The battle might stop soon, but it could also last for several more hours.
Xia De, realizing the danger and the possibility of being caught in a wide-range attack, decided to retreat further.
He consciously hid himself in the dense Woodland, watching the thick fog and pondering the reasons and implications of everything he had witnessed tonight.
After confirming his safety, he crouched low, holding Mia, and ran deeper into the thick fog. Fortunately, the power of the divine ritual still lingered on this land, so there was no need to worry about encountering evil spirits in the fog.
The thick fog prevented Xia De from moving too quickly, and he was still thinking about Joey Barton. Around 7:40 PM, Xia De, hidden in the grass and concealed by an illusion, once again encountered someone running through the fog.
Although the sound was very close, it wasn't coming towards Xia De; the person ran past him about ten meters away in the Woodland.
The fog was hazy, but Xia De's eyes, peering through the leaves, still caught sight of a man dressed like a circus clown. He was tall and thin, wearing a red performance costume, and even had a red nose attached to his nose.
Generally speaking, seeing such a person in the Woodland at night would suggest they were not normal, but this clown seemed to be truly an ordinary person.
“Where did this one come from? No, it has nothing to do with me, no need to go out.”
The Outsider thought to himself, carefully tucking the cat into his arms to prevent it from meowing and attracting attention.
Although the man dressed as a clown was an ordinary person, he moved very agilely through the Woodland and soon disappeared into the fog.
At the same time, he felt a slight burning sensation on his shoulder. Subconsciously, he covered his right shoulder, only then realizing that the Red Butterfly brand was hot, and it seemed as if the Red Butterfly brand was trying to detach from Xia De’s shoulder. Xia De spent a great deal of effort to suppress it:
“That clown, is he one of the 'nails' sent from the Gap to Mi Fort?”
Xia De thought, surprised.
This could explain why the Truth Society suddenly called Mr. Barton away; since Joey Barton could see others' death dates, he would be able to discover those who died in the past.
He did not immediately give chase, as there were still sounds in the foggy Woodland.
Dozens of seconds later, five or six men in black formal suits caught up, and Xia De actually recognized one of them: Professor Johnson, a High-Ring Sorcerer from the Truth Society who had killed two companions in that desolate village and escaped from Helen.
The people around him were dressed almost identically, and they all looked like scholars. These people moved very quickly, traversing the Woodland like the wind, clearly utilizing extraordinary power.
“People from the Truth Society? Are they chasing that clown? Did the clown escape by taking advantage of the Orthodox Church's encirclement?”
But Xia De still did not show himself, instead watching the group disappear. Because very quickly, a third group of people caught up from behind, and this time, it was surprisingly Mr. Barton.
He looked incredibly disheveled, and due to his slight physical disability, his speed of movement in the Woodland was not fast. It was hard to say whether the clown or Mr. Barton was more terrifying in the Woodland at night. With his strange childlike appearance and peculiar way of walking, a normal person encountering him would probably turn and run.
“Mr. Barton actually escaped?”
This scene surprised Xia De even more than the appearance of the 'nail'. The situation this afternoon clearly indicated that the Truth Society was ambushed and surrounded by the Orthodox Church. For Mr. Barton, a Ring術士, to be able to escape to this periphery was truly unimaginable.
As Mr. Barton ran, he used Miracle to restore the trampled branches and withered leaves in the Woodland to their original state. Compared to those in front of him who ran and chased without scruple, he was more afraid of being discovered.
He had blood on him, though it was slight, it wouldn't be difficult to track in the dense Woodland. Therefore, Xia De did not immediately give chase, but weighed the pros and cons in his mind.
He squinted slightly into the distance; this time, a full minute passed before the fourth group of people caught up. And this time, the newcomers were finally from the Orthodox Church.
It was a full Sun Church Ring術士 team, and Xia De even saw Iluna among them. She was wearing a women's hunting suit convenient for movement, with a large sun emblem hanging on her chest, the Judge's Holy Bell in her left hand, the cloth-strip sword wrapped around her wrist, and the mirror she obtained at the Fire Worship Festival banquet at her waist.
The group tracked the marks on the ground, but due to Mr. Barton's concealment, they temporarily failed to find the direction forward in the thick fog.
It wasn't that the Ring術士's Miracle was very powerful, but that a foggy Woodland at night was inherently not an easy place to track.
“Iluna has appeared, I must help.”
Thinking this, Xia De released his right shoulder, which he had been covering with his left hand. As the burning sensation intensified, a red glow appeared under his clothes. Then, a transparent Red Butterfly flew out from under his clothes, its wings fluttering, scattering specks of red light in the air.
“Go quickly!”
Xia De quietly pointed in Iluna's direction, and the Red Butterfly actually seemed to understand, leaving the illusion's range and flying towards the Church group.
“Miss Bei Ya Si!”
The Orthodox Church's full team had their own division of responsibilities for action. The Ring術士 responsible for searching for the direction of advance quickly discovered the red shadow in the thick fog. Then the shadow came closer and closer, and what emerged from the white fog was indeed a transparent Red Butterfly.
“Red Butterfly?”
The Red Butterfly stopped at a position not far from them, then repeatedly moved closer and further away, hoping they would follow it in the fog. But out of caution, the group did not immediately follow, and even Iluna seemed a bit hesitant.
Xia De, hidden in the grass, shook his head, dispelled the illusion, and then gently patted Mia's head.
“Meow~”
The faint meow could not travel far in the Woodland, as this was the outskirts of the City, so even if someone heard the sound, they wouldn't find it strange.
Iluna's ears twitched, and she looked suspiciously at the surrounding thick fog, then her face showed a sudden realization, and she pointed at the Red Butterfly:
“Follow it, it's guiding us.”
The others did not question Iluna's decision, so the group followed the transparent Red Butterfly into the distance.
“Don't make any sound later.”
Xia De, in the shadow behind the tree, whispered to the cat held in his palm. Mia, crouching, widened her amber eyes and nodded obediently. Xia De then placed her on his shoulder, confirming that no one else appeared in the fog this time, and then followed into the thick fog.
After passing through this private Woodland belonging to a local noble, they arrived at the lake at the foot of the mountain. Xia De had seen this lake on the Red Water Camp sand table; a mountain stream originating from a mountaintop lake converged into this lake at the foot of the mountain, connecting to nearby water systems. This lake was called “Bena Lake,” with Woodland on one side and two small hills on the other.
Perhaps due to the moisture, much of the thick fog by the lake had dispersed. The Moon could be seen, precisely positioned between the hills, casting its three-colored Moonlight onto the lake surface, making the shimmering ripples more textured.
When Xia De followed the Church group to the lakeside, the battle had already begun.
The battle took place on the lake surface; someone had used Miracle to extensively freeze the lake water, and everyone was now standing on the ice. The two sides of the battle were surprisingly that ordinary clown and three Ring術士 from the Truth Society.
“Hehehehahaha…”
The disjointed laughter became clearer as Xia De approached the edge of the Woodland. The clown was still not a Ring術士, but the concentration of whisper element on him far exceeded most relics Xia De had seen.
On the lake under the Moon, he laughed madly, his shadow gradually fading until it disappeared. Two extra hands extended from his back, and the four hands held rhode cards, a red nose, a black short knife, and an old-fashioned matchlock gun, respectively.
The frantic laughter even caused cracks in the ice, and with the laughter, his figure under the Moon continuously disappeared and reappeared; this was surprisingly a spatial movement ability.
Xia De had not directly engaged him, so he couldn't judge his level of danger, but the Ring術士s of the Truth Society, even with their Destiny Ring manifested, were still being suppressed. Of course, this also had to do with their levels.
Only two of them were Middle-Ring, the others were Low-Ring. And the professor, who was originally a High-Ring, surprisingly had Red Butterfly-like rust on his brass Destiny Ring. Clearly, Helen letting him escape didn't mean she worried about him causing other trouble.
The clown seemed to have an endless supply of rhode cards, scattering them in all directions like a rapid-fire machine gun; no one dared to touch the cursed cards. And once a thrown nose ball touched an object, it would cause the object to collapse like a jigsaw puzzle; the black short knife was exceptionally sharp, not only capable of unleashing black blade energy but also able to cut through the spiritual weapons in the hands of High-Ring Sorcerers; and that old-fashioned matchlock gun was even more exaggerated. Although it took more than 20 seconds between shots, once fired, cracks appeared even in space.
“So, a 'nail' who knows his identity is this terrifying…”
Xia De was very glad that the woman in the desolate village was captured before she had a chance to display her power. And considering that the fewer the 'nails', the stronger the power of the remaining 'nails', things would probably become even more difficult later.
Iluna and her group had now followed the Red Butterfly to the lakeside, and the people on the lake naturally noticed them.
Without even needing the three Truth Society members to lead the clown towards them, the clown surprisingly split under the Moon. His body swelled, and then, amidst disgusting black slime, two identical clowns split from the swollen body, one to the left and one to the right.
One continued to fight the Truth Society, while the other appeared beside Iluna with a frantic laugh:
“You all must die!”
The holy bell chimed lightly, and Iluna responded with a Sunlight Gun.
The scene became increasingly chaotic. The clown seemed able to adjust his power according to the number of his opponents. Even fighting an entire Ring術士 team by himself, he surprisingly did not fall into a disadvantage.
