The foul smelling wave crashes onto the bureau awakened, drowning their lower body as the wave settled soon after.
Murph who had gotten used to the smell and didn't really care about it kept a blank face throughout the ordeal, while the others were coughing and being grossed out, he was one of the few that remained calm.
"Did he get stronger again?" He asked Mr. Cell.
Seeing Carmen's power being different than what he remembered made Murph curious.
"He's still the same old man, though it seems like he was a bit calmer back then huh." Mr. Cell replied, he chuckled out of amusement.
Carmen managed to kill one of the chimera using the sharp blade that he created, and by using that same blade, he then swung it around, cutting all of the remaining chimeras as they tried to attack him.
RRRHHGH!!
RHGHJJRRR!!
GHRREAAA!!
"Even if you have regeneration, you won't be able to regenerate if i mince you right?!" Carmen smiled maniacally, his wrinkly face looked terrifying as he chanted his magic again.
"I ask His Majesty, Gladior—
THUNKK!!!!
THUNK!!
SLASH!
From the blade that came from his hand, another blade suddenly formed like a tree branch, Carmen's blade that previously only has one straight blade now turning into a trident that also stabbed two other chimers that were lunging towards him.
The chimera's claws were raised, ready to be swung and split Carmen's body in half, yet before they could touch him, their body was the one that got sliced instead.
The remaining 3 chimeras that surrounded Carmen was going to ambush him from behind, their growl had become quiet, and their limp footsteps sound had disappeared, but while they were focusing on killing Carmen, the chimeras forgot about one crucial thing.
Carmen wasn't the only one fighting.
"Where the hell are you looking." Elyth said as she used her sword aura again to swallow her sword blade with the same water that pierced through flesh and metal.
Slash!
Elyth managed to cut off the three chimeras remaining legs, immobilizing them as their body fell, their head who was previously sliced by her sword couldn't properly growl or scream, their eyes may be gone, but their perception hasn't, and they knew that their enemy was right infront of them.
"Even when you're about to die, you still didn't give up.. I guess i can learn one or two things from you." Elyth whispered, her face was cold and emotionless while her sword tip was pointed to the chimera's half-head.
And with her final attack, she then chanted her God's magic.
"Still your pulse and hold your shape, come forth, Glacies."
STAB!
STAB!
STAB!!
Borrowing the power of the God of Ice, Elyth summoned an ice spike from the ground, the ice spikes protruded right into the three chimeras body, because of their elemental resistance, the chimera didn't immediately die from the ice spike, instead it was a slow and painful agony that forced the chimeras to engrave the memory of this moment in their nonexistence soul.
Slowly but surely the chimera lost their breath and they soon froze, incapable of moving, incapable of talking. Their lifeless body lay limp while the ice spikes gradually melts, a fitting death for a corrupted creature.
"Ohh come on! Elyth why did you do that!?" Carmen shouted, he called out Elyth for killing the remaining chimeras.
"I was about to kill them too!"
"Shut up." Elyth replied, her cold attitude towards Carmen shocked him that he could feel it in his heart.
"So mean!" He said.
Elyth soon walked to Mr. Cell again, along with Murph and his team.
"Good job." Mr. Cell said, praising Elyth and Carmen's work.
"3 days off, okay?" Carmen suddenly confronted Mr. Cell as his eyes stared right into his soul.
Not wanting to deal with Carmen's unnecessary shenanigans, Mr. Cell was forced to accept his deal and nodded.
"Fine fine, 3 days off.." He replied.
Once the chimera problem was solved and neutralized, both Mr. Cell and Murph's team then continued their investigation, they walked deeper into the sewer, and when Harith reached the corpses of the chimeras, he let out a soft whistle and whispered.
"Fiuhh.. That geezer's kind of scary, thankfully his head is always empty."
Harith's words was immediately responded by Carlessa who seems annoyed.
"As if, his head is full of weird and pervert things.." She scoffed
"But other than that, he's really strong.. That's to be expected i guess since he was the only one in the bureau that managed to successfully obtain the power of Gladior, the God of Swords."
Hearing the name Gladior mentioned, Carmen abruptly turned his head and looked at Carlessa with a smile.
"Talking about me? Carlessa? What is it? You're interested? Wanna sleep together? Im not going to refuse you kno— KHUAAHAKK!!"
His speech was interrupted by Elyth who slapped him in the face.
"Haahh.." She sighed.
Meanwhile, Carlessa who heard it was visibly angered as her veins can be seen bulging from her skin, Harith decided to stop his conversation with her as he realized that she might not be in the mood to say anything.
'Her face is so fucking SCARY!' He thought as a drop of sweat fell from his forehead.
.
.
On the other side of the city, Northwest district—
Inside of a secret tunnel, Heimfher and Duskiell strode cautiously as their path was lit up by a fire. Following the narrow hallways that seems to be endless, they took a few steps on a staircase that leads downward.
Minutes passed, and when they think that they might have been caught in another illusion, the two of them saw a metal door infront. It's handle was similar to a crank, the one that's usually used in submarines or bunker.
"Be careful." Duskiell said, he slowly reached for the crank and rotated it.
Clang clang clang clang!!
The door opened with a loud clanking noise, and when Heimfher could see the other side of the room, he instantly shot one of his fireball into there.
Boom!
His fireball exploded, but it wasn't as strong as what he summoned from the fight with the two kidnappers from earlier.
As it turns out, that fireball was just a distraction.
After confirming that there was no trap or an ambush waiting, both Duskiell and Heimfher then entered to the other side, Duskiell held his sword tight and raised it to the height of his chest, while Heimfher was already having his fireball on his hand.
Step!
Step!
Their footsteps was slow, the room they were in was surprisingly large, and empty, with no structure or anything interesting that could be investigated.
Only after they almost at the middle, that they realized, they may have ended up somewhere else than what they had expected.
"Isn't this.. The sewer system?.." Heimfher said, he looked around and stretched his hand out to lit up further areas.
The stagnant green waste water, the semicircle ceiling, and the rusty floors, it was all the same as when they entered the sewer system.
"Why is that tunnel leads to the sewer.." Heimfher wondered, he thought that this will lead to the rest of the kidnapped hostages, but instead he finds himself within the sewer system yet again.
While he was confused, Duskiell was staying quiet the whole time, he pondered and recalled everything that he had done to reach this point.
'Where did it go wrong?.. Is there anything we missed?..' He thought, his chin was resting on his hand without his knowledge.
'Now that bentley's not here.. We can't exactly find their main base.. In the first place, why would they separate the hostages into two places? And why do they have a tunnel that leads to the sewer?—
'Could it be.. Those 33 people were just a decoy?! Did they purposefully leave a portion of the hostages so that we could get distracted!?—
'Fuck! That means they will have enought time for a ritual.. But what kind of ritual though– One that requires sacrifice.. An awakening? No.. even for an abyssal gods, they won't require this much sacrifice– To grow stronger by eating their hearts?! No.. All of the kidnapped hostages are normal civilians—
'Then.. The only possibility is—
'A deity descend?.....'
Just as Heimfher was about to ask why Duskiell was being quiet, he suddenly held both of his shoulder and opened his mouth right infront of his face.
"Kiddo, this is bad.. Hey, do you know the moon's shape tonight?.." He asked.
Startled by the unexpected question, Heimfher then answered with a stutter.
"M- moon shape? Uhh.. Well, i think it was almost a full? There's still a crescent though—"
"Which part is?! The shadow or the light?!" Duskiell asked again, he even shook Heimfher's body to demand for an answer.
"Huh?!.. Uhh, it's a shadow crescent." Heimfher replied in confusion.
After hearing his answer, Duskiell was visibly panicked, he let go of Heimfher and decided to take a short walk circling him.
Step!
Step!
Step!
Realizing that a full moon was about to emerge into the sky, Duskiell then sighed and told Heimfher the situstion.
"Then we have a week, until then.. We have to find the hostages as soon as possible—
"These kidnapper, they're really trying to use the hostages as sacrifice for a ritual, and that ritual.. Will happen at a full moon."