Leon looked surprised. “They merged? How?”

Emeric shook his head. “I don’t know how, they just… Their flesh started melting and fusing together.”

Red frowned. “Can you be more specific?”

Emeric jumped in shock. “More specific?! What else do you want me to tell you?”

“Everything you can.”

The noble hesitated and looked over at Leon. His friend just nodded at him with a serious expression, and that seemed to be enough for Emeric.

He looked back at Red. “They started to glow with that green energy. Some of them glowed brighter than the other, and the other ones got close to them, and…”

“Their flesh melted and fused into the three snakeman?” Red asked.

“Yeah…”

“I assume their bones did, too.”

“W-Well, yeah…”

“And why didn’t you stop them?”

“I was chasing after their leader! I almost caught him too, but then he started chanting some weird spell and this whole mess happened.” Emeric said. “I killed one of the demons off with a spell and tried to focus on rushing after him, but the other snakemen caught up and surrounded me. I-I’m not a melee expert, so I wasn’t really able to finish them off that quickly.”

“This… Leader, what did they look like?” Leon asked.

“They were wearing some kind of ceremonial robe and a snake mask. Probably a man from their size, but most of his body was covered. When I found him, he was doing something to the cultists, but when he saw me, he turned around and ran.”

“Ran? He didn’t try to fight you?”

Emeric scratched his neck. “Seems to be the case. He was definitely in the Lesser Ring Realm too, so if he tried to join forces with those snakes, I would have been in trouble.”

“He was in a rush.” Red said, looking over at Leon. “Probably related to whatever ritual they were trying to do.”

“Ritual?” Emeric seemed confused. “What happened?”

Leon recounted their experience with the cultists from earlier, at which point Emeric looked worried.

“What are they trying to do? Some kind of summoning?”

“Maybe.” Leon said. “It’s probably safe to assume they were probably doing similar rituals in other places along the sewer.”

“Then… It’s good that I stopped them, right?”

“Yes, but you could have also died!”

Leon’s temper suddenly flared up as he stared at Emeric with an incensed expression. The change was so sudden that even Red was surprised.

He jabbed at Emeric’s chest with his finger. “If we hadn’t arrived in time, what do you think could have happened to you?!”

Emeric grabbed onto his friend’s wrist with a conflicted expression. “They were clearly up to something! How could I have known that these demons were-”

“We’re dealing with a cult here! What else were you expecting?! This isn’t a test anymore, Emeric. We’re dealing with people who can truly kill us, and a lot of innocent lives depend on our actions.”

Emeric looked down in remorse. “… I know, but-”

“You can talk about this later.” Red cut into their conversation. “We are pressed for time.”

Red, who never imagined himself to land in this position, now acted as a mediator for his allies.

Leon seemed to snap out of his anger and look over at Red with an apologetic smile. “You’re right, master Viran. We should prioritize our mission here above everything else.” He looked over at Emeric. “Did you see anything else?”

“Not really.” Emeric said.

“Then we-”

“Wait.” Rec cut in once more. “You said the leader was doing something to the cultists, right?”

Emeric nodded. “That’s right.”

“Was he doing anything to their abdomen?”

“Well, the cultists were blocking my view, but now that you mention it… I do think he was kneeling when I first arrived.”

‘So it’s probably as I thought.’

Red frowned beneath his mask. Leon seemed confused by the question, but he picked up on the underlying meaning quickly.

He looked over at Red in surprise. “You think he was the one who caused the snake’s belly to explode?”

Red nodded. “I spotted the formation drawn on its belly right before it exploded. The other two didn’t have it on them, so I can only assume this leader didn’t have time to draw it on the other two.”

“This…!” Leon’s eyes brightened. “Then do you think it’s him?”

“Unless they have more than one formation specialist, then it’s likely the case.”

This was the only reasonable explanation. It didn’t answer, however, what this man was doing running around the sewers.

Emeric smiled. “So, my so called reckless actions did end up yielding some results, huh?”

Leon glared at him. “And what would have happened to you if you weren’t lucky enough to kill the exploding snake first?”

Emeric’s smile faded.

“What was he doing here?" Leon asked. “I assume that a formation expert would be guarded and in hiding, working on whatever project this cult put him on.”

Red was glad that Leon was smart enough to pick up on the same inconsistencies as him. It made the conversation flow much more easily.

“I can only assume two possibilities.” He said. “He was in transit, and our appearance caught him by surprise, or he was forced to move from wherever he was hiding to do something.”

“Sending a formation expert by himself out here? Isn’t that risky for them?” Emeric asked, confused.

Red nodded. “It is. So if they did that, then it means that either all the other members of this cult are busy, or they don’t have nearly as many members as we expected them to.”

More of the picture seemed to come to Leon as his expression showed his realization.

“Do you think they were sent to stop us?” He asked. “Perhaps they noticed what we did with those cultists from earlier and were planning to ambush us with those exploding formations!”

“Unless someone else is invading the sewers, then that is likely to be the case.” Red said. “In any case, these actions of theirs tell us yet again that whatever they are doing is time sensitive, or I doubt they would have taken the risk. We need to move forward before something happens.”

“You’re right.” Leon nodded. “We need to collect the demon cores first, though, or they will cause a lot of corruption to spread.”

With that said, he walked over to the two snake corpses. Light-green spiritual energy surrounded his hand, and he used it to slash open the creatures’ chests.

While the young noble poked around in the creature's entrails, Red reached into his pouch to communicate with Aurelia.

“Have you seen something like this before?” he asked through his mind connection.

“I’ve seen other techniques that fuse beings into more powerful monsters, but I’ve never seen heard of this cult doing it.” Aurelia said. “It doesn’t surprise me, though. The archdemon they represent also symbolizes unity of body and mind between their believers, in the literal way too.”

“But to create Lesser Ring Realm demons just like that... Is it that easy?”

“It’s not. These cultists probably needed to be converted to true believers first and then prepared in some rituals. Also, there are some other limitations, too.”

Red was about to ask how she knew about these limitations, but a surprised cry came from his side. It was Leon, protected hands still poking around the demon’s bodies, and he was looking at Red with shock.

“There are no cores in their bodies!”

Emeric was the first one to respond. “No cores? But they were so strong! How could that be possible?”

Red finally understood the meaning of Aurelia’s words. He retracted his hand from his pouch and walked over to their corpses.

“It’s probably a limitation of this fusion.” He said. “It shouldn’t be this easy to create demons this powerful, so I assume they don’t have any cores, and their powers are probably temporary.”

Leon nodded in realization. “Now that you mention it, this does seem like a rather powerful technique. It makes sense that there would be some kind of limitation to it, or else they could have taken over the city like this. I think this technique is like a-”

“Like a fire that burns bright, but not for long.” Emeric finished the sentence.

Leon looked at him with a frown.

“What?” Emeric seemed offended. “I just have experience in the matter!”

Leon shook his head and stood up.

“It is still a very dangerous technique.” He said. “Even if their powers don’t last for long, they could cause a lot of damage to the city! I mean, could you imagine if…”

Leon trailed off, his expression changing in horror.

“W-What? What is it?” Emeric asked, looking around in alarm.

Leon didn’t respond, instead looking over at Red.

“Master Viran, do you think…?”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible.” Red said, already arriving at the same realization.

“What is it?! What are you guys talking about?” Emeric kept asking in frustration.

Leon looked over at his friend with a grave expression. “There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of people living in these sewers, and the cult has probably converted a huge part of them. If they were all capable of fusing in this manner, or if they all fused together, then…”

Emeric’s face also twisted in horror.

“Oh, fuck! They’re making a monstrosity!” he said. “How are we going to stop them?!”

“There’s no reason to panic yet.” Red said. “You told us that this leader chanted a spell before this fusion took place. It’s safe to assume that he was the catalyst for this transformation, and it probably takes a lot of Spiritual Energy to cast it. This might also be the purpose of the ritual from earlier, to gather said energy, and considering the lengths this man went to stop us, they probably don’t have enough.”

“And we interrupted it.” Leon nodded. “Still, if this ultimate fusion is their goal, they might still be able to create a very dangerous demon with just what they have. With this power, why would they need to summon any demons?”

Red was bound to agree. If this technique could be cast at will, the only thing they needed was enough energy and subjects to throw this city into complete chaos. He suspected that the energy gathered from that fake summoning circle was probably meant for a greater fusion, and even if it wasn’t, it could certainly be used for it.

“We need to hurry, then!” Emeric tried to shake his exhaustion off and pointed behind them. “He escaped that way! We need to run after him!”

“We can’t afford to be careless.” Leon said. “Now that we know this was probably the formation expert, we know that there are probably all kinds of traps waiting for us up ahead. Master Viran can’t properly detect them if we run.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Red said.

“Huh?” Leon looked at him in surprise. “But earlier you said…”

“That was before I knew how grave the situation was. Now that this man knows that we are here, he is bound to send whatever monstrosity he creates our way to kill us. Being slow now is more likely to put us in danger than whatever trap he may have set.”

“… Are you certain of this, Master Viran?”

“I am.” Red nodded. “All you need to do is follow my lead.”

Leon and Emeric exchanged glances before they both nodded.

“We trust in your judgement and skills.” Leon said. “Please, lead us!”

His eyes were filled with such conviction and trust that almost made Red feel uncomfortable. Leon didn’t know him well enough, and in his position, Red would never rely on any stranger that much, no matter what contract was established between them. Such decisions were bound to get you betrayed and killed, but he wasn’t here to teach the noble life lessons.

“Follow me, then.”

With these words, the three took off down the tunnel path.