Chapter 57: The Taste of Desperation

“The only way out of the city now is for Flora to fly us out one by one.”

Alfred’s hopeful gaze fell upon me, making me suddenly feel an immense pressure.

“I object,” Amos interjected abruptly.

“Since they’re aware there’s an angel within the city, they will undoubtedly heighten their defenses, preventing any escape by air.”

“It’s likely that even during the day, many more guards will be stationed along the city walls.”

“What are we to do then?” Blanche asked, a hint of urgency in her voice.

“Doesn’t this mean all our escape routes are completely sealed off?”

“Perhaps we should wait a while longer, until the heightened alert subsides…”

After a moment’s thought, Amos could only offer this cautious suggestion.

“But will our supplies last?” Hayden inquired.

Hayden had raised a question I had previously overlooked; they had been in Tedles Town for over a week now.

While Erica could likely conjure enough water with her magic, what would they do for food?

“How much food remains in everyone’s storage rings?” Alfred immediately asked Blanche.

It appeared this young woman was in charge of managing their provisions.

“Not much is left…” Blanche replied.

After a quick calculation, she delivered her answer.

“Although we brought a sufficient amount, anticipating special circumstances when we set out, our stay in this city has truly been protracted.”

“We can forage for food within the city; most of these demonic creatures also need to eat,” Amos promptly offered a solution.

“Wasn’t that our initial plan, after all?”

“However, with the current curfew, won’t frequent excursions into the city cause problems?”

Even the usually reserved Erica voiced her concern.

Amos fell silent.

Sally and I, observing their discussion from the sidelines, found ourselves at a loss for words, unable to offer any immediate suggestions.

Witnessing this predicament, I realized that we had indeed become a burden.

“Since there are guards on the city walls, why don’t we simply fly over them, departing from high above the city?” Blanche suddenly proposed.

“Surely an angel can fly higher than just the city walls?”

“That’s far too dangerous!” Amos exclaimed, glancing at her as he explained.

“The airspace within the city is very likely under constant enemy surveillance.”

“Taking off from within the city would be necessary, and even during the day, the situation here is unpredictable.”

“An angel’s expanded wings already draw significant attention from demonic creatures, and if we were discovered by the defenders, escape would be virtually impossible.”

“We must remember that we are not the only ones capable of flight.”

“Furthermore, there are those towering structures…”

Towers?

For a moment, I failed to grasp what he meant by “towers.”

However, I quickly recalled the slender, towering structures that dotted the city, which had been Sally’s and my first impression of the place when we saw it from afar outside the walls.

“Have you ascertained the purpose of those towers?” Alfred asked, his expression growing serious at the mention of them.

Clearly, they had noticed these peculiar structures long ago.

“No,” Amos replied, shaking his head.

“We only suspect them to be some form of control or early warning device, but their exact function remains entirely unknown.”

“Even many of the demonic creatures living in this city are unaware of the towers’ purpose,” Hayden added, elaborating further.

So mysterious?

My fear was that if these towers turned out to be offensive weapons, flying into the sky would make us sitting ducks.

“In any case, I cannot agree to take such a risk, especially with so many unpredictable factors at play.”

Amos finally put forth his firm stance.

“Then let’s rest tonight and reassess the situation tomorrow during the day,” Alfred said with a sigh.

Although there was a significant divergence of opinions among the team members, it was clear he highly valued Amos’s judgment, leaving him no choice but to conclude the discussion.

In truth, I was utterly exhausted.

I had planned to sleep earlier, but so many unforeseen circumstances had arisen.

“I’ll take watch tonight,” Alfred declared.

Having spoken, he lifted a corner of the cloth curtain obscuring the stairwell and descended.

“You should rest too; stop staying up late,” he commanded, abruptly turning to Amos, who had been about to follow him downstairs.

“Alright…” Amos conceded.

Hearing this, he reluctantly retreated from the stairs, and in a fit of dejection, found a dark corner to lie down, after which no sound emerged from him.

****

The following day.

As daylight broke, the city once again fell silent, returning to the eerie state we had found upon our arrival, with every alley devoid of demonic beasts.

Even so, Sally and I remained indoors, not venturing outside.

We anxiously awaited news, alongside the other three, from Amos and Blanche, who were out scouting.

A distinct three-knock sequence sounded precisely on time.

“Well?” Sally asked, her voice laced with anxiety, as she eagerly opened the door to let them in.

All eyes in the room converged upon the two of them.

“It’s a no-go,” Amos announced, catching his breath as he stepped inside.

He took the water Erica offered, drained it in one gulp, and set the cup on the table, delivering his negative verdict.

“As expected, security on the city walls has been increased; several guards are stationed along each section.”

“What about food?” Alfred inquired.

This was, after all, a crucial concern for everyone present.

“We found some, but not a lot,” Blanche replied.

Relieved that it wasn’t all bad news, a collective sigh escaped us.

As she spoke, Blanche retrieved several pieces of meat from her storage ring, their origins indiscernible.

“This is likely all the food we can procure from the city,” she explained.

“We were fortunate today; there’s no guarantee we’d find even this much if we ventured out again tomorrow.”

“This looks like demon beast meat, doesn’t it?” Sally remarked.

She picked up a piece from the table, examined it, and then, with a slight grimace of disgust, tossed it aside.

“There’s nothing for it,” Blanche explained with a helpless shrug.

“The demonic creatures in this city seem to cannibalize their own kind; I never imagined them to be so savage.”

“Actually, to those demonic creatures, this might not be considered their own kind,” Amos mused, casting a thoughtful glance at the meat.

“It’s said that intelligent demonic creatures treat unintelligent demon beasts much like humans treat wild animals in our world.”

His words resonated deeply with me, as they brought to mind the scene I had witnessed earlier outside the city gates: the gate guards slaughtering undead creatures.

Undead creatures were, to humans, a type of demonic entity.

Sally and I had been quite surprised at the time, unable to comprehend their actions, but now, it all made perfect sense.

“What if an intelligent lizardman encountered an unintelligent one? Would they also devour it without hesitation?” I posed, a sudden whimsical thought striking me.

“That, I’m not entirely sure about…” Amos admitted, genuinely stumped by the question.

He scratched his head awkwardly, pondered for a moment, and then replied, “They probably wouldn’t, out of a sense of kinship.”

“Is it really safe to eat this demon beast meat?” Hayden asked, his primary concern being their stomachs.

To him, as long as it was edible, whether it was demon beast meat or not was irrelevant.

“Ordinary people might be corrupted by dark energy if they eat it, especially those below Tier 2 strength, but we should all be fine,” Sally stated plainly.

Despite her strong dislike for the food, she spoke the truth, acknowledging its hard-won nature.

“However, Flora, you’re likely far more sensitive to these things than we are.

If you truly can’t stomach it, then don’t eat it.”

“After all, you generally don’t need to eat, and eating at night is primarily just to replenish your stamina.”

“It’s not quite like that; if I don’t manifest my wings, I still get hungry…” I quickly clarified.

To be honest, I was rather curious about the taste of demon beast meat, but the mere thought of the dark elemental aura it exuded immediately unsettled me.

“Perhaps… I should try it first, then decide.”

After all, the air around us already contained a significant amount of dark energy, making me feel as if I were perpetually living in a latrine.

To then force myself to consume something imbued with that very same essence…

“Then that settles it,” Alfred declared.

He instructed Blanche to put away the demon beast meat, then turned to us.

“The path over the city walls is impassable for now.

Do any of you have other suggestions?”

“Ascending into the sky from within the city…” Blanche began, attempting to revive her suggestion from the previous night, but Amos firmly cut her off.

“No, I will not agree to it.”

Alfred looked from Amos to Blanche, then to me and the others.

Seeing that no one else spoke, he reluctantly announced, “Then we will proceed with Amos’s plan.”

“It’s best to be conservative and cautious; we’ll wait a while longer before seeking another opportunity to leave the city.”

“But what if we wait too long and they stop the spatial exchange?” Blanche fretted, a note of panic in her voice.

“That would simply mean returning to the situation before Flora and the others arrived,” Alfred replied with a hint of resignation.

“At worst, we wouldn’t have lost anything, would we?”

Having said this, he turned and ascended the stairs.

…

“Ugh…”

After taking a bite of the cooked demon beast meat, I hastily pushed away from the table and rushed outside to vomit.

The taste was utterly unbearable, overwhelmingly potent.

It was no less offensive than fermented bean curd or surströmming—dishes infamous for their extreme flavors; to say it surpassed them would be no exaggeration.

“I told you you couldn’t eat it, but you insisted on trying,” Sally quipped, seeing my reaction.

With a triumphant smirk, she speared a small piece of meat with her fork and popped it into her mouth.

After a few chews, her expression rapidly soured.

“Pah, pah!” she finally spat out, unable to hold it in any longer.

“What in the world is this taste? It’s utterly bizarre!”

‘[Sigh], I suppose it’s the taste of that dark energy you mentioned…’ Amos muttered, chewing with a furrowed brow.

The others, particularly the three men, fared somewhat better.

Though they ate with grimaces, they ultimately managed to swallow the meat, showing no significant signs of nausea.

Erica and Blanche, however, had slightly less tolerance.

After forcing down two bites, they simply couldn’t eat any more and pushed away from the table.

“You must eat more,” Alfred urgently called out to them.

“This will be our only food from now on; if you don’t get used to it soon, your bodies won’t be able to sustain yourselves.”

“But the taste is truly awful,” Erica lamented, looking as if she were on the verge of tears.

Her pitiful appearance made her seem incredibly adorable.