The castle welcomed him with a mysterious sight. The horses that pulled the carriage were walking dead. What Francis didn"t expect to find however was the dead horses completely covered with snow. "How are they covered in snow? I just arrived! It"s not even snowing at the moment…"

Francis" mind was with Karla as he traveled to Cainhurst. Her death pained him too much for him to forget about it easily. He hoped he could get his master to administer blood to her and make her a hunter as well. After all, her skills were far superior to his. If she ever got the blood ministration, she would be a fearsome hunter.

But his master revealed himself to be a villain. Not only did he lie about not being able to access the dream, but he also killed him and his party in cold blood. Karla was the only one to whom death was permanent, losing her pained Francis. She was the reason he made it this far in Yharnam. He wanted to pay her back somehow.

As he traveled to the castle, he vowed to find a way to exact his revenge upon Gavril. After all, he still didn"t know what made a hunter lose his connection to the dream. He hoped that Cainhurst would have something about this in its expansive library.

Francis climbed the steps towards the castle"s gate. As soon as he approached the gate, a loud creaking sound was heard. The gate elevated itself as if by magic, revealing Cainhurst in all its majesty.

Snow covered the whole castle yard. Francis felt like he was in some fairy land. The castle extended as far as the eye could see. The architecture was somewhat close to Yharnam"s. Stone walls were erected as high as a five storeys building. Towers with conical roofs pierced the sky far in the distance. Cainhurst castle was simply the most magnificent piece of architecture Francis had ever laid eyes upon.

Everything about this place spelled majesty despite it looking deserted. Francis hadn"t heard about the ma.s.sacre that took place in the castle. Gavril didn"t deem him worthy of the knowledge. He didn"t tell Surgit about his destination nor did the latter ask about it. If he had known, he would"ve at least been ready for what was coming for him next.

Francis saw a dream lantern next to the castle"s entrance. He activated it using his insight then walked through the yard, towards the castle"s main entrance. There were marble fountains that had long been inactive in the yard. Thanks to the snowfall, the marble still shone. Francis was captivated by all the marble statues that decorated the way towards the main entrance.

They were completely different from the ones he had seen in Yharnam. In here, statues depicted n.o.ble men and women. Extra care had been given to the shapes of women"s bodies, especially the nude ones. In Francis" mind, this only showed how aristocratic the royal family was. Hiring top notch sculptors to make such fine sculptures showed how sophisticated and educated the royal family was.

"I wonder what made this place so deserted. There isn"t a single living soul around here," Francis thought as he walked around, exploring the yard. Once he finished his thought, Francis heard some hurried footsteps in the distance. He immediately jumped back and scanned the area. He p.r.i.c.ked his ears to pinpoint the exact location of the sound. "To the right!" he turned and saw a hideous creature walk towards him on all fours.

Imagine if a mosquito could grow to the size of a cow. Now imagine if that mosquito had a face similar to those of humans with a long red tongue protruding from its mouth. Female mosquitos absorb blood from humans and store it in a small bag under their bellies. The creature in front of Francis fits the description of said mosquito. It just couldn"t fly so it walked on all fours towards Francis.

Francis was more startled at the sight than terrified. He expected to see werewolves, mythical creatures that no one had ever seen. At least lycanthropes were described in all books detailing mythical monsters, seeing one would surprise a person and terrify them. However looking at a giant mosquito running on all fours to hunt was a different matter. Surprise will be mixed with fear while your heart would beat faster than you"d ever expect it to.

It took Francis a moment to snap out of it and jump back, away from the monstrosity that aimed to devour him. The mosquito was too fast though. It caught up to him in mere seconds. Its attacks were even weirder. It used its tongue as a whip and attacked Francis who was still surprised at what he was looking at.

The sharp tongue hit him on the chest. A big wound opened diagonally on Francis, from shoulder to hip. Pain shot through his body and Francis winced as he tried to get away from the tongue"s range. "What the h.e.l.l is this thing? What a way to be welcomed to Cainhurst…"

The beast kept coming at Francis while the poor old man kept on dodging. The mosquito didn"t even give him time to find an opening. Its attacks were fierce, relentless and deadly. Francis jumped back once more and immediately coated his Chikage with his own blood. The creature"s eyes glowed red at the sight of his blood.

"You want some this, you hideous creature?" Francis shouted at the mosquito as if he needed to provoke it some more. The mosquito whipped its sharp tongue again at Francis. The old man blindly swung his katana horizontally. He couldn"t see the tongue as it whipped towards him. All that was left for him to do was to learn the attack"s timing by feeling.

The moment his katana cut the tongue, the mosquito let out a scream that made Francis" hair stand on end. No mosquito was supposed to make this noise. Francis immediately rushed towards the beast and managed to thrust his katana deep inside the mosquito"s left eye. Francis still felt strange about fighting this monstrosity. It just looked too disgusting to be approached in the first place, let alone attack and kill it.

He wished he could just stomp on it and hear it pop as blood splattered on the ground. But he wasn"t fighting a normal insect. The one he was fighting was much bigger and much more disgusting. As soon as his katana pierced the mosquito"s eye, the latter let out yet another screech. Francis was forced to jump back and cover his ears. It felt like a mosquito humming in ones ears but at a supersonic frequency.

"d.a.m.n it, its skull is harder than steel. And I can cut steel with this weapon…" After Francis upgraded his bloodtinge anything he hit with his katana split in half, especially if it was coated with his blood. However, the mosquito"s skull was too hard for his current Bloodtinge rank to cut through. The mosquito jumped high above Francis and landed behind him.

Francis cursed as the tongue whipped his back and sent him rolling down the floor. The mosquito jumped again and landed on top of Francis. Its tongue was cut but that didn"t stop it from trying to suck Francis dry. Its tongue, which was flexible mere moments ago, became hard and pointed towards Francis" head. The old man, desperate to bring this abomination down, swung his katana towards the bloated belly. Blood exploded out of the sac and the beast was blown to smithereens.

Francis was showered with blood. His heart pounded against his chest. As he tried to calm himself down, Francis sat on the fountain, breathless. "Welcome to Cainhurst I guess…"