Chapter 271: The Clown in Town (End)
Sniff~
Judy grabbed Pennywise's collar instead, proactively bringing her face close to the other party.
"The scent of a fresh monster~ Truly fascinating."
She greedily sniffed the clown's face, then closed her eyes, revealing an intoxicated expression.
Pennywise slowly closed its mouth, staring at the girl in front of it with a strange gaze.
In its decades of hunting, this was the first time it had encountered such a... human.
For a split second, it even thought this young girl was also some kind of monster.
But the other party clearly carried the scent of human flesh and blood.
Pat.
At this time, Judy seemed somewhat unsatisfied, her two hands involuntarily grabbing Pennywise's face.
"Why did you... why did you put that cluster of light orbs away."
She twisted her neck from time to time, seemingly trying hard to suppress the urges in her heart.
"Quick! Give them to me quickly!"
Pennywise's face was squeezed somewhat out of shape. At this moment, it looked at the priest aside again, its eyes full of shock.
William read that look—Is there something wrong with this woman?
He turned his head slightly, pretending not to see.
"It seems that without Holy Power protection, the side effects of the face mask are amplified," William thought inwardly.
Last time when handling the "Insidious" case, the male homeowner Josh had a similar situation, and William thought it was the other party's own personal issue.
On the other side.
Pennywise's face darkened.
An ordinary human actually dared to humiliate it like this. Children like Judy had only ever been meat to satisfy its appetite in the past.
Smack!
It grabbed Judy's arms.
In the next moment, the clown's head transformed into a crooked-faced woman covered in the aura of death.
Its mouth stretched to an exaggerated angle, looking quite terrifying.
Just as Pennywise was about to bite down on the young girl's head, the latter's hands reached into its mouth a step faster.
"Open wider!"
Judy could no longer suppress the emotions in her heart. With an excited face, she actually used the clown's chest as a foothold and thrust her entire upper body into the other party's mouth.
"Aha! Got them!"
At this time, she reached one hand deep into the bottom of the clown's throat and tightly grabbed the three floating light orbs.
The latter spun rapidly, then erupted with dazzling halos, continuously assaulting Judy's eyes.
But she seemed completely unaffected, instead gripping them even tighter.
"Relax, I'll make it less painful for you."
Judy patted the clown's cheek, her tone full of bewitchment. For a moment, this scene made it hard to tell—who exactly was the real villain.
At the same moment the light orbs were grabbed, Pennywise shuddered violently.
Subsequently, its body began to deform uncontrollably.
Headless zombie, crooked-faced woman, normal human...
Its body withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Seemingly aware that its situation was dire, Pennywise suddenly lay flat on its back on the ground, then reached a hand out toward the garbage mountain.
Immediately after, a few corpses floating in the air suddenly fell to the ground.
Some light particles separated from the surface of the corpses and arrived beside it in the blink of an eye.
Relying on this power, Pennywise finally regained its mobility. It immediately grabbed the back of Judy's collar, trying to yank the other party off its body.
As Judy was dragged away bit by bit, she also pulled those three light orbs out.
But the light orbs desperately tried to break free from her hands.
Buzz... Buzz...
Violent energy fluctuations rippled around Pennywise's mouth, but still couldn't shake Judy's hand.
At this time, one of the light orbs bloomed with an even more dazzling light.
With a loud Bang, this light orb exploded in Judy's hand.
The energy impact sent her flying backward, crashing into a pile of garbage.
And the remaining two light orbs immediately flew back into Pennywise's mouth.
The latter also finally regained its freedom.
William glanced at the garbage pile.
Judy's aura was still present; she had just passed out.
Therefore, he focused his attention back on Pennywise.
During the time Judy was tangling with the clown just now, William had been setting up holy artifacts around them.
Seeing that the face mask could actually completely block the power of the Deadlights, he was also somewhat surprised in his heart.
And the clown itself fed on "Fear."
Since it couldn't sense any fear from Judy, naturally, it couldn't receive the blessing of fear's power.
That was why William didn't step in to help; this would also increase her experience when facing evil monsters alone.
However, while setting up the holy artifacts, he had kept a close eye on the situation over there.
If any accident occurred, relying on [Holy Steps], William could save Judy in the blink of an eye.
Back to the present.
Having shaken off that troublesome child, Pennywise jumped atop the garbage mountain, proactively widening the distance.
Its gaze darted back and forth between the young girl and William.
A moment later, it locked onto the latter.
Compared to that bizarre young girl, the man below looked a bit more normal.
Buzz!
Pennywise opened its mouth wide on the garbage mountain.
Considering the scene of its previous clash with this man, this time it chose to directly drive the power of the Deadlights.
Dazzling light illuminated the ground around William, and many bright red balloons floated up from the surrounding garbage.
This was Pennywise's unique ability—Peering into the Heart.
The power of the Deadlights could reach directly into human brains, capturing the things they feared most in their hearts.
As long as it found the source of their fear, it could grasp the lifelines of these humans!
But before long, Pennywise revealed a shocked gaze once again.
It actually saw absolutely nothing!
How is this possible!
Every human has things they fear during their growing-up process.
Parents, neighbors, terrifying things, violence, slaughter...
These are things rooted deep in human memories, impossible to ever forget.
But the human in front of it was actually a blank slate!
Pennywise faintly realized that it seemed to have encountered an incredible existence.
On the other side.
William also felt the other party's probing power.
But relying on the ability of the [Missionary], he could easily isolate it outside his brain.
"Don't think you're the only one who knows how to use emotions." William snorted coldly.
He stared intently at Pennywise.
Although the other party was a product of the Deadlights' power, its body was still modified from a human, which was why it could possess the behavioral habits of a "biological creature."
And under William's careful probing, he quickly discovered a wisp of pale purple aura within Pennywise's body.
This was the manifestation of the "Sin of Fear."
In Derry town, Pennywise had always been an urban legend-like existence; no one could pose a threat to it.
But William's arrival made it doubt itself.
Perhaps it was this tiny crack that gave this monster an emotion that shouldn't have existed before.
William naturally wouldn't waste this opportunity.
In the next moment, the clown on the garbage mountain suddenly froze in place.
It stared tightly at the human below, its eyes full of disbelief.
It saw William's body actually continuously enlarging, almost becoming level with the garbage mountain.
At the same time, Pennywise conversely became short and decrepit, unable to even manage basic standing.
"This... is impos... sible!"
It spoke tremblingly.
"Using fear... this is... my ability."
In the original work, Pennywise had transformed into a giant clown and a giant spider.
This was the manifestation of it absorbing the children's power of fear to feed back into itself.
But at this moment, the scene was completely reversed.
William clenched his fist, feeling somewhat surprised inwardly.
"Interesting, I actually grew physically larger in a true physical sense. It seems this space is indeed somewhat different from the outside," he thought inwardly.
Subsequently, he took a step and arrived right beside the garbage mountain.
The clown opposite immediately shielded its head with its hands, curling its entire body together.
William patted his backpack, and then his expression turned somewhat strange.
He subsequently took out a giant holy nail.
This thing was almost two meters long, several times larger than Pennywise's body.
"You can only blame your own abilities for being too strong."
William shrugged, and then the surrounding ground shook slightly.
In the next moment, he hoisted the holy nail and ruthlessly plunged it into Pennywise's body.
The latter let out a miserable scream of pain.
And deep within its throat, the two light orbs spun madly.
But because it was missing one, the energy it emitted was far inferior to before, simply unable to pierce through the holy nail's blockade.
William's hand movements didn't stop.
He took out another giant bottle of Holy Water, pulled out the stopper, and poured it down over Pennywise's head.
Sizzle... Sizzle...
After a brief burning sound, there was no longer any trace of Pennywise there.
And William's body also returned to its original size.
Two circles of golden patterns surfaced in his eyes, carefully inspecting the surrounding space.
"No other traces of abnormal activity. It seems it really was purified."
Thud... Thud!
At the same time, those corpses that had been floating in the air previously now fell to the ground one after another.
A massive amount of evil aura erupted outward uncontrollably.
William was already prepared.
He immediately activated the isolation magic array, confining these unjustly dead souls to their spots, and then walked over to these skeletal remains.
Among the souls before his eyes, some individual spirit bodies had been completely polluted by the evil aura, only a step away from turning into evil spirits.
William immediately took out the exorcism scriptures and purified this portion of the souls.
As for the rest...
The golden patterns in his eyes glowed, and subsequently, a pure and powerful Holy Power was projected onto these souls.
The evil aura within their spirit bodies was rapidly melted away.
One, two...
With William's current strength, he quickly cleansed the remaining souls clean.
At the same time, a third circle of golden patterns etched into his pupils.
This also meant that William had completed the third-level Holy Art of the "Eyes" stage—[Divine Eye Seal].
The abilities concerning this Holy Art flashed through his mind.
He wasn't in a hurry to study it, but instead took out the Bible and opened the Gospel chapter.
"Thank you, Father."
At this time, a tender voice suddenly rang out.
He saw many souls emitting faint white light floating in the air; most of them were in the appearance of children.
These souls all obediently gathered in front of William.
William didn't look up, merely speaking: "You have suffered these past years."
"Before completely reincarnating, you can still stay in the human world for a brief moment. Don't waste this final opportunity."
As soon as his voice fell, the dead spirits floated upwards one after another.
After nodding in respect to William, the group of souls disappeared into the skylight entrance.
At the same time.
Many balloons suddenly appeared in the sky above Derry town.
People exclaimed in amazement, pointing at the sky one after another.
These balloons were colorful, becoming the most lively splash of scenery the town had seen in decades.
The balloons floated to various parts of the town, finally stopping outside some residences.
If anyone observant noticed, these residences were all families that had once lost a child.
Inside a certain house.
A woman sat blankly on the sofa, holding a colorful photograph in her arms, depicting a girl with a radiant smile.
A moment later, the woman suddenly widened her eyes.
"Betty... Betty! Is that you!"
The woman stood up abruptly, looking at the familiar figure at the door.
She rushed over and hugged the other party tightly.
"Where did you go... Mom missed you so much..." The woman sobbed uncontrollably, her body trembling non-stop.
But the "girl" in her arms didn't speak, merely smiling and stroking her mother's head.
At this moment, the woman seemed to understand something in her heart.
She looked down; the shadow of the girl was no longer in her arms, leaving only a pink balloon.
"Betty..."
The woman lay on the floor and cried out loud, unable to stop for a long time...
Scenes like this played out all over the town.
After today, a rumor spread in Derry town—those balloons carried the souls of the missing children, who had been redeemed and had found their final rest.
Inside the sewer skylight shaft.
Seeing Judy still hadn't woken up, William wasn't in a hurry to call her either.
He sat beside a pile of remains.
Although their owners had already reincarnated, these bones still had a use.
In the practice of the "Bones" stage, the first-level Holy Art is called [Bone Reshaping].
This requires the Holy Clergy Member to use Holy Power to establish a connection with the bones inside their body, thereby changing their own skeletal aptitude.
This can make the bones lighter, reaction speed increasingly faster, and enables the use of [Holy Steps].
Because William had applied high-quality Holy Oil long-term, coupled with the existence of the panel...
He had already completed this level of Holy Art.
Therefore, the next goal was the second-level Holy Art—[Spirit Bone Preaching].
This requires using Holy Power to assimilate the remains of others, thereby establishing a connection with them.
Once successfully practiced, one could manipulate the bones of others at will, and increase the hardness of the bones many times over.
Of course, this Holy Art was only effective on remains and could not manipulate the bones of living people.
But even so, this was one of the Church's rare, offensively-natured abilities.
In exorcism commission team-ups, "Bone Manifestation" was the second most popular theological ability after "Eyes Manifestation."
At the same time, practicing this Holy Art was not simple.
First, it required a large number of remains, and if the original owner of the remains was full of resentment when alive, the assimilation efficiency of Holy Power would be faster.
Secondly, the assimilation process required a massive amount of Holy Power; otherwise, the effect after assimilation would be greatly reduced.
For most Holy Clergy Members, being able to control a complete skeleton was already proof of powerful strength.
But William was naturally different.
He merely raised one hand, and three skeletons on the ground immediately emitted a faint white light.
At this time, if one looked closely, they could find that the impurities on the surface of the bones were rapidly being stripped away.
At the same time, between William and the bones, countless invisible spirit threads were frantically grafting.
Before long, the finger bones of one of the skeletons twitched.
Immediately after, the skeleton braced its hands on the ground, stood up tremblingly, and waved its "hand" at William.
This "bony" scene looked somewhat comical.
"It doesn't seem that difficult." William rubbed his chin.
"The essence of this Holy Art is using spirit threads to manipulate bones, similar to a 'Puppeteer' profession."
"To quickly apply this ability in combat, one must know bone structure like the back of one's hand. This is the truly time-consuming part..."
He quickly summarized the pattern.
"Forget it, let's just assimilate all the remains here first."
Next, William released more Holy Power.
For a time, all the skeletal remains in the entire sewer emitted a faint glow.
If this scene were seen by a "Bone Manifestation" Holy Clergy Member, their jaw would definitely drop.
After all, in the Church's orthodox theological texts, the description of practicing "Bone Assimilation" is—starting from a single bone joint, slowly extending to the whole body; the assimilation completion time for one bone joint is usually around two weeks...
At this moment, William naturally wasn't thinking about this.
Not long after.
All the remains in the sewer "stood" up.
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