I can return to the age of mysterious
Chapter 769 - 769 402 My Heart and My Actions are as Clear as a

Chapter 769: 402 My Heart and My Actions are as Clear as a Mirror (4000)_2 Chapter 769: 402 My Heart and My Actions are as Clear as a Mirror (4000)_2 Though faint, it was extremely enticing.

Without hesitation, the ghoul stretched out its forked tongue, long and crimson. It leaped up and darted along the shadowy corners, heading at breakneck speed towards the source of the intoxicating scent.

Florence’s Fourth District, eastern side of the Central Garden.

A sullen-faced youth with fierce eyes reached out his hand into the darkness, capturing a humanoid black creature’s skull. From the tips of his five fingers, black thorn-like spikes emerged, gnarling ferociously like tentacles. They burrowed into the creature like parasites, mangling flesh and blood.

Then, a terrifying injection of venom was enforced, wildly destroying all signs of life.

Within moments, the struggling dark creature had turned into a puddle of pus and blood. Solomon lowered his arm, fully retracting the thorns on his palm.

He took a step forward but soon spotted a blond figure.

It was Soss, apparently tracking something. Judging by his direction, he seemed to be heading towards the Central Garden as well. Solomon realized that Casio must have used some special means to lure all the dark creatures in the city towards the Central Garden area. That way, he could take advantage of the situation and complete his mission.

But wasn’t he afraid of being overwhelmed by swarms of ants?

Playing this game could have dire consequences if he lost.

Thought sprung upon him.

Solomon watched Soss closing in, guessed what he was about to do, remembered his own recent encounters, and immediately plotted a wicked plan.

If I failed my mission, there’s no way you’re going to succeed!

With a darkened look, he took a light step, disappearing in an instant.

…

By the time Soss managed to shake off Solomon, two or three minutes had passed. They didn’t engage in a fight but stood tensely apart, exchanging hostile auras. Since both of them were not directly competing in the first round of the assessment, fighting would bring no benefits. Solomon simply wanted to delay Soss, whereas Soss wanted to gauge the abilities of his old opponent. It was not until the match that he realized Solomon’s aura had grown significantly stronger over the past six months.

He was nearly matching him in strength, despite conserving part of his own.

While Soss still had faith in his abilities, he became more cautious. He held off his original plan for the night, patiently dealing with Solomon for a few minutes. This was precisely what Solomon sought.

As the two started to pass by each other, withdrawing their aura,

Soss suddenly asked, “How far have you progressed in the first round of the assessment?”

Solomon kept a straight face, half his visage hidden in the darkness. He glanced at Soss with dark pupils: “Perhaps, not too far from you.”

“Oh? Not too far? You’re fast… I’ll be done with my mission target by tomorrow at the latest. Looking forward to your good news…” Soss stared at Solomon provocatively.

He snorted coldly and moved away, his large stature disappearing into the distance.

From behind, Solomon watched till Soss disappeared at the end of the street.

“Fool, by saying ‘not too far’, I meant we’re back at the starting line. We will start the mission from scratch tomorrow, dumbass…”

He felt much more relieved, disappearing into the shadows with one step.

Three minutes later.

In the Central Garden, Soss’s roar echoed in mid-air.

“You !!!”

He was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down. Right in the middle of the square, a blond burly man stood proudly, looking formidable. Under his foot was a basketball-sized mop of dishevelled hair. His left hand was holding a half-man-half-beast dark creature. His right arm, forged like steel, was tightly holding an eerie and large snake about four meters long. The upper half of the snake took a humanoid form, with an eerie face that was deviously grinning. But now, it was a face of despair and suffocation.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Powerful arms, like hydraulic machines, retracted inch by inch while the bones and scales of the dark creature named Laughing Nightmare were easily crushed. Its strong snake-like lower half struggled violently, recklessly lashing out, smashing the plaza with man-sized pits. Yet when it hit the muscular blond man, there were nothing but dull thuds, without any impact. It was as if he was simply being tickled.

This was no help at all in stopping the brutal slaughter of the Laughing Nightmare.

“Ah ah ah ah ah ah!”

Laughing Nightmare died, abruptly and without resistance. Its whole intestine was squeezed out by the enormous force, the blood flooding half of the plaza.

Casio looked at the long worm in his hand and casually tossed it onto the mountain-like pile of corpses next to him. With a little force applied to his left hand, he yanked off the head of another dark creature. He contemplated for a moment, then threw it as well.

In one corner of the square, various arms and legs, heads and limbs were scattered about, creating an impression of unspeakable brutality. Casio wasn’t actually a sadistic person; he just wanted to test out the effects of the Platinum Stigmata, which turned the place into a slaughterhouse. There was a reasonable purpose behind this, even if every time he confronted an enemy, there were limbs and internal organs strewn everywhere.

At the centre of the square, Casio glanced at Soss, standing stiffly on the staircase.

“What are you doing standing there? Go wherever you need to go, but don’t block my path.” He reached out and wiped the blood from his face.

A deep snort came from Soss’ nostrils as he clenched his fists. He seemed a bit restless, he was not the same after being punched away by Casio the last time. The enhancement of the Holy Mark had boosted Soss’ confidence.

He took a step forward, ready to confront Casio.

Suddenly, there was a rushing sound from the left side of the Central Garden.

Both men looked.

On the roof of the building over there, a half-wolf-half-man monster howled at the moon. Its whole body had turned into a semi-transparent lunar hue.

The werewolf pounced down, aiming straight at the Black Bait Wood in the centre of the square.

At almost the same time, the silhouette of Claire appeared in the laneway. Seeing Casio and Soss, she froze for a moment and then her face changed. The surge of a thick smell of blood into the lane was inconceivably strong.

Whoosh…

Another dark creature rushed out from the east side of the central square.

Casio ignored the charging werewolf and turned to look. Suddenly his eyes lit up. That greyish white figure, resembling the skin of a shark wasn’t it the ghoul he had been looking for? It was hiding in the shadows of one of the two laneways behind Soss, chattering its teeth.

“Finally, you’re here. I almost killed all of Florence’s dark creatures waiting for you! You bug, you’re rather cautious.” Casio disappeared from the spot as if teleporting; he bumped Soss with his shoulder and strode like a meteor towards the ghoul. His intention was not at all concealed, like a predator in search of prey.

Soss stumbled a few steps to the side, feeling horrified. Casio’s instant startup speed was too fast, he hadn’t reacted before he was approached. Thankfully he was only hit by his shoulder, if Casio had taken direct aim at such close range, Soss would likely have paid a heavy price!

This brief contact felt like a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

Most of the confidence boosted by the increase in power was extinguished.

It seemed, perhaps, that he and Casio were not of the same power level. What to do? Maybe he should try to set his pride aside and team up with the other two old foes to fight this mysterious new powerhouse…

Howl!

A howl from the square echoed, clearly expressing the fury of the Werewolf being ignored by Casio. But quickly, the howl was drowned by sounds of battle. Claire, who had been trailing the werewolf all the way here, was finally preparing to make her move. Suddenly, the square echoed with melodious chants.

On the other end, just as the Ghoul had surfaced from the shadows without making a single move, a towering man about one meter ninety tall forced it into the dark alleyway, with the blond man closely pressing him, expressionless.

Gradually, a somewhat fierce smile curved upon the corners of his mouth.

“This has almost cost me half of my Black Bait Wood, do you know how expensive you are?”