"It's him!"
"You're dead this time!"
Gerard looked over and saw a masked figure, who had yet to receive a blessing, break away from the line and sprint frantically toward the entrance.
The adventurer next to the masked figure shouted at the top of his lungs, "Stop him! He's the wanted fugitive!"
Gerard watched the scene coldly and said, "Barth!"
Gerard hadn't come alone; he had several hunters assisting his operation. Hearing his captain's command, the Blood Saint orc Barth did not hesitate in the slightest. Drawing his pistol and flicking off the safety, his body trailed a crimson afterimage as he surged after the fleeing figure!
Gerard himself remained seated atop the high platform, because he knew very well that as long as he guarded the Void Realm passage, there was no way Yaxiu could escape the Blood Moon.
As for the person fleeing in panic just now, Gerard did not believe it was Yaxiu in the flesh—the white-haired hunter had fallen for a substitute once already; how could he possibly fall for it a second time?
That was most likely Yaxiu's substitute. Sending Barth over to strike it would be enough to destroy it.
When Barth surged through the crowd of adventurers, everyone's chip light screens—except for Gerard and Subdeacon Ke'er—popped up automatically, flashing between two blood-red alerts:
"Warning: You are currently prohibited from attacking."
"Warning: You are currently under movement restrictions."
Even Barth was forced to a halt in the crowd, the Blood Saint orc just as powerless to resist the chip's constraints. Before he could even react, the surrounding adventurers suddenly let out agonizing screams, collapsing one after another with bubbling holes of blood bursting across their bodies!
"The hunters want to corner and slaughter us here!"
"They're even controlling our chips to make us sitting ducks!"
"Gerard is bypassing the warzone to execute us!"
"They're going to kill us all! Controlling chips like this is illegal—they'll never let us leave alive! They're silencing witnesses!"
Blood, night, restraints, wretched wails, combined with Gerard's fearsome reputation and the self-awareness criminals ought to possess—panic detonated and spread through the adventurers like a plague bomb almost instantly.
Right at that moment, the two alerts on the adventurers' light screens suddenly blurred and distorted. They tested moving, discovering to their delight that they could walk again!
"Run!"
With virtually no hesitation, the adventurers instinctively obeyed this unknown command. Running had no downside; running let them escape the terrifying Gerard; everyone else had already started running.
They were like a bunch of startled rabbits, scattering in wild flight at the slightest trigger!
"Charge through!"
"Blaze Group, follow me! Cut down anyone who dares stand in our way—"
"Aaargh, I'm hit! I've been shot!—"
"Don't step on me, don't! Ahhh—"
Hysterical clamor and shrieks pierced the night. Adventurers who had fallen to the ground were trampled by the panicked mob, crying out in agony, on the verge of being trampled to death!
Faced with such human disaster, Gerard's eyes only grew brighter, his ruby-like eyes seemingly igniting into flame.
Chaos, psychological manipulation, stoking dark impulses, pulling strings to control everyone like puppets.
This was the flavor! This was the feeling!
It really was you, Four Pillar Gods cult leader, Yaxiu Heath!
Although the first wave of shouts had erupted from various corners of the crowd, Gerard had already locked onto the masked adventurer who was the first to steer the adventurers into fleeing before hiding in the crowd to fan the flames!
By now, the adventurers were crashing into the camp's entrance. The Administrative Hall guards stationed to lock down and watch the gates didn't dare block them at all. While priests were present to administer first aid, they were just doing a job—why throw their lives away fighting a bunch of madmen? They let the adventurers surge out of the camp, scattering in all directions.
Seeing the heinous fugitive about to escape amid the chaos, Gerard pressed his hands together in prayer. Activating a miracle, he turned into blood-moon light and shot across the camp, leaping over the chaotic mob like a white wolf ambushing its prey in the night!
From a distance, he lashed out with his chain sword. The chain sword instantly broke apart into a serpentine cord, binding toward the foremost fleeing figure!
"Forgive me, Yaxiu." Crazy killing intent flooded Gerard's eyes. "You're going to die anyway, so let me vent a little!"
Sword-Blood Miracle: Blood Maiden Elegy!
This was Gerard's most cruel, most brutal miracle. The chain sword would turn into a meat grinder, binding the target and churning flesh and bone into a pulp, even generating effects that damaged the soul, immersing the target in the most savage and vicious agony right before death!
Rather than an attack, it was a torture sentence!
Now, it was Gerard's time to pass judgment!
Yet what answered Gerard was not a shower of blood, but... emptiness.
Nothing. The moment the chain sword made contact with the masked figure, the figure dispersed. In its place dropped two objects Gerard was very familiar with—voice recorders.
Like the cruelest joke, bursting into the dullest firework.
A substitute?
This was the substitute?
Then the one earlier—
Gerard landed and looked back. The masked figure who had fled first was now howling on the ground, seemingly shot in the leg by Barth. A fishman's scaled face peeked out from under the cloak—plainly not Yaxiu Heath, whom he had longed to catch day and night.
The first masked figure was bait used by Yaxiu to set the stage for the chaos that followed; the second masked figure was a substitute used to stoke panic and simultaneously lure Gerard's attention away.
Then where was the real Yaxiu?
Gerard turned his head to look. The hunters left behind on the high platform had already been struck down, and several adventurers covered in blood were sprinting toward the Void Realm passage.
Right! Even though the adventurers had all been fleeing outside earlier, several of them had collapsed after being 'shot' for unknown reasons, unable to run and even getting trampled by the panicked crowd. Gerard had subconsciously overlooked them...
I was fooled again.
And by the exact same recipe.
The exact same trick of using a substitute to divert attention.
Gerard suddenly felt exhausted, the chain sword in his hand heavy, his entire body drained of vigor. He knew he could no longer make it in time. He had been lured too far away, and the Void Realm passage only permitted Two-Winged practitioners to enter; there was no way he could charge in to hunt them down.
Unless someone could intercept them, otherwise—
Bang!
Clang!
An instant before the sniper shot rang out, Yaxiu on the high platform drove Honeyed Words and Daggered Heart into the ground!
The warm-yellow Sword Body Barrier, formed almost instantaneously, was shattered in a flash by the bullet!
The sniper was an orc hiding near the camp entrance. His right hand was fitted with a heavy sniper firearm made specifically for orcs. The barrel gleamed with a faint golden light, seemingly using a miracle for targeting guidance.
Gerard recognized him. Yaxiu recognized him as well.
He was the orc Gessas Duff.
A Two-Winged Sorcerer, current leader of the Woodpecker Gang, and a loyal lackey of Professor Xilin.
The final mission he had received was to hide near Observation Point 53 and wait for an opportunity to kill Yaxiu Heath.
Chapter 168