Eldrik burst into cackling laughter after hearing Sloan’s plan. At that instant, crimson ice crystals crystallized along his freshly grown bone spurs.
“Excellent! What a brilliant scheme,” he commented.
A gleam flashed in his hollow eye sockets as he waved his hand and produced three bone tokens. He tossed them to Sloan.
“Tell Gore, Venom, and Grinder to move now. Let them spread rumors simultaneously, so everyone thinks that this was the work of that terrestrial immortal,” he ordered.
“Yes, Elder Carrion,” Sloan replied. He caught the tokens and vanished from sight.
Thanks to Dustin’s intervention, the scarlet mist that had terrorized countless people was finally wiped out.
With the immediate threat gone, the situation in Ashen Coast began to stabilize.
Tristan, Matthias, and Nathaniel abandoned their plans to flee and began working to contain the outbreak while calming the populace. None of them were willing to give up unless necessary.
But because each prince had made different choices, their cities faced very different outcomes after the mist was eliminated.
Among them, Harbortown under Tristan fared the best. Although there had been some brief unrest, he quickly restored order.
With the preventative medicine Grace had sent, the outbreak was contained for the time being. All parties were actively responding and working together to save the city and weather the crisis.
On the contrary, Matthias faced a much more challenging situation. Before giving up on Thornwick, he had executed a large number of corrupt officials. It had helped him win some public favor and vent the people’s anger, but it also left a power vacuum.
Without those officials to maintain order or enforce controls, chaos persisted. Even though the scarlet mist was gone, restoring stability and containing the outbreak wasn’t something that could be done overnight.
Oddly enough, Nathaniel, who once had the upper hand, ended up in the worst position among his brothers.
Matthias’ execution of corrupt officials had at least served as a warning to others, while giving the people an outlet for their frustration. However, Nathaniel had done nothing meaningful before abandoning his city, except for engaging in ruthless exploitation and outright betrayal.
While appeasing the populace and containing the outbreak, Nathaniel had made grand promises to the nobility and built relationships with them. Then, at the crucial moment, he specifically targeted these same nobles and used every means possible to extort their wealth and resources.
If Sommertown had truly been doomed, such behavior might have had little consequence. But now that the city could be saved, his betrayal had instantly enraged every noble there.
When Nathaniel tried to regain control of the city and demanded the nobles’ cooperation in containing the outbreak and stabilizing the situation, they simply refused to participate.
Worse, they began secretly retaliating and sabotaging his efforts at every turn. As a result, Sommertown descended further into chaos, even harder to stabilize than Thornwick.
But Nathaniel had no one to blame but himself. No matter how angry he was, he had to grit his teeth and bear it.
All three princes had made different choices, and each city now faced a different fate because of it.
As darkness enveloped Sommertown, rustling sounds broke the silence in a cemetery on the outskirts of the city.
Suddenly, a withered black hand thrust up from the earth. The hand, with its long, claw-like nails, looked brittle as deadwood but moved with surprising strength. After a few swipes, it dug a hole straight through the burial mound.
A moment later, a zombie in tattered clothing and gaunt features clawed its way out of the grave. Once the first zombie appeared, a second quickly followed, then a third, then a fourth…
Within just a few minutes, seven zombies had clawed their way out of the ground and their putrid stench filled the air.
The first zombie to surface wore a crystal necklace around its neck that glowed eerily under the moonlight. It released a wet gurgling sound from its throat and began lurching forward with stiff, awkward movements.
The other six zombies followed as it headed toward the populated areas of the city.
The undead could cover 30 feet in a single bound. They possessed incredible strength, and their bodies were hard as iron. Wherever they passed, plants withered and died, leaving blackened earth in their wake.
On a main road outside the city, the streets were empty due to the citywide lockdown. Only scattered squads of soldiers remained at the checkpoints, preventing anyone from fleeing and spreading the outbreak beyond the city limits.
“I heard that the scarlet mist finally disappeared,” one soldier said. “Some powerhouse must have intervened. We can finally breathe a little easier now.”
“Yeah. Now that the mist is gone, at least Sommertown won’t be wiped off the map. As for the outbreak, we’ll just have to wait for the higher-ups to develop an antidote.”
“With the whole city in crisis, we’re lucky to be alive at all.”
At one checkpoint, a squad of soldiers chatted among themselves. Since the mist’s disappearance, fewer people were attempting to force their way through, giving them some respite.
“Hey, look! What’s that?”
One soldier suddenly gestured toward the darkness ahead, having spotted something unusual.
The others followed his gaze to the far end of the road, where several figures were lurching toward them with jerky, unnatural movements.
The approaching figures’ eyes glowed green with an unsettling light that sent chills down their spines.
