That sudden, foul wind was icy cold and carried the distinct, beastly stench of animal musk. It was absolutely not a natural wind, but rather an airflow stirred up by extre speed.
Lin Jie's pupils contracted. He subconsciously activated [ntal Staircase]. The initially enhanced neural reaction speed allowed him to make the one and only correct move in that critical mont.
He gave up on reaching for the [Blood Holy Grail]. His entire body arched backward in a dramatic, exaggerated posture similar to a "backward iron bridge bend."
At the exact sa mont his body leaned back, a slender, black shadow, moving too fast for the naked eye to capture, flashed past, grazing the tip of his nose by a hair's breadth.
"Shhh-rip!"
The soft sound of fabric being torn by a sharp blade echoed.
The heavy velvet curtain hanging before Lin Jie, bearing the family crest of Don Alida, was sliced cleanly in two by that black shadow.
The cut was smooth as a mirror, without a single frayed thread.
And only then, with a loud crash, did the glass of the closed floor-to-ceiling window behind Lin Jie completely shatter, a torrent of glass fragnts cascading into the study.
The sound actually arrived a step *after* the attack.
The speed was astonishing.
Lin Jie perford a clumsy donkey roll, swiftly putting distance between himself and the shattered window, while simultaneously drawing [Serene Heart] from his waist.
His back was already soaked through with cold sweat.
In that split second just now, he hadn't even seen what had attacked him.
He only felt as if he had brushed shoulders with a steam locomotive at full speed.
"My God…"
Ethan, who was on guard at the door on the other side, was also startled into a cold sweat by this sudden assault.
Even his eyes, trained rigorously for dynamic visual acuity, only managed to catch a blurry black outline that blended into the night.
That thing did not press the attack after its failed ambush. Instead, it swiftly retreated back into the deep darkness outside the window, as if it had never appeared.
The entire study fell back into extre silence.
Only the shattered window remained, continuously pouring in the damp night wind.
"It's here." Lin Jie's voice was pressed extrely low.
That South Arican phantom lured by the "Blood Beacon" had finally lost its patience, launching its first probing attack against him, this uninvited guest attempting to ddle with its "dinner."
Silently, Ethan drew his two exquisitely crafted, deathly elegant, silver-white Colt Peacemakers from the holsters at his waist.
[Morning Star] in his left hand, [Evening Star] in his right.
The muzzles of the two guns aid at the doorway and the shattered window respectively, forming a crossfire angle with Lin Jie that allowed for mutual cover.
Both their spirits were wound taut to the extre at this mont.
They were waiting.
Waiting for that shadow walking in the darkness to bare its fangs once more.
Ti passed, second by second.
The study was very quiet. They could hear each other's slightly quickened heartbeats, born of tension.
But that UMA seed to have completely vanished, taking no further action.
This was the most terrifying part.
Facing a predator possessing extre speed and stealth capabilities, you could never know from which corner or in what manner it would launch its next attack.
This unknown fear of waiting for death to descend was far more tornting to the mind than any frontal assault.
"No good, we can't keep waiting like this." A bead of sweat seeped onto Lin Jie's forehead.
In this hunting ga of pure patience, intruders like them were forever on the most passive side.
The longer ti dragged on, the more fatigued their minds beca, and the greater the probability of making a mistake.
They had to find a way to break this deadlock.
They had to find a way to force that beast hiding in the darkness out.
Lin Jie's gaze swept rapidly across the entire study, finally fixing on the [Blood Holy Grail].
A very bold and extrely risky plan took shape in his mind.
He made an extrely complex hand gesture towards Ethan.
It was hunter sign language, used specifically within I.A.R.C. for tactical communication under conditions of silence.
After understanding Lin Jie's gesture, Ethan's eyes revealed an expression of disbelief that seed to say, "Are you insane?"
Because Lin Jie's plan, in simple terms, boiled down to two words.
"Bait"!
And this ti, the bait wasn't a cold object.
It was himself!
Without waiting for Ethan's response, Lin Jie took a deep breath.
Then, he made a move that nearly caused Ethan's heart to leap out of his throat.
He actively holstered [Serene Heart] in his hand.
Then he raised both hands, adopting a posture signaling "surrender" and complete defenselessness, and step by step, walked back towards the [Blood Holy Grail].
This was tantamount to gambling with his own life.
Betting that the UMA's desire for the [Blood Holy Grail] had surpassed its animal caution.
Ethan's breathing beca extrely faint at this mont, the veins on his hands gripping the twin pistols bulging.
He knew the only thing he could do now was to absolutely trust his companion.
And then, in the sole instant that UMA revealed a flaw, deliver it a fatal blow.
One step, two steps, three steps.
With each step, Lin Jie precisely calculated the distance between himself and the shattered window.
He was also silently calculating in his mind the possible timing of the UMA's attack.
Finally, when his fingertips once again touched the statue with its texture of congealed blood.
A bone-chilling killing intent erupted from the darkness behind him.
This ti it wasn't just a probe;
it was a full-force strike with absolute determination to succeed.
A massive, blurry black figure lunged fiercely into the room from the shattered window.
Its target was very clear: Lin Jie's utterly defenseless back.
In that lightning-fast mont!
Lin Jie's eyes, which had been half-squinted all along, snapped wide open, erupting with a sharp, piercing light belonging to a hunter's counterattack.
He did not turn around nor dodge.
His body sank downward, pivoting at the waist, then nimbly rolled towards the floor beside him.
anwhile, his right hand, which had seemingly been reaching for the statue, shot out at incredible speed towards the edge of the bookshelf.
And gave it a fierce pull!
"Clatter-clatter-clatter!!!"
A dense cacophony of tal collisions abruptly rang out.
A high-strength steel wire "fishing net" descended from above.
This "net" was precisely one of the traps Lin Jie had set while formulating tactics during the day;
they had placed similar capture nets in every room.
Its two ends were cleverly fixed to the two massive crystal chandeliers on the study's ceiling.
Its trigger chanism was connected by a thread that blended into the darkness, linking the bookshelf and the chandeliers.
The massive black shadow that had just lunged into the study clearly hadn't anticipated that this seemingly easy prey would trigger a trap at the last mont.
Its body was still maintaining its forward-lunging posture, utterly unable to make any evasive maneuver before it slamd headlong into the giant net falling from the sky.
"Success!"
A surge of joy welled up in Lin Jie's heart.
But the next second, the joy on his face froze.
The polished steel wire net, upon contacting the UMA's body, rely dug deeply into its flesh, splattering a small amount of black blood.
The toughness of the UMA's hide and flesh far exceeded their imagination.
And the potent paralytic agents attached to the steel wire net, provided by the Lisbon Branch, seed completely ineffective against it.
The UMA's body thrashed and writhed madly within the confines of the net, its imnse force pulling at the two heavy crystal chandeliers on the ceiling until they swayed precariously.
It was also thanks to this opportunity that Lin Jie finally got a clear look at the true visage of this Tongue-Ripper from the rainforest.
It was a terrifying giant ape, similar in size to an adult male gorilla, its body pitch-black and completely hairless.
Its limbs were long and possessed explosive muscular definition. A pair of massive claws gripped the ground fiercely, gouging deep trenches into the hard oak floorboards.
But the most horrifying thing was its face.
Its face had no eyes, no nose, only a gaping maw that split open from its left earlobe all the way to its right earlobe.
At this mont, that maw was exaggeratedly agape due to extre rage and pain.
Revealing the long, razor-sharp tongue inside, glinting with a cold light.
At that mont, another trap Lin Jie had preset was triggered.
As the Tongue-Ripper thrashed wildly, several small alchemical powder containers, cleverly hidden within the crystal chandelier above its head, ruptured due to the violent shaking.
Glittering, faint golden phosphorescent powder, sparkling like starlight, drifted down in a flurry.
Completely coating the struggling black beast, turning it into a "golden statue" emitting an eerie glow in the darkness.
This was Lin Jie's second layer of insurance.
If physical ans couldn't restrain it.
Then use this indelible marker to completely strip away any chance it had of hiding.
"Ethan! Now!"
Lin Jie's shout and the UMA's furious roar erupted simultaneously.
Ethan, who had been waiting for this mont, pulled the triggers of his guns at the exact instant the phosphorescent powder fell.
"Bang! Bang!"
Two gunshots shattered the chaos within the study.
He didn't aim for the UMA's body. Instead, he precisely struck the hanging chains of the two violently swaying crystal chandeliers.
Accompanied by the sound of snapping tal, the two massive crystal chandeliers, weighing hundreds of pounds each, along with the steel net that had already lost its restraining power, ca crashing down heavily from the ceiling.
The Tongue-Ripper finally broke free from the trap.
Unfortunately, what awaited it wasn't freedom.
It was the "concerto" of Ethan's precisely calculated gunfire.
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