488 Chapter 488: A Night in the Museum (2/2)
The spell was powerful enough to leave blisters and burns on his arms, and he shook them, grimacing from the stinging pain. Exhaling in annoyance, he glared at where the two kids were, but found himself blinded by the bright, holy light.
”Damn it! Of course!”
He squeezed his eyes shut, cursing under his breath. Melina's holy spell didn't just destroy monsters and repel enemies – it served as an effective smokescreen to obscure their vision, so that the two kids could get away while everyone was still blinded.
”I underestimated them.”
While he staggered back, shielding his eyes, he could hear cries and yelps from his men as they crashed about clumsily in the exhibition hall. Loud, thunderous noises of collapsing skeletons informed him that they had blundered into the dinosaur fossils that had been placed on display, knocking them down and sending tons of bones raining down on them.
”Aw, fuck…don't you idiots know how much these cost?” he shook his head. ”Well, we had better get out of here before anyone finds out, otherwise they'll send Grimaldus an invoice that we can't afford to pay off…then again, if they discover that we're behind this, compensating the museum for these damages would be the least of our worries.”
The holy light continued to sear into his retinas for a couple more minutes, but when it was finally gone, he was able to lower his hand and take stock of his surroundings.
”Whoa, these kids really did a number on us, didn't they?”
As he suspected, the Jack O'Lanterns had been decimated. The majority of the horde that he had brought in with him had disintegrated from the powerful holy spell, leaving him with less than half. That was fine. The monsters were expendable, and he had more in reserve. He was glad that he came prepared. One of the worst case scenarios that he had envisioned was facing off against the kids' private tutor, and he had almost an entire army of them waiting outside.
The fools who were supposed to serve as his subordinates were lying about, sprawled in dust and broken bones. A few of them had been buried under the heap of bones that used to be reconstructed dinosaur skeletons, and quite a lot of them had been injured by the powerful blast. Some were unconscious, knocked out by the overwhelming force.
The spell truly deserved its name, Wrath of God.
The remaining subordinates who had endured the onslaught and emerged unscathed were milling about, carrying musket-shaped rifles and searching for the kids. One of them hurried over.
”Master James! We've lost sight of the kids!”
”Barricade all the exits,” James ordered, calm and composed. This was just a minor setback. It was all within expectations. If they had lost the kids, then all they needed to do was recapture them. ”Isn't that obvious? Make sure they don't escape from here.”
”Understood, sir.”
”Make sure you take them alive. Don't kill them – the ritual will not work without living sacrifices. That said, you can rough them up a little. Make them suffer for their impertinence.” James grinned. ”Even if they are missing a limb or two, as long as they're still alive, I don't care. They don't have to be in one piece, just…alive.”
”Yes, sir.”
”But…these kids are a lot more troublesome than I thought. It wouldn't do to underestimate them.” Henry James began walking toward the set of doors that led deeper into the museum. His subordinate hurried after him, confused.
”S…sir? Where are you going?”
”After the kids, of course!” James snorted. ”Considering how you fools have been bungling the job so far, it's best if I go after them personally.”
Meanwhile, Adrian and Melina were sprinting deeper into the museum, trying to put as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible.
”Are you all right, Melina?”
”Yeah. Thanks for buying me the time I needed to cast Wrath of God!” Even as she replied, Melina continued to run, refusing to look back. ”How about you? They beat you up pretty badly, didn't they?”
”Don't worry,” Adrian assured her. ”They roughed me up, but it's nothing I can't handle. Actually, I'm surprised that they were so weak.”
”I'm sorry.” Melina's head drooped a little. ”They were after me. It's all my fault. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be dragged into this mess…”
Adrian reached out and hugged Melina, stopping her in her tracks.
”Stop blaming yourself, Melina. I promised to protect you, and I will. We'll survive this together, no matter what. I will protect you, Melina!”
”Uh…” Melina was flushing crimson.
”Besides…” Adrian let her go, then grabbed her hand and resumed running. ”This isn't your fault. If anything, it's that bastard's fault. When we get out of here, I'm going to tell Brother Richie, and we'll go beat him up.”
That brought a smile to Melina's face.
”Yeah. We'll definitely get out of here together. The both of us will definitely survive this!”
Then the two of them increased their pace, charging headlong to wherever the darkness ahead planned to take them.
Please go to
to read the latest chapters for free