Chapter 163: Patience

Chapter 163: Patience

After ending the divination and returning to the real world, Klein walked into the outer room of the rented apartment. He gazed at the crimson moon outside the window and quietly thought for several dozen seconds.

Perhaps there is still an opportunity to digest the potion… At last, he muttered silently, found an item, brought along his two marionettes, and disappeared into the unlit shadows.

In Backlund, he no longer dared use Flame Jump too casually, afraid it might be sensed by Zaratul. After all, he could not always use it as an excuse to set fire to the paper crane Will Auceptin had folded as a precaution. That would be disrespectful to the Snake of Fate. And constantly “visiting” Dr. Aaron would also make it easy for the doctor’s family to be placed under surveillance.

In the next instant, Klein appeared behind the tall Gothic clock tower he had seen in his dream and hid within the shadows. This was one of Backlund’s landmarks: the Clock of Order.

Immediately afterward, he and his two marionettes scattered, each occupying a different concealed position.

Once this was done, Klein swiftly transformed a rat into a marionette and made it run to the edge of his control range. It opened its mouth and recited a certain honorific name in a low voice:

“Great God of War, symbol of iron and blood, master of turmoil and strife, White Witch Katarina is in this area…”

Klein was both fulfilling his agreement with the Red Angel evil spirit and hoping that this former high-ranking existence would step on any possible traps for him. At the same time, he was somewhat puzzled about Sauron Einhorn Medici’s true intentions. He did not intend to hurry and seek help from the Evernight Church or the Queen of Mysteries, Bernadette. Instead, he planned to observe for a while and confirm the situation first, lest he drag others into a trap.

The prayer had only just ended when the gray rat suddenly twitched a few times and quietly collapsed beside a trash bin.

It had lost its life. It was no longer Klein’s marionette.

This was Klein’s method of preventing himself from being marked by the Red Angel evil spirit.

As for his main body, after abandoning the rat marionette, he immediately withdrew from the area around the Clock of Order together with Qonas and Enyuni. Several thousand meters away, he had the Winner pray to the Sea God, Kalvetua.

Once the prayer was complete, one person and two marionettes continued retreating, widening the distance by quite a bit.

Then Klein slipped into a storage room of a nearby house, took four steps counterclockwise, arrived above the gray fog, and sat down in The Fool’s seat.

He beckoned, drawing the Sea God Scepter over, and used the Winner’s prayer light spot to expand his range of observation, examining the target area.

At the same time, Klein held in his other hand the piece of paper stained with the blood of Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy.

With such a medium and an approximate area, Klein needed very little time, under True Vision, to find White Witch Katarina, who had already concealed herself.

That black-haired, blue-eyed woman with ethereal beauty wore a sacred white robe and drifted lightly through the streets and alleys like a weightless feather. Even when patrolling policemen happened to look in the correct direction, they could not discover her existence.

If not for the help of the gray fog, Klein would have been able to see through invisibility at this level only by relying on Spirit Body Threads.

Taking a breath, Klein patiently waited for the Red Angel evil spirit to appear, and at the same time observed what Katarina was searching for.

He suspected that White Witch’s target was Trissy Cheek.

Time flowed by second after second. The crimson moon gradually slanted in the sky. After wandering around the Clock of Order for a while without gaining anything, Katarina’s expression faintly revealed both irritation and disappointment, as if she might leave the area at any moment.

Yet the Red Angel evil spirit still had not appeared!

This… Was Sauron Einhorn Medici only lying to me and never truly considered White Witch a target? No, there’s no need for that. If so, His entire condition would lose all meaning… Did the Red Angel evil spirit actually arrive at the scene already, but like me, refrain from acting immediately, waiting for me and my companions to battle Katarina so He can clean up the aftermath? I also want to wait until He and that witch are fighting at the fiercest point before suddenly showing myself and seizing the greatest fruit… Amid his many thoughts, Klein vaguely formed a guess.

He suspected the Red Angel evil spirit was just as prudent, careful, and composed as he was, hoping to be the fisherman who hauled in the net, rather than the net itself.

This really is troublesome… Now it’s a contest of patience… Klein muttered soundlessly and continued using the prayer light spot to observe the area around the Clock of Order.

Tick. Tick. Tick. The second hand moved in the quiet night with an unchanging rhythm, while White Witch Katarina’s expression grew darker and darker.

Suddenly, she turned her gaze toward the glass window of a building.

In the dim night, it resembled a mirror, reflecting the scene before it.

A faint light flickered in Katarina’s beautiful blue eyes. The surface of the “mirror” instantly became deep and dark, as though countless things and layer upon layer of space were hidden within.

That glass window seemed to have become a passageway leading to another world.

Klein’s heart stirred. Combining this with the many mirror-related Beyonder abilities the witch Trissy had once displayed, he suspected Katarina was about to use the “mirror world” to leave this place and end tonight’s hunt.

How can the Red Angel evil spirit still endure? Klein’s mind tightened. Instinctively, he wanted to put down the Sea God Scepter, return to the real world, and move against White Witch, preventing her from leaving just like that.

Thoughts flashing, Klein ultimately did not move.

He felt he could wait a little longer. Even if Katarina left the area around the Clock of Order, as long as she had not yet discovered that something had happened to her daughter Tracy, Klein would be able to locate her again. At that point, he could first call over the magic mirror Arrodes and ask about the target’s specific abilities and items, then either seek help from the Queen of Mysteries Bernadette or borrow a Grade 1 sealed artifact from the Evernight Church, tilting the scales of victory toward himself before taking action.

I made no special effort to conceal my actions. If I go to borrow a sealed artifact and the archbishop gives one to me, then it would mean the Goddess’s true attitude toward George III’s matter is: She dislikes that king becoming the Black Emperor, but can only tacitly permit it. If someone is willing to sabotage the ritual, She would be happy to provide a certain degree of assistance… Klein smoothed out his slightly impatient emotions and relaxed his observational state.

At that moment, White Witch Katarina’s expression returned to normal. She drifted before the glass window and, as though she had no physical form, slipped inside.

The layered illusory worlds within the “mirror” drew inward, as if receding continuously into the distance.

Just then, Klein, observing below through True Vision, seemed to hear the shrill cry of a woman.

It was as though the cry came from another world, filled with extreme terror and intense disbelief.

Yet none of the residents in the surrounding area woke. No one heard it at all.

Was that Katarina’s scream? What exactly did she encounter… Klein’s gaze froze instantly, and then he thought of something:

The Red Angel evil spirit was also an evil spirit. He could likewise “mirror flash” and use that medium.

In other words, He was definitely no stranger to the “mirror world”!

Could Sauron Einhorn Medici have been hiding inside the “mirror” all along, waiting for White Witch to throw herself into the trap? As Klein’s pupils widened slightly, the gloom and darkness within the glass window suddenly vanished.

The “mirror” lost all its unusual properties and returned to its original appearance.

A few more seconds passed. At the bottom edge of the glass window, a little fresh red slowly seeped out, condensing into liquid and sliding downward.

Wherever the liquid passed, grayish-white spread outward, covering the original pale yellow, like stone blocks inlaid anew.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Drop after drop of liquid fell to the ground and spread out. It was scarlet as blood, brilliant as flowers.

Seeing this, Klein’s facial muscles twitched slightly. He then forcibly controlled his expression with his Clown abilities.

This outcome truly exceeded his expectations.

A Sequence 3 saint, a powerful and seasoned Unaging Witch who had lived for more than a thousand years, had seemed utterly unable to resist before the Red Angel evil spirit’s trap. Just like that, she fell silent.

As for Klein himself, even counting his two marionettes and the sealed artifacts he possessed, he was still somewhat inferior to Katarina’s own pure strength. He had to rely on advance preparations to make up the difference.

That also meant that if he had been the one facing the Red Angel evil spirit, his ending would probably not have been any better. He would have been just as powerless, just as insignificant, just as incapable of doing anything but slowly sink beneath a flood.

So this is a former King of Angels? Even before recovering to His peak, He can make one feel such despair… Seeing that the blood seeping from the glass window had gradually lessened, Klein inhaled deeply and returned to the real world.

Then he swapped positions with the Winner Enyuni, having that marionette Teleport to the glass window.

When a Bizarro Sorcerer swapped positions, he could choose between only exchanging bodies or exchanging all external items as well. However, at his present level, the control was not precise. Klein could not decide exactly which external items he wished to leave behind. He could only choose to leave all of them behind or none of them.

The Winner Enyuni, wearing Gehrman Sparrow’s appearance, had only just taken shape before he spoke in a low voice to the glass window:

“I have fulfilled my promise.”

A figure instantly appeared upon the glass window.

He wore a black robe patterned with red, with a hood casually pulled over his head. His exposed face had soft lines, brownish skin, and a bloodless complexion. It was none other than the Gatekeeper possessed by Sauron Einhorn Medici.

“Well done.” The young man stepped down from the window and said with a smile.

Hearing those words, Klein took out an item from his pocket while lifting the corners of his lips. With considerable delight, he answered, “You did well too.”

As he spoke, he breathed onto the monocle in his hand and put it over his left eye.

Sauron Einhorn Medici’s smile instantly froze.