Strange Methods

Dina's Divine Soldier Descends not only took down the tall, muscular man in one fell swoop, but also made the other two realize they were outmatched and retreat.

As soon as the tall man hit the ground, they fled into the distance.

"After them!"

Dina wasn't the only one who had come. Several of her colleagues from the Patrol Hall were with her.

Most people who managed to join the Patrol Hall had connections. Their families were wealthy or noble, and quite a few had even practiced the Breathing Technique.

They might lack experience fighting others to the death, but they were certainly no weaklings. They were especially good at taking advantage of the upper hand.

"I didn't expect it."

As they ran, Dina spoke up:

"You're already a Knight Squire. Where did you learn the Breathing Technique?"

"That's none of your business!" Karl snorted.

"You deliberately put a noble in danger. I'll report this to the Noble Council and request that you be removed from your position as Patrol Chief."

"If I hadn't stepped in just now, you might already be dead." Dina frowned.

"Is that how you thank the person who saved your life?"

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been in danger in the first place!"

"..."

Dina was speechless.

After a pause, she said,

"Ham did uncover some leads in the Mummy Case, but he was killed before he had a chance to tell me."

"So..."

"I sent you to retrieve something. I told people it was Ham's investigation results, hoping to lure out the killer. I was only testing the waters. I never expected an actual assassin to show up."

"Hmph!" Karl's voice was sullen.

"I nearly died!"

No matter how justified her reasons were, the fact remained that she had put him in danger. He wasn't going to forgive her.

As if.

He only had one life. What was there to forgive her with?

Her pretty face?

"You..." Dina's expression turned angry.

"Forget it. We'll catch them first."

"Crash!"

Seeing that they couldn't shake their pursuers, the two men ahead smashed through a wooden door and charged into a three-story building.

"You won't get away!"

Dina sped up, then sprang to the second floor in a flash. Before she could even take in her surroundings, a ball of fire came hurtling toward her. She twisted aside on instinct.

"Boom!"

The fireball exploded, scattering across the floor.

The sparks clung to the dirt, wooden walls, and roof tiles. Instead of going out immediately, they seemed to burn more fiercely.

This fire...

Karl's eyes narrowed. Fragments of his predecessor's memories surfaced, and the scar on his cheek began to ache.

"Watch out!"

Dina shouted even louder:

"It's the Fire Thief!"

The Fire Thief was a group of heretics who worshiped "fire." Their goal was to start fires and burn everything, and they had the ability to create special flames.

"Kill!"

With furious roars, the Patrol Hall officers collided with the Fire Thief cultists hiding inside the building.

Dina was at the forefront.

The rapier in her hand was keen and sharp. Her rapid thrusts could produce a piercing whistle, and with a slight flick of her wrist, the sword's afterimages multiplied.

The Fire Thief in her path was pierced countless times in the blink of an eye.

Her swordsmanship wasn't the only thing that was good.

She was agile, too. She dodged nimbly through the narrow passage, her rapier darting out from time to time. One Fire Thief after another fell before her.

"Boom!"

The door shattered.

Faced with a group of fearless patrol officers, the Fire Thief cultists who'd been caught off guard barely managed to put up a fight.

Karl wielded the greatsword he'd picked up. It wasn't as comfortable to use as his own broadsword, but it was still much better than a short sword.

"Bang!"

Rage Strike.

His greatsword swept down with tremendous force, cutting a man down. Karl took the chance to charge into a room.

Bottles and jars filled the room. Some contained murky liquids, others animal organs soaking in fluid. All kinds of complex pipes connected the glass bottles.

At first glance,

it looked like the laboratory of a mad scientist.

How strange!

Karl froze, then heard an angry roar from the room next door.

"Damn it!"

The voice was shrill and grating.

"You've ruined my experiment!"

"Boom!"

A ball of fire exploded in the next room. Two figures stumbled out with muffled groans, followed by a third person rushing after them.

The man who rushed out was young, with fair skin. More importantly...

Karl had seen him before.

A few days ago, he'd run into him on the road. The man had climbed into Annie's carriage, and Kaili had suspected he was a vampire. His name seemed to be Miles.

Miles's face was twisted into a savage grimace, and fury seemed to have consumed his reason.

A flash of swordlight.

The one wielding the sword was a colleague from the Patrol Hall named Aubrey. He was also a Knight Squire who had practiced the Breathing Technique.

Aubrey swung his Knight Sword straight at the young man's neck.

With his strength, he could easily cut an adult man's head off.

"Whoosh!"

To Aubrey's astonishment, his Knight Sword traced an arc that perfectly missed Miles.

It was as if some invisible force had twisted his movements.

At the same time,

the handle of the cane in Miles's hand sprang open, revealing a slender sword. He gave Aubrey a casual slash.

The slender sword wasn't long enough to reach Aubrey.

But...

"Slice!"

A cut appeared across Aubrey's abdomen, and blood gushed out. The upper half of his body slowly slid off his legs, his eyes full of shock and unwillingness.

"Die!"

Even after killing Aubrey, Miles's fury hadn't abated. He strode toward another man and swept his sword across again.

"Clang..."

The slender sword collided with a Knight Sword.

This time Karl saw clearly. A strange beam of light, over a foot long, extended from the slender sword.

The light seemed solid, and sparks flew when it struck the Knight Sword.

The other colleague reeled as though hit by a heavy blow, but at least he wasn't cut in half like Aubrey.

"Whoosh!"

Karl, watching from the side, wasn't spared. Miles casually slashed at him, too.

Karl's breath caught and his heart seized. The Breathing Technique sent a warning of danger through him, and he instantly understood why his colleagues' reactions had seemed so slow.

There seemed to be an invisible field around this man. Anyone who came close was suppressed by it.

"Clang..."

Their weapons collided.

Karl took a step back, slightly relieved.

Although his opponent's methods were strange and hard to understand, his strength wasn't all that impressive. He was even weaker than a Knight Squire.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh, whoosh!"

Before Karl could recover, Miles attacked again with his slender sword. Layer upon layer of afterimages kept the two of them firmly suppressed.

Under the influence of the strange field, their attacks could barely threaten Miles, while every one of his strikes was deadly.

"Ah!"

The scream beside Karl made his eyelids twitch.

One of his companions had been caught off guard, and both his legs were cut off. Blood gushed from the stumps.

"Crash!"

A loud noise rang out.

Dina, having cleared the other rooms, swooped down like a shadow. Her slender sword once again swept through the air in a flurry of afterimages, forming what looked like a miniature whirlwind.

Combat Art—Sword Dance!

The Combat Art of a peak Knight Squire engulfed nearly everything in half the room.

Miles was at the very center of it.

"Pfft!"

"Shhk..."

Karl's vision blurred. He saw Miles stagger, seemingly wounded.

"Now!"

Dina's voice was stern, edged with panic.

"Kill him!"

"Om!"

Miles hurriedly raised his hand, revealing a ring set with a sapphire. At the same time, a strange sound exploded beside them.

Karl's body went rigid.

In an instant, countless chaotic sounds flooded his ears. Everything in his sight warped into something bizarre and surreal.

All kinds of hallucinations appeared.

Winged little people, buzzing insects cackling strangely, directions twisting and turning—it was enough to nearly make him collapse.

Dina beside him gave a muffled groan. Her slender sword clattered to the ground, and she stood there with vacant eyes, instantly losing the ability to fight back.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

Karl struggled to raise his hand and triggered his Wrist Dart by instinct. Then his vision went black, and he fell to the ground.