The warning in the broadcast kept repeating, but Victor's eyes suddenly lit up as if he had heard a dinner bell.
"Ancient Relics Exhibition Hall? Anomaly detected?"
He murmured the keywords under his breath, unable to suppress the upward curl of his lips.
"That sounds an awful lot like 'talismans Doorstep Delivery Service'."
"Not bad, Jackie Chan. That was quick."
He immediately got to work with both hands, grabbing Enid with one and habitually moving to drape an arm over Wednesday's shoulder, ready to set off.
"Let's go, ladies! Looks like our 'holiday special activity' is starting early!"
Wednesday deftly sidestepped to avoid his grasp and pointed expressionlessly at Jade, who was still in the pool, struggling to climb back onto her float for another go.
"Your 'hostage'."
"Oh, right!" Victor smacked his forehead, finally remembering the 'dead weight'.
He stretched out his arm, fished the dripping wet Jade out of the water, and casually tucked her under his arm like a briefcase.
"Let's go, little troublemaker. Time to show you some real action!"
"Hey! Put me down! I can walk by myself!"
Jade protested, flailing her limbs in the air.
Victor completely ignored her, tightened his grip, and practically flew towards the Exhibition Hall.
Enid and Wednesday followed closely behind.
The closer they got to the Exhibition Hall, the more palpable the sense of abnormality in the air became.
Still some distance from the hall, Victor could already see a crowd of curious and nervous monster passengers gathered at the entrance, pointing at the tightly shut doors, but no one dared to enter recklessly.
"Make way! Make way! Official crisis response team coming through!"
Victor unceremoniously pushed through the crowd and swaggered right in.
A fish-like security guard stationed at the door, trying to maintain order, attempted to stop him: "Sir, it's dangerous inside. You can't enter for now..."
Before he could finish, Venom emerged from Victor's shoulder, letting out a low, threatening hiss, its large white eyes fixed intently on the guard.
The Fish Guard instantly froze, then quickly retreated, obediently making way.
Victor and his group entered the Exhibition Hall unimpeded.
The interior of the hall was in complete disarray.
The glass display cases that once held various ancient artifacts were shattered all over the floor, as if a tornado had just swept through.
"My god, what is that thing?"
The moment he stepped into the hall, Victor's attention was captured by the scene before him.
A bizarre "Mermaid" with skin of an ominous dark blue and writhing tentacles grotesquely growing on its face—
—was desperately clutching a simple, ancient gourd-shaped container in its arms, frantically launching fierce attacks at Jackie Chan.
Water arrows, water whips, all sorts of methods came one after another.
"Wow, Jackie Chan."
Victor whistled, his tone full of teasing amusement at someone else's misfortune.
"What unspeakable crime did you commit against this lady? Making her chase you down trying to kill you?"
"Don't just stand there making sarcastic remarks!"
Jackie Chan dodged a sharp water arrow with a clumsy roll, panting as he explained.
"She wasn't like this before! She just touched that gourd on the display, then suddenly went crazy! Her skin turned blue, and these tentacles grew!"
"Venom!"
"Got it!"
Without another word, the black symbiote instantly surged out, enveloping Victor to complete the fusion.
The moment the transformation finished, Venom (Victor)'s massive right arm had already morphed into a heavy black war hammer, smashing towards the Mutated Mermaid with a whooshing sound!
However, the expected dull thud of impact did not come.
Where the hammer struck, the Mermaid's body rippled like water, dissolving into a spray of water droplets, effortlessly dissipating the powerful blow.
The next second, the scattered water droplets rapidly coalesced not far away, reforming into the Mermaid's shape, completely unharmed.
"What's going on?" A flicker of surprise passed through Venom's large white eyes. "Physical attacks are useless?"
He threw several more punches in disbelief, but the result remained the same—
His fists felt like they were hitting flowing water, only creating ripples, unable to inflict any substantial damage.
"Victor."
Wednesday's calm voice rang out. She stared at the battle, keenly pointing out the key.
"That gourd! There's strange magic clinging to that Mermaid."
Goody Addams' spirit, floating in mid-air, observed carefully, her tone turning serious:
"No, that's not ordinary magic. It's Demonic Miasma! And extremely corruptive Demonic Miasma at that! This miasma has already polluted and taken control of her soul, transforming her into a Demonic Thrall."
"It's very difficult to dispel this state unless you use specific purification spells, or... directly separate her soul from the miasma."
"Soul separation?"
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