After leaving the site of the previous battle, Lucian soon returned to the fork where he had split up from Leda and Freyja.
This time, he chose the path they had taken.
However, before he had gone very far, the road ahead abruptly ended in a collapsed break.
Standing at the edge, Lucian glanced downward.
Below lay the very source of the filthy runoff that had formed the earlier "waterfall" of sludge.
Near the channel, a few Horned corpses were scattered along the edges.
Because of their shadow-like bodies, Lucian couldn't tell whether they had been killed by Leda and the others, or had been lying there for far longer.
There were still quite a few Horned figures moving below, though none seemed inclined to fight.
Lucian leapt forward.
With ease, he cleared the broken section and landed on the other side.
A Horned figure standing there immediately rushed at him, waving a cleaver.
Perhaps it intended to knock him off the ledge while he was still near the edge.
But whatever the plan, Lucian simply sidestepped.
The Horned's forward momentum couldn't be stopped. It staggered, barely managing to halt at the brink.
Lucian casually gave it a push from behind.
The creature tipped forward and fell, plunging straight into the filthy pool below.
The other Horned nearby were startled by the spectacle of their comrade suddenly taking flight.
From their perspective, they only saw him fall, they had no idea what had caused it.
A moment later, a thin stream of runes drifted upward from the corpse below and flowed into Lucian.
At that instant, Lucian felt a faint surge of power arise within him.
It slightly increased his strength, barely noticeable.
But at the same time, it lifted his spirits.
He quickly traced the source of that effect.
It came from the Crusade Insignia he had just obtained from the Fire Knight.
Why had it suddenly activated?
Lucian replayed his actions.
He hadn't done anything special…
Wait.
Was it because he had just killed a Horned?
Realization dawned.
So that was the meaning of "Crusade."
Though it was nothing more than naked slaughter, such acts required justification.
If soldiers were simply told they were committing massacre, no one could carry it out with peace of mind.
That great slaughter in the past had been given a name;
The Great Holy War.
Only by believing that their killing served a greater cause could warriors deceive themselves, preventing their minds from breaking under the weight of such atrocities.
Even a false reason could soothe the heart.
And this insignia embodied exactly that.
Kill enemies, bolster morale.
Compared to the slight increase in strength, that surge of spirit was the true effect.
Only then could warriors believe—
Believe that they were sacrificing themselves for a righteous cause.
Lucian clenched his fist.
The effect came quickly, and faded just as fast.
Now it had already disappeared.
He wondered how the enhancement scaled.
Was there some kind of bonus for consecutive kills?
If there was, it would make such "crusades" all the more effective.
His gaze shifted to a corpse near the edge.
Beside it lay several gleaming throwing knives wrapped in cloth.
Lucian casually picked one up and spun it between his fingers.
Honestly… the loot in this place was getting ridiculous.
So far, he hadn't found a single worthwhile item.
The only thing of value is the Crusade Insignia.
Letting out a sigh, Lucian stepped onto the broken remains of the structure and climbed up onto the eaves of a nearby building, heading inside.
There was actually a path leading upward in front of him, but he ignored it.
Earlier, while crossing the broken section, he had spotted a corpse in a corridor along the building's side.
At the time, a prompt had briefly flashed before his eyes, indicating something was there.
He hadn't paid attention then, but now it lingered in his mind.
Besides, wasn't it only natural for a Tarnished to take strange detours?
Lucian stepped into the corridor and approached the corpse.
The faint text that had flashed earlier appeared again, this time clearly.
[Whiteflesh Mushroom]
He picked one up and held it in front of his eyes.
'A mushroom… seriously?'
Lucian tossed it aside.
At this point, he had completely lost any expectation for the loot in the Tower Settlement.
Why was everything here garbage?
Turning to leave—
A glowing circle suddenly appeared beneath his feet.
Above his head, a small halo began to form, slowly descending.
But the casting was so sluggish that Lucian had already walked away by the time it nearly took shape.
He glanced into a room off to the side of the corridor.
Inside stood a Horned spellcaster holding a short staff.
It was the one who had cast the strange spell.
Lucian turned and walked toward it.
The Horned caster trembled and backed away step by step.
It waved its staff repeatedly, casting the same spell over and over.
But the sluggish incantation did nothing to slow Lucian's advance.
Suddenly, another Horned sprang out from behind a door, attacking from a blind spot.
Before it could bring down its dagger, Lucian grabbed it by the head and slammed it into the doorframe.
Its skull was crushed instantly.
The dagger clattered to the ground as the headless body slid limply down the frame.
The caster inside the room shrank back even further.
After casting one last spell at Lucian, it turned and fled.
It leapt out of the room and dropped heavily to the level below.
Never to rise again.
A throwing knife pierced the back of its head, bursting out through its eye.
The killing blow came from the knife Lucian had just picked up.
Lucian stepped to the edge and looked down at the fallen body.
This place was a second-floor dwelling near the earlier battlefield with the Horned Warrior.
Feeling the energy from the Crusade Insignia again, Lucian began to understand how it worked.
He had just killed two enemies in succession, yet the effect hadn't increased at all.
Only the duration seemed slightly extended.
So it appeared that each kill simply refreshed the effect for a short time.
No stacking bonus, then…
So much for kill streaks.
Still… maybe it was too early to draw conclusions.
Or perhaps he simply hadn't killed enough yet?
Letting the thought go, Lucian turned and left the corpses behind.
Exiting through the corridor ahead, he soon arrived at a broad avenue on the upper level of the tower settlement.
A wide road stretched horizontally before him, branching in different directions.
To the left stood a magnificent spiral tower, rising upward toward the highest level.
To the right, the road extended outward, connecting to a web of intersecting streets.
After a moment's thought, Lucian chose the left path.
That direction clearly led toward the summit of the tower, more in line with Leda and Freyja's objective, and more likely to house powerful enemies.
Besides, if he remembered the map correctly, another of Miquella's crosses should be somewhere nearby.
Not long after setting out, a downward side path appeared along the avenue. At its end was an elevator.
Seeing it, Lucian stepped on without hesitation, letting it carry him down.
When it stopped, he found himself behind the great gate at the entrance of the tower settlement, the one that had previously been impossible to open.
Now, however, the mechanism had already been activated, and the heavy doors stood open.
That alone confirmed it.
Leda and Freyja had come through here earlier.
Lucian activated the elevator again and returned to the upper level. From here, the tower leading to the summit was no longer far.
As he drew closer, clusters of small scorpions began appearing among the ruins.
The moment they noticed him, they swarmed.
Lucian released a pulse of gravity around himself.
In an instant, all the tiny creatures were crushed flat against the ground, bursting into pulp.
Before entering the tower, he decided to make a detour toward Miquella's cross.
Might as well see what part had been abandoned this time.
—
Following the route from memory, Lucian moved through the ruins beside the tower.
Before long, he slipped into a narrow doorway almost buried in debris.
The moment he stepped inside, a group of grotesque creatures rushed him at terrifying speed.
Seeing massive shadows flapping straight toward his face, Lucian was startled and immediately summoned a storm.
A violent gale erupted.
The creatures were slammed against the walls, crushed instantly.
Looking closer, he realized what they were.
Distorted, fly-like beings with human heads and twisted limbs.
Lucian let out a breath.
'That scared the hell out of me… just mutated humans, huh? I thought they were giant, nightmare-level cockroaches.'
Back in his previous life, oversized flying cockroaches were among the things he hated most.
He took a closer look at the grotesque bodies plastered against the walls.
Under the immense pressure of the storm, they had been flattened into thin smears, like flies swatted and stuck to a surface.
Lucian paused.
Actually… not "like." They were flies now.
The ragged cloths covering their heads had been blown away, leaving their forms fully exposed.
Their bodies were emaciated.
Their heads still retained the distinct features of the Horned, with barely any mutation in the face.
But from the shoulders down, everything changed.
The skin across their backs had almost entirely vanished, exposing pale shoulder blades and withered gray flesh.
Below that, the torso abruptly narrowed into an inverted triangle, leaving only a spine jutting outward.
Thin, withered extra limbs protruded along the sides of the spine, replacing what should have been ribs.
Beneath delicate, insect-like wings, their twisted legs were equally shriveled, and behind them extended a segmented, insect-like abdomen.
Wings.
Six limbs.
Aside from a few lingering human traits, they were almost indistinguishable from flies.
And within the room, there were other variations among the corpses.
Some were larger, with more massive skeletal frames.
But their insect abdomens had burst open, as though something had crawled out from within.
Every one of those bodies lay on the ground, hands clutching their faces, as if they had died in utter despair.
After observing for a while, even Lucian felt a bit nauseated.
These must be the strange "Horned" creatures that Sir Ansbach had mentioned before.
What kind of transformation could produce something like this?
And yet, within this room filled with corpses and despair…
A fragment of Miquella had been left behind.
Lucian reached out and touched the cross.
Words surfaced in his mind:
[I abandon here my left arm.]
Lucian stared at the cross, rubbing his chin.
"Last time it said the first piece he discarded…"
"And now it's the left arm? That specific?"
"How many pieces is he planning to split himself into?"
A strange thought suddenly occurred to him.
If Miquella kept dismantling himself piece by piece… would he eventually be left running around on just two legs?
Or worse, if only hands remained…
Would there be some kind of Miquella-exclusive fingercreeper version running around?
—
Leaving the room, Lucian came upon a small gravestone.
Before it lay a delicate, withered bouquet.
Despite its state, it carried a deep sense of mourning.
The bouquet itself held power, it could function as a talisman.
Lucian didn't take it.
He left it there, to continue its silent remembrance of the dead.
Shaking his head slightly, he returned to the tower.
The moment he stepped inside, several giant scorpions leapt down from the walls, attacking from all directions.
Lucian waved his hand.
Countless blades of wind manifested, slicing them cleanly in half.
Another scorpion clung to the ceiling above the entrance, attempting a sneak attack from behind.
Lucian noticed it effortlessly and crushed it with gravity without even turning around.
At this point, his mastery of gravity sorcery was approaching that of General Radahn.
Unfortunately, the Great Rune that once granted Radahn immense vitality and magic was now inactive, otherwise, Lucian might have tried something like a rock-based armor construct.
After dealing with the scorpions, Lucian found a weapon near a collapsed staircase.
[Bone Bow]
True to its name, it was crafted entirely from bone.
The material was thin and brittle, the gray surface marred with dark blotches, clearly unhealthy bone.
It didn't look like it could withstand much force.
More likely, it served as a catalyst for spirit-related arts rather than a conventional bow.
Lucian looked up, examining the interior of the tower.
A spiral staircase wound upward, but it had completely collapsed.
Rubble and broken stone blocked the way ahead.
The upper levels looked relatively intact, but the connecting sections nearby had all fallen away.
The gap in the broken staircase was enormous.
Lucian frowned slightly.
With their strength suppressed, could Leda and Freyja really have made it up there?
Well… no point overthinking it.
He'd go up and see for himself.
At worst, he could look for them afterward.
With that, Lucian used gravity to lift himself into the air, ascending toward the upper levels of the tower.