Versatile Hobart

Hobart paid the fare and waited until the carriage had gone far away before scaling the wall with Xue and entering the abandoned factory.

This was already on the outskirts of southern Backlund, a secluded place well suited for shady dealings.

The sun had set. After observing the area and finding no danger, Hobart and Xue quickly rushed toward the factory building.

Just then, a crow fell in front of them.

Hobart gave it a cursory glance and saw no obvious injuries on the crow. It seemed to have fallen simply because it had become too exhausted while flying.

Looking up, he saw crows still circling overhead like vultures waiting to feast.

Both of them suddenly had an ominous premonition. Leaning against the factory wall, Hobart said, "I can sense some kind of evil power. The ritual Zachary mentioned in his letter probably wasn't a prayer to the Seven Orthodox Gods."

Xue paused before saying, "I'm good at fighting, but I'm not good at dealing with evil powers!"

"Since neither of us senses any danger," Hobart said, "that means Zachary's ritual may be evil, but it isn't very dangerous.

"But to be safe, the moment our spirituality warns us of danger, we run immediately, then report it to the Orthodox God Churches!"

The spirituality of an Arbiter and a Lawyer might not be as keen as that of a Seer or Mystery Pryer, but they still possessed the most basic danger warnings.

Besides, reporting people was a standard Tarot Club skill. Hobart felt no psychological burden about it whatsoever.

Xue nodded. Time was of the essence, and the two immediately began to move.

The factory building was spacious and empty. Only some dust-covered clutter had been piled against the walls. Clearly, before the factory had been abandoned, anything valuable had been sold off.

Hobart drew his gun and released the safety. Xue pulled out the Three Edged Dagger hidden in her trouser leg. They headed straight for the stairs, but before they even went up, they heard what seemed to be movement above.

Their muscles tensed. Since they had received no warning of danger the entire way, they decided to press forward in one go. Xue took the lead, Hobart followed behind, and they rushed upstairs.

No matter which pathway's Potion Zachary had taken, Hobart and Xue, both Sequence 9, were confident they could subdue him.

Worried that Zachary might have a gun, Xue leaped forward the instant she reached the second floor, rolling ahead with her agile body to draw his attention.

Hobart followed close behind, aiming his gun toward the source of the movement, ready to fire at any moment.

Yet they did not encounter the fierce counterattack they had expected, and Hobart swallowed the "Don't move!" that had reached his lips.

There was indeed a figure in an abandoned office. His hair was disheveled, his face dry and wrinkled like a mummified corpse, yet his body was covered in festering sores. At that moment, he was pacing intently before a crude altar.

Xue took Zachary's portrait from her pocket. After comparing it, she could roughly make out that the pacing man was Zachary.

"Something's wrong with his condition," Hobart said. He seemed to be on the verge of Loss of Control.

Only then did Zachary seem to finally notice Hobart and Xue. His left eye was dull and vacant, while his right shimmered with an eerie light.

The instant Hobart and Xue were stared at by Zachary's right eye, their hearts pounded and their entire bodies felt unwell, as though they had been targeted by some filthy, evil creature.

"Don't look him in the eyes!" Hobart said.

He quickly turned his head away to avoid being contaminated.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Zachary's dry throat released an evil laugh. With the solemnity of one proclaiming divine will, he said, "I saw it! I saw the Kingdom of God!

"Upon the golden earth, I held a torch aloft and gazed upon the Kingdom of God! Ancient gods wandered the land. They were incomparably tall, blotting out the sky and sun, their bodies emanating an aura of filth and agony! Giant crows circled in the sky, human Skeletons clamped in their beaks as they feasted upon the souls of the dead..."

His words were like a curse, making Hobart and Xue's heads feel as if they were splitting apart!

With a trembling hand, Hobart fired a shot. Only the thunderous report of the gun freed him and Xue from that nightmare-like state.

Zachary had clearly been affected by a powerful evil existence. Hobart's first shot missed, but he fired twice more in succession. One bullet finally struck Zachary in the lower abdomen.

Zachary fell to the ground, no longer having the strength to continue reciting his filthy words.

But he immediately crawled toward the altar, chanting, "Lord who created everything; master behind the curtain of shadows; fallen nature of all living beings! I pray for the power of degeneration..."

A subtle change appeared upon the altar, as though an evil, degenerate power were descending.

Hobart quickly stepped forward to finish him off. At close range, he fired a shot through Zachary's head.

This bastard had actually been praying for the True Creator's power! Wasn't that courting death?

As Zachary's chant was interrupted, that degenerate power gradually dissipated.

The crows in midair suddenly let out a strange cry together—"Caw~"—and finally stopped circling. Instead, they each landed on nearby trees to rest.

Xue also let out a long breath. Though she did not understand Ritual Magic well enough to fully grasp what had just happened, she knew inwardly that if not for Hobart's swift, decisive action, that evil power would have descended. The two of them had narrowly escaped disaster because of it.

Still uneasy, Hobart put away his pistol and dismantled the altar that had been assembled from abandoned desks.

He then glanced at the twitching corpse and guessed that Zachary had most likely consumed the Secret Supplicant Potion.

The Sequence 9 Secret Supplicant was one of the Potions most prone to Loss of Control. First, the True Creator had a tremendous influence on low-level Beyonders—those whispers Zachary had mentioned in his letter.

Furthermore, their intuition was extremely high, so they could always hear things they should not hear and see things they should not see, making them particularly susceptible to Loss of Control.

Because of their keen intuition, Secret Supplicants could easily master certain Ritual Magic. However, performing rituals for evil existences either led to contamination without their realizing it or caused drastic changes in temperament.

Suppressing her disgust, Xue briefly examined the corpse and confirmed that Zachary was truly dead. She glanced at Hobart. "The trail has gone cold again."

"Not necessarily!" Hobart leaned against the wall to rest for a moment before Picking up three candles from the floor and lighting them according to the ritual's requirements.

The tension of killing someone for the first time, combined with the lingering exhilaration of having just skirted death, made every muscle in his body tremble slightly.

But there was no time to waste on Spirit Communication. As Hobart drew the symbol representing the Goddess of the Night between the candles, he asked Xue, "Miss Arbiter, have you ever heard of Spirit Communication?"

Xue's mouth fell open. "You can perform Spirit Communication too?"

For Wild Extraordinary, Spirit Communication was an extremely advanced form of Ritual Magic.

Hobart smiled. "If Zachary were still alive, I wouldn't dare attempt Spirit Communication with my current spirituality. But now that he's dead, it's much easier."

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