You Heard It, She Told Me To Do It

The moment she heard the battle above, she had already cautiously deployed multiple rituals for herself in the basement.

——Protection from Bullets, Minor Natural Resistance Penetration, Protection from Slashing, Stable Casting, Weakness Reinforcement.

Of course, she had maxed out her buffs and prepared her strongest attack before coming out to confront them here.

Although she was talking to Iver now, her attention was actually on Hai Na.

As long as Hai Na was distracted, she would immediately throw the "Curse Infant" in her hand. It would automatically track the heart, and once it made contact, it would sink into the body, directly tearing at the internal organs from within, causing frost damage.

While bringing unbearable pain, it could also freeze the blood vessels near the heart. Even if the target didn't die immediately, any strenuous activity would tear their internal organs, causing massive bleeding. Even a Bishop couldn't save such an injury.

...But if this attack missed, and she was forced into a close fight.

Even if she had buffed herself with many enhancements in advance, she was afraid she couldn't beat this young Inspector.

She could sense that the other party had definitely mastered Third Level power.

Although she didn't know the other party's Path characteristics, she might not be able to win in a head-on conflict.

——There was only one chance! The moment she saw Iver raise his gun at her, she decided on her next tactic.

She had specifically reinforced her defense.

If it was a high-powered firearm, she might still be wary. But the power of the Lady's Grip was very weak.

It might not even be able to shoot through a thick, wine-filled oak barrel. That female Knight opposite her could probably block this bullet directly with her muscles.

Such a bullet, even if it accurately hit her weak points such as her eyes or throat, would not be able to cause her serious damage.

And Iver Moriarty was just a young man who had never touched a gun and didn't understand anything. As resonating Path transcendents, she could clearly sense each other... Even if Iver had a transcendent profession, he was definitely at least one level lower than her.

Because she didn't sense any threat from him.

He dared to shoot Ademar because Ademar had already lost his combat power. It was equivalent to shooting at a stationary target.

And observing Ademar's corpse, the bullet was of normal power. It had not been specially modified by a craftsman.

But she was alive and could dodge. If he didn't know whether she could dodge this attack, he would definitely choose to shoot her torso to exchange for hit rate.

And the protection she had prepared would definitely be able to easily block this shot.

But she could pretend that she had suffered a fatal blow, so that the young female Knight would relax her vigilance. Then take the opportunity to sneak attack the other party—

"How about it? Let's make a bet!"

She laughed heartily, as if she was really not afraid at all: "You only have one chance!"

Veronica knew that if this bullet could hit her weak points such as her eyes or throat, it might indeed interrupt her spellcasting. But first of all, Iver might not dare to shoot like that—he only had one chance.

If she continued to put pressure on the other party, that young man would choose to play it safe!

And as long as this shot didn't hit the originally fatal weak point, she could safely block it;

To take a step back, the worst result would be that the spell was interrupted. The pitiful little pistol in his hand still couldn't cause effective damage to her—and she still had a chance to sneak attack that female Knight.

——In any case, I will at least not lose.

Hurry, hurry.

"Just give me a shot already—"

After quickly determining tactics based on his own experience, Veronica stood in place and continued to mock:

"What a ridiculous and pathetic boy. You escaped me last time, but you won't escape this time. You don't think that just because this thing can kill that idiot, it can..."

—Bang!

The next moment, a gunshot rang out.

A line of darkness pierced through Veronica's head.

Her bald head shattered into pieces, exploding like a watermelon.

The spell Veronica was maintaining spiraled out of control, and an extremely cold wind swept through the entire bar. It made Hai Na take half a step back, and it made Iver's wheelchair roll backward until it hit the wall and stopped.

There was no need for a follow-up attack.

Because she died too quickly and thoroughly, the continuous damage caused by "shadow" and "erosion" couldn't even be applied.

Tiny white specks of light gradually emerged from her corpse and poured into Iver's body.

[Killed a Second Level transcendent, gained 16 free experience]

—This was the simplest way to skip levels.

Among the protective rituals she could use, there were no physical resistances against "cutting," "piercing," or "blunt force." In other words, she could only resist "slashing" and "shooting" at most. And her ritual level was too low to be effective against transcendent weapons.

So, all that was needed was to find a transcendent weapon with "cutting," "piercing," or "blunt force" properties, and before entering combat, use a sneak attack to hit her weakness. This would penetrate all resistances as if attacking a normal unit, dealing at least one-third of her health in a single hit, directly causing her to break defense and faint.

Then, a round of output would be enough to take her away.

And in reality, without the three times health bonus of a four-player dungeon BOSS, one shot was enough to directly kill her with a headshot.

After all, the system for creating "enchantment cards" came from the Great Sin Scholar's ability. Extremely rare purple transcendent equipment in the 1.0 environment became basically standard issue after two versions, so the Great Sin Scholar's Phantom Demon cards were quite generous with the "transcendent" affix.

It could even be said that if the "transcendent" affix wasn't given, the weapon cards materialized by the Phantom Demon cards wouldn't be able to damage the monsters after two versions—enemies at that time were basically covered in non-transcendent resistance, and weapons and consumables that didn't involve transcendent power couldn't damage people anymore.

It wasn't like now, where even blue and white gear could kill people.

What was this? This was the suppression of version updates.

"You saw it, she made me shoot. I just wanted to scare her."

Looking at Hai Na's somewhat astonished and confused gaze, Iver shrugged innocently: "It's not my fault."

"...I know. Don't be afraid, Mr. Iver. You are completely innocent, and were threatened with your life, so you were forced to shoot—I can testify for you."

Hai Na hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding.

She looked back at the female warlock's corpse and was silent for a while.

"...But why was she so arrogant?"

She tried to explain everything that had happened before her eyes, trying to make it reasonable: "Maybe she thought you would miss...

"—Right, she said 'last time she couldn't kill you.' Could she be the Demon Scholar who kidnapped you? That's why she underestimated you, never expecting that as a Priest, you would not only have reasoning abilities, but also the courage to fight her!"

Hai Na spoke more and more smoothly, feeling like she had completed the logic.

Iver shook his head repeatedly.

This person is charmed, they can really say anything... Just say you want my body. This logic had left him at a loss for words.

"We can still carry one person's corpse back. But two people is definitely impossible."

Iver didn't take up the conversation, but calmly made a suggestion: "So my suggestion is, we find a way to contact the nearby Bureau of Supervision. Let them send people to supervise—and by the way, seal this place up. The Pelican Bar must be related to these Demon Scholars.

"You can check the basement of this bar, there should be a large number of ritual materials inside."

"Great!"

Hai Na was extremely excited: "The incident is resolved!"

But then, she suddenly remembered something: "Speaking of which, how do you know the bartender's name?"

"Because I've been here before."

Iver didn't shy away from it: "It was the day I was attacked and kidnapped.

"In fact, what I told you before wasn't entirely correct. Or rather... I didn't know they were Demon Scholars at the time."

"They?"

"Yes. In addition to this woman, there was also a middle-aged man. Before I was attacked, the two of them came to me for a drink... I thought they were good people at the time, so I treated them to a meal.

"As a result, I didn't expect that I would pass out shortly after leaving the bar. In a daze, I saw a huge Stone Arch. So I knew I must have been taken to Stone Arch Park. I never thought that the people who knocked me out were them—or rather, there must have been something wrong with the food I ate that day.

"That's why I tested that bartender. I suspected that he poisoned me and recognized me.

"So I think we can't let our guard down yet. There should be an even more powerful Demon Scholar still alive. He's a man, about forty years old, with brown eyes, also bald, with a bit of a Stibium Kingdom accent—he said he was a stone merchant, traveling between Stibium and Avalon on weekdays."

Iver spoke half-truths.

His itinerary that day was easy to investigate. The deep impression he left was not only on this Wild Elf bartender, but also on all the guests who came here that day.

So he couldn't deceive anyone here.

And Iver had to pay special attention to the perspective issue.

If he was really an innocent person, then he shouldn't know the special nature of these two people. So it was very reasonable that he didn't report it on the first day—from Iver's perspective at the time, he did go out to play and then encountered an attack on the way home.

But now, he had to say it. Because once the investigation of the Pelican Bar started, his itinerary that day couldn't be concealed at all.

Similarly, from his perspective, he certainly wouldn't know that the man had already been killed by him. He didn't know that there was a dead person at the ritual site, and that he was a wanted criminal.

Sure enough, Hai Na immediately explained to him: "Don't be afraid, that person is probably already dead—I now fully understand the whole incident.

"They should have been hiding in this bar. Then that day, they saw you coming to the bar alone, and planned to use you as a sacrifice to summon a demon.

"This bartender is one of them, so he poisoned you, making you unable to resist their sacrifice.

"That woman just said something like 'we couldn't kill you last time', and that man died at the ritual site... He must have been backlashed by the demon he summoned, and his student decisively fled the scene. As a result, the demon first killed its summoner, and you survived."

"I see."

Iver nodded thoughtfully: "If that man is already dead... then it roughly matches my guess.

"In that case, Senior—we don't have to immediately report to the Bureau of Supervision."

Now that he needed Hai Na, Iver stopped calling her by her name directly and reverted to addressing her as "Senior."

"Why?"

Hai Na was a bit puzzled. "Wouldn't it be faster to find it with more people?"

"Someone among the escaped customers must have already reported to the Bureau of Supervision. And I fired two shots just now; the people outside should have heard it. The Bureau of Supervision should be here in a while. We just need to wait here."

As he said this, a clear hesitation appeared on Iver's face, one that even Hai Na could easily see.

She immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

"Actually," Iver lowered his voice, "I might have left a book here.

"I was dizzy when I left that day, and I left something here."

"What book?"

"It's a forbidden book."

"A forbidden book?!"

"Yes."

Iver nodded, saying seriously, "It's called 'Alchemical Cipher', and it should have been taken to the basement by the bartender.

"I didn't originally dare to ask for it back. But since we don't have to notify the Bureau of Supervision immediately, I still want to retrieve it. That book is still very valuable… and I'm also worried that if it stays here, someone might find out that this book is related to our Moriarty Family."

"...You."

Hai Na only felt a headache coming on.

Even setting aside his looks—in this short day of contact, she had come to greatly appreciate this junior of hers.

Smart, serious, cultured. He was even a seeker of the Path of Dedication and fought alongside her. In terms of dealing with that female Demon Scholar, he could even be said to have saved her life.

She was not an ungrateful person.

But how to handle this matter…

Hai Na thought for a moment, then sheathed her sword, and the halo in her eyes gradually faded.

"Just this once."

She also lowered her voice, saying seriously, "I know that some important figures must have secretly studied those forbidden knowledges. But I didn't expect you to be the same…

"I don't want to report you, but at least don't bring it to public places, okay? It's very dangerous!

"Even if the Bureau of Supervision doesn't search your bag during a patrol, you might be targeted by villains—you may not know, but these kinds of mysterious books are very expensive on the black market!"

Of course I know.

It's precisely because it's expensive, and you, Senior, are afraid of being poor and can empathize with the pain, that I brought this up here…

"Yes, Senior is right…"

Iver nodded repeatedly, looking pitiful. "Can Senior help me get it back? Since it's illegal, it should be hidden in the basement; if it's valuable enough, it should be placed in some important box."

"...I suspect you were targeted because of that book!"

Hai Na, not having lectured enough, couldn't help but say a couple more sentences.

But looking at Iver's appearance, she softened after all.

She sighed and handed her Bureau of Supervision badge and sword to Iver: "Just stay here, don't go out. If the local Bureau of Supervision comes before I get back, show them this. Tell them someone is already investigating and to wait here.

"—Also, speaking of alchemy, I just remembered. According to standard procedure, this gun of yours has to be handed over to the Bureau of Supervision for testing to see if it has been illegally modified with alchemy."

"I understand. It should be."

Iver nodded without hesitation.

Hai Na was still a little worried: "Tell me the truth, is it? I feel like its power is a bit too much. If it is, I'll help you dispose of the body, I can hide the traces a bit—modifying weapons with alchemy is also illegal."

"Really not."

Iver guaranteed very certainly: "You can check it as you like. Let's not dispose of the body... if someone finds out you disposed of the body, you won't be in a good place either."

Not to mention this is an enchantment, not a modification... and it would be a miracle if the Phantom Demon card could be detected by the Bureau of Supervision's novice technicians who are at most below Third Level.

Do you even understand what industry technical barriers are?

Hearing this, Hai Na felt a warmth in her heart.

Even though she was the one offering to help, she somehow felt like she was being helped.

"Be careful, I'll be back soon."

With that, Hai Na opened the basement door and closed it behind her.

After she left, Iver sighed softly.

The expression of a puppy who had made a mistake on his face instantly disappeared without a trace. He became expressionless.

—The next moment, Iver stood up from the wheelchair.

His movements were very smooth, without any hesitation.

And the moment he left the wheelchair, the shadow beneath him moved slowly as if it were a living thing suddenly awakened. Like an amorphous demon, it crawled slowly from his skin and spread and twisted across the ground.

The entire messy bar hall became dim.

As if it were not noon, but dusk with the lights on, blocking all the light coming in from outside.

Swish, swish...

Iver stepped on his own shadow, making a sound like boots stepping on puddles on a rainy day. His shadow seemed to have turned into some kind of viscous liquid, or like flowing, black blood.

Completely ignoring this change, Iver walked straight to Veronica's body and carefully searched her body in the dark.

When they met that night, Veronica had shown him—she had hidden a thick stack of letters close to her body in her clothes.

He had seen it clearly at that time. The last letter he sent them was hidden inside.

These letters were kept in her own brassiere.

—If Veronica forgot to destroy or planned to temporarily keep this letter after she was presumably killed by the Shadow Demon...

If she were to suddenly die now, it would become evidence that could implicate Iver.

Iver lured Hai Na away in order to quietly retrieve this fatal piece of evidence.

As a result, just as Iver had expected.

Iver pulled a stack of letters of various sizes from Veronica's clothes and immediately spotted the one that belonged to him.

"Heh."

Iver sneered and clenched the letter tightly.

As expected.

——This is the last piece of evidence.

Wuwu, the editor ran over to me yesterday, very worried, and said that the word count was increasing too fast. If I added more updates, the new book wouldn't get enough recommendations and would have to be put on the shelves...

Today is still more than 7,000 words, but from tomorrow onwards, it will have to be reduced to less than 5,000. But I will try to write as much as possible! Following the updates during the new book period is very important, remember to come and check it out every day!