Long Neck

Noah felt like he was burning from inside his body. After drinking the whole cup, he endured not throwing up in front of Dione. Only when he collapsed on the floor did he try to vomit what he had just drunk. However, just like earlier, he could only cough out bile and saliva no matter how hard he tried.

He felt his body burned like he was on fire. He couldn't be burned, Mephisto said; he managed to prove that to himself when Mariz only jolted him with that high voltage attack. However, right now, he was feeling so helpless.

What did she make him drink?

Noah's eyes watered as he mumbled while whimpering. It had seemed that no matter how steely he was due to his new lifestyle as an assassin, he was still very intolerant to pain… and would cry like a child because of it.

It's just now that he realized that these entities weren't really kind to him. Belphegor kept on giving to make his expectations higher, and Dione did the same yet would punish him for his failures harder.

"I���m sorry… I didn't mean it…" Noah wriggled as he continued to violently shake in pain but had no actual energy to flip around.

"Don't take it to heart too much. You're young, and hellhounds are forged in the most torturous flames of Hell.

"Everyone is bound to be hurt." Dione only hummed as she looked past the table and at Noah's face. "When you wake up, don't forget to thank that white magus. Of course, not because she spared you."

…

Noah blacked out at that part of their conversation. He didn't really know how he was reacting in real life, but all he knew was that his body was so hot that it became itchy and very uncomfortable.

His wrists were cuffed to the rolling bed while his originally flawless skin was now riddled with deep scratches. Some were even patched up already to stop them from bleeding.

One could say he was feverish, but this fever was very different. Rebecca was so worried because his temperature had reached a hundred and fifteen, and so they had no choice but to rush him to the hospital. Even Luca and Theresa couldn't sit tight.

No matter what the doctors do, his body temperature wouldn't subside. They could only sedate Noah to keep him from scratching on his skin. Fluids were only dripped on him to avoid him from getting dehydrated.

"All of a sudden, he broke into this. Was it a side effect of using too much power?" Luca gritted and mumbled to himself while he watched Noah from outside the ICU.

He had long heard that witches could suffer if they overused their magic. For this to happen to Noah after fighting a level seven… Luca couldn't think of anything else.

"There's no concept of 'too much power' for a witch of Belphegor."

Luca twitched as he heard a voice that he knew could only come from Mephisto. However, he couldn't see anything even if he was gifted to see most apparitions. Then again, thinking about where the demon was shouldn't be Luca's main problem.

"Then, can you explain what is happening to him? You came out to bargain with my sister so Noah should be very important to you." Luca flicked his gaze at Noah, and it melted as Noah would twitch from time to time. "If this continues, he could die."

"…he won't." Mephisto took a long while to answer. Luca might not see him, but he was also sitting at the bench allotted for visitors overseeing the ICU ward.

To be honest, Mephisto was also worried about Noah. The only guarantee he had was that Belphegor wouldn't let Noah die. What use did a dead Noah have if Belphegor needed him to drag on living?

He couldn't tell that to Luca as well. If Luca forced Noah to get out of the deal, it might make things hard for Noah… who only had one Luca to take care of him.

"What are you doing to him, Mephistopheles?" Luca spat out, but not knowing where the demon was made Luca only clutch at his pants.

"This isn't me. Everything I gave Noah, I gave it to him painless." The demon frowned as he continued to watch the witch inside the ICU. "Noah didn't like getting hurt so he would avoid it. He would always ask for it not to be included. This… this isn't caused by me…"

"Then, what? What is causing this to happen? If not you, then who is it? Who's responsible?!" Luca roared before hanging his head down, gnashing his teeth in anger.

He actually lowered his head because a nurse entered the corridor just as he finished yelling. Clearly, there was no one else there; who could he be yelling at?

The nurse had the same thoughts, but she knew Luca was distraught. She only went to the ward and inside to check on the patient.

While she was inside, she didn't know why… but she felt like something was breathing on her neck everywhere she went. She could faintly hear a growling sound, but it was impossible to come from the patient or that an animal was in the room.

In the end, she ignored it… only noting it on her form. It could be actually coming from Noah and might be a symptom of a worse kind of sickness. She then reached out to clear Noah's sticky forehead, feeling the heat prick her finger.

After feeling helpless, she exited the room. She walked up to Luca who got to his feet when he noticed she was heading to him. "Hello, do you know anyone who could be related to Mr. Rocco?

"If his condition worsens, his body might give in soon. We need to be ready for the worst-case scenario. I really wish there's something more that we could do for him. We never had this kind of case before."

Luca then looked downcast. He didn't know anyone who could be related to Noah; he never heard of Noah talking about his family after all. It seemed that they weren't really that close yet.

Mephisto wanted to tell him about Eleanor, but he didn't think he should let her see him like this. She was already distraught when Montana grew missing and went 'bad'; seeing him in such a deathly condition might make things worse for her.

It's just that when the nurse tried to get a name from Luca, Mephisto realized that something was peeking at them from the corner. The door that the nurse didn't close was opened with a crack, and a seemingly innocent girl was taking a look in their direction.

Perhaps she didn't see Mephisto as the demon was hiding from everything that could actually detect things like them… that she proceeded to enter. Actually, it was just her head that entered.

It was a long-necked demon familiar. It only had an eye hidden under their fringe. These familiar looked closely like humans so even if someone saw them, the familiars would only blend in the background.

"I'm sorry. I will ask our boss if—" Luca's vision panned to the glass window to take a look at Noah before he would leave with the nurse.

However, he suddenly glared at that head looking into the ICU ward. He wasn't alarmed outright as it seemed to be too low-leveled that it couldn't even phase through the material.

Why was a long-neck looking into Noah's room?

Then, the head moved a little. It then murmured in awe, "It's him, it's him…"

Feeling Luca's gaze on its head, it suddenly turned to take a look at Luca. Its big black single eye made eye contact with Luca, and it realized that it was staring straight into the eyes of a witch hunter.

Not only was he a witch hunter, but he was also way above level two if the familiar judged his strength correctly.

Screech! The familiar hurriedly retrieved its head and even had the hands catch the crying head as it ran off. Luca wanted to give chase, but he was at a loss. Such a strange creature.

"Mr. Allsworth?" The nurse kept on looking around as if searching for whatever Luca was looking at.

"I'm sorry." Luca twitched and continued to speak with the nurse.

…

"Whew, that was so close! I was almost dead." Long Neck fixed its form and rested its head on its shoulders. After fixing the hair to cover its eyes, it now resembled a lost girl in a blue dress again.

However, it then looked around in case another hunter was around. "I should be fast and careful! Who knows what that hunter would do to him?"

Long Neck then spun on its heel to run in a direction, but it was frozen when Caliga snorted at its face. Long Neck then went jelly in fear. "Great One! Oh, Great One! Please spare me!"

Caliga then frowned at it. The dog's mouth opened, and a voice flowed out. "What do you want from my master? If you don't tell me the truth, I will eat you."

"Oh, no, no, please don't eat me! I'm nothing but a small piece of bone to you!" Long Neck dropped to the floor as if worshiping the hellhound.

It then lifted its head up a little. "My old mistress… I saw him with my old mistress. When I saw him get sent here, I just wanted to take a look…"

"Your old mistress? Don't bother. I'm not letting you tell her."

"No need, no need." Long Neck hung its head down. "Eleanor couldn't see me anymore. I can't tell her even if I tried…"