Chapter 72: Assassination!
Meanwhile, the Aces team members arrived at the area where the winged man's statue was located and saw a gruesome scene around it. Tens of dismembered corpses lay in front of the statue, and their eyes were dug out from the sockets. The blood scent was so dense that it made Charles frown deeply.
'Hmm, the blood scent is not thick and looks like they were all killed recently.' Charles thought to himself and soon glanced at the clothes on their bodies.
Upon seeing their torn dresses, Charles confirmed that some belonged to the Explorers Association, which had a special crow symbol embroidered, while others belonged to the thieves' group.
'Why do they show smiling expressions instead of fear and anxiety?' He was surprised inside. In his past life experience, even a trained person will break down during the last moment of his death and would never show a smiling face. So, when he saw such a scene, Charles felt that something was wrong with this situation.
'Mind control? Hmm, Daniel must have the ability to probe others' thoughts and alter them somehow. Thankfully, even if he tried to probe my mind, he would only hear some strange words. The next one is the upgraded version of the 'Touch of Idiocy' spell. Their strange smiles must be because of this reason. I need to kill him before he could suspect anything; otherwise, I will be in deep shit.'
Turning his head a little, he also saw 25 red-skinned humans dancing around the statue in a circle, and each one seemed to be holding different types of organs in their hands. Some held eyes, some held hearts, and even a few headless red-skinned humans held their brains in their hands!
But what made Charles stare at them in confusion was the dance they were performing. They stepped uniformly and seemed to be dancing around the statue while singing verses in an ancient language.
'This looks more like a folk dance from the Earth.'
At that moment, Charles's eyes darted towards the ground and soon saw weird letters were inscribed all over the place.
'Is this a magic ritual circle? I did read a lot about them in books, but I have never seen them upfront. Why did the enemy lead us here?' His jade eyes scanned the weird ritual circle for ten seconds and soon landed on the winged man's statue.
The statue appeared to be made of some precious stone, and it gave off the feeling of creativity.
Charles also saw an azure gem on the forehead area and furrowed. Unlike before, he felt that a sense of greed appeared in his heart. He might have been affected by this strange power if it was before.
Thankfully, it was just another feeling for him now.
'Greed?'
Charles frowned slightly and then turned his gaze towards the winged man's eyes.
His eyes and the winged man statue's emerald eyes met!
At that moment, the winged man statue's two emerald eyes blinked twice!
'What the f*ck-?' Before he could even shift away from the statue's gaze, something strange force invaded his mind!
It was so fast that he couldn't even notice it!
Suddenly, a severe headache assaulted him, causing his face to contort a little.
Tears flew out from his jade eyes as he stepped back and soon shifted his gaze away from the weird statue.
'Kill! Kill! Kill!'
A strange melody of slogans echoed in his mind, causing him to nod subconsciously.
In seconds, John's previous life memories surfaced in his mind and started to corrupt his mind!
Charles felt that it was necessary to kill and plunder the weak!
He recalled the moment when he first murdered a bunch of tribal peoples.
It was also the first mission that the Ghost organization leader forced him to do.
On that day, he tasted the first blood!
Then, the demon within him woke up and ultimately turned him into a maniac.
He started killing for joy!
The feeling of taking one's life gave him immense pleasure and joy.
He became a fully-fledged assassin. No, he turned into something else!
He turned into a psychopath who would kill to see the fear in others' eyes!
'Damn it, what the hell is happening? Just staring at a statue caused my past life memories to occupy my mind completely. Is it the power of Chaos Wanderer's statue?' An ominous thought appeared in his mind.
Although his 'Inner-World' was affected by his dark thoughts, he still controlled himself.
'These memories are not strange ones. I did not regret killing those innocents, nor did I feel happy for my past actions. Their sacrifices were necessary at that time. If I didn't kill them, I would have died for not even meeting the Leader's requirement. Although I became addicted to the killing, I already walked out of the path of darkness.' His breath grew heavier as he organized his thoughts and soon calmed down.
In the meantime, the Holem's Crown already woke up from the earlier shock and said solemnly.
'The guy in the statue looks more like a devil from the First Hell.'
'First Hell?' Charles raised his eyebrows and asked.
'Yes, among the Seven Hells, Winged Men only live in the First Hell due to harsh, chaotic atmosphere and always a thorn to all the devils. These devils are known for keeping the grudges for a lifetime, so be careful.'
'Hehe, I do keep grudges, though.' He smirked inwardly.
'Should I cast my 'Incinerate' spell and stop the ritual now? Hmm? I feel someone's gaze from behind, and that person seems to be monitoring our movements.' He pondered for a second and soon chose to stay silent.
At that moment, he recalled Eve's strange prophetic words.
'Red Hair… She said something about a monster. No, it is neither monster nor a human. There is only one human who has Red-Hair, and that one is Daniel. Could it be that he is a vampire or something? But there is no memory of vampires in the real Charles's memory, right? But I can't rule out the possibility. It looks like I need to assassinate him swiftly; otherwise, things will get out of my hand.'
Although he could stop this ritual now, he felt that it was necessary to kill Daniel first.
Simultaneously, he turned towards the front of the winged man's statue and saw an obese man was sitting there in a cross-legged position.
Unlike the read-skinned humans, he looked more like an average human and seemed to be in the middle of doing some ritual thing. He had long black hair, and he wore a white-lined black robe.
Whenever the red-skinned humans stop their movements, he would also stop his incantation, pour some oil into the fire burning before him, and continue to sing.
Even though he was showing his back against him, Charles instantly identified this guy.
'Willy Pickton... He is a famous actor from the south and claimed himself as the Arbiter of Storm Church.'
After that, Charles's gaze swept past Willy and soon landed on the winged man's statue's right side.
At that moment, he saw another human figure standing over there with closed eyes. That human figure was a muscular man, around 50-years-old, and had blonde hair, an oval face, and pale skin. He wore a neat black surcoat, black pants, and leather shoes.
'Luke Clark.' Charles muttered inwardly and patiently observed their every movement.
'Someone is coming towards us from the right side.' After some time, he perceived someone's presence through the strange invisible wisdom power and moved his gaze towards the place.
At that moment, Charles also placed his hand into the pants pocket, stealthily took out the Ember Pistol from the space ring, and let it stay there.
Although his pants pocket suddenly turned abnormally large, his slightly long, black overcoat completely hid the pistol from others' eyes.
After confirming that he had successfully taken out the 'Ember Pistol,' he moved his hand away from the pants pocket and started controlling the pistol with his [Magician's Hand] skill.
He stood solemnly, moved his fingers from time to time, and finally adjusted the muffle to point at an angle of 130°.
At that moment, a long messy red-haired man in his late fifties walked out from the nearby skyscraper and soon arrived in front of them.
He had almond silver eyes, a lean body, and looked 174 cm high. He wore a tight black suit, a silver dagger in his hand, and his face appeared very pale.
He first raised his hands as he stopped two meters away from the trio and clapped his hands twice.
During the first clap, Emilia and Andrew heard no sound at all.
But during the second clap, they suddenly felt some invisible power hit their ears and made them cover their ears subconsciously.
An instant later, the deafness feeling in their minds suddenly disappeared!
Before they could wake up from the shock, they saw that the Red-haired man had arrived in front of Charles and sighed.
"You guys sure love how to cause troubles." A cold voice came out from Daniel's mouth.
Emilia finally woke up from the half-hypnosis state and soon stepped back in vigilance. Her grey robe fluttered in the wind as she instantly took out a pocket watch from the void pouch and held it in her palm.
A chuckle leaked out of Daniel's mouth as he moved his silver dagger and skillfully gave a shallow wound mark on her cheek.
"Do you think I won't kill you because of your family background?" He purposefully paused for a moment and soon revealed his white teeth before he swung his dagger towards her left chest,
"This is for killing my son." His cold voice echoed as the silver dagger tore through the air and directly moved towards her heart.
As his dagger was about to pierce through Emilia's chest, Daniel suddenly felt an intense pain in his heart.
Simultaneously, a burning sensation also appeared in his mind!
Although it was just a slight burning feeling, he still got affected by it and halted his hand for a moment.
Before Daniel could think about the cause of these two abnormalities, he heard a bang sound from the front.
No, it directly came from Charles's right thigh region!
He would have dodged the bullet if he had a skill like [Sixth Sense] or [Prevision]. Sadly, he had none of that.
What's more ironic was that he appeared right in front of Charles and gave him a big opportunity.
In a second, Daniel saw that a crimson bullet tore through Charles's pants pocket, then the surcoat and soon appeared in front of his right eye!
"Sh*t!" He cursed loudly and then tried his best to dodge the bullet.
But the crimson bullet pierced through his right eye in a blink and entered deep into his head!
Even at that moment, Daniel took a step forward, raised his hand, and moved it towards Charles's chest region.
Meanwhile, Charles smirked as he unsheathed his Ghost Dagger from his waist and pushed it towards Daniel's neck area.
Simultaneously, he raised his other hand and moved towards his face.
He knew that a Rank-3 Mystic wouldn't die that easily, so he became firm on giving him more fatal blows and even prepared for an anomaly in advance.
His sharp dagger tore through the air with a swish sound and was about to stab him, but suddenly stopped!
Daniel's raised hand had already touched Charles's chest at that moment!
In a second, a foolish smile appeared on Charles's face!
It was the upgraded version of [Touch of Idiocy] skill!
But before Daniel could rejoice, Charles's other hand touched the corner of his lips and moved it towards the other corner!
In that instant, Charles's foolish smile turned into a normal one!
Before Daniel could wake up from the shock, Charles stabbed the dagger into his neck area.
The Ghost Dagger plunged into his right side carotid artery and pushed deep into his neck.
Blood spattered in every direction as Daniel staggered backward while gripping his neck and soon moved towards the ritual circle in a half-conscious state.
His face was filled with despair and panic as he gasped for air and kept his gaze locked on Charles.
Upon seeing the sudden change outside the ritual circle, Luke Clark and Willy Pickton opened their eyes wide and hurriedly moved towards their direction.
Earlier, they didn't even consider them as a threat due to the group being entirely controlled by Daniel Baker.
But as they saw the current scene, both became utterly shocked inside.
"Save him quickly. He is the main vessel for the ritual." Willy Pickton said in a hoarse voice and uttered a strange short incantation.
A second later, the Winged Statue's eyes let out a dim eerie red light and pulled Daniel towards the ritual circle through an invisible force.
In the meantime, Charles curled his lips upward, raised his right hand, pointed his forefinger at Daniel's head, and muttered.
"I don't think so."
An instant later, a ray of crimson fire came out from his fingertip, moved towards Daniel's head at an unimaginable speed, and landed on his head in a blink!
Daniel's head burst open with a bang, and soon the headless body fell on the ritual circle, painting the stone-like floor in red color.
[Target Eliminated! 3,430 Exp Rewarded!]
'That's an excellent reward.'
Charles turned his head towards the winged man statue, placed his middle finger on his left side forehead area, and moved it smoothly towards the right side.
"F*ck you." He said with a grin.