Less than a day after Alaric Thomas, Beth, and Rebecca were taken back to town, the authorities had already closed off the cave and controlled the story.
Publicly, the incident was described as a violent extremist attack and a disastrous cave expedition, with no mention of the Crawlers or anything supernatural.
Alaric wasn’t surprised; after everything he had learned, hiding the truth seemed to be standard practice whenever possible.
During that time, Alaric also learned more about the Vatican from a local priest who became remarkably talkative once money entered the conversation.
According to him, not every priest or nun was completely devoted to the Church, and there were plenty of corrupt or fallen members hidden behind respectable appearances.
The only real difference was whether they kept their behavior private or became reckless enough to expose themselves.
The priest also explained that confirmed supernatural incidents were normally kept away from the public unless hiding them became impossible.
If the Church verified something demonic or spiritually dangerous, it could send priests, specialists, or experienced exorcists to investigate and deal with it.
Many exorcists weren’t permanent Vatican personnel but outsiders called in when necessary.
Learning that much was already a pleasant surprise for Alaric.
After everything was settled, he returned to Round Clam with Beth.
The Florida town remained as lively and ordinary as ever, almost making the nightmare beneath the Appalachian Mountains feel like something that had happened in another world.
Chief Peter still ran the place efficiently enough that serious crimes were rare, at least on the surface.
What happened behind closed doors was another matter.
The townspeople had plenty of complaints about Peter’s close friends, especially Sheriff Old Joe and another notorious local troublemaker.
Old Joe spent most of his time in a wheelchair but somehow remained deeply involved in police business, while the other man had such a disastrous personal reputation that almost everyone in town had a story about him.
Peter’s own children weren’t exactly known for academic brilliance either.
Most people saw these things as evidence that Round Clam was ridiculous.
Alaric saw advantages.
For all its strange residents and questionable law enforcement, the town gave him a sense of security he hadn’t found anywhere else.
After West Virginia and the cave expedition, returning somewhere familiar was enough to make him relax.
The moment he entered his villa, he dropped onto the couch and summoned the Four of Diamonds.
The expedition was finally over.
Now he could properly examine his newest Containment Target.
[Containment Target: Evil-Spirit Incarnation Crawler] [Extractable Abilities: Soul Devour | Bloodlust | Evil-Spirit Possession | Constitution Enhancement | Bone-Spur Mutation] Alaric studied each option carefully.
Soul Devour was exactly what the name suggested—the ability to consume a person’s soul, something commonly associated with demons and malicious spirits.
He had never actually seen the Evil-Spirit Incarnation use it underground, which probably meant certain conditions had to be met first.
For Alaric, Soul Devour wasn’t particularly appealing.
Bone-Spur Mutation was even easier to reject.
He had personally watched sharp bones tear through the creature’s skin when it entered Stage Two, and while the transformation looked intimidating, Alaric had no desire to repeatedly rip open his own body just to look more frightening.
Even if Fusion could reduce the consequences, it wasn’t an ability he wanted permanently attached to himself.
Bloodlust was stronger than the version carried by the ordinary Crawlers.
The recovery benefits were better, but the craving for flesh was also far more severe.
Alaric wasn’t interested in gaining an ability that might eventually make raw human meat smell appetizing.
Evil-Spirit Possession sounded even more questionable.
He could already fuse directly with the Evil-Spirit Incarnation whenever he wanted, so voluntarily inviting another spirit into his body seemed unnecessary.
An evil spirit wasn’t exactly the kind of roommate anyone should want living inside them.
If it decided it liked Alaric’s body too much and refused to leave, the situation could become troublesome very quickly.
The creature’s Stage Two transformation had probably resulted from Evil-Spirit Possession combining with Bone-Spur Mutation.
Unlike an ordinary possession, however, the evil spirit and Crawler appeared to have become one entity over time.
That explained why the transformation had been so stable and powerful.
For a normal person, activating Evil-Spirit Possession might instead attract something nearby.
That sounded like the beginning of another horror movie.
Constitution Enhancement was clearly the best option.
Unlike his previous Strength Enhancement, Enhanced Vision, Auditory Enhancement, and Limb Enhancement traits, Constitution Enhancement promised a more balanced improvement across the entire body.
Considering how powerful the Evil-Spirit Incarnation had been, the potential increase should also be much greater than anything extracted from the cannibal mutants.
Alaric made his decision.
“Extract.” The Ghost Card reacted immediately without any ritual or complicated process.
Several abilities flashed across its surface before the result finally stopped.
Alaric stared at the line in front of him.
[Extracted Ability: Evil-Spirit Possession] “…Of course.” The Constitution Enhancement he wanted hadn’t appeared.
Instead, he had drawn the ability he considered one of the most questionable.
Still, Alaric couldn’t complain too much.
There had been five possible abilities, so expecting the exact one he wanted would have been unrealistic.
At least Evil-Spirit Possession wasn’t automatically active.
After examining the information more carefully, Alaric discovered that it was an active ability rather than a passive trait.
That immediately made it far safer because nothing would happen unless he deliberately activated it.
He could simply leave it unused until a situation appeared where the ability might actually help.
That was acceptable.
In a world filled with demons, curses, ghosts, and possessions, even a dangerous ability could eventually have an unexpected use.
Alaric was more curious about what would happen if he activated Evil-Spirit Possession while already fused with the Evil-Spirit Incarnation Crawler.
The result might strengthen Stage Two even further.
He wasn’t going to test that inside his own house.
Not yet.
With the biggest issue finally resolved, Alaric dismissed the Ghost Card and stretched out on the couch.
He hadn’t slept properly during the cave expedition, and even after returning to civilization, he had managed only a few hours of rest.
His eyelids were already becoming heavy.
He had barely started drifting off when the doorbell rang.
Alaric ignored it.
The bell rang again.
Then again.
Whoever was outside apparently had no intention of leaving.
Alaric opened his eyes with growing irritation.
After surviving cannibal mutants, underground monsters, and an evil-spirit incarnation, being prevented from taking a nap somehow felt especially offensive.
He finally pushed himself up and walked toward the front door.
“Who the hell is it?” Alaric opened the door.
His irritation weakened immediately.
Jennifer Check stood outside.
Her skin carried the same carefully maintained tan she usually wore, and it was obvious she had dressed up before coming over.
Jennifer wore a white shirt tied loosely around her waist with denim shorts, giving her the casual but deliberately attractive appearance she was very good at creating.
Alaric had to admit that Jennifer’s appearance made it difficult to stay angry.
That didn’t mean he was happy about losing his nap.
“What do you want?” Jennifer looked offended.
“Seriously?
Didn’t I tell you I was going to pursue you?” She folded her arms and added, “You ignore my calls, hang up on me, disappear on some cave trip, and then come home without even telling me.
You’re hurting my feelings.” Alaric stared at her.
Jennifer was putting on a pitiful expression despite clearly enjoying herself.
She really was dramatic.
“I was sleeping,” Alaric said.
“You woke me up.” Jennifer’s expression froze for a moment.
If she had shown up at almost any other guy’s house dressed like this, she was confident the door would already be wide open and the guy would be trying desperately to impress her.
Alaric, meanwhile, looked like he would happily close the door and return to the couch.
Jennifer glanced down at herself and then back at him.
“Am I seriously losing to a nap?” “Right now?
Maybe.” She looked genuinely offended.
Then Jennifer stepped closer.
“Since you’re awake now, aren’t you going to invite me inside?” Alaric hesitated.
Before the cave expedition, he probably wouldn’t have let Jennifer anywhere near his house.
He knew exactly what eventually happened in Jennifer’s Body, and getting too close to someone destined for demonic possession without a supernatural defense would have been reckless.
Things were different now.
The Four of Diamonds contained the Evil-Spirit Incarnation Crawler.
Alaric had also obtained Evil-Spirit Possession and several other enhancements.
Compared with the demon that would eventually possess Jennifer, his current subordinate might not be weaker at all.
As for their true forms, Alaric couldn’t be certain.
That was exactly why he needed information.
He stepped aside.
“Fine.
Come in.” Jennifer smiled immediately and walked past him.
Alaric closed the door behind her, then added, “But there’s one condition.” Jennifer turned around.
“What?” “You need to tell me if anything strange has happened to you recently.” Her smile became puzzled.
Alaric looked at her carefully.
If Jennifer’s fate from the movie was already beginning, he wanted to know before a demon showed up at his front door.
“Anything at all.” Jennifer raised an eyebrow but walked farther into the villa.
“Okay.
Let’s talk inside.” …