"He's here! He's here..."
Delphi shrieked in terror.
"Shut up!" Quini snapped impatiently. "Go hide somewhere else first!"
"No! Leave her here. Just as she said, that monster came for her. With bait, the hunt becomes easier." Ruboo yanked Delphi back from her attempt to flee, his voice cold.
He had no desire to play hide-and-seek with a monster in the pitch-black night, especially with defenceless girls like Nan and Zoe in the house.
Besides, Delphia was impossible to kill anyway. She made the perfect bait and human shield.
"No! No! Let me hide! That beast Bastian will tear me apart!"
Delphia struggled desperately.
Though she had lived a long life, she possessed only the strength of an ordinary woman and could not break free from Ruboo's grip.
Quini witnessed this. Though she cursed him constantly, her heart softened. "Let Delphi..."
But she fell silent before finishing her sentence.
For at that very moment, the violent pounding on the door abruptly ceased. An eerie silence descended upon the entire ground floor.
"He's coming... he's coming..." Delphi, used as a human shield by Ruboo, trembled violently.
Behind Delphi, Ruboo, with the safety off his Glock, was poised to fire.
"He's over there!"
A voice suddenly rang out from upstairs—it was Nan, the closest of them all.
Her face twisted with terror as she pointed towards a window.
Fully aware of Nan's abilities, Ruboo wasted no time, immediately aiming his gun in the direction she indicated.
Sure enough!
The next instant, the shattering of glass echoed through the air.
A bull-headed man named Bastian, with dark skin and an incredibly strong, burly build, smashed through the window. Panting heavily like an ox, he charged menacingly towards his former mistress, Delphi.
Bang!
Flames erupted from the muzzle.
Ruboo fired without hesitation.
The 9mm bullet struck the minotaur squarely in the heart.
Yet this only caused the creature to stagger momentarily. After spilling foul-smelling black blood from the wound, it roared and charged once more.
"I detest monsters that don't die from bullets!"
While contemplating whether to purchase a heavy machine gun for home use—one that could at least shred the creature's body if not kill it outright—Ruboo's Glock continued to fire relentlessly.
Roars, gunfire, screams.
The commotion spurred the remaining witches upstairs, still unaware of the situation, into quicker action.
"Bloody hell! A voodoo cult's stitched-together abomination!"
Cordelia, rushing out in her nightgown, pulled Nan behind her while instantly recognising the minotaur's identity.
"Ruboo, buy me some time!"
As she spoke, Cordelia swiftly retrieved a piece of chalk and began sketching a ritual circle on the floor.
"Of course." Ruboo glanced back at Cordelia, who was moving with reliable efficiency, and calmly continued firing.
The minotaur wasn't standing still.
Its speed far outstripped that of a normal human, and many bullets missed their mark.
As the pistol's magazine emptied and the minotaur closed in, Ruboo hesitated not a moment. With cunning, he shoved Delphi forward.
Bastian, whose eyes held only his former master, paid Ruboo no heed.
He seized the terrified Delphie. Driven by old grudges and the current commission from the Voodoo Queen Marie, he was about to prepare the woman in his grasp for a return to her dark, coffin-like existence when...
That was when Quini acted.
She plunged a dinner knife deep into her own arm.
She herself remained unharmed, but the Minotaur's arm bore a fresh, deep wound. The hand he'd reached out collapsed.
This was only the beginning.
Quini then drew the knife across her own throat.
In an instant, the Minotaur's throat was slit, black blood spurting wildly.
"Well done, Quini!"
Ruboo, who had just made a hasty retreat, charged back. Seizing the opportunity while the minotaur clutched his neck, he grabbed its horn with one hand and kicked its knee with the other. The combined force sent the beast tumbling to the ground.
CRASH!
The floor of the first storey shook violently.
The minotaur struggled to rise.
Ruboo pinned him down, firing repeatedly into the minotaur's forehead with his newly reloaded Gnoque rifle while shouting at the terrified Delphi, "If you don't want a repeat of what just happened, get over here and help!"
Hearing this, Delphi, forgetting Ruboo's earlier use of her as a human shield, gritted her teeth and rushed over. Her 150-kilogram frame pressed down, sending the minotaur, who had just regained some strength, crashing back down.
Simultaneously, Cordelia, whose ritual preparations were complete, began chanting her incantation.
Mysterious yet potent notes resonated throughout the chamber.
Ruboo and the others felt nothing.
The minotaur, however, let out a savage, agonised howl as if struck by a devastating blow.
He struggled to break free, but Ruboo and Delphi held him down with all their might.
With Quini lending a hand from the side.
Finally, after one last wail, shrill and ghostly, the minotaur fell utterly still.
"Is he dead?"
Quini inquired, despite having been stabbed multiple times without shedding a single drop of blood.
"Of course."
Ruboo nodded, sensing the Containment Book had updated its pages.
Cordelia affirmed at that moment, "His twisted, evil soul is no more."
"Good!"
Quini exhaled in relief, discarding the dinner knife and slumping wearily into a seat.
Though she bore not a single scratch, wielding the voodoo doll's power had drained a considerable amount of her magical energy.
Ruboo cast an envious glance at Quini.
One had to admit, her human voodoo doll ability was truly remarkable, especially against people – it was deadly accurate.
If only he could acquire such a power himself.
Thinking of Madison in her special containment state, Ruboo looked at Queenie, and then...
He shuddered violently.
No, he simply couldn't bring himself to do it!
Ruboo hastily dismissed the dangerous notion.
Rising from the minotaur's corpse, he was about to address Cordelia when a high-pitched, piercing vibration suddenly filled the room.
"What's that?"
Ruboo turned to see Zoe emerge from somewhere wielding a chainsaw, charging towards them with fierce determination.
The earlier commotion had startled her too.
Only she hadn't screamed like a typical girl.
Knowing her abilities would only slow things down, she hadn't sat idly by. Instead, she'd dashed to the storeroom, retrieved the chainsaw she'd spotted earlier, and was now preparing to play a guest role as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre killer.
"Spot on, Zoe," Ruboo gave her a thumbs-up.
Against the minotaur, Zoe's chainsaw—capable of cleaving a man in two—proved far more effective than his pistol.
"Is it over already?" Zoe asked blankly, surveying the now-silent scene.
"You're late," Quini waved at her dismissively.
"Right then."
With a mix of relief and regret, Zoe finally lowered the chainsaw.