Taming the Dark Lord

Chapter 83 – Hopeless

“Are you okay?” Rita strode forward and told the knight to carry the child’s body away. She groaned and stomped her foot on the ground. “Why did you get so close? What if you get infected?”

Amelia smiled. “Did you forget that we are blessed by the gods? We are exempt from being infected.”

Debra snorted mockingly, making Rita glare at her and said, “I just forgot, okay?”

Amelia stared at the woman who was forcibly taken away by the knights. The dark spots on her skin stood out greatly. However, the more she looked at it, the more familiar it became. The gears on her mind turned as she tried to remember where she actually saw it.

Rita passed her by and only then did she recall when and where she first saw the black spots.

From the town they left off from, she and Rita found dead rats piled in a garbage dump. And at that time, there was a strange young man with a black patch on the back of his neck, the one who was in charge of cleaning the place up.

Dread filled Amelia up from the inside out at her realization.

This meant that the plague might have been present for quite some time now. Not only did it spread in this city, but other areas as well!

And maybe, the little boy was not the only one infected by the plague.

It was like Amelia had gone deaf. Her eyes scanned the hurrying crowd and the heaviness in her heart grew bigger and bigger, weighing her down as chills ruptured all over her body.

*

The cult sent out teams to inspect the surrounding towns. With the help of magic, it did not take them long to head back and sure enough, the plague that suddenly erupted had already spread everywhere. And the worst part was, the city they left off from had also become a dead city.

The plague spread like an uncontrollable wildfire reaching one town to the other. The streets were instantly lined up with corpses in a span of just one day.

“I feel like this plague was intentionally brought by someone.” Debra said, lacing her fingers together. “It’s following us.”

“I don’t think so.” A middle-aged man seated at the center shook his head. He was the assigned Bishop in that small town and was known to have a gentle personality that made him deeply revered by the masses.

“If that was the case, that person must be powerful then, since he could spread a large-scale plague in numerous cities. And if that’s true, why didn’t he kill you while you were on your way here?”

The Bishop tapped on the map with his fingers. “We have to find where the plague started.”

Amelia nodded in agreement. “Let’s go look for the person who first had the disease and see who he came in contact with.”

They all went to the treatment center that was secluded away from the plaza. There are a large number of people lying on hospital beds; some were already dead, and others nearing close to death and a strong, pungent smell of decay wafted through the air.

The spread was alarming indeed. A day went by and the infection rate rose tenfold, people falling ill one after the other. Howls and screams of pain echoed in the middle of the night, so eerily disturbing that the residents locked themselves in their homes in fear. The streets were now void of people and it was pretty much deserted.

“Masters.” The person in charge took them near the bedside of the middle-aged woman. He pointed at her and said, “We tried many times but our healing capabilities had little to no effect. It only prolonged their lives but it barely had any help to the plague itself. It’s useless.”

The middle-aged woman who was emotionally bidding her son goodbye earlier was now wailing in pain. She looked like she was not herself anymore, looking like a lunatic in flesh. Her limbs were secured to the bed and her wrists were bound by tight ropes to prevent her from hurting herself. She was still writhing, moving and screaming all at the same time.

“What about the potion? Is it useless too?” Amelia worriedly asked.

The person in charge showed an apologetic look and shook his head. “So far, we have not found any medicine that is effective. There is nothing we can do at the moment but sustain their lives. I’m afraid…”

He shut his mouth, not wanting to say any more since everyone knew what he was going to say anyway.

It felt like the air was sucked out of the room, making it so hard to breathe.

Unsure what to say, Amelia bit her lip and tore her gaze from the dying bodies and proceeded to look out of the window.

What a blessing and an honor it is to be a part of the Light cult.

It was a little selfish to think this way when the room was packed with the infected, but such thoughts couldn’t be prevented. It was like hell set loose inside the treatment center, and seeing the terrified civilians made them grateful for the privilege that they have.

They were thankful for the existence of the God of Light, who bestowed them a blessing that prevents them from being infected just like the rest of the population. They wouldn’t have to worry that they would succumb to the disease.

The Bishop took the Holy Scripture out and looked at the woman lying on the bed with compassion. He lifted his palm towards her and uttered a prayer. “Let her be free from the pain and let her be at peace.”

“As for the others…”

The Bishop’s face turned cold as stone, his eyes sweeping on the dying civilians. “Those who are infected by the plague shall be killed on the spot and no treatment shall be administered.”

*