In the northwestern suburbs of Backlund, Captain Kuhn and Robert of the Mandated Punishers flew over a vineyard on a gust of wind.
Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!
Suddenly Robert's nose itched and he sneezed a few times.
He didn't pay much attention to it, but immediately after, he felt his head begin to hurt. His head heated up as he sneezed continuously. In just a few seconds, he had reached the point where he couldn't maintain his "flying" ability.
At the same time, Captain Kuhn, who realized that something was wrong, also stopped. Although his symptoms were milder than Robert's, he could still feel that his throat was dry and his nose was starting to feel stuffy.
Was he sick? Was he infected? Captain Kuhn was just beginning to understand when he felt countless invisible threads sweep over from the ground, trying to wrap themselves and Robert completely.
He was no stranger to similar experiences. The previous few exchanges made him realize that this was the Beyonder power of a Demoness.
"The Demoness ambushed us here? Isn't she afraid that His Excellency Snake will return?" Captain Kuhn quickly responded despite his doubts.
He reached out to catch his companions, who were unable to fly because of their violent coughs, as he swept up a storm around them, interrupting the threads that reached for them.
However, Captain Kuhn knew that he couldn't escape the Demoness' attack range by "flying" alone, so he could only bring Robert to the vineyard.
At this moment, Robert managed to stop coughing. He took out the gold-framed mirror in his pocket and activated the Fire of Light and Holy Water.
The former could ignite all the invisible threads in the surroundings, while the latter could improve one's physique and increase one's resistance to diseases.
As the golden illusory flames that emitted the majestic aura of the sun appeared out of thin air, the "spider webs" around the two of them were ignited, as though they had turned into a giant torch.
Captain Kuhn took the opportunity to take out two bottles of potions. He drank one himself and threw the other to the Wind-blessed Robert.
The Mandated Punishers had already clashed with the Demoness of Afflictions several times, so how could they not be prepared for ailments?
And at this moment, under the illumination of the Fire of Light, Demoness of Afflictions Ray's invisibility also lost its effect, revealing her voluptuous but curvy figure.
"Captain Kuhn, long time no see. Why are you treating me so roughly the moment we meet?" Ray hugged the flower and rebuked in a tone that sounded like a lover greeting her.
However, Captain Kuhn wasn't in the mood to talk nonsense with the other party. Although he had used potions to suppress the 'illness' in his body, as time went on, it would become even more violent. If he didn't take advantage of this time to repel the other party, the longer it took, the more difficult it would be.
With a zi sound, his hair suddenly parted in violation of the laws of nature. Each strand was distinct and wrapped in lightning. It surged out and gathered into an arrow of lightning that shot towards the Demoness.
Boom!
Dark clouds overlapped in midair as a thick bolt of lightning struck down, stacking on the lightning arrow.
The arrow became even more silvery-white and hit Ray in the forehead at an impossible speed.
Clang! Crack! A sound of glass shattering rang out, and Ray's body quickly split apart under the lightning arrow. Immediately after, it shattered on the ground, turning into coarse silver mirror fragments!
Ray, who had used the Mirror Substitution Technique, appeared before Captain Kuhn unscathed. She smiled and said, "Captain Kuhn, your greeting is really passionate…"
However, before she could finish speaking, several wind blades appeared in front of her again. However, Ray was not flustered. She opened her mouth slightly and let out an invisible scream.
Along with this scream, a blue illusory halo surged out from her body. Wherever it passed, frost would condense and overlap.
In less than a second, she was inside the frozen world, surrounded by thick transparent ice.
As for those wind blades, all of them struck the ice, sinking into the center of the ice and quickly dissipating.
Seeing that his attack was blocked again, Captain Kuhn did not dare to give the Demoness a chance to retaliate. He immediately opened his mouth, wanting to continue attacking through the Ocean Songster's "singing" ability.
However, right at this moment, his throat suddenly felt extremely dry and painful. He was unable to make another sound.
"Because of Mother's grace, my 'illness' has mutated. The mutation's effect is especially targeted at Ocean Songster… Captain Kuhn, how does it feel to not be able to sing?" Seeing this, Ray did not take the opportunity to attack, but instead calmly teased, as if victory was already in his grasp.
Kuhn frowned, not understanding what the Enchantress was plotting, or what she was waiting for. It was important to know that he was at a disadvantage on the surface. Shouldn't she take advantage of the situation?
However, at this moment, he suddenly thought of a problem that he had overlooked. From the beginning of the fight until now, Robert hadn't helped at all!
With the tacit understanding of the Mandated Punishers, Robert should've used the Fire of Light to burn through the ice after his Wind Blade was released!
As he thought of this, he turned to look at his companion, only to find that he was standing motionless on the spot. Although his expression was calm, tears of pain flowed from the corners of his eyes because he wanted to cough but could not move…
"There are other enemies nearby!" Captain Kuhn immediately came to a conclusion. He no longer thought of hiding anything and took out the navy blue pocket watch with twelve black diamonds. It was the sacred item he had contracted—"Timeless Calamity".
With a click, Captain Kuhn pulled the button on the top of his pocket watch, adjusted the second hand's speed to a certain degree, and pressed it again. A second later, silver bolts of lightning shot out with a strong destructive aura, densely attacking the Wind-blessed Robert.
He didn't know where the enemy was, but his intuition told him that a Beyonder who was good at controlling abilities wouldn't be too far away. Therefore, he chose to launch an area-of-effect attack. Although it might accidentally injure Robert, it was better to be injured than lose his life.
"Ah!" With a scream, a man in worker's clothing appeared under the attack of the lightning snake. His chest was directly penetrated by the lightning, and large amounts of blood spurted out. He was about to die.
But at that moment, the man reached out and touched his chest. The terrifying penetrative wound disappeared and was replaced by the man's ankle.
This person was none other than Marionettist Rosago, who had been bewitched by the Demoness. He had previously seen Captain Kuhn unable to divert his attention in the battle with Ray, so he wanted to take advantage of the situation and secretly control Robert's Spirit Body Threads that were plagued by illnesses to make him into a marionette.
It was a pity that he had almost been defeated by the Captain's AOE Thunder Strike.
…
In the northwest of Backlund, in a charred forest that seemed to have been repeatedly plowed by lightning and strong winds, Ace Snake, the Spellsinger of God, heaved a sigh of relief because he had finally sealed 1-025 temporarily.
Although the level of the seal was only comparable to the previous six seals, it was considered safe for a demigod like him.
He looked up at the sky and saw that the crimson moon was only about to leave. He couldn't help but rejoice. "Fortunately, I sealed it before the moon came out. Otherwise, it would have been even more troublesome."
All of a sudden, Spellsinger of God's expression changed as he looked towards the southwest. He could feel the destructive aura of the 'punctual calamity'.
Kuhn was attacked? He even used a Holy Artifact? Snake frowned. Without any further delay, he picked up the palm-sized 1-025 and was about to fly over to rescue him.
But at that moment, Snake saw a hand, a black-gloved hand, appear on an undamaged tree not far away. It grabbed at him.
Right on the heels of that, Snake realized that the bent Puppet in his hand had instantly disappeared and reappeared in front of the palm!
With this action, the person hiding in the dark finally revealed himself. The figure wore a hooded black robe, and his face was covered by a golden mask with red and black stripes. He didn't look fat or thin, but he was definitely not short. He was at least 1.8 meters tall.
This was none other than the Rose School of Thought's demigod, Zatwen.
As he didn't have a good way to seal the cursed item again, he waited for Snake to complete the seal before taking action.
After Zatwen used the Marauder pathway's Sealed Artifact to steal 1-025 in front of him, his body immediately faded and turned transparent. He extended countless thin ropes that resembled tentacles to tie up the struggling puppet, hoping to bring it into the spirit world.
At this moment, the Rose School of Thought demigod suddenly heard a violent gust of wind. It collided with the air and produced an explosive sound.
Boom!
The Possession Puppet was sent flying and landed on the ground. As for the transparent "string" that bound it previously, it collapsed and returned to its human form.
At first, Zatwen couldn't help but drift upward at an angle. Then he transformed into a wraith. No, an evil spirit's form. He allowed the wind to blow through his body, no longer moving with it.
He saw the airflow turn rapidly as an unrestrained tornado suddenly rose up, sweeping the rocks, soil, leaves, and tree trunks into the air.
Zatwen didn't pay much attention to the strong winds. His eyes were focused on the puppet that had been sent flying. As an evil spirit, he wasn't affected by the tornado.
However, he soon realized that his judgment was wrong. The wind blades and other rocks in the tornado had actually hurt him!
The powers of the Lawyer pathway… The Spellsinger of God had previously used a mystical item to exert the ability of Bribe on a Possession Puppet, distorting or weakening my evil spirit body…
Zatwen had an epiphany, but there was no time for him to dwell on it, for God's Singer had opened his mouth to sing.
Heh, he accepted the "bribe" and also established a connection! As this thought flashed through Zatwen's mind, the body of the "evil spirit" suddenly transformed into a hideous puppet. The puppet grabbed its neck with its short arms, but it was the first to let out a shrill cry.
Not far away, the Songster of God was about to show his singing voice when his neck was suddenly grabbed by an invisible hand. His singing stopped abruptly.
As the hand on his neck became more forceful, the Spellsinger of God had no choice but to strike himself with lightning. Only then did he forcefully pull away the cursed hand that was pinching his throat.
But taking advantage of this opportunity, Zatwen, who had transformed back into an evil spirit, had already flashed in front of 1-025.
When Snake saw this, he exerted strength with his feet, causing the ground around 1-025 to instantly crack open. Red magma spewed out, blocking the Wraith's approach!
…
In the Backlund North Borough, Steve, who had received Zatwen's message and was rushing to the northwestern woods with Mirror Jump, suddenly stopped.
This was because he saw a figure appear from a window not far away. It was a figure formed from light golden hair, blue eyes, a pale face, and a dark black Gothic regal dress!