Tivian North Suburbs, Royal Crown University, King’s Campus.
Nighttime, deep within the gathering point of the Scholarly Society of Mystical Knowledge at King’s Campus. Behind a corridor filled with tight security, white spider silk, and orange lantern light, in the first level of the underground ruins, a dozen figures are gathered. Under the glow of the lanterns, these figures are all dressed in black hooded robes, standing in neat rows.
These are the student members of the Scholarly Society. At this moment, they stand in orderly lines, their expressions blank as they stare forward. In front of them stand three individuals. The one in the middle is bald, thin, with prominent cheekbones and dark circles under his eyes—this is Claudius.
"Everyone, for a long time, you have proven your loyalty and ability. As a reward, tonight, I will personally lead you to transcendence."
Claudius spreads his arms and declares as he looks at the rows of students with their vacant expressions. Hearing his words, the students bow in unison, their movements and voices perfectly synchronized.
"We are grateful, Your Excellency..."
The unified voices echo through the room. Seeing this scene, Claudius nods slightly and responds.
"Now, the time has come. Let us proceed."
With that, Claudius waves his hand, and the students file to the side of the room, descending the stairs to the next level of the ruins. After watching the students disappear down the stairs, Claudius turns to a subordinate nearby and says.
"Guard this place well. Don’t let even a single insect through.""Yes, Your Excellency. With all these precautions, we will ensure nothing goes wrong."
The subordinate responds confidently. Seeing this, Claudius nods slightly.
The death of Thorn Velvet at the hands of an unknown force proves that someone is watching them. For the sake of the important ritual at hand, Claudius must take precautions against unexpected events. Thinking of the security net composed of sensory spider silk, guards, Radiant Lanterns, anti-ghost measures, and even spiritual detection within the walls, he feels a sense of reassurance.
Claudius is confident that unless it is a truly high-ranking Beyonder, no one could pass through such a tight security net unnoticed. If anyone tries to force their way in, the early warning system will immediately alert him.
After the students have all left, Claudius and his entourage descend to the second level of the ruins. In the spacious hall, towering stone pillars support the underground space. Against the wall stands a five- to six-meter-tall statue of a spider-headed, human-bodied goddess.
In front of the statue is a massive ritual circle already drawn on the ground. Around the hall, a circle of candles has been lit, and lanterns hang from the stone pillars. On either side of the statue stand two rows of masked men in black robes, holding small knives. Their expressions suggest they are awaiting something. This is the ritual ground of the Eight-Spired Nest.
As the students enter the ritual area, they step onto the ritual circle in perfect unison and kneel before Claudius, their movements eerily synchronized.
"Now, pray! Pray to the Spider Queen! Summon Her power from the depths of the Inner World to corrupt this land!"
Claudius raises his arms and shouts. Immediately, the dozen or so cultists holding knives begin to chant silently, while the students remain motionless, kneeling and staring blankly at Claudius.
The ritual begins in the hall, while on the ceiling of the ritual chamber, a gecko clings, intently observing the scene below.
…
Third level of the underground ruins, near the staircase entrance.
Sitting on a chair, Dorothy murmurs to herself. Around her lie a dozen or so corpses of various types, all reserves from her Magic Box, now ready to be turned into marionettes.
"It’s started... So, should we infiltrate now?"
Standing in front of Dorothy, Vania asks with a hint of nervousness. She is dressed in a black nun’s habit, wearing a mask, holding a rifle, and carrying a large fan-shaped object covered in black cloth on her back.
"Yes, it’s time to act according to the plan. This is the best moment."
Dorothy replies, while Vania continues with concern.
"But... there seem to be quite a few people up there. Miss Dorothy, if we sneak up like this, won’t we be discovered?"
"Don’t worry. I’ve already checked. The people upstairs are busy with the ritual and won’t have time to pay attention to anything else. The staircase leading to our side is completely unguarded... Why would anyone guard a staircase leading to the deeper, empty parts of the ruins?"
Dorothy smiles confidently as she speaks. The lower levels of the ruins, which have been thoroughly looted by countless secret societies over hundreds of years, are empty and lead to a dead end. Only someone with water in their brain would think to guard such a place.
The Eight-Spired Nest has searched this ruin many times. In their eyes, the only entrance and exit is the main path to the gathering point. As long as they guard that, everything is secure.
They would never expect the secrets hidden within this ruin, originally belonging to the Celestial Bibliotheca, because the Revelation-path Beyonders who could uncover such secrets have been extinct for a thousand years.
After continuous overtime work, Dorothy’s marionette construction team finally cleared a path through the sixth-level ruins. This allows Dorothy to bypass the gathering point and enter the deepest part of the ruins through the Hall of Ascension passage, using the "back door" that the Eight-Spired Nest knows nothing about.
After Beverly took the gas sample to her "professional friend," Dorothy obtained the antidote specifically for this poison, at the exorbitant price of 40 pounds per pill.
Due to a lack of funds, Dorothy had to make a trip to the city, pawning all the gold and silverware she had looted from Burton House, Buck Mansion, and Field Manor. After pawning all the stolen goods, she managed to scrape together 440 pounds in cash. With this money, Dorothy, who had only 10 pounds left, barely managed to pay for the antidote. She bought three pills in one go.
This evening, fully prepared, Dorothy and Vania entered the ruins through the secret passage in the Hall of Ascension. With the help of the antidote, they passed through the gas-filled corridor, traversed the cleared path through the ruins, and finally arrived beneath the ritual chamber—the third level of the ruins. They have been waiting here for the right moment.
"Alright... it’s time to go. Keep quiet."
With that, Dorothy stands up from her chair and simultaneously controls six marionettes dressed in long coats and armed with revolvers. They head toward the staircase leading upward, with Vania following closely.
Carefully, Dorothy, Vania, and the marionettes sneak up the stairs to the edge of the second-level hall, hiding in the shadows behind a tall pillar. At this moment, everyone on the second level is focused on the ritual, and no one notices the people emerging from the staircase leading to the dead end.
"Priority target: the bald leader!"
Dorothy whispers to Vania. Hearing this, Vania nods, raises her rifle, and aims at the head of Claudius, who is presiding over the ritual. At the same time, Dorothy’s marionettes raise their revolvers, aiming at the black-robed cultists participating in the ritual.
Now, everything is ready. All that’s left is to pull the trigger.
But just as Dorothy is about to give the order to fire, she suddenly notices something amiss and frowns. Her gaze lingers on the blank-faced students.
“These students’ eyes... are they hypnotized? Vampires have the ability to hypnotize humans. It seems the bald vampire brought them here after mass hypnosis. That makes them easier to control.”
“But... the direction the students are looking seems slightly off.”
Using the small marionettes scattered throughout the ritual chamber, Dorothy carefully observes the students. At first glance, they all seem to be staring at Claudius, but upon closer inspection, there’s a slight discrepancy.
After advancing to the Black Earth rank as a Scholar, Dorothy’s ability to receive and process information has greatly improved. This means she can notice more details and detect inconsistencies.
For example, while the students appear to be looking at Claudius, Dorothy uses a mental "straight line" tool to trace their gazes based on the overhead view from a small marionette. She discovers that their gazes are not actually focused on Claudius but on a guard standing beside him. That guard, in turn, is staring intently at the students.
“Interesting... It seems this is your usual tactic.”
After noticing this, Dorothy thinks to herself. At this moment, Vania, who is carefully aiming, whispers.
"Miss Dorothy... when do we start?"
"Ah, we’ll start immediately. But change your target to the one on the right of the original target."
Dorothy instructs Vania. Although surprised, Vania immediately adjusts her aim to the guard standing to Claudius’s right. Meanwhile, Dorothy has three marionettes aim at Claudius.
"Aiming complete," Vania reports, and Dorothy responds.
"Fire!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Simultaneously, Dorothy’s marionettes and Vania fire their guns. The roar of gunfire echoes through the underground space as six bullets fly toward the crowd performing the ritual.
Two bullets miss, two hit cultists participating in the ritual, and one hits Claudius in the chest.
The bullet fired by Vania, originally aimed precisely at the head of the guard to Claudius’s right, is narrowly dodged as the guard suddenly opens his eyes wide and tilts his head at the last moment.
Thud!
In a moment of extreme danger, the guard avoids having his head blown off. The bullet grazes his skull, shattering part of it and scraping off a portion of his brain tissue. Blood spurts out, and his chest is also hit by a bullet. After being shot, the guard lets out a scream, his body enveloped in shadow, transforming into a swarm of bats that scatter in all directions.
The other victims fall to the ground. Claudius, clutching his wound and gritting his teeth as he collapses, undergoes a rapid facial transformation, revealing another face—that of Avery!
To prepare for any eventuality, the Shadow Facades have once again played their identity-swapping game. The real Claudius disguised himself as Avery, while Avery disguised himself as Claudius to take the bullet.
Dorothy and Vania had seen this trick before with Thorn Velvet and Eli. Faced with this basic tactic of the Shadow Facades, Dorothy had already been on guard. By noticing the slight anomaly in the hypnotized students’ gazes, Dorothy deduced Claudius’s true position and shot him. Unfortunately, the reaction speed of a White Ash rank Beyonder is too fast, allowing him to partially dodge the rifle bullet.
"What? He’s not dead? He turned into bats!"
"Don’t panic, Vania. Keep shooting. Take out the lackeys first..."
Dorothy says calmly, then controls the six marionettes in long coats to step out of the shadows in a line, firing their revolvers at the panicked cultists in black robes. Caught off guard by the surprise attack, the cultists are thrown into chaos. Without their leader, they don’t even have time to draw their guns before being gunned down. The hypnotized students remain kneeling in the ritual circle, motionless and expressionless, not causing any obstacles for Dorothy’s cleanup operation.
For a moment, the ritual chamber is in complete chaos. Gunfire rings out continuously, and most of the dozen or so cultists are quickly killed. The scattered bats regroup in a safe spot, and Claudius, his head still bleeding, reappears.
Trembling, Claudius pulls out a large syringe filled with bright red blood from his clothes and, without hesitation, stabs it into his arm, injecting the entire contents.
As the blood rapidly enters his body, Claudius’s injuries heal instantly. The gunshot wounds close, the bullets are expelled, and the bleeding from his head stops. The damaged brain tissue regenerates, and the shattered skull repairs itself.
Except for the skeletal damage, Claudius is now fully restored.
"Damn ambushers... Where did they come from?"
Claudius grits his teeth. Although he is utterly confused about the origin of these attackers, he knows his priority is to eliminate them.
With a wave of his hand, Claudius causes the hypnotized students to collapse into sleep, reducing his spiritual expenditure. Then, he transforms into a swarm of black bats and charges at the six gunmen who are now heading toward the staircase leading to the first level.
The six gunmen, having dealt with most of the cultists, are now running up the stairs to attack the enemies on the first level. As they see the swarm of bats rushing toward them, they raise their guns and fire, but bullets are ineffective against such small, agile targets. Only a few bats are shot down before the swarm engulfs the gunmen.
Under the sharp claws and teeth of the bats, the gunmen’s bodies are quickly torn apart and collapse. Watching this, Dorothy, still hidden in the shadows, can’t help but smile.
Then, Dorothy controls one of the fallen gunmen to press a small hidden mechanism in his sleeve. When triggered, a simple ignition device inside the marionette’s coat lights a flammable substance soaked in kerosene next to a small gas canister.
The gas canister ignites, causing a violent explosion. The explosion triggers the other gas canisters on the same marionette, and the chain reaction causes all six marionettes to burst into brilliant flames. The high-temperature fire instantly engulfs the surrounding bats.