Eldritch Horror Theatre

Sure enough, a real man like me stood out like a firefly in the dark no matter where I went—brilliant, exceptional, and drawing an absolute ton of aggro!

It was obvious he had been Mister Luo’s biggest concern from the very beginning; the old man was constantly on guard against him.

So the moment Mister Luo took full control of the Frenzied Spirit, he refused to give Fu Qian any more chances to sit on the sidelines.

”Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider? You two don’t look like you’ve had a falling out yet.”

Heh!

Mister Luo merely sneered, completely unfazed by Fu Qian’s nonsense.

The next moment, walls of the Grey Curtain materialized in every direction, closing in to crush Fu Qian at the center.

That was digested quickly.

It seemed the Frenzied Spirit had already absorbed its powers after eating the priest’s doll.

At the same time, a basketball-sized green fireball formed in Mister Luo’s hand.Within seconds, its color rapidly deepened until it was as pitch-black as ink.

The power of the Aging Curse?

Fu Qian caught a whiff of a familiar aura radiating from it.

Mister Luo hadn’t been boasting. His mastery over the Frenzied Spirit was already high enough to seamlessly fuse their abilities at will.

A moment later, Mister Luo thrust both hands forward, sending the black fireball drifting slowly toward Fu Qian.

Everything in its path corroded and withered away.

The fireball wasn’t moving very fast. Dodging it wouldn’t actually be difficult.

Unfortunately, under the pressure of the closing Grey Curtain, space was compressed and movement grew sluggish, drastically increasing the difficulty of evasion.

This was the very same strategy the dolls had used against the Frenzied Spirit earlier. It was incredibly effective against agile targets.

However, Fu Qian had never planned on dodging in the first place.

Facing the black fireball brimming with the power of the curse, he extended his left hand and fired a shot without hesitation.

Boom!

The black fireball exploded mid-air, detonating right in the middle of its trajectory.

Flames scattered, and the curse erupted in all directions.

The blast wave washed over the area, violently corroding a massive crater straight into the hard stone floor.

Mister Luo was caught in the violent shockwave. Losing control of the Grey Curtain in the air, the barriers shattered and rapidly dissipated into nothingness.

”Not a bad attack. It’s getting me all fired up.”

Under Mister Luo’s solemn gaze, Fu Qian rolled his shoulders and stretched his limbs, spouting absolute nonsense.

”Now, it’s my turn!”

He extended his arm straight out, then raised it high into the air.

Under the terrified gazes of everyone present, a slick, slimy tentacle snaked out from his arm, rapidly expanding and extending outward.

Then a second one...

Then a third...

...

Half a minute later, over a hundred tentacles converged overhead. They coiled and twisted together into a massive, writhing disk, casting a shadow over a huge swath of the area like a grotesque umbrella canopy.

...

Mister Luo’s expression turned uglier than it had ever been, but Delin and Brother Archer off to the side had practically petrified.

Is that really Fu Qian? We actually teamed up with an entity like that?

The exact same thought echoed in both of their minds.

”This is just my starting card—wait, bah—my starting form! This isn’t even my final form!”

Fu Qian continued reciting lines straight out of his memory.

”Now, show me your hundred percent!”

...

Clearly disturbed by a sight that completely defied the imagination, Mister Luo didn’t say a word in response to Fu Qian’s drivel. Instead, he answered with action.

The sickeningly dark green fire appeared on his hand once again, but instead of condensing into a ball, it instantly engulfed his entire body.

At the same time, an even greater number of Grey Curtains materialized in the air, rapidly closing in around Fu Qian.

”Is that the best you can do?”

Fu Qian let out a cold sneer.

”Hmph, you utter trash with a combat power of five!”

Before his voice even faded, the hundreds of tentacles suspended in the air instantly scattered. Each one straightened like a spear, locking dead onto Mister Luo.

However, right at that moment, Mister Luo’s figure abruptly blurred before vanishing from his spot entirely.

In the very next second, he reappeared directly at Fu Qian’s side. Wreathed in roaring black flames, Mister Luo slammed a hand down onto Fu Qian’s shoulder.

The Blink ability really was perfectly suited for a surprise attack!

Several tentacles around Fu Qian instantly whipped around, plunging straight toward Mister Luo’s chest without a hint of hesitation.

Yet despite the swift counterattack, they struck nothing but thin air, piercing straight through a lingering phantom.

Visual misdirection. It disrupted distance perception and fed the opponent false visual cues—yet another ability the Frenzied Spirit had previously displayed.

A savage smirk surfaced on Mister Luo’s face. Capitalizing on the brief window he had bought himself, the black flames engulfing him violently exploded, unleashing a gigantic fireball as he retreated with lightning speed.

Simultaneously, the surrounding Grey Curtains accelerated their collapse, aiming to trap Fu Qian completely and deny him any chance of escape.

Just as Fu Qian seemed trapped in a hopeless situation, Mister Luo suddenly found himself slamming straight into a mass of tentacles. A quick glance revealed that his path of retreat had already been completely sealed off.

Fu Qian hadn’t retracted his tentacles to defend himself at all! Instead, he had formed an even larger barrier, caging both of them inside!

Upon realizing this, Mister Luo’s heart instantly sank.

”Why in such a rush to leave?”

Amidst the violently detonating black flames, Fu Qian stared at Mister Luo with utter calm.

Why was everyone taking a page out of a terrorist’s playbook these days!

Blink, pin down, detonate, and contain.

Such a fluid and linked assault had clearly been planned from the very beginning.

To lull him into a false sense of security, Mister Luo had even deliberately thrown the black fireball earlier to mislead him, making Fu Qian think he favored ranged attacks.

How incredibly calculating!

Unfortunately for him, I was the one holding the boss script today!

”If you’re looking for a thrill, you might as well take it all the way!”

The next moment, endless torrents of black flame violently erupted.

Mister Luo was obviously not the type to sacrifice his own life just for a victory. Even when employing these terrorist-style tactics, there was no way he hadn’t left himself a way out.

In fact, when the old man had rushed him just a moment ago, Fu Qian had noticed that the Frenzied Spirit was no longer on his shoulder.

Figuring that it was likely his final insurance policy, Fu Qian had decided to give him a compelling reason to use it, promptly sealing off his escape route.

You were worried I’d run, but the truth was, I was far more worried that you’d run!

Show me what your real trump card is.

Caught in the devastating explosion, Mister Luo’s physical body was incinerated into ash almost instantly.

At the same time, the Frenzied Spirit waiting outside the barrier suddenly sprang to life, darting backward with terrifying speed to evade the shockwaves of the blast.

A long while later, the roaring flames finally dispersed.

Everyone stared blankly at the center of the explosion, entirely speechless.

Even after such a catastrophic detonation, Fu Qian’s figure still stood tall.

Compared to before, over a dozen of his tentacles had been blown off, and scorch marks covered his entire body.

Yet it was overwhelmingly obvious that the explosion hadn’t inflicted any unbearable damage.

Not to mention, the vast majority of his wounds were already healing at a visible rate.

Witnessing this horrific scene, even the blood-red doll hovering in the air froze in absolute shock.

Their eyes met. The Frenzied Spirit instantly transformed into a streak of light and fled for its life without a single moment of hesitation.