"Watch out, wraiths!"
Silas called out a warning. His eyes could see spirit bodies, but the Captain and Leonard couldn't see them before activating their spirit vision.
A cold sensation crept up from Leonard's ankle, his lower body instantly feeling as if submerged in ice water, cold and stiff.
On the other side, the curtain by the window suddenly came alive, wrapping around Dunn and tightly constricting his mouth and nose, seemingly trying to suffocate him.
"Bang!"
Silas fired at the lunging wraith. The demon-hunting bullet struck the transparent figure, immediately eliminating it.
Just as he was about to help his teammates in distress, he suddenly heard whispering coming from the left, the sound gradually growing louder.
The source is on that witch, which means she's coming toward me!
In this critical moment, Silas forcefully tapped his chest, activating the Clockwork Clown. His movements suddenly accelerated, joints and muscles working in perfect coordination.
His body seemed pulled by invisible strings as he violently dodged to the right.
"Swish!"
A blade edge fiercely thrust out from empty air, piercing exactly where he'd been standing.
"Hmm?"
A woman's puzzled voice came from the air, then the blade retracted and disappeared.
The whispering also diminished, as if after missing her strike, the opponent didn't linger but immediately moved toward the doorway.
She's running away!
The heart is escaping!
"Bang bang bang!"
Silas raised his gun and fired, continuously pulling the trigger toward the doorway, gambling on luck to see if he could hit her even once.
Before the door, ripples suddenly spread through empty air. Trissy appeared, clutching her grazed arm.
She shot Silas a resentful glare, didn't pause, and instead accelerated outward.
Silas looked back at his teammates, discovering Dunn had already freed himself from the curtain's restraint and was going to rescue Leonard.
He felt relieved and, while the Clown's time still lasted, rushed out following Trissy's footsteps.
If I can just stall Trissy for a moment, when the Captain and Leonard catch up, they can keep her here!
Thinking this, Silas charged forward, crossing the front hall in a few strides and bursting through the door.
Just as he was about to traverse the dilapidated garden, he saw Trissy ahead suddenly make a gesture.
"Whoosh!"
The withered vines originally clinging to the wall immediately came alive, forming a large net that lunged toward Silas.
Mid-charge, Silas violently twisted his body. His joints and muscles displayed astonishing coordination, actually managing to dodge the net woven from vines.
But just as he exerted full effort to evade, and his body couldn't adjust in time, something from the vines suddenly shot toward him!
In this critical moment, he could only raise his hand to protect his face.
"Thud!"
A stinging sensation came from the back of his hand. Silas looked closely and saw it was a delicate, alluring rose.
The thorns on its stem were deeply embedded in the skin of his hand, the wound seeping a few drops of blood.
What the hell!
Silas cursed inwardly and plucked off the rose.
When he looked up again, his opponent had already taken advantage of the moment to run to the edge of his vision, rounding a building and disappearing from sight.
Damn it!
Silas cursed again. When he looked down, he discovered that the rose had vanished.
Wait, something's not right. That flower absorbed my blood...
Silas stared at the wound, a sense of crisis welling up inside him.
He quickly drew his ritual dagger, rushed back into the first-floor hall, and collided with Leonard and Dunn, who were coming out.
"Where is she?"
Leonard asked.
"She ran that way!"
Silas pointed, then let his two teammates chase after her while he sat down on the floor with his dagger.
He spread open his injured left hand, pressed it against the floor, used the dagger to reopen the wound, and dipped his fingers in the blood to draw a simple magic circle on the floor.
The circle's outer ring enclosed his left hand and part of his wrist...
Meanwhile, by the Tussock River.
Trissy ran quickly with a dark expression on her pretty face, cradling the flower that had absorbed Silas's blood and murmuring softly.
"Boom!"
Black, illusory flames surged from her palm, instantly enveloping the flower and burning it completely.
On Silas's side, he'd just finished drawing the circle when flames suddenly burst from his wound, rapidly spreading along his body.
But because of the circle, the flames were blocked when they reached his wrist, only scorching the flesh within the circular area.
"Shit!"
Silas's left hand burned fiercely, skin sizzling.
The air immediately filled with the strange mixture of burnt and cooked meat smells. The searing pain tormented Silas, and he cursed loudly from the agony.
You dare curse me?
Watch me curse you back!
Silas was truly ruthless now. His right hand raised the silver dagger high, and borrowing the residual resentment in the hall, he loudly chanted the True Creator's honorific name in Hermes:
"The Lord who created everything..."
Fortunately, Leonard and Dunn had both gone in pursuit.
Otherwise, he really couldn't so openly borrow the True Creator's power.
The curse's resentment gathered on Silas's dagger. The originally silver blade quickly turned an ominous pitch black.
Then, aimed at his still-burning left hand, he viciously stabbed down!
By the Tussock River, Trissy looked at the flower that kept burning but never turned to ash, confusion appearing on her face.
Just as she prepared to lean in for a closer look, an invisible force suddenly shot out from the flames, stabbing toward her head!
Trissy's hair stood on end. The Assassin's extreme agility saved her life.
She barely tilted her head aside. The curse's pierce carved past her collarbone and shoulder, shooting into the void.
"Hiss hiss!"
A terrible, deep gash appeared on her delicate skin, the pale white collarbone clearly visible.
Strong corrosive properties manifested at the wound, which slowly extended downward!
"Ah!"
Trissy couldn't help but scream; the sound filled with both pain and terror.
But before she could take remedial measures, she heard "thump thump thump" footsteps in the distance. It was Dunn and Leonard pursuing her!
Seeing this, Trissy could only clutch her festering wound, turn, and leap into the Tussock River.
By the time Dunn and Leonard arrived, her figure was nowhere to be seen on the river's surface.
"Captain, we didn't catch her."
Leonard stood by the riverbank and said after searching around.
"Mm, let's go back."
Dunn shook his head, his eyes deep, seemingly pondering something.
Sleepless Ones had strong night vision.
They'd both seen the woman seemingly suffer an inexplicable attack before jumping into the Tussock River.
They just didn't know where that attack came from.
"What a shame. Didn't kill her."
Silas felt the feedback from the curse, knowing he hadn't completely hit his mark.
Seeing the flames on his hand disappear and the connection between them severed, he had no way to continue cursing and began cleaning up the scene.
During this time, his charred left hand rapidly recovered. By the time Dunn returned, it was completely restored, showing no sign of problems.