Chapter 63: Patience

Chapter 63: Patience

As a Sanguine who enjoyed staying at home, Emlyn had fought so few battles over the years that he could count them on one hand, and he had never tried fighting outnumbered.

Whether dealing with the previous believer of the Primordial Moon or resisting Bishop Utravsky of the Harvest Church, he had basically held the numerical advantage. At worst, it had been one-on-one.

Remembering how the three members of his family had failed to beat that half-giant bishop, Emlyn’s face gradually turned green, as though he had once again recalled the torment he had suffered in the Harvest Church.

Because quite a few tenants came and went, and because Galis Kevin, that artificial vampire, also possessed keen senses, Emlyn did not dare linger outside the door for too long. He quickly passed by, walked all the way to the end of the corridor, and hid himself in the darkness.

What should I do next…

Emlyn leaned against a pile of miscellaneous items that blocked the crimson moonlight, his thoughts spinning rapidly as he tried to search his pitifully sparse experience for a countermeasure.

Gradually, some words the Hanged Man had once used to teach the Sun surfaced in his mind.

“Patience is an important prerequisite for handling many situations…

“Only by learning to restrain one’s impulses and impatience can one minimize risk to the greatest extent…

“At times, forbearance is very important…”

Forbearance…

Emlyn gave an almost imperceptible nod, understanding what he ought to do.

He planned to hide there and wait for Argos to leave!

This was not that artificial vampire’s residence. He was bound to leave sooner or later. At that point, Emlyn would once again be able to solve the problem one-on-one.

Patience. Forbearance. Wait… Emlyn repeated similar words in his heart, using them to resist the damage inflicted on him by his surroundings.

The air on the first floor of the apartment was filled with the acrid smell of urine, damp rot, the stench of feces not properly flushed away, the pungent fumes from burning inferior coal, the sour sweat of many days without washing, the strong odors certain tenants carried with them, and all manner of sour, disgusting, nauseating smells. They mixed together like poison, corroding Emlyn’s senses.

For the first time in his life, Emlyn wanted to cut off his own nose. He felt as though he were suffering torment in the abyss, in hell.

Patience… Forbearance… Wait…

He mechanically recited the “rules,” feeling every second stretch unbearably long.

Finally, he saw Galis Kevin’s door open. A dark-brown-skinned, thin figure came out. His side profile showed protruding cheekbones, a high bridge of the nose, and a slightly hooked tip. It was none other than Argos, the believer of the Primordial Moon.

At that moment, several patches of his face were swollen and ulcerated, making him look rather nauseating.

As expected, just like that little “old man” Ian said, this fellow’s clothes are neat and clean. He doesn’t look like an East Borough resident at all…

Emlyn’s spirits lifted. While muttering inwardly, he watched Argos leave the apartment building.

After patiently waiting nearly five minutes, he stood and decided to begin the operation.

Because his target, Galis Kevin, was an artificial vampire, Emlyn was quite familiar with what the other party excelled at and what traits he possessed. Thus, he could make preparations accordingly.

Galis Kevin’s sense of smell should not be much worse than mine was when I had just come of age. Heh, actually, I’m not entirely certain of that. The fact that he can live in this kind of environment may mean he has already lost both his nose and his brain… Also, his spirituality will not be weak, and he will possess an instinctive intuition toward danger… His sight and hearing should not be too bad either…

While despising the other party, Emlyn took potions and sprayed liquids over himself, once again masking his body’s scent—deeply, thoroughly masking it.

Immediately afterward, just like last time, through potions taken internally and sprayed externally, he concealed both his body and coat. He vanished from where he stood as though erased by a rubber eraser.

In that unmanned dark corner, a palm-sized, copper-green notebook suddenly emerged from empty space, as if it had just passed through some transparent barrier.

Almost without making a sound, it flipped through its pages on its own and finally stopped upon a white page formed from numerous astrological symbols.

Those symbols vanished, and the surroundings seemed to brighten faintly.

This was the interference ability belonging to an Astrologer!

Then the copper-green Leymano’s Travels shrank back, disappearing inch by inch as it was once again covered by the invisible barrier.

Having made his preparations, Emlyn recalled his plan once more, lightened his footsteps, and silently arrived outside Galis Kevin’s room. However, he did not approach the main door.

The copper-green notebook appeared from thin air again, turning to the page containing Door Opening.

An illusory voice immediately echoed within Emlyn’s mind, “pushing” him to stretch out one hand and press it against the wall.

At the same time, Emlyn carefully withdrew Leymano’s Travels inside his clothes, using his invisible coat to conceal it.

When Emlyn’s palm finally touched the wall, an illusory, deep-blue door suddenly appeared before him. It had no material substance. It was embedded in the wall, yet the traces of the bricks and stone beneath it still showed through.

After listening for a moment to the movements inside the room, and after sniffing the air, Emlyn stepped forward, passing through that deep-blue door as if through a curtain of water.

The scene before him changed in an instant. Walls covered in stains appeared, along with a wooden bed, an old cabinet, and assorted miscellaneous items placed along the other three sides.

This was the interior of Galis Kevin’s room!

And behind Emlyn, the deep-blue door had already vanished, as if it had never existed.

Carefully and cautiously, he swept his gaze around the room and caught sight of his target, Galis Kevin.

This believer of the Primordial Moon was a mixed-blood man with decent features. His hair was rather long, falling to his shoulders. His eyes were brown tinged with dark red, as if he had not fully obtained a Sanguine’s eye color.

At that moment, he was sitting beside the bed, staring at the door, lost in thought.

Without making the slightest sound, Emlyn circled to the side, remaining in the target’s blind spot. He took out Leymano’s Travels and turned it to a page that made his fingers tingle slightly.

That page was yellow-brown, seemingly made of parchment. Various ancient, twisted symbols and patterns covered it, together forming an image like a thin, sparse tree extending its branches.

After adjusting the angle, Emlyn slid his finger over the paper.

All at once, silver-white lightning illuminated the inside of the room as if it were daytime.

Before the crackling sound rang out, the lightning had already struck Galis Kevin squarely on the crown of his head. It instantly charred the surface of this believer of the Primordial Moon, making his body tremble violently and causing his eyes to briefly lose focus.

While silver-white electric serpents still darted about chaotically, Emlyn White’s figure abruptly appeared behind the rigid target. He reached out with his right hand and seized the other man’s neck.

Crack!

Calmly, he snapped Galis Kevin’s cervical spine, then forcibly pulled off his head and threw the body away, giving the target no chance to use his powerful self-healing ability to recover.

Thud!

Galis Kevin’s headless corpse fell to the ground, blood splattering everywhere.

Just like that, an artificial vampire lost his life.

Emlyn’s calm expression was swiftly replaced by astonishment. He looked down in disbelief at the head in his hand and discovered that, even at the moment of death, Galis Kevin still had no idea what had happened. His eyes had frozen with both pain and confusion.

That simple? That easy?

Although Emlyn was very proud, even he did not believe he could so easily kill an artificial vampire. Yet the facts told him that it truly had been that simple and that easy.

A Lightning Strike that causes paralysis, paired with my own high-speed movement, can actually produce an instant kill… Heh, the premise is that the other party is very afraid of lightning and easily paralyzed because of it… Also, interfering with his spiritual intuition beforehand and avoiding the front by entering through the wall were both key to success…

After several seconds of dazed silence, Emlyn finally reviewed the details of what had just happened and summarized a good deal of experience.

This made him truly recognize the strength of combining different Beyonder abilities, as well as the value of Leymano’s Travels.

No wonder Mr. Hanged Man was the first to want to rent it…

Emlyn withdrew his thoughts and looked at the blood gurgling from Galis Kevin’s body. His Adam’s apple could not help moving.

It had been a very long time since he had drunk such fresh blood.

However, he did not dare drink it, because the target’s Beyonder characteristic had not yet separated. Some of it remained in the blood. Drinking it could easily cause the problem of Beyonder characteristic excess, carrying hidden risks of losing control, which would be unfavorable to the next operation.

Emlyn withdrew his gaze, swept the room with his eyes, found a stack of old newspapers and a small wooden box, and prepared to use them later to store Galis Kevin’s head.

Before that, he sat down and waited for the other party’s Beyonder characteristic to separate.

Two minutes later, Emlyn suddenly raised his head and looked toward the door.

He heard footsteps approaching!

Immediately afterward, he smelled Argos!

This artificial vampire has returned? He turned back halfway?

Emlyn White instantly grew somewhat nervous, uncertain how to deal with the situation.

Knock!

Argos outside rapped on the door. Then he made no further sound, falling into abnormal silence.

Emlyn was first stunned. Then he understood that the other party had smelled the blood and already realized something had happened inside the room.

What should I do… Charge out directly and get rid of him? No. That would be seen by others, and I would be pursued by official Beyonders…

Emlyn instinctively took out his potions, preparing to conceal himself once more.

Then he found inspiration from that.

Silently letting out a breath, Emlyn placed Galis Kevin’s head on the bed. He drank an invisibility potion, sprayed the corresponding liquid, and with very light, very slow movements, moved into a corner and hid.

In this way, the room presented the scene of an assassination already completed, with the murderer having long since fled.

Time flowed second by second. Both outside and inside the door were silent. No sound emerged, apart from the occasional passing of other tenants.

Suddenly, the window of Galis Kevin’s room creaked open, and two lines of sight cast themselves inside.

After carefully checking the room, Argos, whose face bore traces of ulceration, pressed down with his hands, leaped inside, and slowly walked toward the corpse whose Beyonder characteristic was quietly separating.

In the corner, Emlyn White took advantage of the fact that the other man was not looking in his direction. He quietly took out Leymano’s Travels and flipped it to another page containing Lightning Strike.

Just then, Argos’s gaze fell upon the bed—upon his companion’s head, upon that stack of old newspapers, and upon the small wooden box.

His pupils abruptly shrank.