In Iggwente Upper City, on the north bank of the upper reaches of the Iron Mud River, intense and continuous gunshots rang out above Buck's mansion, startling the residents of Silver Riverbank and plunging the entire Silver Riverbank into panic.
Inside the third-floor corridor of the mansion, Dorothy manipulated four Corpse Puppets to continuously fire at the wooden door at the end of the corridor. High-speed, dense bullets pierced the wooden door and shot into the study. Buck, who was standing in the study, quickly dodged to the side, but was still directly hit by two shots, causing blood to seep from the corner of his mouth.
'Are there enemies outside?! Did someone break in?'
This was Buck's first thought at the moment. The servants outside, after emptying the bullets from their revolvers, didn't slowly reload. Instead, they each quickly pulled out a piece of paper from their bodies and uniformly pasted it on themselves. When the paper burned out, a faint mark of the """Cup""" appeared on the pasted location.
The Raw Consumption Symbol, this was almost standard equipment for members of the Holy Communion Society. As Buck's servants and butler, they naturally wouldn't lack this item. Anyway, the """Cup""" remaining in their bodies after becoming Corpse Puppets wouldn't be needed later, so Dorothy might as well let them put it to some use now.
As the Raw Consumption Symbols took effect, a red glow appeared in the eyes of the Corpse Puppets, and then they all charged towards the wooden door ahead, shattering it with a violent impact.
"What..."
Seeing the familiar figures suddenly rush into the study, Buck couldn't help but be startled. However, before he could think further, the four Corpse Puppets who had used Life Devour fiercely pounced towards him and Clifford with great speed.
"Ah! What's wrong with these guys! Aren't they your subordinates, Buck!"
"I don't know! They must be controlled by something! Just like Brandon earlier!"
For a time, both Buck and Clifford were besieged by the enhanced Corpse Puppets. Buck was better off; although he had been shot twice, this didn't temporarily affect a Thirster's basic mobility, and Buck could still contend with them.
But Clifford was different. He had already suffered numerous injuries at the dock and had just been shot by Brandon. His injuries seriously affected his movement. Facing the frenzied siege of the enhanced Corpse Puppets, he was constantly scratched and bitten. With a slight carelessness, a large piece of flesh would be torn off, and blood sprayed out even more profusely. Clifford soon became a bloodied figure amidst screams.
Seeing this scene, Buck knew this couldn't continue, so he seized an opportunity. He wiped his wristwatch, and the small mechanism within the watch also began to activate.
The side of Buck's wristwatch that was against his skin automatically opened under the action of the small mechanism, and then a folded Raw Consumption Symbol hidden inside the watch was pressed onto Buck's hand, burning to ash and leaving a mark.
At this moment, a red glow also flashed in Buck's eyes.
Hidden within Buck's wristwatch was a Raw Consumption Symbol that had been repeatedly overwritten using a special technique. The Raw Consumption Symbol was originally a symbol made to imitate the Extraordinary characteristics of a Thirster. A normal Raw Consumption Symbol could allow ordinary people to temporarily possess the physical capabilities of a Thirster by consuming """Cup""". However, when a Thirster themselves used a Raw Consumption Symbol, the effect was minimal, far less effective than when used by ordinary people, unless multiple symbols were used simultaneously to accumulate the minimal effect in an instant.
Simply put, for a Thirster to achieve the same strengthening effect as ordinary people using Life Devour, they needed to use multiple symbols at once. The Raw Consumption Symbol in Buck's wristwatch was a special item created by repeatedly writing on a single piece of paper using a special technique. It was very precious and could be used as several symbols at once, while also consuming a large amount of """Cup""" in one go. Non-"""Cup""" Extraordinary would almost die instantly upon using it, without even the chance for a final burst of power. This was Buck's trump card.
Relying on the overwritten Raw Consumption Symbol, Buck achieved a further leap in physical ability at the cost of almost all the """Cup""" in his body, reaching a level that could crush the Corpse Puppets. For a moment, his figure turned into a high-speed blur, almost impossible to capture with the naked eye. Buck wielded his sword-cane, moving among the Corpse Puppets, and directly bisected the four Corpse Puppets with a few flashes of the blade. The Corpse Puppets struggled and fell to the ground, losing their ability to move, separated into upper and lower halves.
"Damn... that works? This guy still has some trump cards..."
Inside the carriage, Dorothy couldn't help but mutter in a low voice upon seeing this scene. Clearly, Buck was significantly more difficult to deal with than Burton earlier.
'Damn it... the Corpse Puppets in this mansion are all gone, and those two guys are one injured and one seriously injured. It's the endgame now, it would be too much of a pity to give up like this...'
Sitting in the carriage, Dorothy thought this. In her opinion, Buck's sudden strength earlier was something Burton and Clifford didn't have. He might have used some trump card, and such a trump card was obviously not used from the start because it had side effects or couldn't be sustained for long. After a while, it would be when those guys were weakest.
'How can I retreat when it's the endgame? Strike while they're weak. Since things have come to this, it's impossible to let you escape.'
Having made up her mind, Dorothy herself directly got off the carriage, used the Corpse Puppet Ring to pull up Edrick who was leaning on the coachman's seat, and then they walked together towards the bloody mansion not far away.
...
In Buck's study, bodies lay everywhere, blood splattered, and everywhere were traces of blood spurting. The flowing blood had completely soaked the carpet.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Leaning on the desk with his hand, Buck, whose Raw Consumption Symbol effect had just worn off, constantly panted, while Clifford, who was struggling to stand up beside him, looked at him and spoke weakly.
"Finally... is it resolved?"
"Not yet. That guy's ability is too strange. We haven't even met his real body yet, so it's far from being resolved." Buck scanned his surroundings and said as he straightened up.
"He... or they might still be ambushing us somewhere outside. It's very dangerous if we go out directly now. We need to leave here immediately through the secret passage..."
As he spoke, Buck came to his fireplace, reached out and grabbed a candle holder, turning it left and right several times, triggering some mechanism inside.
Then, accompanied by the rumbling sound of the mechanism, the bookshelf in the study slowly opened, revealing the secret room inside. In the center of the secret room, a """Cup""" altar stood.
"Take all the important things, and then we'll leave immediately!"
As he spoke, Buck and Clifford entered the secret room together. During this process, Buck, who was about to go get something, thought for a moment, and then pulled a rope by the wall after entering the secret room. The secret room then slowly closed automatically until the entrance was completely sealed.
Understanding that the threat still existed, Buck chose to close the passage into the secret room to prevent pursuers.
'Heh, he even remembers to close the door behind him...'
Dorothy, who had just arrived on the first floor of Buck's mansion, couldn't help but smile slightly upon seeing this scene. Then, the Corpse Puppet Ring activated, summoning the "eyes" she had left in Buck's study all along.
Under the effect of the Corpse Puppet Ring, Brandon slowly stood up from the pile of corpses.
Brandon had just been directly pierced and had his head exploded by Buck, but such damage couldn't stop a Corpse Puppet. However, Dorothy had still deactivated Brandon's Corpse Puppet state the moment he was pierced, making him appear as if he had been killed in Buck's eyes.
The reasons for doing this were, firstly, Dorothy didn't want to expose the nature of her ability, creating a smoke bomb to make the opponent think her ability was mind control or something similar. Secondly, Dorothy made Brandon a backup for the subsequent action. Buck thought Brandon was dead, so he wouldn't be overly vigilant, perhaps having some unexpected uses, such as suddenly bursting out for a backstab when the angle was right.
However, the opportunity for a backstab didn't appear, but it served another purpose.
While thinking, Dorothy herself and the Corpse Puppet Edrick went to the third floor. Dorothy herself found a place to hide, and then had Edrick stand in the corridor, pointing his gun at the bookshelf in the study.
Then, Dorothy began to control Brandon to turn the candle holder above the fireplace left and right, the direction and rhythm exactly the same as Buck's earlier turns.
The entire process of Buck turning the candle holder had been observed by the "feigning death" Brandon, and Dorothy, with the memory of a Knower, remembered it perfectly.
Along with the correct input of the secret code, the humming sound of the mechanism echoed again in the study, and the bookshelf, acting as the secret room door, slowly opened.