Chapter 71 Is There Any Problem with This?
The expression on her face was strange—not the heaviness from when she left, nor the panic you'd expect after learning of danger. Instead, it was an almost extreme coldness, a solemn composure, like a finely carved marble statue.
But our eyes were immediately drawn to her right hand.
The wand she gripped tightly was now glowing with a steady yet eerie light.
That light wasn't ordinary. It seemed to have some kind of life to it, "flowing" out from the gemstone, slowly crawling up Selene's skin, gathering and writhing on the back of her hand and wrist, finally forming the pattern of an eye.
A lifelike eye that seemed to be blinking, carrying an indescribable dark magic. The patterns of that eye flickered with a faint glow, as if it might truly open the next second and look at all of us.
"The eye..."
It was the "eye" corresponding to the statue... Selene.
And the magical reaction on her hand was clearly extraordinary. Considering that the "warrior" statue corresponding to Jerry had just disappeared...
This deathly silent hall, together with that eerie magic eye on her hand, created an incredibly horrifying scene.
The illusion I'd just had about "maybe we're close to clearing this" was instantly frozen solid by this deeper strangeness and chill, vanishing into thin air.
Armando "whoosh" stepped in front of Anna. The wand in his hand looked sinister as hell, definitely not normal equipment—the shaft was covered in pitch-black runes, the color as dark and gloomy as stone scraped off a tombstone! Most ridiculous of all, there was a silver ring strung on the tip, dangling like a crooked ring! What kind of gear was this?
The moment he channeled his magic, that silver ring "hummed" to life, creepy as hell. Purple-black runes crawled out from the ring like living maggots, twisting and spreading along the wand. Then he raised his hand like he was taking a drag on a cigarette.
And then I watched as white smoke, just like that first puff when you light up, leisurely and unhurriedly, poured out from the wand's tip. The smoke looked harmless enough, but the moment it appeared, the temperature around us "whooshed" and kept dropping! I could even see white frost forming on the wood nearby!
Over there, Selene saw Armando's stance and temporarily stopped her forward rush. The wand she gripped tightly was like it had xenon headlights installed—that half-open eyeball opened a bit more, surrounded by a circle of tiny flickering runes. That eye gave me goosebumps all over, like being watched by some deep-sea monster! The whole atmosphere instantly tightened to the extreme, as if the next second would tear the whole place apart!
Just as both sides were at daggers drawn...
The unexpected showed up right on fucking schedule!
The wall behind us—it collapsed! No wait, saying it collapsed isn't accurate—it came alive! Holy shit! The entire stone wall, like melting chocolate, "whoosh" turned into flowing, murky cement-like stuff, without a single crack, just melted like that! Then that "mud" split open from the middle like it was being cleaved by an invisible knife, "splash"!
Then Olivia, face dark, like a vengeful goddess crawling out of a mud pit, walked out, stepping on that "cement."
She looked pretty rough! Her originally smooth hair was now messy as a bird's nest, her face and clothes bearing scorch marks from flames. Clearly, she'd just been in a fight, and the kind involving fire! The wand in her hand was also glowing, like it was hacked, and most horrifying of all—there was a mass of blood floating beside her! Living blood, swimming and twisting in the air like a little snake, emitting a high-temperature, ominous red glow!
My heart "thudded" right then. Blood! This blood... was Jerry's! Absolutely! Earlier in the corridor, when Jerry coughed up blood on the ground, that stuff "whoosh" caught fire like gasoline, flames hot enough to roast a whole pig! Something was seriously wrong with him! This blood was probably his, collected by Olivia somehow to use as a weapon!
The moment Olivia appeared, those fire-spitting eyes swept over the four of us like searchlights, then instantly locked onto Selene! The hatred in that gaze was thick enough to drip poison!
"It was you... Wasn't it?"
Each word was like ice shards squeezed through her teeth.
"If you're asking about the person who killed 'Jerry', then..." Selene paused elegantly, her tone as calm as if saying, "today's afternoon coffee is a bit sweet," "...it was indeed me."
I couldn't believe my own ears!
Selene, we're already at the point of no return. Couldn't you at least pretend to deny it, give everyone some room to maneuver?! You just admitted it like that?! That's brave, huh?
But the crazier part was yet to come. I watched as Selene leisurely—with that calm elegance of a movie villain about to unleash their ultimate move—unbuttoned her long coat, one button at a time, slowly!
Inside the coat was basically a mobile arsenal! Strapped with belts were dozens of flasks and test tubes of various sizes! Filled with colorful liquids that looked dangerous. The key point was that three or four of the bottles already had their stoppers removed! Those dangerous things were sitting open!
"I'm a vicious black witch from The Bone Council. Is there a problem with that?"
While asking back in that "I did it, what are you gonna do about it" calm tone, she actually started removing the stoppers from the remaining bottles, one by one!!
My heart jumped into my throat! What was this old witch trying to do? Blow us all sky high in a mutual destruction?! Or was this some advanced witchcraft activation procedure I'd never seen?!
Olivia, across from us, couldn't take it anymore! The gray, surging mud around her instantly became agitated, making a "glug glug" sound like boiling water—terrifying! That was her fury boiling over!
The next second, Olivia didn't even bother to lift an eyelid, just casually waved her hand, palm forward.
Then, that mud really did come alive like a slimy monster, "boom," lunging toward Selene! That momentum was like a black mud tsunami, the air groaning under the strain as it passed, as if to devour, crush, and strangle everything! Completely different from when she was poisoned and ambushed on the ship, all tied up!
Selene also stopped hiding completely. Before, the black mist was just wisps and threads, but now it was like floodgates opening!
Massive amounts of thick black smoke surged wildly from around her, then, as an army under her command, directed by her will, rushed up to meet that mud wave head-on!