Supreme Magus - Chapter 498

Chapter 498






"Clearly the attack on the watchtowers was a diversion . The wargs wanted to get rid of the sentinels before opening the doors and sneaking inside the city undetected . " Lith pondered .

"My thoughts exactly . We have traitors in our midst . " Said the Baroness .

"Yes, but you are lucky, your Ladyship . "

"Winter has barely started and my city is cornered by enemies from outside and within . How dare you call me lucky?" She was seconds away from punching the Ranger in the nose .

"Idiots are the best kind of enemies one can ask for . " Lith replied before examining the bodies on the stretchers . Some had been killed by a bite to the neck, others had been disemboweled by claws .

Each attack had been executed with deadly precision and then followed by a sloppy attempt at covering the wounds with fire or air magic .

"Does this look like the work of a warg to you?" Asked the Baroness .

"Yes, but it doesn't make sense . First magic can easily kill and so will blades . Using their bodies to attack was really stupid of them unless they didn't expect me to foil their plan . More importantly, how could something like this go unnoticed?"





Lith cleared off a slab before taking out the warg's corpse from his pocket dimension . Baroness Enja nodded as a disgusted expression appeared on her face .

"It shouldn't have, yet it did . The west gate remained closed the whole time, yet the people guarding it had been slaughtered . No matter how absurd it sounds, it must have been an inside job . "

"Agreed, but something tall, dark, and hairy like a warg couldn't have hidden in plain sight . " Lith replied as he cut open the creature's chest with an air blade . Even though he couldn't share the information Kamila had provided him, he could still find evidence of mutation on his own .

The army's bestiary had included a complete anatomical description of the creatures, allowing Lith to perform a necropsy . Unfortunately, the body's poor condition due to the extensive wounds sustained at the moment of death gave him a single clue .

'The internal organs appear to be slightly shifted from where they are supposed to be, leaving extra space near the creature's mana core . Yet I can't tell if it's because of a mutation or just because the remains more closely resemble a jigsaw puzzle than a carcass . ' He thought .

'Solus, do you think the wargs could have infiltrated the city by shapeshifting?'

'That would be almost impossible . ' She replied . 'Not even all Evolved Monsters learn how to shapeshift, like Kalla or Phillard . Even if the wargs could do it, in a city like Maekosh the slightest blunder would blow their cover .

'The people here are far from welcoming and the creatures who attacked the guards are clearly dumb . Maybe the army can offer us some insight . '

Lith used his army communicator to give a full report to his handler . He stressed the creature's ability to speak, fly, and its temporary invulnerability . Then he explained the city's current predicament .

"Your situation is abnormal . " Kamila said .

"Both the warg warrior's resilience and its death cannot be explained by their innate abilities . Even a large pack can only share part of the wounds one of its members sustains and not as fast as you described .

"I'll consult the archives and get back to you as soon as possible . "

"What if it's a new species entirely? A single Ranger might not be enough! Send reinforcements immediately . " The Baroness ordered .

"The army can't act based on a local ruler's worries . " Kamila's voice turned stone cold . "You've been allowed to listen to the report only because as the city lord you must be aware of what's happening to arrange your citizens' safety . Over and out . "

It was the second time in a single day that someone had hung up on her . The Baroness was livid .

"I need to speak with the merchants who first sighted the wars . Where can I find them?" Lith had no time to coddle her feelings .

"In jail, of course . " The Baroness' eyes had no trace of humanity . Her hands gripped the metal slab like she wanted to tear it apart .





"Aside from you, they are the only outsiders in the whole city . It was already suspicious that they spotted the wargs without a single casualty, and when the gatekeepers died, I had to lock them up . They are the main suspects . "

Lith was flabbergasted by her words .

'That's idiotic . The merchants had no reason to warn the city about the attack, nor can humans bargain with monsters . They have nothing to gain if the city falls . ' Lith was worried enough to place his hand on the Baroness' shoulder and use Invigoration while pretending to reason with her .

"You did the right thing for the wrong reason . At least in jail they are safe from angry mobs and when the next attack happens, because it will, you'll be forced to admit their innocence . You guards would never turn their backs to outsiders . "

Invigoration revealed nothing and prejudice was something even light magic was powerless to heal .

Lith recovered the warg corpse and left the morgue for the prison below the city's courthouse . The flight wasn't long, yet it reminded Lith why he didn't like Maekosh .

He liked order . Lutia was a small village, but each home had its space and individuality .

Belius seemed like a Lego city, all blocks and squares . Its architects had sacrificed beauty in favor of efficiency, something that Lith had learned to love during his time at the academy .

Othre's outer circle could seem chaotic at first, but there was a method to it . Maekosh, instead, looked like a long line of different builders had worked on it on succession and for some reason, all of them had quit halfway through the job .

The same city block could host stone buildings and wooden shacks . Some had a lot of space between them while others were stacked on the top of each other . Merchant shops were so close to abandoned houses that sometimes suppliers would bring their merchandise to them thinking they were warehouses .

Maekosh was a poor city, which had gone through periods of rapid growth and recessions multiple times over the years . The brewing trade was its mark of success, while its inhabitants were that of its failure .

Their fear of outsiders made them reject any potential investors and no merchant liked to renegotiate their deals whenever a brewer had a bad day . When business went well, they were forced to hire people from outside of the city and temporary houses would pop up like mushrooms .

These foreigners were paid less and had to work more hours than the "real" citizens . Inevitably the outsiders became irate at their treatment and quit, ensuring that their unwavering employers did not reach their quotas .

Anyone who moved to Maekosh hoped for a better life . Slave labor jobs were available everywhere and finding one in a much friendlier environment was easy as pie .

After Lith reached the prison, he shook the merchants' hands one by one before opening the doors of their cells . Invigoration cleared them from his suspects' list . They had weak mana cores and bodies .

Shapeshifting could alter someone's physical form, but their strength couldn't be hidden . The group was composed of men and women of different ages . Each merchant traveled with their apprentices who served them as handymen .

At first, they couldn't wait to be released, but after hearing from Lith what the townspeople were going to blame them for, they were happy to remain behind bars .

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