Chapter 98
The silence of the night swallowed the remnants of battle. Only the scent of blood lingered in the air. Above them, the moon hid behind dark blue clouds, as though unwilling to witness any of it.
Only the ruined houses and shattered stones along the road bore witness to the confusion of the three of them as they glanced at Zuhen and Canel, who seemed to be hiding something from them.
She did not fully understand, but there was definitely something preventing the two of them from speaking about it.
Time passed faster than they expected. The clock had already struck midnight, yet the changing of the day did nothing to make this city any better than before.
Bloody footprints stained the damaged stone road, while the smell of blood hung heavily in the air, causing the three of them to instinctively hold their breath as they arrived at Alley Number 21.
"Where are they now?" Zuhen asked while vaguely looking toward them.
Mine's Recipestele appeared dazed as the midnight fog thickened further, activating the way it perceived the world with extraordinary clarity.
"Over on that street." Its tiny index finger pointed toward the intersection ahead.
Canel's eyebrows lifted slightly as he asked in a calmer voice than before, "You mean Syrp Street No. 2?"
"Of course," Tell answered without the slightest hesitation, sensing the same thing as the way she viewed the surrounding world became incredibly clear and vivid, allowing her to see the millions of tiny microbes and bacteria being inhaled by the three of them.
Then, Zuhen glanced toward Tell with a wide grin before speaking in his hoarse voice, "Want to do it now?"
Tell slightly shrugged her shoulders and replied, "What choice do I have?"
She paused for a moment as she looked at them from head to toe, including the Recipestele that had previously been her opponent. Then her tiny body turned around as she performed hand movements too quick and complicated for ordinary human eyes before flying toward them one by one.
The fog thickened further while silence suddenly filled the street. Cold air crept into their bodies as darkness abruptly consumed their vision the moment Tell touched them with her tiny index finger.
Then, in an instant, they arrived at their destination; Syrp Street No. 2, at the road roundabout located several hundred meters from the border between the two streets.
The three of them were startled when their feet seemed to step onto puddles of water; it came from piles of mangled flesh scattered across the roundabout road, even reaching the narrow alley beside the blue tent that had turned blood-red.
"What the hell is this?" they muttered in unison as their ears caught the sound of something chewing bones with its molars.
Then suddenly, from within the darkness of the narrow alley, the mysterious figure, the horrifying creature they had seen earlier, shot toward the three of them standing side by side at terrifying speed.
However, the attack was intercepted by the two Recipesteles because they had already seen the creature earlier upon arriving at this place before their heightened perception faded away like dust swept by the wind.
Thud...
Through the combined strength of two mid-level Recipesteles from the underworld, the supernatural realm, they managed to restrain the horrifying creature, which had become far stronger than before.
"Mudelk!" Tell shouted loudly as she saw Zuhen frozen in fear. "Run now!"
Because Zuhen had entered the range of the creature's overwhelming spiritual pressure, the three of them instantly fell into the shadows of fear, completely unable to react to any sound around them, even their own heartbeat and breathing.
Tell clicked her tongue as she glanced at the Recipestele beside her. Hoping to achieve her objective, Tell immediately formed a hand gesture like a gun, and a burst of blue light emerged from the tip of her tiny index finger as she half-turned. The light condensed before blasting the three of them hundreds of meters away from their previous location with tremendous force.
The wind pressure destroyed the buildings along the roadside, including those near the roundabout, yet their bodies were not crushed upon impact as though something had been protecting them.
And it was true. Without any of them realizing it until now, there was something strange, something incredibly strange, as though all of this had been meticulously planned by someone in perfect detail.
While their bodies were buried beneath the ruins, Tell and the other Recipestele fought the horrifying creature, which had grown stronger than before, despite the unfavorable conditions that prevented them from using their full power.
Even so, one-third of their power was already more than enough to free them from minds consumed by overwhelming fear.
Several minutes passed rapidly as their consciousness fully returned together with the fear that had soaked their clothes and bodies gradually fading away.
Felina wiped the sweat from her forehead as she limped toward Zuhen.
Her face was deathly pale, and her dry lips made it seem as though she had not drunk water for an entire week, while her body felt like it had only just awakened from a long sleep.
"Sir, are you alright?" Felina asked weakly, before immediately realizing that she was beneath a house with a hollow roof, shattered tiles scattered across the street together with orange-colored dust. Meanwhile, she saw Canel lying weakly nearby with his arm covering his eyes, recovering mentally and emotionally.
Because he had failed to create a countermeasure against the horrifying creature's attack in time, Zuhen's body trembled violently as his chest rose and fell while every part of his body throbbed painfully.
His ears seemed useless. He could not hear Felina's question as his knees weakened to the point they could no longer support his body, causing him to collapse afterward with both hands acting as support.
Now he looked like someone who had lost his mind as his thoughts spiraled after being flung all the way to this place.
Annoying.
Finally, Felina bent her body downward as her head throbbed intensely, as though her body itself was warning her to rest immediately.
She clicked her tongue while thinking.
'I hate this condition.'
Elsewhere, at the roundabout, the surrounding air was unbearably tense as three supernatural beings clashed with devastating power.
The horrifying creature was different from before, when it arrogantly flaunted its strength after being deceived by humans, beings beneath its status.
The moment it encountered opponents of its own kind, supernatural beings, it fought with its full strength, though that made things incredibly difficult for the two of them since they possessed only one-third of their original power.
Moreover, their contractors were far away from them, causing the activation of their spiritual form regeneration to become slightly hindered, though they gained the advantage of no longer needing to worry about their contractors' safety.
Mine's attacks stood out more than Tell's in this battle because her black flames danced wildly, incinerating the surrounding buildings and turning the entire roundabout area into a sea of fire while a pungent smell drifted through the wind.
However, Tell refused to lose to her. With her superior speed and attacks capable of piercing the mind itself, she managed to render the creature slightly helpless whenever it faced her directly.
But none of it truly mattered because the horrifying creature seemed to disregard death itself despite being struck repeatedly by attacks from both Recipesteles.
Time passed quickly, and the battle eventually reached its limit as the two Recipesteles flew toward another area, toward Huween Street No. 3, searching for a way to defeat it.
Yet the creature relentlessly pursued them; with every flap of its wings, its trembling body formed bizarre shapes capable of making humans feel terror, nausea, and as though their souls were being torn apart merely from looking at it. Even its spiritual pressure reduced the surrounding buildings to rubble wherever it passed.
The moment they reached the border, both of them froze midair upon seeing someone standing slightly hunched in silence, their face difficult to make out, not far from where they were flying.
"What plan are you talking about?" the Recipestele asked with furrowed brows.
Tell let out a sigh.
"Not that, but I feel like I've seen that person before."
It was a woman wearing a slightly loose cream-colored shirt adorned with intricate patterns on every part of it, paired with tight black pants and black leather boots.
Narissa Herana.
"Who are you?" both of them asked simultaneously, occasionally glancing backward as the buildings behind them began collapsing, realizing that the creature was drawing closer.
Narissa raised her gaze and stammered, "T-Tell me... where is my little sister right now?"
Tell and the Recipestele exchanged glances before understanding what Narissa meant.
Their tiny index fingers instantly pointed behind them, causing Narissa's exhausted face, though it did not diminish her beauty and elegance, to tense up as she stared at the two of them.
"She... is behind us."
The moment they said that, the surrounding buildings exploded apart instantly as the horrifying figure appeared with a physical form resembling a human, yet possessing pitch-black skin that constantly shifted shape and enormous black wings spreading wide enough to almost cover the entire street.
With a guilty expression, and completely unaffected by the horrifying creature's spiritual pressure, which she still believed to be her younger sister.
Narissa calmly walked toward it without the slightest hesitation, passing beneath the two Recipesteles above her before stopping not far from the horrifying creature and lifting her gaze.
Both of them instantly widened their mouths in disbelief upon realizing that a human was recklessly standing near a creature capable of destroying everything with its spiritual pressure while also plunging others into terror.
Yet the opposite happened. Narissa's gaze was incredibly sharp, her face indifferent even though fear still lingered deep within her heart now that the day she dreaded had finally arrived.
"Is she insane?" Tell nodded in disbelief while glancing sideways.
"Of course," the Recipestele replied. "Ever since I first arrived in this world through a contract, I've always been fascinated by how humans can behave like this. It makes me want to understand humans through that woman because of my curiosity." A wide smile quickly formed on its shocked face.
The horrifying creature growled irritably, making the surrounding air feel frozen as though it anticipated the brutality about to unfold.
As though brushing away dust, the creature hurled Narissa's body away with tremendous force using its pitch-black hand, sending her crashing through one house after another without the slightest resistance while pressure boiled her brain alive before her body finally landed motionless.
Yet deep within her heart, she felt that this was a fitting price for the way she had treated her younger sister by failing to truly understand her, which ultimately led to all of this happening, while the falling rubble seemed ready to become the place where she would rest forever.
The two of them slowly turned their gazes toward Narissa's thrown body, their mouths tightly shut and brows furrowed.
'I thought she'd kill that creature. Turns out she's just the same. Damn it,' they thought almost simultaneously.
Then, without giving them any chance to react or think, the creature appeared instantly before them with turbulent black aura swirling around its body and released spiritual pressure so overwhelming that their wings seemed frozen, causing them to crash downward while its physical form crushed the road stones beneath it with harsh, deafening sounds.
With one finger still capable of moving freely, Tell touched the Recipestele beside her, causing its spiritual form to glow with pale blue light before she instantly shifted behind the creature.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, Mine's Recipestele opened its tiny palm, unleashing black flames that blasted the horrifying creature backward while simultaneously burning it.
Tell instantly broke free from the creature's grasp.
The smell of charred flesh and bloody iron drifted through the night wind, making the air feel suffocating while the sky darkened further as shadows once again consumed the street.
The creature was dragged across the stone road, tearing chunks of rock loose before slamming against them one after another. The black flames that had already reached the core of its soul were swept away with absurd ease as its wings regenerated and it flew toward the two of them with movements slower than before.
Before it could fully regenerate, Tell instructed the Recipestele to keep burning it mercilessly while she herself prepared her usual displacement attack.
Increasing the force of the damage it received, she amplified the attack again through her punch.
Thud...
The unavoidable blow struck directly into its chest while the creature could only endure, retaliate, and redirect the black flames elsewhere.
"Aghhh..."
The black flames grew hotter with time, enough to burn its soul from within as though its existence in this world would soon disappear entirely.
With a roar that shattered the midnight silence, the horrifying creature abandoned regeneration altogether, allowing its body to be attacked while it lashed out wildly in every direction.
Niva's Recipestele technique focused on spiritual pressure capable of making any creature collapse weakly, feel terrified, nauseated, and eventually die over time. However, it could also condense that pressure into something resembling a projectile attack. Though not as devastating as usual, this technique could appear near its target and strike instantly without the target ever realizing it.
However, it had one weakness. The technique could only target a single creature at a time.
The moment it saw Tell crashing downward from the pressure that shattered and widened the stones beneath her.
Watching the creature with a worried expression, the Recipestele immediately ignited its spiritual form and surrounded itself with even stronger black flames in order to lessen the creature's next attack.
And just as it expected, after moving at near-light speed, an overwhelming pressure slammed through its shoulder, causing both of its wings to freeze before it crashed beside Tell, widening the ground beneath the stone road while its black flames spread toward the building on its right.
From atop a rooftop directly behind the two of them, a calm voice mixed with mockery pierced deeply into their minds, causing their hearts to stop beating for a moment.
"Supernatural beings shouldn't fight each other."
Silence lingered briefly before the person continued,
"That's not good, you know. Isn't that right?"