Chapter 400 “Connections”
Chapter 400 “Connected”
When the first monstrous freak hissed and rushed up, Agatha just slightly sidestepped her body, and in the moment when she crossed paths with the enemy, she tapped the monster’s limbs with her cane, causing it to burn instantly in the “Cremation”, and then she raised her cane and pointed it forward before the pale flames fell to the ground, and drew out a piercing white line from the flames, causing it to fall into the intersection ahead, like a stream of fire spreading to burn those ugly monsters. She then raised her cane and pointed it forward before the pale flame hit the ground, drawing a blinding white line from the flames, causing it to fall into the intersection in front of her, burning the ugly monsters like a stream of fire spreading.
She was trying to avoid letting her body move drastically to lessen the effects of her exhaustion and injuries, while trying to avoid contact with those freaks to lessen the mental toll – as there was no telling how many unkillable monsters were waiting ahead of her, she had to conserve her stamina in order to do so.
She didn’t resist death, she knew that this body of hers could still fight after death until it turned into ashes, and those ashes would float in this cursed place, continuing to purify the sickening monsters – she had never been afraid of that, but before embracing death, she still wanted to investigate the truth of what was going on here, and do what she could to stop the heretics from acting.
The increasingly frequent attacks on her along the way, and the increasingly agitated actions of the monstrous freaks, had vaguely proved one thing – she was looking in the right direction, and this was the very lair of the heretics up ahead.
More black mud seeped out of the nearby walls and vaults, every hole and crack in the bricks was a breeding ground for the monstrous creatures, and due to the terrain, the way these “fakes” appeared began to become even more bizarre and difficult to deal with.
A slight hissing sound came from the back of the side, Agatha’s heart rose with alarm, she felt her body slowing down due to exhaustion, she could only barely twist her body at the critical moment, and block back with the cane in her hand – along with a sharp pain in her shoulder, she saw a dazzling spark burst out from the middle of the cane, a man clad in black, holding the Guardian’s Cane in his hand, a man with a black face, a man with a black face, a man with a black face, a man with a black face, and a man with a black face. A figure clad in black and holding a Guardian’s cane was then sent flying.
The figure landed on the ground, and wriggled up again like some kind of disgusting mollusk, it raised its head, and under the black bowler hat was a face that seemed to slowly flow and distort as if it were melting, and in that ghastly countenance, certain familiar outlines could be vaguely discerned.
In the next second, the flowing face coalesced, transforming into a young man with well-defined facial lines – he looked up at Agatha, a confused look on his face, “Captain? Why are you here?”
Agatha’s fingers, gripping her cane, whitened slightly, and her eyes froze for a second.
Almost at the same time, she heard a voice – a voice that came from nowhere, as if it resonated throughout the sewers – that whispered to her:
“Ah, you recognize him – your loyal lieutenant who covered your retreat from the darkness when you were not yet a Gatekeeper …… you left him there . . how about taking him back?”
Agatha didn’t respond, she just stepped forward in silence, and after three steps, she turned into a gray wind, which then stopped and coalesced in front of the young “guardian”, and by the time her figure reappeared, the pewter cane in her hand had already pierced deep into the chest of the black-robed guardian.
The young black-robed guard looked at this scene with dismay, as if he couldn’t believe that he would die at the hands of his deeply trusted “captain”, but suddenly, he seemed to understand something, and softly murmured in his throat: “So it’s over already… …”
“Sorry, it will be over soon.” Agatha said softly.
The young black-clad guard slowly lowered his head and let out a laugh, “Captain, you have finally mastered the power of the Wind of Ash ……”
“Yes, it’s been a long time practicing.” Agatha said softly, pale flames rose in front of her eyes, the body of the “black-clothed guard” melted and disintegrated in the “cremation”, turning into a field of black dust.
“Decisive, cold, and very much in keeping with your status as the Holy Apostle of Death.”
The repulsive voice echoed once more, and Agatha turned around, only to see more monstrous monstrosities taking shape, with “fakes” pouring in on all sides – the owner of the voice was clearly not chivalrous, even when The owner of the voice was clearly not chivalrous, and even in the midst of the “attack” he was directing these minions to attack him.
The sound of flames bursting, the sound of the cane striking back, and the sound of air cracking echoed in the underground corridor, and Agatha spoke in a deep voice as she fended off the attacks of the monstrous creatures, “These tricks can only anger me, but they cannot delay me – on the contrary, anger can only make me find your hiding place faster, and what good is that to you? What good will it do you?”
“…… Indeed, you’re angry and look even more aggressive than you did just now, but that’s fine – appropriate mood swings are necessary, Ms. Gatekeeper.”
The voice echoing in the corridor seemed to fade away, but Agatha’s heart fluttered – appropriate mood swings are also necessary? What did that phrase mean?
However, there was no one here who could answer her question, the owner of that voice had only one purpose, to use cannon fodder to continuously weaken her strength and delay her steps, and now that he had already left, the only thing that remained here was another batch of monsters that had just “infiltrated” out of the surrounding walls.
Agatha’s eyes glazed over, and she once again faced her enemy.
……
“Our warriors are engaging the enemy!”
A flash of green fire suddenly cut through the dimness of the second waterway, and the figure of Aye the pigeon burst out of the flames, smashing into Duncan’s shoulder, flapping its wings vigorously as it let out a shrill, raucous cry.
The sudden appearance of this silly bird and its shrill cries startled Duncan, and almost scared Alice’s head off.
Duncan, who had already searched the dry and empty underground corridor for half a day, glared at once and twisted his head to look at the pigeon spirit that was on fire on his shoulder, “What are you ghostly screaming for?”
Aey cocked his head and looked at Duncan with small eyes, nodding with a serious expression, “Our scouts are under attack! Our scouts are under attack! The battle is too unfavorable for us …… Our warriors are engaging the enemy!”
Alice held her head and came over, “Captain, did Aey get a bad stomach?” Aey turned his head and glared at the mannequin, sticking out his neck and pecking the latter’s brain twice, making a “thud” sound before yelling at the top of his lungs, “Like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell, like hell,……”.
Alice was pecked with a cry of surprise, holding her head and ran.
Duncan didn’t care about this movement around him, his face had become serious after he heard Aey yell for the second time, and then he looked in a certain direction thoughtfully.
“Quiet, you two,” he suddenly broke the silence after a few seconds, looking with an extraordinarily grave expression at the intersection on the other side of the corridor, “Aye might have sensed something.”
Alice was instantly honest and looked in the direction of Duncan’s gaze.
“It’s the mark I left …… It’s the ‘keeper,” Duncan’s voice rang out as he had taken a step forward, “She’s around here. ”
Alice looked in that direction, followed by a sudden widening of her eyes.
“Ah, wired!”
Miss Doll let out a short exclamation of surprise, followed by a quick run – she was even faster than Duncan, like an anxious child trying to catch a balloon that was about to fly away in a hurry – and in a single jog she reached the vicinity of the intersection, followed by a jump to catch something invisible in the air.
Duncan only saw Alice running, jumping ahead of her to grab something in the air, and immediately afterward, it was as if he vaguely saw something actually appear in Alice’s hands.
Some white, almost transparent, …… threads of ambient light slightly refracted in the air.
He walked quickly over to it, while Alice turned her head, a pleasantly bright smile on her face.
“I caught …… it.”
Miss Doll’s pleasant smile only lasted for an instant, and in the next second, the threads that were vaguely in her hands suddenly began to shatter and break, and quickly dissipated into the air as if they were accelerated weathering.
“Ah!” Alice exclaimed, “The thread broke!”
But before her cry of alarm could fall, a tall and lanky figure had already walked quickly from the side, and Duncan stretched out his hand towards the broken and weathered “thread” – a section of the thread that was about to completely dissipate fell into his hand.
In an instant, the thread was colored with a layer of green fire.
Duncan slowly turned his head and looked into Alice’s eyes, which reflected a leaping green color.
“I caught it.” Duncan said softly.
……
One of the monstrous freaks turned to ash in the pale blaze, another had its head shattered by the cane and fell like limp sludge as Agatha spun her body, the battle cane in her hand slicing through the air and slamming viciously into the last enemy still standing in the intersection.
Then, her movements came to a violent halt.
Completely out of instinct, with no time to think at all, a great sense of fear and shock had already directly shaken her entire mind, she even felt her muscles and bones give out a piercing and terrifying creak at that instant, some kind of powerful force originating from spiritual intuition – perhaps even a direct warning originating from the god of death, Bartok! curbed her movements violently.
She saw her cane stop, less than a few millimeters from the head of the last “fake” that had just risen from the mud.
Her eyes widened as she watched the humanoid figure, covered in flowing mud, slowly raise its head, a pair of eyes gradually forming at the base of its skull, a greenish flame burning on the surface of the body, and a low voice crackling in the flames-
“Agatha, need help?”
(End of chapter)