Lord of the Mysteries (P1)

Chapter 146: Creeping Hunger

“What’s so special about Qilangos’s magical item?” Audrey asked slightly confidently.

She considered it carefully and suddenly realized that she had a decent ability to locate people in Backlund.

Firstly, her father was one of the most wealthy, connected, and reputable nobles, while she was quite popular amongst the younger generation too. Hence, in the upper-middle class of the society, she had quite a few resources to take advantage of.

Secondly, the two Beyonders that she knew had their own circles as well. Apprentice Fors was originally a clinical doctor, and was now an author. She knew quite a number of people in the literary world and publishing industry, as well as among the middle-class doctors.

Arbiter Xio Derecha had helped many middle-lower class people to coordinate and mediate disputes over a long period of time. She was also quite famous in East Backlund borough among the working class and mafia. She had a lot of hidden channels.

Plus, considering the Beyonders that they knew and their circles of influence, their ability to look for a person wasn’t to be belittled.

Towards Justice’s question, Alger answered almost straightaway without hesitation or thought.

“No one knows the real name of the magical item, but the people who have come into contact with it call it the ‘Creeping Hunger.’ Qilangos uses a living person’s soul and flesh to satisfy it every other day. Otherwise, it would consume its owner as a replacement.”

“This could be one of the most important clues to seek out Qilangos,” Audrey said, creasing her eyebrows.

She felt utter discomfort and extreme hatred towards any evil item that desired a living human’s fresh blood and soul.

“Yes, but in a big city with at least five million people, a few vagrants going missing wouldn’t be noticed,” Alger reminded her. “Ever since he got his hands on the Creeping Hunger, Qilangos has been very difficult to deal with.”

“He was originally a Wind-blessed. He possesses great Beyonder power in domains related to water, wind, and the weather. But, later on, people realized that he could drive his targets crazy, enter the dreams of others, summon light to purify a dead soul, sing to strengthen himself, and change his appearance... There’s almost nothing that he can’t do,” Alger described in detail. “We suspect that those are all effects that came from the magical item, Creeping Hunger...”

Before he finished sharing, Derrick Berg, who had been listening quietly, suddenly blurted, “Shepherd!”

Shepherd? Sequence 5 of the Secrets Suppliant and Listener pathway? Hmm, among the six-member council in the City of Silver, there is a new elder who’s a Shepherd. Sun had mentioned that she’s strong enough to fight against a Sequence 4 expert, well—an evil spirit of the same grade... Klein’s expression changed slightly, but it was covered by the gray fog. Justice wasn’t paying any attention to him either.

“Shepherd?”

“Shepherd?”

Justice and The Hanged Man asked in unison. One sounded completely confused while the other sounded shocked, as though they had heard the title of Shepherd elsewhere before and knew something about it, but didn’t understand the actual situation.

Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Derrick suddenly panicked a little. No matter how quiet, depressed, and vexed he was, he was a boy after all.

He hurriedly explained with a stammer, “What I meant was, the traits that The Hanged Man described were like the Beyonder power of the Sequence job, Shepherd. Every Shepherd can swallow another’s soul into their body, including wraiths and evil spirits. They control these souls to do their bidding with a unique method, which allows them to make use of their abilities, just like a god letting his lambs out to graze.