Chapter 63: Cleanup

“Bourne!”

Beck roared furiously.

Bourne was the Low-Rank Apostle in their Beck Adventure Party responsible for barrier deployment. Due to the unique nature of his ability, he held a high position within the party and was someone Beck valued greatly. Yet, in a moment of carelessness, Aaron had killed him.

Right after killing his target, Aaron shouted loudly, “Everyone disperse and retreat!”

Now that the barrier was broken, Aaron naturally didn’t want to continue the fight. After all, the Red Moon Society didn’t have as many people as Beck Adventure Party. If they fought to the end, most of his comrades would likely die, and he would be surrounded and overwhelmed. The odds were grim.

As Aaron’s words fell, all the Red Moon Society members scattered, preparing to flee.

“Don’t let a single one escape! Keep them all here!” Beck shouted, charging towards Aaron himself.

Among the crowd, Aaron was the only Mid-Rank Apostle. His importance was undoubtedly the highest. Naturally, Beck couldn’t let someone like that go.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The two charged out of the alley, rampaging through the streets of Bild City and causing screams of alarm.

==========

In the clock tower, Amelia and Eileen witnessed everything.

“Eileen,” Amelia said unhurriedly, “Not a single member of the Red Moon Society can be left alive.”

“I understand,” Eileen nodded seriously.

Beck Adventure Party didn’t know their identities, so ignoring them wouldn’t be a problem. But the people from the Red Moon Society—only by bidding farewell to this world could they ensure true peace of mind.

From their high vantage point, they could clearly see the fleeing Red Moon Society members. They quickly judged that most wouldn’t escape, as Beck Adventure Party simply had too many people, enough to surround and kill everyone.

And likely because several of their own had died, the members of Beck Adventure Party were all filled with rage. Anyone from the Red Moon Society they caught was cut down without mercy.

The only one with a chance to escape was the Red Moon Society’s Mid-Rank Apostle. Although Beck, a fellow Mid-Rank Apostle, was chasing him, whether he could catch up was uncertain.

“Eileen, let’s follow them too.”

“Understood.”

The two descended from the clock tower and headed in the direction Aaron had fled. Since Aaron and Beck were fighting while retreating, they created a lot of chaos along the way, making tracking them relatively simple.

Before long, they had reached the northern outskirts of Bild City.

Here, vast farmland, a river, and towering, continuous mountains were visible.

When Amelia and Eileen arrived, they found Beck leaning against a tree by the roadside, panting heavily. He was covered in bloodstains, glaring resentfully in one direction, but he had stopped the pursuit.

It seemed he couldn’t do anything about his target anymore.

Amelia and Eileen immediately bypassed Beck and continued the chase into the distance.

==========

“Cough, cough.”

Aaron ran a long way. Seeing that Beck hadn’t pursued further, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he had used Soul Wither and Life Drain to inflict significant damage on Beck, preventing the man from following, he himself had sustained considerable injuries.

“Damn Beck Adventure Party. Once I figure out exactly what happened, your party won’t have an easy time of it.”

Aaron gritted his teeth.

He planned to contact Red Moon Society members in other cities next, gathering people to come and help. When that happened, a mere Beck Adventure Party wouldn’t be a concern at all.

Thinking this, Aaron continued moving further away into the night.

But after just a few steps, a sense of crisis welled up in Aaron’s heart. Almost instinctively, he dodged to the side.

“Whoosh…”

A sword stabbed through where Aaron had just been standing, unfortunately striking empty air.

Soul Wither!

As he dodged, Aaron stomped his foot, and a ring of black ripples spread out, immediately slowing the attacker’s follow-up, preventing a continuous assault.

Seizing the chance, Aaron quickly retreated, staring intently at this sudden assailant. “Someone from Beck Adventure Party?”

Missing the opportunity to kill Aaron with a sneak attack slightly disappointed Eileen, but she wasn’t discouraged. She charged at Aaron again. As for his question, she had no obligation to answer.

Life Drain!

Seeing this, Aaron also struck back. With no visible movement from him, Eileen felt the blood in her body begin to boil, as if about to burst out of her veins.

If the opponent were weaker than Aaron, this single move would cause them to bleed from every pore and die instantly. Even for someone of similar strength, it would severely impact them, making their body feel incredibly uncomfortable and drastically reducing their combat ability.

Soul Wither brought weakness, and combined with Life Drain, it was enough to significantly weaken a person.

Death-type abilities were just that bizarre. If Aaron had reliable teammates to assist him, he would have a clear advantage. Unfortunately, he was alone now. While he possessed excellent support abilities, his direct combat strength was ultimately not that high.

Aaron himself was aware of his situation. So, after hindering Eileen, he turned to leave.

But Eileen was not Beck.

All of Beck’s abilities were offensive, so under the dual weakening effects, he couldn’t catch Aaron. But Eileen possessed the passive ability Jump Enhancement.

Eileen simply leaped lightly, instantly crossing a large distance. She descended from above Aaron’s head, her sword gleaming with a silver light as it tore through the air, slashing down with incredible speed.

And Amelia, who had also followed, wasn’t just standing by idly.

Hiding in the shadows, she decisively bent her bow and executed Wind’s Sigh, firing a cyan arrow.

Amelia didn’t aim directly at Aaron. Instead, she shot to the empty space on his left side.

To Aaron’s right was the river, to his left was open ground. Facing Eileen’s descending sword strike, Aaron instinctively lunged to his left without a second thought.

He evaded Eileen’s sword, but he couldn’t dodge Amelia’s arrow.

“Thwack!”

Amelia’s arrow pierced straight through Aaron’s shoulder, drawing a scream of pain from him.

There was another person?

Aaron was both shocked and furious. He instinctively wanted to attack the location where Amelia was hiding, but Eileen, having missed two attacks already, would not miss again.

Or rather, Eileen already knew her descending sword strike would be dodged. She hadn’t put much power into that strike, already prepared to change her move. So, the moment she landed, she swung her sword sideways without hesitation, cleaving directly into Aaron’s waist.

“Arghhhh!” The intense pain from his waist made Aaron scream, his face completely twisted in agony. He glared hatefully at Eileen, “I Curse you, with all my power!”