The platform on which he stood appeared to be used for renovation work some long time ago. They remained there ever since, which allowed Surgit to escape certain death. He was never one for planning his attacks and that was a weakness he was well aware of. He started wondering at his luck and when it would run out. In fact, it had run out many times before but he always managed to rise back from the dead to attack again. As he jumped towards the platforms earlier, he thought of the possibility of dying and dreaded going back through all the trouble again. That was what tortured his mind and kept him going, fighting death.

From where he stood, he saw a catwalk he could jump down to and from there, a ladder that led to a terrace. It gave access to the same building where he died earlier to the veiled lady, but to its lower floors. As he stepped down from the ladder, he saw an extinguished torch on the floor. He picked it up and inspected it. It looked like it was still in a state that could be lit. He fumbled on his back and took a lighter he had found earlier during one of his visits to the dream.

He somehow thought it to be useful for him and now he knew that his instinct was right. He went through the only door that gave access to the building and found himself in a dark room. He lit his torch and the room slowly revealed itself to Surgit. It was an open area that looked like an old pub. It had wooden floors and the remains of an old counter were to be seen at one dark corner of the room.

On the other corner, Surgit saw the shadow of one of those big women while he heard other whispers coming from the upper floor. Wooden stairs led upwards and as Surgit looked up, he saw an extinguished chandelier hanging from a ceiling, three floors above. The area was large and would allow Surgit to move more freely as he fought the enemies in that place. He decided to try one more thing before he engaged all of his foes though. He closed his eyes and used insight.

The knowledge came to his mind instantly: ‘Beast patient, female.’ They were female after all. Surgit didn’t know what to make out of the title “patient” though. That would mean that they were sick at some point but the people decided to abandon them and leave them to their sorry fate. It was either that, or everyone had turned into a beast without anybody to cure them from that state. He remembered what Iosefka had told him about not fearing the beastly scourge, that people needed healing, and that her job was to help them overcome this terrible situation.

He also remembered the crucifixes scattered around Central Yharnam. Perhaps the people in the city found out that fire was the only way to cure the poor beasts and lay them to rest. His job though, as he had concluded was to hunt the beasts, and clear the city of the madness which inhabited it. He didn’t know how to cure them and dwelling on ways to save them was of no use to him.

He readied his cleaver and moved towards the beast patient. ‘Foooool… and after you survived the worst…’ whispered the echoes in his head. He mentally brushed their comments aside and advanced towards his prey. She heard his steps and turned around. As soon as their eyes met, she let out a terrible scream and all the other monsters above responded to it. He heard footsteps coming from everywhere, even from behind. He turned around and saw that at least six other enemies were coming towards him. They were apparently sleeping and rose as soon as they heard the cry for help. He couldn’t see them before because of the darkness.

The situation instantly became helpless, he was surrounded and at that rate, he would have to forfeit the torch and fight in the dark. ‘The door! It’s small and it will limit the ones coming at me.’ He thought as he jumped over the beasts that ran from behind him then went outside. The beasts turned around and came at him one by one. What surprised him was that the beasts were now afraid of approaching him.

The monsters were afraid of the torch in his hand. Or in other words, they were afraid of the fire. With a smile on his face, Surgit advanced towards his enemies and reduced their numbers. The first five fell down without a hitch. As he stepped inside, he saw more enemies advancing towards him. They were afraid of the fire he held, but they gathered their courage and attacked relentlessly. As soon as they would come near him, Surgit would strike at them and injure them, pushing them back. They couldn’t come at him in great numbers as they hesitated at the sight of fire.

From amidst the group of enemies, the female beast made her way through and stood tall in front of Surgit. She didn’t seem to fear the fire. It was mostly because of that veil that covered her face. She screamed again and the other beasts cowered back in fear. And so, Surgit and the female beast patient were standing face to face, in the middle of a ring made of the other smaller beasts, like in an arena.

Surgit made the first move, he had the opportunity to kill the leader and inflict fear upon the others who seemed to be watching, waiting for the outcome of the fight. He dashed towards the beast’s legs, aiming to break one of them in order to limit the female patient’s movements. The latter, reading through his plan, kicked him and managed to hit him in the stomach.

He stumbled back and as he tried to regain his composure, she dashed towards him. She slammed at him with both arms. He rolled back then jumped right after his feet made contact with the ground. Thanks to his agility and creativity, Surgit found that he could turn the tides of battle using his wits. Yharnam’s beasts lacked the intelligence hunters had. And he intended on making good use of that advantage.

He jumped high and towards the beast patient. He landed on top of his foe, sitting on top of her shoulders. He threw the torch on the ground and held his cleaver in both hands, trying to strangle the female patient with it. As he drove the saw cleaver towards him, he felt it penetrate and cut the beast’s flesh. The latter struggled and kicked all around, hitting some of her minions and creating chaos. The others started fleeing the scene and fire caught on some of them as they fell on the torch which was lying on the ground, still lit.

It was like Surgit was attempting to ride a wild horse. The ride was difficult and required extreme agility. Surgit managed to avoid the beast’s hands that tried to grab him, and as his saw went deeper and deeper into her neck, her movements became sloppier. She finally fell to her knees and Surgit felt that victory was finally close. He pulled on the weapon with more strength until he heard a loud crack. The head was finally detached and he fell on his back as there was nothing to pull on anymore and he lost his balance.

He stood up and immediately went for his torch. The fire was almost gone but the enemies were already scattered around the building, afraid of the new monster that came in to hunt them down. Surgit ran towards the first group that was still in the ground floor, there were about five of them. He finished each one of them in two strong strikes and proceeded to the upper floors. In no time, he managed to clear the whole place.

He sat down on the stairs next to the last two beasts he had just dealt with. The place was now calm and he took his time to recollect his thoughts and catch his breath. He used his insight on one of the dead small beasts. It showed that they also were beast patients, but male. The inhabitants of this city had then succumbed to some sickness that transformed them into theses abominations. He understood the meaning of the bandages on their heads and around their eyes by then.

They must have been under treatment before the sickness took over the whole city. They no longer appeared sick, or human for that matter. He wondered at the source of the sickness that ravaged this place. Was it before the discovery of blood healing? Or was it the only sickness blood couldn’t heal? He didn’t know what to think of this situation but he decided to press on, and find a way towards the clock tower.