The special squad has been established,
Abe is ready to let loose, using his beast sensing and true dragon vision to scour the Holy City for intruders who have undergone âcraniotomyâ.
However,
Just as Abe was about to step out of the alley,
Han Dong suddenly lowered his voice, speaking in a tone unique to demons:
"Captain Abe, you just said youâre ready to sacrifice for the Holy City, correct?"
"Thatâs right..."
"In that case, directly execute the âMythical Skull Womanâ you just sealed."
Abe took out the spherical object wrapped in dragon scales from his waist and said righteously:
"I plan to hand over this mythical skull to the Knight Headquarters,
to have the Secret Language Knight Order, or the Mechanical God Sect, analyze it effectively and quickly find a way to identify and deal with Skull Girls efficiently."
But Han Dong shook his fingers,
"No need, apart from your Behemoth Knight Group, many other knight orders in the city are already focusing on the issue of âSkull Girlsâ.
A lot of them will naturally choose to hand over.
Since youâve already prepared to sacrifice, why not do something more practical.
I also mentioned just now... In our pair, you would be responsible for killing Skull Girls throughout the mission.
Due to the skulls having internal connections, your kills will draw the attention of a King-level entity.
Once you kill enough, the âbig headâ behind will emerge... Although a Captain of your level canât deal with it, if you can pass on valuable information before your death, it would mean a lot to the Holy City.
After all, if an entity lurking in the shadows canât be found, it might overturn the battle at a critical moment, even drowning the final ray of light."
Abe pondered on this suggestion,
his gaze suddenly turned fierce,
with a beast blade sliced down, swoosh! The head he had just sealed was removed and directly chopped to bits.
Blood mist scattered!
âWhat is this...curse?â
Han Dongâs real demon eye caught a kind of colorless, shapeless conceptual substance flowing out from the deceased Skull Woman, attaching itself to Abe.
Abe also felt a chilling sensation from an ice cellar, a feeling originating from a nook in the Holy City.
This perception did not frighten Abe; instead, it made him more resolute about Han Dongâs suggestion.
"Captain Abe, can you remove your armor and shirt?"
"Why?"
"My Blood Prison Curse just sensed a curse homology, some secret curse artifices seem to attach to your body.
There might be a direct display on your skin."
"Alright then..."
For some reason, Abe had an inexplicable sense of a fondness and trust toward this new companion,
Once his shirt was fully removed,
The heavy dragon scale silver armor fell to the ground,
Abeâs body exuded a strong masculine aura,
Almost perfect muscle distribution, yet marred by various types of scars,
Underneath the skin, neatly arranged dragon scales were hidden,
If one stared at Abeâs abs, they could faintly make out a fully formed beast, white-haired, ten-eyed, hundred-tailed.
However,
Han Dongâs attention fell on the back.
Indeed,
A marking "curse mark" had been branded on Abeâs body surface.
A spine-chilling "human head mark" emerged between his spine, just fitting a segment of vertebrae.
Han Dong estimated,
Once the heads cover the entire spine,
Or when a formation or drawing constructs on the back, it signifies a "complete mark", the mid-level entity lurking in the Holy City will reveal itself, leading to its extermination.
"The number of heads? Just as I suspected, killing a certain number will draw out the big one.
Looks like we need to hurry... catch up before the other captains and vice-captains, and gather enough heads on Captain Abe."
There wasnât any hesitation on Abeâs face,
As he nodded before putting on the armor again, then voiced a request of his own:
"Hmm,
before we officially hunt the skulls, I need Han Dong sir to help with something small.
I have two peer companions who may need help... I acted alone this time to meet up with them.
They are both women and quite special, likely to be targeted by Skull Girls."
"I donât mind, Captain Abe, you arrange it."
"Follow me..."
As the captain, Abe could connect mentally to the information network laid by the Holy Ring, obtaining basic situational info around the Holy City.
One piece of info showed that at the medicine market in Samay Civilian Area there were suspected mythical skulls, having caused the deaths of numerous knights.
There seems to be one elite knight of the Doomsday Knight Brigade still restraining it.
The two rushed to the location as fast as possible,
Matching the information given,
The black market hidden between densely packed buildings was already a river of blood,
Inside piled up the massacred civiliansâ corpses, and over twenty knights who had come to assist.
Notably, the female corpsesâ heads were all missing.
Moreover, the market was filled with highly flexible poisonous spider silk, capable of forming formations. Once touched, it would curse and imprison.
However,
These silk strands only serve to delay, with most already cut,
A special Skull Womanâmore accurately, a mass of Skull Womenâwas moving in the market... completely different from before.
This Mythical Skull Woman became the center,
Any female she killed quickly undergoes "transformation", detached heads stick face-to-face, forming a collective.
Currently, it formed a mass grouping of hundreds of heads,
Below, hung only a normal-sized female body,
The proportion between head and body, roughly 50:1, quite contrary... Floating in the market, a deeply uncanny scene, she was searching for the final target.
In one corner of the market,
A woman with a half mask and eight spider legs growing from her back was curled in the corner.
Not that she didnât want to flee,
But escaping wasnât possible,
Her body had already been hit multiple times, covered with tongue-shaped pierce wounds.
These corporeal wounds were just superficial, truly threatening her was the âout of control effectâ these wounds carried.
Many drained potion vials rolled on the ground,
By continuously consuming special potions, she suppressed the âskull effectâ within.
Simultaneously using a sewing-like method,
Spider silk continually pierced neckâs skin, multi-layer stitching was applied, using such crude physical means to prevent head separation...
Currently, any movement or action leads to accelerating loss of control response.
Squeak~
Suddenly, the door and windows were simultaneously opened.
Heads of women staring with copper bell-like eyes glared at the woman in the deepest corner.
From their mouths extended highly penetrating tongues carrying out-of-control effects,
"Found~you~!"
As soon as words fell, countless tongues shot out,
The woman long prepared for sacrifice, though her gaze carried slight regret... Perhaps an important heart knot hadnât been resolved.
âNicholas~ currently you must be confronting higher-level out-of-control ones with the Old Kings.
Yet itâs a pity we canât meet again...â
Upon closing her eyes, she recalled the familiar silhouette once standing before her,
Swoosh!
Blood splattered,
Liquids and supple tongues collided against her skin,
Opening eyes to see.
An unknown youth she had never seen landed before her,
The blood wall he controlled, just cut off all incoming tongues,
Simultaneously.
A white-haired youth, wielding a beast blade, had slashed into the Skull Womanâs body, tearing apart many heads.
Agonizing screams echoed in the black market alleys,
However,
Her attention wasnât on Abe but was focused on this unknown youthâs back.
Possibly an emotional surge right before death,
Unintentional she called out:
"Nicholas..."
This call,
Startled the youth in shock, quickly checking himself for signs of being kicked out of the game.