A splashing sound echoed as the bloody water scattered across the corner of the place, where German was fiercely striking the one-eyed sword wielder.
"You have quite the combat experience for a beast that sees with just one eye," German threw this mocking line while smiling.
German took a few steps back, but the one-eyed monster suddenly appeared in front of him and placed his sword near German's abdomen. However, German sidestepped, deeply scratching the one-eyed creature's shoulder.
German nearly fell into the bloody water, but he placed his right hand on the ground, performing a handstand, and fired a bullet at the one-eyed monster. The creature, however, bent backward, dodging the shot.
From the monster's wounded shoulder, black sparks were emerging — burning quickly and seeming to heal the wound.
'We need absolute focus in this fight because this strange creature has unpredictable flexibility and movement,' German whispered to himself as he kept his gaze fixed on the monster.
Meanwhile, on the first floor, Ophelia was engaged in combat with the one with an open eye — whose eye was bleeding profusely.
Ophelia dashed behind the monster, placing her sword against its neck, but the creature twisted its neck unnaturally, turned around, and struck at Ophelia's abdomen with his sword, pushing her a short distance away.
However, he hadn't wounded her stomach — she had placed her curved blade against his sword's strike. The monster turned its twisted head toward her and, with a choked scream, lunged rapidly at her.
He swung his sword with a rage coursing through his body — each swing heavier than the last. Ophelia sustained scratches to her arm and leg, but she swiftly crouched, sliced his leg, and fired a bullet into his abdomen, retreating a few steps back.
"You have quick and heavy movements, but you either need to refine them or get another eye to control the flow of battle," Ophelia sneered at the monster with a half-smile.
Meanwhile, the monster's severed leg was trembling, emitting black sparks, before reattaching itself to the stump. The creature stood up again, glaring furiously at Ophelia.
"Regeneration! Somewhat expected from a strange being like you."
The monster with the open eye appeared directly in front of Ophelia, spitting blood from his eye. He attempted to grab Ophelia's head, but she dodged and raised her sword to cut his hand.
However, the monster deliberately broke his own hand and smashed it into Ophelia's body, hurling her against the wall.
"Aaaarrrrghhhh!" the monster screamed in terror, his eye spitting blood like a fountain.
A small trickle of blood ran from Ophelia's nose. She wiped it calmly with her hand, her expression twisting into one of madness and delight as she said:
"You're smart. Very smart for a darkness dwelling in the sewers. Prepare yourself to lose your other eye."
After the deafening clash between Ophelia and the open-eyed monster, we return to the growing madness within the mad lord's of nothing, who was swinging his sword and firing bullets rapidly — swinging, shooting, and repeating.
The one-eyed monster was dodging the strikes but still sustaining minor injuries. He wasn't standing still, either — he was returning the blows multiplied.
When German saw an opening to decapitate the monster, the creature clamped onto German's arm and broke it. German did not scream or show any reaction, instead holding the pain inside his chest.
With a swift move, German pressed the gun against the monster's abdomen and fired a thunderous shot, blasting the monster into the wall, scattering bloody water everywhere.
German raised his broken arm, looking at it indifferently.
"A very clever move. I thought all monsters were mindless, but I see now that I was wrong."
The monster stood up, moving its head from his stomach wound toward German. He then crossed his swords into an (X) shape and let out a silent roar, appearing in front of German and placing both swords at his neck.
The monster attempted to decapitate him, but German bent backward to dodge. The creature appeared above him, trying to stab his chest, but German caught both swords.
'This bastard… It's like he's evolving with every strike we land. Sometimes, it even feels like he's copying my moves,' German thought tensely to himself.
The monster wrenched the swords from German's grip and let out a muffled scream, stabbing German in the abdomen and pushing the sword through his back.
German spat blood from his lips, rage overtaking his features. He grabbed the monster's blade and snapped it while it was still embedded in him.
The monster stepped back, eyeing the broken sword piece. German appeared behind the creature and said:
"You made my rage visit the grave of my body."
Then he cleaved the monster from the shoulder down, splitting it in two. In a swift reaction, the monster scratched German's cheek, pushing him back.
German leapt three times across the water, distancing himself from the monster. The one-eyed creature's body was torn in half, yet somehow, it regained balance and struck at German.
German grabbed the broken blade lodged in his abdomen, pulled it out while laughing maniacally, and gazed at the gory, darkly bleeding halves of the monster, smiling wickedly:
"You're a damn slippery one. You have ways of manipulating and appearing at insane speeds. I hope you keep up this pace — otherwise, this fight won't be any fun."
The two halves of the one-eyed monster re-fused together. Then, with a cunning and unexpected move, the monster slammed the water, creating a massive wall.
German was caught off guard by the move as the monster emerged from beneath the bloody water, grabbed German's leg, slammed him into the ground forcefully, then hurled him upward and smashed him down into the bloody water with a massive explosion.
The one-eyed monster stood atop German's body, placing its sword against his neck. But German swiftly cut off the creature's foot, leapt up, and headbutted it, slamming it into the bloody water three times before it landed near the corpses of rat-headed monsters.
"Hahahaha, you damn trickster," German laughed loudly, his voice sharp.
After the intense battle between German and the one-eyed monster, the sound of relentless strikes and slashes continued to echo from Ophelia's fight against the open-eyed monster.
The monster was furiously accelerating his attacks, while Ophelia skillfully parried them with her sword and pistol.
Ophelia pushed the swords aside, then struck the monster in the abdomen, forcing him to stagger backward. The monster lifted his head, only to see Ophelia standing in front of him, stabbing her sword deep into his abdomen.
Blood gushed from his eye in anger. The monster tried to grab her hand, but she evaded him and, gripping the sword wound with both hands, slammed him down onto the ground.
Ophelia then aimed her pistol at the monster's eye, but he slammed the ground first, causing a tremor that unbalanced her. Using the chance, he quickly got back to his feet.
Ophelia extended her hand to the left, and her sword, which had fallen on the ground, flew toward her. She grabbed the sword while looking at it.
'It seems this fight has lasted longer than necessary. We still have a long journey ahead,' she muttered quietly as she gazed at her sword.
Ophelia appeared in front of the one-eyed monster and tried to cut off its head. However, the monster grabbed the blade and struck Ophelia hard in the chest, sending her crashing into the broken gate.
The monster appeared above her and stabbed her in the abdomen. The monster screamed loudly, blood gushing from its eye. Ophelia gritted her teeth in anger and punched the monster's eye until it exploded with blood. As a reaction, the monster clawed her abdomen and retreated.
However, Ophelia appeared before him, laughing madly. She spoke quickly and sharply:
"It seems I underestimated you a little."
Then she broke its right arm and completely severed it from its root. The monster screamed loudly, swung its sword, and attempted to stab her above the heart. But she fired a powerful bullet at the severed part of the arm, causing a massive explosion.
The monster appeared stuck to the wall, blood pouring from its eye.
"It seems you're not finished yet, you filthy thing. No matter, my sword still needs plenty of blood to drink," Ophelia smiled madly, wiping the blood from her mouth.
Meanwhile, German was tearing the monster apart with heavy strikes, not giving it a clear chance to breathe. The monster placed its sword near its face, but German grabbed the blade and broke it.
The monster screamed a muffled cry, but German appeared in front of him and struck his abdomen several times rapidly, making the bloody water around them rise. Then German pointed his sword at the monster's dark chest and fired.
The bullet embedded itself in the monster's chest, forcing it backward. German appeared beside him, placed his hand on the monster's head, and smashed it into the ground.
Then, German placed his sword on the monster's throat and sliced it. The severed head of the one-eyed monster rolled in the bloody water. German approached the monster's head and destroyed it with a bullet.
Meanwhile, Ophelia was striking the monster rapidly, severing its arms and stabbing its eye. But when she killed the other version of it, the monster let out a loud scream that forced Ophelia to step back from the sheer force of it.
The monster jumped down towards the corpse that German had destroyed. It entered the dead body, then transformed into a crow and flew upward toward the exit. German was stunned, unable to comprehend what was happening before him.
"What the hell is this? Hey, Ophelia, are you okay?" German scratched the back of his head and called out to her.
"I'm up here. And yes, I'm fine," Ophelia replied with a cold tone.
German jumped up to her level, then looked at Ophelia, who had some wounds. German spoke while looking at the gate:
"Why did it escape from you? It jumped toward me and merged with the corpse I killed?"
Ophelia was stunned by the situation, placing her thumb and index finger on her chin as she said:
"Strange. It seems it sensed the danger of losing the other soul and decided to escape. Really weird."
German transformed his sword into a Phanteum card and gripped it tightly, saying:
"Through the fight, I found out that this monster isn't normal at all. Someone is either controlling it or it serves someone."
Ophelia looked at German, shocked by this strange analysis:
"We should expect anything."
"It seems we're done with this filthy place. Let's continue," German said as he pointed toward the gate.
Both of them walked toward the gate and crossed through it. As they entered a new area, a massive gate descended from the sky, chained heavily, sealing off the path leading back to the sewers.
Ophelia looked behind her and spoke sarcastically:
"Who would even think of going back to such a filthy place?"
German smiled faintly and pointed behind him, saying:
"I agree with you. The smell back there was so bad, even Clantin smells better than that."
Both of them laughed realistically — in a world that had no connection to realism at all.
The new place was surrounded by Victorian houses on all sides. To their left, there was a house near a staircase leading upward. The area was square-shaped, surrounded by rows of houses.
As they were looking around, Ophelia noticed an old woman sitting on a worn-out wooden chair near one of the houses.
"Look over there, there's an old woman sitting on that chair. Let's go check it out," Ophelia pointed toward the old woman, informing German.
They both walked toward her. The old woman was holding an old wooden cane, half of her face covered by a shawl, and the rest of her features looked tired.
Breaking the eerie silence, the old woman spoke with a cold, calm tone:
"Going and returning to the same point drives you mad, doesn't it, hunters?"