Aflra wiggled her fingers, and the flame on the wall torch immediately elongated, illuminating the old woman in front of her. Jerem, already aware of the situation, remained relatively calm; Sir Colt was startled but still composed. However, the other guards panicked, their weapons clattering against each other, almost pointing at Aflra. Fortunately, Sir Colt intervened in time, but their fearful expressions were still hard to conceal.
Most of these guards came from farmer families, unaccustomed to the world of magic and superstition. Tales of witches and demons had terrified them since childhood. Now, witnessing Aflra casting magic, they were naturally frightened. Sir Colt frowned, but he didn't say anything, as their reaction was understandable. He was more concerned about how Aflra would respond, but fortunately, she remained very calm throughout, which relieved him.
"As I thought!" Aflra sighed, confirming her suspicions.
The Electric Claw had formidable power, enough to kill ordinary humans and most beasts, but the old woman was only severely injured and had fainted. What was even more astonishing was her rapid healing. By tomorrow morning, she might fully recover.
Aflra turned her head and asked, "Hey, how tall is she?"
The dungeon guard fearfully glanced at Aflra and then at Sir Colt. Sir Colt indifferently said, "Fully cooperate with this young lady."
The dungeon guard took a deep breath and replied, "When she was brought in, she was about up to my chest."
Aflra gestured for him to come closer. "You come in and take a look."
Reluctantly, the dungeon guard entered the cell, and Aflra lifted the old woman. The guard immediately cried out in shock: "How is that possible!"
It turned out that the old woman was actually a bit taller than the dungeon guard, with a much larger frame. Because her frame had enlarged, she appeared even more emaciated, so the abnormality was not noticed at first. Both Jerem and Sir Colt frowned simultaneously, clearly having also noticed the issue.
It was absolutely abnormal for such a frail old woman to be taller and larger than a robust dungeon guard.
Jerem asked, "Miss Aflra, what's going on?"
Aflra shook her head and said, "It's hard to explain, but she's beyond saving. Behead her and burn the body!"
Jerem took a breath, unwilling to accept it, and asked, "Is that all? Are there any other findings?"
Aflra nodded, "Yes. This creature has an extremely strong regenerative ability, and it's not someone behind the scenes orchestrating this, it's purely a plague, a special kind of plague. Sir Jerem, are those who go mad from this disease mostly from the lower classes, especially most commonly seen in the slums?"
Jerem thought for a moment and nodded, "It's true."
Sir Colt added, "Indeed, this old woman was a widow, her son passed away half a year ago."
Jerem was stunned, then asked, "No, there are others who have contracted this disease as well."
Aflra did not get angry, instead, she asked, "Are they the type who live in constant fear and are always complaining about their fate?"
Jerem was stunned again, muttering, "It's true, but why?"
"Darkness," Aflra replied succinctly.
Sir Colt asked in confusion, "Darkness? What does that mean?"
"There are three types of energies closely related to mystical powers in this world: light, darkness, and mana. Light comes from the sun, darkness from the earth, and mana from the moon."
To be precise, mana comes from the sun, altered after being reflected by the moon. But there was no need to mention that.
"Usually, light and mana fill every inch of space, very dense, while the power of darkness mostly exists in underground caves, forest swamps, and other dark and damp places, very sparse. But now it's different, the power of light and mana has not decreased, but the power of darkness is rising from the ground, starting to gradually expand."
Sir Colt curiously asked, "But what does this have to do with this old woman?"
Aflra explained, "Negative emotions are particularly attracted to darkness, and their madness is caused by it. Now the problem has started to become serious, this dark power combines with the human body, causing both the body and the darkness to mutate, and it is contagious. It can be said that people with gloomy and irritable personalities are prone to this, and being scratched or bitten by them is also easily infected."
Jerem hurriedly asked, "So what should we do?"
"Faith, giving them a faith can solve many problems. The monastery is a good choice. After being infected, there is still some time to salvage the situation, which requires one's own willpower as well as the help of loved ones." Aflra took a deep breath, "If there is no hope at all, then a silver weapon is a good choice. Silver attracts light very much and is just the nemesis of darkness. Of course, having those monks bless it would be even better. Similarly, direct sunlight, fire, and lightning are also very good choices, but it needs to be the natural fire, lightning, and sunlight, not formed by magic."
The reason is that natural fire and lightning inherently contain an extremely large amount of light energy, thus they can suppress darkness. While magical fire and lightning can also attack darkness, they do not have this suppressive effect.
By the way, mana tends to be miscellaneous, carrying a lot of information, so wizards using mana are prone to becoming madmen due to the vast amount of information. Light tends to pure positive emotions, and monks using light will also become increasingly pure, but this does not mean they are good people. For example, happiness can be the joy of helping others or the joy of killing, one is a good person, the other is a murderer, but as long as the positive emotions are pure enough, they can use the power of light.
In general, believing in light is better than believing in darkness, and positive emotions are always better than negative emotions.
Aflra's words plunged them into silence. After speaking, Aflra walked towards the dungeon exit, clearly not wanting to stay here any longer. Jerem looked at her back, feeling that she still had something left unsaid.