"Alright," I said. "Let’s get moving. We need to help Saint Maverick, and if we stay here longer, I might pull the trigger by mistake."
I lifted the Desert Eagle loaded with Positive Energy bullets.
The crewmates were still staring at the Exorcists as if watching a show.
I turned to them. "Watched enough? Pick your arses and start moving."
"Aw, blast it... an’ here I was hopin’ we’d see the officer crack some skulls." One of the crewmates grumbled in a pirate tone.
Another nodded dramatically. "Aye, rotten luck. Maybe the next fight’ll be worth the watch."
I clicked my tongue and created more Healing Salve using Quickmix Technique.
I applied it to them quickly.
Then I used all but one magazine to craft another cannonball fused with Positive Energy.
"Load this when we reach our target location," I said and handed it to the cannon crew.
The larger Exorcist frowned.
His face had features that made my mind glitch just by looking at him, but I could still sense the disapproval.
"This isn’t meant to kill Ghoul Valen. It’s to injure him just enough to make him unable to fight," I said.
The Exorcists didn’t respond.
Our group began heading toward Saint Maverick’s location.
I touched my earpiece and whispered, "Judy, did you find the inn girl yet?"
"Negative," she replied in her robotic tone. "Search pattern expanding. Drones scanning additional sectors. Efficiency decreasing."
The drones were sweeping the forest, but she hadn’t found the girl yet.
I shook my head and kept moving.
While walking, I explained a short plan to everyone. I told the Exorcists they needed to follow it if they wanted Ghoul Valen alive.
Yes, the plan involved using my last ammunition without killing Ghoul Valen.
Yes, it was stupid.
But I had expected this whole situation, so it didn’t bother me.
And depending on how things went, I could kill Ghoul Valen later anyway.
We arrived at the battlefield.
The forest was destroyed.
Trees burned with blood flames.
The smell of iron hit hard and sharp.
The ground was carved up with deep craters, and fallen trees were sliced clean through.
Saint Maverick lay on the ground, half-destroyed.
His arms were missing, along with everything below his torso.
His expression was neutral while Judy tried to repair him, attaching new parts and rebuilding limbs.
But tiny blood snakes kept crawling over him and breaking the repairs again.
Valen was fighting.
He was missing a hand and moved far slower than before.
He couldn’t regenerate the lost limb.
His movements were stiff, and dark cracks covered parts of his body.
Ghoul Valen was still strong.
He had injuries, but not enough.
He transformed into black mist and back, attacking from every direction with blood-claw swipes.
’They’re in better shape than expected.’
Saint Maverick must have synchronized his attacks with the headless Valen, to protect Valen, and used Valen’s body to shield himself when Ghoul Valen tried to finish him.
"Start now!" I shouted.
The large Exorcist vanished into shadows immediately.
The crewmates moved.
The two sword-wielders charged straight at Ghoul Valen.
The gunner stayed back, providing cover fire.
The cannon crew summoned their cannon and began aiming.
We only had to land a single hit on Ghoul Valen.
Easier said than done.
The first sword-wielder rushed in.
Ghoul Valen turned into black mist to dodge.
Sparks ignited inside the mist, and the crewmate’s body caught on fire while inside it.
A human would’ve died from the shock alone.
But the crewmates weren’t human.
"Har har! This be nothin’ but a warm bath compared to the officer’s flames!" The burning sword-wielder laughed, voice thick with pirate tone.
He began to suck the black mist into his lungs.
The black mist recoiled and solidified into Ghoul Valen.
Ghoul Valen stabbed forward, aiming for the crewmate’s neck.
"Not on me watch!" the second sword-wielder shouted, swinging his blade.
He diverted the attack, barely holding onto his sword. "Arrgh—blasted thing! Me arm’s feelin’ cracked!"
"Quit yer bellyachin’! Ye sound like a babe cryin’ for milk!" the first sword-wielder laughed, flames dying down.
Both sword-wielders moved recklessly, but there was no fear in them.
The gunner fired at the perfect moment, the bullet flying straight toward Ghoul Valen’s mask.
Ghoul Valen flicked his finger.
A small blood bullet shot out, collided with the gunner’s shot, and exploded in midair.
Before Ghoul Valen could counterattack, Valen—headless but still fighting—summoned three blood spears and hurled them.
Ghoul Valen was forced to dodge.
I kept shouting instructions, trying to get the crewmates to synchronize their movements with headless Valen.
Without coordination, they would fall apart in seconds.
The fight was stressful.
We were barely keeping up.
Even that was only possible because the Ghoul was too stupid to use the body of a Rank 5 Mage.
But that advantage wouldn’t save us if anyone slipped.
And someone finally did.
The gunner’s bullet hit the first sword-wielder in the back of the shoulder.
"Bollocks! Me blasted shoulder!" the sword-wielder yelled.
He flinched from the impact, and in that moment of distraction, Ghoul Valen’s hand shot forward and pierced straight through his abdomen.
He coughed blood, eyes wide.
Ghoul Valen was about to rip his insides out when talismans appeared in the air around him.
They glowed bright red.
The second Exorcist from New Order was chanting.
The talismans flew forward and stuck to Ghoul Valen’s body.
Nothing happened.
Ghoul Valen froze, confused for a split second.
Then shadows slithered across the ground.
They shot upward and wrapped around his limbs, binding him tightly.
"Forgive me, brother. We must harm you for we do not wish to kill you," the large Exorcist’s voice echoed through the shadow bindings.
Ghoul Valen struggled.
He was strong enough to break free easily, but the bindings still tied him down for a split second.
It was just enough time.
"Fire in the hole!" I shouted.
"Aye, aye, officer!" the cannon crew yelled, and they fired the Positive Energy cannonball.
It cut through the air, spinning fast.
Ghoul Valen sensed the Positive Energy and tried to turn into black mist, but the shadow bindings held him in place and disrupted the transformation.
The cannonball was about to hit.
Ghoul Valen fired a blood spear at it, trying to shatter it.
The blood spear went straight through the cannonball without harming it.
Because that cannonball wasn’t real.
It vanished into mist.
A real cannonball appeared behind it, coming from a completely different angle.
Illusion.
The talismans attached to Ghoul Valen weren’t meant to restrain him.
They were meant to distort his senses and hide illusions created by the second Exorcist.
Ghoul Valen realized it too late.
Just before the attack hit, he tore the shadow bindings apart in a burst of strength. Shadows ripped like paper.
He grabbed the cannonball with both hands.
The force was so strong it dragged his feet through the mud.
Positive Energy burned his palms.
Even so, he managed to block it.
The attack had failed.
’Why is a mage’s body this strong physically!?’
I bolted forward.
Before the cannonball lost momentum, something had to be done.
Just as I took my first step, headless Valen appeared behind Ghoul Valen.
He held a distorted blood orb in his hands.
He shoved the blood orb inside the spinning cannonball.
Then he grabbed Ghoul Valen’s arms and crossed them behind his back, locking the Ghoul in place so he couldn’t transform into mist.
The distorted blood orb started fusing with the cannonball.
Positive Energy and Vam[ire’s tainted mana reacted violently.
Cracks formed on the cannonball.
My stomach dropped.
I knew exactly what was about to happen.
"Everyone! Get back—"
The cannonball exploded.
The explosion was so strong I lost consciousness for a moment.
When I came to, my ears were ringing. Sound was muffled. My vision shook.
Blood trailed from both of my ears.
Dante was shielding me with his body.
He must have taken the brunt of the impact to protect me.
I coughed hard. "Cough... cough... What’s the situation?"
My throat burned.
I looked around.
The portion of forest around us was destroyed.
Everything was blackened.
A massive crater occupied the center.
Trees had been vaporized.
"Where is the Ghoul?" I asked.
"He is alive, Lord of Shadows."
Yuna pointed toward a single direction.
It was the opposite side of the crater.
Trees in that direction were cut down in a perfect straight line, as if a missile had shot through them.
The destruction stretched far, so far that the treeline disappeared into the distance.
Yuna continued. "The blast packed power, but not enough to kill a Rank Five Exorcist. Both the Ghoul Valen and the headless Valen should still be breathing.
"But the force of the blast hurled them several kilometers away. With wounds like those, the Ghoul will not be returning any time soon."
I exhaled slowly.
’Good... at least the objective was achieved.’
Valen was thrown away with the Ghoul, but there was nothing I could do about that now.
I stood up, legs trembling, and looked around.
Everyone was in bad shape.
The first sword-wielder crewmate was the worst.
He had been burned inside the black mist, stabbed through the abdomen, and then taken the explosion at point-blank range.
It was a miracle he was still alive.
I dragged myself toward him and created more Healing Salve.
He grinned at me with bloody teeth.
"Heh... Officer, yer plan worked like a charm. When that idiot shot me from behind, the ghoul thought he’d found the perfect moment. Har! We reeled him in nice an’ proper."
"Stop talking. You’ll die," I said, trying to hold his body steady.
I pressed the Healing Salve against the wound to slow the bleeding.
"Hah... Officer, I’ll be crossin’ the great sea either way. Might as well spit out me last words before I go under." He laughed weakly.
His breathing was rough. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
The Healing Salve slowed the bleeding but couldn’t heal the damage.
The healing was too weak for someone as strong as him.