Iggwente Upper City, Iron Mud River mid-upper reaches, north bank riverbank.
It was afternoon, the sun in the sky was obscured by gloomy clouds, and the city beneath the horizon appeared in a dull, gray haze.
Inside Buck's mansion, a bloody stench permeated everywhere. In the area with the strongest smell of blood, which was Buck's study, a scene of carnage and devastation, Dorothy silently scanned her surroundings, finally fixing her gaze on the window Bill had climbed out of.
"Mentor... huh?"
Dorothy murmured the title. The young man named Bill had just said he was ordered by his Mentor to take Buck and Clifford away. As for Clifford, who was already unable to move, he was directly abandoned after all his "Cup" were extracted.
'Mentor... just hearing this title, it seems like he's the teacher of Bill and Buck and others. If that's the case, it proves that the leaders of the Red Communion Society aren't just at Buck's level. Above Buck, there might be this so-called Mentor... He might be the true master of the Holy Communion Society.'
Dorothy thought this, but then various other doubts arose in her heart. Who is this Mentor? She had been clashing with the Holy Communion Society before, and now that she had beaten them to this state, why hadn't he appeared? There wasn't even a Shadow of him. What was the meaning of suddenly sending someone to rescue them now? And directly extracting people into "Cup" before taking them back, was he here to save "Cup" or to save people?
All sorts of thoughts surged into Dorothy's mind. She only pondered for a moment before shaking her head and not thinking deeply, because she knew now was not the time for such thoughts.
The top priority now was to collect the items and make a quick escape.
Then, Dorothy walked directly into the secret room, starting to see if there were any good things. Relying on the Spirituality vision provided by Appraisal, she could now easily identify Spirituality storages, extraordinary items, and secret transmissions, so finding things was quite easy.
Dorothy picked up the briefcase that had contained the lime mechanism earlier, shook everything out of it, and began to pack things into the empty briefcase. Since most of the items had already been scoured by Buck and were on him, not much was left for Dorothy. After looking around, there were only a few talismans and a little Spirituality storage, some materials for rituals, and two secret transmissions, one of which was the novel she had read before, "The Taste of Crimson."
Although there were only a few items with extraordinary properties, there were also various mundane valuables in the secret room. Dorothy found a few pieces of jewelry that looked like precious metals, as well as cash.
Dorothy continued to search Buck's secret room, trying every possible way to find hidden treasures. Just as she had packed everything into the briefcase and was about to finish up and slip away, the sound of dense hoofbeats suddenly came from the street.
'What's going on?'
Hearing this sound, Dorothy felt a wave of confusion. She activated the Corpse Puppet Ring to connect to the crow Corpse Puppet waiting on the roof, controlling the crow Corpse Puppet to spread its wings and fly into the sky, observing the situation below. Then she saw several large black double-horse carriages driving from the distant street, stopping at the front yard entrance of Buck's house. Then, a group of men armed with firearms, wearing uniform black uniforms and masks, disembarked and began flooding into Buck's yard.
'Damn! Hunter? How did they find this place so quickly?'
Relying on the high-altitude view, Dorothy couldn't help but feel shocked at the sight of the black-clad men flooding in. Logically, the Hunter shouldn't have been able to find Buck's house so quickly, right? Shouldn't they have come after the police notified them? How could they be so fast? Weren't they still at Sunken Wharf before?
'When Buck and the others escaped, the An Yin Bureau caught their tail and tracked them all the way? Did the person tracking them report their location to the main Hunter force and have them rush over? No... how could the Hunter catch up with the Thirster running so fast? Having just escaped from the battlefield, Buck and the others wouldn't have had no intention of counter-tracking, right? They should have known to circle around a few times to shake off any tails. Or perhaps when Buck and the others left, they were fitted with a tracker or something similar, and the Hunter tracked them all the way here?'
All sorts of possibilities flashed through Dorothy's mind at high speed. However, at this time, the Hunter team members had already flooded into Buck's yard one after another, spreading out to occupy various positions and setting up entrances and exits. Some Hunter entered the surrounding buildings and began sticking gun barrels out of the windows on the second and third floors, aiming at the various windows of Buck's mansion. In less than a minute, the entire Buck mansion was completely blockaded by the Hunter.
'Oh no... I'm screwed...'
Seeing this scene, Dorothy slumped against the wall, her face ashen.
...
After dealing with the remaining Holy Communion Society members at Sunken Wharf, the Hunter Squad tracked them along the river from Sunken Wharf to Silver Riverbank. Their large black carriages were now stopped steadily at the entrance of Buck's mansion, and the black-clad Hunter who poured out quickly blockaded Buck's mansion.
Stepping down from the carriage, Grego, wearing a mask, entered Buck's yard. After scanning the mansion before him, he couldn't help but scoff and speak.
"Silver Riverbank District... such a large house, what a spectacle, what a spectacle... I didn't expect the leader of this Holy Communion Society to have such status. I'm afraid the houses of the three of us in Igwinte combined aren't as big as this one."
With a mocking tone, Grego said directly, while Eilina, holding a compass, continued to speak.
"The upper echelons of many otherworld and heretical societies hold high positions in society. The wealth they possess is coveted by these societies, so those societies will try every possible way to corrupt and win over these people. After all, the funds required for mysterious research are a bottomless pit, and these so-called noble people, in addition to their extravagant lifestyles, will also want to pursue novel things, snort."
Eilina's tone carried disgust, and then she thought for a moment and continued to speak.
"However, based on the Holy Communion Society's performance so far, they are still relatively simple evil societies. The elements of heresy or otherworld are not strong, otherwise the Church would have to exert more effort, instead of just sending me out."
After Eilina finished speaking, Turner, who was tall on the other side, sniffed his nose, then turned his gaze to the third floor where the glass was severely broken.
"The smell of blood is very heavy in this house, especially upstairs. A fierce bloody battle may have occurred, and many people died," Turner said slowly. Hearing his words, Grego couldn't help but frown slightly.
"A bloody battle occurred? Do you mean that after those two guys escaped back here, they fought with someone else?"
"It's still unclear, but I think the situation inside is not right now. Be careful when you go in," Turner said with a clear tone of warning. Listening to Turner's words, Grego and Eilina slowly nodded.
Immediately after, Grego drew his sword, Eilina took out her pistol, and Turner clenched his iron fist. The three of them led a team of Hunter into the large mansion with full concentration and vigilance.