The moment the words fell.
A melodious yet eerie organ sound, without any warning, echoed from all directions of the ballroom!
The organ music was grand, solemn, carrying a unique splendor and weight characteristic of medieval courts.
Immediately after.
Violins, cellos, flutes, harps... all kinds of instruments, as if awakened by an invisible conductor, joined this grand and eerie symphony one by one.
Countless notes intertwined and swirled above the empty ballroom, finally converging into a spine-chilling court dance.
Jill almost instinctively turned and retreated towards the huge wooden door behind her, carved with demons and angels.
"Bang!"
A dull thud.
She slammed heavily against the cold, hard door panel.
The door had been completely locked from the outside at some unknown point.
This was a trap.
A death trap meticulously set with a magnificent ball and eerie wax figures!
Jill made no more futile attempts.
She leaned her back against the wooden door, which had cut off all retreat, and slowly raised her ump9 submachine gun to her chest.
The muzzle was steadily aimed at the center of the dance floor.
She stared intently at the incredibly bizarre scene before her.
The melody of the dance music, after about half a minute, suddenly changed.
Several sharp and dissonant variation notes suddenly pierced the originally melodious movement!
And at this moment.
The five wax figures dressed in waiter uniforms and holding silver trays at the edge of the dance floor moved.
Their movements were extremely stiff and slow.
Like puppets with severed strings, they were forcibly controlled by an invisible force, slowly raising their arms and stepping forward.
"Crack... crack..."
A series of faint sounds, like dry bark being torn apart, emanated from them.
As they moved, the thick layer of wax covering their bodies began to show spiderweb-like cracks.
Then it peeled off piece by piece.
Falling onto the smooth, mirror-like black marble floor with crisp "clack" sounds.
Beneath the wax, what was revealed was not human flesh and blood.
But a nauseating bluish-black skin!
The skin was shriveled, wrinkled, tightly clinging to their bones, and covered with the dark purple spots characteristic of corpses.
Their mouths slowly opened.
But the corners of their mouths were cruelly cut open as if by an invisible blade, tearing all the way to their ears!
Revealing dense, sharp teeth like those of a shark inside!
A disgusting smell, a mixture of rotting corpse stench and strong blood, instantly rushed over like a flood breaking its dam!
Transforming this entire magnificent ballroom into a living Hell exuding the Aura of death!
"Roar..."
From their torn throats, they let out a low growl that was not human.
Then, with stumbling and swaying steps, they walked towards Jill, one step at a time.
Fortunately, their movements were not fast.
Their staggering gait made them look like five drunken men, swaying from side to side.
Jill took advantage of their slow approach to quickly check the magazine of her ump9 submachine gun.
She had three full spare magazines.
The Grenade Launcher had a few high-explosive rounds left and one Incendiary Round.
Her samurai edge was fully loaded, with two spare magazines.
It was enough.
Her gaze swept over the five grotesque faces that could no longer be called faces.
A mocking smile played on her lips.
She bent down, and her right hand drew a gleaming tactical dagger from the outside of her tactical boot.
"Drunkards can't be good waiters."
Her voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it clearly echoed in this palace shrouded by the dance of death.
She was speaking to the madman hiding in the shadows, enjoying all of this.
"Roar!"
The nearest waiter seemed to be enraged by her words.
Its previously stumbling steps suddenly quickened, and it roared with its gaping maw, pouncing towards Jill!
A foul-smelling gust of wind rushed towards her!
Jill's eyes showed no fluctuation.
Just as the monster was about to pounce on her.
Her body suddenly ducked!
She swayed extremely nimbly to the right, like willow catkins blown by the wind!
And easily dodged the powerful frontal pounce!
At the same time!
Her right leg, clad in black tactical pants, hooked backward precisely like a venomous snake striking out of its hole!
"Bang!"
The waiter instantly lost its balance.
Its massive body fell heavily against the locked wooden door, emitting a dull thud!
The remaining four waiters seemed to possess not even a shred of intelligence.
They merely slowly turned their stiff bodies.
Adjusted their direction, and then continued their swaying walk, encircling Jill again.
Facing such slow-moving, single-attack-style low-level monsters.
Jill didn't even have the desire to shoot.
In a place where the enemy's situation was unclear and she didn't know what she would encounter next.
Every bullet had to be used wisely.
Wasting ammunition was irresponsible for one's own life.
The melodious and eerie court dance music continued to echo above the ballroom.
As if it were background music specifically prepared for this impending feast of slaughter.
Jill's body sank slightly.
The tactical dagger in her hand was held in a reverse grip across her chest.
She was like a prima ballerina about to perform on stage.
And the dance she was about to perform was a waltz with a score written in blood and death.
A waiter swung its hands, which had turned into claws, and roared, grabbing at her face.
Jill's foot slid lightly to the left.
Her body spun gracefully like a top.
Not only did she easily dodge the deadly claws.
But in that instant, she had already spun behind the waiter!
"Pfft!"
A dull sound of a blade cutting through rotten flesh!
The tactical dagger in her hand traced a cold, deadly arc from bottom to top!
Precisely slicing through the waiter's unguarded back of the neck!
Black, foul-smelling blood instantly gushed out!
The waiter let out a short, mournful cry.
Its body twitched violently, then fell forward stiffly.
Without any pause!
Jill, using the momentum of her spin, delivered a powerful spinning back kick, slamming it heavily into the knee of another approaching waiter!
"Crack!"
A crisp sound of bone breaking!
The waiter's left leg twisted outwards at an extremely strange angle!
It let out a roar, lost its balance, and knelt heavily on the ground!
Jill gave it no chance to breathe!
She darted forward!
Leaping high into the air!
Her right knee, like a siege ram, slammed down from above, heavily striking the waiter's chin, which was tilted back from its roar!
"Bang!"
The monster's entire head was violently knocked backward by this immense force!
And Jill, using this recoil, executed an extremely beautiful backflip in the air.
Landing steadily on the ground two meters away.
The entire process was smooth and fluid, all in one go.
Full of deadly charm, a perfect blend of violence and aesthetics.
The remaining two waiters still slowly approached her, oblivious to death.
Jill's face was devoid of any expression.
She just stood there quietly.
Like the most patient hunter, waiting for the prey to walk into the pre-set death trap.
When the two monsters finally flanked her from left and right and attacked simultaneously.
She suddenly squatted down!
She slid forward along the smooth marble floor like a gecko!
While dodging the two monsters' deadly pincer attack.
The tactical dagger in her hand, during the slide, precisely slashed across the two monsters' unguarded ankles, like the fangs of a venomous snake!
"Pfft! Pfft!"
Two deep, bone-visible wounds instantly appeared!
Foul-smelling black blood gushed out!
The Achilles tendons of the two monsters were simultaneously severed by her!
They let out a painful shriek, their bodies unable to support themselves, and fell heavily forward!
Jill had already slid behind them.
She slowly stood up.
Without even looking back.
She simply flicked the tactical dagger in her hand backward with force!
The gleaming dagger traced a graceful arc in the air.
Precisely embedding itself into the back of the head of one of the struggling monsters trying to get up!
And she herself quickly stepped forward, stomping heavily on the back of the neck of the other monster!
"Puff!"
The monster's cervical spine was directly deformed by her stomp!
The five slow-moving waiters were easily dealt with by her in an almost performative manner.
The entire process didn't even take more than a minute.
The moment the last waiter completely stopped moving.
The melodious and eerie court dance music above the ballroom changed once again!
The melody became more urgent, more frantic!
As if it were a death movement about to reach its climax!
This time, it was the four female dancer wax figures, posed in graceful dance positions, that moved!
Their bodies began to slowly rotate.
One turn, two turns, three turns... the speed of rotation became faster and faster!
More dense sounds of wax breaking kept coming from their bodies!
After rotating more than a dozen times.
Their bodies suddenly stopped!
Then, in an extremely bizarre way that defied all human biomechanics, they suddenly collapsed onto the cold marble floor!
"Gurgle... gurgle... gurgle..."
A series of teeth-grinding sounds of bones grinding and dislocating constantly came from within them!
Their limbs twisted and stretched outwards at extremely unnatural angles.
Their entire bodies were completely flattened!
Their heads, moreover, twisted around at a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree angle!
Their originally beautiful faces had now become grotesque and distorted!
Their eye sockets contained completely pale white eyeballs.
They were like evil spirits crawling out from the depths of Hell in a horror movie!
Their entire figures appeared deformed, yet filled with an indescribable sense of eeriness!
Immediately after.
They were like four giant spiders!
Using their twisted limbs, they began to crawl rapidly on the ground!
Their speed was far beyond what the previously slow-moving waiters could compare to!
In the blink of an eye!
They had already climbed the walls surrounding the ballroom!
Two of them even climbed directly onto the high ceiling!
They were like four deadly hunters lurking in the shadows.
Staring intently at Jill in the center of the dance floor with their now pale white, hollow eyeballs.
Jill's brows instantly furrowed into a knot.
She felt a tingling sensation on her scalp.
This type of enemy that could scurry around on walls and ceilings was the type she disliked the most.
They could always launch deadly attacks from unexpected, tricky angles.
Making it impossible to guard against!
Jill's gaze quickly scanned every corner of the ballroom.
Soon.
The balcony on the second floor, like a royal box, caught her attention.
On that balcony stood wax figures of a king and queen wearing crowns.
That position and the entire dance floor formed a perfect defensive angle.
As long as she guarded there, she would only have to face attacks from directly in front.
And wouldn't have to worry about sneak attacks from above or behind.
"That's the spot!"
Jill instantly made her decision.
Without any hesitation, she immediately started running towards the magnificent spiral staircase leading to the second floor!
The four deformed dancers, like spiders, seemed to sense her intention.
They let out a series of sharp, ear-piercing screeches, like fingernails scratching glass, almost simultaneously!
Then they leaped down from the walls and ceiling!
Like four black cannonballs, they attacked Jill from four different directions!
However.
Facing this sudden, deadly encirclement.
Jill's face revealed a smile of anticipation.
Her left hand had already pulled a cylindrical metal object from her tactical belt.
Just as the four deformed dancers were about to pounce on her.
She suddenly threw the Stun Grenade in her hand onto the ground!
"Boom—!!!!"
A deafening roar instantly resounded throughout the ballroom!
A blinding, pale white light, even more dazzling than the sun, suddenly erupted!
The four previously menacing deformed dancers.
The moment they came into contact with the dazzling white light, they let out extremely painful, shrill screams, like beasts struck on the head!
They fell heavily to the ground.
Frantically covering their heads with their twisted, claw-like hands, they rolled and struggled in agony on the floor!
Seeing this scene.
A hint of understanding flashed in Jill's eyes.
"So that's it..."
She muttered to herself in a low voice.
"They seem to be extremely sensitive to bright light and loud noises."
This discovery immediately reminded her of some fragmented information about Umbrella Corporation's early B.O.W. research that a mysterious collaborator, codenamed Mr. T, had sent her through secret channels...