Chapter 608: Capitano and Dottore

“You disgrace of the Fatui Harbingers… a traitor to Her Majesty Tsaritsa—you still dare to appear before me???”

Along with Capitano’s slightly angered voice, a figure with blue hair and a bird-shaped mask stepped out from behind a boulder…

“Capitano, we were colleagues once, at least. After such a long time apart, must you be so aggressive?” Dottore waved his hand lightly and let out a helpless smile.

However, the only response Dottore received was the icy and razor-sharp blade of Capitano’s sword!

Although Capitano’s assault was extremely swift and fierce, Dottore had clearly anticipated that Capitano would strike, effortlessly dodging the attack…

“Capitano, although rumors say the Harbingers’ rankings are based on strength—and they are indeed true…”

Dottore looked toward Capitano and spoke unhurriedly:

“What I’m feeling now is that compared to a few dozen years ago… the swing of your blade seems noticeably slower.”

“These years… has your strength been declining with the passing of time?”

Dottore chuckled softly and continued:

“But I’m different. All these years, I’ve been endlessly researching new things, constantly re-arming myself, advancing without limit, and making myself stronger…”

“So tell me—are you still truly my match now, Capitano?”

“If I were still within the Fatui, perhaps I could even request from Her Majesty a Rank-Swap Duel—to take that No.1 seat of yours for myself.”

Yet Capitano had no interest in wasting words.

He unleashed a violent surge of Cryo, instantly freezing Dottore’s legs in place, immobilizing him, then raised his one-handed sword to strike directly at Dottore’s head!

If it were an ordinary person facing such a swift, brutal, and battle-honed series of attacks, they would already be doomed…

But Dottore was no ordinary man.

He simply severed his own legs, letting himself fall backward and once again narrowly avoid Capitano’s strike!

“Honestly… it’s been so long since we last met as colleagues. I just wanted to have a conversation, yet you always start swinging without a word. It really puts me in a difficult position…”

Dottore glanced at his now-frozen legs, speaking with mild annoyance:

“Well then—looks like I’ll have to use some… stronger measures to make you listen properly, Capitano.”

In the next moment, a surge of Eerie power burst from Dottore’s body, sweeping toward Capitano!

Capitano instantly felt his body suppressed by a mysterious and ominous force—unable to move…

“So this is… the Eerie power?” Capitano murmured.

“It truly is a mysterious, powerful, and ominous force…”

“Oh? So you already know of it. That means you’ve been in contact with Su Yuan and the others,” Dottore said without the slightest surprise.

“That guy Su Yuan… honestly. Something as wonderful as Eerie power—he should’ve kept it to himself to study and use alone. Why tell so many people?”

Dottore approached his frozen, severed legs and used a palmful of Eerie flame to melt the ice before reattaching them…

But in the next instant—something happened that Dottore did not expect!

The supposedly bound and motionless Capitano suddenly erupted with strength, breaking free from the suppression and striking again with his sword—straight toward Dottore’s head!

Unable to dodge in time, Dottore had half his head sliced off!

Using his remaining eye and half of his remaining face, Dottore stared at Capitano in disbelief:

“Even with a body that has decayed into this state… even with your strength continually declining… you can still generate the power to break free from Eerie suppression?”

“As expected of the First Harbinger, as expected of the one called the strongest human—Capitano…”

“But it’s unfortunate. Even with half my head gone, I still won’t die. So victory in this exchange—still falls to me.”

As Dottore spoke, he intensified the Eerie power, suppressing Capitano even more forcefully.

Then, he pulled out some kind of unknown injection-spray device from the air and sprayed it directly onto Capitano’s face.

“This is a drug formulated specifically for Khaenri’ahns. Have a good sleep, Capitano…”

Soon, Capitano lowered his head, stopped resisting, and lost consciousness.

Dottore then lifted his limp body and disappeared into the mountains and forests…

…..

At this moment, Su Yuan and the others still had no idea that Capitano had already fallen into Dottore’s hands.

They remained in the meeting room of the Sacred Flame Arena, discussing how to locate the remaining two tribal heroes…

“As I thought—we should just gather everyone from the Flower-Feather Clan and the Masters of the Night-Wind, then have Great Spirit check them one by one to see who the real heroes are!” Paimon proposed with her usual wild imagination.

“Sure, this method is kind of primitive, kind of dumb, and also pretty slow… but with the elimination method, we can’t possibly go wrong!”

“Paimon, that method won’t work,” Mualani corrected her from the side.

“Great Spirit isn’t some kind of mystical conch shell that answers any question you ask…”

“And with so many people, that means so many questions. If I were Great Spirit, I’d get a terrible headache and wouldn’t want to answer at all!”

“So… mystical conch shell? What’s that?”

Paimon’s focus was clearly on something quite different from everyone else.

“The mystical conch shell is actually just a toy I sell at my shop!” Mualani replied with a warm smile.

“As long as you ask the conch a question, it’ll give you an answer!”

“Though… the answer might be extremely random and completely unrelated, but kids love it!”

“Waaah, when you put it like that, now I’m super curious too!” Paimon exclaimed eagerly.

“Hehe~ Paimon, next time you come to Leisurely Puffer, stop by my little shop. I’ll give you one for free!” Mualani chuckled, speaking generously.

“Yay! Free things taste the best!” Paimon clapped her hands happily.

“Cough, cough…” Su Yuan cleared his throat helplessly.

“Aren’t we getting a bit off-topic here?”

“Haha—sorry, sorry…”

Both Mualani and Paimon gave embarrassed smiles.

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