Facing the cellar door hurtling towards her.
Patricia did not flinch or dodge.
With a calm gaze fixed forward, the rapier in her hand traced a neat arc through the air, cleaving straight down from in front of her.
Sharpness arrived, and with the blade’s touch, it split.
In an instant, the scene before Ronald seemed like something out of a movie.
The wooden cellar door, sheathed in iron, split in two at the mere touch of the passing silver light, falling to either side before crashing against the courtyard’s walls, finally coming to rest on the ground.
After that, the sorcerer prepared to strike.
But unfortunately for him, he never got the chance.
The enemy, rushing out to fight following the door’s severing, had a ’fine line’ appear on his body at the same time.
This was the sword’s path across his flesh!
In less than one second, aside from the bold Patricia,
Almost no one could keep up with her speed!
The sound of fabric tearing rang out from the enemy’s body.
Along that fine line, a horrifying wound split open across his body in an instant.
Only now did the blood cluelessly spurt from the wound.
And with the gushing of green blood, the sorcerer’s body toppled backward, rolling down the sloping cellar passage.
First came several seconds of silence, followed by less than two breaths’ time.
Cries of agony from the enemies below filled the passage.
The tumbling corpse of their comrade told them just who had struck the blow!
Yet all of this seemed to leave Patricia unfazed.
The girl deftly sidestepped the spray of green blood from the body, rotated her wrist, and the rapier returned to its initial position by her side.
However, the green blood, upon touching the snow-covered ground, immediately dissolved the top layer of snow, revealing the color of the soil beneath.
A glance was all it took, and both people on the ground understood.
Ronald affirmed that these were definitely sorcerers of the cult, their green blood corresponding perfectly with the daytime encounter he and Nicole had, suggesting the two sorcerers might even be from the same sect.
For Patricia, it was simpler.
She merely told herself to avoid getting splattered with blood in the upcoming confrontation.
The snowflakes of the night continued to fall upon the earth.
The girl, with her sword in hand, stood there.
The gaze of onlookers couldn’t help but be drawn to the sharpness she wielded.
Normally, a rapier’s means of attack would be thrusting or jabbing motions.
This was an inevitable result of the sword’s structure.
However, Patricia was different.
Her rapier, though equally slender, was not the kind with a round cross-section but maintained the shape of a longsword with edges on both sides.
But compared to a typical longsword, hers was made extremely slender to fit inside the straight shaft of an umbrella, giving it a fragile appearance.
A weapon exuding menace—
Simultaneously, with the cellar entrance now fully open, a foul stench wafted up from below.
Ronald could almost be certain there was a similar sacrificial altar below,
And several bodies of innocent victims...
However, although the smell could drift up, the several people inside the cellar didn’t dare approach.
Their understanding of the arcane made them well aware of how dangerous it was to engage a Nicholas in close combat.
The body of their fallen comrade confirmed it for them.
Separated by a corridor that wasn’t particularly long, the people above remained in a standoff with those below, unseen to each other.
Several breaths later, Patricia, from her elevated position, called down into the underground opening:
"Just come out and surrender obediently if you’re too scared to fight me."
"Throw up your sect insignia, and at least you’ll live through the night."
The people below responded to Patricia with silence.
They were convinced that Nicholas wouldn’t rashly charge down; even the most battle-hardened soldier wouldn’t venture alone into such a place, so for the moment, the cellar remained relatively safe.
They couldn’t hide underground indefinitely.
Either they waited for the Bureau’s people to arrive, or those above would find a water pipe to flood into the cellar.
Any reaction would leave these trapped cultists with no escape.
Meanwhile, Ronald was still doing simple assistance work.
He couldn’t control the enemy through ’Fury’, but human detection abilities were still effective.
In his view, Patricia’s combat prowess in an melee weapon confrontation was unrivaled; even if he switched ’Divine Comedy’s’ abilities to ’brutality’, direct combat effectiveness would still fall short compared to this young girl.
All he had to do was keep track of the underground cultist magicians, and the two of them would secure a steady victory.
—Nearly another minute passed.
Finally, there was a response from inside the cellar.
Across the not-so-long corridor, a man’s anxious voice came from below:
"Madam, we choose to surrender."
"Please do not attack!"
Patricia’s tone remained calm:
"Throw up the sect insignia and bind your hands."
The people in the cellar immediately responded:
"Okay... okay, just a moment!"
Since the other party was suppressing their emotions, Ronald couldn’t determine their true intentions.
But as they responded, the people below indeed started to move again.
No longer shrinking back.
Finally, the sound of footsteps heading to the surface began.
The night garden had no light sources, and the snow-covered clouds obscured the stars and moon in the sky.
Under such darkness, hearing was Patricia’s best tool.
Approaching the exit of the corridor, the person stopped in their tracks.
Then, a trembling, inquiring voice arose:
"Shall I... shall I throw up the sect insignia first?"
With the other party’s move, a stone card was thrown out.
Just as Patricia’s attention shifted slightly to this ’sect insignia’, a gunshot rang out from the dark corridor!
Compared to the pitch-black view from outside looking in, those in the cellar could discern a rough shape from the inside looking out.
Taking advantage of the human reaction time, the person made their move.
Alas, the attack was still ineffective.
A gunshot from this distance was still within Patricia’s range of response.
Using the flash from the bullet ignition, she accurately captured the attacker’s movement.
A silver glint flashed once more before her.
With a crisp sound, the girl flawlessly deflected the incoming shot.
Immediately after, Patricia’s gaze turned back towards the pitch-black cellar entrance.
Expressing fear and anxiety.
Screaming, the nearby cultist magicians charged out in madness.
At the same time, they began to desperately pull the trigger of the firearm in hand!