Southwest outskirts of Tivian, a stone-paved road through a dark forest.
In the dead of night, on the side of the road, inside a pitch-black carriage, Dorothy sits upright on the carriage seat, her eyes wide open, filled with shock. Her small face, previously red from the cold, is now pale. Just moments ago, all of her corpse marionettes in the distant Barrett’s mansion were instantly destroyed. Whether it was the servant marionette flipping through documents in the hidden room or the other marionettes monitoring the mansion, they all turned into pools of blood at the same moment.
“Damn it… I’ve been discovered! How did this happen!? How did that guy find my marionettes? And how did he locate my real body through the marionettes!?”
In a state of panic, Dorothy thinks to herself. At this moment, her petite body is trembling, her heart racing. Cold sweat drips down her back beneath her thick clothes. It’s been a long time since she’s felt such intense emotions.
“ Huff… huff… This is a crisis situation I haven’t faced in a long time… Suddenly encountering a Red Completion’s derivative is completely unexpected… But now’s not the time to freeze up…”
Taking a few deep breaths, Dorothy tries to calm herself down. After slightly easing her panic and regaining her composure, she immediately takes control of the coachman marionette, ordering it to quickly restart the carriage and turn the horses around, galloping back toward the city. The sound of the horses’ neighing and the wheels rolling echoes through the dark forest.
Inside the swaying carriage, Dorothy rubs her temples, frowning as she seriously considers where she might have gone wrong.
“Calm down… calm down… Think about where I might have slipped up and been discovered…”
“First, there’s that Priest of Fangs, a Red Completion rank’s derivative. From his earlier actions, it seems he has some kind of ability to transform into a blood mist. This blood mist ability is likely an evolved version of the White Ash-rank Vampire bat transformation ability.”
“That guy probably transformed into blood mist somewhere above the mansion, where I couldn’t see. Since I didn’t notice any changes, I was caught off guard and fell into his trap.” “After he turned into blood mist, I didn’t sense anything unusual through the marionettes’ vision. Considering how he later reappeared in the mansion, with the blood mist gradually becoming denser and more visible, it seems he can control the distribution and density of the blood mist in the air.”
“If the distribution is wide enough and the basic components of the blood mist are spread thinly enough in the air, the mist would become so faint that it’s invisible to the naked eye. That’s how he could silently envelop the entire mansion without me noticing.”
Frowning and stroking her chin, Dorothy uses her full mental capacity to analyze the nature of the opponent’s abilities. Although the Priest of Fangs’s abilities are bizarre, they’re not entirely without clues. As long as Dorothy can grasp a few key points, she can deduce a lot of the truth.
“If the opponent can really decompose himself into countless tiny, invisible red particles to achieve the blood mist transformation… then this invisible, wide-ranging blood mist could silently envelop the entire mansion. Without me realizing, those tiny red particles decomposed by the Priest of Fangs would have filled the air in the mansion. Logically, these particles should be tiny droplets of blood.”
“Last year, when I first explored the school’s underground ruins, I was hunted down by Claudius. At that time, he used the countless bats split from his bat transformation to quickly search the entire underground ruins. Now, the countless tiny blood droplets decomposed by the Priest of Fangs’s blood mist transformation should also have a scouting effect. If these blood droplets can find the location of Barrett’s hidden room, their infiltration ability must be very strong. If… these blood droplets can infiltrate human bodies, infiltrate corpses, then he should be able to determine what’s a real corpse… and what’s a marionette.”
“That guy found my servant marionette in the hidden room, then used the blood mist to infiltrate the marionette’s body and determined that it was a marionette, not a living person. From this, he realized that all the corpses in the mansion might be problematic. Then he infiltrated all the corpses with his blood droplets, allowing him to identify all the marionettes I had hidden among the corpses.”
Dorothy’s mind races as she sits in the carriage, quickly piecing together the possible truth behind the series of events. By now, she has deduced why her marionettes were exposed. Next, she needs to understand why she couldn’t sever the marionette connection.
“The reason I deduced that the marionettes were infiltrated by that guy’s blood droplets is because, when he began his attack, I felt resistance against my control of all the marionettes. This resistance came from within. I could feel it… as if the marionettes had come to life, and I felt a strong resistance from inside them.”
“That guy used his blood to corrupt the Shadow Facade named George, creating the derivative standing here. From this phenomenon, it seems his blood might have a corrupting effect. The blood mist dispersed in the air infiltrated the marionettes, silently corrupting them. The corrupted marionettes became part of him.”
“My spiritual threads were likely affected by this corruption at this point, making them impossible to sever. After all, the nature of spiritual threads is Chalice and Revelation. Given how powerful that guy’s blood corruption is, it’s reasonable that it could affect the spiritual threads he absorbed.”
“Now that guy is following the spiritual threads to chase me. My best option is to hurry back to the city, to a place where the Archbishop’s influence is stronger. I’m about eight kilometers away from that guy. That distance should be enough for me to reach safety…”
Using the powerful information-processing abilities of a Scholar, Dorothy quickly analyzes the situation in the mansion. She decides to flee immediately, heading back to the city. Since the Priest of Fangs mentioned that the Archbishop’s Rank Vision influence is weak here due to the distance from the city, and that he had to use some tricks to manifest his derivative here, Dorothy figures that if she can make it to the city where the Archbishop’s influence is stronger, the Priest of Fangs won’t be able to do anything.
With this in mind, Dorothy focuses even more on driving the carriage. At the same time, she uses the spiritual thread connection to closely monitor the distant Priest of Fangs. Although she can no longer use the compromised spiritual threads to gather information, she can still use them to track his location.
…
Meanwhile, inside Barrett’s mansion, the elderly-looking Priest of Fangs silently gazes into the distance. After hearing his earlier words, Kenk, who is kneeling before him, exclaims in shock.
“You… You’re saying we were being monitored by flesh puppets? But aren’t flesh puppets Chalice-path creations? I have Chalice spiritual perception! Why didn’t I sense anything?”
Hearing Kenk’s words, the Priest of Fangs slowly turns his head, glancing at Kenk’s stunned face before speaking.
“In the mysticism world… anything is possible. The spiritual threads this mastermind used to control the marionettes are special. Perhaps they have some method to conceal their marionettes.”
“Some… special method?”
Kenk’s confusion doesn’t lessen, and the Priest of Fangs continues.
“Once I catch them… everything will become clear.”
As he speaks, the Priest of Fangs looks in the direction indicated by the spiritual threads. Sensing some movement, he chuckles and adds.
“It seems the mastermind has realized something’s wrong and is trying to escape. But at this speed…”
With that, the Priest of Fangs’s expression hardens. His figure blurs, and then a pair of large bat wings burst through his clothes, spreading out behind him.
With the bat wings now fully extended, the Priest of Fangs leaps out of the window, soaring into the night sky outside the mansion. After adjusting his direction in the air, he flaps his wings and flies rapidly toward his target, moving at an incredible speed.
Thus, amidst the howling night wind, the Priest of Fangs with his bat wings flies swiftly toward his target several kilometers away. At the same time, Dorothy, through the spiritual thread connection, senses his rapid approach.
…
“He’s catching up, and he’s so fast!?”
Inside the carriage, Dorothy exclaims in shock as she senses the rapidly approaching target. While she expected the Priest of Fangs to chase her, she never anticipated he would be this fast.
The Priest of Fangs’s speed is astonishing, even surpassing that of many birds. This speed is far beyond what Dorothy’s carriage can match.
“Damn… he’s flying, isn’t he? At this speed, even a horse running at full speed without any burden wouldn’t be able to outrun him…”
Dorothy thinks anxiously to herself, then forces herself to calm down. She begins using the spiritual thread connection to calculate the opponent’s speed, trying to determine if she has any chance of escaping.
Using her Scholar-level information processing abilities, she quickly calculates the result. Based on the opponent’s flying speed, she will inevitably be caught before reaching the city, whether she uses the carriage or rides a single horse.
No matter how Dorothy calculates, she will be caught within about ten minutes. By then, she will still be far from the city, and the chances of the Archbishop sensing her plight are slim.
There’s no escape! In this situation, there’s no way to escape!
After realizing that the probability of successfully escaping is almost zero, Dorothy’s expression darkens. Suppressing the intense emotions swirling within her, she forces herself to remain calm, her expression becoming unprecedentedly serious.
“Huff… Calm down. If I can’t escape, then I need to find another way out… another way to survive.”
“If I can’t run, maybe I can create a huge disturbance to attract the Serenity Bureau and the church… But the problem is, this place is far from both the Cathedral District and Gale Fortress, at least several dozen kilometers away. A disturbance loud enough to alert them would likely alert the entire city of Tivian. Even if I could create such a disturbance, the Serenity Bureau and the church wouldn’t be able to get here in time. That guy will reach me in ten minutes!”
“Similarly, due to the short response time, the calling method Aldrich gave me won’t work either. That old man, due to his spiritual deficiency, needs at least half an hour to an hour to prepare before he can project his influence through the stone carving. That’s way too slow…”
Dorothy thinks with a grim expression. In the letter Aldrich left before departing, he clearly explained that the stone carving was a medium to notify him, but it would take considerable preparation time for him to project his influence through it.
This is because Aldrich has issues with his spiritual capacity. As a quasi-Gold rank with only Black Earth rank spiritual reserves, he needs external storage to provide the spirituality for high-rank abilities. However, ordinary spiritual storage can’t be directly used for ability consumption. Aldrich needs to set up a special workshop, and that setup takes time. Given Dorothy’s current situation, there’s no time to wait for him to prepare the workshop.
After rejecting these two plans, Dorothy continues to think frantically. In the end, only one solution remains.
“It seems… the only option now is to see if advancing can change the situation…”
Inside the dark, speeding carriage, Dorothy murmurs to herself. A rushed advancement—this is the final method she decides to use.
That’s right, Dorothy wants to advance to White Ash rank immediately! She wants to see if her new White Ash rank abilities can help her escape from this Red Completion rank’s derivative!
Even if the new abilities aren’t enough to escape, they’ll at least give her more power to fight the Red Completion rank’s derivative. If she can buy enough time, whether by creating a disturbance to attract the Serenity Bureau and the church, or by using the stone carving to summon Aldrich, there’s still a chance.
The current Priest of Fangs is only his derivative, not a true Red Completion-rank Beyonder. But even so, based on the abilities he displayed in the mansion, his strength should still surpass that of an ordinary White Ash rank. As a Black Earth rank, Dorothy stands no chance against him. She could be killed in an instant. To fight him, she needs to at least advance to White Ash rank.
Once she reaches White Ash rank, she can see if her new abilities allow her to escape. Even if she can’t escape, she’ll have the power to buy time. As long as she can stall, whether by calling the Serenity Bureau, the church, or Aldrich, there’s still hope…
So, while the Priest of Fangs still needs some time to reach her, Dorothy must advance immediately!
Having made up her mind, Dorothy quickly takes out her magic box, opens the lid, and pulls out a handful of items, spreading them out before her. Upon closer inspection, they are five emblems—the holy symbols of the Pure-Color Deities that Dorothy has recently collected!
The emblem radiating outward like the sun belongs to the Radiant Savior. Dorothy obtained it after donating over a thousand pounds to the church, with the priest happily handing it over as a souvenir.
The smooth, simple, triangular emblem resembling a flat pebble belongs to the Stone Prince. Dorothy bought it from the shady merchant Beverly for over a thousand pounds.
The delicate, elongated, inverted triangular emblem resembling a woman’s womb belongs to the Mother of Chalice. Vania obtained it through long-term correspondence with the Wolf Blood Society.
The emblem adorned with skeletal motifs, shaped like a closed eye, belongs to the King of the Underworld. Dorothy acquired it through a “fair trade” conducted by Nephthys with the Nether Coffin Order.
As for the final emblem, it’s somewhat special. It’s not made of precious metal but is instead folded from paper.
The emblem covered in countless characters, shaped like an open eye and resembling a child’s art project, belongs to Dorothy herself. She folded it from torn book pages while praying to the system, “This is the Revelation holy symbol… This is the Revelation holy symbol…”