door.
"Huh...how did I behave just now?" Catalina put her hand on her chest, took a deep breath and asked with lingering excitement.
Adela took a look at the crack in the door, then closed the back door tightly to prevent any bad actors from following him:
"Very good, Miss Catarina. But we must act now."
"But we still need someone to maintain order in the restaurant. Can't we wait until the police arrive?"
"It will be too late when the police arrive. There is something I must remind you. Do you still remember the purpose of our coming here?"
"Searching for the Silver Knight's treasure?"
"Yes. The Silver Knight's secret treasure is hidden in the Rat Path, and the ghoul most likely escaped from the Rat Path. So what do you think the police will do as soon as they arrive?"
"Blocking the entrance to the Rat Trail?" Catalina's expression changed slightly, and she finally realized the seriousness of the problem.
"Yes, this is the only entrance to the Rat Trail that we have control over. Once this place is blocked, we may not have another chance to search for the ruins for a long time."
The Webway map provided by the "prince" did mark the locations of many exits, but Eddard did not know where they corresponded to the entrances on the surface.
"In this case, without further ado, let's go down now." Catalina held the sword at her waist with her right hand and nodded.
Ed led her into the Rat Trail, where the fence boards had long been destroyed to pieces. The shocking claw marks also confirmed Ed's suspicion - the ghoul did indeed run out from here.
A more likely guess is that this ghoul accidentally encountered a gangster or bounty hunter, lost a fierce fight, fled, and accidentally entered the attic restaurant.
However, the paths of underground trade are relatively fixed, and ghouls rarely appear along the way. They prefer to stay in the desolate and collapsed underground ruins.
Therefore, Ed had to consider another possibility——
There is another group of people exploring those long-dusted underground ruins...
Sylvie, let me take another look at the web map of the "Rat Trail". he called softly in his head.
Pale white flame text instantly appeared in front of his field of vision. After repeated inspections, Ed could confirm that the location of the Silver Knight's treasure was in a separate narrow secret passage and was not connected to any ruins.
After careful consideration, with the one-eyed spider as a scout, the risk was still within the tolerable range.
"Are you ready, Miss Catalina?"
He took out the one-eyed spider, hung it on the handle of his cane, and stretched out his right hand:
"Now, hold my right hand. Don't let go under any circumstances before I speak."
