Chapter 120: The Tollbearer (1)

Carl cried until there was nothing left in him. At some point, the sobs stopped breaking out of his chest and softened into small, exhausted hiccups against Misha’s shoulder. His fingers remained twisted into the cloak, as though loosening them might make the world take one more thing he barely had left.

Misha did not tell him to let go. She stayed crouched on the broken stone outside Kiln House Four, one arm wrapped around his back and the other supporting the back of his head. His body still shook every few breaths, the kind of trembling that came after crying too hard for too long.

Nobody rushed him. For a little while, there was only Carl’s uneven breathing.

Then–

GONNNG.

The sound rolled through the streets, deep and metallic. It was far enough away that it arrived softened by several streets and rows of stone buildings, but heavy enough that Misha still felt the vibration beneath her feet.

Everyone looked up.

Carl went rigid in Misha’s arms, his fingers tightened violently around her cloak that the fabric bunched beneath them. "N-No..."

Misha looked down and saw his face had gone pale.

Another tremor ran through him, this one born from something entirely different. "W-we have to hide."

Her attention sharpened. She knew that sound. She heard it the night before, buried beneath the bells and the scrapings of chains.

"We have to hide!" The boy pulled back just enough to look at her, panic returning to his swollen eyes. "When that sound comes, everyone hides! Lysa said not to stay outside when it rings!"

Alaric’s head turned toward the nearest intersection. "I’m inclined to trust the local child who has survived this long."

GONNNG.

This time the sound came clearer. Not close, but closer. It was somewhere beyond the building to the east.

Then a warning ripped across everyone’s visions.

「 〔WARNING〕

Elite-Class Monster Detected.

An Abnormal Variation has been identified.

Aberrant Vestige has entered the battlefield.

Standard combat data may be unreliable. 」

Hiiro stared at the notice. "’Standard combat data may be unreliable’ is System language for ’we have no idea what that thing does’, isn’t it?"

"Usually," Caius replied, his eyes remained on the street.

He grimaced. "Fantastic."

Misha stood, carefully shifting Carl until the boy was on his feet. "You go inside."

Then came the scrape, metal over stone. It was slow and heavy.

KRRRNNNK.

Misha’s head turned. The sound came from beyond the next two intersections. It was still far enough that the buildings hid whatever was making it. It was a good thing since that meant they had time. Not much, but enough to move before the thing reached them.

Carl tucked weakly at Misha’s cloak. "W-we need to go." His voice trembled. "To the Crematorium... The others are there."

Her attention snapped to him. "What others?"

"The survivors." Astrid answered before Carl could. "We found Carl last night with two people who had been separated from the Kiln House group. They brought us toward the central district. The remaining survivors have been gathering near the Central Crematorium. There’s an underground service entrance they’ve been using as shelter."

Hiiro pointed west. "And that’s where we were heading before we heard Carl say he needed to come back here."

Misha looked at Carl. The boy’s eyes had drifted toward the ruined Kiln House again. She understood. He needed to see even if what waited here destroyed him.

She swallowed hard before she nodded once. "Then that’s where we go."

Alaric turned toward the intersection, his expression soured. "There may be a complication."

She followed his gaze and saw the western road, the fastest route toward the Crematorium, ran straight through the next major avenue. And the dragging sound was coming from that direction.

Misha stared. ’Of course. Of fucking course.’

Astrid understood it at the same time. "If it stays on that avenue, it’s blocking the direct route."

"We can take another way," Misha said.

Caius glanced toward the surrounding alleys. "There should be warehouse lanes connecting to the inner roads."

Hiiro raised a hand. "Or..."

Everyone looked at him.

His grin appeared. "We could kill it."

Alaric stared at him as though witnessing a particularly fascinating form of stupidity. "I have spent twenty-nine years cultivating a very personal attachment to continued existence. I refuse to throw that relationship away because you saw a deformed corpse and thought fight me."

Hiiro looked offended. "That is not what I thought."

Misha almost smiled since she knew that was a lie.

GONNNG.

The sound came again, closer. They were running out of time.

Alaric flinched. "We can take the southern route."

Then something large passed through the gap at the far end of the avenue.

Everyone stopped because the thing entering the distant intersection did not immediately make sense to the eye.

At first, Misha thought it was two Vestiges walking beside each other. Then it stepped fully into view. Her hand tightened around the empty air where Twinfang should have been. The Aberrant Vestige no longer resembled a person. Not properly. Its torso had broadened until the ribcage looked almost barrel-shaped beneath layers of gray, split flesh. One shoulder sat higher than the other, warped upward by an additional arm that had grown from beneath the original joint.

Three arms, all different lengths. The right hung nearly to its knee, the left remained shorter but thick enough that the forearm looked swollen with overlapping muscle. The third grew from high along its back and curled forward over one shoulder like something that had been added afterward without concern for symmetry.

Chains wrapped around all three limbs not as restraints but it was more like the monster wore them deliberately. Rust-dark links wound from wrist to elbow, crossed its torso, then trailed behind it along the street. Each step made them rattle over stone.

Its neck–

Misha’s gaze stopped.

Two heads shared it. Or rather, what remained of one neck had split at the upper spine, bone and tissue branching into two malformed skulls.

One face still retained the sagging remnants of human features, the other had stretched long and narrow, jaw hanging slightly open beneath skin pulled tight enough to show the shapes of teeth beneath it. Both sets of eyes were closed.

For the moment, the third arm carried the source of the sound. A broad bronze disk hung from a short length of chain, not quite a shield or a bell. It looked like someone had torn the central plate from an enormous funerary gong and forced the monster to carry it.

The bronze had blackened around the edges. Old symbols had been hammered into its surface. Each time the Aberrant swung its arm, one of the chains wrapped around its other wrist struck the disk.

GONNNG.

The sound struck Misha squarely in the chest.

Behind the Aberrant, Vestiges emerged from alleys. Six, then more shapes appeared beyond them. They followed in uneven formation, heads bowed as they walked behind the Tollbearer.

Some carried cleavers, one dragged a hooked pole, and another wore the rotting remains of an Exodus guard uniform with a spear still clutched in both hands.

<First Mourner Beneath Creation> A corpse that tolls for the dead. What a sight.

<Endless Dominion> So this ruined city still has something worthy of raising its head for.

Misha’s brow twitched. ’They’re back.’

Only then did she realize the Observation Channel had come online again.

At some point between breaking down, finding others alive, and Carl collapsing into her arms, the Broadcast had resumed and she had not noticed it.

Behind the Aberrant came the Vestiges. Each time the bronze disk sounded, their pace corrected.

Misha’s mouth went dry. "So that’s where they all went during the day."

Astrid lowered her voice. "It may be waking them."

Caius reached the same conclusion as he adjusted his grip along his weapon. "The sound is drawing them."

"Or controlling them," Astrid added.

<First Mourner Beneath Creation> Silence the shepherd and see whether the flock remembers how to walk.

<The Saint Buried Upside Down> Or they could simply kill the sheep too.

It was rather useful but then...

Misha looked south. At the end of the route, more Vestiges stepped into view.

Then one of the Tollbearer’s heads moved slowly. Its face turned toward them, and the second head followed. Four eyelids opened. The eyes beneath them were entirely black. The creature’s three arms tightened, rattling the chains.

"So much for leaving that way." Hiiro cracked his knuckles as another grin pulled across his face. "Now can we kill it?"

"Looks like we’re fighting through," said Misha.

Caius moved to her right, purple mana flickered faintly along the shaft of his staff-spear. "Aberrant first?"

"Yes." Then she pointed toward a recessed doorway behind a thick stone buttress. "Alaric, take Carl there. Stay out of sight."

Alaric stepped closer. "That is an alarming amount of trust to place in me."

Misha looked up at him with a glare. "If anything happens to him, I’m hunting you down."

His mouth pulled into a crooked smile and he offered Carl his hand. "I’ll keep him safe."

After staring at him for half a second longer, only then did she nodded before she crouched beside Carl. The boy was already shaking again so she placed one hand on his shoulder. "You stay with Alaric."

Carl looked at her and was rather hesitant. "What about you?"

"We’re clearing the road."

His fingers tightened around her sleeve.

Misha held his gaze. "I need you to do exactly what he says until I come back."

Carl hesitated before taking his hand. Only then did Misha straighten. Her eyes dropped toward the daggers lying several meters away where she had abandoned them earlier.

She lifted one hand. "Twinfang."

The blades reacted immediately. Both daggers tore themselves from the ground. They spun once through the dusty air and flew into her waiting hands.

Hiiro’s eyes lit up. "That’s so cool!"

Ignoring him, Misha focused on the Tollbearer. If it kept ringing the bronze disk, they would be buried under numbers.

"No matter what happens, do not come out until I tell you."

He pressed a hand to his chest. "Shana, hiding while beautiful people endanger themselves on my behalf is practically my specialization."

Misha’s stare sharpened. "Alaric."

His teasing disappeared. "I understand."

She nodded once. "Astrid, stay close enough to cover them."

Astrid immediately understood as her hand settled on the grip of her sidearm.

"The moment the Tollbearer drops, we open a path. You take Carl and Alaric through first. As for the rest of us, anything that tries to close the gap, we keep it off them."

Hiiro’s grin widened. "Got it. We only have to break the boss, punch a hole through the mob and run like hell."

Misha nodded. "If someone gets separated, we do not turn around blindly. We regroup at the Central Crematorium."

The Tollbearer’s three arms shifted, chains tightened, and the bronze disk swung before it was struck.

GONNNNG.

Every Vestige on both sides lurched toward them at once.