The injuries caused by the reptile monster were recovered in less than a minute.
Despite the wound appearing to have been poisoned, Damien found it laughable that it was healed so quickly. And it was thanks to the Shadow who had clearly betrayed him earlier that healed his wound.
Was he supposed to be angry or thankful?
Or maybe, the Shadow didn't care about what was on his mindset. Its objective could have been simply to ensure he was healthy to continue to explore for his consumption.
No matter the case, Damien didn't appreciate his situation.
It was the equivalent of having a time bomb next to you—one that you had no idea when it would explode or not. The time bomb could deter the enemies from approaching you, but simultaneously, it was also a danger that could take your life at any given moment.
Damien wouldn't know how others would perceive such a scene but for him personally. He would rather discard the time bomb than keep it by his side.
Just when Damien wondered if he could use mana to extract the Shadow from his body, a bright light suddenly shone at him.
His eyes squinted to avoid the flashing light. To his horror, when he got a closer look, it was the dancing Joker.
However, it wasn't dancing this time. Instead, it was laughing in amusement.
"Who are you?" Damien shouted, losing his composure for once.
"Why did you send me here and what is your purpose?" He questioned.
Alas, he was ignored and the laughing Joker turned into particles. It was as if the Joker only came out to laugh at him and once that was done, it would take its exit.
Frustrated, Damien could only watch the participles dissipate into tiny dust. Even with his increased perception, he still couldn't spot the dust.
He exhaled deeply and could only regulate his emotions.
Although he didn't know why the Joker appeared, he felt a strong connection with the Mana Core within his body after its disappearance.
With a simple thought process, Damien raised a finger up, and soon, a small flame appeared at the fingertip. Feeling the heat intensity yet not having the sensation of being burned, Damien nearly laughed.
Others struggled to conjure mana, but here he was, capable of making such a move without any actual practice.
He blew at his fingertip and the flame dissipated, leaving a mini gray smoke residual.
Suddenly, Damien's eyes glowed brightly. Before long, he detected some paw footprints that were previously invisible.
'This is…' Alarmed, he tried to trace the footprint and realized it was showing a long trail.
"Is this a detective mode hint?" He mused, shook his head, and made up his mind. Since time was ticking down, and there happened to be a phenomenal scene in front of him. He might as well track the footprint and see where it led to.
As he cautiously followed the trail, Damien was relieved that there were no more monsters appearing. To be fair, it didn't make sense how there could be a monster lurking in the sewer.
The sewer might not be cleaned frequently but it was still cleaned occasionally. Therefore, the people who worked in the sewer would have encountered danger and alerted the authorities.
Of course, there could also be another possibility. The person who worked in the sewer was in cahoot with the monster. It was either that or they could be working alongside the culprit.
There were just too many plot holes here that Damien found it hard to believe the authorities were that brain dead to not discover such suspicious activity.
'These authorities better not be the slacker type.' He prayed and hoped that it was just his imagination. The impression he got of them was dedicated and motivated, given their perimeter guarding and swift actions. But then again, it could have also been a show—a facade to deceive him.
After all, he was the Seventh Order in their eyes despite being a fake.
In hindsight, he was their ultimate superior, and low-ranking people would always try their best to impress their superior. That was just how reality and life was.
…
"So this is where it led." Damien paused his footstep, his chin raised up. He stared at the top which appeared to be another entry point of the sewer. It was concealed by a manhole cover lid, but the footprint happened to stop at the ground level.
The rusty ladder didn't even glow at all, which meant the cat didn't use the ladder.
In addition, the last ground footprint was visibly more clear.
"They kicked the ground and propelled themselves upward." Damien was not surprised by such action. To kick the ground to gain momentum for a run or jump was extremely common.
What was not common was that it was able to leap out of the sewer when the manhole cover lid was all the way at the top.
Although the distance between the ground and the manhole cover was quite long, Damien could still spot zero traces of abnormality in the manhole cover.
"They didn't break the magic this time." He muttered. The previous manhole cover had its magic shattered, but the one he was currently looking at was perfectly normal.
Without breaking the embedded magic and still somehow escaping, only one possibility remained.
There was another person from the surface who was able to open the manhole cover without shattering the embedded magic.
His eyes narrowed and confirmed the murder case in the mansion wasn't as simple as it appeared.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
'From Olivia's vision, everything seemed to be sudden. But it's more like a cover-up for something big.' Damien clenched his fist.
He didn't doubt Olivia's words. Although she was a soul, he could sense the raw emotion of grief and anger. There was no way she would have attempted to lie and cover for the culprit.
"Wait a second… if the cat is indeed a person who has a morphing ability. Then could it be the person Olivia had an affair with was changed at the time of the crime?" Realization quickly dawned upon Damien. The complexity of the case had just increased by a large margin.
....
Damien had to stop his thinking momentarily as he tried to compile the information gathered so far.
First, the murder case at the mansion was supposedly the start of everything.
There were two unfortunate coincidences that he thought were suspicious. The return of the owner who caught their affair and their daughter who was supposed to be at the academy.
When they were caught in their affair, the culprit killed the owner to conceal the matter and proceeded to kill the daughter followed by Olivia as well.
However, the culprit failed to kill Olivia immediately and allowed her to witness a diabolical event of defiling her daughter’s corpse.
Olivia was shattered internally and failed to comprehend the man she had an affair with could commit such audacity.
“But what if the man Olivia thought she was making love with was actually another person who used its morphing ability to transform into them?” Damien paused at that moment and recalled Lucas and Jessica’s actions.
The two of them were TIs but still got deceived by a fake Kyle.
They might have been disappointing TIs, but they still had some ability. If even they were swindled, then it goes to say that an ordinary person like Olivia who merely wanted to enjoy some orgasm would be deceived as well.
And the culprit was clearly a sex predator and pervert. Their bed performance definitely wouldn’t be terrible.
Olivia wouldn’t even suspect a thing. She would only feel immense pleasure and happiness from the man she believed she had chosen to have an affair with.
‘The culprit was a horny bastard, but he didn’t make a move until the mansion owner returned.’ Damien narrowed his eyes.
Why did the mansion owner return early?
Aside from him, why did the deceased daughter also request a leave of absence?
From the beginning, these two points were never properly investigated.
‘Detective Sheila didn’t investigate in-depth either. They only fact-check the basic information and didn’t bother thinking much about it.’ He exhaled softly and realized the murder wasn’t committed in the heat of the moment. Rather, it should have been a conspiracy from the start.
To know why it all began, he needed to understand why the deceased daughter, Agatha chose to return home when the academy was still in session.
“Looks like there’s more work to do.” He stretched his arms and called for the Shadow. Despite its earlier performance, Damien didn’t have much of an option except to use the Shadow to open the manhole cover.
Luckily, it appeared that the Shadow was in command this time and lunged toward the top.
In the blink of an eye, the Shadow reached the top and slithered over the manhole cover like a living mist, its darkness coiling tightly around its edges. Wisps of inky blackness seeped into the intricate carvings embedded in the metal, probing the enchantments woven into its surface. Damien remained silent as he witnessed the Shadow’s attempt to open the manhole cover.
‘As hateful as it sounds, the Shadow’s power is really something else.’ He thought.
The sigils pulsed faintly in resistance, the embedded magic on the manhole cover flaring to push back against the intrusion of the Shadow.
However, it was undeterred, and the Shadow increased its momentum. A faint, eerie hum vibrated through the air as the Shadow’s influence seeped into the embedded magic, disrupting its integrity. The protective runes flickered erratically, their glow dimming as the spellwork was methodically unraveled.
Soon, a metallic click echoed through the tunnel, and the manhole cover loosened, a glimmering of light flashing upon the dark tunnel.
Of course, the dark tunnel was no different than the outside for Damien, who had no trouble with his vision whatsoever.
With the Shadow moving the manhole cover aside, Damien kicked the ground softly and hoped to launch himself straight to the opening.
Normally, such a thought would have been crazy, given a regular human’s jump had its limit. Yet in this world, he appeared to be supernatural, capable of even leaping so high in the air.
A few seconds later, he emerged from the sewer, only to be greeted by the sight of numerous guns pointing at him. The guns appeared to be hand pistols, but Damien detected a faint mana around them.
‘Magic pistol?’ He tilted his head and wondered silently. He wasn’t alarmed or frightened by the guns, given that they were all wearing the same type of uniform.
Sure enough, it didn’t take long before someone among the crowd stepped forward.
“Hold your fire.” They ordered and hurriedly rushed toward Damien. They saluted respectfully and said. “Apologies for the commotion, Seventh Order.”
Indeed, these people who had their guns pointed at him were uniformed officers.
However, the person who saluted to him suddenly retrieved a device and asked, “Sorry, Seventh Order, but this is protocol.”
Damien shifted his gaze toward the odd-looking device. It didn’t appear to be some weapon.
“What’s the matter?” He raised an eyebrow and asked.
“We found the Ninth Order Kyle fainted at a nearby alley. When he awakened, he mentioned being attacked by the Seventh Order.” The person said awkwardly.
“Hoh, so are you saying I’m the attacker?” Damien mused in response.
“I dare not.” The person shook their head. “We’ve received a statement from Ninth Order Lucas and Jasmine that they were deceived by a fake Kyle. It was then determined that there was a Morpher in the city. So protocol had been declared to check everyone.”
Having said that, Damien understood the situation. The uniformed officer still held their guns toward him because they were unsure if he was the authentic Seventh Order or a Morpher in disguise.
It was quite the irony though, given that he was a fake as well but labeled as the authentic one.
Nevertheless, based on their reaction and how ready they were.
It appeared that they had witnessed his action earlier and were already half determined him to be the authentic one. Otherwise, the person in front of him wouldn’t have approached him so closely.
“Very well, you can do your check. But afterward, I’ll have more orders for you.” Damien chose to comply in the end.