Lord of the Mysteries - Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Vines grew all over the dilapidated garden outside the glass windows . The river flowed softly, reflecting the stars in the sky as warm glows suffused out of the nearby buildings .

Everything was silent, as if awaiting the arrival of night .

Trissy, who had ordinary features which combined to make her look surprisingly beautiful, retracted her gaze and walked quickly towards the clothes rack to retrieve a long black robe fitted with a hood .

She quickly put the robe on, fastened the buttons and belt before pulling the hood over her head, transforming herself into an Assassin .

Trissy raised her right hand and swiped her face, immediately turning her appearance under the hood blurry .

Right on the heels of that, she grabbed a handful of shimmering powder from the hidden pouch near her waist and scattered it over herself while reciting an incantation .

Trissy's figure started to disappear bit by bit, her outline vanishing like how pencil marks were being erased by an eraser .

She silently left the bedroom after completing her concealment spell . She moved to the opposite room and then opened the non-grilled window .

With a light leap, Trissy stood on the window sill and looked over the grassy plains to the back of the building . She looked down at the steel fence that had seemingly fused with the night . There, she saw Corpse Collector Frye who was silently making his way over the fence .

She took in a deep breath and fluttered down like a feather, stepping onto the grassy field without a sound .

Frye, who was wearing a black windbreaker, cautiously surveyed the surroundings with his custom revolver in his hand, seeking out vengeful spirits or evil spirits that might appear .

He could see such entities directly!

Trissy approached Frye silently, made her way behind him . It was unknown when a dagger smeared with 'black paint' appeared in her hand .

Poof!

She struck quickly, plunging the dagger into Frye's lower back .

But at this moment, the scene in front of her shattered, as if everything was an illusion .

Trissy realized that she was still standing on the window sill, still looking over the grassy field and the steel fence .

Except this time around, it wasn't only Corpse Collector Frye who was standing outside the fence . There was also Leonard Mitchell who was aiming straight at the window sill, as well as Dunn Smith . The captain of the Nighthawks was hunched over as he pressed down on his glabella, his eyes closed as formless ripples spread outwards from him .

Trissy's pupils constricted . She understood that everything that had happened was just a dream . She had fallen asleep unknowingly!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Leonard and Frye fired three shots, accurately hitting the invisible target who was still waking up from her reverie .

Crack!

Trissy's figure started to appear, first cracking, then completely shattering into fragments of a rough silver mirror!

Inside the building, Trissy, who had used a substitution spell, turned around to escape . She followed the corridor and the steps, sprinting all the way to the first floor .

Whoosh! A cold sinister wind blew across the first floor, one that could freeze a person . Formless, transparent figures were numbly pacing around every corner of the building in a daze .

Trissy, who had lost her concealment, felt her temperature drop every time she passed through the spirits . She could no longer control her shivers when she finally reached the sacrificial altar .

The altar was a round table, with a figurine of a deity carved out of bone placed in the center .

This figurine was about the size of a grown man's head, with only a mere indication of her eyes, but the figure was that of a beautiful woman .

Her hair extended from her head to her heels, each strand clear and thick, as if they were poisonous snakes or tentacles .

There was only one eye situated at the tip of every strand of hair, some closed, others open .

There were many puppets strewn around the figurine . The craftsmanship of the puppets was crude . Names and relevant information were written on the puppets; for example, Joyce Mayer .

There were three candles on the table, flickering with a yellowish-green flame despite the cold, sinister winds .

Trissy bowed at the deity's figurine and quickly recited her incantations .

She then pushed away the puppets and extinguished the flames of the candles before picking the figurine up .

Whoosh!

The winds howled fiercely as they shook the closed windows violently .

Clank! Creak! Shards of glass flew around in all directions .

Frye, who had just made his way to the other side of the building, didn't dare to barge into the sacrificial altar recklessly . He shivered, feeling his blood turn cold and frosty . It was making his actions visibly slower .

Suddenly, he felt tightness around his heels as though they had been grabbed by something invisible .

An accentuated sense of coldness spread upwards from the point of contact . A Sequence 9 Beyonder would have turned completely numb by now . But as a Corpse Collector, Frye was no stranger to such situations .

He turned his revolver to the side of his heels and pulled the trigger . It was as if he could see who the enemy was, and exactly where it was .

Bang!

A silver demon hunting bullet pierced the air, causing a shrill howl in response .

The formless figure dissipated and Frye regained his ability to move .

Elsewhere, Dunn Smith, who wanted to reach the second floor by avoiding a frontal assault on the altar, was similarly affected by the cold winds . His body froze as he stopped right outside a shattered window .

Whoosh! The curtains behind the window lifted suddenly and engulfed Dunn, as if a monster had just opened its mouth to devour its prey .

The curtain wrapped around Dunn's head, seeming to have been imbued with life . Dunn's facial features began to press through the constricting cloth .

Dunn, who was about to be suffocated, stomped down with both feet . He straightened his knees and twisted his waist, loosening the curtain's grip with raw strength alone .

He grabbed a corner of the curtain around his head with his left hand and yanked it away before tossing it toward the ground .

Bang!

He fired a shot at the other half of the curtain behind the window, stopping it from attempting another assault on him .

The curtain stopped immediately as a dark red liquid oozed out from it .

Whoosh!

On the field, Leonard Mitchell was reciting his poems and was also hit by the cold sinister winds infused with the intense sensation of death . His teeth chattered, making it hard for him to enunciate his poems .

The messy weeds in the garden suddenly extended, wrapping themselves around his heels . A black shadow hurled itself at him along with the violent winds .

Leonard, whose body had become rigid, failed to fire in time . He could only pull back his shoulder and raise his arm .

Thud! The black shadow smashed into his forearm, the thorns on its body piercing his skin .

It was a pretty, bright-red flower, its origins unknown .

In pain, Leonard tossed aside the flower dyed with his blood .

Bang! He fired a shot at the spreading vines, causing dark red liquid to ooze out .

Tap! Tap! Tap! Leonard quickened his pace and charged towards the shattered window on the first floor where the altar was situated behind .

The vines retracted abruptly from where he had previously stood, as if hiding from something invisible .

Trissy took advantage of the chaos created by destroying the altar and a suspension-style ritual to conceal herself once again . She managed to fool the Spirit Visions of the Nighthawks and escape the pincer attack before making her way to a spot behind the three Nighthawks .

She extended her right hand, immediately causing a cold wind to blow . It carried the flower dyed with Leonard's blood right into her palm .

Trissy did not stop . With the flower in hand, she nimbly made her way over the steel fence and escaped in the direction of the Tussock River .

Leonard, who had just entered the first level, turned his head abruptly, as though he was listening to something .

His expression changed . He frantically pulled up his sleeve and looked at the wound caused by the flower .

With his constitution, the wound had already stopped bleeding . There was only some red swelling that remained .

Leonard's expression became grim . He pinched his left index finger and pulled his fingernail straight out!

His face contorted in pain, but he did not pause . As he recited something silently, he sliced open the coagulated wound with the fingernail . When the fingernail was dyed with his dark red blood, he pulled out a few strands of hair from his scalp and wrapped the fingernail with his hair .

Beside the Tussock River, Trissy slowed down . She shot her gaze toward the flower in her hand .

She was chanting something as a ball of black, illusory fire suddenly appeared in her palm .

The flames enveloped the flower, burning it to ashes .

After completing this, Trissy jumped into the river and submerged herself .

At the same time, Leonard tossed the blood-stained fingernail wrapped in his hair to the corner . He saw it burn and release a foul stench .

The fingernail and hair disappeared quickly, leaving only some dust behind .

Leonard heaved a sigh of relief . He entered the first level through the window and said to Dunn and Frye who were destroying the altar, "The target has escaped . But it's alright, our primary objective was to stop the ritual . "

Dunn sighed and looked at the puppets on the table .

"She was very cautious and very powerful . She sensed us approaching her ahead of time, otherwise… she should be, at the very least, a Sequence 7 Beyonder .

"Give Klein the signal . Ask him to come over . "

Through the brief interaction in the dream, he had determined that the enemy was female .