Chapter 23: Killing Game

Seeing that Rosie was only pointing the gun at her with no intention of communicating, Hannah Carter sighed:

“You have betrayed our friendship, Rosie.”

After speaking, under the glow of the firelight, she raised her arm.

A silver bracelet wrapped around her wrist dangled down, ending in a strangely shaped, dark green gemstone.

The gemstone was encased in the center by four brass tentacles.

As Hannah chanted incomprehensible syllables, the tentacles seemed to come alive, glowing with a slick, cold luster, and one by one, they detached from the gemstone and slowly coiled around the young lady’s fair skin, exuding an evil aura.

The pale flames were also tinged with a dark green hue.

An invisible wind blew from an unknown place, lifting Hannah’s body and allowing her to float in mid-air.

Facing the supernatural directly, Rosie felt her throat go dry and a chill run down her spine.

It was as if she had returned to that classroom, back to the day “he” had died.

“Heh.”

A light chuckle pulled her thoughts back to reality.

“Miss Carter, it’s a real shame you’re not in a circus with that getup.”

Hermann mocked her, then turned his head and smiled at the young lady beside him.

“No need to be afraid. It just looks intimidating.”

“It’s not nearly as lethal as that revolver in your hand when it actually hits someone.”

Rosie’s heart settled slightly.

Indeed, the situation now was different from back then.

She had a gun, and an annoying but somewhat useful “cooperative partner.”

“I wasn’t scared.”

Hermann shrugged, not dwelling on the issue, and lowered his voice to instruct:

“She should be a Covenanter of the Warlock or Archaeologist path.”

“She’s skilled in long-range attacks but lacks close-combat capabilities.”

“You just stand aside and pin her down with the gun.”

“As long as we take care of Sandek, we win.”

As he was speaking, Hermann furrowed his brow, took off his greatcoat, and threw it forward.

Sizzle—.

The black greatcoat collided with a pale green fireball.

Strangely, the coat did not burst into flames.

Instead, like snow meeting sunlight, it emitted a harsh sound, fell to the ground, and melted into a puddle of dark liquid.

Rosie, “!!!”

‘Damn it, Hermann, you d*mn liar! You said it wasn’t very lethal?!’

‘This thing is practically on par with the Bone-Melting Palm of the Xuanming Elders!¹’

But with matters having come to this point, there was no longer any retreat.

Rosie gritted her teeth, pulled the trigger, and a bullet whistled out from the muzzle.

Bang!

The moment Hannah threw the fireball, she was already prepared to be shot and had dodged to the side in advance.

But she hadn’t expected her good friend’s marksmanship to be so outstanding.

In an instant, she had actually locked onto her movement trajectory.

The amber-yellow bullet grazed the edge of her thigh and hit the wall behind her.

Rosie, “…”

‘The opponent moved too fast.’

‘That shot was actually aimed at Hannah’s original position, but my marksmanship was so bad that it skewed by several body lengths.’

‘By a strange twist of fate, it almost hit the target.’

Hannah Carter no longer targeted Hermann, who was running towards Dennis Sandek.

Instead, she aimed her fireballs at Rosie, as if wary of the next bullet that might be fired.

Rosie’s face was cold, her sweet voice tinged with a murderous intent.

“That was a warning.”

Hannah was on guard but did not attack again.

Compared to the probing between their respective ranged fighters, Hermann and Dennis had no such roundabout methods.

They continued the unresolved battle from before, fist against foot, blade against cane, fighting in a fierce deadlock.

The two exchanged a punch and immediately separated.

Dennis retreated two steps, while Hermann took four or five steps before barely steadying himself.

In a pure contest of strength, Hermann was no match at all.

Sure enough, combined with Dennis’s exceptional hearing from before, his guess should be correct.

The other party was a Covenanter of the Pugilist path.

As for whether he was Sequence 9 or Sequence 8, it was impossible to know.

Although ‘Detective’ had given him decent fighting skills, compared to ‘Pugilist,’ he was slightly inferior in both agility and strength.

In a flash, Dennis gave his opponent no chance to breathe.

He lunged forward with a single stride, his right hand wielding the short cane in a chop towards Hermann’s head.

The long cane whistled through the air.

Hermann didn’t wait for the cane to fall.

His right foot quickly moved to the right, then diagonally forward.

His left foot swung back, and his upper body turned left and sideways to the right.

The reverse-gripped dagger drew a half-moon in the air, the blade slashing horizontally across Dennis Sandek’s right wrist.

Dennis, holding a clear advantage, naturally would not accept such an exchange of injury for injury.

He retreated, twisting away from the swinging dagger, and at the same time, let out a soft shout.

His muscles bulged, and a faint white steam rose from his body.

Though he was still in the process of retracting his move, he forcefully stopped his half-turned waist, put power into his shoulders, and his left hand, which was not holding the cane, turned an unhealthy, bloody color.

Then, he threw a punch that exceeded the limits of human speed.

The ‘Desperate Blow’ of a ‘Pugilist.’

Dennis consumed a large amount of stamina to make his strength and speed swell several times over in an instant.

This blow was less like a fist and more like a cannonball.

As expected, Hermann, who was also in a state of recovery, was completely unable to dodge this punch.

He could only hurriedly turn his body sideways, using his arm to block the area where his liver and other vital organs were located.

Thump!!!

Like a spring compressed to its absolute limit, Hermann’s body couldn’t withstand this exaggerated force.

He was sent flying, crashing onto the dining table behind him, knocking over the tableware, the cloche covering the voted name, and the entire table in one go.

“Hermann!”

Rosie’s expression changed.

She could no longer bother with pinning Hannah down.

The muzzle of her revolver turned towards Dennis Sandek.

With victory in sight, Hannah, who had been wary of Rosie all along, how could she let her have her way?

Two corrosive fireballs trailed flames from behind her and smashed towards the young lady who was preparing a rescue.

In her panic, Rosie had no time to aim and could only fire a random shot while rolling to the side to dodge the fireballs.

Boom!

The fireballs smashed into the ground, letting out a soft roar.

Gunshots, explosions—for a moment, the small dining room was filled with a cacophony of noise.

This time, Lady Luck did not favor Rosie.

The bullet she fired missed Dennis.

The man leaped towards the dining table, intending to deliver the final blow to Hermann!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

After four gunshots, a blood-soaked soft felt hat fell to the ground.

On Dennis’s head and chest, four bullet holes declared his death.

In front of the overturned dining table, Hermann stood there, swaying.

He held a gun in his right hand, while his left hung limply by his side.

The man’s brown eyes were full of coldness, staring at the moment his enemy fell.

Yes, from the very beginning, he had never intended to defeat Dennis, a ‘Pugilist,’ with physical strength alone.

A ‘Pugilist’s’ hearing is sharp, especially during combat.

Even the subtle sound of a hammer being cocked could be clearly distinguished, allowing them to dodge a bullet in advance.

Therefore, during the vote today, Rosie had taken the opportunity while collecting the parchment to hide his gun under the cloche.

And the gunshots just now were merely to create noise, providing him with an opportunity.

The real death trap for Dennis had been set from the moment the two decided to act and stepped into this room again!

¹ Xuanming Elders are villains from the wuxia novel The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. Their signature technique, the “Bone-Melting Palm” (化骨绵掌), is a poison attack that dissolves flesh and bone, similar to the corrosive fireballs described.