Chapter 301: The Farmer and the Electricity Thief (Part 8)
Clatter.
Bettis was slightly distracted when a cloth bag was suddenly dropped into her arms. She opened it and saw some old holy artifacts inside.
"I said I would offer you protection," Rudolf smiled.
He then turned his head.
The survivor who was being chased on the first floor earlier had been brought over.
"Time to move. I don't want to wait here for the Sweeper to come knocking."
After speaking, Rudolf immediately went to greet the newcomer.
Bettis looked at his back and gritted her teeth.
This man spoke nicely, but the holy artifacts he gave her were all below twenty-year vintage quality. The stone seals exchanged for this level were fundamentally useless against Sweepers.
And the higher vintage ones were controlled by Rudolf and his lackeys.
The lost holy relics in the hands of this group were mostly snatched, and their original owners didn't all die at the hands of the Sweepers either.
Bettis's gaze was complex, mourning for that newcomer not far away.
At this moment, she suddenly heard a wet, sticky sound.
Almost on instinct, she shouted, "Sweeper!"
The next moment, a heartbeat immediately rang in everyone's ears.
And at the corner of the classroom not far away, a red light "crawled" out from the ground.
Only then did Bettis see clearly—so there was a Sweeper's lair passage hidden there. The thing was a circular hole, surrounded by piles of a flesh-and-blood mixture.
The moment she discovered it, the Sweeper had completely crawled out of the hole. Slender giant limbs, a skinless body, petal-like mouthparts...
As soon as the Sweeper appeared, it roared demonstratively at the crowd.
"Mr. R-Rudolf, what do we do about that monster..." The newcomer who was brought over panicked.
If it were just now, he would have run away long ago, but this gentleman in front of him said he had a way to deal with the Sweeper.
"This? Don't worry." Rudolf put his arm around the former's neck.
The next moment, he actually stomped hard on that person's ankle and then shoved him forward.
"Ahhh! What are you doing! No!"
Rudolf didn't care at all about the man's cries for help. Instead, he snatched the other party's holy artifact: "Hmph, to think it's a fifty-year vintage."
After tucking it away, he walked straight towards Caroline, grabbed this nun, and sprinted into the distance.
Bettis and Hugh also followed under the coercion of the other lackeys.
Before long, the two heard a miserable scream coming from behind.
First floor, Auditorium.
This was located at the corner of the school. In the center was a generator, and next to it was a small ramp leading to the second floor.
Besides this, there were two vertically placed wooden pallets in the auditorium. When encountering a Sweeper, these were among the few things that could be used to resist the former.
At this moment, a small team of people had just rushed here.
At this time, a miserable scream suddenly came from afar.
The leader immediately raised her fist, and the people behind orderly stopped.
Olivia narrowed her eyes, discerning the direction the sound came from.
Compared to when they were in the Holy Land, the team she led only had five people left, and everyone was stained with blood and dust.
No matter how careful they were, casualties in their team were inevitable.
"It seems to be the second floor..." she pondered.
"But Ms. Guerrero... the Sweeper is clearly right behind us," one person's voice trembled.
"D-don't talk nonsense, there's not even a heartbeat around," another person retorted.
"But... look, there seems to be a shadow there."
"Don't look back!" Olivia shouted immediately.
Of course, she had also noticed the anomaly, but this thing had followed them all the way without making a move. Now that they stopped, that thing also stopped in place. Before figuring out the situation, she didn't want to break this balance.
"What would he do if it were him..." Olivia frowned tightly.
A moment later, her eyes lit up.
"You three leave in different directions respectively. Lord Saul and I will wait here."
"W-wait! Why should they go first." A blonde young man stood up.
"Hey! Keep your voice down, do you want to be discovered!" a Guerrero clansman spoke up.
Olivia said: "Lord Friel, this is to figure out the purpose of that transparent shadow."
"Perhaps that guy is only tracking one of us. This way, after the others are safe, we can set up defensive measures to solve this trouble."
The blonde young man thought for a moment, then shook his head vigorously: "No! What if I'm the one it's chasing?"
Olivia sighed inwardly, but still said patiently: "Lord Friel, I will accompany you the whole time..."
"No, no, no! I think we should go first." Friel proactively stood up.
Olivia instantly felt a headache coming on.
Right now, only this auditorium nearby had wooden pallets. If they wandered aimlessly and happened to run into a Sweeper, it would be dangerous...
Just as she was about to change her strategy, she suddenly realized the surrounding environment had changed.
Many floating ashes suddenly appeared in the air, and the noise in her ears became clear and ethereal.
Olivia only felt as if a veil had been cast over everything around her.
"Hehehehe..."
At this time, a low laugh appeared in her ear.
Olivia gulped and slowly turned her head.
She saw that there was already a person standing where that shadow was originally.
An ugly, creepy smile greeted her eyes.
Thump-thump... Thump-thump...
The heartbeat suddenly appeared, and within a second it became urgent!
This meant the Sweeper was extremely close to her.
Squelch—
With a scream, a large pool of blood instantly flowed onto the ground.
Olivia watched helplessly as another companion was injured.
"Run!" she shouted forcefully.
"You guys go! I've already been on the iron hook twice. Even if I get out, I won't be able to run far," the hacked Guerrero clansman gritted his teeth and said.
"I'll stall for time for you here." He gave a thumbs up, forcing the corners of his mouth to turn up.
Friel Saul immediately ran towards the corridor.
Olivia took a deep look at that clansman, and then also followed.
This was also a mandatory subject of the "Guerrero Defense Training"—when a teammate buys time for you, don't waste their life.
A tear slid from the corner of Olivia's eye.
Only a minute later, a miserable scream sounded from behind again.
Another ten seconds passed, and an evil aura fell from the ceiling of the auditorium, lifting a soul and floating upward.
First floor, Reception Room.
Clang... Clang...
The harsh toll of a bell echoed in the corridor. William immediately crouched low.
"This is the voice of the Evil Spirit," Austin frowned tightly. "Whenever a soul is devoured, the Evil Spirit will ring the reception bell."
"This Evil Spirit really knows how to intimidate people..." William's gaze was also complex.
The Evil Spirit he encountered this time was completely different from before. For the other party to be able to control so many powerful monsters was simply unbelievable.
William turned his head: "Everyone, the most urgent task is to figure out the patterns of the Sweepers and the terrain of this area..."
He assigned tasks to the crowd.
"You guys can no longer afford to be downed. Leave the task of finding the Sweepers to us." William pointed to himself and Ruen as he spoke.
"W-wait, my body is weak. I haven't rested properly for a long time." The latter weakly raised his hand.
"Ever since entering the Land of the Holy War, this kid's energy has been abnormally abundant. He can do it," Vera forcefully pressed Ruen's hand down.
William nodded: "Then it's decided."
Ruen instantly had a face full of despair.
Next, the group discussed the rendezvous time, and then William and Ruen disappeared into the corridor.
"Screams occurred upstairs and on this floor one after another. Does the Sweeper possess an ability similar to the Nurse Butcher? Or..."
While pondering, William suddenly saw a shadow float past the corridor.
Relying on [Divine Eye Seal], he saw the spirit particle runes on the surface of the figure.
"Invisibility?" He raised an eyebrow and immediately followed.
Ruen beside him was still feeling the wall and moving forward slowly.
A moment later, he raised his head: "Huh? Where did he go?"
The hollow corridor had no end in sight, like a giant maw waiting for prey.
Ruen's legs trembled, and a drop of cold sweat slid down his forehead.
At the same time, in another corridor.
Olivia clutched her arm and crashed into the corner wall.
She didn't dare to rest, immediately adjusting her balance and leaving.
The next second, a sharp blade hacked into the wall.
Just now, in order to cover the escape of that Saul family member, Olivia proactively used her flashlight to attract the Sweeper's attention.
Because there was no special terrain nearby, she could only forcefully tank a strike from the Sweeper to buy time to transition to another terrain.
At this moment, the door leading to the courtyard was right before her eyes. She remembered there was still a wooden pallet at the clock tower there.
But at this time, her foot accidentally slipped.
Although she immediately recovered her posture, she still wasted a few seconds.
In a confrontation with a Sweeper, a one-second difference could determine life and death.
And at this moment, the red light from behind was already shining on her body.
Despair flashed in Olivia's eyes: "Could it be... this time I'm really going to..."
But the expected pain didn't arrive.
She turned her head and found that the Sweeper was actually standing in place.
The other party was clutching its head, seemingly in great pain.
At this time, the ash in the air also gradually disappeared.
Although the surroundings were still the school corridor, something seemed different.
At the same time, Olivia also saw a familiar figure.
"William!"
The joy in her tone overflowed her words.
"You are..." William's eyes showed some confusion.
The other party looked familiar, but he really couldn't remember.
At this moment, although Olivia wore a nun's robe, it had many more "decorations" on it.
For example, a hard steel plate placed in the chest pocket to defend against sudden frontal damage. And a row of pockets on her belt held food, holy artifacts, and medical items...
Rather than a nun, Olivia looked more like a wilderness survivalist at this moment.
"It's me! Olivia Guerrero!" She placed her uninjured hand on her hip, her eyes full of resentment.
Only then did William recognize the other party: "Why are you here, and who is this..."
He looked at the other person.
He had chased the transparent shadow all the way here just now, only for Olivia and this person to suddenly appear in the corridor.
Thump-thump... Thump-thump...
The heartbeat in his ears grew increasingly urgent, and the red light in front of that person also illuminated the floor.
William slowly backed away, but his eyes stared fixedly at the other party.
This person in front of him also looked quite familiar.
A round-brimmed fedora, a red-and-green striped sweater, and a pair of dirty worker's overalls...
"Freddy?" William said with a face full of doubt.
"Ugh ah..."
Hearing this, the person turned around, revealing a face full of burn scars.
"It really is him." William narrowed his eyes.
But this guy should be dead.
No.
William suddenly remembered something.
Back when their group was about to kill Freddy, the pipes in the boiler room suddenly shattered, and immediately after, a black claw similar to a spider dragged Freddy into the black fog.
"Black claws... dense fog..." He realized something.
"So the black fog that appeared back then was the Evil Spirit!"
At the same time, Freddy opposite him also slowly walked towards William.
The latter immediately put on a vigilant face.
But this Lord of Nightmares suddenly opened his mouth and spoke.
"You... carry a scent... very familiar."
Freddy's voice was hoarse, pausing for a long time after every word, as if mastering the ability to "speak" was very difficult for him.
Hearing this, William was also somewhat surprised. This was his first time encountering a Sweeper that could communicate.
But of course, he wouldn't let this opportunity slip: "You are Freddy? You recognize me?"
Olivia aside opened her mouth wide.
What is this situation??
Weren't you just chasing me to kill me?
How do you two know each other?
Her brain couldn't process the turn of events for a moment.
On the other side, Freddy spoke again.
"Fred... dy... Krueger, that is... my name." He revealed a pained expression, pounding his head hard.
"I don't... know you, but you... carry a scent... very familiar."
William looked the other party up and down, then suddenly discovered something.
"Are you saying this is very familiar?"
He took a leather glove out of his bag, embedded with five sharp blades.
He had picked this up after resolving the Freddy commission back then and had kept it properly stored ever since.
Seeing the glove, Freddy acted as if he had been stimulated by something, his emotions suddenly becoming agitated: "Give it to me... hurry... give it to me, I don't want to be bound by it anymore..."
William immediately put the glove behind his back: "Of course I can give this to you, but what can I get in return?"
At this time, Olivia also walked to his side: "This is... your friend?"
She asked a question that even she felt was absurd.
William shook his head: "Encountered him in a commission I took on once..."
On the other side, after Freddy roared for a while, he stood still again, his eyes much clearer.
"I seem to have indeed met you..." He took off his fedora, revealing his bald, scarred head.
"Human, if you give me the glove, I will send you out of this place."
As soon as these words came out, William raised an eyebrow.
Olivia aside even covered her mouth and gasped, involuntarily turning her head to look at him.
This was the inner desire of all the survivors.
But William didn't rush to express his stance: "How do I know if you're lying to me, unless you answer a few questions for me."
Freddy thought for a moment: "Alright."
"Why did you appear here? What exactly is the Evil Spirit behind all this?"
Freddy revealed a thoughtful expression: "I... only remember being swept up by a force in the boiler room. After waking up, I was here."
"As for the Evil Spirit... I don't know what that is. I only know he controls this space, and all the rules are established by him."
William rubbed his chin: "It really is the Freddy I encountered."
But outwardly he continued: "Since you say the rules are established by that entity, then how can you take us out?"
"I was granted some authority... As long as the gate is open, I can take you into the rift of this space."
Freddy clenched his fist: "There is a path leading to the final gate there."
This harvest was truly somewhat beyond his expectations.
But William still tried to obtain more intelligence: "We can open the gate ourselves. This condition is not enough to move me."
Olivia jumped in fright.
"Refusing like this, won't the Sweeper kill us?" she thought inwardly.
But Freddy acted quite rationally: "There is another Sweeper in this school. Without my help, it will be very difficult for you to escape."
"Moreover, this space is pieced together from countless areas. You will find it very hard to find the correct path."
William also agreed with this point.
However, the last time he engaged this demon, the other party acted cunning and bloodthirsty.
Right now, it was only because of the presence of the Evil Spirit, and because he held the leather glove in his hand, that Freddy was holding back out of fear.
Once he rashly believed him, he would be completely handing over his advantage and his life.
At this time, William's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Mr. Freddy, if you agree to sign a contract with me, then I can consider returning the glove to you." He took a piece of parchment out of his bag as he spoke.
This was a Demon Contract, originally belonging to the 39th ranked Demon God of Solomon, "Malphas."
Back when he took on The Messengers commission, William had used Holy Light to exorcise that Demon God, and at the same time, the contract power on the parchment was also erased.
Therefore, after the commission ended, he put this thing away, leaving it in the warehouse to gather dust.
He didn't expect it would come in handy right now.
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