And then came the ghosts that chased after Francis. They didn"t have solid bodies but their knives felt colder than any other when they stabbed him. Francis was exhausted. For the first time since he became a hunter, mental and physical exhaustion reached their peak. He didn"t expect to see so many abnormalities in Yharnam.

Francis didn"t expect to find such a strong resistance inside the castle. Not only did the ghosts swarm him, but the docile servants also rushed towards him. If he had to deal with them individually, he would easily dispose of them. But they all worked together and synchronized their attacks.

Francis felt like the world conspired to end him. He had to use everything at his disposal to clear the main hall of the castle. When he was done, he sat down on the stairs to catch his breath. The crying sounds the ghosts emitted still rang in his ears. When he fought them, he could easily kill them with two strikes. As soon as his second strike connected, the ghosts would dissipate.

They were like a mirage with offensive capabilities. They weren"t difficult to deal with, but their large numbers made Francis go on full alert. He could take one or two hits from their knives, but the effect it had on him was akin to damaging his own soul. All his senses would blur and he wouldn"t be able to think clearly.

He shuddered at the thought of the few close encounters he had. He was fast and very decisive. If it weren"t for that, he would be fighting the mosquitos again, trying to reach the castle"s main hall. "One mistake and I could"ve died. I can"t allow myself to be caught in their traps," Francis muttered to himself as he inspected the weapon he got from the chest.

"A rapier with a gun muzzle attached to it. This thing really is useful." Francis was fascinated by the design of the weapon. On one hand, the rapier was an elegant weapon that allowed for fast and deadly attacks. If one added a gun on top, the weapon would have a much better offensive feature. Francis smiled as he strapped the weapon to his waist.

He"d tried it before on one of the servants. The shot alone staggered the opponent, and allowed Francis to stab it in the eye. Not only did the weapon have a sharp end, it also had sharp edges. Francis decided to use it along the Chikage during his adventure in the castle. If he managed to master the Reiterpallasch, he would be invincible dual wielding both.

The cries from the ghosts still rung in Francis" ears, they haunted his thoughts even after they disappeared. Francis got up and climbed the stairs. He had finally managed to get inside but he only had a few blood vials on him. He needed to be extremely careful. The servants were useful for extracting blood. But ghosts, as Francis would soon realize, were much more numerous.

As he climbed the stairs, the cries from the ghosts intensified. This put Francis on guard. "So it wasn"t just my mind still playing those wails to me, there are even more around here. What happened in here to cause such a slaughter?" Francis saw the ethereal figures in the distance and got ready to fight.

Francis noticed something about the women while he fought them earlier. The fight was too fast for him to even take his time to remember the details. But he remembered the feeling, the feeling that he"d seen something important. As he approached the nearest ghost to him, he made sure to be noticed.

He lured the lonely ghost towards him and walked downstairs. He needed a test subject. The ghosts had only two types of attack. They would either stab or swing their knives in all directions, trying to hit the enemy. They couldn"t float or teleport like Francis thought they would. Instead they just walked slowly towards their enemy.

They could become invisible though, and that was their deadliest ability. One could sneak up on him and backstab him any time. So he lured only one to study. He was sure that the main hall was completely cleared.

The woman that walked towards him wore an elegant dress. Francis didn"t pay too much attention to the woman"s garb. If he did, he would notice a striking similarity between her and the doll"s apparel. Instead, he looked at her hands which were tightly tied. The ghost also had their throats sliced open and blood still poured out of the opening.

"Vengeful spirits!" Francis thought about the legends his old nanny used to tell him when he was a child. "Vengeful spirits roam the land to exact revenge on the ones who wronged them. However, a ghost remembers the feeling, not the person they vowed to get revenge on. So they roam the place they died at, and kill anything that comes near them.

"But this is just a tale. I never expected to be real." Francis" heart was beating fast. He was excited to explore more of this castle. The tiredness from before evaporated. He thought of the countless secrets Yharnam still hid from him. With two swift strikes from his new weapon, the ghost dissipated.

"I don"t know what happened here, but I"m sure that I will eventually find out. This place is too big. I"m sure that someone had kept some records of what happened here. While I"m here, I might as well search every nook and cranny of the castle. Only when my thirst for knowledge is satiated, would I look for the queen."

Gavril left him a message in the letter he gave to the chapel dweller. If Francis wanted to find a way out, he needed to find the queen. She was the only one who could point him to the right direction. If he can have an audience with the queen, he would receive a gift. The message Gavril left him was very cryptic, but the gist of it was that the queen was his key to finding Paleblood.

Francis didn"t believe in those words, but the vision he had during blood ministration pulled him towards Cainhurst. He got to the second floor and cleared it from all the ghosts that got in his way. He found two servants as well which helped him fill in more blood vials.

Upstairs, Francis found his way towards a large room. It looked like the banquet hall. Different tables were set. There were golden and silverware piled on top of each other. There were even some statues scattered all around the place. As soon as Francis got to the middle of the room, the previously lit candles went off. Wails came from everywhere and countless ghosts appeared around Francis.

Francis cursed then unsheathed his Chikage. He was dual wielding, shooting and stabbing with his left, and swinging blindly with his right. He didn"t have time to think of how to escape from the trap. All he thought about was to create a circle around him that no ghost could approach. After a few minutes, he finally managed to get rid of them all.

"I was too sloppy, I can"t even hold two weapons and attack at the same time." Francis reprimanded himself for his carelessness and moved forward. The banquet hall didn"t have anything worthy of his attention. The place looked like it was raided but no treasures were taken outside. Francis wasn"t interested in gold or silver, he wanted knowledge.

The banquet hall led to an area outside. Snow covered the ground and the statues that were erected everywhere. Francis stopped and looked at the faces of the people in the sculptures. Most of them had n.o.ble features and wore elegant clothes. Some men even had crowns on top of their heads while they held long staffs.

One sculpture in particular caught Francis" attention. It looked withered and smaller than the others. It felt like the sculptor made sure to get this one to stand out. It even had devilish features. Its eyes were fixated on Francis. "The sculptor really outdid himself here. This thing looks alive." Francis"s eyes narrowed as he got closer to the statue to have a better look. "It really looks like a statue that could come to life at any moment."

It was at that moment that Francis knew: he f.u.c.ked up. The gargoyle jumped on Francis and placated him on the floor. It buried its teeth deep inside his neck and proceeded to drinking his blood.