Upon seeing the stranger appear on the other side, Lady Despair instantly conjured a sharp, crystalline ice spear in her palm and hurled it at her target.
Using the recoil, she attempted to crash backward through the carriage and onto the street.
She wasn't without doubts about this sudden situation and the strangely appearing enemy; on the contrary, she was utterly perplexed. She couldn't understand how someone could find her, whose whereabouts were so Concealment, so quickly. This was no less difficult than destroying a major city or Teleportation directly from Backlund to the Southern Continent East Balam.
But as a Sequence 4 " Witch of Despair " who has grown step by step from an " Assassin ", she understands that she cannot be distracted or talk nonsense at critical moments, and that it is not too late to consider all problems later.
Therefore, she chose to attack directly, hoping to take the opportunity to escape.
She could already imagine that wherever the ice spear passed, frost would condense, freezing the world, and the strange woman with black hair and black eyes would be frozen inside layers of crystal, having to struggle to break through the obstacles before she could catch up.
By then, she must have already left the street and blended into the crowd.
However, the scene she had hoped for did not appear. The crystal-clear, dreamlike ice spear vanished silently into the air the moment it left her hand, disappearing without a trace.
Angel! The Witch of Despair's gaze sharpened, and black flames suddenly erupted around her, spreading disease and intending to ignite everything around her, creating a massive fire.
For a fleeting moment, her body trembled strangely and she froze in place.
She saw her left hand disappear centimeter by centimeter, and the process spread rapidly upwards, becoming unstoppable.
In her eyes, the beautiful but blank-minded woman opposite her had deep, dark pupils that seemed to conceal a pure, lightless darkness.
"You're not! You are..."
The Witch of Despair's words came to an abrupt end, her entire being like a sketch that had been silently erased by an eraser, leaving not a trace.
Her last gaze was filled with fear and despair; the spot where she stood was empty, as if no one had ever sat there.
A woman with a beautiful face and a blank expression pulled up the hood of her classical robe, her lips twitched almost imperceptibly, and then she vanished in an instant.
On a trackless horse-drawn carriage in the outskirts of Queens Borough.
Trissy, wearing a veiled hat, sat quietly in the corner.
She didn't head straight for the Tussock River and escape downstream, as others assumed, or go to the nearest railway and climb onto a train.
She chose to return to Backlund.
Only a metropolis with a population of over 5 million, teeming with various Concealment forces and Beyonder, could help her evade the Demoness Sect's subsequent pursuit!
At this moment, she was on high alert, constantly on guard against the terrifying old butler Finkel.
Suddenly, she felt dizzy.
When her vision returned to normal, she found herself miraculously out of the public carriage and standing beside a muddy road in the suburbs.
Trissy's pupils contracted rapidly as she warily surveyed her surroundings.
Then, she saw a figure wearing a classical robe and a black hood, and noticed the dark eyes hidden in the shadows.
For some reason, Trissy seemed to have reverted to infancy, so fragile that she was completely powerless to resist.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, her legs trembled violently, but she was completely unable to move.
This is the most terrifying enemy I have ever faced... Even the high-ranking Witch I've encountered before didn't give me this feeling... Am I going to die here...? Is my escape attempt, which I've refused to give up on despite facing failure time and time again, finally coming to an end...? A deep sense of despair and an uncontrollable sadness overwhelmed Trissy's mind, plunging her into what seemed like the deepest and most devastating nightmare.
Suddenly, a flash of Blue Light appeared before her eyes, lifting the "curse" that had immobilized her.
Trissy looked ahead again, but the terrifying figure was gone; everything that had just happened seemed like a vivid illusion.
But when Trissy looked down, she was shocked to find that the sapphire ring on her left pinky finger had been shattered into pieces and lost all its luster.
Crack, crack, crack—the fragments of the ring and gemstone fell one after another.
Klein tumbled and rolled, dodging the collapsed stone pillars and the badly injured Mr. A was receiving treatment, and ran to the entrance on the other side.
As for the slowly condensing traces of properties left behind by the " Master Key," he didn't even glance at them, lest he be blocked by Mr. A.
He knew very well that even with all the magical items and thorough preparation, he might not be a match for the " Shepherd," let alone now that he only had the Azik Copper Whistle and three kinds of extraordinary bullets, and not even a single match left.
Even though Mr. A was seriously injured, Klein dared not take the risk. He had heard that the " Rose Bishop," a prerequisite for the " Shepherd " Sequence, was extremely skilled in Flesh and Blood Magic and was not much worse than himself in healing physical injuries, as he could transfer wounds!
Squeak!
He pulled open the heavy door.
The natural light outside shone through, tinging the clouds in the sky with a thin, pale yellow hue, and making the Sun appear pale and dim.
Klein rushed out and found himself in the mountains, surrounded by towering peaks, making the place exceptionally secluded.
He ran wildly, not even taking the mountain path, but relying on his " Clown " skills to go straight down the slope, sometimes tumbling, sometimes swinging with the help of trees.
Splash!
He heard the sound of the flowing river; it was right in front of him, right below him!
But at that moment, a strong gust of wind blew in and swept towards his back.
Klein made a quick decision, his knees buckled, and he rolled diagonally forward.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The spot where he originally stood and the direction he was moving in were carved with deep ravines by the Wind Blade.
Mr. A fell from the wind, his body covered in a cloak of still-wriggling blood.
He pointed, and chunks of flesh flew out from his body, expanding in mid-air before exploding violently.
Boom!
Drops of blood and bits of flesh flew everywhere. Klein braced himself and rolled to the side, dodging most of the attacks and hiding behind a giant tree.
The massive tree was riddled with bloody holes from the splattering, and the signs of decay spread rapidly outwards from the splattered holes.
While running, Klein had already loaded his revolver. Just as he was about to raise his hand to shoot Mr. A in the eye, he saw a deep darkness emerge in the other man's eyes.
Suddenly, Klein realized that although the scenery around him had not changed at all, he had been forcibly dragged into a dream.
He had once killed a " Nightmare," or at least a " Nightmare "... Klein remained conscious and saw Mr. A illogically Blink beside him, transforming into a long, blood-red carpet that enveloped him without any escape.
"You want to use nightmares to scare my heart so badly it stops beating?" Klein thought to himself, and then gave his answer.
This is his dream; when he's awake, he can simulate anything!
Then, a pure, dazzling golden the Sun appeared on the spot, its clear and scorching flames instantly igniting everything around it.
Klein was imagining the scene from when he saw the " Eternal Blazing Sun " in the " Dream Divination "!
Almost simultaneously, he emerged from the dream and heard a muffled groan.
Mr. A took a step back, and two streams of blood flowed from the tip of his nose.
The robe, woven from flesh and blood, flowed slowly across its surface, as if it were melting.
Snap!
Klein snapped his fingers, setting the trees thirty or forty meters away ablaze.
Beneath his feet, the long-withered weeds burned, flames shooting upwards and engulfing his body.
Mr. A's already strikingly handsome face suddenly gained a touch of feminine softness. He conjured a crystal-clear, cold, weightless ice spear in his hand and hurled it at the burning trees dozens of meters away.
As soon as Klein leaped out of the flames, the dreamlike, transparent tip of the gun was reflected in his pupils.
The spearhead grew larger and clearer, filling his entire eye.
Klein lunged to the side, his body covered in a thin layer of frost.
The transparent spear immediately extinguished the flames and caused a thick layer of ice to rapidly spread outwards, threatening to engulf Klein.
Klein was in mid-air, suddenly curled up into a ball, turned his body halfway so that his head was facing down.
He stretched out his left hand, gently pressed it on the ice, and rose into the air again, escaping the frigid realm. However, the skin on his palm was frozen at the point of contact and tore off with a ripping sound.
Klein rolled to his feet, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a self-made " Sleeping Charm."
Just as he opened his mouth, preparing to utter the activation incantation, his nose suddenly itched, and he sneezed.
Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!
He had a headache and fever, and was sneezing repeatedly, so he was completely powerless to fight back.
Was he sick? Had he been infected with a disease? Just as Klein realized this, he felt countless invisible threads wrap around him, binding him into a mummy in a certain sense.
He was no stranger to similar experiences and knew that this was the extraordinary ability of the " Demoness of Pleasure ".
He initially relied on using talismans to put both himself and his enemy into a deep sleep, and then used his special abilities to break free from control. Now, Mr. A is maintaining a distance of about 20 meters.
However, Klein was no longer just a " Clown "; his still-movable fingers snapped together with a crisp sound!
In an instant, all the "spider silk" around him was ignited, as if it had transformed into a giant torch.
As soon as Klein emerged from the crimson aura, he began sneezing and coughing violently, causing him to abruptly halt the use of many extraordinary abilities he intended to employ.
At this moment, the feminine softness of Mr. A's face disappeared, replaced by a more aloof and authoritative air.
He extended his right hand and gently shook it. Klein immediately had a premonition that if he tried to run away, he would only be going around in circles.
Mr. A, draped in a blood-red robe, revealed a cruel smile as a transparent, illusory ancient book appeared before him.
A faint, distant voice then arose:
"I came, I saw, I Record."
Achoo! Cough! Cough!
Klein wanted to dodge, but he was powerless. At this moment, he experienced the power of the " Shepherd " like never before. He was indeed the most well-rounded and strongest Beyonder below the Demigod! Even though he was unprepared and could not use many magical items, being compressed into this state and having no power to fight back was enough to explain a lot.