Chapter 253: Chapter 253: It Seems You Like Touching My Nerves_1
"Stay away from that thing!!" Aiden shouted a warning.
Although Veronica didn’t fully understand what was happening, she reacted promptly and quickly ran to Aiden’s side.
She hadn’t missed the smoke that had just emerged from the wallet, nor the bats that had materialized from the smoke.
It was obvious that the woman in black who had tried to hand him the wallet was problematic!
Aiden shot the grey bat that had fallen to the ground, shattering it into a pool of fresh blood and flesh with a single bullet.
At that moment, Aiden felt a cold sweat break out on his back.
He had only just parted ways with Veronica and walked a few steps when he heard the warning squeaks of the bats transformed from Ophelia’s hand, and then he saw the bat that had been circling overhead swiftly dive towards the woman in black standing in front of Veronica.
That’s when Aiden suddenly realized that the messenger of death, who had not gone to Firework Alley nor to the upper district, was targeting the Rose Iron Prison once again.
Aiden had considered the possibility that this person might come knocking, but judging from the Earl’s probing action the day before, the messenger should have been somewhat cautious. He likely wouldn’t have made a move without a certain level of intelligence gathering.
Furthermore, even if that person was eager to act, wanting to target the warden or the prison guards, it would make more sense to choose a place outside the vicinity of the prison. This area was under heightened surveillance by the Inquisition Board due to his investigation yesterday, and the guards would be more alert at the crime scenes from the previous day.
Moreover, if the attack failed, his target would have the chance to flee into the prison for refuge.
However, to strike the warden or other guards elsewhere with absolute certainty, it would take time to track and investigate, familiarizing oneself with the target’s routines.
And yet, here they were, back at the scene of action from yesterday, seemingly unable to wait, and even targeting the same person... This pattern of behavior couldn’t simply be described as daring—it was downright obsessive.
At that moment, Aiden realized that he could not apply normal behavioral patterns to foretell the actions of such a psychologically unstable opponent.
Today’s target for this individual was Veronica, and it appeared, perhaps driven by personal desire—Aiden immediately made a judgment.
The person probably knew he had participated in the attack on the Harvest Mother Cult, and to pry Ophelia out of the prison, one would need authority at his level.
If the task was to complete the Cult’s, or rather, Death’s mission, then the messenger’s ultimate target could not avoid him at any cost.
Just now, he too had been on the scene, moreover, with his back to the corpses manipulated by the messenger of death, and the messenger did not know that he had brought out Ophelia’s left hand. If the person had come in a rush to complete a mission, they should not have missed such an excellent opportunity to launch a surprise attack.
However, despite the risk of returning near the prison, the messenger ultimately chose Veronica. To say it was out of caution to start with Veronica in order to find an opportunity to strike at him later, the pattern seemed contradictory.
The remaining reasonable explanation was that this joyous murderer had set her sights on Veronica as her next prey.
The corpses controlled by the messenger of death probably didn’t possess the immediate lethal power of "death snatching," but the bats transformed from parts of their bodies were likely deadly upon contact.
Put another way, if he hadn’t just so happened to bring Ophelia’s left hand out with him, and met Veronica right here, Veronica might already be dead.
"This is your second time, Mr. Psychotic killer, messing with my people near my territory," Aiden said coldly, glaring at the corpse on the ground, "It seems you really like getting on others’ nerves, huh?"
For Aiden, being face to face with a dangerous enemy like the Grim Reaper’s proxy, it was naturally impossible to not feel tense, but the adversary’s actions had genuinely infuriated him.
The woman— or rather, the corpse, twitched twice, trying to rise from the ground, but her limbs lacked any coordination whatsoever.
After struggling on the ground for several seconds like a fish thrown onto the riverbank, the corpse opened its mouth and vomited out a pale finger, then lay still.
Aiden immediately aimed at the finger and fired another shot.
The bullets Aiden had loaded today were the heretic-burning bullets developed by the Inquisition, specialized for the undead. These bullets did not only block the flow of magic power, but their enchantment also dealt extra damage to undead creatures.
These methods could dissipate necromancy, but they were ineffective against the authority of "death" itself; in other words, the Grim Reaper’s proxy could still use the power of "necromancy" to manipulate the summoned corpse— but he had to be present to do so.
According to the information provided by Kael, in order to hide in the underworld while controlling the corpse from behind the Gates of the Underworld, the Grim Reaper’s proxy resorted to merging part of his own body with the corpse’s.
The bullets Aiden fired couldn’t affect the authority of "death," but they could block the vampire’s shape-shifting ability and blood magic, severing the bodily fusion between the Grim Reaper’s proxy and the corpse— effectively destroying the "receiver" that allowed the corpse to be remotely controlled by the proxy.
Aiden realized that in the moment before the enemy could react, they had the chance to retreat to the prison.
As long as they escaped back to the prison, they would be safe; even the proxy wouldn’t be reckless enough to barge into the Rose Iron Prison covered with a seal-blocking barrier.
But at that moment, Aiden hesitated.
With his disposition, he was utterly reluctant to risk his life facing the proxy alone here.
But now that this psychotic killer had set his sights on Veronica, if he let him leave now, Veronica would be faced with the danger of a sudden assassination at any time in the future.
And just a moment ago, he had recognized the proxy through the bats conjured from Ophelia’s left hand, which meant the proxy knew how they were able to single him out from the crowd. If he was allowed to escape, using the same method to find him again in the future would likely be much harder.
Although the number of powers he could use was less than the adversary’s, in terms of rank, Aiden was higher. Yesterday’s experiment had also proven that the divine word "Return" could weaken the effects of the proxy’s authority, so it wasn’t as if he had no chance of winning.
Abigail had given him a chance at resurrection, enhancing his self-healing ability, meaning he had one opportunity to make a mistake; he could retreat if he saw things were going south...
Eventually, Aiden made up his mind— to try and take on the proxy right here was also not impossible.
Once he had made up his mind, Aiden spoke to Veronica, ordering her, "Veronica, you go back to the prison right now, and no matter what, don’t come out until I return!"
