Chapter 518

Who would’ve thought… we’d actually make it back…

Following Leon, who was covered in bloodstains, through the mist and back into the Present World, the three Cleaners couldn’t help but well up with tears as they looked at the familiar sights of the World of the Living, their excitement almost overwhelming.

But before they could thank Leon, the intense sunlight of the present world shone down on their souls, suddenly igniting large amounts of invisible white smoke, burning them so badly that they screamed in agony.

“Open your mouths!”

Leon, who had been prepared for this situation, grabbed the souls of the three cleaners, pried open the Black Goat’s mouth, and shoved them all in.

“?!?!”

“Hold them in! But absolutely do not eat them!”

After giving the Black Goat a warning, Leon still wasn’t reassured, fearing the goat might not resist the temptation of such high-quality souls and sneak a taste. So he bluntly threatened: “Remember this! If even a tiny bit of their souls is missing, I’ll send you to the Alleson Kingdom to be purified along with your whip!”

“Hmph, I won’t eat them if you say so! Like I care!” Facing the threat of purification, the Black Goat, which had just been slightly tempted, immediately became obedient. After rolling its eyes at Leon, it simply held the three souls in its mouth without moving.

As for the three spirits now inside the goat’s mouth, they managed to avoid the sun’s harm thanks to the “protection” provided by the Great Demon, allowing them to temporarily stay safely in the present world. Once Leon finished his operations, Algernon, understanding what he had done, couldn’t help but get extremely excited and said: “They… did you…”

“Explaining it is a bit complicated…”

After checking the movements around the Gate of the Dead and finding no one chasing them, Leon couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of relief, then briefly explained:

“After eating the Death Hound, I inherited part of its power. I can refuse to let souls enter the Deathscape, but this power has limitations—it only works when I’m near the Gate of the Dead.”

“So I just went to the Deathscape once, intercepting the three seniors before they entered, keeping them outside the Gate of the Dead. In short, I managed to temporarily bring them back.”

“What does ‘temporarily’ mean?”

“It means they can’t stay here forever.”

Leon said helplessly:

“According to the rules of the present world, both flesh and soul must coexist to exist. Even avatars of Holy Spirits and True Gods must first create bodies for themselves.

But the bodies of the three seniors are already destroyed. Although I can prevent them from going to the Deathscape, I can’t keep their souls forever. Over time, there will still be problems.

So we need to find a way to leave the Crocodile Kingdom or contact the General Bureau somehow. Otherwise, the souls of the three seniors will still be rejected by this world.”

The problem is, we can’t get out right now…

After hearing Leon’s explanation, Algernon’s excited expression dimmed slightly. He then gritted his teeth and said:

“How about this: you stay in the Crocodile Kingdom, hide with their souls and Princess Phelia. I’ll try to break through and see if I can escape!”

“Senior Algernon, you’d better not have that idea.”

Leon shook his head and said, “I don’t know if your presence has been exposed, but since I led the abduction of Princess Phelia, my existence is definitely known to them. Since I haven’t appeared at the Gemini Division, I must still be somewhere in the Crocodile Kingdom.

Logically speaking, we should be trying to escape right now, so their defenses will be incredibly tight. Your chances of breaking through safely are basically zero.”

“We’re not just waiting idly either; we can still do something.”

After pondering the current situation, Leon thoughtfully said, “In terms of raw strength, Director Edward’s side has one Yellow Path member, one elite rank one, and three veteran rank twos—certainly not bad. According to Nicole’s description, they were ambushed and lost due to insufficient information and the enemy being hidden while we were exposed. The opponent didn’t show any overwhelming strength advantage.

And now, as long as we hide well, it’s the enemy who’s exposed while we’re hidden. We can use this opportunity to gather more information. If their strength isn’t that strong, we might stand a chance to fight them… Seniors.”

Saying this, Leon turned his head toward the Black Goat and asked the three cleaners in its mouth,

“What exactly happened at the Gemini Division? Can you explain as much detail as possible?”

“To be honest, we’re not really sure either…”

After hearing Leon’s words, Reuben, whose body had shrunk to doll size, hesitated before opening his mouth,

“To be honest, there’s not much to say. It was just a powerful artillery barrage. Even though we were caught off guard, it shouldn’t have been too surprising, and dealing with it wouldn’t have been a problem.

But for some reason, the artillery fire seemed extraordinarily fast. We couldn’t react at all, not even enough time to activate our anomalous items. All we saw was the wall exploding before we were blown up directly.”

Extremely fast? Hearing this, Leon raised an eyebrow, recalling what the female journalist had said through the Secret Tail.

No content from 69shu!

The female journalist seemingly hadn’t mentioned anything about the artillery being particularly fast. According to her account, she was the only one who reacted while everyone else didn’t, leading to them being hit by heavy firepower.

So… is it that the artillery was too fast, or were the people too slow? Which one is correct? After contemplating for a moment, Leon turned to look at Algernon beside him and asked pointedly, “Senior Algernon, can you react to close-range activation of thermal weapons?”

“This isn’t a problem.”

After thinking for a moment, Algernon replied,

“With my reaction speed, if someone pulls the trigger in front of me, I just need to dodge the direction of the muzzle. As long as I can see it, I can dodge it, even if it’s right in my face.

If it’s an ambush, it might be tricky within two or three meters, but further away, I can definitely dodge. Even though artillery ammunition is faster than small-caliber firearms, as long as I move quickly and activate my anomalous item, survival isn’t an issue.”

“Would you mind if I tried?”

While saying this, Leon took out a small-caliber nail gun, flipped the safety with his thumb, aimed at the ground in front of Algernon, and calmly reminded,

“I might shoot the ground at any time. When that happens, Senior, activate your anomalous item to stop the nails…”

He didn’t finish his sentence before abruptly pulling the trigger, firing the nails suddenly. Algernon’s eyes sharpened, and his right foot clad in black leather shoes scattered instantly, transforming into a mass of pitch-black threads. Then…

The nails slipped perfectly through the gaps.

“This…”

Seeing the “Skin Threads” barely reaching the embedded nails in the ground, Algernon couldn’t help but freeze, while Leon sighed and gave his judgment.

“Seniors, it seems it’s not that the artillery fire from the Crocodile Kingdom is too fast, but rather your reactions have slowed down.”

(End of Chapter)