Chapter 295: Deathbed Visions

Chapter 295 – Dying Hallucination
A strong herbal aroma filled the room.

No, not pervading, but instantly appearing in perception – as if that strong scent had actually filled the entire space at an unknown time, only that this fact had always been shielded from the dimension of reality, and it was only at this moment, with the fall of the old watchman’s voice, that this ubiquitous scent violently revealed itself to the unwelcome guest in front of its own presence!
The two black-clothed men reacted almost instantly, the shorter man violently raised his hand and pointed at the old caretaker who was standing beside the fireplace, and let out a low, hoarse, strange shout from his throat as if two voices had been iterated together, while the other man swiftly fumbled for a few pieces of paper with a smudgy texture from his pocket and violently threw them into mid-air.

The low and hoarse strange shout turned into a vague ripple that was vaguely visible to the naked eye, as if the shockwave of an explosion covered the space in all directions of the old watchman, and the pieces of paper that were thrown into the air split into countless silhouettes of debris, and instantly became countless black poisonous insects, snakes and scorpions, emitting a sickening rustle while surging towards the direction of the fireplace.

The old caretaker hunched over and silently watched these sinister attacks coming straight at him without the slightest intention of avoiding them.

The shockwave tore apart the shelves next to the fireplace, smashing all the bottles and cans in a loud noise, and also smashed the burning fireplace, instantly extinguishing the flames in the hearth that were smoldering with the strong smell of medicinal herbs, while the black press of poisonous insects, snakes and scorpions crawled onto the old man’s torso, crazily gnawing at the latter’s limbs and flesh.

The old caretaker was devoured by these attacks almost instantly, and his hunched, aged body fell to the ground, turning into a pile of wretchedly dirty blood and pieces of clothing.

All of this happened in only a few seconds.

It wasn’t until the caretaker collapsed to the ground and the ashes from the lingering heat in the hearth were scattered all over the place that the two black-clothed men glanced at each other with nervousness.

Both of them wore the same confusion on their faces.

“This is settled?” The tall and strong man looked incredulously at the wreckage on the ground and said to his companion in confusion, “These cemetery guards …… that are bizarre and dangerous in the legends turned out to be so easy to deal with? Or is this old man the weakest of the guards?”

The short man, however, did not dare to relax in the slightest, he still stared at the position where the old guard stood before, and at the same time scanned the hut with the rest of his eyes quickly, his brows wrinkled a little, “Strange …… Have you smelled… …that the flavor of the herbs is getting stronger and stronger instead? It seems like someone is lighting incense beside it …… not right! Quickly leave!”

The short man seemed to suddenly understand something, and instantly rushed towards the wooden door of the hut not far away, however, when he reached out and violently pushed that door, he found that it was actually as solid as a wall, and the seemingly fragile wooden boards actually came from the touch of steel pouring and moving.

An old and gloomy voice sounded in the hut, “One of the dying hallucinations, think you are trapped in a room, and the passageway to leave the room is right in front of you, try to go through the passageway, but can’t find the right way to open the door.”

The sudden sound startled the two black-clad men, and at the same time intensified their already vaguely rising sense of fear, which tended to translate into impotent rage-the diminutive man gave up trying to push the door open, turned to the air, and yelled, “I don’t care where you’re hiding!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, layers of illusory ripples appeared around him, in which an ugly bird-like monster could be seen standing on his shoulder, stretching its neck and screaming – a “Tattletale” demon.

The scream of the demon overlapped with the short man’s roar, and a translucent shockwave instantly swept across the room!

The loud noise of furniture ripping and furnishings falling to the ground was instantaneous, and the already small caretaker’s hut was in shambles in the blink of an eye, with almost everything smashed to pieces in the invisible shockwave, except for the other man in black, who remained intact around him – a tall, strong man in black who held up a barrier, blocking the aftermath of the shockwave while shielding himself from it. While blocking the aftermath of the shockwave, he quickly scanned the surrounding area, trying to find the caretaker who was hiding from the distortion of the air.

He had already guessed the watchman’s trick – it was an illusion.

A hallucination caused by the incineration of some powerful hallucinogen.

The caretaker had used both his transcendent power and the herb to conceal himself and play God in this hut, but since his voice was still here, it meant that he was just hiding on the side as well, and as long as he swept the entire house across, that old thing would always slip through the cracks.

However, he found nothing, the shockwave tore through the room and stirred up the air here, but it didn’t force out the figure of the caretaker.

“Another dying hallucination, where fear and anger are magnified, creating a strong sense of powerlessness, and occasionally feeling as if you are omnipotent, or even about to succeed in reversing life and death – but this illusion tends to dissipate after an extremely brief moment, after which it descends into emptiness and even greater fears ……”

The old voice echoed in the hut, and for some reason, the two black-clothed men suddenly felt as if the voice had become fluttering, suddenly far away and suddenly near, like light and shadows through the curtains.

“Devil’s breath – I now know who you are, so you are two Annihilationists. Your disguise was good, concealing yourselves from my eyes, but not from my intuition,” the old caretaker continued, “Why have you appeared here? What do you want?”

“Holy Lord grant us courage and a pure essence!” The diminutive man exclaimed, forcing himself to rely on his faith in the Holy Lord of the Profound to suppress the fear in his heart, and drifting off into some sort of sacrificial frenzy, “Smug as you stupid earthly fakes are! You can only gloat so much!”

After saying this, the cultist then suddenly fished out a pitch-black dagger from his pocket, and then without hesitation, stabbed the dagger into his own heart!

“Holy Lord grant me the power to transcend life and death!”

Knowing that it was hopeless, and that it was difficult to fight against the cemetery guards with his own strength, the cultist chose to sacrifice his heart to the Profound Holy Lord, in order to fully unleash the power he had gained from the “Symbiotic Contract”, and to make a last-ditch effort.

However, the expected death did not come.

He did not feel the sharp pain that should have been felt when the dagger pierced his body.

Didn’t even feel his heart. This Annihilationist raised his head in dismay and looked at his companion who was not far away, but he only saw that the figure had collapsed on the ground at some point, a huge hole opened up in his back, and the blood had long since drained away.

In the last few seconds, when his vision was rapidly darkening and his mind was becoming chaotic and disoriented, he recognized the gruesome wound caused by the close-range blast from the double-barreled shotgun – his companion was already dead, shot in the back by the old guard the moment he stepped into the caretaker’s hut.

And himself?
The diminutive Annihilationist lowered his head and saw that he was in fact sitting in a chair in the center of the room.

A red-hot poker was stuck menacingly between his chest and abdomen, and smoke was still curling from where the poker had made contact with the flesh and blood.

He recalled that he had been killed by a fire poker after losing a brief but intense struggle – just ten seconds ago.

“So that’s why …… people can’t …… die twice ……”

The cultist grunted, his head lolled, and he was completely cut off.

“The dying visions are over, may your souls be dissipated, with neither well-being nor suffering.”

On another chair across the room, the old guard with a somber air quietly looked at the cultist who had completely gagged and muttered with an expressionless face.

The trusty old double-barreled shotgun rested at his hand, while the wretched traces of the brief struggle were everywhere around him.

After the old man had taken a few breaths in his chair and regained some of his vigor a little, he reached for the shotgun at his side and propped himself up from the chair, holding onto his knees.

“It’s so unhelpful …… two heretics make such a mess, and in the end nothing is asked of them,” chimed the old guard, striding past the tall body that had fallen to the floor and the other in the chair, and carrying the shotgun towards the wooden door of the hut. “There’s still two more troubles out there, but hopefully it’s not too late.”

He reached the door and reached out, about to open it, when his movements stopped abruptly.

There was a strange aura approaching.

The color of alertness instantly surfaced in the bottom of the old man’s eyes, and he fiercely tightened his grip on the shotgun in his hand, while in the next second, a knocking sound came from the other side of the door panel.

“Knock knock knock–“

In this cold and silent winter night, the sudden knocking sound even carried a hint of piercing.

The old man didn’t make a sound, but just stared at the dark, old wooden door with a deadpan stare.

The knocking came in very patiently.

It was not a living person outside the door.

The old man narrowed his eyes, and in his vision, a pale and dull silhouette was standing outside the door, and around that silhouette could be seen a little more distorted and confused light, but it was impossible to see exactly what it was.

Not a living person – but by no means a dead one either.

It was a what?

“Open the door, please.” A polite voice came through the door.

The old guard slowly raised his shotgun and aimed it through the door at the hazy silhouette beyond.

Before he could pull the trigger, however, a slight click suddenly reached his ears.

The door …… opened on its own.

A brilliant and distorted starlight came out.

(End of chapter)