Chapter 244

Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Three: Hypnosis

Royal Sacred Crown University, King Campus.

In the dead of night, deep within the underground of King Campus, in front of a cobwebbed corridor, four or five men armed with firearms stood guard, keeping a close watch ahead.

These men were henchmen of the Eight Pinnacle Nest. At this critical moment of the ritual, they were ordered to guard this area. Following Claudius’s instructions, they would not let a single fly pass by.

At this time, the ritual had already commenced in the ruins below. The guards were fully focused on their vigilance, prepared for any unexpected situation. They were confident in their combination of extraordinary security measures, believing they were foolproof.

Just as the guards were diligently on alert, something unexpected occurred. Behind them, sounds of gunfire suddenly erupted in the direction that should lead to the ruins, accompanied by piercing screams.

Hearing the sounds from behind, the guards, who were initially focused on the front, were taken aback and turned their gaze toward the back, all displaying expressions of disbelief.

“What is happening inside?”

“Gunfire? Is it an enemy attack?”

“That can’t be! We’re clearly guarding here; no one has passed through!”

“Whatever! Let’s go take a look!”

After a brief exchange, the stunned guards quickly turned to head back inside. However, as they turned around, two male figures appeared from a corner of the corridor ahead, raising their handguns and aiming at the backs of the guards.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The two men pulled the triggers, and after a series of gunshots, the guards preparing to return for support were shot in the back and fell to the ground. Some managed to react and tried to turn and fight back, but it was already too late.

Soon, after dealing with all the enemies in front of them, the two Zombie Puppeteers moved toward the cobwebbed corridor. Meanwhile, at some distant location on the campus ground, Nephnis sat in a chair, manipulating everything that had just taken place.

“Is this… Miss Dorothy’s power?”

Looking at the Zombie Ring on her hand, lent to her by Dorothy, Nephnis murmured. It was her first time using extraordinary abilities, her first time killing an enemy, and emotions surged in her heart.

To lessen her mental burden and focus solely on Claudius, Dorothy had chosen to temporarily lend the Zombie Ring to Nephnis, allowing her to control two Zombie Puppets to attack the guards stationed at the front, preventing them from providing support for the battle at the ritual site.

“Huh… It might be a little help, anyway.”

Murmuring to herself, Nephnis maneuvered the two Zombie Puppets deeper into the cobwebbed corridor. She could already hear footsteps approaching from the other end where the guards were coming, and Nephnis would continue to use Dorothy’s Zombie Puppets to fight, sharing Dorothy’s mental burden and applying pressure to the Eight Pinnacle Nest.

……

In the ruins, on the second floor, at the ritual site.

A violent explosion erupted from fallen corpses as countless gas cylinders hidden in coats were detonated in succession under preset mechanisms. The high-temperature flames burst forth at that moment, engulfing six Zombie Puppeteers while also completely devouring the bats that circled around them, feasting on flesh.

In that instant, all the bats that had come to attack were completely annihilated. Seeing this scene from the shadows, Dorothy couldn’t help but murmur.

“Nice…”

Long before, when Dorothy first ventured into the ruins, she had already witnessed Claudius’s bat transformation ability. To counter this, Dorothy had purchased a large number of oil cans and gas cylinders in the city, which were used to fuel gas lamps and were readily available for purchase.

Against small, agile flying units, a widespread fiery explosion was the perfect countermeasure. To deal with this horde of black bats, Dorothy had prepared a bunch of explosive Zombie Puppets.

Watching numerous bats being consumed by flames while shrieking, Dorothy felt a surge of joy in her heart, but she did not relax her vigilance. She knew that merely killing one White Tier was far from enough; Claudius would never deploy all the bats in a single operation.

Sure enough, after the main group of bats was burned, a small portion that hadn’t participated in the attack regrouped. Before long, Claudius’s figure emerged from the shadow formed by the aggregation of bats, but upon reappearing, he hunched over, large areas of his skin burned, and wisps of smoke rising from the charred surface, indicating that the bats had transmitted their injury feedback to his true form.

“Another… Flesh Puppet…”

Gritting his teeth and glaring, Claudius trembled as he pulled out a syringe filled with bl**d from his clothing, preparing to inject himself again.

Seeing this, Dorothy immediately controlled a second batch of six Zombie Puppets to move into the ritual site, drawing their guns and opening fire on the injecting Claudius.

Having just injected a small amount of bl**d, and with his injuries not yet fully healed, Claudius was interrupted by gunfire. He immediately yanked out the syringe, and his entire body transformed into a streak of black shadow, dodging the incoming bullets and then charging straight toward the new six Zombie Puppets.

In the blink of an eye, Claudius had darted right in front of the Zombie Puppets. He swung his now elongated, sharp claws, tearing one Zombie Puppet in half at the waist. Then, like a black shadow, he surged past the other Zombie Puppets, ripping them apart into several large pieces in an instant, without giving them any time to react.

‘So fast.’

Seeing this scene, Dorothy thought in surprise. Claudius’s speed was so exaggerated that he could easily dodge bullets and tear apart six Zombie Puppets within seconds, rendering them completely incapacitated. Dorothy didn’t even have time to activate the explosive devices on the Zombie Puppets before they became uncontrollable.

After effortlessly dispatching the six Zombie Puppets, Claudius stood amidst the bl**d, and once again pulled out a syringe, intending to recover from his injuries. Dorothy, of course, would not allow him to succeed. She turned to Vania beside her and said,

“Don’t let him recover; stop him!”

“I understand…”

Muttering, Vania pressed a sigil she had long held in her hand to her forehead. As the sigil burned, a crimson “Cup” mark appeared on her forehead, similar to the mark seen when using the bl**d-Eating Sigil, but larger and much more complex.

“Lord, please protect me…”

Praying, Vania’s expression became resolute as she drew a steel sword from her waist. With a powerful push, she dashed out of the shadows at high speed toward Claudius in the ritual site. Knowing his ability to easily dodge bullets, Vania opted not to use a g*n this time, but to engage him directly with her sword.

In an instant, Vania, wearing a mask, charged right up to Claudius, who had just pricked himself with the needle, swinging her steel sword down with incredible speed.

“A nun?”

Seeing Vania’s sword slashing toward him, Claudius immediately dodged, then retaliated with a claw strike at her. Vania quickly blocked with her sword; at the moment their claws and steel sword clashed, a clear and resounding sound echoed in the air, and the sword’s blade cracked with fissures.

Vania successfully blocked Claudius’s lightning-fast attack! Moreover, in their collision of strength, she was not at all at a disadvantage and even held a slight advantage. This astonished Claudius and made him take the mysterious nun in front of him seriously.

Unlike the other useless Flesh Puppets, this one was formidable! Perhaps a “Cup” or a “Shadow” beyond the Black Tier!

Making such a judgement in his mind, Claudius immediately became more focused on the confrontation. He swung his claws and attacked Vania like a violent wind, his arms moving so fast they became mere afterimages.

Faced with Claudius’s onslaught, Vania swung her sword at high speed to block, successfully defending against his rapid claw strikes coming from all directions. The sounds of steel clashing reverberated throughout the underground space.