Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Quick reflexes."

Fu Qian's judgment matched Elena's perfectly.

A forest of lightning spanning such a vast area, an unsparing and destructive deliverance.

Neither the scale nor the sheer intensity was something an ordinary person could unleash.

Among his acquaintances, only two people could achieve such an effect: Ibu of the Archipelago, and Kelsen of Siren.

Considering how seamlessly this attack coordinated with Gerald's group, there was a ninety-nine percent chance it was Kelsen, Siren's director in the Wasteland.

Not only was he here, he'd been lying in ambush nearby?

It seemed the reverse spiritual deliverance Kelsen suffered after angering Lorraine in the Angel Dungeon had been neutralized after all. It hadn't forced him to put down his Butcher's Cleaver.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, one of Fu Qian's questions was finally answered: where the threat to the target he needed to save was coming from.

"It can't be anyone other than Kelsen. So what exactly is Siren trying to do?"

He didn't need to answer. Elena had already worked through the logic, confirming his own guess.

"Kelsen has been hiding nearby all this time without showing his face. Even with the Ancient Giant Dragon trapped, that attack clearly wasn't aimed at it. Is he looking for something?"

She certainly didn't believe a demigod's ambushing strike could miss. That action definitely held an underlying purpose.

And as she quickly deduced that purpose, she grew increasingly alarmed.

Sure enough, every subtle anomaly had a reason behind it. There was definitely something wrong with this hunting operation.

She looked at Fu Qian as she muttered to herself. Even though she didn't expect him to have an answer, she subconsciously wanted to hear what he had to say.

"He probably isn't looking for you."

"...True. If we were the targets, he would have focused his attacks over here, and he wouldn't have needed to wait until now. We were probably just caught in the crossfire of an indiscriminate attack..."

Although she had reached the same conclusion, hearing it from the man before her carried a strange sort of persuasiveness, easing Elena's anxiety slightly.

What she didn't know, of course, was that after saying this, Fu Qian also removed their squad from the list of targets he needed to keep alive.

He had previously determined that there was nothing about these two that fit the definition of an Oathbreaker, nor did Siren seem to be specifically targeting them. Given their strength, simply surviving the situation clearly wouldn't be that difficult.

"Thank you for the insight, but we really should be going."

Elena proved herself to be a qualified adventurer. Even after deducing that they weren't the targets, she didn't place her team in pointless danger just to satisfy her curiosity.

Regardless, the ultimate goal of this trip was still to exchange for the items in Siren's possession.

With Siren executing such a determined scheme, if her squad's interference caused any mishaps, the deal might fall through forever. Not to mention, the Ancient Giant Dragon had already fallen into Siren's hands—

Mid-sigh, Elena suddenly noticed something strange.

She jerked her head up, only to see that the body of the Ancient Giant Dragon, tightly entangled by the tentacles, was rapidly disintegrating.

It wasn't vanishing; it was shattering like bubbles. In almost an instant, the space within the tentacles' embrace was completely empty.

It wasn't real? Just an illusion?

Elena's heart skipped a beat as a thought quickly surfaced.

How could this be? They had clearly injured it just a moment ago!

Frowning, she looked toward Lorraine, who responded with a slight shake of her head.

Sure enough, the previous traces of the creature had completely disappeared.

Wait a minute. Did Carlson's actions just now mean he knew this from the start, which was why he hadn't targeted the illusion...

Just as this thought arose, a streak of blue-and-white lightning tore through the air where the giant dragon had vanished, shredding everything in its path to pieces.

Had he found the real target?

As if to prove her right, a figure abruptly appeared in her field of vision and wildly fled in the opposite direction of the incoming lightning.

She was right!

This reaction left Elena with no choice but to believe it.

This was especially true given that the figure, though only slightly taller than a normal human, possessed the distinct, crystal-clear translucence unique to creatures born of the blessing.

"We will take our leave now, Mister Lu."

Thoroughly shaken by the consecutive revelations, Elena acutely felt her own cultivation was still too shallow, and she decisively wasted no more time.

"Don't forget to use the main entrance."

The man waved casually, offering a brief reminder.

...

The target had seemingly finally appeared.

With the departure of the Blind Idiot Squad, Fu Qian was soon the only one left in the Great Hall. He watched the distant battle, thoroughly satisfied with this turn of events.

Although he couldn't yet confirm how this true body of the Ancient Dragon related to the broken oath, it was undoubtedly the one in the most immediate peril within the current blessing.

Despite its extraordinary speed as it fled, it paled in comparison to a demigod's all-out pursuit. In the blink of an eye, the distance between them closed.

And the entity's combat strength clearly lived up to his mission briefing—it had great visual flair, but its actual performance was terribly subpar.

As it fled, things resembling the Soul Butterfly continuously peeled off its body, fluttering into a bewildering barrier in its wake to block the pursuit.

Unfortunately, before the ferocious lightning, they were all effortlessly torn to shreds.

Its two consecutive attempts to dive into the architectural ruins and use the slight cover to return to stealth both ended with it scurrying away like a rat under the lightning bombardment.

In just a few breaths, nearly half of its body had visibly lost its outline, turning into something resembling melted wax.

Forget surviving until dawn; it didn't look like it could even hold out for five minutes!

Fu Qian sighed, confirming that his time slacking off had come to an end.

The next moment, amid crackling sounds, the layers of stone-like Skin covering his body rapidly shattered and scattered across the seat.

Theoretically, the strike from just now was something that countered him, as it didn't act upon the physical body, but rather functioned as a direct mental withering.

But that was only relative. After all, his physical stats were simply too high.

Having rigorously tempered his mental resistance, combined with the Decree of Return that could dispel such effects, Fu Qian had confirmed the moment he was hit that he didn't need to dodge using Blood Crusade.

In fact, if the other party had enough lung capacity, he wouldn't mind enduring their bombardment for a few more minutes.

What a pity.

Amid his lament, his transformation indeed caused the sprinting vortex of lightning in the distance to stagnate for a moment.

And seizing this opportunity, Fu Qian confirmed the iconic short blue hair on the other party's head.

Sure enough, it was his old friend Kelsen.

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