novelraw Chapter 98 : Awakening
Chapter 98 : Awakening
Chapter 98: Awakening
The gunshot rang out, and the black wolf was instantly engulfed by bursting flames.
It let out a wail and leapt back in a hurry.
Almost at the same time, a figure emerged within Aurelia’s vision.
“So that’s why I like this—behind-the-scenes bosses confessing themselves is far more useful than any investigation.”
Levi raised his cane-gun, aimed at the two giant wolves before him, while also glancing at the system prompt that had just appeared.
【Mission 《Curse Mystery》 activated】
【Mission Objective: Eliminate the curse of the Baskerville family】
There were many ways to eliminate a curse.
According to Old Sir Baskerville, carrying out some sort of ritual might also dispel it.
But wasn’t there another method?
If all those afflicted by the curse were eliminated, then wouldn’t the curse itself be gone?
【Eye of the Reaper】！
The flow of time began to slow.
Levi raised his gun, aimed at the target, and pulled the trigger.
He reloaded, pulled the bolt, and fired again.
After three consecutive shots, Levi tossed away the cane-gun, raised his revolver, and emptied all its bullets in one go.
Then he reloaded again and fired.
After that, the flow of time returned to normal.
“Bang bang bang bang bang!!!”
Aurelia had no idea what had just happened.
She only heard a string of gunshots, then fire, explosions, and the howling wind filled her entire vision.
At that moment, a hand reached out from the side and patted her shoulder.
Aurelia turned her head in surprise, only to see a strikingly handsome face appear before her eyes—one that could leave an impression on anyone.
“Detective?”
“Mm, are you alright, Miss Baskerville?”
As Levi spoke, he once again gripped the Persuader tightly, staring ahead.
This time he had used an upgraded version of what he had used against the Red Cloak Girl—greater in both power and quantity.
Normally, against an ordinary werewolf, such a wave of saturated attacks would absolutely be enough to kill it.
Normally.
“Bang!”
The smaller black wolf collapsed to the ground, twitching twice.
On the other side, however, the towering giant wolf, nearly four meters tall, swayed on its feet and coldly stared at Levi.
In its scarlet-yellow eyes, a chilling murderous intent surfaced.
The flames blazing upon its body seemed to cause it no harm at all.
Even its ruptured skin, pierced and blasted apart by armor-piercing rounds, rapidly regenerated before the naked eye.
As expected, the final boss was never easy to deal with.
Levi silently counted the bullets in his hand.
That entire volley had failed to kill this beast.
Another round probably wouldn’t do much either… The real problem was that he had spent too many bullets dealing with the other wolves earlier.
And because Aurelia had been captured, he hadn’t had the chance to resupply his ammo…
It felt like entering a boss battle only to realize he hadn’t saved his progress—that was Levi’s mood right now.
“I’m fine.”
Aurelia had no idea what Levi was thinking at this moment.
She simply nodded and stepped back.
With a twist of her right hand, another dagger slid out from her sleeve and into her grasp… Levi silently gave the young lady a glance before shifting his gaze away.
Was this young lady perhaps a professional knife dealer?
“Who are you?”
The old wolf fixed his eyes on Levi and spoke in a cold voice.
“I never imagined someone would actually follow… Who are you?”
“My name is Levi. I’m a detective.”
Levi answered calmly, secretly deciding to stall for time and then decide his next move depending on how things developed.
“Detective? Then I suppose this little girl finding the Emerald Heart is your doing as well?”
“And the infant corpses you killed.”
Levi let out a light chuckle.
“If you hadn’t buried the infant corpses beneath the statue back then, perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”
“What are you talking about?”
The old wolf’s response was unexpectedly puzzling.
“What statue?”
“The corpses of the two infants you killed are buried beneath the giant wolf statue in the Baskerville Ancestors’ Tomb.”
Levi studied the old wolf carefully as he spoke.
“Although I don’t know exactly how things unfolded, I am certain that the curse you’re suffering from is very likely connected to this… Don’t tell me you knew nothing about it.”
Though it seemed unbelievable, Levi could clearly tell from the old wolf’s expression and movements that he was genuinely surprised by this revelation.
“That’s impossible! I buried the bodies beneath the tree in the cemetery! I had my son do the same!”
“The cemetery? Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
The old wolf shot Levi a glance.
“Even if they were baby girls, they were still of Baskerville bloodline, and thus had the right to be buried in the family cemetery. Though without coffins or tombstones, it was still my last mercy for them…”
“Killing infants, and you dare to speak of mercy! Disgusting!”
Aurelia coldly cut off the old wolf’s justification, glaring at him in fury.
At first, Aurelia had seen Old Sir Baskerville as a pitiable victim.
But now, in her eyes, he was nothing more than a complete madman and murderer.
“Could it be that your cultist friends gave you the idea?”
However, Levi’s words made Old Sir Baskerville suddenly startle.
“What are you talking about…”
“You’ve had very close dealings with the Luddists. I already know about this.”
“Eh?”
Hearing Levi’s words, Aurelia glanced at him in surprise.
Levi, however, turned his head slightly and signaled to her with his eyes.
“I suppose it was also your Luddist friends who urged you to kill your sister and seize the position of head of the family.”
“………………………”
The old wolf remained silent, but his attitude alone spoke volumes.
After all, if Levi’s words had been false, the old wolf could have easily dismissed them.
But if everything Levi said was true—including the urging to kill his sister and seize the headship, the murder of infants, and the burial of their bodies in the family cemetery—then the answer as to why the infants’ remains were found beneath the wolf statue in the Ancestors’ Tomb was obvious.
If Old Sir Baskerville had even a shred of reasoning, then he must have realized the true cause of his current condition.
Even Aurelia could see the shifting, conflicted expression on the old wolf’s face.
Levi, of course, saw it even more clearly.
As expected.
Ever since he had learned from Chief McMillan that Old Sir Baskerville had dealings with Luddists in his youth, Levi had suspected he had found the root of the matter.
Old Sir Baskerville’s desire to seize the family headship was human nature—such petty intrigues were common in noble families.
Hardly surprising.
But what benefit did the Luddists gain from it?
Levi quickly recalled that when he had first come to the manor, Chief McMillan had hinted that, as rulers of the Delicat Region, the Baskerville family had long sought to promote steam mechanization in agriculture.
But due to opposition from local people, they had never succeeded.
At that time, Chief McMillan had suspected that the troubles within the Baskerville family were connected to the Luddists.
After all, in his view, the Luddists had both the motive and the means.
So long as the Baskerville family was plagued by the curse, agricultural mechanization reform could never proceed, and the Luddists’ goal would be achieved.
It was just that Chief McMillan had never found evidence to prove it.
But now it seemed his initial suspicions were right.
He simply could never have imagined that the Luddists would use such a method to deal with the Baskerville family.
These bastards really were like lingering ghosts, refusing to go away.
Levi cursed inwardly.
Worse still, these bastards seemed to have some real tricks up their sleeve.
Though Levi swore silently in his heart, outwardly he still appeared calm and collected, as though everything was within his grasp.
“I suppose that so-called method to lift the curse was also told to you by your friends?”
“Roooooaaaar—————！”
The old wolf gave no verbal reply, but the furious roar from his throat confirmed Levi’s suspicion.
“Are you sure you want to keep acting like a pawn, following their orders?”
Levi knew the chances were slim, but he still tried to turn him, to see if he could win this wretched man over.
After all, no matter how foolish Old Sir Baskerville was, he must have realized that everything he was suffering had been orchestrated by those Luddists.
If he were willing to defect, perhaps the crisis could be resolved.
Yet reality, of course, was never that kind.
“…Hmph. Kid, you’ve got quite the tongue.”
The old wolf was silent for a moment, then finally let out a cold laugh.
“But wanting me to believe your nonsense is impossible! As long as I eat this girl, I can completely control the Emerald Heart, and once I destroy it, my curse will be completely lifted! I don’t need to believe your lies!”
Hmm, Levi had already guessed it would end this way.
Bosses were always like this—the sunk cost was too high.
Even if deep down he wanted to believe, he wouldn’t dare to.
Forget it.
If persuasion failed, then so be it.
Levi fixed his eyes on the old wolf, his mind racing.
As things stood, he and Aurelia probably couldn’t defeat this creature—but it wasn’t entirely hopeless.
Thinking carefully, the old man had just said that by devouring Aurelia’s flesh and blood, he could fully control the Emerald Heart.
Werewolves had the ability to transform into the prey they consumed.
Levi had already learned this from the Red Cloak Girl.
Thus, he understood what the old wolf meant.
Clearly, the old wolf intended to devour Aurelia, then become Aurelia, and thereby control the Emerald Heart.
But how exactly would he control it? At least since Aurelia had obtained the necklace, Levi hadn’t noticed anything unusual about her… Hm?
Wait!
Levi suddenly recalled the stone carving in the secret chamber that had sealed away the Emerald Heart.
Could it be…
“Aurelia, the necklace?”
Levi tilted his head and asked quietly.
Aurelia, however, shook her head, glaring at the old wolf.
“He took it.”
“Tch.”
Following Aurelia’s gaze, Levi finally saw the old wolf clutching the necklace in his right hand.
He instantly felt speechless.
“I’ll take it back.”
“Take it back?”
“That’s right.”
Levi looked toward Aurelia.
“Remember that stone carving?”
“You mean…”
Hearing Levi’s question, Aurelia froze for a moment, then seemed to understand.
“Do it according to that.”
Levi once more tightened his grip on his gun, staring at the old wolf.
The next moment, the flow of time shifted again!
【Eye of the Reaper】！
Levi suddenly raised his gun, aimed at the old wolf, and once more pulled the trigger!
“Bang!”
As the flow of time returned to normal, the spinning incendiary round whistled through the air and struck the old wolf’s face directly, instantly enveloping its head in flames!
“Awoooooooo————!”
The old wolf let out a piercing shriek.
Levi, meanwhile, flashed into the shadows, then emerged from the silhouette of a tree to the wolf’s side.
Yet the old wolf was no less dangerous—it roared while violently swinging its arms.
Those claws, spread wide, could easily tear him to shreds with a single hit.
But Levi locked his eyes on the wolf’s swinging arm, then activated again———【Eye of the Reaper】！
The swinging arm began to slow.
Levi raised his gun, aimed at the old wolf’s right arm, and once again pulled the trigger.
Armor-piercing rounds and silver bullets shot forth toward the arm.
Then, the flow of time resumed.
“Bang bang bang bang!”
The armor-piercing rounds tore through muscle and shattered bone, blasting the old wolf’s right arm apart.
The silver bullets immediately drove deep into the flesh, bringing searing, tearing agony.
“Ahhhhhhhh!!”
At last, the old wolf could no longer hold back its scream.
At the same time, its right hand released, and the Emerald Heart it had been clutching dropped toward the ground.
Before the necklace could fall, Levi rolled out of the shadows in a flash and snatched it into his hand.
“Give it back to me!”
Almost simultaneously, the old wolf stomped down hard, its foot slamming onto Levi’s body, crushing him beneath it!
“Detective!”
Seeing this, Aurelia cried out in shock.
But when the old wolf looked closer, it found that what it had crushed beneath its foot was not Levi’s body, but a flattened puppet that looked like a bird!
“Aurelia!”
At that very moment, Levi, having completed 【Shadow Movement】 with the puppet bird, appeared at Aurelia’s side and tossed the necklace into her hands.
Aurelia didn’t hesitate.
She flipped her dagger and stabbed her palm, opening the wound above the necklace.
Then she grabbed it tightly.
In that instant, her blood fused with the crimson gemstone.
Immediately after…
“Woof woof—————！”
From the void, the sound of dogs barking suddenly echoed forth.