Chapter 245: Who is this person?
Exorcist Guild, Longbridge Tavern.
Creak...
The wooden door was gently pushed open.
A person wearing a black robe walked in from outside. This person was completely hidden under a hood, but judging from the stubble on the chin, one could still recognize that this was a male.
Tap... Tap...
The black-robed man gently tapped the stone bar counter.
"Brad, the usual."
Behind the bar, the black bartender Brad nodded: "Coming right up, Mr. Rossi."
A moment later, bartender Brad pushed a glass of brandy in front of Rossi.
"Any news lately?" Rossi picked up the wine glass and said.
"A supernatural incident occurred at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia. According to reliable sources, a spatial rift phenomenon appeared during the incident," Brad said while wiping a glass, not even lifting his head.
The movement of Rossi's hand obviously paused.
"Oh? Did those factions lose a lot of manpower again?"
"No, everyone survived."
Under the hood, a trace of surprise flashed in Rossi's eyes.
"Could it be that some powerful exorcism item appeared?"
Brad was stunned for a moment.
"Would a spatial gap even drop such items?" he thought inwardly.
However, on the surface, he still shook his head.
"The major factions have remained silent regarding this news, but rumor has it that a Holy Clergy Member from the Church solved the problem."
"Probably those guys from the Vatican. Any other news?"
"The selection for the Vatican's Priest Order is about to begin. This time it will be divided by parish, led by the Holy Clergy Members of each district. The selection location is very likely related to the recent transfer of Holy Clergy Members."
"Ah, yes, they are also going to a spatial gap." Rossi nodded, "Consider this news as paying for the drink."
Brad raised an eyebrow and immediately took out five more glasses, filling them up.
"Please enjoy."
Rossi was stunned, then chuckled aloud: "I just love your attitude of clinging to 'Fairness'."
"Mr. Rossi, I am already married, and I have no plans to change my sexual orientation in the next forty years." Brad's face was calm.
Pfft.
Rossi wiped his clothes.
"Except for your sense of humor!"
Subsequently, he spoke again: "Any other news? Doesn't seem to be any major events recently."
"A Guild exorcist broke the recent Resentment Points record." Brad started wiping a glass again.
"Increased by 8,000 points in one go."
Rossi let out an "Oh."
"The evil spirit must be furious enough to go to hell. Which top-ranked guy is it this time?"
Brad stopped his hand movements: "You know our rules. I can only tell you that the person's ID is Anonymous No. 947."
"947?"
Rossi pondered for a moment, and then surprise surfaced on his face.
"If I remember correctly, before I left the Guild last time, this person wasn't on the leaderboard."
"Save it, Rossi, you are much more familiar with the people on the leaderboard than I am." Brad chuckled upon hearing this.
"After all, you stare at the positions of those top few guys every day."
Rossi adjusted his hood: "Stop teasing me. I'm just an ordinary exorcist who only wants to complete more commissions."
"You see, now someone is more powerful than me again."
Brad shrugged: "That's true. I remember your highest record only increased 6,000 Resentment Points at once."
"Hey hey! What do you mean 'only'?!" Rossi poured a whole glass of wine into his mouth.
"That guy is just a bit higher than me. Besides, I reached that level multiple times afterward."
The wine glasses on the table were already empty, so Rossi tapped the table again.
"By the way, if you know that new guy, you can introduce me to him."
"I happen to have a commission recently that might involve an ancient demon. I'm looking for helpers!"
Brad shook his head helplessly: "Those evil spirits and demons with a bit of history have all been patronized by you. To some extent, I really sympathize with them."
"Hey! I just like things with a bit of challenge," Rossi said.
"You know I can't reveal guest information, but I'll keep an eye out if there's a chance," Brad said.
"However, with the level of commissions you currently participate in, I'm afraid not many people can undertake them."
Rossi also shrugged: "Not necessarily."
He gestured behind him with his thumb.
"Isn't that guy quite strong?"
Brad took back the empty glasses on the table: "Increasing eight thousand points at once is indeed amazing."
He looked up and stared at Rossi.
"But among you monsters on the leaderboard, who can't do that?"
At this time, noise came from the hall again.
Rossi and Brad both looked over.
Soon, both of them froze on the spot.
At this moment, another message popped up on the screen—Anonymous No. 947, Resentment Points +20000.
They turned to face each other, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.
"Brad, this... I really might not be able to do."
Guild Private Lounge, Room 366.
Bang!
The room door was suddenly pushed open, and a short girl hurriedly ran in.
"Miss... Wizard Catherine! I found out, the leaderboard on the screen updated!" She craned her neck, secretly looking at the woman sitting on the sofa.
The latter had pure black long hair and wore a pure white long dress.
"Doria, you promised me you'd knock before coming in." Catherine put on a pretend angry look.
Her voice was ethereal and clean, sounding very pleasant.
Seeing Doria lower her head, Catherine had to say softly: "Remember next time, okay!"
"By the way, is there a new change in the rankings?"
The corners of Doria's mouth curled up slightly, and then she immediately raised her head.
"No! Miss... Wizard Catherine, it's the real-time Resentment Points that changed!"
Catherine raised her eyebrows upon hearing this, her dark gray pupils flashing with doubt.
"How much did it increase to make everyone so excited? I could hear the noise all the way in my room."
Doria immediately stood up, describing with flying colors.
"At first it was eight thousand. Many exorcists ran over from the commission board, I was almost squeezed out... Then it actually increased by twenty thousand in one go!"
"Twenty thousand!" Catherine exclaimed, then hurriedly covered her mouth with her fair hand.
"Yeah!" Doria nodded vigorously.
"Wizard Catherine, you are also in the top 100 on the leaderboard. Do you know this guy?"
Hearing this, Catherine lightly tapped the girl's head.
"I've told you many times not to say this out loud. I deliberately chose to be anonymous!"
Doria held her head and stuck out her tongue.
Subsequently, Catherine shook her head again: "The people I know should still be in the preliminary investigation stage of their commissions recently."
"Moreover, to increase 28,000 Resentment Points in a short time, only a 'Disaster' rating can do that. No one has taken on this type of commission recently."
Doria nodded, half-understanding.
"Miss... Wizard Catherine, do you think... it could be people from the Holy See!" She suddenly looked nervous.
Catherine tapped the girl a bit harder.
"Don't scare yourself. The Mediterranean is very far from North America; they wouldn't think I hid here."
"Oh..." Doria puffed her cheeks, "Actually, I think Lord Moses is a good person. If it were me, I would definitely agree to this marriage."
"We've been sneaking away for so long... I really miss that large goose-down bed!"
"Doria!"
"H... Here!"
"You are not allowed to mention this matter again." Catherine frowned.
"Yes, Miss. No! I mean... Wizard Catherine!"
Catherine sighed: "Go ask around and see who this exorcist is. We can't rule out the possibility that they sent him."
"I'll go right away!"
Doria hurriedly slipped out of the room.
Compared to the liveliness of the Guild, the villa at this moment presented another scene.
"Number twelve."
William patted the hospital bed, and a pile of accumulated ash fell to the ground from both sides.
With the help of his little evil spirit friends, he had now reshaped half of one thigh.
Such progress somewhat exceeded his expectations.
Originally, with the remaining aura of the evil spirits, William was prepared for the progress not to increase.
But after his "Friendly interrogation," he squeezed out quite a bit more from those guys.
At the same time, the surviving evil spirits were almost on the verge of spirit body collapse.
They couldn't beat the enemy in front of them, the other party refused to negotiate, and just kept staring at the little bit of evil aura on their bodies.
Under this intense pressure, even evil spirits found it hard to bear.
Just as William planned to continue the "Experiment reproduction," the evil spirits attached to Madison suddenly all collapsed.
A massive amount of evil aura propped up her skin, seeming like it would rupture at any time.
Seeing this, William immediately lifted the siege on the evil spirits, then thrust his arm deep into that mass of aura.
The vortex appeared again, sweeping up the items in the laboratory along with it.
It took fully more than ten minutes before it gradually returned to peace.
"Even with those guys going all out, it only allowed me to practice to this extent..." William shook his head secretly.
At this moment, the reshaping progress of the Skin was about more than half of a single leg, still needing a small part to be completely finished.
"Looks like the rest will have to wait for next time."
William didn't realize at all that his practice in a single commission was almost equivalent to the progress of several years for a Holy Clergy Member of the same level.
After packing up his things, he came in front of Madison.
This witch had regained control of her body.
But due to the evil spirit possession, plus William's "Masterpiece," Madison looked very disheveled at this moment.
Seeing the priest looking over, she instinctively lowered her head, hugging her body tightly with both arms.
"You saw my entire practice process. You should know what this means." William's tone was full of coldness.
"I...!" Madison pressed her head against the floor, looking extremely submissive.
"I know a forbidden witchcraft that can make a person forget a part of their memory. I am willing to cast it on myself!"
Seeing William didn't act immediately, she guessed the latter was still hesitating inwardly.
William was indeed somewhat hesitant.
After all, he was doing things under the Lord's Holy Light; excessive killing might bring bad luck.
So when he was practicing just now, he completely ignored Madison's feelings. If the other party unfortunately died, she could only blame her bad luck.
But looking at it now, this guy's life was quite tough, actually surviving under the condition of being possessed by over a dozen evil spirits simultaneously.
Plus, the other party was the accepter of this commission.
Considering all the above, if William really made a move, it would very likely bring a lot of trouble.
Therefore, upon hearing Madison's words, he immediately asked: "Oh? There's such a witchcraft? Let's hear it."
Seeing a glimmer of hope, the witch didn't dare to delay and hurriedly said anxiously:
"This witchcraft requires the wizard to use their own life as power, plus an evil remain, to completely delete a part of the memory in the brain, absolutely unrecoverable!"
"Even the witchcraft itself will be forgotten!"
After speaking, Madison, afraid William wouldn't believe her, took out a glass bottle from her person.
"Inside is a 'Truth Potion'. It forces the drinker to tell the truth. After the witchcraft is completed, you can personally find someone to test it on me!"
William narrowed his eyes, looking at the bottle the other party offered with both hands.
Madison held her breath, her heart beating fast. Whether she could survive depended on this instant.
Fortunately, a moment later, she heard a joyful answer.
"Alright, let's try it."
Madison wiped the corners of her eyes, looked up, and said embarrassedly: "Then... please give me an evil remain."
"What?"
The corner of William's mouth twitched.
"Af... After all, the evil spirits here have all been... by you. Zole is still waiting outside, and you wouldn't want my memory to remain for too long either, right," Madison whispered.
William called her a good fellow inwardly.
He did collect a few evil remains just now; he didn't expect to be targeted so quickly.
"Start." He tossed a small wooden jar over.
Madison didn't dare to delay. She hurriedly sat on the ground and bit her finger with her teeth.
Ignoring the dirt on the ground, she used her blood to draw several complex symbols around her, then opened the wooden jar's seal, chanting an obscure and difficult-to-understand spell.
William had already retreated to a safe position, still holding a crucifix in his hand.
Opposite him, the blood runes and the evil remain floated into the air together.
Following that, a suppressed, negative feeling arose in the room.
William frowned, using Holy Power to isolate these influences.
At this time, Madison also floated into the air. A circle of special power enveloped her brain.
If William guessed correctly, this should be the unique "Magic Power" of wizards.
"In essence, it's indeed very similar to Holy Power," he thought inwardly.
Before long, a mass of scarlet energy body flew out from the top of Madison's head, and she also showed a painful and uncomfortable expression.
In the next moment, the evil remain attached to that energy body, churning together with the surrounding blood.
Madison's face squeezed tightly together, and her throat let out painful groans.
"Ahhh..."
Accompanied by a miserable scream, that mass of substance shrank into a blood sphere and dropped to the ground, then rolled to William's feet.
Just as the latter prepared to reach out and pick it up, the blood sphere instantly withered inward, quickly decaying into a pile of flying ash.
A cold wind blew past, and the dust completely disappeared in the laboratory.
William carefully observed with [Holy Eye] and indeed didn't find any anomaly.
And Madison's aura had also weakened to the extreme; even her body had aged a bit.
After a few more minutes, she gradually recovered.
Only then did William step forward and help her up.
Outside the villa.
Zole looked inside anxiously.
He had heard someone screaming miserably more than once just now.
Just as he hesitated whether to go in, two figures suddenly appeared at the door.
"Father William!" Zole's eyes lit up.
Laine and the others also gathered around.
"We had pretty good luck. The evil spirits have been completely purified." William smiled slightly and wiped the dust off his forehead.
"Really! That's great!"
Laine and the others cheered immediately.
They had also heard those commotions earlier.
But due to the priest's prior instructions, plus inner fear, these people hadn't dared to go in all along.
"Father William, your professionalism is breathtaking!" Zole also said excitedly.
He had learned a lot from this exorcism.
But more importantly, since Zole became an exorcist, this was the first time he was truly treated as a "Companion" in a commission.
At this time, an item suddenly flew towards him.
Zole hurriedly reached out and caught it.
"This is..."
Even separated by a layer, he could feel the residual evil aura inside.
"Evil remain!"
William nodded: "This was promised to you long ago."
During the previous practice, he specifically kept that Marcus evil spirit behind.
Zole stood blankly on the spot, a layer of mist covering his eyes.
Seeing this, William immediately stepped back a few steps.
"If you say anything mushy, I will beat you up hard!"
"So... Sorry." Zole hurriedly reached up and wiped his eyes.
Only then did he notice that Ms. Madison had been very quiet all along.
"She..."
"Relax, not dead."
One day later.
The three embarked on the road back to the Guild.
Madison still wore an all-black outfit, leaning back proudly in the car seat.
However, every once in a while, she would size up the priest behind her with a suspicious gaze.
From the moment she entered the villa, she completely had no memory of the subsequent events.
Madison tried asking Zole, but that guy also said he didn't know.
She really wanted to ask the priest again, but whenever she looked at the latter, she inexplicably felt a palpitation, as if just getting close to that person would bring danger.
Therefore, along the way, she was annoyed inwardly.
Zole beside her, however, hugged a wooden jar and had long leaned against the car window, snoring.
And William remained silent throughout the whole journey.
A few hours later, the three arrived at the Exorcist Guild.
Just as they entered the hall, they found the atmosphere here was a bit off.
Exorcists were seen running back and forth among themselves, seemingly discussing something.
Even more people gathered under the screen, staring tightly into the air.
☆☆☆
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