Chapter 136: The Toxin Bottle

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Six
The Toxin Bottle

Under Wraith Steve’s shriek, the weakened Sharron also showed an expression of pain. Even so, she still managed to close her hand with difficulty, instantly cutting off the wondrous rays radiating from it and making the mysterious illusory bronze door vanish from before her.

Klein knew things were turning bad. Enduring the pounding pain in his head, he hurriedly retreated one step into a fire. His figure swiftly disappeared, flashing to another direction, into the afterflames of an abrupt, violent explosion.

He had just leapt out, seeking a chance to counterattack, when he saw the middle-aged gentleman Steve in the dark-red cloak not chasing him. Instead, the man stood where he was, as though waiting for something.

Klein suddenly felt restless and irritable. His head spun, and his stomach cramped again and again.

He rapidly became weak, yet did not know why.

Maric, who had just recovered from the shriek, also showed signs of abnormality. He kept reaching up to scratch himself, as though his body itched beyond endurance.

He panted lowly, using his wildly lengthening sharp nails to tear through his clothes and scratch one pale mark after another into his body. The more he scratched, the deeper they became, until points of red began seeping out.

Sharron sat collapsed on the ground, unable to stand. Her blue eyes gradually lost focus, as if she could no longer see anything.

“Poison…” she whispered the word.

Not far from her, Wraith Steve glanced at her clenched hand. He seemed rather wary of the bronze illusory door covered in mysterious patterns and filled with an indescribable smell, so he did not rashly attack directly.

In his right hand, he held the Crimson Moon Crown, glowing with cool light like a crimson full moon. With his left hand, he removed a small, translucent brown glass bottle from his pocket and gave a snort.

“The Biological Toxin Bottle. It can randomly produce different toxins. Once opened, they will gradually spread into the surroundings.

“The effects will begin in under a minute. After that, the symptoms will grow more and more serious. By the fourth minute, if one has still not escaped the toxin-filled environment, the consequences will be impossible to resist. For instance: death.

“What a pity. I thought Jason would be able to endure until now.

“Sharron, originally you would not have been affected. A Spirit Body does not fear being poisoned. But sadly, the Crimson Moon Crown is here, and you cannot transform states at all.

“Or perhaps you can give up resisting and let me come to know the charm you keep hidden.”

He leisurely described the magical item’s ability, as though planning to wait until Klein and the others had completely lost the power to resist before making his move.

But Tyre, who had prepared beforehand, did not understand his intention. Under the influence of the Crimson Moon Crown, the Werewolf who had lost reason did not hesitate to counterattack. He pounced forward bodily, claws whipping through the air, tearing into Maric’s body.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of nails scraping steel plates rang out again and again. At last, several wounds through which flesh and blood could be directly seen appeared on Maric’s skin.

Klein pinched his forehead and felt that it was already starting to burn, but the negative effect was not as severe as Wraith Steve had described.

Looks like the Sun Brooch, which is constantly purifying and driving away the evil around me, has weakened the toxin…

Suddenly, Klein gave a heh.

“You want to wait for the poison to take effect before acting?”

“Why do you think I used explosives rather than fireworks just now?”

“So many explosions must have already drawn attention. Official Beyonders nearby are about to arrive. You do not have time!”

Steve turned his head and glanced at Klein’s face, which was smeared with greasepaint and difficult to identify. Suddenly, he smiled.

“I forgot there was still a little bug that can be dealt with easily.

“Do not worry. Before the Churches’ people arrive, you will definitely already be dead…”

Before he finished speaking, Klein suddenly lifted the revolver in his right hand and fired a Purifying Bullet.

Steve’s feet shifted slightly, and he had already swept several meters to the side, leaving afterimages along the way.

But Klein’s bullet had not been fired at the place where he had originally stood. It struck the exact center of the open space, pierced through the mud, and produced a metallic clang!

As a spiritual breeze blew past, Maric’s living corpses and Steve’s shades all froze at the same time.

In the next instant, they charged forward like mad, rushing toward the center of the open space as though they were a pack of starving dogs at mealtime.

Steve, who had been about to use eerie techniques to control Klein and kill him with ease, froze for a moment. Immediately, he revealed an expression both puzzled and astonished.

This was the first time he had ever seen the dead he controlled lose control for no reason!

At the same time, Klein snapped his fingers again, detonating several more bombs and making crimson flames leap skyward in different places.

His figure swiftly jumped among those fires, flashing toward the outside of the open space.

“Trying to run?”

Steve muttered. He was just about to dematerialize and chase the target when he saw those living corpses and shades dig up a square iron box and begin fighting over what was inside.

Very soon, one shade succeeded. Its body swelled open, as though it had gained intelligence, and it flew away in another direction.

So he wants to use that object to delay me and escape successfully… Hmph. He understands neither Wraiths nor the Crimson Moon Crown well enough!

Steve temporarily abandoned the idea of chasing Klein. He put away the Biological Toxin Bottle, and his body abruptly vanished, appearing over a patch of thin ice formed from a puddle. Then, relying on the terrifying speed that dragged out afterimages, he reached the back of that enormous shade in two steps.

The gloomy green light in Steve’s eyes flashed, and that shade silently collapsed at once. The item in its hand dropped sharply downward.

The other living corpses and shades completely ignored the pressure of a higher-ranking existence and scrambled toward it.

Steve became increasingly astonished and suspicious. He discovered that his spiritual intuition could provide no revelation at all from the item making the living corpses and shades riot.

He stepped forward and caught the item with his left hand.

It was a dark-gold key ring. Hanging from it was an ancient, delicate copper whistle, and beside the whistle dangled an old-fashioned brass key.

They stood side by side, pressed tightly together, lying quietly in Steve’s pale palm.

At the same time, in Steve’s right hand, the Crimson Moon Crown quietly radiated cold crimson light, like a miniature full moon.

Before Steve could form any other thought, a faint, illusory, yet extremely strange voice bored into his mind, tearing at his nerves and peeling at his scalp.

“Ah!”

Steve suddenly screamed and fell straight from midair to the ground. The Crimson Moon Crown in his hand and the ring holding the copper whistle and key were both flung away.

He struggled and twisted where he was. Bump after bump swelled from his body. From some sprouted tiny arms like those of infants; from others flowed foul-smelling pale-yellow liquid.

At that moment, flames rose again, and Klein, who had already “escaped,” leapt out, blocking the falling path of the Crimson Moon Crown.

He did not try to catch the magical item. Instead, he lightly deflected it, changing its direction and sending it flying toward the weak, limp Sharron.

Steve’s screams gradually grew quieter. The Crimson Moon Crown landed accurately on Sharron.

Sharron’s figure immediately turned illusory. The blue eyes that had lost focus instantly regained their clarity.

The Crimson Moon Crown allowed its holder to become immune to the effects of the full moon!

Sharron was no longer weak!

And in Spirit Body state, she did not fear biological toxins!

By then, the living corpses and shades had gathered together again, fighting over Azik’s copper whistle and the Master Key, which were strung together.

Klein paid them no mind. He extended his left hand, lifted his arm, and pointed at that location.

The sunbird ornament on his chest flashed with dark-gold light, and a powerful, bright, sacred beam descended from the sky, enveloping the living corpses and shades struggling together.

Within the daylight, the transparent, strange shades swiftly melted and disappeared, while one pale, stinking living corpse after another first emitted black smoke, then caught fire, like candles.

When the daylight vanished, that place was almost empty. Only the ancient, exquisite Azik copper whistle and the old-fashioned Master Key remained threaded on the blackened ring, lying quietly there.

On the other side, Sharron ignored Maric, whose injuries were gradually worsening under Werewolf Tyre’s attacks. Relying on her strange ability to jump between mirror-like objects, she appeared upon the patch of thin ice Steve had previously used, then stepped out.

She stretched her clenched right hand toward Steve, who was transforming into a monster, and abruptly opened it, aiming her palm at the enemy.

Endless radiance burst forth, swiftly weaving itself into that pair of bronze doors covered with mysterious symbols and patterns.

Creeeak!

In that sound that made one’s teeth ache, Sharron’s small black soft hat was blown away by a sudden violent wind, and her neatly combed pale-gold hair scattered into disarray.

It was clear that using that magical item again was taking a great effort.

Creeeak!

A crack opened in the mysterious bronze door. Layers of shrill laughter, weeping, and shouting echoed outward.

Arm after arm—some covered in teeth, some skinless—scrambled out and seized Steve, whose body had begun bursting open with abscesses one after another.

Bluish-black strange vines with baby faces protruding from them and slippery, illusory tentacles also wrapped around this Sequence 5 powerhouse.

“Ah!”

Steve cried out again.

The pale-yellow liquid flowing from his abscesses covered his whole body, allowing him to barely resist the pulling.

Scarlet cracks split across his face. Within them were deep-black holes like tunnels!

And at that moment, Klein had already raised his revolver and aimed at him.

There was no delay. No hesitation. Klein, face disguised, wearing a half silk top hat, calmly pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang!

Accompanied by the flashing of the Sun Brooch, two bullets filled with sacred meaning struck Steve’s head with perfect accuracy.

Although they failed to pierce his skin and skull, they ignited dazzling flames, turning Steve into a bright torch.

“Ah!”

With another scream, Steve was dragged closer to the illusory and mysterious bronze door.

While flicking out the revolver’s cylinder and dumping the spent casings onto the ground, Klein took out the iron box containing his Beyonder bullets.

At the same time, he once more poured spirituality into the Sun Brooch.

Two!

One!

A flawless holy beam fell from midair and struck Steve in an instant.

Seizing that gap, Klein loaded Purifying Bullets and Exorcism Bullets into the chambers in a three-to-three ratio, then snapped the cylinder shut.

He aimed once more at Steve’s head. As the dark-gold brooch flashed, he pulled the trigger hard, six times in succession:

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!