Chapter 4782

But No. 2 Scarlet Spider-Man remained at large, which meant No. 3 Arkham Batman also couldn't be sacrificed. He could only be left hanging here; Shiler had to go catch No. 2 first.

Arkham Batman also observed that the cellar had more than one door, and these two doors were some distance apart — meaning Shiler couldn't block the door to stop others from coming to rescue him. Shiler didn't seem to have that intention either; after hoisting Arkham Batman up, he left through the door on the right.

Before long, Arkham Batman heard sounds at the door on the left; he knew teammates must have come to save him. He assumed it would be Black Widow or Scarlet Spider-Man, but unexpectedly, the one who arrived was Rorschach.

"I just wanted to tell you, that magician named Constantine has been sacrificed," Rorschach said through gritted teeth. "This damn bastard, completing the devil's ritual underground — he's an enemy of Christ, and I'll definitely kill him!"

Arkham Batman froze for a moment, then asked, "You completed the sealing ritual?"

"Yes, the first sealing ritual was done by that Constantine, the second by me." Rorschach didn't know Arkham Batman had also completed one. He said, "There should be three left now. I'll get you out, then we'll split up to search..."

Arkham Batman found it strange — why had he suddenly turned normal? While Rorschach was lowering him, he suddenly recalled Rorschach saying this devil was an enemy of Christ. Thinking about it that way, it wasn't incomprehensible. People with that kind of political stance are usually conservative fanatics, constantly spouting "Christ is invincible" and the like; toward heretics they're even more bloodthirsty, let alone a devil.

Compared to a devil, a president who might be a lackey of an opposing party was also tolerable. And a major trait of this kind of fanatic is that once they set their mind on something, their execution is extraordinarily strong. Living in one's own world has its benefits too.

Rorschach swiftly lowered Arkham Batman. Strangely, once lowered, Arkham Batman could actually walk — meaning this rope was equivalent to a medkit. Didn't that mean they could resurrect infinitely?

"Sorry, Dr. Manhattan, this balance of yours is actually pretty decent," Arkham Batman thought to himself.

But very unfortunately, just as the two prepared to leave through the left door, the sound of a door opening came from the right — next second, Shiler came down. He was still carrying someone on his shoulder: precisely No. 2 Scarlet Spider-Man.

Although this room only had one hanging spot, if both No. 2 and No. 3 were here, Shiler could completely take No. 3 down, sacrifice No. 2 first, then sacrifice No. 3. That way, the sacrificial ritual would be more than half complete.

Seeing the two preparing to flee, Shiler directly threw Scarlet Spider-Man down and strode toward them. Almost simultaneously, the "Big Trouble" tune rang out — this time it really was big trouble.

"Run!" Arkham Batman shouted, then sprinted toward the door. But no matter how fast they were, they couldn't outrun Shiler in this state. Shiler took just two steps and appeared right behind them.

Arkham Batman used his cape stun again, but Shiler's knife instantly turned red, his eyes flaring crimson — the sign of his ultimate. And it had already been verified that popping the ultimate drastically shortens control duration. Shiler merely stiffened for a split second, then slashed again.

But Rorschach somehow produced a can of insecticide and sprayed it full in Shiler's face — Shiler froze for another second.

Arkham Batman didn't have that many combat skills; he could only activate his clue-finding skill too, and unexpectedly, there happened to be a clue in that pile of corpses — and right now that corpse pile was directly behind Shiler.

Arkham Batman didn't hesitate; a clue flew out, and a skull struck Shiler from dead behind at extreme speed. Shiler was stunned for another second and staggered.

After this chain of hard CC, Arkham Batman and Rorschach bolted. The two scrambled out of the cellar door; even Arkham Batman couldn't help exhaling in relief — that had been far too close.

"Split up and run!" Arkham Batman said. "I'll go to the garden, you go to the castle."

The words hadn't even left his mouth when a black figure flashed behind him again, a gleaming cold blade about to hack down.

Arkham Batman cursed in rage — he had no skills left. Just as he was about to tell Rorschach to run, a figure slammed into him, knocking him aside. Amid spraying blood, Rorschach was slashed to the ground again.

"No. 2, No. 3..." Rorschach murmured. "Can't... can't go down together..."

Arkham Batman fled the scene at top speed. Reaching the garden pavilion, he gasped for breath. He admitted he'd misunderstood Rorschach a little — this guy's political stance was baffling, his mind not quite right, but he wasn't the selfish type who only shouted slogans and waited to reap the rewards. He genuinely believed his creed was right and wanted to practice it, even at the cost of his own life.

He knew what Rorschach's final words meant. When Rorschach had lowered him earlier, Arkham Batman had already told him his serial number. Now No. 2 was down; if Arkham Batman, No. 3, went down too, the ghost could sacrifice two in a row. And Rorschach was No. 5 — even if downed, because No. 4 was missing, the ghost couldn't directly sacrifice him.

In other words, these five numbers — as long as they weren't downed consecutively in order, the ghost would be heavily constrained, because it couldn't sacrifice and could only watch helplessly as people were rescued.

This was also the key reason Rorschach blocked the blade for Arkham Batman. No. 2 and No. 5 can't chain; that's still better than No. 2 and No. 3 going down consecutively.

As for Scarlet Spider-Man, he probably didn't know Shiler could teleport — likely caught off guard while crossing the roof, sliced twice in succession and dropped instantly.

Arkham Batman sighed inwardly. Finding anyone now was useless; the only plan was to quickly locate the remaining two seals, seal the devil fast, and honor his teammates' sacrifice.

Arkham Batman knew the seal he'd completed was in the east tower; the one Rorschach saw Constantine complete was in the garden; the one he'd done himself was on the second floor. If seal locations were evenly distributed, the last should be in the castle's upper levels.

Arkham Batman didn't hesitate — he charged straight up. Even with Shiler's current detection and teleportation, there was a range limit, not full-map vision; tracking him down would take time. If he could complete just one more seal, their win probability would rise significantly.

Rushing all the way to the fourth floor, he pushed open each room door one by one, but found nothing resembling a magic array. However, recalling the castle's exterior, he realized the fourth floor might have a hidden room — on the right side of the second room on the left.

He rushed in and sure enough, there was a bookshelf. Arkham Batman had no time for slow puzzle-solving; he activated clue-flying directly, and a book hidden in a drawer flew into his hand. He shoved the book back into the shelf and shoved the shelf hard — a secret door appeared behind it.

Stepping inside, he found what seemed to be a study used for rituals. On the nearby desk lay some unfinished writings; a quick glance told him this should be the secret chamber used by the Valet family's eldest son.

Arkham Batman could roughly guess the plot now. Dr. Manhattan played a word game in the narrative too — the intro said the Valet family was cursed, and now there's a devil to exorcise, making it easy to link the curse and the devil.

But in reality, the Valet family's curse was most likely just a hereditary disease. In this era many people superstitiously treat inherited mental issues or hereditary diseases with outward manifestations as a family bloodline curse.

And the devil has nothing to do with that curse at all. The devil was summoned by the Valet family's eldest son himself — this secret room is proof. He conducted cult research here, figured out how to summon a devil, offered his own body to it, and sacrificed his entire family.

After sacrificing the whole Valet family, he found the offerings still insufficient, unable to satisfy his appetite, so he lured exorcists in the name of the Valet family curse, intending to sacrifice them too.

This also explains why sealing the devil didn't weaken Shiler but strengthened him. Because there's no Valet eldest son left — the one inhabiting this body now is the devil. Sealing hurts the devil; the weaker the devil, the stronger Shiler becomes.

Though Arkham Batman was recalling the plot, his hands didn't stop — this room did have a magic array, and he immediately began the sealing.

Normal sealing speed wasn't slow, but once the little tune started, as the pace quickened, Arkham Batman's heartbeat raced too.

Actually his skills were off cooldown, but there truly was no room to escape. Judging by the timing, Shiler likely didn't teleport up — meaning he saved a teleport for pursuit. No matter how Arkham Batman maneuvered, he couldn't evade a wall-piercing teleport; he could only stake everything on finishing the seal.

The runes spun faster and faster, blade light closing in. *Swish* — Arkham Batman was cut down by the blood-red blade. He lay on the ground, even feeling he'd grown used to it.

The seal still completed, but Arkham Batman was carried back to the cellar. He thought Rorschach should be waiting above — he was No. 5, couldn't chain, could survive a while longer. Even if he himself was sacrificed, he could just stay put. But there was no one on the surface.

Were they rescued? Arkham Batman frowned — that wasn't good news. Black Widow shouldn't waste time saving him, because only one seal remained; once done, they could flee.

As Arkham Batman was hoisted up, he saw the numbers on the wall again — and to his shock, 1, 2, and 5 were all lit.

This was the first time in the entire game Arkham Batman heard Shiler speak.

"Upon entering the sacrificial process a second time, some rules can be broken. Their souls are too tempting."

His voice had no affected rasp, sounding no different from other Shilers — but precisely because of that, Arkham Batman's hair stood on end.

Second time entering the sacrificial process? Arkham Batman realized almost instantly — this referred to being hoisted a second time. Meaning a person can only be hoisted once; a second hoisting means certain death. Praise for Dr. Manhattan came too early.

Sure enough, the exorcist side cannot resurrect infinitely. Although knockdowns aren't limited, once hoisted and entered into the ritual process, even if rescued, it counts — next time they enter, the number order can be ignored and they can be sacrificed directly.

Arkham Batman let out a long sigh. Calculated a thousand ways, he hadn't accounted for this — with the ghost already this strong, being hoisted only gives two chances; even one more would've been fine.