Amid the rumbling rain, strange-looking figures appeared from windows, alleys, and rooftops in the seemingly abandoned houses around them. At the same time, after Shad and the professor jumped out of the window, the shadowy figures of local residents also appeared on the street behind them.
Professor Katya may not be able to see clearly due to her old age, but Shade can see clearly that the faces of those residents are just like those in the oil painting, showing ugly and terrifying appearances. They may not be as pure and terrifying as the captain of the fishbone pirate ship, but they are definitely not normal humans:
"This old street... Professor, Mr. Scott, you go first. Go in the direction Miss Princess pointed out."
As Xia De spoke, a silver arc of light flew out from his hand and cut off the head of the butler who stuck his head out of the window where the two men had just jumped out.
The head landed on the rainy street, whirling and spinning until it landed at Professor Katya's feet. Its eyes were not closed, and it had a strange bloody fish-like look, which made it look extremely disgusting.
Professor Katya looked at Shade in surprise, with an expression of sudden enlightenment on his face:
"So you are... I see! Let's go first."
How could a folklorist who had once worked with the church not know about the existence of ring wizards? The professor grabbed the students who were looking around in fear and ran straight to the street that had not been blocked yet.
Leicia and Shade stood together. The former nodded and took a deep breath. As the paper roll she casually threw out burned, light green spots on her body flew out. After a few seconds, the illusory figure of a forest archer with a quiver on his back appeared beside her.
"The evil cult here is transforming humans into those horrible fishmen."
The princess summed up the situation in the rain and controlled the archer to draw his bow and shoot an arrow. The green light cut through the rain curtain and accurately pierced the throat of the fish-faced creature closest to the two of them. The other creatures looked at them in fear.
"It's probably true that Mr. Jude cured the mermaid curse. If they transform into mermaids, the curse may disappear. He used this to attract local cursed ring sorcerers, wanting to transform them into these ugly things and prepare more manpower for the Sea Return Ceremony."
Shade also said, with his back against Princess Leicia, he gently pushed the silver moonlight in his hand forward, and the arc of light cut through the rain curtain like a shock wave, cutting in half the three fish-faced creatures that rushed out of the abandoned stone house.
Although these things look scary, they have no special powers other than being difficult to kill and having stronger physical fitness.
Just as Shade was thinking this, Leicia suddenly pulled his arm, causing him to step back two steps. Almost in the next second, an arrow made of black liquid flew past his face.
The two of them looked towards the alley at the same time. Mr. Jude, who claimed to be going upstairs to get antiques, looked at them with a slender salted fish in his hand. His voice, like a mouthful of spit, came through the rain and reached their ears:
"I originally thought you were reporters and wanted to convert you into followers of my Lord. I didn't expect that you were actually ring sorcerers attracted by the rumors I spread. That's even better..."
People with fish-like facial features hid in every corner of the street and spied on the two people. Reminded by the woman's voice in his ear, Shad noticed that among those fish-like creatures, there were at least four ring warlocks.
Since this ancient street is the base of the Scarlet Cult, there must be more than one ring warlock stationed here. I am afraid that all the residents of this entire street are terrifying creatures transformed by the Cult, some of whom live here, and some have already infiltrated the city.
"Your companions won't be able to escape either. Someone will intercept them. We have controlled this street for hundreds of years. A large-scale ceremony has been carried out from the ground to the sky to ensure that no matter what happens, it will not attract the attention of outsiders."
Mr. Jude looked in the direction where the two scholars fled, Leicia pursed her lips, and Shade looked across the rain at the Peace Church in the old town of Coldwater Harbor. The church was not far from here, but even if there was no so-called ceremony, the sound of the steam bomb would not be heard outside this street in heavy rain.
"Shad, you..."
The soaked princess glanced at Shade. Her long red hair stuck to her face, and she looked very embarrassed:
"Do you know what you are going to do?"
Xia De nodded:
"Understood, but we need to buy some time so that we have a chance to escape."
"no problem."
She took out a roll of parchment in each hand, and as the flames burned in the rain, an almost solid figure of a princess holding a spindle appeared on the left, and an equally solid little girl wearing slippers and carrying a basket appeared on the right.
Dorothy said that the important part of their mutual influence was that their powers were available to both of them.
The whistle and bell rang, and the ring magicians hidden in the buildings rushed out, but they all looked like low-ring magicians. The princess holding the spindle and the little match girl came forward in the rain, and Mr. Jude, who was closest to the two, shook the thin salted fish in his hand again. Leicia hooked a thin red ribbon from her earring with her right hand and flew towards Mr. Jude.
Mr. Jude did not dodge, the salted fish in his hand emitted a faint silver light. He quickly swung the fish in the rain, and although it looked ridiculous, the red ribbon actually deviated in direction.
Shade dropped the frog leg in his hand, squatted slightly in the rain, and then jumped into the air. He looked up at the rainy sky, and when he reached the highest point, his body disappeared out of thin air, and then appeared 30 feet away at a higher place.
“This height is enough.”
The tallest building in the nearby block was not taller than him. Xia De squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of the Peace Church, then pointed his finger at the sky, and the spirit in his body burst out violently at this moment:
"Silver Moon!"
On a rainy and hazy morning, even the flashes could not travel very far. However, the light was so bright that it almost blinded everyone on the ground, and it still caught the attention of the Peace Church.
Shade landed safely, and Lecia was not hurt because she lowered her head and closed her eyes in time, but most of her opponents lost all their vision in a short period of time.
“Go!”
The strange light in the city has attracted the attention of the church, and the high-level warlocks stationed there may appear at any time. The members of the cult also thought of this, and in the chaos after the flash ended, not many people wanted to keep Shade and Leicia.
"Wait, he's the only one who's seen our faces up close."
The vague figure of the archer beside the princess reappeared, drawing his bow and shooting an arrow through the rain curtain towards Mr. Jude at the alley entrance. However, the blind middle-aged man lightly flicked the salted fish in his hand and actually blocked the arrow.
"That fish has a special resistance to energy-type attacks!"
“The church people are coming!”
The golden light has appeared in the sky, and it will be too late if we don’t leave now.
"You go first. You must not let the church see you."
Xia De pushed Leicia, then rushed towards Mr. Jude. The princess nodded worriedly:
"Run eastwards in a moment. I'll wait for you there."
As she said this, she lifted the hem of her skirt and ran in the direction the two scholars left.
The splashes of water from his boots could not keep up with his footsteps. Mr. Jude turned and ran along the alley toward another block. The sound behind him let him know that someone was chasing him:
“Stop him!”
Although he couldn't see for the time being, he knew there was help ahead.
The two fish-like creatures lying in ambush in the alley immediately passed Mr. Jude and shot at Shad with their guns, but the old-fashioned gunpowder guns they used were prone to problems on rainy days, and they were aiming at a moving object at the moment. After two consecutive gunshots, Shad was unharmed.
The sound of wind came from behind him, and Mr. Jude remembered the sharp moonlight he had just seen, and immediately turned around to block it with the salted fish in his hand. But unexpectedly, what split the rain curtain and the air was not the moonlight, but more like an object like a card:
"What?"
The salted fish that could resist energy was actually cut into two sections by a piece of paper card, which surprised Xia De. He thought it was a relic, but it turned out to be an alchemical item.
Then, the stranger, who still had a dozen steps to catch up with his opponent, let the flying moonlight hit Mr. Jude's head.
The middle-aged man continued to run, while the life ring appeared behind him. The guardian spirit rune flickered, and the metal full body armor wrapped with seaweed appeared from the air, blocking the attack of the moonlight.
The armor slowly moved towards him, as if trying to stop him. But Shade, who had caught up with him, raised his sword and swung it down. The two-handed giant sword carried a huge potential energy and chopped the metal armor in two. The cut surface was extremely smooth.
"oh!"
Mr. Jude, who was running in front, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. The backlash of the magic made him stagger and almost fall down.
The second spiritual rune Drowning lit up, and the blasphemous spiritual light gushed out, making Shade, who was chasing after him in the rain, feel short of breath:
"Breathing underwater."
The magic effect was specifically broken, and Shade continued to approach with the two-handed sword. Mr. Jude no longer ran away. He covered his chest and breathed deeply, then turned to face Shade:
"Do you think I'll be afraid of you just because I'm blind?"
The life ring of the fourth ring warlock appeared completely, and the three runes of the guardian fish priest lit up at the same time. The flickering silver light made the middle-aged man seem to grow taller on the spot. His face became more like the terrifying appearance in the oil painting, and his hands gathered rainwater, fixing the liquid into a slender rapier and a shield with a mermaid pattern.
There was a gunshot, it was Shad who fired, his revolver was quite waterproof, but Mr. Jude took the shot head on, then his ears detected the sound of wind on both sides at the same time, so he pierced the flying card with his right rapier and blocked another card with his left shield.
Because he was blind, he did not see that Shad had jumped above him with the unfading power of the spell.
"Oh!"
The sword light fell, and the corpse and the blood fell to the bumpy ground of the alley. The silver giant sword disappeared in Xia De's hand, and the blood attached to the sword left more marks on the trouser legs.
Because he knew it was a low ring, Xia De dared to catch up. This was not a fair fight. If the opponent could see that the attacks on both sides were just cards, he would never choose to give up the frontal defense.
At this time, there was another gunshot behind him, and Shade subconsciously dodged. Coincidentally, a whole team of ring magicians appeared at the back of the alley, so he did not deal with the two fish-like creatures that shot at him, but suddenly jumped onto the roof of the alley and quickly left in the rain.
There were sporadic gunshots behind him, and a golden light unique to divine magic appeared in Kaizem Lane. Shade vaguely heard the voices of the church ring magicians rushing up from behind:
"See, I knew there would be a merman who could shoot!"
Heading east, after crossing two streets, we successfully saw Leicia and the carriage. The driver and the two scholars were seriously injured in the eyes, and only the maid in the carriage was lucky enough to be unharmed.
Xia De jumped down from the roof, squatted down with the momentum of falling, and then bounced and rushed into the car through the window:
"Go... Oh!"
Then he bumped into the blind men in the carriage.
The maid and the princess could not bear the wailing of the people in the carriage, so they pulled the carriage together and carried everyone along the rain-soaked street towards the distance.