"I'll find a way to help you take him out and open that safe for you. In exchange, you don't kill me. How about it?"
Elias looked at the infernal demon, his voice carrying a bizarre hint of familiarity.
Though he knew it was mostly nonsense, he added, "Pay me whatever you feel like; it's the thought that counts."
"We're buddies, after all. I'm not picky."
As soon as those words left his mouth, a deathly silence fell over the treatment room that had been on the verge of an explosion.
Both the human and the demon present were stunned.
Mester stared at Elias as if the boy were a mental patient.
Was this kid out of his mind?!
Calling an infernal demon his buddy?
Countless conspiracy theories flashed through Mester's mind.
Did these two actually know each other?
On the other side, Guss the infernal demon was also dazed.
Its yellow eyes blinked.
In its long life as a demon, it had signed blood contracts with countless greedy humans.
But never in its life had it seen a human who would thicken their skin to claim a relationship like this, actively degrading his own status just to get on its good side.
"It's the thought that counts?"
Guss chewed on those words in its mind.
However, the logic of a demon clearly operated on its own unique track.
Guss thought about it carefully.
This human was alright!
Look, he proactively offered to do the dirty work and even kept his price incredibly low.
He was practically the perfect source of cheap labor!
Thus, Guss the infernal demon immediately made a cheerful decision in its heart.
When it eventually killed him to silence him, it would try to make it quick and give him a swift end.
This was the highest form of respect a demon could give to a buddy.
"Mester!"
Guss withdrew its gaze and fixed it back on the psychiatrist.
"I can take the soul of this Moon Lord believer whenever I want!"
The demon's voice was like muffled thunder, making the broken glass on the floor vibrate.
"But you, you must die today!"
"If it weren't for that wretched contract, why would I have gone through all this trouble?"
Guss swung the massive hand holding the Everburning Blade.
"However..."
"Without your alchemy dolls, you have no right to challenge me."
"Even this Scale One can kill you easily."
Hearing this, Elias, who was hiding in the shadows, suddenly realized everything!
Holy shit!
So the other corpses on the ground weren't human at all.
They were all alchemy dolls!
Scapegoats!
So what about the one that ran away earlier? Was that one a doll too?
He began to hope that Ms. Cecil would return quickly.
He was at his wit's end with the current situation.
This seemingly straightforward infernal demon was making deals with him, but he feared that as soon as the job was done, he would be turned into a soul coin anyway.
Where were the reinforcements from the Seventh Agency?
Help me out here!
"Human!"
Guss turned its massive head and shouted at Elias in a muffled voice.
"I promise not to kill you, and I will split thirty percent of the coins with you!"
"Now, help me kill him!"
A demon's promise always carried the scent of blood.
"If you violate the agreement, I will end you personally."
As Guss finished speaking, a parchment scroll condensed in its massive left hand.
Ancient, twisted, and unfamiliar characters slowly appeared on the contract.
It was the Abyssal language from Calovius in the spirit world.
Although Elias couldn't read it, under the constraint of the Dawn Lady's emblem, he could sense the formation of the contract.
He took a deep breath, suppressed his intense physical discomfort, and nodded.
Deal.
But before he could even speak the words of the oath to confirm it, a sudden change occurred!
Swoosh!
The sound of something cutting through the air with lethal intent rang out from Elias's side!
Mester was not the kind of idiot who would stand idly by while his enemies signed a team-up contract.
He struck first!
His entire body turned into an afterimage as he lunged directly at Elias!
The 【Malice Perception】 in Elias's mind blared a frantic warning!
Extreme danger!
In that moment, his physical instinct surpassed the speed of his thoughts.
Without hesitation, Elias activated the Wind-Chaser Boots with everything he had!
He only took one step.
The residual inertia of the Wind-Chaser Boots triggered!
His entire body suddenly lunged forward an extra three steps!
In an instant, he forced a significant distance between himself and Mester.
Rip!
A sharp dagger shimmering with the faint blue light of poison brushed past the tip of Elias's nose.
The sharp wind directly sliced through the fabric of the trench coat on his chest.
He had narrowly avoided being disemboweled.
In the center of the ruins nearby, Guss the infernal demon actually took a large step back when it saw this.
It retreated directly to the edge of the battlefield.
It leaned on its burning greatsword with one hand, adopting a posture of a cold bystander.
However, its massive yellow eyes were fixed firmly on Elias's back.
It was as if the moment this human dared to think of turning around to flee, it would instantly cross the space and cleave this oath-breaker to death.
The supervisor was extremely strict.
"Oh? A containment object?"
Seeing his strike miss, a hint of surprise flashed in Mester's eyes.
He stared at the slightly old-fashioned leather boots on Elias's feet and let out a piercing, cold laugh.
No wonder a piece of trash at Scale One could dodge his assassination.
It was only because he was relying on good equipment.
"However, this is where it ends."
Mester's other empty hand reached into the inner pocket of his formal suit, his fingers moving slightly.
He quickly pulled out a palm-sized small plaster statuette.
The face of the statue was identical to Mester's own!
The moment he injected his spirituality into the statue, the murky air around them produced intense visual fluctuations.
It was like the ripples on a water surface being instantly magnified.
Then, within Elias's narrowing pupils, one became two, and two became four!
Several solid illusions identical to Mester appeared!
Each illusion wore a proper formal suit and held a poisoned dagger.
As for Mester's true body, he instantly vanished within that ripple of spatial fluctuations.
His presence disappeared completely, his whereabouts unknown!
Even Spirit Vision could find no trace of him.
The several Mester illusions on the scene did not pause for a second, forming a semi-circle as they all lunged at Elias!
Their hands surged with the exact same spiritual fluctuations carrying the aura of the Moon Lord.
Except that spirituality felt incredibly cold now, carrying a sense of deathly stillness that seemed to freeze the blood.
Elias cursed inwardly.
He couldn't retreat!
If he retreated, he would be cleaved as a deserter by that demon!
He had to take this head-on!
The spirituality within his body surged like a flood breaking through a dam.
Hum!
【Moonlight Enchantment】!
A pure white light of spirituality instantly erupted from his palm, quickly spreading over The Roaring Cane in his hand.
It coated the heavy mahogany cane in a layer of holy patterns.
He didn't choose to draw his gun and fire.
A single-action revolver wasn't as fast as an elemental revolver when it came to switching bullets.
At this moment, he needed precision.
So, he planned to test the depth of the opponent's spell first.
After all, his intelligence was severely lacking, so he had to test things out in the most stable way possible.
Elias gripped the cane with both hands and swung it in a fierce horizontal sweep, meeting the first illusion head-on!
Bang!
The wooden cane collided violently with the illusion's arm, letting out a muffled thud.
The moment the illusion's arm touched the cane, Elias felt his scalp tingle!
A bone-chilling cold followed the wooden shaft and instantly clung to The Roaring Cane.
The cold air was like a living thing, crawling frantically up the cane.
In just half a second, a layer of white frost formed on the surface of the cane!
The fingers Elias used to hold the cane instantly lost sensation, his knuckles turning blue from the cold.
This was 【Frostbite】!
A Scale Two spell of the Moon Lord believers!
It could directly freeze the enemy's flesh at the moment of physical contact.
If the gap in spirituality was too large, it could even freeze the enemy solid.
Damn it!
He couldn't fight them in a direct clash of strength!
Elias's reaction was lightning fast; he used the counterforce of the collision to snap his arm back!
The moment the cane touched the illusion, the position of the Mester illusion he had hit changed instantly.
This illusion was actually this troublesome!
Forget testing!
Elias's left hand suddenly drew the revolver from his waist.
He raised it and fired a single shot!
Bang!
The deafening gunshot exploded within the treatment room.
The special bullet he had already positioned in the cylinder while in the shadows—the cloud bullet—was fired!
The bullet burst open in mid-air.
It had no killing power, but it released a dense, white cloud of mist!
In just two seconds, the entire ruins of Mester's treatment room were once again completely covered by a layer of white mist.
Vision was instantly stripped away.
At the same moment the mist exploded, Elias squeezed his eyes shut and released his spirituality fully.
【Moonlight Veil】!
A hidden cloak of spiritual gauze instantly draped over him.
His presence was hidden within the mist.
He didn't bother with the illusions that were wandering like headless flies in the thick fog.
Instead, he exerted force with his legs!
Stepping with the Wind-Chaser Boots, he charged straight through the fog toward the broken main door of the treatment room.
Two seconds.
He had already reached the edge of the doorway.
The moment he arrived, Elias connected to his Rational Circuit once again!
【Hexfire】!
Activated instantly!
In the thick white mist where one couldn't see their own hand, several clusters of extremely bright Hexfire were ignited.
The penetrating light of the Hexfire instantly tore through the small area of camouflage!
Including Elias himself, of course.
And just a step away from the door, a figure trying to slip out was illuminated clearly by the Hexfire.
Mester's form was revealed right in front of Elias with no concealment left!
His hand, wearing a white glove, had even reached the edge of the doorframe.
"You!!!"
"How did you...!"
Mester whipped his head around.
Looking at Elias, who was blocking the door with a gun pointed directly at his forehead, that always elegant face finally showed an expression of extreme horror.
He couldn't imagine it.
Not only did this kid not stay in the mist to fight his illusions, but he didn't even try to search for Mester's position in the center of the battlefield.
How could he have guessed so precisely that Mester would try to run away during the chaos instead of continuing the fight?!
Was this a combat intuition that a bottom-tier cannon fodder at Scale One could have?!
Looking at Mester's face, which looked as if he had seen a ghost, Elias gripped his revolver tight, a mocking sneer curling his lips.
"You're too easy to read."
"Doctor."
Elias ruthlessly exposed his charade.
"The moment I saw you release those illusions, I knew you wanted to pull the same old trick again."
"What?"
"You fooled the people from the Seventh Agency, but you thought you could fool me too?"
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