69 Chapter 069

Alvin was still planning to go to the storage areas, but he also decided to get into some more burning buildings, where he could ignore the flames and make use of the narrow terrain to ditch the chasing Pyromaniac. He was reloading all his weapons as he ran, and occasionally firing the revolver to delay the chaser.

Alvin kept running, with the man steadily gaining on him. The only reason Alvin hadn't been caught was because he used his nimble footwork to confuse his pursuer and change directions several times.

Just when Alvin decided to take a last stand, he heard a whooshing sound. As he was ready to throw himself out of the way of what he assumed was Rosago's attack, he suddenly remembered the confidence that Gordon had shown when he said he could keep Rosago contained, and a person who could use air bullets on his side. Thus, he halted in place and hefted his crossbow. Sure enough, his pursuer stooped in place and conjured a flame shield. As multiple thudding sounds were heard from the air bullets striking the fire shield, Alvin aimed the crossbow, and waiting for Donald to make a move.

Soon after, multiple paper-thin trails came over and started ripping the flame shield. Alvin waited for an opening he could aim at to form, and fired his crossbow.

Sure enough, the bolt went through a gap in the flame shield, and struck his shoulder.

The Pyromaniac wailed in pain at the reopened shoulder wound, but he bore it and started sending flaming birds in every direction. Donald was still nowhere to be seen as he had concealed himself well, so except for the few birds that flew around to search for him, most of the birds swooped towards Alvin.

Knowing that manipulated flames that would appear in the form of sharp claws and beaks could hurt him, he dodged the murder, which was easier to do, as Donald distracted the Pyromaniac with multiple paper knives.

"Your aim sucks. And your flames can't hurt me anyway. Why don't you just come close and fight a brawl with me?" taunted Alvin.

While Alvin wasn't sure if it was a function of his provocation, or if the man genuinely thought it was a good idea, he decided to take Alvin up on his offer.

He turned around and blasted flames backwards, which sent him flying towards Alvin with a great speed.

Alvin didn't panic, and calmly waited for him to get closer. The Pyromaniac attempted a wide grab, but Alvin smoothly sidestepped it. He then swung the heavy crossbow in his hands upwards, right at the Pyromaniac's face. With an audible thump, the man collapsed, only to have multiple papers and bullets entered into him, fired by Donald and Alvin.

As Alvin was making sure the Pyromaniac was dead, Donald appeared somewhere to the right of Alvin, and nodded to him in acknowledgement of their joint kill. Alvin picked the bolt from the corpse, as he had used up all the bolts he and brought already.

Then, they both heard a shrill scream from the left. "Hannah's spirit" said Donald squarely. After brief eye contact, they tacitly teamed up and sprinted towards the source of the sound.

As they approached, they saw Hannah engage with a Pyromaniac. She seemed to be on the backfoot, as she was steadily being overwhelmed by the Pyromaniac. The Pyromaniac's flames seemed to be pushing back all the ghostly ability of her spirits.

Donald unhesitatingly used flame travel to move forward, and joined Hannah in a siege of that Beyonder who was still holding his own. Alvin suspected that this person had either advanced to a Conspirer, and thus received a boost to his Pyromaniac abilities, or he had taken two or maybe more Pyromaniac potions, this increased the power of those abilities.

Alvin watched the battle, and everything around, and quickly decided on a course of action.

Alvin gave a loud yell, "I am coming for you!", as he hefted the Sword of Culling and charged at the place the three of them were fighting, appearing to want to join in the siege along with Donald and Hannah.

But as Alvin ran halfway, he suddenly flung the Sword of Culling up high into the air. Then, when everyone was a little confused by that action, he stopped, crouched, aimed his crossbow, and fired it to the left of the location of the fight. A sneaky figure who was preparing to ambush him from there, was hit right in the chest, with the bolt passing right through his heart. Alvin was able to take a clear look at the man's with the help of the flames by the Pyromaniac, and identified him as one of the Provokers, and confirmed that he wouldn't be able to survive. He then continued the charge towards the Pyromaniac. Once he was closer, he yelled, "Hey sucker, eat this" and he leapt up high. He soon caught the Sword of Culling he had earlier thrown into the air, and started to swing it down with great force aided by the effects of gravity .

Hannah and Donald too spotted an opportunity, and each pulled out a charm, which Alvin recognised as a sleeping charm.

Each of them immediately activated the charm by chanting, "Hermes", upon which the Pyromaniac turned sluggish. But he was apparently loaded with willpower, because he did not fall asleep, instead started spewing out flames at an increased rate. He sent the largest stream of flames in Alvin's direction.

Alvin completely ignored the stream of flames, and kept up his action of swinging the Sword of Culling. The Pyromaniac managed to conjure a flame shied in the nick of time, but due to its hastiness, the shield shattered after taking the swing of the sword. Alvin used the opportunity to smack him upside the head with the crossbow, completely disorienting him.

Not letting go of this opportunity, the three of them pulled out their revolvers and started firing.

The three of them stood silently for a few seconds to confirm the kill.

"I am going to go search for another Pyromaniac" said Donald. "I will come with you" said Hannah. Then, they both looked at Alvin.

"Hey, Pyromaniacs are supposed to be your problem. I have only killed 2 Hunters so far. I will go and search for them" said Alvin raising his hand.

The two of them nodded, and went in a random direction.

Alvin waited till they were out of sight, and then started sprinting towards the storage again.