Batman upstairs, noting the ti was about right, decided to end the aningless argunt with the Joker. However, in the Joker's eyes, he saw a sly hint of amusent.
Batman's heart sank, but he had been ntally prepared. Compared to Shiller, he was the one who knew the Joker better. The Joker's boldness in facing him ant that he must have had sothing to rely on.
Typically, this situation would only occur if the Joker had already succeeded in executing his significant mischievous plot; with Gotham in jeopardy, even if Batman wanted to kill the main culprit in front of him, he couldn't afford to waste any more ti on him as he needed to rush to save the city.
Although he often encountered such situations, this ti the Joker had miscalculated. Batman indeed needed to save the world, but there were plenty of others here unwilling to let the Joker off the hook.
Batman turned his head to Bruce, saying, "Keep an eye on this guy; I'll go downstairs and check."
Without giving the Joker another glance, he headed downstairs. The Joker turned to watch Batman, but the next second, he felt a kick on his rear end. Bruce, who had been holding back, kicked the Joker down the stairs.
Batman stepped over the Joker lying on the ground. Before the Joker could even get up, Bruce lifted him from the floor. Bruce looked up at the pale knight and asked, "Do you faint at the sight of blood?"
The pale knight shook his head and made a welcoming gesture, nodding in an elegant manner as if they were at an elite social gathering.
"Where did you hide that electric shock device you had earlier?" Bruce's voice gradually faded away into the end of the corridor.
Having gone downstairs, Batman quickly deduced from the water stains what Shiller had done. Seeing the footprints spread to the door, Batman guessed he must have gone into the village.
But Batman had a different approach. Since the dock seed to be the problem area, he decided to head to the docks. Even if there was sothing there he currently couldn't handle, he needed to know what it was.
Thus, Batman also took his equipnt and headed towards the docks. The sky was not yet dark; the heavy snow obscured his vision.
As soon as Batman got close to the docks, he noticed sothing was amiss. It shouldn't be foggy in snowy weather, yet the area was extrely damp, with thick fog limiting his visibility to about two ters.
Batman hid inside a small house near the docks and peered through the window at the situation outside. He had just found so water stains on the ground, but they clearly weren't human footprints; they resembled more those of a creature with webbed feet.
Batman had seen the Book of the Dead through his arrogance and had a certain understanding of the Cthulhu Mythos. He imdiately connected the abundant fish in the underground Dark River to his current clues.
Legend had it that a huge half-human, half-fish monster nad Big Gun lived in the depths of the sea, and those who worshipped Big Gun could catch abundant fish.
Batman had previously noticed the unnaturally high number of fish in the Dark River, not usual for a natural river population. It was said these were fishes hauled in by the Silterk family's overseers from the sea.
Were the Silterk family followers of Big Gun?
Greed's backstory never ntioned this, but Batman knew if the Transcendent wanted to weave all background stories together, so details would inevitably be expanded.
Perhaps Old Silterk truly had such experiences, hence his desire to do sothing, and it's possible that the Joker was employed by him to carry out this entire ordeal.
As Batman pondered, he heard a rustling sound. He quickly crouched down, holding his breath.
He had marginally activated his Listening skill; choosing to activate the skill now, Listening 23>15, skill check successful.
But Batman felt like his brain had been punched; although his firm will kept him from making a sound, the dizzying sensation didn't subside.
He heard a low whisper. He rembered the syllables but could not understand their aning, feeling he might lack the relevant skill. Maybe he could try to decode it when he t up with Shiller later.
However, right then, the footsteps beca closer.
Could these monsters locate a person by their breathing? Batman felt troubled; his current capabilities might not be sufficient to handle these creatures. The Joker really excelled at causing big sses.
Suddenly, he crouched in a cabin, and the window revealed a pair of swollen, bulging, cloudy eyeballs. The eyes rotated and then fixed onto the corner where Batman was hiding.
Batman was looking upward when he saw those eyes. His brain buzzed, feeling as if his brain matter was blending into oblivion, nearly incapable of resistance.
With a swish, a slimy, filthy trident ca through the window, striking directly into Batman's shoulder blade; he couldn't dodge in ti, and bright red blood stread down his arm.
The mont he slled the blood, he knew trouble was imminent; indeed, the next second the door was smashed open, and a terrifying shadow rushed in.
Batman had learned his lesson; he didn't look up, but focused on the shadow of his opponent which allowed him to decipher that it was a hunchbacked creature with a fish-like head and spiny back.
The sticky, damp, rotten sll filled his nostrils, and Batman felt his ntal health value continuing to drop. He kneeled on the ground, clutching his wound, which was abnormally painful. What troubled him even more was the moist breath seeping through his wound into his bloodstream, making his life value plumt.
Having no other choice, Batman dashed towards the door, Dexterity 25
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