Chapter 76: Dealing With The Aftermath

In an instant, the silver bullet traversed the short distance of a few meters and accurately bore into the suited clown's neck. Large amounts of blood spewed out, dyeing his skin and bow tie red.

The suited clown was unable to let out a cry as his throat seemed to produce sounds of him gasping for breath. He wished to raise his arm to divert the fatal wound, but his motions were slow and jerky.

Having entered a half-Cogitation state, Klein calmly pulled the trigger once again.

A grisly hole appeared on the suited clown's forehead as crimson red spewed out. The luster in his eyes dimmed, and he gradually fell to the ground, unmoving.

Having delivered a headshot, Klein turned around in a cool manner. He spun his revolver and allowed the empty shells to fall down and walked towards Aiur Harson. He pulled out the final silver demon hunting bullet from his pocket and inserted it into the revolver's chamber.

Klein arrived next to Aiur Harson who struggled to sit up.

"Mr. Harson, what do you need me to do?" he asked, squatting down.

Aiur sighed. "The monster was too strong; if not for its weakness..."

Then he pointed at a sky-blue metal bottle beside him. "I was trying to consume some medicine, but my hand shook."

The bottle was opened, and its liquid had spilled. Klein reached and picked up the bottle. "Mr. Harson, there are only a few drops left."

"Go to... Borgia and search his inner pockets." Aiur said.

"Alright." Klein stood up and casually asked, "Is this restorative medicine?"

"No, it only has certain restorative effects. It can stimulate the mind and squeeze out the potential of the body." Aiur attempted to sit up. "Its name is the Goddess's Gaze... Remember to let Borgia drink half a bottle."

Klein turned around and arrived at Borgia, who was groaning in pain. He found the bottle in the Nighthawk's pocket, and after removing the cap, he held the bottle as dark red liquid flowed in Borgia's mouth.

Klein stopped halfway and screwed the cap back on. The medicine was rather effective. It only took Borgia a few seconds to regain the spirit in his eyes.

Borgia pressed down on the ground as he slowly sat up. He first dealt with his wounds before walking to the unconscious Lorotta and Dunn and retrieved the Goddess's Gaze from the latter's inner pocket.

Klein returned to Aiur's side and fed him the remaining liquid. Aiur's actions became nimbler.

Klein turned around and jogged to the "poet," Leonard.

"There's no need. I can drink it by myself." Leonard, with his disheveled hair, drank the liquid and quickly got up without appearing to be injured.

He had the ability to consume the medicine from the very beginning. That also means that he could see me walk counterclockwise as I did the luck enhancement ritual.

No, that's still alright. I had chanted inwardly, and the luck enhancement ritual does not appear odd in any way, or the suited clown would not have fallen for it.

But even so, Leonard, who had long recovered but chose to watch by the sidelines, had seen quite a lot. Things like me not being affected by 2-049 and my sneak attack on the suited clown...

Klein's eyes narrowed slightly. Leonard, who was walking in his direction, stopped beside him and chuckled softly. "I actually wanted to save you but discovered that you didn't need it.

Don't mind it. There are many special people in this world that can always do things others can't, such as you... and me." Leonard smiled as he went past Klein and walked to the awakening Dunn and Lorotta.

From the looks of it, Leonard Mitchell hid a secret... Klein felt more relaxed. As he regrouped with the rest while deep in thought, he saw Captain Dunn wear a cloth and pick up the Antigonus family notebook that was covered in yellowish-brown blood stains.

The notebook's cover was completely made of thick black paper. It suffused an aura from a distant time without any signs of wear. It was nearly identical to the one he saw in his dream.

Dunn had flipped open the notebook to make a final confirmation. Klein was unable to discern the words on it, but he was certain that there was no drawing of the Fool with his gorgeous clothes and splendid headdress.

"Ahem. There's nothing wrong with it." Dunn closed the notebook and held it securely. Then he looked at Aiur and the others. "Let's store this notebook and Sealed Artifact 2-049 behind Tingen's Chanis Gate. We can wait until all of you are recovered or Backlund sends someone over."

Klein wished to see the Antigonus family's notebook once more and figure out the reason for the death of the original Klein, Welch, and Naya. However, he also felt that the ancient item was filled with misfortune, so he did not dare touch it.

Handing it to the Church's headquarters and sealing it is considered the best choice.

"Alright." Aiur Harson, Borgia, and Lorotta nodded in unison and turned around, arriving beside Sealed Artifact 2-049.

They stuffed the puppet, which had resumed moving into the black chest as they monitored it strictly.

Inside the dimly lit black chest, the puppet wrapped in oil-stained cloth flipped over while creaking as it aligned its clown-painted face with the opening. On its face, under the black pupilless eyes, two hardly noticeable crimson cracks appeared.

Meanwhile, Dunn, Leonard, and Klein began searching the suited clown's corpse. They found paper flowers, handkerchiefs, poker cards, glass pieces, and all sorts of strange items.

However, apart from that, he did not seem to carry anything of worth or potential clues.

Klein secretly sighed and inspected himself. His formal uniform was torn due to his rolling on the ground.

Dunn shot him a glance. "Losses during a mission can be reimbursed."

"Let Frye take care of the dead body. We'll see if we find any relevant clues." Dunn said.

Then, they searched the innermost warehouse and saw that there were splotches of bloody flesh and bones that had been strewn everywhere.

"Ray Bieber was absorbing the power in the notebook via an ancient ritual, just like how we would consume a higher-level Sequence potion. A ritual like that is unpredictable and must be performed in an environment isolated from all disturbances. The ritual would have required him to enter a deep sleep for a certain amount of time; that was probably why he had yet to leave Tingen." Dunn guessed after inspecting the warehouse.

Upon hearing such a description, Lorotta laughed. "Such a pity, we woke him ahead of time. His anger at being woken up truly left a deep impression on us."

"This is a kind of losing control," Dunn said, looking towards Klein.

"Why didn't he just leave Tingen and try to absorb it elsewhere?" Klein asked.

Aiur laughed and pointed to his head. "People influenced by ancient or sinister powers often lack the ability to think."

Dunn said while hiding his pain, "Leonard, you are still in good condition. Stay here and do not allow ordinary people to come close... The rest of us will immediately search for items among Ray Bieber's remains. We will return with them and the Sealed Artifact, as well as the Antigonus family's notebook. We will then get Frye, Royale, and the police to come here."