CAT WARLOCK: This Darklord Feasts Upon Horror-Chapter 142: The Rat King

"Should you go this time or I’ll go?" Selina said.

Mater opened his mouth and spat out the Abyssal Helmet. "You go. But don’t use the helmet’s abilities. Use the ability that I taught you."

"Why?"

"The helmet could enhance your Psychic Abilities. The experience will help you understand more of the Chaos Skills and develop them." The black cat meowed softly.

"I see. Let’s try it then."

Selina picked up the Abyssal Helmet and put it on once again. Her entire body was engulfed in dark smoke. The armor from before reappeared. A mental connection was established between Selina and the spirit inside the helmet.

Selina opened her eyes. They had gone purple once more. She didn’t summon the Nether Sword and instead walked toward the door of the abandoned house.

This abandoned house was rather large compared to the average building. It wasn’t as big as Levy’s mansion but it could be described as a mini villa.

Selina kicked the front door down and walked inside. Sunlight beamed through the door frame and into the dark lobby. The lobby was wide and had a high ceiling. Looking directly at the door were twin stairs that led to the second floor. The twin stairs split up at the end, branching to either side.

Selina looked around, taking in the layout of the house. Then she raised her hands. Instead of dark red chaos, Nether appeared on her palm. She twisted her hand slightly, bending the matter of the house and pulling the stairs closer to her without even moving.

That was Chaos Control, the ability to bend physical matter to your will. It couldn’t change matter permanently and the stairs would return to its original location after a while.

"I am impressed. Even me couldn’t do such things without expending a lot of Chaos." The black cat climbed on the dark knight’s shoulder.

Selina walked on the stairs and went up to the second floor. After she and Mater had gone for a few minutes, the stairs returned to their original location. The lobby returned to normal instead of its twisted state.

Selina went to the right wing of the second floor first. There were a few doors here in the hallway. She took them one by one.

In the first door, there was a small gallery with a few old paintings of the family that used to live here. These paintings should have no value. Otherwise looters would have snatched them already. Selina took a good look around the gallery.

She didn’t find anything so she moved on.

The second door was an empty vast room with red carpet. Mater didn’t really understand what this room was for. Probably for gatherings or something similar in the past. They didn’t find anything in this room either.

In the last door, when Selina and Mater just walked inside. A shadow rushed past the hallway.

Selina immediately turned back to the hallway but there was no one.

"This wraith seems to like playing hide and seek, huh?" Selina calmly said.

She ignored the shadow and continued checking the last room. The wraith could run around in the house but they would be tethered to a location. No matter where they would go, as long as Selina and Mater could find its haunting location, it would be theirs.

The last room in the right wing was a master bedroom. From a simple glance, Mater could tell that it was once very luxurious and comforting. But now, there were only remnants of the past left. The curtains hanging around the bed were tattered and in pieces.

The mattress got an ungodly amount of fungus on it, making the red mattress completely white except for a few spots.

The black cat covered his snout, "It smells like something died in here."

"Maybe something did." Selina said calmly.

She walked inside and grabbed the bed. With the strength of the Abyssal Helmet, she flipped it over. Underneath the bed was a pile of rat corpses. Their tails entangled to one another and formed some sort of rings in the middle.

"What is this ritual?" Selina squatted down and took a closer look.

"Very sharp. It is a type of ritual." Mater meowed softly beside her ears. "It’s a Rat King."

"What is a Rat King?" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"A unique type of omen. Omen is a catalyst Chaos Users used to ensure the birth of a phenomenon. For a Rat King, it is usually used to bring forward an undead." Mater explained.

"An undead? Like a wraith?" Selina said.

"No. An undead is different from a wraith. A wraith is a specter, being originated from the soul of the dead. An undead leans more toward a physical corpse. Aurora is a fusion between an undead and a specter."

The black cat jumped down from Selina’s shoulder. It opened its mouth and released a thick cloud of red smoke.

The cloud enveloped the rat king. Tiny red lightning bolts shot out from the corpses of the rat and formed symbols in the air.

It was a red skull with a unique type of Psycho Force that Mater was very familiar with.

"The Red Keepers." Mater meowed.

"They’re the one behind this?" Selina said.

The black cat nodded, "They wanted to create a skeleton. We saw them controlling zombies and mummies before. It is natural that they want to create skeletons also. Come. Let’s check the rest of the rooms."

The Rat King had served its purpose already. It was nothing but a bunch of entangled rat corpses at the moment.

Selina and Mater went to the left wing of the second floor.

There were also three distinct rooms on this side.

The first room was a library and a reading room. Many books were still on the shelves. Most of them rotted beyond recognizable. The lonely chair in the room and the table next to were probably where the owner of this place used to live.

Except for a few old books, there wasn’t anything else.

In the second room, Selina and Mater found another Rat King. This room was also another empty room with no furniture except the entangled rats in the middle.

Mater used his Chaos to draw out any clues left in the rat corpses. The same ritual and the same type of energy.

The last room was also a master bedroom. This room was simpler and less luxurious than the previous one. It probably belonged to a man while the other one belonged to a woman.

They searched the room and found nothing as well.

"How much do you wanna bet that whatever those kids saw is in the basement?" The black cat meowed.

"It’s always in the basement." Selina calmly said.

They went on the hunt many times. If there was a wraith, it would usually be in the most secluded and dark area of the house. Cellars and basements were the most common ones.

The two returned to the twin stairs to get down on the first floor. They saw a girl in a dress red standing in the middle of the lobby looking straight at them.