Chapter 92: You Curse Me? I Curse You! (Previous chapter modified)
"Be careful, there's a Wraith!"
Lu Ze warned. His eyes could see spirits, but the Captain and Leonard couldn't see them without activating their Spirit Vision.
A cold sensation spread from Leonard's ankle, his lower body immediately felt as if it had been submerged in ice water, cold and stiff. Meanwhile, on the other side, the curtain by the window suddenly came alive, wrapping around Dunn, tightly binding his mouth and nose, seemingly trying to suffocate him to death.
"Bang!"
Lu Ze fired at the pouncing Wraith, and the demon-hunting bullet hit the transparent figure, immediately eliminating it. He was about to help his struggling teammates when he suddenly heard a murmur from his left, the sound gradually growing louder.
The source of the sound is that Demoness, which means she's coming for me!
In an emergency, Lu Ze forcefully tapped his chest, activating the clockwork clown. His movements suddenly accelerated, his joints and muscles coordinating simultaneously, his body seeming to be pulled by invisible ropes, abruptly dodging to the right.
"Swish!"
A blade fiercely stabbed out from the void, striking exactly where he had just been standing.
"Hmm?"
A woman's voice of confusion came from the air, and then the blade retracted and disappeared. The murmuring also decreased, as if the opponent, having missed her strike, didn't linger but immediately moved away in the direction of the door.
She's running away!
The Heart is trying to escape!
"Bang bang bang!"
Lu Ze raised his gun and fired, continuously pulling the trigger in the direction of the door, gambling on whether he could hit the opponent even once.
In the void in front of the door, a ripple suddenly spread, and Triss emerged, clutching her scraped arm. She glared at Lu Ze hatefully, not stopping, but accelerating out.
Lu Ze looked back at his teammates and saw that Dunn had already broken free from the curtain's restraint and was rushing to rescue Leonard. He felt relieved and, while the Clown's effect was still active, followed Triss out.
As long as I can stall Triss for a bit, once the Captain and Leonard catch up, we can keep her here!
Thinking this, Lu Ze strode forward, crossing the front hall in a few steps and rushing out the door. Just as he was about to cross the dilapidated garden, he saw Triss ahead suddenly make a gesture.
"Swish!"
The withered vines that had been wrapped around the wall immediately came alive, like a large net, pouncing towards Lu Ze.
Lu Ze twisted his body sharply while rushing forward, his joints and muscles showing astonishing coordination, actually managing to dodge the large net woven by the vines. But just as he fully dodged, and his body had no time to adjust, something suddenly shot out from the vines towards him!
In an emergency, he could only raise his hand to protect his face.
"Puff!"
A stinging pain came from the back of his hand. Lu Ze looked closely and saw it was a delicate, vibrant rose, its thorns deeply embedded in the skin on the back of his hand, with a few drops of blood oozing from the wound.
What the hell!
Lu Ze cursed under his breath, then plucked off the rose.
When he looked up again, the opponent had already taken the opportunity to run to the end of his vision, rounding a building and disappearing.
Damn it!
Lu Ze cursed under his breath, and when he looked down again, he found that the rose was gone.
Wait, something seems wrong. That flower touched my blood…
Lu Ze stared at the wound, a sense of crisis welling up in his heart. He quickly pulled out his ritual dagger, rushed into the first-floor hall, and collided with Leonard and Dunn who had chased out.
"Where is she?"
Leonard asked.
"She ran that way!"
Lu Ze pointed, then let his two teammates chase after her, while he sat on the floor with his dagger. He opened his injured left hand, placed it on the floor, cut the wound with the dagger, and, dipping his finger in the blood, drew a simple magic array on the floor. The circular outline of the array encompassed his left hand and part of his wrist.
At the same time, by the Tasok River.
Triss ran quickly, her pretty face grim, clutching the flower that had absorbed Lu Ze's fresh blood, muttering in a low voice.
"Boom!"
Dark and illusory flames surged from her palm, instantly enveloping the flower and burning it to ashes.
On Lu Ze's side, just as he finished drawing the array, flames suddenly erupted from his wound, quickly spreading along his body. But because of the array, the flames were blocked at his wrist, only burning the limb within the circular area.
"Damn it!"
Lu Ze's left hand was severely burned, his skin sizzling. The air was immediately filled with a strange smell of burnt and roasted flesh, and the searing pain tormented Lu Ze, making him curse loudly.
Dare to curse me?
Watch me curse you back!
Lu Ze also became ruthless. He raised his silver dagger high, and, utilizing the lingering resentment in the hall, loudly chanted the True Creator's honorific name in Hermes:
"The Lord who created all things."
Fortunately, Leonard and Dunn had both chased out, otherwise, it would have been difficult for him to openly borrow the power of the True Creator like this.
The resentment of the curse gathered on Lu Ze's dagger. The originally silver dagger quickly turned an ominous, dark color. Immediately after, he plunged it fiercely into his still burning left hand!
By the Tasok River, Triss looked at the flower that was continuously burning but never turned to ash, and a look of confusion appeared on her face. Just as she was about to lean in for a closer look, an invisible force suddenly shot out from the flames, piercing towards her head!
Triss's hair stood on end; the Assassin's extremely high agility saved her life. She barely managed to turn her head, and the piercing curse plowed through her collarbone and shoulder, shooting into the void.
"Sizzle sizzle!"
A terrifying deep mark appeared on her delicate skin, her pale collarbone clearly visible. Strong corrosiveness manifested at the wound, and her wound was slowly extending downwards!
"Ah!"
Triss couldn't help but let out a scream, her voice filled with both pain and terror.
But before she could take remedial measures, she heard the sound of "thump thump thump" footsteps from a distance; it was Dunn and Leonard chasing after her!
Seeing this, Triss could only cover her festering wound and turn to jump into the Tasok River. By the time Dunn and Leonard arrived, her figure was no longer visible on the river surface.
"Captain, we didn't catch her."
Leonard stood by the river, saying after a search.
"Hmm, let's go back for now."
Dunn shook his head, his eyes deep, seemingly pondering something.
The Sleepless's night vision was very strong; they both saw that the woman seemed to have suffered an inexplicable attack before jumping into the Tasok River. They just didn't know where that attack came from.
"What a pity, I didn't manage to kill her."
Lu Ze felt the feedback of the curse and knew that he had not fully hit her.
Seeing the flames on his hand disappear and the connection between them break, he could no longer continue the curse, so he began to clean up the scene. During this time, his burned left hand quickly recovered, and by the time Dunn returned, it was as good as new, showing no problems.
Some readers reflected that there was a problem in the previous chapter, that the side effects of the Sealed Artifact were too strong, making the protagonist a useless teammate. After thinking it over, I agree with everyone, and therefore I have modified some of the plot in the previous chapter.
The original intention of obtaining this Sealed Artifact was to give the protagonist an extra card when dealing with Ms. M. However, some of the plot might have been a bit inappropriate, and I will try my best to control it in the future. Thank you all.