Chapter 135: The Terrifying Wraith

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five
The Terrifying Wraith

A streak of pale-gold light arrived in the blink of an eye, striking an empty patch of ground where no one seemed to be.

Yet from that place, dazzling flames abruptly surged upward, rapidly outlining the figure of someone wearing a black tailcoat and a dark-red cloak.

The figure’s left arm burned with sacred, limpid flames. Pale-black smoke tinged with green rose continuously from it, making his pale face look sickly and bluish in the reflected light.

This was a middle-aged gentleman in his forties. His hair was combed neatly backward, glistening with pomade, without a single strand out of place. His eyes were black with green hidden within them. There was no emotion in them, no sign of pain.

Wraith Steve!

His head turned, and his wooden yet malice-filled gaze looked toward Klein atop the warehouse.

Klein suddenly froze. His whole body chilled at once, to the point that even the blazing heat brought by the Sun Brooch could not dispel it.

His body rapidly stiffened. His eyes went dull. Within his pupils appeared two identical reflected figures:

Black tailcoat, dark-red cloak, slicked-back hair coated with pomade, gloomy green eyes, and a pale face of a man in his forties!

Almost in an instant, Klein was controlled, and his thoughts gradually blurred.

This was the power of a Sequence 5 Wraith!

An eerie ability, nearly impossible to defend against!

Fortunately, he had understood it well enough beforehand and had prepared for it. More importantly, the effect of exorcism could effectively resist the possession of evil-spirit-type creatures. Before his ability to think vanished completely, he stirred the spirituality originating from his Spirit Body and poured it into the dark-gold sunbird brooch.

Just as his hand lifted and clamped around his own throat, a pure, warm beam of light suddenly descended from midair.

It was like a pillar of light from a kingdom of the sun, bringing with it brilliance and sacred purification. It enveloped Klein entirely.

A Sun-domain spell: Summon Holy Light!

Within that holy light, the invisible controlling power was instantly weakened. Klein’s eyes abruptly regained their clarity.

Immediately afterward, his figure burst into flames. It became brittle, charred, and thin, leaving only a sheet of paper behind.

At the same time, inside the fire that had surged up from the explosion in the gap between two warehouses, Klein—wearing a black double-breasted formal frock coat and a matching half silk top hat—leapt out.

His cane had long since been lost somewhere, and the identical figure floating over his head had also been successfully consumed by flames, turning into scattered ash that drifted in every direction.

Klein had no time to confirm his situation before he felt invisible things seize his ankles tightly.

His calves, his arms, and the clothing before his chest and behind his back were all firmly grabbed as well!

Through spirit vision, which he had already activated, Klein saw one blurry, transparent figure after another. Some were incomplete, some were drenched in blood, some were charred black, and some were pale and cold.

Hoo…

An icy wind from some unknown source blew against the back of Klein’s neck, making every hair on his body stand on end and causing him to tremble uncontrollably.

The dark-gold sunbird brooch before his chest suddenly flashed, and one golden, illusory flame after another instantly rose around him.

These flames radiated the aura of the sun. Densely packed together, they became a sea.

This was Flames of Light from the Sun domain!

The terrifying specters surrounding Klein silently screamed and disappeared. The cold wind at the back of his head was replaced by the scorching heat of the Sun Brooch.

Temporarily safe within that environment, Klein could not help sighing with fear:

Even after preparing ahead of time and obtaining an item that countered the opponent, against a Sequence 5 Wraith, I would still be teetering on the brink in a one-on-one fight. The “performance” nearly ended in failure right at the beginning!

Not far from Maric, the figure of Steve in the dark-red cloak grew faintly illusory. The brilliant flames burning on his left arm soon died completely under wave after wave of black vapor.

His gloomy green eyes glittered with malice and desire. He, too, seemed to have lost reason and the ability to think.

By then, with the earlier shot as a warning, Maric had already pulled some distance away from him. He commanded the expressionless living corpses that had crawled out of the mud to surround and intercept Werewolf Tyre, while he himself circled around, creating smooth thin ice and rotten sludge to affect the opponent’s movement.

Werewolf Tyre clutched the miniature full moon glowing with crimson light in one hand. He kept running without pause, only occasionally being blocked by living corpses. When that happened, he casually clawed downward.

Shrrk!

A living corpse was directly cut into six pieces. Long-rotted flesh and wriggling maggots scattered across the ground.

Werewolf Tyre froze for a moment and stared at his own claws in disbelief.

Only then did he realize that the enhancement granted by the Crimson Moon Crown was absolutely not limited to speed.

He felt that he had grasped several powerful and eerie spells!

Tyre stopped fleeing, turned around, and faced the pale Maric.

At that moment, Living Corpse Jason was drawing closer and closer to that illusory yet mysterious door. His body was wrapped in bluish-black vines from which baby faces protruded, while arm after arm—some covered in teeth, some skinless—dragged at him with all their strength.

His eyes were almost pressed to the crack in that bronze door, coldly staring into the indescribable eyes hidden within the depths of darkness.

It seemed to be the place his heart truly belonged.

“No!”

The body controlled by slaughter and bloodlust cried out in an utterly mournful voice.

Werewolf Tyre, who had been about to counterattack, immediately paused. Gritting his teeth, he threw the miniature crimson full moon in his hand toward Wraith Steve.

Only by letting the Sequence 5 powerhouse recover strength and receive the enhancement could the battle be quickly ended, and only then would there be a chance to save Living Corpse Jason!

Klein’s eyes lit up at the sight. He immediately raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Pa!

Boom!

Along the path of the Crimson Moon Crown, a buried explosive tore up the mud, blew out a forceful shock wave, and sent up crimson flames.

The Crimson Moon Crown was slapped aside. It made a small turn, falling toward another direction.

Boom!

Another bomb exploded, and another burst of fire leapt upward. Klein emerged from it and pounced toward the Crimson Moon Crown nearby.

Suddenly, ahead of the Crimson Moon Crown’s falling path, a pale hand appeared and caught it steadily.

It was Wraith Steve, who had at some unknown point dematerialized, vanished, and reappeared.

His instinct had made him chase after the full moon!

With a faint pa, Steve gripped the Crimson Moon Crown. A spark of spirituality returned to his gloomy green eyes, which had been full of malice and desire. This pulled him back from being a pure wraith and restored him to a Sequence 5 powerhouse.

The corners of his mouth drew upward. He looked coldly at Klein.

He did not rush to deal with the weak opponent. Instead, his figure once again turned illusory and disappeared.

Klein, who had already thrown himself forward, rolled twice on the ground, thrust his left hand into his pocket, and deftly pushed open the iron cigarette case again, touching Rosago’s All-Black Eye.

Amid the ravings that made tears and mucus run uncontrollably down his face, Klein once again saw those strange black threads. From their source, he glimpsed the vanished Wraith Steve.

Steve was rapidly approaching Sharron, who lay weakly on the ground. He intended to control her, save Living Corpse Jason, and completely end the battle.

Sharron was the main target of this operation!

Klein abruptly pulled back his left hand. With a thought, he again poured spirituality into the Sun Brooch.

Two!

One!

A pure, sacred beam of light descended from above, falling toward the area behind Sharron.

Steve’s figure in the dark-red cloak suddenly flashed several meters away, narrowly avoiding the holy light.

Under the Crimson Moon Crown’s enhancement, his speed had become terrifying enough to make an effective dodge in an instant!

But at the same time, half crouched on the ground, Klein had already raised his right hand and pulled the revolver’s trigger.

His target was Living Corpse Jason!

A bullet blooming with brilliant light flew out, aimed at Jason’s back, intending to “help” him enter the mysterious bronze door sooner.

Yet at that very moment, Steve’s figure vanished. He flashed behind Jason and blocked the Exorcism Bullet with his open left palm.

Sizzle!

The erupting sunlight made his arm tremble painfully and his eyes narrow. His skin blackened and peeled away continuously, only to rapidly heal and regenerate.

Then, suddenly, he heard the sharp snap of fingers.

Klein had snapped his fingers again!

Boom!

A bomb not far away exploded. The shock wave and bullet-like stones it produced spread violently in every direction.

A large portion struck Living Corpse Jason and Wraith Steve!

“No!”

With a scream, the clothes along Jason’s side were shredded. One deepening white mark after another appeared on his skin, as though blood was about to seep out.

To a Living Corpse whose body was like steel, this was not especially effective damage. But to Jason, already struggling with all his strength, it was a summons of death.

He could no longer hold on. He was swiftly dragged by those eerie, horrifying arms into the crack of the bronze door!

“No…”

Jason’s scream echoed far away. With a clang, the mysterious illusory door slammed shut, swallowing and severing the second half of that sound completely.

Within the open area enclosed by warehouses, everything grew quiet. Living Corpse Jason had vanished entirely, as though he had never been born into this world.

Wraith Steve’s eyes widened at once. He opened his mouth and released a furious shriek:

“Damn you!”

Bang!

As that sound echoed, Klein felt as though someone had struck his head heavily with a hammer. His vision blurred. His breathing filled with the stench of blood, and everything before him turned blood-red.

For a brief moment, his ears were full of rumbling. He could hear nothing else.

Werewolf Tyre, after throwing away the Crimson Moon Crown, had grown black fur across his body and sharp fangs in his mouth. Even he could not escape the influence. He clutched his ears in agony, and blood streamed from the corners of his eyes and mouth.

Maric, who should have taken the chance to seize him, fared even worse. The malice and desire he had suppressed with the sedatives rebounded, nearly causing him to lose control over his living corpses. His expression became twisted to an extreme.