Chapter 2114: Collective Madness
“Uh! What’s going on?” the police chief shouted loudly. With the mist buffering and the werewolf’s howl, the whispers were confused, and some people finally recovered, but I felt even more danger than before.
“Bang!” A shot was fired, followed by human screams, and then gunshots and muzzle flashes rose one after another. I immediately ducked down and looked closely, only to see several police officers crazily drawing their guns and shooting wildly at the people around them.
“Kill you! Monsters!” “There’s a ghost! There’s a ghost!” Several merchants’ guards also drew their swords and hacked wildly around them, regardless of friend or foe. Soon, several people were seriously injured.
“What are you doing?!” The police chief was furious. He grabbed his first mate and then performed a grappling shoulder throw, smashing him heavily onto the ground, his pistol flying out of his hand.
“Ah! How dare you betray me?!” Gaspar shouted unbelievably, his personal guard using a greatsword to smash him to the ground and hack at him madly. Gaspar’s protective magic apparatus was already on the verge of collapse.
I heard from Mari that this greatsword guard’s strength was not below hers. Unlike Mari, Flame Feather, and Sandstone, he was not a slave but Gaspar’s confidant. I also noticed him behind Gaspar when I first met him.
Not only Gaspar’s guard, but also other guards, including some subordinates and merchants, began to go mad and attack the people around them. The situation was on the verge of spiraling out of control.
“Roar!” Weis let out another wolf howl, its sharp sound piercing people’s minds like ice picks. Her howl made no distinction between friend and foe. Many people clutched their heads and squatted in pain, but quite a few of the madmen dropped their weapons.
“They’ve been cursed, subdue them first!” Jayad shouted. He had just removed his hand from the corpse that had exploded out of the wooden pillar, and the strange aura lingering on the corpse had been completely purified by him.
“Okay.” Illyret waved her hand, and the mist turned into shackles, tightly binding those who were still in a frenzy. Of course, she couldn’t distinguish who was abnormal for a moment, and some relatively normal people were also bound by her.
“Hoo!” The guard with the greatsword was powerful. Weis’s wolf howl and Illyret’s mist couldn’t incapacitate him. Instead, because of the wolf howl, his attention was drawn to Weis, and he swung at her.
However, in the next second, Weis took a blow from him, pinning the guard to the ground. With a powerful claw, she knocked the guard unconscious.
The situation finally came under control, and no one was hurting others indiscriminately. But those bound by the mist were still desperately struggling. Their eyes had turned deep black, with no white visible, and their expressions were utterly ferocious, clearly indicating a problem.
“Let’s knock them out first!” Detective Castiel said, raising his cane and knocking out a nearby policeman.
“There’s no other way, let’s knock them out first,” the police chief said helplessly. This was also to protect these people. When they were in a frenzy, they were prone to self-harm, such as biting their tongues or tearing themselves apart. They had lost their self-awareness and normal senses.
The remaining normal policemen could only knock out their colleagues and other berserk crew members. Their techniques were professional: a hard blow to the neck would render someone unconscious without risk to life.
Illyret also released those who seemed normal. I also noticed that the normal people were the rich merchants protected by magic apparatus, as well as those who happened to be hiding behind the rich merchants and the people next to them. Their frenzy was directly related to that strange aura.
As they were knocking out the berserk individuals one by one, they saw a youth placing a Cross on the head of one of the berserk individuals. The berserk individual, who had been screaming and struggling just moments ago, miraculously quieted down when the Cross was placed on his forehead.
“Who are you? The merchant who warned us to be careful earlier, what is this?” the police chief asked in surprise as he watched the darkness in the young man’s pupils recede and his expression return to peace, seeming to have become normal.
“Are you treating their minds? How did you do it?” Detective Castiel also asked in surprise. If these people could be restored to normal, he wouldn’t have to knock out the berserk individuals.
“Ah? Me? I’m just purifying their souls with a holy Cross. I got it from a priest, and it has some ability to cast Divine Spells.” Jayad attributed the credit to the Cross again.
“Earlier, I think I saw you rush forward immediately after warning us and place the Cross on that corpse. How did you know? And what did you do to the corpse?” Detective Castiel asked again.
As the wooden pillar exploded, the corpse hidden within was completely exposed. There wasn’t a single splinter of wood on it. It looked like just an ordinary, thin middle-aged man.
Unlike the two naked corpses of the couple from earlier, he was wearing clothes – an old uniform of a deckhand on the ship, with some other old clothes added for warmth.
Although no one they knew had yet confirmed his identity, it could be guessed that he was the missing deckhand.
Facing Detective Castiel’s questioning, Jayad said, “My Cross gets hot when it encounters evil magic, warning me of danger. I wasn’t sure how strong the threat was, but I still tried to use the Cross to purify the source of the threat, which was that corpse. However, I don’t know if I succeeded. I just placed the Cross on it.”
Older Brother Jayad pushed everything onto the omnipotent Cross ornament. In reality, although the Cross was also an excellent magic apparatus, it mainly served as a medium. It was even possible that Older Brother Jayad didn’t need this medium to cast Divine Spells.
“Clearly, your reaction was correct. You successfully purified this corpse and prevented the contamination on them. I have to thank you, young man,” the police chief said, feeling fortunate. If it weren’t for this merchant’s magic apparatus and his quick reaction to warn them, the damage would have been greater.
The merchants nearby were a bit envious. They were all keen on collecting powerful magic apparatus to protect themselves. A Cross like this, which was so powerful, was like having a priest by one’s side, basically ensuring one’s safe survival in danger. Merchants would certainly want one.
Unfortunately, they didn’t know that the Cross wasn’t that powerful at all; it was just Jayad’s excuse. They also had the same idea as Fuldamantha: they should go to the Church to buy a Cross magic apparatus.
“You don’t need to thank me. They’re only temporarily insane. Even without my treatment, as long as they remain unconscious for a period of time, they will recover,” Jayad continued to treat them, purifying even those who were unconscious.
In reality, there were too many people here, which also affected his performance. Otherwise, he could have solved everything with a song.
