Milluki's Trump Card

Milluki turned his head away.

"Come back alive, then we'll talk."

Bai Zhu chuckled softly.

"What, you can't bear to part with me that much?"

"Don't make me change my mind."

Bai Zhu raised a hand and pressed it near the wound on his chest and abdomen, mobilizing the Reiatsu that had recovered over the past few hours.

"Kaidō No. 33: Angel's Gaze."

A faint glow covered the edges of the bandages again.

The suffocating pain in his chest was suppressed, and the injuries all over his body began healing rapidly.

But a portion of the Reiatsu he had just recovered was immediately drained away.

Bai Zhu assessed his Reiatsu.

His current Reiatsu could still support a few uses of White Lightning, but Sōkatsui was out of the question.

Milluki stared at the monitoring window, his fingers unconsciously coming to a stop.

"Treatment again."

Bai Zhu lowered his hand.

"What, jealous?"

Milluki did not take the bait.

The longer he stared at Bai Zhu, the deeper the confusion in his eyes became.

"Attack, healing, control... what type are you, exactly?"

"The Sailor Moon type."

"Be serious."

"I am serious. I didn't even shout a transformation phrase."

Milluki turned to look at him.

"Nen abilities can't possibly be this diverse. Unless you have some extreme vows and restrictions behind you."

Bai Zhu rolled his shoulders.

"Not necessarily. As far as I know, someone has an incredibly complex ability, and their survival skill is resurrection. Mine doesn't even come close."

Milluki narrowed his eyes.

"Every time you use a big move, you drain yourself dry. Is that the cost?"

"Trade secret. Your membership level isn't high enough. I'll tell you once you reach Xinyue."

Milluki choked on his words.

But he did not press further.

The less Bai Zhu explained, the more certain Milluki became that something was seriously wrong with him.

Unfortunately, now was not the time to investigate.

On the screen, the Holy Knight squad had split into three groups and begun advancing down the streets.

Milluki tossed Bai Zhu an earpiece.

"I've marked out your route. Leave through the back door first, go through the drainage ditch, and circle around to North Street. Show your face on purpose and draw them out."

Bai Zhu put on the earpiece.

"You make it sound easy. Showing my face on purpose is usually work for a berserker."

"Aren't you one?"

"Uh... seems like I am! By the way, is there hazard pay?"

"Yes."

Bai Zhu perked up.

"How much?"

"Come back alive, and I won't electrocute you."

"What touching employee benefits."

Bai Zhu pushed open the back window. Before climbing out, he glanced back at that body pillow.

Milluki immediately shouted.

"What are you looking at?!"

"I'm saying goodbye to my emotional pillar."

"Get lost!"

Bai Zhu climbed out the window and headed behind the inn.

Milluki's voice immediately sounded in his earpiece.

"Don't go left. Two followers there. Turn right and stay close to the shops."

"Got it."

Bai Zhu wondered if strolling out openly like this counted as being bold. Exposing himself meant walking straight into their line of sight.

That was exactly what he thought, and exactly what he did. After circling around a warehouse, he deliberately sauntered through the sightline of two patrolling followers. Afraid they might not recognize him, he even drew his blade and rested it on his shoulder.

The two froze for half a second. One of them suddenly raised a whistle.

"Heretic!"

A piercing whistle rang out.

Bai Zhu sighed.

"Making a living isn't easy these days. Having to patrol in weather this cold, too."

Milluki immediately switched maps.

"They took the bait. A Holy Knight team from East Street has turned toward you, and people on the rooftops are moving too."

Bai Zhu ran along the wall.

He had barely taken a few steps when the outer wall of a wooden house on his right suddenly exploded.

A Black Crystal spike pierced through the wall from behind, flashing past his shoulder and embedding itself in the door of the tavern across the street.

Bai Zhu's feet slipped, and he dove straight through a nearby window.

Crash.

He rolled into an empty tavern, knocking over two chairs.

"Damn, you hit that hard."

Milluki spoke at a blistering pace.

"Don't stop! That wasn't an ordinary throw. It was an emitted Nen wave. The Black Crystal on the Holy Knights' chests can act as amplifiers."

"Put that in normal language."

"Don't let their Nen lock onto you. Once it does, their spears won't miss."

"That doesn't make sense. If they can't miss, how did I dodge that just now?"

Bai Zhu braced himself against the counter and stood, casually grabbing an empty bottle and hurling it at the entrance.

Outside, a Holy Knight had just been about to come in when the bottle shattered against his helmet.

He had never expected Bai Zhu to pull something like that. It did not hurt in the slightest, leaving him rather confused. Wasn't he supposed to be an expert? That was it?

Bai Zhu met his gaze through half a door for half a second.

"Sorry to bother you."

He turned and slipped out through the back door.

The next second, a Black Crystal lance pierced through the tavern's front door, blasting the entire door panel away.

Milluki shouted urgently through the earpiece.

"Two at the end of the alley! Get on the roof!"

"Do I look like I'm in any condition to get on a roof?"

"Then wait to die?"

"Got it. Suddenly, I can do it again."

Bai Zhu stepped onto a wooden crate and sprang upward, grabbing the low eaves and forcibly hauling himself onto the roof.

The moment he climbed up, the tiles beneath his feet shattered.

He sprawled across the roof and rolled forward awkwardly.

Behind him, Black Crystal spikes struck one after another, sending roof tiles flying everywhere.

Bai Zhu did not dare look back.

"Milluki, these people are pretty professional."

"No kidding. The Holy Knights are a church's greatest military trump card. Ground-level deacons like those aren't even qualified to polish their armor."

"That comparison is pretty unfriendly to the ground-level deacons."

"You still have time to worry about them?"

Bai Zhu jumped from the roof and landed in another alley.

Two followers had just rushed around the corner, and they froze when they saw him.

Bai Zhu raised his hand.

The two immediately stopped.

They remembered that hand.

That blast of blue fire on the ground had already left them with deep psychological trauma.

Bai Zhu nodded in satisfaction.

"Make way. I'm in a hurry."

The two instinctively moved aside.

Bai Zhu passed straight between them.

Only after he had run more than ten meters did they react.

"He... he didn't use fire?"

"Chase him!"

The Holy Knights arrived from behind. One of them did not waste any words and simply raised his spear.

The Black Crystal patterns lit up.

Bai Zhu heard Milluki shout.

"Duck!"

He dove down without hesitation.

A spike skimmed over his back, frightening the followers ahead into falling onto the ground.

Bai Zhu lay in the snowy slush and cursed.

"You don't even care about your own people? A cult really is a cult?"

Milluki's voice tightened.

"You're their only target."

"What an honor."

"Quit talking and head for the north gate. There are fewer people there, so you can get out of town."

Bai Zhu got up and kept running.

He did not casually use Kidō to counterattack.

Every bit of Reiatsu had to be conserved now.

If he could solve it with his legs, he absolutely would not spend mana.

The Holy Knights' footsteps remained close behind him.

They did not shout, curse, or threaten him.

That was what made them troublesome.

Enemies who did not waste words meant they were here to work.

Bai Zhu burst through the wooden fence at the town's north end.

A dense forest lay ahead.

Before plunging into the woods, he glanced back.

All three teams of Holy Knights had followed him.

At the street intersection, on the rooftops, and at the end of the alleys.

Not one was missing.

Bai Zhu lowered his voice.

"Chubby, your Beetle had better actually work."

Milluki sneered.

"It works, but let me warn you first."

"Go on."

"Don't use it in town, and don't get too close."

Bai Zhu halted.

"That sounds extremely ominous."

Keyboard tapping came from Milluki's end.

"There's a hunting shack twenty meters ahead. A broken slope to the right, a pile of deadwood to the left. Lead them in there, and I'll set the Beetle's detonation point."

Bai Zhu looked at the two metal boxes at his waist and suddenly felt a little regretful.

"Wait, exactly how far is 'don't get too close'?"

Milluki paused for half a second. "The theoretical safe distance is thirty meters."

Bai Zhu glanced at the Holy Knights already closing in behind him.

The nearest one was no more than fifteen meters away from him.

"And in practice?"

Milluki fell silent for a moment.

"Depends on your luck."

Bai Zhu cursed on the spot.

"I knew it! You can't trust the product manuals from the Zoldyck family!"

The moment he finished speaking, the Holy Knight at the very front suddenly stopped and slammed his spear into the ground.

Black Crystal patterns spread from the spear tip across the ground.

The snow beneath Bai Zhu's feet suddenly bulged upward.

Milluki's voice thundered out at the same time.

"Jump!"