Ch.174Chapter 174 – Ripple Effect (3)

“Cough, cough…”

“Professor. Are you really alright?”

As the professor covers his mouth and bows his head, continuing to cough up blood, Issac Adler asks with a slightly worried expression.

“Please don’t push yourself too hard.”

“…I understand.”

The professor nods quietly with a smile.

“But Adler, why are you making such a concerned expression?”

“…Pardon?”

“You were just forcibly pinned down by me, weren’t you? You should maintain a frightened expression.”

“Ah…”

Hearing this, Adler glances around nervously before clearing his throat.

“Ahem…”

“Adler, help me out here…”

“H-hieek.”

He quickly changes his expression to one of fear.

“What are you doing? Come here beside me.”

“P-Professor. But…”

“Come to my side.”

The professor deliberately puts on a colder expression than usual and reaches out his hand.

– Click…

And at that very moment.

– Bang!!!

A gunshot fired from the nearby bushes.

“…Didn’t I say to wait for a better opportunity!”

“Should I just stand by and watch?”

“Tch…”

Simultaneously, Zia Lestrade emerges from the bushes with a cold expression, scolding Watson for firing without consent. She pulls out her baton and charges forward.

– Crackle…!!!

She strikes with all her might at Professor Moriarty’s arm, which had barely blocked the bullet with his mana.

“A body that nullifies all supernatural abilities, but can still handle natural energy like qi to some extent…”

“Ugh…”

“Conversely, it means I can land effective hits on you with natural qi energy.”

The professor takes a deep breath and whispers to her as she’s pushed back, slightly raising the corner of his mouth.

“And I’m sorry, but as a university professor, I’m older than you.”

“………”

“Even with your lifelong training in internal energy, you can’t defeat me in martial arts.”

Hearing this, cold sweat begins to form on Lestrade’s pale forehead.

“…Even if that’s true.”

But in this situation, she glances at Adler who is being held by Professor Moriarty, then grits her teeth and continues.

“There are times when you can’t back down even knowing you’ll be defeated…”

“Um, excuse me…”

“…….!”

Just then, a new voice is heard in front of her and Professor Moriarty.

“What are you doing blocking the road…?”

“…Tsk, it’s getting late.”

Everyone shifts their gaze to two women who appear to be passersby.

“Y-You shouldn’t come this way!!”

“You two, stop! You could become hostages!”

As the professor, who seems to be seriously injured from his struggle with Sharlotte, starts to smile ominously while sweating, Lestrade and Watson urgently shout at the women, realizing the situation is becoming dangerous.

“What are you yelling about in broad daylight…”

“Hey, did you rent this entire road or something?”

But the passersby, seemingly unaware of the situation, continue walking toward them.

“No!!”

“Well, this is unfortunate…”

In this tense situation, as Professor Moriarty quietly reaches his hand toward the passersby, Lestrade tries to rush forward at great risk, but.

“…Stop.”

“…….!?”

Someone suddenly grabs her shoulder.

“Miss Holmes…?”

“Do those people look like ordinary passersby to you…?”

Sharlotte Holmes, who had forcibly gotten up despite bleeding from her mouth, was whispering in a cold voice while looking ahead.

“What do you mean…”

As Lestrade mutters with a surprised expression.

– Clank…!

The sound of chains colliding comes from ahead.

– Screech…

“This time the disguise was quite perfect. Even I couldn’t find any flaws.”

The professor, who had summoned gray chains from the ground to instantly bind the passersby, opens his mouth while looking at them with cold eyes.

“But you know what’s important? It’s not the disguise.”

“”………””

“What’s important is that the entire Cornwall region is currently frozen by my magical power.”

“…What?”

Hearing this, Adler gapes in shock beside him.

“Right now, all the residents of Cornwall are either asleep or enjoying passionate moments with their loved ones, intoxicated by the pink scent I prepared for my intimate time with my student…”

“Professor, what are you saying…”

“Well, they might be having passionate moments with people they don’t love, but that’s not the important part…”

Meanwhile, the passersby who understood what she was saying begin to darken their expressions.

“…The important thing is that within Cornwall right now, no one except my subordinates can move around freely.”

“I told you, let’s just skip all this troublesome stuff and attack directly…”

“I’ve never had such insufficient preliminary investigation before…”

And the next moment.

– Tsuzuzuzuzu…

As their disguises melt away like flowing water, Gil the Reaper and Arsène Lupin are revealed with cold expressions.

“Y-You two, how are you here…!”

“…Lupin, I heard you were arrested by Inspector Ganimard?”

As Watson and Lestrade confirm their identities with shocked expressions, the two supernatural beings mutter in irritated voices.

“I didn’t want to come here this time either… To kill that crazy woman, I needed to be much better prepared…”

“…I was planning to take a good rest in prison for a while before leaving.”

Then they shift their gaze to Adler, who has genuinely started trembling in fear beside the professor.

“Ah, don’t worry Adler… I’ll definitely save you from that lizard and then kill you…”

“Hmm… Did I use formal speech with you before, or informal? I forget my speech patterns often because my identity changes so frequently.”

“…That’s interesting. I experience the same thing.”

“Ugh. It’s annoying to be treated the same as a serial killer…”

As they exchange murderous dialogue while admiring their target, they notice Watson and Celestia Moran’s guns pointed at them and smile slightly.

“Oh? Are you going to attack us?”

“It’s slightly insulting to say, but if you focus on us, you definitely won’t make it out of here alive…”

“Yeah, why don’t we all join forces to take down that dragon first?”

“Nonsense!”

Zia Lestrade immediately rejects Gil the Reaper’s proposal with a raised voice.

“I will never join hands with criminals, especially a heinous murderer like you!”

“Really? But you married a criminal with just as bad a reputation…”

“Adler is at least not a disgusting murderer like you!!”

At her passionate voice, Gil the Reaper shakes her head and mutters.

“Well then… we have no choice but a free-for-all.”

“””……….”””

As soon as those words end, the atmosphere around them is enveloped in silence.

“I personally welcome it. I can stab and butcher everyone regardless of sides… It’s a party!”

“…Hey, I’m your ally, you know.”

“Let’s do this! A great slaughter with blood spraying everywhere!!”

In that increasingly chilling atmosphere, Gil the Reaper swings her knife in all directions while shouting wildly.

“…If only I had my sniper rifle.”

“Don’t be arrogant, kid. Get behind me.”

“Grrrrrr…”

In this situation, Adler’s three loyal subordinates quietly point their weapons, dividing their attention between the professor and the supernatural beings.

“This… could be quite difficult.”

“…Even when I was carrying wounded soldiers on the battlefield day after day, I wasn’t this tense.”

“……..”

Similarly, Lestrade, Watson, and Sharlotte Holmes prepare for battle, watching the professor and the supernatural beings.

“Yes, I might as well crush all these irritating obstacles while I’m at it.”

Professor Moriarty, without targeting anyone specifically, shields only Adler with his barrier while aiming gray spears created in mid-air at everyone.

“Slaughter! Slaughter!!”

“…Sigh.”

Gil the Reaper begins swinging her knife at everyone, while Arsène Lupin sighs and moves far away, contemplating how to snatch Adler from the impending chaos.

“………”

And the Demon Hound of Baskerville, who had been observing the entire situation intently from the nearby forest undergrowth (though no one knows how long it had been there).

– Growl…

In that explosive situation where the slightest movement from any of them would ignite the fuse.

“…Keck!”

Suddenly, the cause of all this chaos begins to make choking sounds.

“Urgh…”

And then Adler spits out red liquid, possibly blood, from his mouth and collapses on the spot.

“…Uh, hmm.”

After noticing everyone staring blankly at him, he promptly drops his head to the ground.

“…Thud.”

And with that ridiculous sound effect, Adler quietly closes his eyes.

“””………..”””

A deep silence falls among everyone surrounding him.

.

.

.

.

.

– Rustle…

After some time had passed.

“Mmm…”

When I, who had been pretending to be unconscious, opened my eyes again, I was in a space that anyone could tell was a hospital room from the strong smell of antiseptic.

“………”

And what I faced as soon as I opened my eyes were.

All the women who had been about to engage in a bloody battle around me just moments ago, now staring down at me expressionlessly.

‘…System, help me.’

[How could I possibly help?]

I quickly squeezed my eyes shut again and desperately called out internally, but it was evidently futile.