A Rattling Monster

Chapter 14: The plague bearer, the venomous one

Before going out, I carry the two bodies away from my lair and the iron fortress. The obvious problem is the potential deadliness of the air surrounding the two former prisoners. I wouldn't want my next subjects to die without even fulfilling their purposes. I will probably check the bodies after, see if any rat is baited by the smell of a body. A totally infected corpse can still be used in my later ploys.

Once again, I leave my sewers without being seen. Even when the sun is shining above my head those pitiful humans don't even realize that my powers are rising. They still haggle about mere food and equipment. One day, I will see if how much resistant they are. But right now, my hunting spot is calling.

They never learn. I already caught two birds but the rest are still engrossed in the bread that I sprayed around me. Like the last time, my goal is to capture two of them. Come close, little pigeons, come closer and eat this wonderful meal. My patience is rewarded shortly after. When the entire group is here, their bravery and their foolish assumptions that there is no risk know no bounds. Two more subjects are caught and the rest are fleeing as if they saw a demon in front of them. But there is no demon here, only something worse.

The same old ritual as usual. Bind the captives, and wake them. Their screams don't reach those walking in the surface. Since I have already tested the power of one simple spell, let's try the might of the two combined. On the first one I use [Create Disease] and I wait. When the look in his eyes is beginning to be vacant, I immediately use [Create Poison]. The reaction was unexpected. I would have thought that the poor bird will at least survive a little more. But the moment the poison touched the pigeon, his entire body violently shake and stopped. I think he got an instant heart attack or a complete paralysis. That means, against weaker enemies, a combination of a pre-emptive wind of disease and the contact of my poison will grant them a swift and painless death.

I guess it is based on the weakened immune system. The weaker it is, the quicker the poison spread. But what will the reverse order do? I approach the second test subject and he is clearly more combative than the other. Maybe it's the fact that he already saw his fellow died a gruesome death. But my restraint is solid, he cannot escape. I gently drop a single [Create Poison] on him. And instantly follow that by a [Create Disease]. The evolution of the bird is comparable to the first victim of my spell. His body shakes, he begins to lose his ability to scream. And after a minute, he dies. That means the poison is a lot quicker than the incubation period of my disease. It is useless to use both of them at the same time.

After those two observations, I am starting to formulate a more ambitious plan. I reach my two last loaves of bread. I take one and cut it in half. Then I begin to use multiple instances of [Create Poison] on it. But a problem that I neglect arise. My mana is insufficient; it is only at 7/85 MP. I have used all my spells a total of 10 times, this contains my last 4 consecutive uses. After waiting a bit, my MP begin to recover, slowly and steadily. After some calculations, I begin to understand that my 17 in Wisdom means a recovery of 8.5 MP each hour. This is because of my [Curse of the dead]. For the next two hours, I silently wait. After using one time both [Create Disease] and [Create Poison], my MP pool fall by 20. Both spells use only 10 MP that is of a great efficiency. The bread that is currently green of poison is still of use. For trying with a bread tainted by my other spell, I will have to wait a lot.

I begin to climb faster and faster at this damn church. Each travel makes me train my agility. My body is now totally in my control, even my tail. For this trial, I won't need to stand like a statue. I just spread bread crumbs around the whole roof. Even after two attacks on that very spot, any intelligent creature would have avoided it like a plague. But not those pigeons. I can see some of them eat my contaminated bread. Weirdly, they are doing fine and eat more of it. Maybe the poison has been neutralized by my two hours of wait. And instead of being a drop of condensed poison, it is spread across half of a bread. But they should at least have some reaction.

Finally, I see some of them shake. They are even trying to fly but the movement of their wings is erratic, uncontrollable. I can see one of two falls to their death because of it. But that will make human suspicious. No bird should fall like a stone in front of them. More and more are dying. But some survive. Those that have only eaten once mostly don't die, but for the rest, it is not looking good. Past the number of three infected breadcrumbs eaten, the fatality is of 100%. Between those two numbers, the first cause of death is falling. For those who were still on the ground, I can see some begin to walk again. Their immunity system has saved them.

With all the experience granted by both deadly booby trap and venomous mayhem, I still didn't level up. I have to level twenty times before the next evolution. Even if not all of my traps are activated, the bird doesn't look like they give a lot of experience. I have to take it to another level. After checking, my spell has turned into [Create Poison lvl 2]. I guess the number of victims determines its progress. But I should wait for another day to do the same for my disease. In the meantime, I will walk to another church, this one will be inspected by the human. But they won't search the sewers of the entire city. Too bothersome.

(The merciful angel of death, I mean our hero begins his long wait. Even after transferring his iron stock, his bread and his bodies, he didn't immediately attack the new church. The sun was slowly falling and when the night was here, he thought of another idea.)

I have at my disposition four infected bodies. The number is low but the potency of my poison is very high. Each of them has suffered the direct contact with my magic. What if they were found in the wells of the human, contaminating their precious water. Of course, they are not allowed to float on the surface, where they could be easily found. I have to make them heavier. I begin to cut their stomach like I did with the rat. After it, I put some rocks and seal it. With the cover of the night, I should inspect the surrounding to find a well. But not here, near my new church. Since if have come from the North and down the West, I should go find a well in the East.

The well is an important thing for everyone in a city. It is where the water can be found. That means, it is highly protected. No building can be found in less than 2 meters because if there is a fire or the building crumble, nothing should reach and fall into it. The most obvious place would be on the main street or in a plaza. After searching for fifteen minutes, I find it. Now I just have to carry my deadly gifts. During the four travel, I encounter no problem. I wonder what will be the reaction in the next morning. Maybe just a fever, but I hope that the animals that will drink it will all die.

I can see the rays of the sun reverberating on the dirty water of the sewers. I use this time 8 [Create Disease]. As expected, it is not the use of the spell but the number of victims. It didn't level up. This church is more troublesome than the previous one. The walls are smoother. But it won't prevent me from reaching the roof. I can see the same concentration of stupid pigeons. Those fools immediately fly towards my bread. They were not suspicious like the other. Conforming to my expectation, during 15 minutes nothing happened. But after that, I can see more than 2 birds hit each other. After that collision, none have enough strength to fly and they all died. The rest slowly lose control of their action and joined them in death. Every single one of the pigeons that are in the sky and that have eaten are dead or falling to their death. I can see some of those that were on the ground shaking. Their death is planned too. This time, the clamor from the human is audible. I quickly enter the sewers and begin my way toward the South of Ronta. I can see in the System [Create Disease lvl 2]. And the [Plague Bearer lvl 2] is a happy surprise. That means they are both linked to mass destruction.

Fear me people of Ronta. Fear the food that you eat, fear the water that you drink. Because once I have used all my bread. You will be next.