Although Ronald only delayed for a brief moment on the train,
by the time he reached the spot, the situation for the first two who had disembarked had drastically changed.
First was the enemy Ronald needed to confront.
The man was no longer unarmed.
In his left hand, he held a pristine white bone staff of the length of a forearm which he had produced from who knows where, and in his right, he gripped the staff’s eagle-beak metal handle, pulling out a sharp, frosty short sword from the staff’s body.
It looked like a decorative item similar to a "Civilization" staff.
In reality, it was a dangerous staff-sword weapon with hidden sharpness.
However, what Ronald was most concerned about was the man’s shoulder.
The wound caused by Audrey’s surprise attack was now beginning to ooze dark red blood. Even though the blood soaked through the clothing making it hard to see the specific condition, Ronald guessed that the part originally frozen must have been forcefully cut off by the man himself.
—Quite a decisive method of treating a wound.
Unable to directly eliminate the influence of Audrey’s spell, he resorted to self-injury as the price to alleviate the interference caused by the freezing magic on his body.
After all, at least by enduring the pain, he was now able to continue swinging his arm, as opposed to just now where it was completely frozen stiff, unable to lift, as if the whole arm had been severed.
As for the man across from him...
Compared to when she had just leapt down from the train car.
There was a very apparent change in Audrey.
Although only a short dozen or so seconds had passed, this Inspector nun was facing her enemy with uncontrollable heavy breathing, her heaving chest evidencing the immense physical strain she was enduring at the moment.
Even the iron rod wrapped in magical power in her hand was inadvertently drooping to the ground with its tip pointing downwards.
In the pitch-black night, Ronald took in this scene from a distance.
At the same time, doubts began to emerge in his mind.
He didn’t see any serious injuries on Audrey or, in fact, he didn’t even notice any tears in the nun’s black robe that would have been caused by battle.
Yet in such condition.
Audrey herself seemed to be under tremendous pressure.
Let alone launching the fierce attacks she had before, compared to taking offensive action, the nun was instead more focused on guarding against enemy attacks!
Ronald had just witnessed Audrey’s fighting style.
She wasn’t the type to exhaust all her stamina in a series of combo attacks. Rather than akin to a Berserker, this nun should be a capable leader whom her colleagues could trust.
What was it that affected Audrey’s current state?
To the point where she could only maintain such an embarrassed posture for defense!
While controlling the black fog to spread out underfoot, Ronald casually weighed the two razors he had just grabbed.
To his current physical condition.
The two sharp iron implements were of appropriate length and weight.
He found them quite handy.
Nodding with satisfaction, Ronald was about to rush over to help Audrey take down the enemy.
However, when he charged to within about twenty meters of the opponent.
The situation suddenly changed.
Ronald immediately understood why Audrey had become so weakened.
For as soon as he stepped into the area surrounding the man, an invisible pressure descended upon him out of nowhere, suppressing his ability to move in every direction.
Thinking back to what he had learned at the Bureau...
Ronald felt this ability was similar to a barrier used to sap the strength of enemies.
As long as one stepped into the range of the barrier, they would unavoidably be affected. As for how to deal with this situation, there are two mainstream solutions.
—Either find the cornerstone of the barrier and destroy it;
— Or he could employ a specialized defense spell to ward off the effects of the barrier.
Facing such a thorny ability,
it’s no wonder Audrey found herself in a predicament.
Fortunately, Ronald was not as severely hampered as Audrey.
Empowered by "Divine Comedy," his body felt as if he were in a weighted run. Although it drained more stamina than normal, it was not unbearable right from the start.
Subsequently, Ronald sent the dark fog rolling towards his adversary.
From their earlier skirmish on the train, he had confirmed a glaring weakness in the man before him.
— Weak surveillance ability.
If it were himself, with the power of "Fury" unleashed, or if he had the detective skills like those of the great Detective Swift, then he surely would have countered Audrey’s ambush on the train with timely measures.
But what was the result?
This man could only rely on his remarkable reflex speed to deal with the nun’s attacks from behind.
It was precisely because he indeed lacked superior surveillance capabilities.
Right now, the dark fog couldn’t harm this man, but its ability to obscure vision would definitely be effective. This was the perfect opportunity to establish a combat advantage!
What followed was exactly as Ronald had anticipated.
Although the man was strong and quick to react,
he could not compete with the speed of the dark fog formed by the force of "Fury."
In the blink of an eye, the overpowering dark fog completely enveloped him.
Standing in the pitch-black night, lost in the dense, impenetrable fog.
Lacking surveillance measures, the man had entirely lost the visual range that sight provided.
Inevitably, he reached out to adjust his glasses.
His highly alert body stiffened slightly.
For someone with normal vision, being suddenly plunged into darkness is never a pleasant sensation, especially in such a life-or-death battle!
With his sword-stick held horizontally in front of him, the man listened intently to the sounds around him.
— However, it was futile.
Apart from the constantly swirling black fog, everything else was quiet and still.
After all, as the attacker,
Ronald had no reason to expose himself at such a time.
Keeping his voice as low as possible, he quietly approached his opponent, razor in hand.
It wasn’t about a one-strike kill.
It was enough if he could breach the man’s defense and allow the force of "Fury" to fulfill its true purpose.
Meanwhile, the man in the black fog remained blind.
He tried to change the direction he faced frequently, but the dead silence of the darkness offered no feedback whatsoever.
His expression grew increasingly grave until he couldn’t help but speak out:
"I know your purpose!"
"What you want is this original text, right?"
Silence remained unbroken within the dark fog; his question met with no response.
Faced with such a situation, the man shouted out loud:
"Listen, don’t trust the promises made by these church people!"
"This is an original text from the theology series, do you think they would let you walk away with it so easily?"
"As fellow spell practitioners from the same foundation, working together is the best choice to fully master the original text!"