Lord of Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

Chapter 70: Resurrected Corpses

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Daly asked, "According to your description, the sealed artifact seems capable of distorting space within a certain range?"

"Yes," Hobert analyzed. "In theory, the ability to distort space sounds a lot like the powers associated with the Lawyer Path, but that usually involves distorting ideas and rules. However, with sealed artifacts, we can't judge by conventional logic."

He didn't elaborate further, pretending to know less than he truly did.

Daly nodded slightly, adding, "The powers most closely associated with space belong to the Apprentice Path, but their abilities are usually about traversing space, not distorting it."

She then said, "Let me ask the spirits around here."

The scarred man stepped forward, positioning himself between Daly and Hobert.

Daly suddenly raised her head, her eyes turning completely black. She was already a Spirit Guide, easily able to communicate with spirits.

For a moment, Hobert felt as if countless unseen eyes were staring at him. The corpses of the Henry couple lay not far away, and the atmosphere in the room grew eerie.

After about ten seconds, Daly seemed to wake from a trance, shivering slightly as her eyes returned to their normal state, her pupils and whites clearly visible.

"The spirits around here say that the couple often carried sunflowers, still burning, into the basement," Daly said. "But as for the exact situation in the basement, they don't..."

Before she could finish, all three of them suddenly turned toward the altar. They felt an overwhelming, terrifying power quietly descend upon the room.

Hobert and the scarred man immediately drew their revolvers. The scarred man's revolver was much larger than a standard one, resembling the oversized, extended revolvers Hobert had seen at the mercenary club.

The three moved almost simultaneously, ready to destroy the altar. But the corpses of the Henry couple suddenly sat up so abruptly that one of the corpses' eyeballs popped out.

Their legs seemed paralyzed, unable to support them, while their upper bodies struggled desperately to rise.

Sensing something, Hobert glanced at Daly and saw her staring intently at the two corpses, fighting for control over them against the terrifying power.

The scarred man fired a shot, shattering the symbols on the altar. He then kicked the altar aside, but the two corpses were unaffected and continued their efforts to stand.

Hobert activated his spirit vision and saw black tubular structures descending from the ceiling, connecting to the corpses. Those were their weak points!

But the place from which the black tubes descended... that was where Little Henry's body was!

"To the second floor!" Hobert shouted as he dashed toward the stairs. But before he could ascend, the corpses broke free from Daly's control, grabbing a nearby chair and hurling it at Hobert and the scarred man.

The three dodged nimbly, but then Hobert felt his stamina and reaction speed plummet.

Damn!

It was a "Weakening"!

The thrown chair had allowed the corpses to complete the "Bribe" process.

This meant that the Henry couple hadn't been ordinary people; the ritual they had conducted had left their corpses in a strange state, preventing any extraction of Beyonder characteristics.

In that moment, Hobert realized that Daly's use of Death pathway abilities might have awakened the terrifying entity that had descended through the Henrys' ritual.

"La la, la la la la, la la la la la~"

At the same time, a crisp, innocent child's voice began singing a nursery rhyme from upstairs.

Hearing the song, both Hobert and the scarred man felt their bodies stiffen to varying degrees.

A chill ran through Hobert's heart. In this weakened and stiffened state, they were no match for the two corpses.

Fortunately, as the corpses approached, they suddenly started dancing in time with the nursery rhyme's melody.

Hobert glanced at Daly. Her eyes had become even more shadowed, and a terrifying aura emanated from her.

The song, while having a negative effect on Hobert and the scarred man, seemed to strengthen Daly's powers, allowing her to regain partial control over the two corpses.

Seizing the opportunity, Hobert, with stiffened movements, headed for the stairs.

The breakthrough lay with Little Henry's body.

Thud... Thud... Thud...

Footsteps descending the stairs.

Little Henry's corpse was coming down, its face pale and bluish, its eyes deep and dark. The bullet hole Hobert had shot into its head had vanished, and now it simply looked like an abnormally pale boy with unsettling eyes.

Daly avoided looking directly at Little Henry. "I can't beat it."

They now realized that the Nighthawks squad had grossly underestimated the mysterious case. What they thought was merely a strange death had actually drawn in a terrifying power, one that even Daly, a Sequence 6, struggled to handle.

Hobert changed his direction. "Lead them to the basement."

Daly and the scarred man exchanged a glance, their eyes lighting up as they followed Hobert.

At the basement entrance, sunflowers were piled up. Each of them grabbed one, and Daly used her spirituality to ignite the flowers.

The scarred man fired a shot at Little Henry, drawing its attention.

Although the power possessing Little Henry seemed terrifying, it lacked intelligence. Lured by the gunshot, it followed them step by step.

Daly opened the door to the basement, while Hobert used his cane to sweep the sunflowers into the basement.

Holding the burning sunflowers aloft, Daly led the way, while the scarred man kept a watchful eye on their rear.

Daly no longer had the energy to control the Henry couple's corpses. Their dancing ceased abruptly, and they clumsily scrambled toward the basement door.

They quickly overtook Little Henry, forcing the scarred man and Hobert to fire repeatedly, slowing their advance.

As they descended the stairs, Hobert felt the stiffness in his body gradually fade.

But that wasn't necessarily a good thing—it meant they were now within the range of the basement's sealed artifact.