Chapter 64: Never Give Up, Never Abandon

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What sane person would live in a town where a horrific tragedy had occurred only recently?

Clearly, the merchant caravan shared this sentiment. Sensing the anomaly, no one dared to venture into Riverbend Town to investigate further. They hurried their pace, and it wasn't until they reached Riverwood that the taut nerves of everyone in the caravan finally relaxed. The hunters responsible for escorting the caravan were still haunted by lingering fear and refused to leave the guild's bustling front hall.

The aroma of the stew was mouth-watering, yet a terrifying atmosphere silently spread.

Chloe and Miss Fortune were both very thick-skinned little creatures, eating the stew while listening with great relish to Ivy's account.

"The caravan guards gave three completely different descriptions of the creature haunting the town. Some claimed they saw a hazy, translucent human figure; others believed it was a band of thieves attempting to ransack the town in the chaos; and still others claimed they saw a sort of monster on all fours with an exposed upper body, its flesh torn open to reveal the bone."

Ivy recounted the findings of her interviews while flipping a page in the *Terminology Glossary of Curses and Containment Objects*.

Cataloged as SI-0051, the Containment Bureau named this twisted entity the "Assembler."

The monster in the manual clung face-up to the ground like a spider; its body was pieced together from various human organs, and even its face was a patchwork of several human countenances.

The Assembler was first witnessed by investigators following a case of evil deity worship in which a family of five died a gruesome death in their home. Two investigators were attacked by an Assembler in the apartment that very night. Its physique was composed of the bodily tissues of the five deceased victims, and the attack resulted in one death and one critical injury. According to the recollections of the severely wounded investigator, they had sensed no warning of the Assembler's approach; it had materialized almost instantaneously beside them and launched its assault.

The Assembler was classified as an extremely dangerous entity, invariably appearing in the aftermath of evil deity sacrificial rituals. It possessed immense vitality and a low-level self-healing capability. All known magic and firearms could inflict trauma upon it, and the manual advised containment personnel below Grade C to evacuate immediately upon encountering an Assembler.

"The caravan guards accurately described every single characteristic of the Assembler, even though none of them had ever been to any place associated with evil deity sacrifices prior to this."

Ivy believed this was the most probable scenario. After all, just a few days earlier, Riverbend Town had undergone an unprecedented evil deity ritual.

When the coalition formed by Baron Gletin and the hunters arrived, they merely cleared away the bodies in the town. No one was willing to linger any longer than necessary. The tragedy at Riverbend Town was reported to the Gear City branch, but the death toll and aftermath management far exceeded the routine scope of investigative work, leaving the subsequent handling of Riverbend Town in a state of stagnation.

"If the cultists of the Dream-Erode are hiding along the empire's borders, Riverbend Town is the most likely place for them to conceal themselves."

Ivy continued her analysis. The appearance of the Assembler precisely corroborated her hypothesis. "Some investigators believe the Assembler is a dark creature created from the souls of sacrificed victims by the evil deity Bazatos. Those cultists of the dark gods most likely mastered some method to drive or command the Assemblers."

Having eaten her fill, the cat yawned, lazily curling up on Ethan's lap with her pretty red eyes narrowed into slits.

Miss Chloe listened with rapt attention, seeming as though she had already prepared herself to do battle with an Assembler.

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Ivy did not continue.

Once she untangled the threads of logic, the matter stalled right here.

If members of the Dream-Erode were truly hiding in Riverbend Town, the safest procedure according to the Containment Bureau protocol would be to dispatch a few intelligence agents to scout the town first. Even in the tragic event that they perished, it would at least help the bureau assess the risks.

From a macro-rational perspective, this was the soundest approach—minimizing sacrifices while effectively avoiding total annihilation.

The only problem was that this method consumed low-level investigators at a prodigious rate, which was precisely why the mortality rate of frontline investigators at the Bureau had remained stubbornly high in recent years.

The stance of the Gear City branch was to maximize the value of the "Chicken Feeder." After all, his evaluation remarks sounded as though he had simply been pulled in to make up numbers, making him essentially born with the sacred constitution of a frontline intelligence asset. If he could bring back favorable intelligence for the Bureau, it would undoubtedly be a massive windfall.

Ivy immediately crumpled the branch's suggestion into a ball and tossed it into the wastebasket.

As a strong candidate for her future assistant, Ethan was certainly not to be used as expendable fodder. Even if the branch director needed someone to fill a death trap, it wouldn't be Ethan's turn.

Yet, problems had to be faced.

The news brought back by the caravan could be considered a breakthrough development. Someone had to go to Riverbend Town and investigate.

"Ever since the caravan brought back the news, the guild has been gripped by panic. I posted a commission on the guild hall board, but no one has touched it."

Ivy sighed. The hunters were shrewd; no matter how high the bounty was for a suicide mission, you needed to be alive to spend the money, right?

The tragedy at Riverbend Town was one of the rarest and most horrific in the empire in recent years. If Baron Gletin hadn't deployed his garrison troops and led the expedition in person back then, the hunters would never have dared to approach the place. Many of them had only responded to the call on a momentary surge of hot-headed impulse without fully understanding the situation.

After witnessing firsthand the grisly state of Riverbend Town, quite a few burly men had nearly vomited out their stomach linings. Following that, many hunters fled Riverwood to hide out in Gear City to ride out the storm.

"In other words, the theme of today's meeting is to select a volunteer to head to Riverbend Town."

In the past, Ethan would have been utterly reluctant. However, after learning about the Element Ascension Theory, he desperately needed a place to conduct some in-depth research.

He could hardly wait to find his good buddy, the Assembler, to discuss the ascension theory of Fireball.

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He feigned reluctance. "Although this is a difficult decision, right now there is only yours truly—"

"There's nothing difficult about it."

Biann, who had been burying her head in her food and eating, suddenly spoke up. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone else was listening to Ivy's account of the guild news, she and Miss Chloe had teamed up and silently devoured every last scrap of the stew in the pot, leaving not even the broth behind.

Her lips were greasy with oil. She licked them as if still craving more, and with a sweeping wave of her large hand declared, "Back during the expeditions, this kind of situation happened all the time. Trade the smallest sacrifice for the greatest victory? No, that's not my style! If we go, we go together! I won't let anyone march to their deaths for nothing!"

With that, she bestowed upon Ethan a warm, encouraging look. "Even if we encounter the evil deity's cultists, I will definitely protect you and help you escape!"

Instead of feeling warm and inspiring, this scene left Ethan's heart completely ice-cold.

Could you just eat your stew in peace?!

Why are you causing trouble?!

He never expected that an entire pot of stew couldn't plug Biann's mouth.

His good buddy the Assembler was still waiting for him in the town!

Ethan hurriedly turned to look at Ivy. This matter was of vital importance; a follower of the God of Truth needed to speak some words of reason.

"Biann-jie is right."

Ivy nodded solemnly, returning Ethan's gaze with an equally warm look. "Only by pulling together can we carve out a sliver of survival. Don't worry, Ethan, we won't give up on you."

Ethan's vision went black.

You go back to the Enlightenment Society to be remade from scratch too!

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