Chapter 1497 Her <TOC> Chapter 1499 Gateway of Fantasy
Translator: SumTLMan
After hearing Alex mention “iris,” Angel instantly realized who Alex was referring to.
Within the Church of Kruja, besides Alex and Father Bertrand, there is actually another permanent resident.
It’s Sister Tessa, who labors daily in the flower gardens.
According to Alex’s insinuation, Sister Tessa is the one controlling the ghosts and is also the one who took away the flesh and blood of the corpses. The iris field is flourishing because the fertilizer Sister Tessa uses is the remains of the deceased.
Angel has a vague impression of Sister Tessa.
Upon being reminded by Alex, Angel recalled that he had seen this ghost manipulator before. Although Angel hadn’t seen her face, he did notice a particular characteristic: her hunched posture.
Sister Tessa, although younger than Father Bertrand, is in her sixties and indeed has a petite, hunched figure that nearly perfectly matches the silhouette Angel saw that day.
It appears that the “Her” Father Bertrand referred to is genuinely Sister Tessa.
Angel suddenly found it intriguing. The two people closest to Alex lately, one wanted to kill him but gave up, and the other wanted to kill him but couldn’t overstep the boundaries.
And the oblivious Alex had been living with these two people for three years.
“What are you planning to do to kill her?” Angel curiously inquired.
Alex didn’t answer, but glanced at Father Bertrand, who was still conversing with Viscount Vega. Turning on his heel, he started walking down the small path, leaving the Viscount’s mansion.
“Are you planning to kill her now?”
Alex: “Now is the best time to act, while she hasn’t yet discovered that Father Bertrand is still alive and doesn’t know that I’ve uncovered the truth.”
Angel: “Isn’t it rash to confront Sister Tessa without knowing the extent of her abilities?”
As Angel’s words trailed off, a clamor erupted from a distant street. Alex and Angel exchanged a glance and quickly ran toward the noise, only to find local residents scattering in fear. Alex stopped one person to inquire about the situation.
The man hastily relayed that horrific screams had emanated from a third-floor room in a nearby building. Someone had rushed out to report that a resident there had been murdered.
Given the current state of fear permeating Ghust Town, the news set off a mass exodus. That’s what had triggered the upheaval on this street.
According to the man, a neighbor had seen the killers. One was a tall man clad in armor, and the other seemed like a child. The neighbor vividly described that the tall man resembled Knight Reven, who had died a few days ago. As for the child, he wore a hat identical to Anthony’s.
For the average listener, this description would be symbolic. But for Alex, it might be literal: the killers could actually be Reven and Anthony!
Amid the chaotic crowd, Alex looked up toward the small building in the distance. The windows on the third floor were pitch black, revealing nothing. Suddenly, a pale-faced skull slowly rose from below the windowsill.
It was a boy, not even ten years old, glaring malevolently at the scattering residents below.
When the boy noticed Alex was watching him, a sly smirk crossed his lips. Then, he vanished from sight.
“It’s Anthony,” Alex whispered, suppressing the uneasy feeling welling up inside him.
“In broad daylight, causing such havoc. Just as Father Bertrand had said, their goal is to turn Ghust Town into a breeding ground for ghosts, a veritable battleground,” Alex stated gravely. “Perhaps my decision is a bit rash, but given the current circumstances, maintaining the fragile equilibrium Father seeks is virtually impossible now.”
“Why not take a gamble?”
Alex had made up his mind and briskly headed toward the Church of Kruja.
However, before his plan could be executed, an unexpected change preempted him.
As Alex was preparing to cross a small alley to sneak in through the back door of the Church of Kruja, a young boy wearing an aviator hat blocked his path.
The boy suddenly looked up, revealing a terrifying face — pale, with a twisted area around his eyes, and black pupils filled with resentment.
“Anthony…” Alex softly spoke the name.
“Heehee, you’ve seen me; now you have to join me,” Anthony giggled, bloodlust flickering in his eyes.
Alex couldn’t help but take a step back. But a chilling wind came from behind him. Turning around, he found a towering knight blocking his path.
With Anthony’s appearance, the identity of the knight was self-evident.
It was none other than Knight Reven!
Alex hadn’t expected that before he could seek out Sister Tessa, she already had designs on him. Was it because of something she’d learned through Anthony?
Thus, he’d been outmaneuvered by Sister Tessa, who had exploited the laws to send a ghost after him.
Regardless of the answer, it’s irrelevant now.
Trapped in this narrow alley, blocked by Anthony at the front and cut off by a knight named Reven at the back, what could he do?
Alex clenched the dagger, imbued with an illusion spell by Angel, recalling his recent combat experiences.
Now, it seemed that to meet Sister Tessa, he’d have to resolve the immediate crisis.
Could he pull it off, though?
Strangely, the first to attack wasn’t Anthony, but the sword-wielding Reven from behind. With a tap of his toe, he lunged at Alex with astonishing speed.
Instinctively, Alex twisted his body to evade Reven’s strike, but before he could formulate his next move, he felt a growing chill around his legs.
Looking down, he saw Anthony clutching his thighs, staring intently at him with a malevolent grin.
A gust of wind hit him; Reven’s second attack was on its way.
Alex was the sort of person who grew calmer in dire situations. Arching his body like a bridge to evade Reven’s attack, he seized the moment to stab Anthony in the back of the neck with his cursed dagger.
Anthony let out a miserable cry as a large plume of dark mist erupted from his neck.
Seizing the opportunity, Alex kicked Anthony away. However, his move was too slow, and Knight Reven had already closed in on him.
In this perilous moment, Alex planted one hand on the ground and deftly retreated, barely evading Knight Reven’s strike. No sooner had he dodged this attack than a new crisis appeared.
A woman suddenly descended from the sky, appearing beside Alex.
“Tailor Santi?” Alex looked at her face in surprise. This woman was Anthony’s mother.
However, unlike her sorrowful expression from days before, Santi now wore a vengeful look, her eyes pitch-black — clearly, at some point, Santi had been killed and transformed into a ghost!
Santi’s appearance stunned Alex for a moment, and that brief lapse of time led him into a desperate situation.
Anthony, whom Alex had injured earlier with a dagger, fell to the ground once again, clutching Alex’s legs.
In her hand, Santi wielded a pair of scissors imbued with a malevolent aura, aiming them at Alex’s throat.
Knight Reven, not to be outdone, swung his longsword at Alex.
Surrounded on all sides, Alex felt as if he had plummeted into an abyss of malevolence. Despite his desperate attempts to struggle, he was immobilized.
At this critical juncture, Angel took action.
An illusion instantly obscured the vision of the three ghosts, and at the same time, a gentle force pulled Alex out of the encirclement.
When Alex looked back after freeing himself, he saw the three ghosts appearing like headless flies, aimlessly circling within a confined area.
Realizing that they were trapped by the illusion, Alex didn’t hesitate and quickly made his exit.
Eliminating these three ghosts isn’t a simple task. Yet Alex’s aim isn’t to kill the ghosts; he only needs to kill Sister Tessa, and the authority to control these ghosts will naturally pass to Father Bertrand.
So, the ghosts are not his target!
Alex initially planned a stealthy ambush on Sister Tessa, but the interference from the ghosts prematurely derailed his scheme.
When he arrived at the small garden behind the Church of Kruja.
Sister Tessa, hunched over and holding an oil lamp adorned with irises, looked at Alex with a sinister gaze.
In the lush garden, over twenty ghosts were watching Alex with eyes filled with malevolence.
Sister Tessa gave Alex a venomous smile, turned around with her oil lamp, and stepped into the void, disappearing. Clearly, she had gone to the Space of the Dead.
The remaining twenty or so ghosts, saturated with malicious intent, began to close in on Alex slowly.