Chapter 46: Grazing

Chapter 46: Grazing

At dawn, the sky faintly brightened. In the alley beside the wall, most of what remained was quiet, motionless gloom.

Using Danitz’s cloak, Klein merged into the shadows and swiftly traveled through them. He only felt the surroundings turn gray-black and transparent, reality detached and blurred, while all sounds seemed to come from the depths of the starry sky, empty and distant.

After moving as far as possible from Fragrant Tree Avenue, he identified his location, then “grew” out from the shadows and appeared within an empty alley littered with broken bricks and rubble.

With both hands, Klein shook out Steel Maviti, who was wrapped in the peacock-blue flying carpet, and tossed him in front of himself, aiming to complete the grazing before the other man’s spirit body began dispersing.

He threw aside the flying carpet, stepped forward, extended his left palm, and spread his five fingers slightly, aiming down from above at the still-warm corpse.

Creeping Hunger then revealed its original form, thin as though made from human skin.

At the center of its palm, two eyes split open, their pupils blood-red as if dyed with blood.

Woo!

A breeze cold enough to seep into the marrow suddenly blew through the alley. It circled around Steel Maviti’s corpse, twisting into a nearly transparent human figure in which one could faintly make out thick lips and curls like steel balls.

Maviti’s spirit-body expression was abnormally pained. He struggled desperately against Creeping Hunger’s attraction, while motes of gray-white and black-green light, like a surging galaxy, flew rapidly from his body of flesh and blood and merged into that transparent figure.

“No!”

Maviti released a silent scream. It was too late even to beg for mercy. In despair, he burrowed into the human-skin glove, was fixed onto the blank finger, and spread out his Beyonder characteristic, creating a certain connection with the surrounding environment.

That connection determined which of Steel Maviti’s abilities could be used after his soul was grazed—perhaps one, perhaps two, no more than three. Before they were fixed, the exact contents were not under Klein’s control; they were purely random.

Creeping Hunger swiftly became covered in pallor, then finally returned to its previous disguise: an ordinary black glove.

Klein closed his eyes and sensed for a few seconds, then let out a breath that was both slightly relieved and slightly regretful.

This time, his luck could not be called bad, but neither was it especially good.

He had successfully obtained three of Steel Maviti’s Beyonder abilities, but among them was not the one he most wanted: the “body like steel” that feared neither bullets, fire, nor a certain quantity of explosives, together with tenacious vitality.

First was the strength of a Living Corpse, allowing me to deliver savage attacks and make up for the shortcomings of my previous agility-focused combat style. Second is mastery over ice. Although it cannot gather ice spears or create blizzards like the Witch pathway, and cannot be used for the most direct attacks, it can freeze the ground nearby, lower the air temperature, and effectively hinder the opponent’s movements. If there is physical contact, it can even freeze the enemy and stiffen their flesh—perfectly matching close combat. Third is control of living corpses. Heh. In the future, I will not need to fear lacking enough people for a card game… Klein thought briefly, then bent down and began checking Steel Maviti’s belongings.

He soon found 26 pounds, 11 soli, and 8 pence in cash, along with a pile of things that looked normal but were actually rather strange, such as candles, clamps, spiked leather whips, and so on.

Considering that Steel Maviti was very likely a member of the Rose School of Thought, and that he belonged to the faction that indulged desire, Klein vaguely understood something. He spat once and put away the cash.

“Werewolves have extraordinary…