Chapter 379: Magic’s Key Segment
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The invisible prison around Parker’s body immediately collapsed, leaving not even a single trace of it behind.
However, he didn’t regain his mobility. Instead, he slumped to the ground, s.h.i.+vering continuously, as if he was still frozen.
This wasn’t only an aftereffect of Soul Touch, but also the effect of Klein’s direct attack on his soul.
Parker, who was only a Sequence 8, was unable to recover in a short period of time. He couldn’t even control his breathing and, as a result, inhaled large quant.i.ties of the biological poison, which was identical to the one in his body, once again.
His weakened state caused the poison in his body to act faster. His eyes stared blankly as he instinctively changed direction.
He saw Capim rolling on the ground and scratching his face and body constantly. He saw the thin strips of flesh hanging by the side of the wounds and the ghostly white color of his bones.
Parker gasped and struggled to climb over.
Capim, whose itch made him rip off the outer layer of his skin, suddenly discovered that Parker was crawling toward him with bloodshot eyes. He had a bad premonition, but he had no strength to dodge as he couldn’t stop scratching. He didn’t even have the ability to shout “no,” except for using a blood-curdling cry as a subst.i.tute.
At this moment, Klein, who had dodged the “Imprison” spell, shouted “Holy” in ancient Hermes. Then, he rubbed his fingers together and shot an Air Bullet through the dark golden Sunbird brooch’s coruscating glow.
As soon as the Air Bullet was formed, it took on a holy l.u.s.ter and shot straight towards Harras’s face.
This was the Holy Oath provided by the Sun Brooch, and Klein had augmented the Air Bullet with Holy damage!
Harras had long since changed his position. He was abnormally agile, and unlike a mage, he was more like a pugilist expert.
As he avoided Klein’s Air Bullet, he motioned for Katy to lash her whip to hold Klein back.
When Klein’s attack was interrupted, Harras took an iron-black metal glove from a hidden pocket of his and tried to put it on his left hand.
In his Spirit Body state, Klein didn’t need to look out from the corner of his eye to see what had just happened despite not facing Harras. He immediately flew up, avoiding Katy’s lash. He flew over the chandelier and pounced towards Harras.
When Harras saw this scene, he held the black metal glove and pointed diagonally upwards.
“Exile!”
Klein was suddenly hit by an overwhelming and invisible force. His entire Spirit Body was blown away by the wind and hit the wall, the wall conjured by “Confinement,” but didn’t penetrate through it and escape.
Seizing this opportunity, Harras put on the iron-black metal glove.
In the blink of an eye, he seemed to grow a bit taller. His authority was uplifted like he was a figure that could determine the life and death of others.
The moment Klein was released from the “Exile” state, he felt an inexplicable sense of horror. He couldn’t help but want to lower his head, to prostrate, to listen to Harras’s every word and obey every order given by him!
His movements had become sluggish, and his pupils reflected a rapidly approaching Katy.
Pa!
Katy lashed out with her long black whip and hit Klein accurately.
The long whip pa.s.sed through his Spirit Body, but it brought a great deal of pain to Klein’s psyche, as if someone had pressed a red-hot iron to the weakest part of his body.
He jerked his head up and let out a scream.
As for Katy, she pulled the trigger of the revolver in her other hand.
Bang! Bang!
Two bullets, with a light golden glow, shot out one after another, striking Klein’s body.
Bright rays of light bloomed, and the figure wearing black armor rapidly thinned, turning into a paper figurine and quickly burning into ashes.
Klein appeared in a dark corner, the Sun Brooch inside his Spirit Body was glowing with a dark golden light.
Warm powers instantly filled his body, and the extreme horror that Harras had subjected him to quickly disappeared.
One of the spell-like effects of the Sun Brooch was Horror Immunity!
In the short span of less than a minute, Klein had already been forced to use Paper Figurine Subst.i.tutes twice.
Although it was partly because he did it on purpose, it was still enough to prove the strength of Harras and Katy’s joint attacks. It was enough to confirm the divination outcome which Klein had received.
This operation would be quite dangerous!
If Parker hadn’t been temporarily crippled by the effects of the Biological Poison Bottle and his initial surprise attack, the situation would’ve been even more dangerous.
His plan was to rationally give up if all four paper figurines were used up and his opportunity had yet to appear. It wasn’t because Klein didn’t wish to prepare more subst.i.tutes, but because his spirituality could only afford four times while in combat.
As for the “Confinement” effect that Harras had created, Klein wasn’t worried at all. He was now a Spirit Body that had been “summoned.” As long as he ended the “summoning,” he would immediately return above the gray fog. Unless it was intercepted by powers at the level of deities or the special effects of Sealed Artifacts at Grade 0 or Grade 1, nothing could interrupt this process.
Previously, when Klein went to the Royal Museum to steal the Dark Emperor card, the woman who was suspected of being a High-Sequence Beyonder was unable to stop him from leaving.
This was the main reason why Klein dared to challenge the impossible even though he knew that the danger was great!
Seeing that the enemy was no longer horrified, Harras put on his black metal gloves and signaled Katy to hold Klein back. He then pointed forward and solemnly said, “Specters and wraiths are prohibited here!”
Klein’s body that was covered in black armor immediately trembled as he was strongly repelled by a powerful, invisible force.
However, the level of the Dark Emperor card was extremely high, causing the level of the Spirit Body to be relatively high as well. This kind of influence that was directly aimed at a particular existence was quickly suppressed.
Harras narrowed his eyes, feeling that the intruding specter was very strange.
He saw that Klein easily escaped Katy’s intervention via flight, so he pushed his palm forward again and announced in ancient Hermes, “Flying and floating are prohibited here.”
All of a sudden, Klein felt his body become heavy, and he plummeted from midair to the ground. Katy quickly rushed over, and with a flick of her wrist, she lashed out with the whip that directed torture on the mind and soul.
She still had many Beyonder bullets on her, but there were fewer than three that were targeted for specters and wraiths. Therefore, she temporarily gave up on using the revolver and only relied on her auxiliary weapon.
Klein rolled on the ground, skilfully dodging Katy’s whip. He heard the crack of the whip as it hit the ground.
Katy was about to sweep the whip when she felt an itch at her throat. She coughed twice and missed the opportunity to continue her relentless attack.
This was a sign of the poison acting up!
Harras took a deep breath, held his breath once more. He folded his wrist, pointed to himself, and said, “Disciplinary target: wraiths and specters!”
The surface of his body immediately emitted a light as bright as the morning sun. Even his fist began to s.h.i.+ne with l.u.s.trous brilliances.
Bam!
The marble under Harras’s feet cracked soundlessly, and his tall, thin body pounced swiftly and fiercely, allowing him to immediately close in on Klein.
At this moment, he looked even more like a knight than Katy!
Bam! He threw a punch forward, and the air seemed to explode. However, Klein had pulled back ahead of time, dodging the punch with the wind.
Pow! Katy helped from the side and lashed out with her whip in the direction in which her enemy was dodging.
This forced Klein to have no choice but to roll again and again. He took on a fighting stance while keeping an eye out for Harras’s spell-like “Imprison.”
As las.h.i.+ng sounds echoed, Harras kept attacking while Katy aided him from the side. In less than two minutes, Klein was forced into an unavoidable situation. Even rolling was of no use.
Pa!
Katy’s black whip lashed out at Klein’s face, and he was only able to take one step sideways before being hit in the arm.
That piercing pain attacked his psyche once again, causing him to freeze on the spot. Even his Spirit Body became somewhat thinner.
Seizing this opportunity, Harras clenched his left fist and solemnly declared, “Death!”
His body then merged with some sort of strange force, creating an obvious afterimage as he slammed into Klein.
Schwing!
The figure covered in black armor instantly broke into pieces, turning into pieces of paper that fluttered in the air like a b.u.t.terfly.
Klein had expended his third paper figurine!
Harras’s gaze swept across the room and quickly locked onto the enemy that had appeared in the corner. He sneered and said, “Let me see how many subst.i.tutes you have left!”
In the process of searching for the enemy, he discovered that Parker was squirming on top of Capim. The scene was b.l.o.o.d.y and disgusting. It was a repulsive sight, both terrible and horrifying.
However, Harras didn’t have the luxury of time to save his subordinate. He was well aware that the effects of the poison would only worsen over time, so he had to get rid of the enemy as quickly as possible, so he couldn’t be distracted.
If he didn’t, he would have to leave the dining hall first to recover from the poison; thus, allowing the enemy to escape without getting any useful information.
He signaled Katy to go forward again, so as to hold back Klein, who couldn’t fly or float. He took a breath and tried to catch a breather.
There’s a strange smell in the air… This is probably a result of the increasing toxicity of the poison… This thought flashed through Harras’s mind, but he didn’t think too much about it.
He raised his left hand and solemnly declared, “The illegal intrusion of another’s house is a crime!
“An illegal intrusion…”
While repeating the statement for a second time, Harras found it hard to breathe again. For a moment, he was unable to catch his breath, so he could only stop midway.
He took another deep breath, adjusted himself, and spoke again.
“The illegal intrusion of another’s house is a crime!
He repeated it three times, and Klein, who was still unable to extricate himself from Katy’s entanglement, felt a baffling chill.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Katy showed coughing symptoms again, and the flailing of her whip became sluggish.
Klein took the opportunity to stop the embroilment with her, but he didn’t attack her. Instead, he raised his head, opened his mouth, and let out a sharp cry that no human could hear!
Hum! Katy’s head jerked up, and her body swayed. She felt like the ground was bobbing up and down.
Harras only felt a slight dizziness before returning to normal. He looked at Klein coldly and said in a majestic voice, “The guilty should be restricted!”
Klein, who was lunging at him, found to his surprise that his feet had seemed to be immobilized by invisible shackles. It made his movements suddenly turn rigid.
Katy, who had recovered a little, swung open the revolver’s cylinder and quickly removed the spent and unused rounds.
Then, she took out a quick reloading device and stuffed six rounds of ammunition, including her remaining purifying bullets, into the cylinder.
Harras clenched his left fist and prepared for an attack.
He wanted to chain his attack with Katy’s shooting, in a bid to completely finish the enemy or to expend his subst.i.tutes.
At this moment, the black-armored Klein smiled.
It was because the opportunity he had been waiting for had come!
He knew that it would take time for the Biological Poison Bottle to show any significant effects. And once Beyonders sensed that something was wrong, they would act accordingly, either to find the hidden enemy or to escape the toxic environment. It would be difficult to seriously damage them or even finish them. Therefore, he had two other reasons for using the Biological Poison Bottle.
The first reason was to weaken the enemy.
The second reason was to mask some smells so that Harras and the others would attribute all the abnormal smells they detected to the poison in the air. It made them focus all their attention on this aspect.
This was the most important segment of a “magic show” and also the key to success or failure.
That abnormal smell was the smell of gas!
The reason why Klein let the gas lamp and the fire in the fireplace suddenly brighten and extinguish wasn’t solely to affect Harras and company’s vision. It was mainly to attract their attention, so that he could destroy a few hidden gas pipes!
In the beginning, he had intentionally put himself in danger in order to trick Katy into firing a bullet meant for wraiths and specters, so that she would no longer blindly fire at him and not trigger a corresponding explosion!
He kept entangling himself with her and hadn’t made any other attempts solely because he was waiting for the air to be filled with gas!
Therefore, he kept holding back from using Flaming Jump or Flame Controlling!
As for Harras’s actions of using Confinement on the room, he had expected it, but he didn’t expect it to be this successful. Therefore, before he entered the dining room, he had kindly inspected the doors and windows to see if they were airtight. He had destroyed the hidden gas pipes in the hall, causing the area—both inside and outside—to become a huge “bomb.” Even without Confinement, it would ultimately not affect anything!
As a “specter,” Klein was undoubtedly unafraid of explosions!
Lower-level ghosts might be annihilated by fire, but “specters” would at most suffer some damage. This was why Klein had to buy extra purifying bullets and the Sun Brooch despite the fact that he had Flame Controlling.
When he saw that Katy had raised her revolver and was about to shoot, and that Harras was about to p.r.o.nounce “Death” on him, Klein smiled and snapped his fingers.
Harras suddenly felt a dangerous foreboding.
However, at this moment, he saw that a flame had already lit up in the fireplace to his side, instantly igniting the surrounding air.
BOOM!
With a loud boom, Harras’s vision was instantly filled with an inferno that filled the room. It was as if he was watching a grand display of fireworks.