"Hey, Melina, why were those dudes able to control monsters? He's not a summoner, right?" Adrian was puzzled. "I've never heard of humans successfully taming monsters before."

"I don't really know either, but that Henry James person said that his guild perform some sort of surgery on him and inserted monster Alpha genes into him, so now the monsters follow him." Melina related to Adrian what James had told her earlier, and he nodded. Sighing, Melina risked a glance behind her shoulder. "But I don't understand why they kidnapped us…they claimed that someone from the Franklin family ordered them to eliminate me, but who? Just because I'm a threat to Cousin Kureha's position as the next successor?"

"Politics," Adrian muttered in disgust. "Human greed is so disgusting. People sometimes backstab each other just for status and money. If we find whoever is behind this, we'll take them down and lock them behind bars. For now, let's just focus on getting the h.e.l.l out of here."

After a while, they stopped by a lobby and looked around while trying to get their bearings. Adrian caught sight of a map.

"Over there. Let's see…" he activated the holographic screen and studied the blue-tinted 3D hologram. Both he and Melina were marked out as red icons inside the holographic map. "We're here. Looks like the closest exit is there, at the back of the third hall from here. If we can get to there, we should be able to leave the building."

"But from what the kidnapper said earlier, they might have more reinforcements waiting for us outside." Melina was cautious as ever. "We can't just run out without a plan."

"Yeah, but we can't stay here either." Adrian shut his eyes for a moment, and then grinned. "If Brother Richie was in this situation, what do you think he will do?"

"He won't give up!" Melina replied fiercely. Adrian nodded, his grin growing wider.

"He'll fight his way out of this situation. I'm sure he'll tell us the same thing to." he tried to do an imitation of me. "'What did I teach you all those fighting techniques for, if you don't use them?!' Something like that."

"You're right." Melina giggled at Adrian's impression of me. "Sensei will definitely reprimand us if we give up. He taught us so much, we can't disappoint him by not putting in the minimum amount of effort."

"It's decided then." Adrian looked around and then sighed in frustration. Melina looked at him, puzzled.

"What is it?"

"I was hoping we would find weapons in here somewhere. Swords, guns…anything. But this is a scientific museum, not a historical one, so I guess we can only rely on our magic, huh?" he shook his head. "It's a pity. We'll be three times stronger if we have a weapon in our hand."

Melina giggled again. "That sounds like something Sensei would say."

"But Brother Richie will tell us to improvise." Adrian walked over to one of the stands that ringed around a dinosaur skeleton. With a slight spell, he conjured razor laves to cut appart the cloth threads that linked the poles together and picked up the metallic thing. "They may not look like much, but we can still use them as makes.h.i.+ft weapons."

"Eh?" Melina stared at the pole that Adrian placed into her hands, bewildered. Then her eyes brightened. "That's right! Sensei said something about that before, didn't he?"

"Yup." Adrian grinned and did his best imitation of me once again, placing a hand on his hip while raising the pole with his other hand. "'In the hands of a master, anything can be a weapon. Even a twig.'"

"We really owe him a lot, don't we?" Melina shook her head. Then she glanced around the exhibition hall, deep in thought. "He taught us to make use of our environment…the surrounding terrain. Do whatever it takes to survive."

"Yup. So let's go…"

Adrian never got to finish his sentence. A couple of Jack O'Lanterns attacked him, and he swirled around. Sakura petals trailed his makes.h.i.+ft sword and he clubbed the first one. It wailed as the petals sliced it apart, and then he rammed the opposite end of the stand into the belly of the second before it could slash him. It staggered back, and looked up just in time for Adrian to smashed its face apart with a huge wooden log that materialized over his makes.h.i.+ft sword.

"Yuck, I'm not a big fan of pumpkin juice," he remarked as he watched the pulped remains of the unfortunate Jack O'Lantern. He then turned around. "Melina!"

She was already spinning around and slas.h.i.+ng the couple of Jack O'Lanterns who surrounded her. Golden holy mana shrouded her makes.h.i.+ft sword, and even though the pole itself was blunt, the spell allowed her to cleave the Jack O'Lanterns into pieces. They shrieked as they fell, their bodies rent apart by Melina's makes.h.i.+ft sword.

"Heh! Sensei was right!" Melina chuckled as she tested her new sword with another couple of swings. "In the hands of a master, anything can be a weapon!"

"Yeah." Adrian snapped out of his stupor and nodded. Then he looked around, his eyes narrowed cautiously. "But if these monsters have come all the way here, then the others must be close behind as well. We should hurry."

"Agreed."

They started running again, heading for the third hall from their current location. As expected, the exit loomed right ahead of them. In the darkness, they resembled gates, gates that led out of the underworld.

"We're almost there!"

"Keep going!"

They were almost there when Henry James appeared behind them like a ghost, a phantom in the darkness that seemingly emerged from the shadows.

"!!"

Melina spun around and slashed with her makes.h.i.+ft weapon, the glowing mana unleas.h.i.+ng a golden arc of destructive energy. However, James deftly jumped back, effortlessly avoiding the attack. He landed elegantly a few meters away and smirked, impressed.

"I'm amazed at how tough you are, little princess," he mocked. Both Melina and Adrian tensed when they saw a huge group of Jack O'Lanterns and the masked kidnappers appear behind James. There were dozens of them, a small army that almost filled up the s.p.a.ce in the museum. James grinned as he stuck his hands in his pocket. "Well, I understand, though. The moment you give up, you'll be dead. There is no living thing who will fight bitterly just to stay alive."

"Yeah, we plan to survive!" Adrian declared, pointing his pole at James and the rest. A storm of petals whipped up around him. "We're not going to let you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds kill us!"

"That's right!" Melina agreed, her body wreathed in golden mana. "We'll survive and get out of here alive, together!"

"Oh, really?" James drawled. "And how do you plan to do that? We've locked that exit, you know. Even with your spells, it'll take quite a bit of power to destroy it."

"We'll defeat you first!" Melina charged forward. She remembered her lessons with me, and was determined to put it to good use. First, she swung her makes.h.i.+ft sword at James's head, and the chief captor smiled. He evidently thought her attack was predictable.

"!!"

However, Melina suddenly swapped her trajectory and struck at his legs instead. James almost didn't react in time and he hopped backward to prevent his legs from being broken by what appeared to be a severe blow.

While he withdrew, Melina made use of her momentum to carry her forward, and she spun about before she aimed for her opponent's face while he was still in the midst of adjusting his balance from the evasive maneuver he performed earlier.

Bam!

"I got him!"

Melina couldn't help but be delighted at the success of her attack. However, she froze when she heard James chuckle under his breath.

"That was actually pretty impressive. You've got the skills, kid."

"…eh?"

Melina's eyes widened when she saw that James had caught her attack with his bare hand, his fingers unaffected by the holy mana that blazed along the length of her pole. He smirked as he looked down on her.

"It's just too bad that your opponent happens to be me."

Before Melina could react, James punched her in the gut, sending her flying a few meters away. At the same time, he crushed the makes.h.i.+ft sword with his fist and dropped the dented, ruined metal on the ground. The now useless weapon rolled about, acrid fumes pouring from its wreck, while Melina crashed heavily onto the ground, coughing uncontrollably.

"Ugh!"

Blood dribbled from her mouth as she struggled to sit up, but she could only clutch her midriff and curl into a fetal position from the sheer pain.

"Melina!" Adrian shouted. And then he spun toward James, vengeance in his eyes. More Sakura petals billowed about him as he directed the razor-sharp blossoms toward his enemy. "Why, you…!"

"Oho!" James did his best to avoid the petals, jumping back. A few of his Jack O'Lanterns lurched forward, but they were cut apart by Adrian's maelstrom of petals or clubbed aside by his makes.h.i.+ft sword. "You're also not bad yourself, kid. You remind me of your cousin, Cecilia. Certainly, I wouldn't be able to beat someone of her caliber."

He then smirked.

"However, you're still far from her level, kid."

"I won't forgive you for hurting Melina!" Adrian shouted as he charged at James, swinging his sword upward. James beamed before raising his hand and conjuring several tendrils of shadows. Dark shapes erupted from the ground and engulfed Adrian's pink cloud of Sakura petals.

"!!"

Adrian almost didn't dodge the shadows in time, arresting his jump midway and twisting his body to the side. One of the shadows grazed him, drawing some blood, but he responded with a swing of his sword, cutting several of them apart and then summoning a bunch of vines to combat them. The green vines entangled with the black shadows, the tendrils coiling around each other and turning the s.p.a.ce into a writhing mess.

"Yikes, I really can't underestimate you." James chuckled as he dodged another storm of Sakura petals, protected by his shadows. Adrian charged at him again, determined to at least score a hit. Spinning about, James lashed out with his whip, the length of cursed black leather las.h.i.+ng out and slicing through Adrian's makes.h.i.+ft sword.

"No way?!"

Adrian somehow jumped back after narrowly escaping being sliced apart by the vicious whip, but James suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Yes way. Don't make me kill you, kid. Otherwise we won't be able to perform the ritual."

He then punched Adrian in the gut and sent him flying. The poor guy landed next to Melina, a few paces away from her, blood gus.h.i.+ng from his mouth. He struggled to get up, only to fall back onto the ground, unable to endure the pain.

"Ugh…d.a.m.n it…!"

"Sorry, kids. But this isn't a fairy tale. The good guys don't always win, and the bad guys get their way most of the time."

James approached the p.r.o.ne forms of Adrian and Melina, smirking. He raised a hand and gestured for his subordinates to move forward.

"Grab the two of them and bring them to the site. Then conduct the ritual. Don't waste any more time."

"Yes, sir!"

A few of the masked kidnappers hurried over to comply with their boss's orders. James himself strolled toward the kids, his whip trailing after him. He resisted the urge to lash out at them for taking up so much of his time.

"!!"

He stiffened for a moment and glanced up at the exit before instinctively jumping back. Clicking his tongue, he changed his orders.

"Retreat, all of you!���

"Huh?" his subordinates looked at him blankly. Both Adrian and Melina raised their heads, looking confused at his sudden reversal.

"??"

None of them expected what came next. The doors were blown apart by a furious blast of mana, and I jumped in through the storm of debris before landing on the ground. Drawing both Hei Yue and Bai Ri, I barely gave a glance to the fallen forms of the kidnappers who were too slow to evade the explosion.

"Ah…" Both Adrian and Melina brightened up when they saw me. "Brother Richie/Sensei!!"

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