Chapter 98

Lumian was half-squinting his eyes, feeling his pores open up, when he suddenly had an extremely strong sense of danger.

In the ruins of the dream, he had similar experiences before. He abruptly stopped, fell to the side as if he were a boneless, shapeless mass of flesh.

The whistling wind rushed into his ears, and a sharp axe grazed past Lumian's body, splitting the air.

Lumian fell to the ground with a thud, trying to roll over and stand up, but at that moment, pale, pitch-black, strange, and sinister arms extended from the surrounding shadows, grabbing his clothes and constricting his body.

A cold sensation and stiffness quickly seeped into Lumian's body. He frantically wriggled, trying to rely on his great flexibility to break free, while shouting at the top of his lungs, "Help..."

His mouth was instantly covered by two sinister hands covered in small bumps, cutting off his voice, leaving only a muffled sound. At the same time, Lumian saw a long, stretched-out human shadow on the wall, raising an axe toward him.

Clang!

A purely light-composed two-handed greatsword blocked the axe.

Lian was the first to arrive. He didn't even have time to put on his "Dawn Armor," only manifesting the "Dawn Sword."

The axe, which had been in shadow form, revealed its heavy, sharp, and dark shape as soon as it left the wall.

The second to arrive at the bathroom door was Lya, who was in the opposite study. The silver bells on her veil and boots jingled not too urgently.

Lya raised her right palm, aiming her silver-white pistol at the strange arms that were grabbing Lumian.

They were exerting all their strength, trying to drag Lumian into the shadows.

Veins on Lumian's neck, forehead, and hands bulged as he used all his strength.

Even so, he couldn't resist the pale and pitch-black arms, and his entire body gradually merged into the shadows.

Bang!

Lya fired, a golden bullet wrapped in fierce flames hitting a pitch-black arm that seemed about to drip with ink.

The arm immediately caught fire, quickly releasing Lumian's neck and retreating into the shadows in the corner.

When Aurore arrived at the bathroom door, she saw this scene. Seeing that her brother was already one-third of his body thin and dark, his expression becoming increasingly stiff, as if he were about to be frozen, Aurore didn't have time to analyze the situation. She directly pulled out a black iron material from her dark bag.

She sprinkled the powder over Lumian, her light blue eyes deepening.

Lumian immediately felt an invisible giant hand grab his body, pulling him forcefully toward Aurore.

He remembered that his sister had used a similar spell before, but the effect was to push him away, while this time it was pulling him over.

The strength of the giant hand was so great that it matched the sinister and terrifying arms, and Lumian's tendency to slide into the shadows instantly stopped.

Clang, clang, clang!

Lian made several slashes, driving the shadowy figure holding the sharp axe back into the wall.

The next second, Valentine appeared behind Lya and Aurore.

Seeing Lumian's condition, he immediately half-opened his arms.

Imaginary golden flames appeared around Lumian, instantly igniting countless sinister arms.

Those pitch-black or pale arms either melted like wax, dripping liquid, or sizzled and evaporated, turning into wisps of black smoke and dissipating in the air.

In just a couple of seconds, four-fifths of the strange arms that had grabbed Lumian were gone.

The remaining parts couldn't resist the invisible giant hand and Lumian's struggles, and they successively detached from their target.

Lumian suddenly felt a sense of relief, half-flying and half-falling to Aurore's front, pulled by the invisible giant hand.

At this moment, as the pitch-black or pale arms retracted, the shadowy figure holding the axe solidified on the wall, quickly merging with the surrounding shadows, leaving no trace of abnormality.

Lumian stood up, looked around, and sneered, "Is it over?"

"Only one person came, do they underestimate us?"

Aurore glared at him, "Don't talk!"

How could he say such unlucky words at this time?

As Aurore's voice echoed in the corridor, a long, spiky, abnormally thick, pitch-black vine, as if from the abyss, fell from the ceiling beside the study door.

At its top, a giant flower bloomed, red as blood, with a foul smell.

The flower suddenly expanded, like a mouth stretched to its limit.

It abruptly swallowed Lya's head, writhing madly.

As it chewed, the thing in its mouth turned into a thin sheet of paper, torn to pieces.

Then, the pure light greatsword flew out from the bathroom, pinning the giant evil flower to the wall.

Streams of fresh red blood immediately flowed down the sword, evaporating into mist.

Almost simultaneously, similar pitch-black vines fell from the roof of the Lumian household, covering the walls and blocking the windows, growing more giant red flowers.

Aurore had already pulled out a material that seemed to be ground pearls, scattering it into the air, combining it with some natural forces.

An invisible warm wind blew, and the black vines successively lost their vitality, withering and unable to support the red flowers in the air.

They drooped limply to the second-floor floor.

The effect was quite good... Aurore sighed inwardly.

This spell came from a member of the Curly Furry Research Society, who had learned it from somewhere to tidy up lawns and gardens. Aurore had bought it cheaply, thinking it would be useful, and usually used it to clear weeds on the house walls. Today, it actually came in handy.

However, the pitch-black vines, seemingly from the abyss, had an exceptionally tenacious life force. They only withered but didn't die on the spot.

This gave Valentine time to summon golden, imaginary "Light Fires," letting them burn the filthy creatures in the corridor and various rooms.

Lian then filled the area with clear morning light, driving away all evil and dispelling all illusions.

The "Hunter" Lumian, unable to do anything in this situation, suppressed the urge to dance mysteriously, watching his sister and the three outsiders work together to clean up the abnormality that had invaded the second floor.

Soon, the black vines and red flowers turned into green smoke.

However, the silver bells on Lya's veil and boots were still jingling, indicating that the danger had not been resolved.

Lumian quickly looked around, sniffing, "The smell in the air seems off..."

It was as if there was a faint, sweet, and foul smell lingering.

"I feel a bit dizzy, like I want to sleep," Lya didn't hide her discomfort.

The gas from the burning vines and flowers had an anesthetic effect? How sinister! Aurore, with her rich knowledge of mysticism, immediately understood.

She pulled out a translucent powder and threw it forward.

A strong wind suddenly arose, sweeping through every corner of the second floor.

Lian, Lumian, Valentine, and Lya, seeing this, each rushed into different rooms, pushing open the windows that had been closed by the black vines.

When the harmless wind stopped.

Aurore looked at Lumian and asked, "Now?"

Lumian sniffed carefully, "The smell is gone."

"I feel much better too," Lya added.

At this moment, the silver bells on her veil and boots had stopped jingling.

This indicated that the crisis was over.

"Was it a probing attack by the parish priest?" Aurore speculated.

Lumian glanced at the pale Valentine, "I think it was. I wonder if it was the newly blessed Guillaume Benet or the originally powerful shepherd Pierre Berry."

Hearing his name, Valentine's expression eased.

Lian looked around and said in a deep voice, "Regardless of which possibility, it reminds us that we must raise our alert level.

"From now on, we will divide into two groups, taking turns to rest and keep watch, regardless of day or night."

If only one person was on watch alone, they might be attacked and fall into trouble, with no one to provide timely help.

"No problem," Aurore and Lumian looked at each other and said, "My brother and I will be one group."

Lian and the others had no objections.

Afterward, the two groups took turns on six-hour shifts, responsible for keeping watch. Although nothing happened for a while, as Lent approached, they all clearly knew that danger was coming, and it would come in waves.

During this time, Lumian continued to explore the dream while resting.

He didn't immediately go to hunt the fire monster, suppressing his inner urgency, determined to fully understand the target's activity patterns.

Relying on his "Invisibility" ability, long-distance tracking, repeated observations, and sufficient patience, Lumian finally gathered the information he wanted: the fire monster would set traps and practice its skills on the open ground in the morning of the dream time, which would last for 45 minutes to an hour. Then, it would leave along a fixed route, entering an area with many pieces of flesh to replenish its energy.

Its afternoon activities had no clear pattern, mainly patrolling its "territory" along different routes. Lumian had yet to discover the criteria for choosing these routes.

In the evening, it would again follow the fixed route into the hunting area.

After that, Lumian didn't know, as he spent at most six hours in the dream ruins and had never explored at night.

...

The night before Lent.

Lumian woke up in his bedroom in the dream, surrounded by a faint gray mist, looking at the "Fallen Mercury" beside him, his mind instantly focused.

Tonight, he would hunt the fire monster.