Chapter 192: The Final Destination

The four Undertakers weren't even enough to serve as the Mortician's appetizer.

His scalpel drew a cold light through the air and with a flick of his wrist, the four villagers were incapacitated.

The Mortician didn't hesitate at all, and the four couldn't even let out their death knells as the Mortician swallowed them whole.

"Wow..." Calvin was amazed at the Mortician's capabilities.

If only he doesn't look so cold all the time, he could be immensely popular with the ladies.

The Mortician's chiseled features and the indifference that he held for all life made him give off the vibe of a bad boy—the kind of bad boy that women often wanted to convert into nice men.

"Fuck." Calvin cursed under his breath. If only he could summon Stephanie at this moment, then he wouldn't summon this Mortician at all.

As a man, there was nothing more mortifying than realizing that there was a man more handsome than he was. Calvin had to admit that the Mortician was indeed a fine specimen amongst men. Unfortunately, he couldn't possibly summon Stephanie right now, since he was already sure that the young man was that deformed man.

The fact that the deformed man knew Freya's background story despite not being a villager of Kingse village was prima facie evidence that he was that young man who Stephanie hated to the bones, all the way to her bone marrow.

If he summoned her right now and she detected his sinister presence that he wasn't even trying to hide at this point in time...

Calvin was sure that Stephanie would rebel against his control and turn berserk.

If she went mad and attacked the deformed man in a crazed attempt to take his life, then she would be easily controlled by the Queen of Plague's curses.

After all, the Domain of the Brave and Courageous didn't cover a Specter like her whose heart was filled with resentment to the brim.

Without the support of the Domain of the Brave and Courageous, Calvin wasn't so sure if she could endure the constant mental assault of the Queen of Plague's curses.

[The Mortician's Ascension Points: 91]

[9 Ascension Points necessary for Ascension to Purveyor.]

"Damn, so that still wasn't enough?" Calvin couldn't help but complain in his heart.

For some reason, he felt that the ascension points being gathered from each and every monster that the Mortician was consuming seemed to be going down the more points he had.

If this trend continued, just how many monsters would the Mortician need if he wanted to have that final nine points?

"Come on, Grace... You can't be this stingy." Calvin glanced at the skies, seemingly peering through the clouds into the heavenly abode of the Goddess of Compassion and Light.

Of course, he received no response but there was no harm in complaining. As Calvin stood in the dark alleyway, he heard the approaching footsteps of Ricardo and Heisenberg.

He immediately dismissed the Mortician as Calvin hid behind one of the wooden pallets in the dark alleyway. His expression grim and his figure subconsciously trembling from apparent fear.

"Calvin! Where are you?" Heisenberg was in the lead, the crystal orb in his hand shone in a dimmed divine light that illuminated the area.

"There he is!" Ricardo's sharp eyes as a Scout instantly saw Calvin hiding behind the wooden pallets. He summoned his bow and carefully approached. Using one of the techniques that his Judiciary used to assess the situation—look, smell, and question—Ricardo soon discovered that the person hiding behind the wooden pallets was indeed Calvin.

"What the hell are you doing there, Calvin? Why did you separate from us?" Ricardo asked in concern, "I seem to have heard a shrill scream coming from this area earlier? Did those Undertakers chase after you?"

"Yeah... I managed to shake them off, though. But as you can see, it wasn't that easy." A bitter smile suffused Calvin's face. Indeed, he looked pitiful and bedraggled as he emerged behind the wooden pallets. Ricardo was convinced by Calvin's current appearance that it had been difficult for him to escape from those monsters.

"I'm sorry, Calvin... It's my fault. I..."

"Stop it." Calvin interrupted, "I am never going to blame you for a mistake that you didn't do intentionally. Come on, we're basically buddies now. Didn't we promise to each other that we are going to get drunk the moment we get out of this place?" He lightly chuckled as he patted Ricardo's shoulders.

"We did?" But Ricardo looked confused.

"We didn't? Now, we did! That's a promise!" Calvin merely laughed it off as Heisenberg started to frown

They were spending too much time in this dark alleyway where there was only a single entrance and exit.

"We've got to move." Heisenberg interrupted.

Calvin nodded his head and walked out with the others from the dark alleyway.

The three raced through the road and several dozens of orbs appeared in the distance.

"What are those?"

"They're just fireflies! Rush through them!" Calvin roared.

His expression was serious, yet it excited for he knew that the floating orbs were Santelmos.

Santelmos were considered to be Mid-Tiered monsters that the Mortician could easily deal with. Considering the Mortician's need for more ascension points, it would be good if he could convince Heisenberg and Ricardo to bulldoze their way through the orbs.

The group continued to run through the road and as they got closer to the light, Heisenberg sensed that there was something wrong. He couldn't recognize what the floating orbs were, but the ancient vibe they were radiating from their bodies give him a hint of what they were.

"Are you sure that these are just fireflies?" Heisenberg cried out.

He and Ricardo had no idea that the Undertakers had already been taken care of, so they had been running all this time with the looming threat of the Undertaker chasing after them.

Heisenberg didn't dare to slow down.

"I'm sure of it! Just run past them!" Calvin dragged Ricardo and Heisenberg into the depths of the Santelmo's formation.

Ricardo whose Predator Senses were activated constantly saw through the tortured souls hidden within the floating orbs and his expression quickly paled as he let out a scream, "What the fuck, Calvin?! These are Santelmos!"

"What?!" Heisenberg also let out a yelp.

"Don't think too much about it! Just run!" Calvin knew that his cover wasn't going to last that long, but he had to take a gamble.

His shadow throbbed as the sinister aura of the Mortician manifested behind the three.

"W-What's behind us?!" Ricardo felt a shiver down his spine.

Something malevolent had just appeared right behind them at this moment, yet they didn't even notice its approach.

"Don't turn back! Just keep on running!"

"A-All right!"

Ricardo decided to close his eyes and ignore everything that was happening around him in order to focus all of his attention on running.

Heisenberg—on the other hand—had a different plan.

His fists shone with the divine light of the Goddess as he smashed every Santelmos that dared to stand his way. He was radiating a domineering aura at this moment as his legs moved as fast as both Ricardo and Calvin. He sure did look impressive to the eyes of everyone, but Calvin was inwardly cursing him right now.

"What the fuck, old man. I told you to run! Not to fight them!" Calvin was mad at him, not because of the fact that Heisenberg was showing off.

It was because Heisenberg's attacks were just too strong that he instantly annihilated every Santelmo that stood in his way. With the Santelmos turned into nothing but innumerable light crystals, the Mortician couldn't consume their soul in exchange for ascension points. So, he effectively ruined Calvin's plans.

"What in the Goddess's name do you want me to do then? Just let them nibble on my flesh? Wake up, Calvin! Don't be stupid." Heisenberg wasn't willing to back down in an argument and Calvin could only let out an exasperated sigh as he stared at the transparent window floating in front of him.

[1 Ascension Points obtained.]

[The Mortician's Ascension Points: 92]

[8 Ascension Points necessary for Ascension to Purveyor.]

The dozens of Santelmos blocking their way had been mostly consumed by the Mortician, yet they only gave him a single point.

'Even though a Santelmo is only a Mid-Tier monster, wasn't that too low?' Calvin inwardly complained.

The group continued to move without pause, but when they turned deeper into the eastern part of the village. They suddenly heard the sound of crying and the hooves of horses.

Calvin took out a small piece of paper from his person and there he saw that on the map made by the deformed man, the next street that they were about to go into was marked with the sign of danger.

Calvin took a peek at what was happening in the street, and there he saw a carriage being pulled by a jet-black horse with two horns.

The man at the helm of the carriage was a clay figurine of a corpse and the sounds of crying came from a group of people wearing mourning clothes. They wailed and wailed, yet no tears would come out of their eyes for they were already dead.

The mourning clothes that they were wearing was stained red with the blood of the innocent that they were about to bury, yet there seemed to be something missing.

"The hearse and the moirologists are here along with the body, yet why are they still here? Shouldn't a funeral be about delivering the deceased to their final destination?" Ricardo saw what was happening and he couldn't help but comment. A frown appeared on his face as he stared at the funeral in suspicion, "Where are the undertake-..."

Halfway through his sentence, Ricardo suddenly realized that something was amiss in his sentence.

"Could it be that..."

"Yeah..." Calvin bitterly laughed, "The body of the deceased is here, yet the soul is missing. The Undertaker's Procession earlier was meant to simulate the passing of the deceased through the Yellow Springs before the funeral. But now that we interrupted the Undertaker's Procession, the funeral cannot be completed."

"Hence, the deceased cannot be delivered to his final destination."

"Since the attendees are already dead and they had no soul..."

"What do you think are they going to do just to complete the procession?" Calvin asked Ricardo.

"Find a soul substitute?" Ricardo's expression turned weird, "But how are they going to find a substitute, when this is the land of the dead?"

"Shit..." Heisenberg cursed, "This is the ritual of the Final Destination..."

"We cannot stay here any longer."

"As long as they do not detect that there are still living people in this village, they will stay there until a suitable soul is nearby. We have to go around and take another route towards the southern part of the village or we could also turn back and risk stumbling upon those crazy Undertakers."

Ricardo nodded his head.

Calvin gestured to them, "Then, what are we waiting for here? Let's go and run!"

He turned around and took the lead, but as he did—he abruptly froze in his tracks.

"Calvin...?" Ricardo asked in concern as he and Heisenberg hid behind a wall.

"They saw me. Both of you, hurry up! Go onto the roof and take another route!"

Calvin didn't dare to move as Heisenberg and Ricardo's expression changed.

"No, we aren't going to run without you! Are you saying that we must abandon you again?!" Ricardo's eyes went bloodshot.

"Fucking hell, just run! They're coming!"

Time waited for no one and as Ricardo voiced out his refusal, the attendees of the funeral had already stood up and were running towards Calvin's direction.

"I'll buy us some time. We'll meet again somewhere on the eastern entrance." Calvin handed a small piece of gem towards Ricardo, "I'm sure that you know what this thing is, and since this gem is connected to my medallion which is connected to my soul. As soon as the gem shatters, it could only mean that I'm already dead..."

"Forget about me once the gem shatters."

"Just run for your lives and survive for my sake!"

Calvin sternly advised as he felt uncomfortable with the hatred being directed onto him by the monsters. Summoning his golden quill, he kicked Ricardo towards a nearby rooftop as he faced off against the funeral attendees.

"No!" Ricardo was still in disagreement.

"We don't have any time to argue. Just go!" Calvin glared at Ricardo.

He made a sidelong glance at Heisenberg and smiled before he charged into the fray.

His figure looked similar to a moth flying towards the flames. Seeing Calvin being submerged in the sea of monsters, Heisenberg's figure continuously trembled. If he just hadn't used his ultimate skill against the Sabbath, then he could've been useful to Calvin at this moment! If he hadn't used his ultimate at that time, then perhaps the outcome would be different!

But there were no 'ifs' in this world.

Heisenberg knew that too well as he turned around and dragged the crying Ricardo towards the direction of the village's eastern entrance.