Why Did You Take So Long?

Luther viciously beat Hanass beneath his feet while thinking of a solution.

Simply damaging Hanass's body would not work, because he would keep regenerating. He had to approach this from a mysticism angle. But the so-called Demon-Hunting Bullets had not been effective enough either. He needed a more effective method.

Come to think of it, Hanass had turned into this monstrosity because he gained power from the True Creator. I happen to be a Secrets Suppliant. Maybe the potion contains knowledge related to this...

Luther quickly searched through the mysticism knowledge he had acquired while riding in the carriage. Sure enough, he found something! In the section on rituals, he discovered one that perfectly matched Hanass's current condition.

The ritual was called "Cathedral Descent."

Cathedral Descent was an evil ritual that could strengthen oneself. The caster had to sacrifice the lives of two close relatives to obtain the True Creator's blessing. If the ritual succeeded, the True Creator would send a trace of corrupt aura into the caster's body, helping him fuse the heads of those two close relatives onto himself. The two heads would gain various bizarre effects, such as Language of Foulness, Amplified Chant, and Body Enhancement, greatly enhancing the caster's abilities.

Using close relatives as sacrifices? What a crazy ritual. Luther thought that even among the many dark rituals of the Secrets Suppliants, this was an especially extreme one.

But the ritual had already succeeded. How could he stop it?

After thinking for a moment, Luther suddenly had a bold idea.

The reason those two heads could remain fused was the trace of corrupt aura the True Creator had left inside Hanass. In that case, as long as he extracted that trace of aura, Hanass would be finished!

With that thought, he stopped attacking. He reached beside his ear, dipped his fingers in the blood flowing from it, and used the blood as paint to draw a pattern on his right palm.

It was a blooming blood-red rose. At the center of its layered petals stood an inverted cross. The pattern was simple, yet it evoked a sense of prosperity, corruption, and sinister oddity—this was the True Creator's holy emblem.

Luther finished drawing the twisted symbol with obvious disgust, then spread open his palm and aimed it at Hanass. He would use himself as a container to extract the True Creator's aura. Based on everything that had happened before, he guessed that aura would probably prefer his body.

Besides, the Phantom Tide within him protected him. The corrupt aura could not affect him!

"You blasphemer!"

Hanass cursed.

Luther ignored him entirely and softly recited in a language he himself had never mastered:

"Praise the Lord's new life; corruption is the salvation of all."

With that, he decisively pressed his bloodied palm onto Hanass's forehead.

"Aaaaaah!"

The instant their skin touched, Hanass let out a piercing wail. His body instantly turned crimson, like a boiled shrimp arching its back and struggling desperately. The two human faces cried out in agony as well. After only a few spasms, he stopped moving, his body turning into a puddle of mush like a candle melted by heat.

Luther was not faring much better. An evil, filthy aura shot into his body through his palm and rushed straight toward his head. Everywhere it passed erupted in agonizing pain, as though countless tiny mouths were gnawing at his Flesh. He watched helplessly as the skin on the back of his hand burst open with a pop, exposing bright-red muscle and pale-yellow fat beneath. The cracks spread up his arm, and vaguely, the Flesh seemed to begin wriggling and mutating...

Fortunately, the corrupt aura collided with the illusory tide in his mind. The tide wrapped around it, consuming the aura even as it faded away itself. In only a few seconds, the two canceled each other out and vanished into nothingness.

As the True Creator's aura dissipated, the exposed Flesh on Luther's arm stopped wriggling and mutating. It slowly healed and rejoined itself.

I guessed right after all.

Luther felt a wave of weakness wash over him and simply collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily. That illusory seawater really could block the True Creator's corruption, just like when he had nearly gone mad after drinking the potion.

He did not know what that represented, but instinctively felt it had to be something extremely important.

Maybe it's some transmigrator perk of mine, like a fixed SAN value or something...

Luther jokingly thought to himself.

The hall was a complete mess. He sat there miserably while, a few meters away beyond the corpse, Klein was still too badly injured to stand. Klein looked at him with some surprise. Their eyes met, and both felt somewhat awkward.

Should I say something...

Fortunately, the hurried sound of a carriage outside broke the awkward silence. Several chaotic sets of footsteps rang out before the carriage had even stopped, continuing until their owners shoved open the door and rushed in. Luther turned around and saw that they were Dunn Smith's group, who had left earlier.

"This... this is..."

Leonard stared at the disastrous state of the hall and Hanass's horrifying corpse in shock, unable to speak for a moment.

Luther gave a bitter smile. Meeting Dunn's deep, astonished gaze, he spoke with a hint of helplessness and complaint:

"Mr. Dunn... why did you take so long?"

"So, relying on the Secrets Suppliant's knowledge, you dealt with the enhanced Hanass?"

Stepping over the corroded floorboards, Dunn slowly asked.

Shattered expensive tea sets, overturned solid-wood tables and chairs, partitions burned through with huge holes... The once tastefully furnished lobby of Blackthorn Security Company had become utterly wrecked. It looked as though it had been ransacked by a gang of thugs. The injured Klein and unconscious Royale had both been sent to the back for treatment. Only Hanass's corpse remained on the floor, lying on its back—or perhaps it should have been called a puddle?

"Uh, it was mainly thanks to the two Nighthawks."

Luther smiled. For some reason, whenever Dunn's deep eyes stared at him, he always felt a little uncomfortable. "I just found an opportunity to sneak attack him. I happened to know how to resolve the ritual..."

He recounted the entire sequence of events in detail. Dunn listened calmly, occasionally interrupting to ask about certain details of the battle. When Luther finished, Dunn picked up the cane Luther had used to strike Hanass from the floor and walked over to the puddle of Flesh where Hanass lay.

Hanass had completely melted, leaving only his heavily corroded black robe spread over the Flesh. Beneath the robe, two protrusions the size of human heads bulged from the otherwise flat mass of Flesh, looking extremely conspicuous.

Dunn gripped the cane and stirred the Flesh with it. Using the tip, he carefully lifted a corner of the black robe and looked underneath.

When he saw what the two protrusions were, his eyes flickered, and he seemed to let out an almost inaudible sigh.

"Leonard."

He called out.

"What is it, Captain?"

Leonard was holding a broom and leisurely sweeping up the shattered porcelain on the floor. Hearing Dunn call him, he looked up.

"Go to the police station and find Inspector Tolle. Tell him we have a third crime scene and need him to come handle it."

"Yes."

Leonard said. After putting down the broom and putting on his coat, he could not help but laugh. "I can already imagine Inspector Tolle's expression when he hears the news... Heh, three murder scenes in one night. He'll go crazy."

Hearing that, Luther recalled the police officers who had been cleaning up the scenes with bitter expressions.

Wait, three scenes? He froze for a moment, then quickly realized. "Mr. Dunn, did you go to Hanass's house but fail to find him, only to discover the blood sacrifice scene?"

"That's right."

Dunn stared down at Hanass's Flesh and said, "It's truly strange. Why did Hanass wake up in the middle of the night, blood-sacrifice his family, and then find Blackthorn Security Company so precisely? I really can't understand it."

It had clearly been a simple arrest, yet it had nearly led to an extremely dangerous outcome. By sheer coincidence, they had missed each other, leaving headquarters empty. If Luther had not unexpectedly helped, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

It was almost like a coincidence... filled with malice.