Chapter 97
As soon as the horrifying creature arrived, it observed the faces of the people before it, some filled with fear, some expressionless, and some staring at it with complete indifference.
Then, the creature growled like a predator that had found its prey before unleashing spiritual pressure powerful enough to flatten the ground beneath their feet along with a violent storm capable of destroying another building nearby.
The very definition of arrogance, flaunting the overwhelming gap in strength between itself and the seven people beneath it.
Before the terrifying creature could grow even more violent, the remaining members of the 'Intersection Society,' two of them Julian and Zato, decided to charge toward the creature, and both kicked its pitch-black body; the attack sent it flying and destroyed an entire row of buildings with a ruined road splitting through the middle.
Thud...
"Canel!" Julian shouted loudly, the man who had previously fought Zuhen. "Distract that monster with your skull serpent."
"But," Canel said hesitantly. "I'll become that creature's easy target afterward." He was fully aware that his stamina and spirituality had already been drained after defeating the two out-of-control demon horses, and fear crept in as he looked at the horrifying figure.
A calm voice mixed with deep exhaustion sounded afterward, washing away their tension like fog swept by the wind.
"Let me protect you," Zuhen replied with a doubtful gaze, then he turned toward Felina behind him before calling Tell to immediately join him.
"Thank you for the offer," Canel said awkwardly.
The four remaining members of the 'Intersection Society' immediately stepped forward, halting the battle for a moment because they knew the creature had to be eliminated as quickly as possible before it destroyed everything.
Tell, who had previously been not far from their location, immediately flew downward, ignoring her former opponent as she approached her contractor, a woman named Mine.
Once she arrived beside Zuhen, she wore a curious and confused expression because it was her first time witnessing something like this with her own eyes, having once thought it was nothing more than a mere fairy tale.
"That... isn't that the fusion between a Recipestele and a human?" she asked while caressing Zuhen's cheek with her tiny hand.
"Yeah," Zuhen answered with a slightly trembling voice. "So, do you want to do something like that?" Zuhen asked, not expecting Tell to obey his request at all as he looked at her with a weak smile.
Felina let out a sigh as she walked closer and said, "But shouldn't we leave this place instead? While they're distracting that horrifying creature?"
'Just looking at it makes my skin crawl,' Felina added inwardly as cold sweat covered her skin.
Canel, who was standing not far from the two of them, overheard the conversation and thought while raising an eyebrow.
'Leaving this place is a terrible idea, and I'm curious how those two didn't show any fear when that horrifying figure appeared earlier.'
He glanced toward them before turning around and walking closer while pretending to cough so the two of them would speak with him.
"May I ask something?" Canel looked at them carefully, showing not even the slightest trace of caution.
Zuhen slightly raised his shoulder, signaling for him to just say whatever was on his mind.
Canel cleared his throat before speaking. "How is it possible that you weren't afraid of that horrifying creature's aura?"
Zuhen's pupils widened for a moment before a cynical smile spread across his face as he said in his hoarse voice;
"So you want to know, huh?"
Canel nodded in response. However, before Zuhen could explain the reason why he was able to neutralize the terrifying creature's spiritual pressure earlier, four people; Julian, Zato, Mine, and Hana, came running frantically toward the three of them while dragging along their catch: the berserk horrifying creature from before.
"What are you doing here?!" Zato shouted as he ran past them toward the river not far ahead.
Canel froze, unable to react as the horrifying creature released spiritual pressure that made his stomach churn, his head pound, and nausea rise within him.
In contrast, Zuhen endured the spiritual pressure of fear with the sleeve of his jacket covering part of his face, allowing Tell to take over his body and turning himself into a "Cage" that imprisoned Felina.
Then, the horrifying creature floated silently, wearing a blank expression while its black body violently distorted as it passed Canel, causing him to lose the ability to stand and collapse onto the flattened road.
The creature immediately chased after the four people running toward the river. Once he realized the creature had moved far enough away from their location, Zuhen quickly moved again while breathing heavily.
Felina was released from the cage, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment as Zuhen held her tightly, while the soft fur lining his jacket helped clear and calm her mind again.
Canel could no longer hold back and vomited blood as his fingers touched his throat, which felt as though something was burning it alive.
"Uaghh..."
Meanwhile, Zuhen stared sharply at him as Tell slowly revealed her spiritual form, and the two exchanged looks before approaching Canel.
Then, with a swift movement, Zuhen grabbed both of his shoulders tightly, trying to intimidate him, and spoke in his hoarse voice.
"Hein Warlock," he paused briefly to ease the tension. "Do you know where that man is right now?"
Canel vomited blood again before covering it with his hand.
Zuhen instinctively stepped back, glanced toward Felina who was staring at him with a worried expression, and afterward waited for Canel to answer his question.
Not long later, after feeling that his throat had stabilized again, Canel immediately stood up, still holding his neck as he looked at the three of them.
"What are you talking about?" he asked while coughing lightly.
Zuhen frowned before saying, "Hein Warlock? You definitely know where he is."
Canel stared at him deeply as confusion filled his mind because he truly had no idea who Zuhen was talking about.
"I don't understand," he answered hesitantly, his face pale and his lips trembling.
'Did the Intersection Society stop working with that man already?' Zuhen thought while touching his chin.
After thinking about it for a moment, he remembered one thing that still echoed in his mind.
"Tell me the advancement ritual for Receivers from Prisoner, at the second level," Zuhen said while his ocean-deep blue eyes locked onto him.
Canel hesitated to answer, but when he saw Tell wearing a terrifying expression, he finally opened his mouth, though with a heavy heart.
Then he stepped closer toward Zuhen, not thinking of resisting him at all, and whispered something that could only be understood in an instant.
Zuhen's pupils widened as Canel stepped back from where he stood. He was genuinely shocked after hearing that information.
"In exchange," Zuhen said with a satisfied smile. "I'll help you fight that horrifying monster."
'Yeah, maybe I'll gamble on freeing Tell's movements, and why do those two still linger in my mind?' Zuhen thought with furrowed brows, because those two men had truly carved themselves into his thoughts.
Hein Warlock. Aaron Kwok.
Only one minute after the horrifying creature left to chase the four of them, the three of them were stunned and mesmerized as they realized that a massive explosion had erupted far ahead, and from it emerged black smoke surrounded by blazing fire.
Immediately, the three of them moved along the riverside road lined with railings before climbing a small staircase and crossing the bridge to find out what had happened at the explosion site.
....
At the site of the explosion, the four of them were nearly killed as the horrifying creature attacked them mercilessly. Escape? The creature continuously blew apart the surrounding buildings with its spiritual pressure, and every time it was hit by an attack, it regenerated instantly. That alone made things difficult for them as their energy drained with time.
Having grown impatient with its opponents, the fusion between Recipestele and human floated downward, while its previously pitch-black body resonated and formed something disgusting and writhing like snakes emerging from various parts of its body.
The moment they saw that, all four of them immediately wore expressions of disgust while suppressing the nausea rising from their stomachs.
Realizing that her contractor was in danger, the Recipestele belonging to a woman named Mine immediately launched its black flame attack.
The moment her tiny index finger pointed toward the creature, black flames instantly burned the writhing larvae on its body.
However, it wasn't enough as the creature's black skin began resonating again and once more revealed its bizarre form.
Like pitch-black jelly forming a twisted smile.
All four of their jaws instantly tightened as nausea climbed from their stomachs, rose through their throats, and nearly reached their mouths.
The creature watched the four of them with an indescribable expression. Before it could approach them, Mine's Recipestele flew toward the creature, telling them to retreat first while it would hold the monster back.
Mine hesitated slightly upon hearing that instruction, but because her three companions agreed with the request, she immediately moved away and searched for a safe place to hide.
The Recipestele made a finger-gun gesture, and black flames shot out, burning the horrifying creature floating two meters above the stone road.
No screams echoed out. Only the violent night wind blowing past, causing the Recipestele's wings to suddenly stiffen before its own black flames began burning its spiritual form as the horrifying creature calmly flew past it.
Although that could not kill it, the Recipestele suffered a slight decline in the regeneration of its spiritual form because its contractor was too far away and was suppressing the black flames from erasing its existence from this world.
While difficulty overwhelmed it, it could no longer sense the creature's presence, and the creature's location had become completely unknown.
Gone within minutes.
'Low-level, yet that Recipestele could become something like that?' the Recipestele thought in confusion while mocking itself because it could not release one hundred percent of its original power due to the influence of the contract and its existence within the human world.
Several minutes passed as it continued floating while suppressing the aggressive black flames burning its chest. Not long afterward, it heard hurried yet rhythmic footsteps before three people appeared and ran toward it.
'Huh? Isn't that human my contractor's companion?' it thought while carefully observing the three of them.
"Hey, humans," it said in a pressuring tone, causing the three of them to reflexively stop in their tracks. "Where are you going? And it seems you're humans from the same group as my contractor, right?" It looked toward Canel as though it recognized him.
Sensing the weakened presence of that Recipestele, Tell immediately emerged and wore a faint grin as she watched the beautiful sight before her.
She giggled before saying, "Aha, so you really are at a lower level than me and possess powers different from mine."
The Recipestele merely nodded in response, completely unaffected by Tell's statement now that it had fully extinguished the black flames.
"Human, companion of my contractor," the Recipestele said while gesturing for them to come closer. "There's something I want to discuss later, but please help my contractor who's currently in danger." Realizing such words were improper coming from its mouth, but because its contractor's life was in danger, it was forced to ask for help.
Because time was running short and he did not want to linger in this place any longer, Zuhen immediately voiced his thoughts, speaking in his hoarse voice as he wore a serious expression.
"Guiding us to the location is the best idea."
Felina let out a long sigh as she walked after Zuhen together with Canel, who walked in the middle of the road about one meter away from her.
Several minutes passed as they continued walking without pause, witnessing destroyed houses reduced to rubble, some flattened completely, and stone roads torn from their foundations.
He did not know for certain whether someone's battle could truly create devastation like this, and their current location was Alley Number 8 from the first alley right beside the bridge.
As they looked around, they found many things that made chills crawl down their spines. Bloodstains, torn clothes, shattered lamps, and black feathers scattered almost across the entire road.
Zuhen crouched down as he observed those black feathers, which had a different shape and carried a fragrance identical to blooming flowers.
He turned toward Mine's Recipestele, lifted the black feather, and spoke in a calculating tone.
"Do you know where this feather came from?" He then pointed out that among the many feathers scattered across the road, some possessed different shapes and scents.
Canel nodded weakly and said in a feeble voice,
"Isn't that from the horrifying creature earlier?"
"But shouldn't feathers from a Recipestele smell horrible?" Felina bluntly replied, causing Tell and Mine's Recipestele to frown as they looked at her.
Zuhen carefully examined the feather while closing his eyes so their conversation would not disturb his concentration.
Tell silently floated nearby as she watched Zuhen seemingly trying to understand the meaning behind all this.
After thinking for a while, Zuhen opened his eyes again, his mouth tightly shut as his instincts told him that something mysterious had caused this transformation within only a few minutes.
"You two definitely know what a Recipestele is, right?"
'This might be a ridiculous question, because the ones who named Recipestele in the first place were people bound to supernatural beings of different kinds; ghosts, phantoms, and jinn,' Zuhen added inwardly.
"Mudelk," Tell said while closing her eyes, nodding, and pointing at him. "Have you gone insane? Humans were the ones who gave us that name."
"That's correct," the Recipestele calmly answered.
Canel fell silent for a moment before voicing his thoughts as he realized another meaning behind Zuhen's earlier statement.
With trembling lips and held breath as the cold night air pierced the back of his neck, he spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I know what you're thinking right now, sir."
Meanwhile, on the concrete bridge, on the guardrail lined with holes in the alleyway number one, two men watched the river flow unlike anything they had seen before.
Knowing what was happening now, and the situation changing completely, both of them sensed something was lurking behind the scenes during this battle.
"So, Aaron. Why did you follow me all the way here?" Zavi finally expressed the curiosity that had been swirling in his mind.
"Maybe," Aaron paused for a moment as he watched the river water make a sound like hot oil. "Because I can't stand those hired men anymore."
Zavi glanced at him before putting a hand on Aaron's shoulder. "Did you know? That there are many people like you?"
"What did you say?" Aaron opened his mouth slightly in curiosity.
"Forget it," Zavi replied, turning halfway. "You'll be the highlight of this battle."
Aaron suddenly laughed as Zavi completely took advantage of him, just as he had.
"So, don't die and scream anymore maybe it will make you the top of this battle," Aaron said in a half-mocking tone as he raised his hand over the road barrier and the river below.