Part 3 the traveler chapter 46 grazing
It was early in the morning, light, and the walled alleys were mostly quiet, motionless gloom.
With the help of Danez’s cloak, Klein blended into the shadows and moved quickly through them, feeling that the surroundings were gray and black and transparent, that reality was abstracted and blurred, and that all sounds seemed to come from the depths of the starry sky, empty and distant.
After getting as far away as possible from the Boulevard of Fragrant Trees, he identified his location and “grew” out of the shadows, emerging in a deserted alleyway covered with broken bricks and stones.
With a shake of his hands, Klein threw the peacock-blue “flying carpet” wrapped around the “steel” McVitie and threw it in front of him, making sure to “graze” his opponent before his spirit began to dissipate!
He threw away the “flying carpet” and stepped forward, stretching out his left palm, slightly spreading his fingers and aiming them at the still-warm body from above.
The “writhing hunger” then revealed its original appearance, as if it was made of thin human skin.
In the center of its palm, two eyes were cracked open, with bright red pupils, as if stained with blood.
Woo!
A cold, bone-chilling breeze suddenly rose up from the alley, swirling around the body of “Steel” McVitie, twisting and forming an almost transparent human figure, with thick lips and steel bead-like curls vaguely discernible.
McVitie’s spiritual body, with a pained expression, struggled to resist the attraction of the “writhing hunger”, while a little bit of gray and black and green light, like a surging galaxy, quickly flew out of the flesh and blood and merged into the transparent figure.
”No!”
McVitie let out a silent scream, and tried to beg for mercy too late, but could only despairingly burrow into the inside of the human skin glove, and was fixed to the blank finger, and flaunted extraordinary characteristics, and a certain correlation with the environment in which it was located.
This connection determines which of “Steel” McVittie’s abilities, maybe one, maybe two, no more than three, can be used when grazing his soul. The specifics are out of Klein’s control and purely random until they are fixed.
The “writhing hunger” was quickly covered in pallor, and eventually changed back to its previous disguise: a plain black glove.
Klein closed his eyes for a few seconds and exhaled with a sigh of relief.
This time, his luck wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t too good either.
He managed to obtain the three extraordinary abilities of “Steel” McVitie, but among them, he did not have the “body like steel” and tenacious vitality that he wanted the most, which was not afraid of being shot, not afraid of being burned, and not afraid of being exposed to a certain amount of bombs.
First, the power of the “living corpse”, which allows me to make violent attacks, to make up for the defects of the previous agile fighting style, and the second is the mastery of the “ice”, although it can not be like the path of the Witch, cohesion of ice lances, to create a blizzard, to do the most direct attack, but it can freeze the ground around, lowering the air temperature, and reducing the temperature of the air, so as to make the ground more cold. The second is the mastery of “ice”, although it can not be like the witch pathway, cohesion ice gun, create a blizzard, do the most direct attack, but can be frozen around the ground, reduce the temperature of the air, effectively affecting the opponent’s actions, if there is a physical contact, and can even freeze the enemy, stiffen his flesh and blood, the perfect match with the ability to fight, and the third is the “manipulation of the living corpse”, oh, I am not afraid of not having enough people to set up a game of cards… …Klein thought for a moment and bent down to check the belongings of “Steel” McVitie.
He quickly found 26 pounds, eleven thou and eight pence in cash, as well as a bunch of normal-looking but strange things, such as candles, clips, prickly whips, and so on and so forth.
Considering that “Steel” McVittie was probably a member of the “School of Roses” and belonged to the indulgence of desire, Klein vaguely understood what was going on and put away the cash with a yawn.
”‘Werewolf’ has strong self-healing power, ‘zombie’ has a body of steel, there is really no need to bring healing potions or items …… and Danizi Judgment is consistent, McVitie does not have magical items …… also, magical items are scarce in number, and many of them have obvious flaws and negative effects, not everyone wants to have them, not anyone can have them, before the ‘Grievous Souls’, ‘Walking Corpses’ ‘ and ‘Werewolf’ combination, there were only two magical items, ‘Crimson Moon Coronet’ and ‘Biotoxin Vial’… … “Klein nodded and took out a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket.
He unfolded the yellowed paper and placed it over “Steel” McVitie’s body, covering his face.
It was a bounty, with McVitie’s portrait and the corresponding amount of the reward printed on it:
”Six thousand pounds!”
Klein stood up straight, stepped back, stepped on the peacock-blue “flying carpet,” and drew out a paper figure.
Snap!
With a flick of his little arm and a flick of his wrist, he threw the paper man, turning it into confetti that flew down in a shower.
Immediately afterward, he turned back into shadow and disappeared with the item into the alley.
It was two or three minutes before Cordova Royer arrived with some of the Punisher’s crew, just in time to see a cool breeze blow the bounty up, revealing the bloodied, fleshless, and wide-eyed face of “Steel” McVittie.
With a clatter, the bounty fell to the side, still face up.
……
Having lost sight of their target, Cordova and the others returned in silence to the area where the battle had taken place, taking the body of “Steel” with them.
Looking at the team members inspecting the scene, Cordova, as a deacon, collected his emotions and asked in a deep voice:
”Believers of the ‘Sun’?”
This was the most important question to him, to this parish.
The “Punisher” team members who were responsible for finding clues and restoring the truth by supernatural means were not the extraordinary people of the “Storm” pathway, but the “Reader” counterpart of Sequence 7, the “Keeper of Knowledge”. The “Knowledge Keeper”, also known as “Detective”, did not rush to answer, he came over, crouched down and examined McVitie’s body.
After a while, he looked up and said:
”It’s not a believer of the ‘Sun’, and the power that was utilized should be the power of a magical item.”
”Reason?” Cordova asked, frowning.
The “vicarious punisher” member said:
”There is a sense of evil originating from the depths of flesh and blood here, one of the corpses was devoured in such a way that only its own specialties and items were left behind, if they were a believer of the ‘Sun’, even if they were relying on the items, they wouldn’t be able to do something similar, to them, the ‘True Creator’s’ realm are tainted and must be purified or sealed immediately, and shouldn’t and can’t be borrowed.”
Cordova thought for a few seconds, agreeing with that judgment, and turned to the question:
”The Aurora Council?”
”No, a real ‘Rose Bishop’ or ‘Shepherd’ wouldn’t be so crude, they would definitely wrap the body inside themselves and wait to dispose of it when they leave, there’s no reason to dismember it on the spot, wasting time and leaving a pile of things that were still valuable. Devouring it in such a hurry is very much like the negative effects of a magical item.” That “Knowledge Keeper” said calmly.
”A magical item that has both the ‘Sun’ and ‘Secret Prayer Man’ domains? Or something like the ‘Shepherd’ ability? Berg, which is your judgment?” As a deacon, Cordova had the authority to know about the “Shepherds” and their special abilities, while the “Knowledge Keeper” knew based on his position in the team, and the rest of the “Substitutes” didn’t understand what they were talking about. The rest of the “vicarious punishers” don’t understand what they are talking about.
”Berg, the Knowledge Keeper, stood up:
”It’s all possible.”
”Any suspects?” Cordova asked in a hushed voice.
Berg shook his head:
”No targets for now.
”But one thing can be confirmed, the ‘Scarlet Thorn’ was killed by ‘Flame’ Danez, and the other one was his helper, a rather terrifyingly strong person, no worse than the pirate generals.”
”A terrifyingly strong person ……,” Cordova murmured with a grave expression, then her eyes lit up and said, “Could it be Edwina? She can mimic some of the extraordinary abilities she has seen!”
”The Knowledge Keeper,” Berg murmured:
”I can’t rule it out, but intelligence shows that she was near Sunia Island a few days ago, unless, unless she can mimic the appropriate abilities and travel here with the help of the spirit world.”
Cordova paced back and forth a few times, looking around the room and said:
”Dispose of the scene and do not alert the neighborhood.
”I will submit the mission report and hopefully get more and more effective intelligence.”
The fact that this involved a strong person whose battle power was at least equal to Sequence 5 made it so that he could only restrain his grumpy mood and make the most rational decision.
……
Inside Old Quinn’s house, in the basement blocked by the heavy stone door.
Sitting on a low bed, quietly looking at the candle flame on the table, Alger’s eyes suddenly blurred, and saw the gray fog, as well as the “Fool” sitting in a high-backed chair in the depths of the gray fog, looking down on everything.
A blurred figure below, hands clasped in front of his face, said in a reverent tone:
”Great Mr. Fool, the matter has been successfully concluded.”
It’s over? That was “Iron” McVitie and several extraordinary people …… “The world” is really quick, the strength is even stronger than I thought, worthy of being Mr. Fool. Mr. Fool’s dependents …… Oh, he’ll be able to peddle extraordinary traits at the Tarot again, maybe more than one …… How did he bypass the seal’s “2-37” influence? “Influence? The special of the Divine Favorites? Alger’s thoughts flashed and he instinctively thanked Mr. Fool.
Then, he took out a metal vial and rubbed the mint-flavored pure dew inside on the end of his nose.
The strong, stimulating odor penetrated his head, and Alger instantly became very conscious.
He somehow managed to get a white gauze mask in his hand and poured the “moon oil” on it.
Putting on the mask methodically, Alger stood up and walked slowly to the heavy stone door.
With steady movements, he removed a sealed metal canister from the inside of his clothing, twisted a mechanical switch, and pulled out a tube.
He then shoved this tube into the gap of the stone door and extended it.
Noiselessly, the gas inside the metal canister quickly filled out.
This was the blood anesthetic gas provided by “Moon” Emlyn!
It could make strong ordinary people, Sequence 9 extraordinary people who were physically superior, and higher Sequence targets who were not physically fit enough to pass out!
Even if old Quinn could hold out, he’d be noticeably affected, and as for his helpers and friends, meh …… Alger leaned against the stone door and waited patiently.
As the gas in the tank fizzled out close to a third of the way, he retracted the tube and closed the switch.
He turned his body and listened sideways to the commotion outside, reaping a satisfying answer.
Alger gave a small smile as his breath flew inward, doing a buildup.
Suddenly, all the muscles in his body expanded and he swung forward.
”Fury Strike.”
Bang!
The iron lock of the heavy stone door directly crumbled and itself opened up.
Alger withdrew his fist and took a step out, and outside a sea of slumberers.
PS: Creeping Hunger has two modes, Grazing and Devouring, the former targeting spirits and extraordinary traits, the latter targeting spirits and flesh and blood.