Chapter 90
Tell kept flapping his wings as he moved toward the five people while wearing an expression that was both joyful and terrifying. Then he opened his small palm, pointed it at them, and released a pale blue shimmer amid the dim glow of the burning explosion.
For a brief moment, the atmosphere around the road at the edge of the university became visible, revealing the objects nearby, including a pair of wooden benches with extinguished gas lamps beside them and several decorative plants around the resting area.
The three of them could clearly see the faces of all five people, and it was at that moment that Zavi froze after recognizing a familiar figure standing calmly ahead of them.
The moment Tell lunged at the woman standing beside him, the man next to her forcefully shoved her shoulder until her body instantly collapsed, allowing Tell's attack to shoot past above her.
Tell clicked his tongue as he floated there before turning around to stare at them carefully.
'How can such a lowly creature stay calm while fighting me?' Tell thought uncertainly, realizing something was wrong.
"Mudelk," he broke the silence filling the stone road. "Are you just going to stand there while I distract them?" he asked with furrowed brows.
'Tch, because of that bastard, my condition right now is different from before,' Tell complained inwardly, overflowing with anger as his fingers clenched tightly while he wore a displeased expression.
Then three of them split off in opposite directions, leaving behind only two people; a man and a woman who had previously been Tell's targets.
From the side where Tell floated silently, a strange creature shaped like a full skeletal serpent with fish-fin-like ends rapidly rushed toward him.
Tell's eyes widened the instant he noticed it. He immediately moved his hands, trying to counterattack, but failed because the violent gust of wind sent his tiny body flying like a dry leaf while the heat wave peeled the feathers off his wings.
The blast of wind wreaked havoc on everything nearby, including Zuhen's cigarette, which was blown away without him noticing.
Tell groaned as he realized it. He focused his spiritual flow toward Zuhen and concentrated on restoring his physical condition.
Meanwhile, the serpent-shaped skeleton floated past the two people and headed straight toward the three of them at the same speed as before.
The moment he realized that, Tell immediately regenerated his entire body and shot forward at the speed of sound before smashing into the skeletal serpent creature, causing its form to shatter into several pieces.
The three of them stood still, not out of shock, but because they were observing who had summoned or created that creature. A moment later, all three of them, including Tell, watched the skeleton pieces fuse back together as if the serpent had never been destroyed or injured at all.
"Shit," Tell whispered as his enthusiasm faded.
'That person? I've seen him before, but where?' Zavi thought while holding down his hat against the wind.
"Looks like I'll go after those three," Zavi said while looking at them. "I'll bring Aaron with me, and you two... uh, three can handle this situation, right?" he asked hesitantly, though he truly believed they could defeat that person.
"Whatever," Felina replied indifferently, wearing an annoyed expression at being ordered around by Zavi.
'All I can do is watch while... cheating afterward,' Zuhen thought with his gaze fixed straight ahead.
The moment all four of them noticed the skeletal serpent approaching, Zavi instantly turned around and ran off in panic while holding onto his hat because the serpent's violent wind still had not subsided.
The two of them simultaneously retreated while attacking, not even thinking about destroying the skeletal serpent.
A few seconds later, the skeletal serpent unleashed another burst of wind mixed with a heat wave that slowly peeled away the skin of both of them over time.
However, they managed to endure it because they used a technique that transferred injuries at the cost of gradually eroding their spirituality.
The skeletal serpent shattered when Felina touched her elbow before forming a movement like drawing a bow and struck it with the crack of a tiny invisible needle.
She knew the attack was weak, but it was enough to give the two of them an opening to pass through and kill the two people standing not far ahead, because the serpent kept blocking Zuhen and Tell as it moved toward those two.
Realizing the creature regenerated perfectly and released violent gusts capable of blowing away everything around it along with an even stronger heat wave than before.
But Zuhen's lips moved quietly as he ran to the side of the floating skeletal serpent, instantly drawing its attention toward him.
"Behind the beautiful full moon,
"Tranquility rests within the empty palace,
"The voice of a lost heart sleeps beneath the shadows,
"Existing only to obey the ruler's command."
The moment he finished his second-level reversal spell, the serpent whose entire body consisted only of bones floated upside down within seconds as countless milk-white jasmine petals swirled around it, covering its entire body before the petals shattered apart like snow raining down on the two of them.
As if refusing to waste the opportunity, Tell immediately flapped his wings powerfully and attacked the two people now that their protection had vanished.
But of course, they did not stand still after seeing that. The man calmly pulled a revolver from inside his suit pocket and pointed it directly at Tell's tiny body before firing with precision.
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
Passed through. Passed through. Passed through.
Even though the bullets struck Tell perfectly, it was no different from shooting a Phantom known as a Ghost, invisible, untouchable by hands or ordinary objects, and only visible to people with the ability to see it.
Though attacks infused with spiritual energy could injure it, even kill it...
The man clicked his tongue. He wanted to summon the skeletal serpent creature again. But unfortunately, before he could summon it, he would die from the attack of the figure flying straight toward him.
He flicked his revolver, spinning it slowly as three empty shell casings fell to the ground right in front of his feet.
He immediately turned around while slipping the revolver back into his suit pocket and nudged the woman's body with his elbow, signaling her to flee this place immediately, and the man truly realized that Tell's movements were slowing down over time.
That realization lowered his vigilance toward the creature.
But the moment he turned toward the road on the right side, a pale blue light, an invisible needle that he could still see because of its blazing blue aura, shot past him at incredible speed from the side, instantly stopping him in his tracks as he stared at the wall of the student resting building now pierced with a hole, forcing him to slowly turn his body around and stare at them in confusion.
He groaned after seeing that the two of them had already caught up to him.
"Looks like you're not giving me a chance to escape?" the man muttered while pulling out a silver revolver faintly gleaming in the darkness.
Zuhen smiled faintly. "You're too important for baiting out your other companions."
"Your other companions?" the man repeated, genuinely not understanding what Zuhen was planning.
Meanwhile, the woman standing beside him received the revolver the man had just tossed toward her.
"Find Arfen, and after that you can do whatever you want," the man said with a bitter smile, realizing that he might very well be killed by the three of them after this.
'This is the right idea. I'm the only useless one among all of them. I'm always the bait, just like back then, and even now they still haven't changed after receiving that punishment,' the man complained bitterly, his fingers clenching tightly as though he wanted to turn the three of them into punching bags for his anger.
"Take care of yourself," the woman muttered flatly before turning around and leaving him alone surrounded by enemies.
The man looked back with teary eyes while his chest felt tighter than before, as though nature itself was warning him that his life was about to end.
"I overdid it," the man whispered while shaking his head slowly. He raised his arm in a gesture as though he wanted to say something important. "How about we fight without using anything related to the supernatural?"
The man waited with a face full of confidence and hope, making this his final gamble between life and death.
"I don't think of stupid things like that," Zuhen replied while taking out his cigarette pack.
He slowly pressed the pack so that two of the remaining five cigarettes stuck out farther than the others. He took one of them and tossed it forward, letting it roll slowly until it touched the tip of the man's shoe.
"What is this?" the man asked in confusion, not understanding what Zuhen was planning.
Zuhen pulled out the protruding cigarette before closing the pack and slipping it back into his jacket pocket.
"Of course it's a gift," Zuhen replied calmly, like a deadly trap waiting beneath still waters.
'If he knows about that, then I'll kill him,' Zuhen thought with a calm expression while slipping the cigarette between his lips.
'Seriously, smoking peacefully is way harder than I imagined,' Zuhen thought while remembering the cigarette that had been blown away somewhere, worried it might start a fire while the ember was still burning.
Felina fell silent for a moment when she noticed the man picking up the cigarette with hesitant movements, and then she grew even quieter after glancing at Zuhen, who was staring at the man with careful calculation.
'I have no idea what's going on in your head,' Felina thought uneasily.
The man's breath caught, his fingers trembling while holding the cigarette, and his knees suddenly felt weak under the calm gazes directed at him.
"I've accepted it," the man said, trying to hide his panic.
"Hein Warlock," Zuhen muttered while lighting his cigarette with a lighter.
Without the slightest hesitation, the man replied in complete confusion, "I don't understand your language."
Zuhen exhaled smoke.
'So he doesn't know that person. Looks like he's really lucky I decided to let him live,' Zuhen thought while nodding.
But a few seconds later, he changed his mind when Tell suddenly appeared directly behind the man and thrust his hand straight through the man's heart, pale blue light radiating from Tell's hand.
'Tch, why the hell did he kill him?' Zuhen thought irritably.
'He got killed by him?' Felina thought in shock as she glanced sideways.
The cigarette slipped from the man's fingers, time seeming to slow as he collapsed together with the cigarette that briefly blocked the endless stream of blood pouring from his heart.
Not long after that, Tell flicked his hand clean of blood while wearing a displeased expression.
The man had died with his heart pierced through.
Zuhen immediately walked toward him and voiced his frustration.
"Why did you kill him, huh?"
"That... I don't know myself," Tell replied while averting his gaze to the side.
"Shit," Zuhen grumbled irritably before smoking again. "I didn't even get information about where that guy is, you know."
Tell chuckled softly.
"We can still search for him, right?" He looked at Felina, hoping she would help him in a situation like this.
'Why is he looking at me?' Felina thought in confusion.
Meanwhile, after Zavi had left the previous location earlier, he ran into Aaron on the small road beneath the massive staircase before the university entrance, and the two of them exchanged information about everything that had happened.
Understanding the situation, he immediately searched for the three of them and eventually found them on the right side of this enormous university building, near the wide river with its powerful current.
"So," said a woman with black hair that fell loosely over her shoulders, "you've found us?"
The air seemed to freeze as they all stared intently at one another.
"It seems you two are really determined to catch us all, aren't you?" remarked a man wearing a brown flat cap.
Neither of them; Zavi and Aaron, showed the slightest sign of fear upon realising there were more than ten people wearing the same uniform; and amongst the eleven present, four were women wearing thick brown jackets with fur collars and tight black trousers. The rest were men wearing tailcoats with shirts and ties wrapped around their necks, their faces expressionless and intimidating.