Chapter 379: Magic's Key Segment

The invisible prison around Parker's body immediately collapsed, leaving

not even a single trace of it behind.

However, he didn't regain his mobility. Instead, he slumped to the

ground, shivering continuously, as if he was still frozen.

This wasn't only an aftereffect of Soul Touch, but also the effect of

Klein's direct attack on his soul.

Parker, who was only a Sequence 8, was unable to recover in a short

period of time. He couldn't even control his breathing and, as a result,

inhaled large quantities of the biological poison, which was identical

to the one in his body, once again.

His weakened state caused the poison in his body to act faster. His eyes

stared blankly as he instinctively changed direction.

He saw Capim rolling on the ground and scratching his face and body

constantly. He saw the thin strips of flesh hanging by the side of the

wounds and the ghostly white color of his bones.

Parker gasped and struggled to climb over.

Capim, whose itch made him rip off the outer layer of his skin, suddenly

discovered that Parker was crawling toward him with bloodshot eyes. He

had a bad premonition, but he had no strength to dodge as he couldn't

stop scratching. He didn't even have the ability to shout "no," except

for using a blood-curdling cry as a substitute.

At this moment, Klein, who had dodged the "Imprison" spell, shouted

"Holy" in ancient Hermes. Then, he rubbed his fingers together and shot

an Air Bullet through the dark golden Sunbird brooch's coruscating glow.

As soon as the Air Bullet was formed, it took on a holy luster and shot

straight towards Harras's face.

This was the Holy Oath provided by the Sun Brooch, and Klein had

augmented the Air Bullet with Holy damage!

Harras had long since changed his position. He was abnormally agile, and

unlike a mage, he was more like a pugilist expert.

As he avoided Klein's Air Bullet, he motioned for Katy to lash her whip

to hold Klein back.

When Klein's attack was interrupted, Harras took an iron-black metal

glove from a hidden pocket of his and tried to put it on his left hand.

In his Spirit Body state, Klein didn't need to look out from the corner

of his eye to see what had just happened despite not facing Harras. He

immediately flew up, avoiding Katy's lash. He flew over the chandelier

and pounced towards Harras.

When Harras saw this scene, he held the black metal glove and pointed

diagonally upwards.

"Exile!"

Klein was suddenly hit by an overwhelming and invisible force. His

entire Spirit Body was blown away by the wind and hit the wall, the wall

conjured by "Confinement," but didn't penetrate through it and escape.

Seizing this opportunity, Harras put on the iron-black metal glove.

In the blink of an eye, he seemed to grow a bit taller. His authority

was uplifted like he was a figure that could determine the life and

death of others.

The moment Klein was released from the "Exile" state, he felt an

inexplicable sense of horror. He couldn't help but want to lower his

head, to prostrate, to listen to Harras's every word and obey every

order given by him!

His movements had become sluggish, and his pupils reflected a rapidly

approaching Katy.

Pa!

Katy lashed out with her long black whip and hit Klein accurately.

The long whip passed through his Spirit Body, but it brought a great

deal of pain to Klein's psyche, as if someone had pressed a red-hot iron

to the weakest part of his body.

He jerked his head up and let out a scream.

As for Katy, she pulled the trigger of the revolver in her other hand.

Bang! Bang!

Two bullets, with a light golden glow, shot out one after another,

striking Klein's body.

Bright rays of light bloomed, and the figure wearing black armor rapidly

thinned, turning into a paper figurine and quickly burning into ashes.

Klein appeared in a dark corner, the Sun Brooch inside his Spirit Body

was glowing with a dark golden light.

Warm powers instantly filled his body, and the extreme horror that

Harras had subjected him to quickly disappeared.

One of the spell-like effects of the Sun Brooch was Horror Immunity!

In the short span of less than a minute, Klein had already been forced

to use Paper Figurine Substitutes twice.

Although it was partly because he did it on purpose, it was still enough

to prove the strength of Harras and Katy's joint attacks. It was enough

to confirm the divination outcome which Klein had received.

This operation would be quite dangerous!

If Parker hadn't been temporarily crippled by the effects of the

Biological Poison Bottle and his initial surprise attack, the situation

would've been even more dangerous.

His plan was to rationally give up if all four paper figurines were used

up and his opportunity had yet to appear. It wasn't because Klein didn't

wish to prepare more substitutes, but because his spirituality could

only afford four times while in combat.

As for the "Confinement" effect that Harras had created, Klein wasn't

worried at all. He was now a Spirit Body that had been "summoned." As

long as he ended the "summoning," he would immediately return above the

gray fog. Unless it was intercepted by powers at the level of deities or

the special effects of Sealed Artifacts at Grade 0 or Grade 1, nothing

could interrupt this process.

Previously, when Klein went to the Royal Museum to steal the Black

Emperor card, the woman who was suspected of being a High-Sequence

Beyonder was unable to stop him from leaving.

This was the main reason why Klein dared to challenge the impossible

even though he knew that the danger was great!

Seeing that the enemy was no longer horrified, Harras put on his black

metal gloves and signaled Katy to hold Klein back. He then pointed

forward and solemnly said, "Specters and wraiths are prohibited here!"

Klein's body that was covered in black armor immediately trembled as he

was strongly repelled by a powerful, invisible force.

However, the level of the Black Emperor card was extremely high, causing

the level of the Spirit Body to be relatively high as well. This kind of

influence that was directly aimed at a particular existence was quickly

suppressed.

Harras narrowed his eyes, feeling that the intruding specter was very

strange.

He saw that Klein easily escaped Katy's intervention via flight, so he

pushed his palm forward again and announced in ancient Hermes, "Flying

and floating are prohibited here."

All of a sudden, Klein felt his body become heavy, and he plummeted from

midair to the ground. Katy quickly rushed over, and with a flick of her

wrist, she lashed out with the whip that directed torture on the mind

and soul.

She still had many Beyonder bullets on her, but there were fewer than

three that were targeted for specters and wraiths. Therefore, she

temporarily gave up on using the revolver and only relied on her

auxiliary weapon.

Klein rolled on the ground, skilfully dodging Katy's whip. He heard the

crack of the whip as it hit the ground.

Katy was about to sweep the whip when she felt an itch at her throat.

She coughed twice and missed the opportunity to continue her relentless

attack.

This was a sign of the poison acting up!

Harras took a deep breath, held his breath once more. He folded his

wrist, pointed to himself, and said, "Disciplinary target: wraiths and

specters!"

The surface of his body immediately emitted a light as bright as the

morning sun. Even his fist began to shine with lustrous brilliances.

Bam!

The marble under Harras's feet cracked soundlessly, and his tall, thin

body pounced swiftly and fiercely, allowing him to immediately close in

on Klein.

At this moment, he looked even more like a knight than Katy!

Bam! He threw a punch forward, and the air seemed to explode.

However, Klein had pulled back ahead of time, dodging the punch with the

wind.

Pow! Katy helped from the side and lashed out with her whip in

the direction in which her enemy was dodging.

This forced Klein to have no choice but to roll again and again. He took

on a fighting stance while keeping an eye out for Harras's spell-like

"Imprison."

As lashing sounds echoed, Harras kept attacking while Katy aided him

from the side. In less than two minutes, Klein was forced into an

unavoidable situation. Even rolling was of no use.

Pa!

Katy's black whip lashed out at Klein's face, and he was only able to

take one step sideways before being hit in the arm.

That piercing pain attacked his psyche once again, causing him to freeze

on the spot. Even his Spirit Body became somewhat thinner.

Seizing this opportunity, Harras clenched his left fist and solemnly

declared, "Death!"

His body then merged with some sort of strange force, creating an

obvious afterimage as he slammed into Klein.

Schwing!

The figure covered in black armor instantly broke into pieces, turning

into pieces of paper that fluttered in the air like a butterfly.

Klein had expended his third paper figurine!

Harras's gaze swept across the room and quickly locked onto the enemy

that had appeared in the corner. He sneered and said, "Let me see how

many substitutes you have left!"

In the process of searching for the enemy, he discovered that Parker was

squirming on top of Capim. The scene was bloody and disgusting. It was a

repulsive sight, both terrible and horrifying.

However, Harras didn't have the luxury of time to save his subordinate.

He was well aware that the effects of the poison would only worsen over

time, so he had to get rid of the enemy as quickly as possible, so he

couldn't be distracted.

If he didn't, he would have to leave the dining hall first to recover

from the poison; thus, allowing the enemy to escape without getting any

useful information.

He signaled Katy to go forward again, so as to hold back Klein, who

couldn't fly or float. He took a breath and tried to catch a breather.

*There's a strange smell in the air... This is probably a result of the

increasing toxicity of the poison...* This thought flashed

through Harras's mind, but he didn't think too much about it.

He raised his left hand and solemnly declared, "The illegal intrusion of

another's house is a crime!

"An illegal intrusion..."

While repeating the statement for a second time, Harras found it hard to

breathe again. For a moment, he was unable to catch his breath, so he

could only stop midway.

He took another deep breath, adjusted himself, and spoke again.

"The illegal intrusion of another's house is a crime!

He repeated it three times, and Klein, who was still unable to extricate

himself from Katy's entanglement, felt a baffling chill.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Katy showed coughing symptoms again, and the flailing of her whip became

sluggish.

Klein took the opportunity to stop the embroilment with her, but he

didn't attack her. Instead, he raised his head, opened his mouth, and

let out a sharp cry that no human could hear!

Hum! Katy's head jerked up, and her body swayed. She felt like

the ground was bobbing up and down.

Harras only felt a slight dizziness before returning to normal. He

looked at Klein coldly and said in a majestic voice, "The guilty should

be restricted!"

Klein, who was lunging at him, found to his surprise that his feet had

seemed to be immobilized by invisible shackles. It made his movements

suddenly turn rigid.

Katy, who had recovered a little, swung open the revolver's cylinder and

quickly removed the spent and unused rounds.

Then, she took out a quick reloading device and stuffed six rounds of

ammunition, including her remaining purifying bullets, into the

cylinder.

Harras clenched his left fist and prepared for an attack.

He wanted to chain his attack with Katy's shooting, in a bid to

completely finish the enemy or to expend his substitutes.

At this moment, the black-armored Klein smiled.

It was because the opportunity he had been waiting for had come!

He knew that it would take time for the Biological Poison Bottle to show

any significant effects. And once Beyonders sensed that something was

wrong, they would act accordingly, either to find the hidden enemy or to

escape the toxic environment. It would be difficult to seriously damage

them or even finish them. Therefore, he had two other reasons for using

the Biological Poison Bottle.

The first reason was to weaken the enemy.

The second reason was to mask some smells so that Harras and the others

would attribute all the abnormal smells they detected to the poison in

the air. It made them focus all their attention on this aspect.

This was the most important segment of a "magic show" and also the key

to success or failure.

That abnormal smell was the smell of gas!

The reason why Klein let the gas lamp and the fire in the fireplace

suddenly brighten and extinguish wasn't solely to affect Harras and

company's vision. It was mainly to attract their attention, so that he

could destroy a few hidden gas pipes!

In the beginning, he had intentionally put himself in danger in order to

trick Katy into firing a bullet meant for wraiths and specters, so that

she would no longer blindly fire at him and not trigger a corresponding

explosion!

He kept entangling himself with her and hadn't made any other attempts

solely because he was waiting for the air to be filled with gas!

Therefore, he kept holding back from using Flaming Jump or Flame

Controlling!

As for Harras's actions of using Confinement on the room, he had

expected it, but he didn't expect it to be this successful. Therefore,

before he entered the dining room, he had kindly inspected the doors and

windows to see if they were airtight. He had destroyed the hidden gas

pipes in the hall, causing the area---both inside and outside---to

become a huge "bomb." Even without Confinement, it would ultimately not

affect anything!

As a "specter," Klein was undoubtedly unafraid of explosions!

Lower-level ghosts might be annihilated by fire, but "specters" would at

most suffer some damage. This was why Klein had to buy extra purifying

bullets and the Sun Brooch despite the fact that he had Flame

Controlling.

When he saw that Katy had raised her revolver and was about to shoot,

and that Harras was about to pronounce "Death" on him, Klein smiled and

snapped his fingers.

Harras suddenly felt a dangerous foreboding.

However, at this moment, he saw that a flame had already lit up in the

fireplace to his side, instantly igniting the surrounding air.

BOOM!

With a loud boom, Harras's vision was instantly filled with an inferno

that filled the room. It was as if he was watching a grand display of

fireworks.