Chapter 95: Helpers Without Summoning

Chapter 95: Helpers Without Summoning

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Those silver-white bolts of lightning, each as thick as a giant serpent, struck the semi-transparent black velvet “curtain” directly, making it shake violently and twist out of shape.

Seizing that opening, Reinette Tinekerr’s reflection in the castle window “jumped” and returned to Klein’s coat pocket—back onto the surface of the gold coin inside the iron cigarette case.

Klein, who had prepared for this in advance, raised his right arm and calmly aimed the Staff of the Stars at the floor tiles of the hall.

A scene surfaced inside his mind, representing a certain Beyonder power belonging to a Druid.

The ground beneath Klein’s feet softened at once, turning into a “swamp.” His body sank rapidly, as though falling into the sea.

Underground Burrowing!

With a rumble, just as the “swamp” solidified again, the semi-transparent black velvet “curtain” could no longer withstand the baptism of the thunderstorm. It abruptly shrank into a ball and fell back into the interior of the castle.

The thousands of thick lightning bolts no longer met any obstruction. Like a torrential downpour, they covered the ancient castle.

Towers collapsed. The hall shattered. One marionette after another proved as fragile as illusions beneath such a level of thunder assault. They instantly charred, cracked, and turned to ash.

When the silver-white light illuminating the entire mountain range subsided, the Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar’s castle had completely become ruins. In many places, clusters of crimson fire still burned.

Klein immediately emerged from the bottom of a deep pit and saw, not far away, the demonic wolf covered in dark short fur making the same movement.

Relying on the three Druids among His marionettes, He had also successfully hidden underground and avoided that round of lightning bombardment.

At that moment, the independent “kingdom” created by the “curtain” had already collapsed completely, but the wish the Dark Demonic Wolf had made had not fully faded. Divinity’s return would still require a little time.

Neither side hesitated. Once again, they began fierce combat.

Kotar made the “curtain,” now shrunk into a ball, fly upward and drape over Himself, using it to isolate Him from a Wraith’s forcible possession. After all, He had only three marionettes left. Of course, in this state, He could no longer switch places with His marionettes.

At the same time, Reinette Tinekerr left the gold coin inside Klein’s pocket and drifted toward the eight-legged demonic wolf.

She abandoned the idea of possession. Her arms abruptly swelled, patches of short gray hair grew on the backs of Her hands, and Her nails became long, sharp, and tough.

Werewolf Transformation!

This rag-doll-like evil thing became an enormous “werewolf.” Constantly moving at high speed and swinging Her claws, She engaged in an intense battle with the small-mountain-like Dark Demonic Wolf.

Amid the clanging clashes, Klein was attacked by Kotar’s three remaining marionettes.

One lifted its head and roared, causing brown short fur to burst through its clothes as it instantly transformed into a terrifying giant bear two people tall. One crouched down, pressing both palms against the ground. The last raised its right hand and tore down a handful of hair.

At that moment, a tide of crimson flames surged out from within Klein’s clothing, engulfing him instantly.

His figure appeared in a cluster of flames nearby. Then he jumped out, holding his cane, and charged straight at the giant “brown bear.”

Where he had originally stood, dark-green mutated vines pierced through the ground and grew wildly, twisting the remnants of fire between them.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The huge “brown bear” did not retreat at all. With heavy steps, like a steam locomotive running at full speed, it charged toward Klein and spread its arms, trying to give him an “enthusiastic” embrace—the kind that could break every bone and crush front and back of the chest together.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Klein, his black trench coat billowing backward, likewise did not retreat. In the blink of an eye, he was about to collide with that enormous “brown bear.”

Suddenly, he kicked off hard with his left foot and twisted his waist. His entire body forcibly leaped upward, flying over the “brown bear” from a diagonal angle above it.

Smack!

As the two crossed paths, Klein swung the black cane downward, striking the “brown bear” hard on the shoulder.

Normally, this sort of attack could not possibly harm a thick-skinned, fur-covered “brown bear.” But the cane Klein was using was the Staff of the Stars. Its physical attacks would produce random mutations or all kinds of strange effects.

Of course, under the God of Wishes’ suppression, such mutations and effects would not exceed the level of a Sequence 4 Beyonder power.

Smack!

Amid the echo of the cane strike, the giant “brown bear” split diagonally from its shoulder. The half without a head was “transferred” to a spot more than ten meters away, while the remaining half stayed where it was.

With a wet crash, the “brown bear’s” organs and blood spilled across the ground. The scene was rather horrifying.

However, the “brown bear” had not died. Its two halves each wriggled, struggling to stabilize themselves and continue attacking.

As a marionette, it had essentially died long ago. This kind of damage was not significant.

By that point, Klein had already landed behind the “brown bear,” his two feet touching the ground.

Another surge of crimson fire burst out, swallowing his figure.

A flame on the verge of dying suddenly sprang up. Klein leaped out of it, arriving near the marionette whose palms were pressed to the ground.

Wearing his silk half top hat, he sprinted past and, without turning his head, swung his cane to the side.

Smack!

Golden flames erupted from within that marionette’s body, and its figure vanished instantly.

A stream of fire shot into the air, and the marionette jumped down from it. But the golden flames had not gone out. They swiftly burned it to ash.

Klein did not even spare that side a glance. He had already rushed before the marionette that had torn out a handful of hair.

That marionette immediately threw out the hair in its hand.

The strands of hair burned on their own one by one, releasing pitch-black gas that triggered even Klein’s spiritual warning.

A potent poison!

An unknown potent poison!

With a faint screech, Klein relied on the Clown’s ability to force himself to a halt. Borrowing the inertia of his body, he stretched the black cane forward.

Inside his mind, thoughts frantically reorganized, swiftly forming a scene.

Before this operation, Klein had asked Miss Justice to hypnotize him to a certain extent, so that when his subconscious thought, his mind could not form images. Only individual thoughts would echo. He had to actively control them to construct a scene. This allowed him to use the Staff of the Stars for a longer time without being affected by its negative effects. As for the drawbacks of thinking in such a manner, Klein believed they were acceptable under the preset conditions.

Silently, the gemstones embedded in the Staff of the Stars lit up. A pure, incandescent, sacred pillar of light descended from the sky, enveloping the mass of pitch-black gas and the corresponding marionette.

The potent poison quickly dissolved beneath the “Sun’s” scorching light. The marionette did the same.

Even as that radiance still lingered in Klein’s eyes, his body had already instinctively turned, aiming the Staff of the Stars at the “brown bear” split into two halves.

Silver-white lightning flashed repeatedly. The “brown bear’s” two halves finally charred and collapsed, never to rise again.

In merely a few seconds, Klein had dealt with the Dark Demonic Wolf’s remaining marionettes.

After Sefirah Castle’s abnormal movement, time had become extraordinarily urgent for both him and the God of Wishes. Neither wished to delay, because before long, high-level existences of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, such as the True Creator and the Angel of Time Amon, might descend.

Seeing this, the Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar abruptly shook His body, flinging out the semi-transparent velvet “curtain.”

The “curtain” first vanished out of thin air, then abruptly appeared behind Klein. The moment his spirituality began warning him, it covered his body and wrapped him inside.

Klein’s vision instantly darkened. He felt his thoughts suddenly become sluggish, while his Spirit Body Threads were grafted one by one onto the “curtain.”

He tried to Flame Jump. He tried to soften his bones. He tried to use the Staff of the Stars. But none succeeded under this abnormal state.

The black velvet “curtain” wrapped itself tighter and tighter, making the contours of Klein’s eyes, nose, mouth, and other features protrude outward, as though it wished to knead out a brand-new “person.”

Reinette Tinekerr immediately “jumped” onto the semi-transparent “curtain,” forcing it to leave Klein’s body and transfer to another side.

The Dark Demonic Wolf seized the opportunity, lifted His neck, and released a roar.

The “curtain” stood upright, seeming to become a cloak draped over an invisible person.

A terrifying suction was born within it, causing Klein’s and Reinette Tinekerr’s Spirit Body Threads to float toward it out of control.

Without the corresponding Beyonder powers, perhaps in only three or four seconds, their Spirit Body Threads would merge into that “cloak,” and they themselves would become its marionettes.

Fortunately, Klein himself was a Marionettist. He immediately concentrated and began manipulating his own Spirit Body Threads and Miss Messenger’s, imitating the method Zaratul had once used by letting them circle around their bodies and return to their original positions, forming loop after loop.

“Roar!”

The Dark Demonic Wolf spat out an air mass, launching it toward Klein like a cannonball.

Because he was focused on manipulating both his own and Miss Messenger’s Spirit Body Threads, Klein could only barely dodge. Just as he was about to be struck, Reinette Tinekerr drifted over and blocked the attack in front of him.

Boom!

Reinette Tinekerr’s blond hair came loose. Several of the sinister vines wrapped around Her body snapped.

The Dark Demonic Wolf’s follow-up actions had no interval. Taking advantage of the “curtain” madly pulling at the target’s Spirit Body Threads, He launched attack after attack at Klein, forcing Reinette Tinekerr to block them head-on. This ancient evil thing’s body was extraordinarily tough, yet under the wolf’s claws, air masses, and flames, She began swaying on the verge of collapse. Wounds appeared clearly across Her body, one after another. She looked as if She could not last much longer.

At this critical moment, while Klein manipulated his Spirit Body Threads to resist the “curtain’s” attraction, he somewhat stiffly reached into his pocket and took out another iron cigarette case.

The seal was released. The case opened. Inside lay another quiet gold coin. On that coin’s surface was another Wraith.

This was a blurry female Wraith, a true undead creature, not a Wraith of the Mutant pathway.

It was the strongest trump card Klein had prepared. He had not used it earlier because he had been inside an independent “kingdom” cut off from the outside world and feared it would not produce the desired effect. Only now, when the “curtain” had launched its attack against him and Miss Messenger, did he feel the opportunity had arrived.

As the case opened, the Wraith abruptly leaped onto the surface of a glass shard. From its body, nearly illusory thin black tubes extended toward endless distance, connected to some unknown place.

This was the mark of Artificial Death.

And Artificial Death was now equivalent to the Evernight Goddess!

The trump card Klein intended to reproduce was the scene when the Evernight Goddess had used the corpse of Bradell, God of Honor, to destroy Amon’s attempt to seize Sefirah Castle.

For this, he had deliberately found a Wraith-type monster in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, imprisoned it, and placed it together with the white feathers originating from the Artificial Death project that he had summoned from the fog of history.

Through Klein’s repeated experiments and a special trip back to Backlund to pray, this Wraith had finally established a certain connection with Artificial Death, allowing the Evernight Goddess to exert a lower-level influence through it!