Chapter 181: Klein’s Preparations

Chapter 181: Klein’s Preparations

Preparations… Of course there are none…

Klein piled on a smile and pointed at marionette Enzo.

“That glove still needs to be sealed.”

As he spoke, Enzo—whose skin was reddened and peeling—used his left hand, the one wearing both the Blood Flower and Green Flower rings, to remove the human-skin glove covering his right palm.

This was Creeping Hunger.

Normally, when Klein was not using it, he preferred tossing Creeping Hunger above the gray fog. After all, after its mutation, the original seal no longer worked. It had to eat one living person every day, or it would treat the wearer as food. But considering that Mr. Azik had already replied and might arrive to meet him at any time, Klein had ultimately decided that, barring special circumstances, Creeping Hunger would remain in the real world.

After all, he had already imagined the scene of Mr. Azik’s arrival. He did not want conversations like the following to happen:

“Didn’t you say that glove from before needed to be sealed again?”

“Yes. Please wait. I need to go to the washroom.”

Or:

“Are you prepared?”

“…No. Please wait. I need to go to the washroom.”

Just imagining similar scenes and lines made Klein feel embarrassed and strange. Even without considering the possibility that Mr. Azik might discover the secret of the gray fog, this would cause his image in the other man’s heart to slide in an unpredictable direction.

Therefore, after obtaining a new marionette and completing his attempt to “look at himself,” Klein had brought Creeping Hunger back to the real world and made up its previous meal.

The difference from before was that its wearer had changed from him to marionette Enzo.

Aside from that, in order to curb Creeping Hunger’s daily impulse to eat people, Klein carried several ordinary mushrooms with him and had his marionette maintain a distance of less than five meters from him at all times.

Hearing his words and seeing the marionette’s actions, Azik nodded and reached out to accept the human-skin glove.

Klein took the opportunity to draw several mushrooms from his pocket and toss them toward the nearby trash can.

Pa!

He snapped his fingers, making those mushrooms burn on their own and send up crimson flames without affecting anything around them.

This was a Magician’s ability to manipulate flames.

After finishing this, Klein saw Mr. Azik’s gaze inevitably turn over. He gave two dry laughs and said, “Because of that previous accident, Creeping Hunger is a little afraid of mushrooms. I am using that weakness to restrain its usual impulses.”

In truth, this was not very meaningful in practical use. Carrying mushrooms to suppress Creeping Hunger would only cause the sealed artifact—once the mushrooms disappeared and it had endured its hunger—to immediately retaliate. Unless another form of easily obtained “food” was right before it, it would only become an enemy’s helper.

“Mushrooms…” Azik held the glove whose surface had begun to stain blood-red and murmured in a low voice. Then the surroundings abruptly deepened. Even the sunlight outside the window was rejected from entering.

Pale, dark-green, complicated symbols, signs, and patterns appeared in midair one after another, as if written by invisible wraiths, shadows, spirits, and other entities.

They interwove and combined in midair, evolving into a mysterious, illusory, double bronze door, as though it connected to another world—a deep, silent, terrifying world.

This illusory door grew smaller and smaller. In the end, it landed upon Creeping Hunger, causing the blood-red color on its surface to quickly fade, leaving paleness as the main tone.

A few seconds later, the human-skin glove returned to normal. It was still only a thin layer, yet even without the suppression of mushrooms, it showed not the slightest mania or impulse.

“The same as before.” Azik handed Creeping Hunger to Klein.

This is what it feels like to have a bigshot backing you up!

Klein…