Thanks to Salvatore’s warning, Annan didn’t attempt to make eye contact with the "Watcher."
He simply kept his head down, observing her rough movements out of the corner of his eye.
When faced with Annan’s charge, the "Watcher" didn’t move an inch to avoid it.
Under her fluttering robe, from where two empty sleeves should have been, two enormous, translucent white bone hands the size of halves of a door suddenly burst forth, reaching for Annan!
Yet, when faced with this obstruction, Annan didn’t retreat in the slightest.
He didn’t even use a spell.
He simply threw a few silver coins from his bag which melted in mid-air and plated his great hammer.
Halting his steps suddenly, Annan, using the momentum of the charge and a slight twist, swung his long-handled hammer horizontally!
Empowered by both drugs and Curse Binding, Annan’s "Barrier-Breaking Right Arm" hammered down heavily on the "Watcher’s" right hand!
Under the air-waves of the hammer’s head, her bone hand shattered into dust without the slightest resistance.
But the Watcher herself, as if devoid of pain, showed no reaction at all, simply reaching out her right hand to grasp Annan.
The sharp finger bones were like five daggers, ready to wrench off Annan’s head with a single grab!
Annan, on the other hand, simply extended his right arm, which was devoid of strength, in front of his head for her to catch.
Instantly, five gashes appeared on his right arm. Blood flowed out in an instant, dripping onto the ground.
But the moment she grabbed Annan’s right arm, his left hand, which he had wrapped with Curse Binding without her noticing, struck out like a flash of lighting.
With just one strike, he severed the hand she extended!
At that instant, Annan felt as if something had been added inside his abdomen.
It was as if... a very thin bone fragment had been teleported inside Annan’s belly.
...Could this be the true nature of my Curse Binding?
Annan paused for a moment, understanding dawned on him.
So it triggers after attacking an "edible creature"...
Although his right arm was bloody, fortunately the Watcher had only just grabbed his arm, and she had not cut off his tendons.
Annan, who didn’t feel pain, didn’t retreat at all.
In the blink of an eye, at the cost of his injury, he disarmed the "Watcher’s" defense the moment they met. Naturally, he wouldn’t give her another chance to rebuild her defense—
His blood-soaked right arm regained strength and he fiercely struck back with the hammer gleaming with a silver light.
With a dull sound of shattering, like a skull being smashed, the "Watcher" was split apart and sent flying!
Annan’s body slightly bent, and his left hand conveniently slipped into the bag.
As he put back the bloody boning knife... Annan took out four silver coins from his bag.
He placed one silver coin on his right arm and slid it down. The wound was erased as if by an eraser, and his arm instantly returned to its original state.
At the same time, using his right arm as a fulcrum—Annan’s left hand stretched straight forward and his right arm, with a slight downward tilt to the left, intertwined into a cross.
The next moment, three beams of silver light shot out from Annan’s palm in a ’品’ shape, hitting the "Watcher’s" head, chest, and abdomen, shattering her in mid-air before she could even land!
[For dispersing the silver-ranked summon "Watcher" in combat, you have gained 500 shared experience points.]
Annan’s eyes widened.
Shocked, how could there be so much experience?
No, it should be said... This noob is actually silver-ranked?
Just then, Salvatore’s anxious voice came from behind, "Behind you!"
Annan, without thinking, rolled forward in a not-so-graceful tactical roll the moment he heard the voice.
He felt a rush of wind brush past the back of his head... as though it shaved off some hair.
Annan quickly adjusted his posture on the ground, took out three silver coins from the bag, and slipped them between the fingers of his left hand, as if putting on knuckledusters made of money.
He turned around and paused slightly.
Behind him stood a young girl — with a body, including her face and eyes, completely uncovered by clothes, only wrapped in dry, yellow bandages like a mummy and hairless.
In each hand, she wielded a dark green jade dagger. After her attack failed, she gradually dissipated from the air...
And by Salvatore’s side, there followed a burly man gripping a black, spiked great hammer, resembling a character straight out of a Disney animation, with a truly inverted triangular physique.
Salvatore looked somewhat disheveled. He fumbled in his box and threw two potions at the burly man.
... So two more monsters spawn?
If that’s the case, what about the other side—
Annan finally realized what he and Salvatore had overlooked.
Or rather, before seeing "Untouched Heart Sings," Annan did not know to what extent the Rotting Husband Church intended to go.
Now it seemed, they were dead set on preventing Michelangelo’s resurrection.
Then they couldn’t possibly only summon the most powerful "Soul Eater"!
They had at least nine people—
Of course, now that "Untouched Heart Sings" had been activated, they might be down to eight...
That is to say, they might be conducting eight summoning rituals simultaneously!
"I’ll help you!" Annan declared resolutely.
This XP pack—no, this burly man is too strong and durable; it’s too dangerous for you!
Annan did not hesitate and intended to rush to the burly man’s side—
But at that moment, Annan’s skin acutely felt the flow of air.
He stopped in his tracks, raising his long-handled hammer with his right hand.
The "mummy" that had just turned invisible in front of him hadn’t hidden away.
Instead, she appeared right in front of him, chopping down at the handle of his hammer!
From the force of her blow, Annan deduced that her strength wasn’t that great...
Could it mean that her weapon was poisoned?
"...You don’t want me to pass?"
He was somewhat surprised by the intelligence of this Summon.
Indeed, taking on that bulky and tough guy was actually a beating...
But he hadn’t cast Spell of Disabling yet.
How did this child guess?
Annan snickered, slowly raising his hammer towards her, ready to strike.
"It’s all the same. Since you want to fight me, I—"
Annan was speaking to her, when a quiet surge of azure brilliance emerged from the depths of his eyes.
Underneath his feet, an aura of wintry chill burst forth without warning!
The bandaged undead girl sensed something before Annan used his Frost Nova.
She tried to leap high into the air.
But the spread of Annan’s Frost Nova was even faster—
As the wintry aura expanded to its limit, it climbed upward like wildfire at his feet.
She had just leapt right into the midst of the cold!
And in that moment, as her movements grew stiff, Annan suddenly retracted his hammer and launched his left fist—firing all three silver coins clenched between his fingers!
[For dispersing the bronze-tier Summon "Plague Maiden" in combat, gained 20 common experience points]
"Heh... Sir, times have changed."
Annan chuckled and withdrew his hand.
From this "Plague Maiden" daring to intercept him, Annan immediately deduced she likely had no precognitive abilities.
Otherwise, she would have known that ganging up on Salvatore was the correct choice.
But she knew Annan wanted to rescue Salvatore.
So she must possess some kind of rapid, long-range mind-reading ability...
—But Annan’s advantage was his incredibly swift action!
Even he himself didn’t know what he might think next—
Spontaneous AoE strikes that came to mind, taking action the moment he thought of it, by the time she reacted, it was already too late to dodge!
"Tan, Tan Juan! Help, help me... Save me!"
Salvatore called out to Annan in a miserable shout.
He felt extremely aggrieved.
This resilient brute of a man had been following him closely, not even giving him the chance to summon spells, let alone grab a potion...
"Don’t panic, I’m coming right now!"
Annan excitedly picked up his hammer as he watched Salvatore, chased by a giant hammer-wielding figure, running swiftly towards him.
He felt... he could level up at least twice!
These Summons were so plump one by one!
Meanwhile, at number 12 Xiushui Street.
Kafney rubbed her eyes tiredly and leaned against the wall.
She was still in that dark and melancholic attire that gave her a somber air...
And from beneath her skirt, more than ten tentacles extended, one of which lifted her skirt from behind while creating a cushion against the wall.
The rest of the tentacles tightly locked the joints of a faceless man dressed as a magician in a red outfit, repeatedly lifting him up and then slamming him down with force!
"Wasn’t it agreed to wait until I’m awake..."
She murmured, lowly grumbling in dissatisfaction.
The shadow, sensing her emotions, suddenly thickened. It twisted the man clad in red into a twisted mess like a twist of dough.
Afterward, he exploded, turning into a piece of red cloth.
In the next moment, the air around her gradually heated up.
A knight in a fully enclosed dark redplate armor, riding a large stallion also covered in dark red armor and wielding a bloody lance, charged fervently from the other end of the street.
He faced the delicate and defenseless Kafney as if she were a dragon or a demon—charging at her seriously with a standard Charge!
Kafney’s expression briefly shifted, turning a tad more serious.
"...Red knight, a valiant knight?"
She murmured softly, straightening up.
Kafney opened a tiny hand-held lamp she carried around her waist, placing it behind her.
Then, she slightly loosened her coat to widen the area of shadow.
Her clothing was special; the front was twice as thick as the back... because it folded back to the front from the shoulder blades, meaning her front clothing had two layers of buttons. If one layer of buttons was undone, the two sides of the clothing could open like butterfly wings.
Kafney, facing the red knight charging from the distance, closed her eyes.
Her mental powers began to stir—she floated slightly into the air, her clothes fluttering outward vigorously.
If seen from behind, it was akin to a black butterfly spreading its splendid wings.
In the profound shadow cast before her, countless tentacles stirred, boiling slightly like the deep sea.
And the knight who charged into this dark sea remained utterly fearless—