Chapter 623

Chapter 443: Explosion

Filled with resentment, Bengochiel gritted his teeth and shouted at the surrounding ruins. Not far from him, another survivor was slowly rising from a pile of rubble, stirring up dust.

Barna stood amidst the ruins, facing two broken bodies. One was already a mangled mass of flesh and had no signs of life; that belonged to Falor. The other had its body covered in fine cracks and bl**d streaks, and although its form was relatively intact, it too showed no signs of life. This was Alaurio.

During the previous moment of crisis, Barna had shielded himself with Falor and Alaurio, who were closest to him, protecting him from most of the explosive damage. Although both Falor and Alaurio, as Wall-crossers, had powerful defenses against firearms, they couldn’t withstand an explosive blast at such close range, and both died instantly, used as shields.

Upon hearing Bengochiel’s voice, Barna immediately focused on the fallen Alaurio. Then, under a strange power, Alaurio opened his eyes again, stood up, and responded to the source of the voice in the distance.

“Cough… cough… Mr. Bengochiel, I’m here!”

After this response, Alaurio took a handgun from Barna. They then made their way toward Bengochiel’s direction, and after overcoming two obstacles, they spotted Bengochiel standing amidst the rubble and corpses. Bengochiel, upon seeing Alaurio and Barna, intended to say something, but to his surprise, the two immediately raised their hands and opened fire.

“Bang! Bang!”

Accompanied by the pulling of triggers, the bullets from Alaurio and Barna’s revolvers surged out, shooting directly at Bengochiel. Standing still, Bengochiel was hit by all the bullets, which merely bounced off him as if he were unscathed, not even swaying a bit.

“Controlled… so it’s a Flesh Puppet?!”

Seeing Alaurio and Barna aiming at him, Bengochiel gritted his teeth, realizing the situation before him, with a surge of anger in his voice.

In light of this scene, Bengochiel first touched his ring, then swung his cane. Suddenly, the tip of the cane detached and expanded into a basketball-sized iron ball, with sharp blades extending from within. A long iron chain remained connected to the shaft of the cane, transforming it into a heavy chain flail in an instant.

Bengochiel swung the flail, and as the chain extended, the heavy iron ball came crashing down on Alaurio. Alaurio was sent flying, his upper body crushed to a pulp, bl**d splattering as his bones shattered, rendering him completely unable to move.

After eliminating Alaurio with a swing, Bengochiel immediately prepared for the next strike, swinging the chain flail towards Barna. Unable to dodge in time, Barna was caught and knocked to the ground, large cracks appearing on his body. If not for Barna’s Rock Skin ability as a Flesh Puppet—part of the Black Earth Tier—absorbing a significant amount of damage, that blow would have rendered him immobile.

Seeing Barna fall, Bengochiel aimed to deliver another blow. However, as he swung the flail again, he felt a weight on his arm, realizing it had struck empty air as the flail hit the ruins beside him, sending dust flying. Looking closely, he found his right hand being held by a broken male servant’s corpse, which had caused his attack to miss. This corpse had just been lying at his feet.

In an instant, the scattered, limbless broken bodies around the ruins exploded, lunging at Bengochiel from all directions, restraining him. Bengochiel tried to swing the flail in retaliation, only to find that the head of the flail was firmly grasped by Barna.

Just as Bengochiel was about to struggle harder to free himself, a dazzling orange light pierced the dark night from afar, shooting directly at the restrained Bengochiel. The moment it struck his back, an intense heat radiated, and flames erupted, engulfing Bengochiel and the corpses binding him entirely, transforming his body into a blazing torch.

At that moment, hundreds of meters away from the manor, atop a not-too-tall building, Dorothy, clad in a black cloak, crouched, wielding a long rifle in her hands.

It was a beautifully crafted rifle, made of brass and pinewood, with exquisite engravings on the brass body and a smooth, comfortable pine stock. Overlapping lens pieces supported by small brackets on the side allowed her to look through them to see the dark manor in the distance.

“Focus Flame” was the name of this rifle, capable of turning the spirit of the “Lamp” into high-temperature projectiles, allowing them to be shot like beams of light up to a kilometer away to severely burn targets. The “Insight Overlapping Lens” equipped on it enabled an ordinary person to possess night-vision capabilities like those of an Extraordinary Being of the “Lamp,” increasing focus and greatly improving sniping accuracy.

This g*n was originally intended by the Eight Pinnacle Nest to assassinate Duke Barret. After their original plan was sabotaged by Dorothy, the rifle was left behind, ultimately confiscated by Vania and handed to Dorothy. This was Dorothy’s first time using it in actual combat.

“It feels nice… At least in terms of accuracy, this g*n is quite reliable, and the damage effect is pretty good… at least it looks that way.”

Through the lenses, Dorothy murmured while observing the scene in the burning ruins of the manor. Although she had successfully hit her target, turning it into a raging fire, the wary look on her face didn’t fade; she continued to watch the flaming inferno, clearly seeing that the fire was rapidly extinguishing.

In the ruins of the manor, the flames that had consumed Bengochiel gradually died down. As the fire dissipated, the first thing revealed was the charred bodies, followed by the remains of those who had tried to bind him.

Covered in smooth black Rock Skin, with sharp claws resembling a beast’s on his limbs, elongated ears framing a sinister face, and a pair of broad stone wings on his back, Bengochiel, transformed into a fearsome stone statue, stood atop the ruins.

Now resembling a terrifying sculpture, Bengochiel surveyed his surroundings. Then, he noticed broken bodies with similar forms gradually gathering toward him. Facing this situation, orange-yellow glowing runes suddenly lit up all over his body, many of which displayed the symbol of the “Lamp.”

Then, Bengochiel opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of flame toward the mobile corpses; these were the flames of the “Lamp” that he had absorbed and stored within his skin from the previous attack.

As a Wall-crosser of the White Chalk Tier, Bengochiel possessed the ability to absorb and return nearly any elemental or spiritual attacks.