Chapter 106: Escape

" if you find any mistakes or misspelled names. Let me know—thank you!"

"Bang——"

The bullet carried black flames as it swept past the witch's cheek and drilled into the moist soil along the Tussock River bank.

It wasn't that Angel had suddenly decided to spare her life—rather, an invisible force dragged the witch horizontally, pulling her rapidly away. The tremendous force made the witch's neck bend sideways, revealing an expression mixing panic and pain across her face.

Spider silk... it's that "Pleasure Witch"!

Seeing this familiar method of movement, Angel instantly thought of Lady Sharon from before.

She switched the empty "Bloodthirst" to her left hand, drew another revolver, and continuously fired the "Phantom Phosphorus Burst" rounds from the cylinder, chasing after the rapidly retreating witch who was getting farther and farther away.

Clusters of phosphorescent light exploded across the ground. Among them, that figure tinged with white light continued moving, dragged by shining spider silk. The witch herself seemed to be using "Lightness" as well, making herself glide close to the ground like a kite.

At the end of the spider silk, another gradually materializing white outline became clear.

"Captain, can you restrain them?"

Angel emptied the "Phantom Phosphorus Burst" rounds and had no time to reload, so she could only shout for her teammates' help.

"She's holding the 'Primordial Witch's' statue. My 'Nightmare' ability is almost ineffective against her. As for the other Beyonder, that 'Pleasure Witch' seems to have found a way to counter the phantom phosphorus burst..."

Behind her came Dunn Smith's weary voice.

As if verifying his words, the dragged witch merged with another figure. The latter embraced the witch's body, waving her arms, and both figures quickly disappeared into the night. Even the phantom phosphorus powder clinging to their bodies was no longer visible.

At the last moment, the witch who had escaped from Angel's grasp seemed to glance back at her.

"Bang——Bang——"

Leonard approached from Angel's other side, holding a pistol and firing several shots in succession.

In the darkness, firing at targets nearly a hundred meters away, the bullets had long since flown off in unknown directions—as if bidding farewell to the two fleeing Beyonders.

"Forget it. They're determined to escape, and the few of us can't stop them."

Angel suppressed the anxiety in her heart, shook her head, and comforted Leonard, who was holding an empty revolver.

"I thought you'd be the most anxious one. Just now your eyes were red, chasing that witch desperately as if you didn't care about your life..."

Leonard said while reloading his pistol.

My eyes were red?

Angel unconsciously rubbed her eyes.

"Maybe it's because I used spirit vision earlier and saw that white bone statue..."

"Cough..." Dunn coughed once, interrupting their conversation. He frowned in the direction where the two Beyonders had gone, then gave up as well, shaking his head.

"My condition wasn't good tonight. I made too many mistakes—failed to detect this witch's invisible approach, my 'Nightmare' ability was broken by her statue, and just now I let the 'Pleasure Witch' escape from my hands..."

His face showed an expression mixing fatigue and annoyance. He turned to look at the uneasy Angel, pressed his lips together, and said: "Go check on Klein, then... let's discuss your situation."

"Captain..."

Leonard stared at Dunn with surprised eyes, but closed his mouth under the latter's stern gaze, walking toward Klein who still lay on the ground with a gloomy expression.

Angel silently put away her revolver and dagger, following behind Leonard. Dunn, walking last, had a gaze like a physical weight falling on her, making the skin on her back tighten.

When Angel had decided to use the "Magic Pocket Watch," she had already prepared herself for exposing her mystical item.

If the passive ability of "Bloodthirst" to enhance bullets could still be concealed during intense combat, then the several Beyonder abilities the "Magic Pocket Watch" granted her were absolutely impossible to hide from the Nighthawks present.

The impressive flame flash, the strange paper figure substitute, and the damage transfer that could save a life...

They had fought the Hermits of Fate's tuxedo clown—that Sequence 7 "Magician"—just half a month ago. They were familiar with these abilities and clearly knew that an "Assassin" absolutely shouldn't possess them.

But Klein was seriously injured... Leonard and the captain were trapped in a hard battle...

At this moment, if she let the team suffer casualties to conceal her own mystical item, she would definitely regret it.

————

"I'm already... cough cough, don't force... I'm fine."

With several people's support, Klein was moved from the semi-coagulated blood on the ground to beside the carriage, sitting on the step below the driver's seat.

Dunn took out a thumb-sized sky-blue metal bottle, unscrewed the cap, and forced Klein to drink the "Goddess's Gaze."

Leonard pulled out a small bundle of Klein's hair, ignoring the latter's grimacing expression of pain, carefully wrapping the hair around a ritual knife while muttering something, then inserting the knife vertically in the center of the blood pool Klein had shed.

After one gulp of the potion, Klein's face, which had become pale from blood loss, quickly recovered its ruddy color. Although his shoulder wound was still bleeding, after emergency treatment it no longer significantly affected his movement.

"Just now I almost thought I was going to..."

He used his right hand to stroke the damaged part of his chest shirt. There, the witch's dagger had pierced through his ribs, stabbing straight into his heart. The intense pain had nearly made him faint, and the blood that spurted out had dyed most of his white shirt red.

But the originally fatal wound now showed skin as smooth as new.

"This is a bit like that move the 'Tuxedo Clown' used last time, but how do you know it?"

He looked puzzledly at the silent Angel nearby, at Dunn who was crossing his arms with flickering eyes, and at Leonard who was pursing his lips, gloomily staring at Dunn.

This atmosphere seems a bit wrong...

Even though Klein's brain was somewhat sluggish after blood loss, he now noticed the strange atmosphere at the scene.

Captain Dunn crossing his arms—in psychology this seemed to be a defensive, distrustful posture. Who was he guarding against?

Why did Leonard seem somewhat hostile toward the captain? Or was it wariness... had they had an argument?

Angel was looking down, seemingly studying the composition of the soil by the Tussock River bank, staring at her feet without moving.

Looking at the three silent people, Klein was about to speak to break the awkward atmosphere when the ritual knife Leonard had stuck in the ground suddenly emitted black smoke. The hair tied to it spontaneously combusted, quickly burning to ashes.

That pool of blood also turned black in patches, centered on the knife.

"That's the witch's 'curse.' Just now I used Klein's hair and blood as a substitute to block her attack. Otherwise, with his currently weakened body, he couldn't withstand such a curse."

Leonard withdrew his gaze from the smoking ritual knife and looked at Dunn.

"Captain, the two enemies just now were very powerful—a Sequence 6 'Pleasure Witch' and a 'Witch' skilled in casting curses. If it weren't for Angel..."

"I know, of course I know."

Dunn also spoke. His gaze swept over Leonard who was arguing reasonably, Klein who was opening his mouth not knowing what to say, and finally stopped on Angel who was looking down.

"In your eyes, am I the kind of person who would report to the Holy Cathedral because a team member took out hidden mystical items for combat victory, to rescue companions?"

"Apart from often forgetting things, I think my image shouldn't be that bad, right?"

He raised the corners of his mouth, with a smile in his eyes.

Leonard seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, his tense body relaxing.

"Klein, can you hold on a bit longer?" Dunn turned to the only wounded person present. "Although those two Beyonders escaped, our main purpose is to destroy the curse ritual. If you can still hold on, we'll go check inside that house now. If you need to return to Zoutland Street immediately, we'll have Old Neil replace you."

"I'm fine, just a bit dizzy from blood loss. I think I can still hold on."

Although Klein really wanted to return to his warm home and fall asleep, he still gritted his teeth and persisted.

At a time like this, I can't just leave casually...

Dunn nodded and looked at Angel, who hadn't spoken yet.

"What about you?"

"..."

Angel still looked down, her body seeming to tremble, making soft whimpering sounds.

"What?"

Leonard moved closer to her, trying to hear more clearly.

"...Please, please put out the oil lamp on the carriage... aren't you afraid of fire burning down all of Tingen City?"