Breathe

A household was sleeping through the night and only a couple of guards or workers were actively carrying out their duties.

There was mainly silence and darkness within besides the occasional sounds of light footsteps or breathing.

That was until there was suddenly a large crash which came from outside which awoke everyone who heard it.

The head of the household woke up and shouted towards his guards. "Go search the area and find out what has happened!"

The household's best warriors gathered at the gate where it had been rammed open. "Halt!"

"Get back or we will attack!"

They were panicking upon seeing who were standing there but still had to protect the household and its owner.

Oars stepped forward with a spear in his hand which was pointed towards the ground. "Surrender obediently."

The tip of the spear trailed along the ground as he moved forward which lead many to become fearful upon seeing who was walking towards them.

While some had lost their will to fight and dropped to their knees, a couple of loyal followers of their master rushed forward to fight Oars.

His thrusts were difficult to see with the naked eye as multiple spear thrusts happened suddenly leaving behind several people who had their limbs pierced.

"Aah"

"Gaaha."

"Argh!"

As a level three, Oars had a clear advantage over them and was able to intimidate many into submission with his presence alone.

He pointed forward and spoke coldly. "Subdue anyone that resists. Lock down the area and search through everything."

As the short battle happened, a chubby man in his luxurious pyjamas had watched from the window then showed fear. "So they have finally come for me."

He ran towards a room within his home then felt around by a bookcase on one of the lower floors which triggered something.

The wall opened up which showed a passage which he quickly entered while letting out a sigh of relief. "I guess this is the end of my life here. Maybe I could go back there to get my rewards."

A sinister and greedy look appeared on his face as he said. "They must have found me from the recent events with the underworld. I should have been more careful but it is that girl which has caused this by intruding into others business."

He had learned a little about the events of the city since he was a noble and respected citizen who had inherited everything from his family.

His family had participated in the building of the city following the designs and plans which the Seshat familia had drawn up with their goddess.

Although the foundations of the city were followed according to Seshat's specifications, there would always be humans that made mistakes or chose to make changes during the building process to suit themselves.

While there were various gains for the family over the many years since the city had been built, the family had still participated in many illegal dealings and had used their own home as a way to bring things into the city.

Among them were slaves, captured monsters and illegal medicines, potions, poisons or drugs.

Their ties with the underworld had become strong and they had dealings with others that were outside of the city.

Among them was a certain group which had made many promises to have a certain individual seated as the city lord which would grant him more freedom within the city.

Unfortunately for him, Mallory had interfered with many issues in the city and had lead the Seshat familia to him.

A playful laugh came from behind him which caused a shiver to go down his spine. "But is it really just your business? Hm?~"

The chubby man looked behind him and saw Mallory standing within the same passageway. "You..how?"

Mallory rolled her eyes and pointed towards him. "Drop to your knees and surrender. Everything is over for you."

Mallory recognised the man because his aura was very bad and she had seen it during the auction.

He was one of the people which had purchased a lot of slaves which had a low life expectancy, she had identified him during the mandatory inspection which had been called for everyone to be checked over and receive a cleansing or purification.

Mallory remembered his face then so when he was shown to have a connection with many events in the underworld, she decided to join the team which would apprehend him.

Upon infiltrating beforehand, she located many slaves who were not in a good state but she had another duty to carry out which was to find any of the secrets belonging to him.

It had been suspected that the foundation and safety of the city and its walls had been compromised in some way which would cause its downfall so Seshat had sent out the whole familia to investigate.

Oars and the others created the show which could cause the chubby noble to attempt to escape while Mallory was hiding nearby to find out how he would do so.

The same trick would be used for many other households but they chose among the most likely suspect among those they had doubts about.

Seshat would not fail to calculate the odds of such a simple task and Mallory was placed in the correct place on the first attempt.

The chubby noble looked around to see if nobody was around then smirked. "Remove and corrupt, essential source of air and the breath of life. Asphyxiation."

A strange dark energy flowed out of him towards Mallory as it got closer quickly and surrounded her then headed towards her mouth and nose.

Mallory showed a cold smile and stood on the spot holding out a talisman. "Come on and hit me."

The moment that the dark energy surrounded her, it was stopped by a flash of light until it dissipated.

The chubby noble seemed to have suffered a minor setback from the spell he cast upon Mallory so it was not one of a good nature.

He was gasping for air a little and tired but was showing that he was confident it would wear off soon and he would leave behind Mallory who was suffocating to death.

It was a type of curse that caused the target to be unable to breath in the needed oxygen and the curse would act like a poison or smoke that entered the lungs which would lead to suffocation of those who had been inflicted with it so it was a deadly curse and would have consequences for casting it.

While the caster would suffer from shortness of breathe for some time, the person inflicted with it would soon die of asphyxiation unless they killed the caster, get oxygen to their lungs and brain or found a way to cure it.

It was a very dangerous curse to use because most humans and monsters would quickly lose consciousness when being deprived of oxygen and it could lead to death shortly after.

There were types of curses that weakened people, messed with their senses, drained away their vitality or caused their bodily functions to be impaired but each of them had some sort of cost or consequence which happened from the caster.

Although Mallory avoided being affected by it, the caster would still have to endure the result of completing the curse incantation.

Mallory walked forward calmly after the flash of light fought off the curse then her fist hit the chubby noble in the face. "You picked the wrong target."

The chubby noble was shocked that she could still talk and breathe properly but he did not have long to think about such things before he passed out on the ground with a crooked nose.

Mallory stood over him calmly and waved around a talisman in her hand. "Indeed.. automatic protection charms are the best in real combat."

The last battle with the dark elf had taught her about how to use her talismans better because she had been poisoned briefly when it could have been avoided.

Rather than taking the curse, magic or poison, it was better to have an automatic defence against them so she could focus on the battle at all times rather than curing herself from the negative effects on her body.

Mallory carried the chubby noble back through the passage and into the mansion while remembering the location of everything then dropped him outside in front of Oars. "Secret passage located and the master of the household has been subdued. It seems that he is a curse user and a dangerous one too. It would be best to take measures to stop him from casting any spells."

Oars nodded then showed a slight smile. "It seems that Goddess Seshat was correct in sending you in first."

Mallory replied quickly while pouting. "Do not praise her too much. It will only go to her head."

The major problem of the city had been discovered and Mallory showed the location of it to Oars and the others from the Seshat familia.

Their night did not end there because they visited a couple more households as they began to capture and investigate several corrupt nobles.

Inside the Seshat familia, Seshat listened to the report and then frowned. "Did you say he used a curse? Hmm.. if that is the case then there may be involvement with some of the other cases but that would be too easy of a solution. No… there are other possible suspects and I think I may know who is behind most of this or at least has some involvement."

Her eyes turned towards a certain direction as she looked out of her window towards the outside of the walls and even further. "If it is you.. then why are you doing this? Is death and chaos all you know?"