Chapter 30: The Astronomy Enthusiast

Chapter 30: The Astronomy Enthusiast

Erik had become captain of a Red Gloves team and advanced to Sequence 5, Spirit Warlock, during the later stages of the previous war.

He had witnessed the deaths of the previous captain and the captain before that. He knew that a higher Sequence was not the first guarantee of safety. Caution and prudence were.

Among the elite Red Gloves of the Nighthawks, this was a principle almost everyone believed in. Ordinary Nighthawks might encounter only mundane problems that looked like supernatural incidents, and even if they made occasional mistakes, there was a high probability they could rely on their own Beyonder powers to turn the situation around. But for the Red Gloves, who pursued all kinds of important cases, their potential targets were certainly extremely dangerous things.

At that moment, Erik stood on the fourth floor of the apartment building at 14 Playa Street, facing a tightly shut dark-brown wooden door. Looking around, he said,

“Two Nighthawks have already disappeared here. We absolutely cannot be careless.”

At first, several residents of the apartment building had reported to the police, saying that a foul odor was coming from Room 403. Moreover, the tenant of Room 303 often heard heavy footsteps from above.

The police in the corresponding district delayed for two days before coming to investigate. Then they never walked out of Room 403 again.

After the police station confirmed this, they immediately transferred the case to the Church of Evernight. But the two Nighthawks who came to handle it likewise disappeared, while the door to Room 403 remained tightly shut.

Based on this premise, the archbishop of Midseashire for the Church of Evernight entrusted the matter to Erik’s team and permitted them to apply for a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact as support.

“Yes, Captain.” Members of the Red Gloves team either nodded or spoke, giving their responses one after another.

Erik said nothing more. Standing before the tightly closed dark-brown door of Room 403, he raised his left palm, covered in a red glove, and bent a finger to tap one of his teeth.

A blurry figure abruptly appeared before him, seeping through the gap beneath the door into Room 403 as though it had no thickness.

Erik’s expression became exceptionally focused, as though he were using that blurry figure to observe the situation inside the room.

It was a nature spirit he controlled—one that was not particularly powerful but possessed special abilities. It usually lived inside his left front tooth.

Under the current circumstances, Erik believed they could not barge in directly. It would be best to first conduct reconnaissance. Even though his team had a reasonable combination of abilities and a powerful Sealed Artifact for support, they still had to be this cautious.

If they could first get a basic understanding of the situation inside and make targeted preparations, he believed the matter would become much easier.

At that moment, one tiny blood vessel after another bulged inside Erik’s eyes. Some even burst directly.

As his vision instantly turned crimson, Erik heard a heavy creaking sound.

The tightly shut dark-brown door suddenly swung open!

Inside the room were six figures. Three wore black-and-white checkered police uniforms and were respectively seated on a chair with a backrest, a high stool, and a sofa. Two wore half top hats and black trench coats. One stood by the door, while the other stood on the platform behind the bay window with his face pressed to the glass, seemingly staring down at the street below.

The last figure sat on a high stool by the balcony. Before him stood an exquisite astronomical telescope.

The skin of all six figures had swollen, as if a large amount of gas had been poured into their bodies. Some places had even split open and were highly decomposed, yet they had not collapsed. Instead, the skin had been stretched taut, giving off a dark bluish-black sheen, while pale yellow liquid tinged with black dripped down.

Sensing the door open, the six figures turned their heads one after another and looked toward Erik and the others.

The first was the former Nighthawk standing near the door. The last was the man in a cotton shirt sitting behind the astronomical telescope. One of his black-and-white eyes was still stuck to the lens, so he could only sweep his remaining eye and dark, empty socket across the Red Gloves team outside the door.

A faint stench burrowed into Erik and the others’ noses. An indescribable chill filled their surroundings.

Erik instinctively wanted to raise his hand, tap his tooth, release more spirits, and use the Nightmare Beyonder power to forcibly drag the targets before him all into a dream.

However, no matter how he tapped his teeth, no spirits were released. The Beyonder powers related to his status as a Spirit Warlock seemed to vanish all at once.

At the same time, a Nightmare in the Red Gloves team also discovered, in surprise, that he could no longer drag others into dreams!

At that moment, aside from the physical enhancements brought by potions, all of their Beyonder powers had vanished—strangely vanished.

“Leave here!” Erik did not hesitate. He gave the order in a low voice.

This bizarre situation was something he had never encountered before. He could only order the team to retreat first, then later select targeted Sealed Artifacts to deal with it.

Yet neither he nor his team members moved their feet. They seemed to no longer obey their own consciousness.

Erik instinctively lowered his head to look at his lower body and saw that both of his legs had already swollen, stretching his trouser legs until they were about to split.

At the same time, he clearly felt his skin decay, rot, and ooze pus.

Before he and his Red Gloves team could truly make contact with the target, they had already fallen into a lucid “nightmare” in which they watched themselves die little by little, swelling and rotting, unable to break free.

Just then, reflected in Erik’s bloodshot eyes was an ordinary-looking hand. It grasped the handle and gently pulled outward.

Clang!

The dark-brown door of Room 403 closed once more, cutting off Erik and his Red Gloves team from the creatures inside.

They instantly regained control of their bodies, though their legs seemed to have suffered considerable injury. Whether raising their feet or bending their knees, both actions were somewhat difficult.

Erik had no time to examine his injuries. He hurriedly cast his gaze toward the hand that had closed the door, and toward its owner.

It was a young man wearing a classical top hat and a black robe. His features were ordinary, making it impossible to form a deep impression of him. One would forget him as soon as one turned away.

“I sincerely suggest that you return now and hand this matter over to the archbishop or senior deacons. Of course, you have another option: make a wish to me. I am a wandering magician, named Merlin Hermes. What I am best at is fulfilling other people’s wishes.” Klein spared no effort in tempting others to make wishes to him.

Just now, when he saw the decomposed face on the bay window, he had suddenly developed a bad premonition, so he had come over specially to confirm exactly what was happening.

Fulfilling wishes… Erik instantly recalled the education he had received during his training at the Cathedral:

Some high-Sequence Beyonders may be in a state of imprisonment or sealing. They will pretend to be magical items that fulfill wishes and lure you into helping them escape. Relevant examples include a magic lamp that can fulfill three wishes and a wishing well…

Is this a high-Sequence Beyonder? But he doesn’t look like he’s imprisoned or sealed… Erik glanced left and right. After considering for a few seconds, he tentatively asked,

“If we do not make a wish to you, will you not resolve the abnormality inside the room?”

The moment he finished speaking, he saw the wandering magician who called himself Merlin Hermes fall into thought, revealing a little distress.

A few seconds later, Klein raised his hand and stroked the tall top hat on his head, half-smiling and half-sighing.

“Even if you do not make a wish, I will still try to resolve it.”

“…Does making a wish to you require reciting your honorific name or true name?” Erik asked after exchanging glances with his team members.

Klein shook his head.

“No. You need only say your wish aloud.”

That won’t create a mystical connection… Erik tested further, speaking in a joking tone.

“Then I hope the abnormality in this room will be resolved and will no longer affect the surroundings.”

Klein outlined a smile and lightly clapped his hands.

“Your wish shall be fulfilled.”

Without waiting for Erik to respond, he smiled and said,

“The abnormality inside can suppress Beyonder characteristics, rendering corresponding abilities ineffective. But this is not absolute.

“Generally, when encountering a situation like this, my suggestion is…”

As he spoke, Klein reached out with his left hand and took out a glass ball shaped like an eyeball. Following the motion, he twisted the handle with his right palm, opening the door a crack.

Then, through the gap, he threw the glass ball into Room 403.

As the glass ball flew, it continuously absorbed the surrounding light and released brilliant, pure, extreme sunlight, like a miniature sun.

The next second, Klein pulled with his right palm and closed the door again, preventing Erik and the others’ eyes from suffering damage.

“My suggestion is to use a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact of the Sun domain for area purification.” As he finished the earlier sentence, Klein remembered the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem behind Chanis Gate in Tingen City. Although it was only a Grade 3 Sealed Artifact, given enough time, it could likewise resolve the rotting creatures inside.

Erik had just wanted to say that the Sealed Artifact they had brought was similar, but that they had not had a chance to use it. Before he could speak, he saw Mr. Merlin Hermes reopen the door to Room 403.

The six figures inside had already evaporated into nothing. Different Beyonder characteristics were slowly condensing, while the original chill and stench had been completely melted away by a warm and gentle feeling.

“Resolved?” Erik asked after hesitating.

Klein smiled and shook his head.

“No. The root of the problem remains.

“Have you investigated the identity of this place’s owner?”

Erik immediately answered,

“He called himself John. He was an astronomy enthusiast who liked using a specialized telescope to study the stars at night.”

Studying the stars… Klein calmly walked into the room and casually instructed,

“Search this place and look for any possible clues.”

For some reason, Erik suddenly felt that Mr. Merlin Hermes resembled the captain he had had when he had first joined the Nighthawks: professional, calm, and trustworthy.

He nodded to the members of his team, signaling them to follow the instructions.

As for himself, he continued staying diagonally behind Klein, both to provide help and to keep necessary vigilance.

Klein paid no attention to him. His gaze swept across the room, and he approached the exquisite astronomical telescope. Then he bent down and placed his eye near the eyepiece.

This may be dangerous… Erik had originally intended to give a reminder, but when he thought of the status and level the other party had displayed, he shut his mouth again.

At that moment, through the astronomical telescope, Klein saw a splendid, dreamlike, deep night sky. Every star within it flickered faintly.

Suddenly, his field of vision was occupied by an enormous eye.

The eye seemed to be pressed directly against the lens at the other end of the astronomical telescope. Its base was grayish-white, its pupil pale yellow, and one swollen blood vessel after another inside it oozed disgusting, semi-transparent pus.