‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Reed found Ace already throwing a fit with the other guards. He wasn't scolding them but he was just telling that they need to increase their guard more than ever. Apparently he had already passed the message to the others back at the training camp and he is going to do the same with the guards already at the palace.

The palace isn't big for no reason. One literally requires a carriage to move around it and to think that Ace wanted Reed is to patrol on foot everywhere atleast five times is ridiculous.. But he does have a point to overreact like this.Aside from the king, a lot of nobles come here on the daily to engage in all sorts of things and government work. All ministries are stationed at the palace so reputable and valuable people are always here.

Whatever is attacking the humans isn't some rebel group that needs to spend tremendous amount of time strategizing how to access the kingdom. This is a supernatural entity that can travel destinations light years apart in less than ten seconds. It could be hunting in the wolf grounds in one breath and then roaming in the royal garden all in the same heartbeat.

Maybe because the other guards don't practice magic do they not fully realize the seriousness of the situation unlike Ace who is a Jeruv hunter ( humans who use cultivation to find wolves and solve supernatural cases). Right now only three guards are Jeruv hunters but the other one got attacked by a wolf and he is currently injured severely.

No one knows what is wrong with him because he said the wolf was normal and the doctors say there is nothing toxic in his blood. His condition is just worsening by the minute and all everyone does is watches because not a single Jeruv method can help him. The only way he can survive is if they approach the wolves for their remedies which is probably the least likely thing they would do.

Ace continued to add that because of the rumors spreading around the place, people are scared and feel like they are vulnerable. Moreover these rumors seem to get more true as more strange things are reported. On that note, security should be maximized to protect the palace as the external is already being guarded by four times as much manpower as here.

" All of you should route the whole palace grounds and make sure everyone is fine. Each of you will take a cardinal point. From the large fountain, each will heard in a direction and at lunch you meet and give me feedback. Do want needs to be done. A guard doesn't escort, he immunizes", he told them and they bowed and headed to the assignment.

Reed walked close to Ace and he bowed to him.

" I was at the outer parts of the palace the whole night but the rain trapped me so I couldn't complete the patrolling. Nonetheless I did do it before it rained ", he explained and Ace looked like he wanted to spit on his face.

" You will explain hat you said to the twelve hundred stones at camp plus the half tonne barrel of water. Wolves are in town. Let's go.", he spoke and he walked away.

Reed exhaled heavily as he expected that punishment . he followed behind him as they were probably heading to town.

****

They were going to the mortuary on the other side of town which was a very long ride.

" Why do you think that wolves are attacking the dead and living?", He asked Reed who was too distracted thinking about cough medicine. It's all that has been on his mind. Times he had thought of asking the carriage to stop but he could not think of an excuse that will convince Ace.

" It's not wolves", he replied without looking back to him. He really doesn't want to act like he care about his opinion or his status. Over the past minutes, his mood gradually became more bitter .Reed is mad that he had to come here while his colleagues remained at the palace , moving as they please even close to the royal chambers yet he is here with this 'egotistical selfish person '. He wanted to stay too atleast just to see the condition of the king even if he can't give him any medication.

" Wolves don't dig graves , they don't and can't feed on stale corpses and they definitely can't hunt during broad day", he told him , verifying facts that Ace completely ignored

" How do you know all of that? I never said anything.",

Reed blew his cover. He forgot that he was eavesdropping and no one has access to Ace report. His stomach twisted in knots but he gather his composure

" The rumors have spread in the palace grounds", he lied and Ace believed him because it's probable as he doesn't know what has and hasn't spread.

" If it's not wolves then what is it? Magic?", He blurted out and Reed said it was an inevitability.

It's the first time he has discussed magic with a non-Jeruv and have them give such mature and clear answers. Others would have just questioned how it's possible that magic exists while Reed just stated it like it's a common thing to find .

During their conversation, the carriage stopped and they had reached at their destination.

The town morgue is really enormous almost like a national school.

It is among the three around town but it is the most reputable as it has the best officers and its services are fast and reliable. A lot of the rich people want their bodies cleaned here before cremation to the point that they always order the deluxe where they are done in a separate VVIP room and treated with the best chemicals.Among its services, autopsy is the least expensive and cleaning being three times the value and deluxe being fifteen. The latter is pricey but it is all worth it to give loved ones a dignified sending.

The morgue is made of two floors to avoid spanning over an even longer distance.Upon walking in , the place is arranged in a rectangular pattern with the center being hollow. The lower rooms have a shading extruding from them just like the upper ones. A pair of paid are directly opposite the door and they lead to the upper rooms.

By order of price and popularity, the quantity of rooms are arranged in descending order. In total there are sixty -three rooms with twenty being allocated to cleaning and ten for receiving and storing bodies. Thirteen are for holding bodies that are leaving, ten for autopsy, five for consultation and the last five for keeping supplies.

A large statue sits in the middle of the hollow rectangle and it is surrounded by a fountain of blue water. The blue water helps to absorb all the smell of dead people such that in every single room except the autopsy, there is a vase of such water. Most people don't know what it is and think it is decoration so they just ignore it.

" Good day Master Acerynl. We have been expecting you", a middle aged man dressed in light green attire came and greeted the two . It's the coroner uniform while doctors have a light blue. All the uniforms are plain and look like wolf's training attire added with the black hair-ribbon

" Call me Ace . Can we see the bodies you reported?", He asked and the man agreed.

" Can the young lad wait outside for a bit? We don't think it's safe to expose a lot of people to the bodies.", He added and Ace agreed telling Reed to behave and check with the front-desk for autopsy reports to the station.

Reed obeyed and he went to get the said reports but they were still being complied so he can wait in the carriage as they do so. He wasn't the least bit thrilled about this but he couldn't disagree so he went to the said place and waited.

However the minute he sat inside the carriage, he heard a distant wolf growl so he dissolved into mist and he traced the wolf sound. It took him over ten minutes to fly to the other parts of town to find the sound but as he got nearer the sound became quiet

" Ahhhh!!!!!", A loud scream erupted to his left and he ran to that side of town .

There was a small one roomed house situated in the middle of many squatter camps and poor infrastructure homes, that seemed to contain screaming person. A crowd was guarding the perimeters of the house hoping they can catch the wolf before it escaped. They were holding all sorts of weapons but they forgot to wear the most important one being courage

He quickly blast through the doors and as expected a large beast nearly twice the size of an average man was hovering over an old woman as a small child laid bleeding unconscious to the side. Because of the miniature size of their house, everything was crowded in a single place and there was too much blood and scrapings everywhere on the floor . The beast had a huge load of blood from its mouth but even though both the victims were injured they were not bleeding buckets.

He grabbed a stool to the side and he pounced to the beast but it strongly slapped him to the side . Reed crashed onto the piece of broken furniture and as he stood up , his human flesh was pierced badly such that the water showed underneath. He jumped to the wolf while holding the same furniture and this time it kicked him by the legs and slammed him to the other side of the room

That hurt really badly that all the regions of his body on that part instantaneously became liquid. He can't simulate skin like this . His human body has receptors and when they are affected they turn him to water to recuperate

He tried to breath while he was on the floor as the changing from human to water ached tremendously when he is injured like this but it is passive meaning he can't stop it without hurting himself either.

The wolf tore the old woman's face with its claw spreading her blood all over the room before pinning her to the ground. It opened its mouth to three times the normal size and its eyes changed to an intense red colour. Its hideous display was multiplied hundredfold that while her aura drained into its mouth like it was already on the surface.

Seeing that grotesque creature , Reed was forced to attack however when he crawled towards the wolf, suddenly its tail became a long shadow like thing that stabbed through Reed's body and elevated him to the sky. Naturally that would have killed him but his water form shaped around the tentacle that was protruding through him.

It was painful such that the whole of his torso continuously became water while he was still attached to the wolf. This forced transformation was taking a toll on him and it felt like his brain was being fried.

He left through the tentacle by completely transforming to water. When he landed downwards, he lifted a table with his powers and bulldozed the wolf off the lady.

The wolf was shifted to the side but it then got rogue . Its serpentine tail begun to storm out lethargic shadow blades at Reed and they just went through his body , temporarily slowing him down. If he could feel physical pain, he would be paralyzed from overworking his nerves .

He hid behind a table but the stakes still penetrated it and punched right through his body before they faded. This made it futile to conceal behind anything so he just went towards the wolf. In those few ten seconds , Reed was stabbed by fifty-plus shadows and they were sponging his energy such that he couldn't keep on with the wolf. It was becoming a challenge trying to use his body as it felt like it was turning off. Occasionally he had to try to shake himself awake but it was counterproductive. Nevertheless he used all his remaining strength to build an oracle of water around the wolf that was moving all over the place.

Eventually he collapsed to the ground landing on his fours and he started to groan . The wolf was also getting fatigued as the water was blocking its energy-transmission but immediately then people started to hide drums outside. This distracted the wolf , making it stop bombarding Reed . In a moment of desperation it grabbed slammed and aimed old woman against the wall but he swiftly turned to human launched in front of her to cushion her with his body.

After she impacted on him and slumped to the floor, he became drizzle again only to later melt to the ground as he was extremely moped dry of energy . People continued creating a raucous outside then the wolf arbitrarily dissolved into fine air.

Reed was at threshold with activeness from exhaustion but he changed to human and he threw a pot to the window breaking it open. After that , he catapulted himself at the window to make sense that the wolf did it and not just throwing the pot .

He had to change back to human but he still can't make blood. So he made his human body swell up brutally and he diluted some of the blood that was around with water and smeared it on his body. Soon after he just dropped to the ground.

Just seconds after doing that , a guard checked the broken window and glanced at the gore in the room. To his delight ,the perpetrator was absent so he called people onto the house

" Get a carriage, someone is alive", he bellowed and gravitated to the door to access Reed .When he met him, Reed trembled and he pointed to the child

Fortunately it was still faintly breathing but its pulse was fading.

The guard and some male grabbed those two and transported them to the nearest hospital.All the while , Reed was falling unconscious. His greatest hope was that he doesn't become water while they carried him