The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 180

“Boom—!”

An earth-shattering roar echoed, making the ground almost tremble.

Feeling the agitation of the white scales on the back of his hand, Simon Acar frowned. He quickly walked up to the second floor and looked through the window at the black smoke from the explosion not far away…

What’s going on? Didn’t the Keyman tell them to stand down? Why did someone move that batch of explosives early?

Did the other two “Dream Thieves” from the Chaos Squad want to use these things to cause trouble?

Things like acting alone, detached from the team, were not uncommon within the Society of Merriment, but the Chaos Squad certainly wouldn’t dare.

Because they all knew that the Tier 3 “Subverter” Keyman was watching them from somewhere unknown. If they acted without authorization and disrupted the Keyman’s plan, they would all suffer.

Due to the delay in message transmission, they still hadn’t received the news that the Keyman had “been killed by Commissioner Lucy.” They were still waiting for the Keyman’s next instructions.

In any case, this explosion was bad news. They had to notify the other members to hide as soon as possible…

Simon took off his heavy pajamas, shirtless, and stretched his shoulders a little.

His entire body was bulging with muscles, every muscle distinct. When he clenched his fists, they writhed under his skin, looking full of explosive power.

But solid white pieces, white translucent scales like thin fish scales, had spread from his elbows all the way to his chest and back, covering almost all his weakly defended areas.

It was like he was wearing a suit of scale-like exoskeleton armor.

But these scales looked very soft. Even a slight breeze blowing over them would cause the scales to tremble slightly—he seemed to be able to use this to sense attacks from blind spots in advance.

Just as he walked to the wardrobe, preparing to choose an outfit to go out, Simon’s eyes suddenly narrowed. In a strange posture, he twisted his upper body behind him. His right hand shot forward, and he fiercely grabbed his… shadow?

A burning white shadow was seized by the neck and then slowly pulled out of the black shadow.

“‘Missionary’…”

Looking at the shattered and dissipated white shadow before him, Simon frowned slightly.

Simon was very familiar with “Missionaries.”

One reason for this was that there were quite a few “Missionaries” within the Society of Merriment.

The destructive power of “Ascetics” and “Missionaries” was no less than that of “Instigators” and “Dream Thieves.”

If they didn’t join other major churches, the way most “wild” “Missionaries” advanced was by establishing their own secret cults or evil cults, then proselytizing and brainwashing, secretly developing their influence.

However, this “Missionary” who attacked him was definitely not a member of the Society of Merriment…

Exposed? Discovered by that person from the Clock Tower Church?

No, if that Tier 3 had taken action, he should have lost the ability to resist immediately.

Simon straightened his body again, quickly calmed down, and carefully sensed the subtle changes in the surrounding environment.

All his senses were amplified countless times: the sound of rats gnawing in the sewer, the smell from the fried fish vendor at the end of the street, the breeze coming through the gap in the curtains…

Countless heartbeats echoed in his ears. He closed his eyes. His gaze seemed to penetrate through many floors, allowing him to clearly “see” those beating hearts.

He had almost memorized the heartbeats and sounds of all the residents around him. Aside from the bustling street, a rapidly beating heartbeat with an unfamiliar rhythm was detected by him.

He quickly looked up, locking onto a room several layers away from his row of connecting buildings. His gaze seemed to penetrate through layers of walls, looking directly at the other party.

Strong heartbeat, a special blood smell… It’s a woman. She’s there.

And the other party seemed to have already discovered that she was noticed. Her heartbeat increased. With just a flicker, she went to a place further away.

Running away?

In front of a “Stealth Hunter,” there was no prey that could escape.

Because that person’s scent had already been recorded by Simon. All that remained was to hunt, and then wait for the prey to become exhausted…

Simon quickly opened the wardrobe, pulled out a black coat, put it on, ran to the window, opened it directly, and flipped onto the rooftop. He began moving rapidly between the rooftops, sprinting towards the direction of that scent.

The other party seemed to have completely panicked. Although there were several rapid changes in direction and sometimes even crossed a street, none of this escaped Simon’s scent tracking.

He used all four limbs, like a bloodthirsty beast, chasing after the figure whose flashing distance was gradually decreasing.

50m… 40m…

20m…

The other party’s movement speed itself wasn’t fast. Their rapid movement was entirely based on the white shadow’s flashing.

As long as the white shadow’s speed floating along the ground wasn’t faster than his sprinting speed, catching up was only a matter of time.

But soon, when Simon was only 10m away from the other party, he stopped on the rooftop and slightly bared his teeth.

Four sharp canine teeth were slowly pushing out, squeezing the surrounding teeth. Simon looked at the green-haired figure that had stopped in the narrow alley. He didn’t act rashly.

He also realized that the other party was deliberately leading him towards a less populated area…

Having to consider collateral casualties. This was the kind of thing only an orthodox church “Missionary” would do.

He had to maintain a distance from which he could retreat at any time.

Simon slowly reached out. He drew two throwing knives from the inner pocket of his coat and threw them directly towards the ground.

The green-haired girl’s figure in the alley flickered. The next moment, she appeared three meters away. The throwing knives pierced the white shadow that remained in place. They passed through the white shadow and directly embedded themselves in the ground.

Thud—

A faint, ordinary heartbeat sounded not far behind Simon. Before Simon could realize anything was wrong, a green light flashed behind him.

Not good!

Simon reacted quickly. He quickly turned around, but before he could even see the person’s figure clearly, the green light penetrated his clothing and carved into his chest. This was—

The Keyman’s sealed artifact?!

It’s the Keyman?!