Chapter 247

Chapter 234: Dead End

A Time-Slowing Dragon Roar from Dorothy could slow the surrounding time by thirty percent, making Claudius appear to move much slower in Dorothy’s eyes. However, as a vampire of the White Chalk Tier, Claudius was still quite fast even with the reduced speed, so taking him down would require extra effort.

With that, Dorothy began her new round of actions. She fixated her gaze on the already decelerated Claudius and concentrated, linking her Spiritual Thread to him through the Puppet Mark on his wrist.

Why did Claudius have Dorothy’s Puppet Mark on him? It was because Vania had a Puppet Mark drawn in non-drying red ink on the palm of her left hand.

When Claudius attempted to hypnotize Vania and subdue her, Dorothy had Vania, as a puppet, retaliate by grabbing Claudius’s wrist with her left hand. It seemed like an attempt to prevent his escape, but in reality, it was to imprint the Puppet Mark on Claudius, allowing Dorothy to connect her Spiritual Thread to him.

For Dorothy’s puppet manipulation, the target must bear a Puppet Mark. This meant that as long as the target had the mark, regardless of who they were, Dorothy’s Spiritual Thread could connect to them and attempt to puppetize them.

In the face of resistance, controlling a normal person could be troublesome for Dorothy. However, she could expend extra “Enlightenment” to enhance the effectiveness of her forced control. Of course, even if she used all of her “Enlightenment” now, she still wouldn’t be able to forcibly control an Extraordinary Being of the Black Tier, let alone Claudius of the White Tier.

Nevertheless, the inability to forcibly control didn’t mean she lacked influence. If she expended enough “Enlightenment,” Dorothy could slightly interfere with Claudius’s movements.

At that moment, Dorothy invested six points of “Enlightenment” into the connection, forcibly controlling Claudius’s actions. For a brief moment, there was a slight delay in Claudius’s movements, as though he were entangled by countless invisible threads.

Normally, this delay wouldn’t mean much for Claudius, but under the current slowed circumstances, it became exceptionally deadly. With his speed already reduced by thirty percent, this slight delay compounded the effect, causing a significant reduction in Claudius’s speed.

At that instant, Claudius’s speed dropped by around fifty percent, nearly half of what it would normally be, and it was this crucial moment that Vania seized.

“Lord, grant me light…”

Muttering her invocation, the brilliance gathered in Vania’s raised hand, the glowing golden radiance converging to form the Sunlight Spear once more in the believer’s grasp.

Although time around them had slowed due to the roar, Vania, linked by Spiritual Thread to Dorothy, received Dorothy’s unaffected “state” through the connection. Thus, she too was unaffected by the slowdown. To her, Claudius had nearly halved his speed, not just reduced by twenty percent.

With the reduced speed, Vania, as an Extraordinary Being of “Lamp,” wouldn’t miss.

Aiming at the advancing vampire, Vania threw the Sunlight Spear with force. The piercing radiant light instantly penetrated Claudius’s chest, creating a hole the size of a bowl in his right side, his expression twisting in agony.

Though his speed had diminished by fifty percent, Claudius’s reflexes were still superior to that of a normal human. He managed to evade just in time, avoiding having his heart in the left chest and his spine in the middle chest pierced. Although he still suffered severe injuries, they weren’t fatal.

At this moment, the Time-Slowing Dragon Roar ended, and the forced manipulation of the Spiritual Thread ceased. Returning to a normal state, Claudius let out a pained scream, collapsing to the ground, bruised and battered, a plume of steaming white smoke rising from his punctured chest, yet he did not d*e immediately.

Seeing this, Vania quickly approached, sword in hand, ready to deal the final blow. However, at that moment, Claudius activated his last resort. With trembling hands, he pulled a vial filled with dark red liquid from his clothing and smashed it to the ground. The liquid instantly turned into an expanding dark red mist, enveloping Claudius.

This mist contained a high concentration of “Cup” and “Shadow” spirituality. “Shadow” could interfere with searches and investigations, while “Cup” was meant to suppress the severe injuries of the protected individual.

Within the mist, Claudius inhaled deeply, the dense “Cup” spirituality slightly alleviating his grievous wounds, giving him a breather. His body transformed into dozens of bats in the mist, surging forth toward the staircase that led back to the first floor.

Vania, cutting through the mist, only managed to k*ll two bats before watching the others escape, flapping their wings toward the exit.

“Miss Dorothy! That guy is escaping!” she exclaimed anxiously, fearing that all their efforts would be in vain if he got away.

Hearing Vania’s words, Dorothy smiled slightly and replied with ease. “No need to rush. Let him go.”

The remaining ten bats that once were Claudius flew into the first level of the ruins and aimed straight for the exit. With only ten bats left, if he lost even one more, it would mean his utter defeat, signifying his critical bodily condition.

Soaring onward, Claudius’s bats dashed into the corridor leading outside the ruins. As long as they continued flying, they would reach the Secret Knowledge Society’s assembly point, where they could enter the outside world through the school. After that, the night sky would be open to him, with no one to stop him.

‘As long as I can reach that place… as long as I can reach that place…’

The bat-form Claudius thought urgently, and at that moment, he noticed something ahead in the corridor.

Upon closer inspection, it was a neatly arranged stack of glass bottles along the corridor. In front of the bottles stood a man holding a g*n, the revolver aimed straight at the ground.

‘What… is that…’

“d*e…”

In a corner of the school, Nephnis, wearing Zombie Puppet rings, whispered while controlling the zombie puppet in the corridor to pull the trigger.

“Bang!”

“Boom!”

With the bullets shattering the pile of gas bottles, a raging inferno erupted, sweeping through the corridors on either side. The bats flying in were unable to turn back and were instantly engulfed by the flames, while the remaining bats were forced together, morphing into a humanoid figure, their skin charred and cracking like burning coal.

“Ahhhh!!!”

Screaming in agony, Claudius, whose skin was emitting smoke, had lost too many bats and could no longer sustain his life. He collapsed slowly amidst the searing pain, losing all vitality.