The words Holmes had said earlier in the guest room surfaced in Wright's mind.
"The Sword represents material strength and courage; the Coin represents worldly wealth and the power it brings; the Crown represents inherent rights and wisdom; the Chalice represents life and the desire for its continuation. Pursuing one necessitates sacrificing another."
The Chalice, life and the desire for its continuation. If this battle is lost, survival is impossible, so choosing it should be the most appropriate?
A flash of determination crossed Wright's eyes. Not fearing death is the only way to live!
He chose to replace the Chalice with the Coin.
He pressed the coin in his hand onto the rune symbolizing wealth, while simultaneously attempting to take the golden goblet corresponding to desire from the altar!
The moment the golden goblet left the altar, Wright let out a muffled groan, his face instantly turning deathly pale as cold sweat poured down.
A splitting headache made his vision go black; his sanity suffered a violent blow, and countless twisted whispers echoed in his ears.
The light of the Yetzirah ring flickered violently a few times, its rotation slowed, and the suffocating energy fluctuation weakened significantly.
The dark red light barrier, like a popped blood blister, flickered violently, collapsed, and finally, with a "pop," dissipated without a trace!
The middle ring, broken!
Wright leaned weakly against the wall, gasping for air, feeling as if an important piece of the puzzle in his mind was missing. He could not organize effective thoughts, and a deep sense of loss and despair welled up in his heart.
"Blasphemers! How dare you defile the sacred ritual!" Claire's shriek was filled with rage.
The blood-drop pendant on her chest flared with intense red light, and the incantation she was chanting suddenly became rapid and high-pitched.
The bright silver liquid barrier of the inner ring flowed faster, emitting stronger protective energy.
Her withered fingers pointed sharply at Catherine, whose body convulsed violently. The dark red light at the center of the magic circle grew brighter and brighter, space began to distort, and an unknown will, filled with endless hunger, was rapidly approaching!
After breaking the outer ring, Holmes had been keeping a close watch on the inner ring and Claire.
That bright silver liquid barrier instantly reminded him of mercury. More importantly, the clues deciphered from the parchment flashed through his mind like lightning.
"Sulfur signifies the symbol of the sun and the masculine; mercury signifies the symbol of the moon and the feminine. They are the most incompatible existences... If one is accepted, the other cannot be..."
The Bone-Claw Insectoid abandoned Sheriff Marcus, emitted a high-frequency hiss, and transformed into a black line barely visible to the naked eye, rushing straight at Wright, faster than before! Its bone claws tore through the air, targeting Wright's throat!
"Watson, the Libra room, get the sulfur! It's the key to destroying the final barrier!" Holmes shouted sharply. At the same time, his body lunged like a cheetah into the path of the Insectoid attacking Wright. In his hand was not a pistol, but the flame-shaped dagger he had swiped from the Aries altar!
Upon hearing the shout, Watson gritted his teeth and rushed toward the Libra room, enduring the dizziness and discomfort caused by his wounds.
Two small crystal vials sat quietly on the altar. Watson grabbed the vial of pale yellow sulfur powder without hesitation and rushed out of the room with it.
On the other side, the sound of metal clashing was ear-piercing!
The flame-shaped dagger collided with the pale white bone claws, sparking. The Insectoid was too fast, and its strength far exceeded that of an ordinary person.
Holmes's arm shook violently; the dagger nearly flew from his hand, and he was sent staggering backward by the immense impact.
The Insectoid's slender body twisted eerily, and its other bone claw, like a viper striking, stabbed lightning-fast toward Holmes's heart!
At the critical moment!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three consecutive gunshots!
It was Wright! Enduring his blurred vision and dizziness, he relied on instinct to empty his magazine at the Insectoid, whose figure had momentarily paused due to its attack!
Two shots missed, but the third luckily hit the Insectoid's slender leg joint!
"Screech!" The Insectoid let out a painful shriek, its movements stalling.
The bone claw, capable of piercing iron plating, grazed Holmes's trench coat, tearing away a strip of fabric.
Holmes's eyes were as cold as an abyss. Seizing this fleeting opportunity, he did not retreat but instead lunged forward again!
His left hand reached out like lightning—not to block, but to slam the book of eibon, which he had brought from the Ophiuchus secret chamber, hard against the Insectoid's twisted, ugly head!
"Look upon your master, monster!" Holmes's voice carried a near-mad determination.
"Hum!"
The moment the book of eibon made contact with the Insectoid's head, the pages flipped wildly without wind!
The text in the book—those annotations in Greek, Latin, and English—came alive, twisting and writhing as they burrowed into the Insectoid's eye sockets!
Unimaginable mad whispers, blasphemous knowledge, and the ultimate terrifying visions of the universe, like a breached flood, rushed through the point of contact, pouring without reservation into the Insectoid's already dwindling consciousness!
"Screeeaaaah!!!"
The Insectoid let out an unprecedented, agonizing wail that transcended physiological limits. Its slender limbs twitched and writhed frantically, like a live shrimp thrown into boiling oil.
Its eyes instantly bloodshot and burst, leaking black slime mixed with brain matter.
Lasting less than two seconds, this forcibly modified shell could no longer withstand the impact of universal truths—far beyond its limits of understanding—brought by the curse on the book of eibon.
"Splat!"
The Insectoid's head exploded like a ripe watermelon!
Purple-black slime and shattered tissue splattered everywhere. The headless corpse spasmed violently a few times before finally stiffening and falling to the ground, silent forever.
the book of eibon fell to the ground, its deep purple cover stained with disgusting slime, still emitting a faint light that made the soul tremble.
Holmes breathed heavily, his face as pale as paper, veins throbbing on his forehead.
Being the closest, he had also been hit by the leakage of the curse; countless fragments of mad knowledge and indescribable phantasms clashed in his mind.
He bit his lip hard until blood seeped out, relying on his iron willpower to barely maintain a sliver of clarity and avoid falling into madness on the spot. He stumbled a step and steadied himself against a nearby stone pillar to keep from falling.
"Impossible!!!"
Claire's scream was filled with incredulous rage and a hint of fear.
The triple protection she had meticulously arranged had not only been broken through two layers in just a short moment!
Now, one of her two major assistants, the Insectoid, had actually been killed so easily, and the person who killed it seemed to have grasped the method to break her final layer of protection!
Holmes turned to look at Claire. The dark red light at the center of the magic circle was now as intense as a small sun, the distortion of space growing stronger; he could even hear a faint, greedy hissing coming from the distant starry sky.
Time was running out!
"Sherlock, I've got the sulfur!"
Watson, holding the small vial containing sulfur powder, waved at Holmes.
"No! Stop him!"
Claire ordered the giant to stop Watson in a furious panic.
Having lost the Insectoid as its "partner," the Flesh Giant became even more berserk.
It ignored the heavily wounded Police Officers and overlooked Holmes, who was gasping for breath against the stone pillar in a terrible state. Its hatred was completely locked onto Watson, who was holding the sulfur vial!
It let out a deafening roar and took heavy strides, like an out-of-control heavy tank, rumbling as it crushed forward. The ground trembled under its footsteps!
"Watson! Dodge!"
Sheriff Marcus struggled to raise his shotgun, but due to excessive blood loss and blurred vision, he couldn't aim at all.
Watching the mountain of flesh crushing toward him, the shadow of death instantly enveloped him, but the sluggishness caused by his severe injuries made him unable to make the most effective evasive maneuver.
A flash of despair crossed his eyes, but it was replaced by a reckless madness. He suddenly threw his empty pistol at the giant while lunging to the side!
"Boom!"
Although Watson avoided the direct impact, he was still grazed heavily by the violent air current caused by the giant's charge and a massive sweeping arm!
He felt as if he had been struck by a battering ram. A sharp pain shot through his ribs, and he was thrown through the air, crashing heavily onto the cold stone slab carved with magic circle patterns. Stars danced before his eyes, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and was almost knocked unconscious.
The giant turned around, its turbid eyes locking onto the struggling Watson on the ground. Its massive, fleshy heavy hammer was raised high once again, about to deliver a fatal blow!