My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 149 Failed Resurrection

The air inside was icy cold, and the stench of blood and decay was oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

Moonlight slanted in through the dilapidated windowpane, illuminating Mary's pale face.

It was only then, under the moonlight, that Jules noticed that her eye sockets seemed somewhat sunken and empty, as if her eyeballs had been removed.

Her figure wandered in the dim light, each step carrying an eerie lightness, silent and still.

Jules held his breath, leaned against the wooden cabinet, and stared intently at Marie.

The boy stood beside him, pale-faced, with cold sweat beading on his forehead, his fingers still making a shushing gesture.

The deathly silence in the room was broken by Mary's low groan. She slowly turned her head, her empty eyes sweeping across the room as if searching for any sound.

Jules' eyes narrowed, his body tensed, and he prepared for battle.

He knew that Mary was no longer as easily dealt with as she used to be.

A direct confrontation is not a wise move, especially in this confined space—since the opponent hasn't noticed us yet, we should plan ahead.

At the very least, we should find out what happened from the boy first.

Mary stopped walking, tilting her head slightly as if listening to something.

Jules and the boy remained motionless, even their breathing was extremely soft.

The rustling of mice under the floorboards had long since disappeared, leaving only the soft sound of the sea breeze rustling the windowpanes.

Mary's claws slashed through the air, scraping against the wooden planks with a harsh scraping sound, as she slowly walked towards the bed.

Jules seized the opportunity to pull the boy away and quietly retreated towards the door.

He gestured for the boy to follow, and the two carefully stepped on the wooden planks, avoiding the scattered debris.

Mary had her back to them, her head bowed as she sniffed the black blood on the bed, seemingly drawn by some scent and unaware of the movement behind her.

Jules quietly pushed open the door, and the two tiptoed out of the small house.

Seeing that Marie hadn't followed, Jules closed the door, his movements so quiet they were almost silent.

After confirming that he had retreated a sufficient distance, he whispered to the boy:
"what happened?"

The boy swallowed hard, his voice extremely low:

“Grandpa…he wanted to use a ritual to awaken Mother, but something went wrong and it turned out like this.”

Yule frowned and said:
"Did it become like this a few days ago?"

The boy pondered for a moment:
"It seems to have been the night you sent someone to bring the body here, sir..."

Jules remained silent for a long while, then said:
"Where's the crow in the house?"

He knew that the raven was the priest's eyes and ears, but it was gone now.

The boy shook his head, his eyes full of doubt:
"I don't know. It seems like I haven't seen him since he was taken away by my grandfather."

Was he taken away by old John? Jules pondered this question and almost immediately guessed the whole story.

Old John clearly wanted to use the corpse to perform some forbidden resurrection ritual, but obviously, he ultimately failed.

In order to avoid being discovered by the priest, the other party deliberately killed the crow that represented the priest's eyes and ears—in this way, they could deceive everyone.

"Speaking of which..." he looked the boy up and down, "how did you end up in the closet?"

Upon hearing this, the boy felt as if he were about to cry but had no tears left.
"Before, every time I reached the door and tried to go out, that ghoul monster would come over and scare me so much that I would shrink back. This went on and on, and it almost drove me to the brink of collapse. So I just hid in the closet and waited until I couldn't take it anymore before trying to escape."

As for now, the monster seems to have changed somewhat, but I don't want to gamble with my life, and it just so happens that you've come along."

Upon hearing this, Jules glanced at the cottage.

Behind the dark window frame, Mary's wandering figure could be vaguely seen, her claws gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

“I’ll go check, you wait here for me,” Jules patted the boy on the shoulder. “If you have nowhere to sleep, go to the priest’s place.”

The boy nodded. At this moment, he naturally already knew that Mr. Jules and the priest had established a close relationship.

"You must be careful. Yesterday, a relative of ours came to visit, but he didn't know what had happened here and was killed by that monster..."

Recalling the situation at the time, a hint of fear inevitably surfaced in his eyes:
"I didn't even see how he died."

"Oh?" Jules was somewhat surprised:
"But I did not see any human corpses."

The boy scratched his head and said:

“I don’t know where it went either, but this monster seems to have a relatively fixed wandering route. Maybe you can start from that.”

……

After ending the conversation, Jules quietly returned to the cottage.

His expression was more wary than ever before—the oppressive feeling this ghoul gave him was unlike anything he had ever experienced, perhaps even less so than the evil spirits he had encountered at the Holy Protection Monastery.

Although his original purpose for this trip was to find Uriel and try to borrow the Soul-Driving Lamp, he couldn't ignore the situation now that he had witnessed it.

Moreover, he had always been somewhat interested in the secrets hidden within old John.

This interest reached its peak after the connection between the cemetery and the ghoul cemetery was discovered.

How could the other party just happen to have one of the fragments of the Gravekeeper's Book?

He strongly suspected that old John had been tempted by taboo things related to this object that day, which led him to venture into the cemetery.

Clearly, although the other party was rescued, they still gained some forbidden knowledge—which ultimately led to tragedy.

Jules' gaze fell upon the room.

At this moment, Mary's figure had disappeared without a trace.

Correspondingly, the back door of the house was quietly opened.

There was still a trace of blood on the ground—though extremely faint, he could sense it with exceptional clarity thanks to his ability to manipulate blood.

He narrowed his eyes, and as he entered, he silently pushed open the door and stepped into the room, following the trail of blood.

Along the way, the dark forest almost blocked out the light of day, and the occasional moonlight that shone through seemed to have a chilling quality.

Before long, a cemetery that had been abandoned for who knows how many years came into Jules' view.

Judging from the wear and cracks in the edge bricks alone, it is enough to be considered one of the oldest buildings he has ever seen.

However, the scale did not seem very large, which relieved Jules – as long as there was no spatial distortion like in the Ghoul Graveyard!
The bloodstains stretched intermittently into the cemetery, and following them, he soon spotted Mary.

It is worth noting that she seemed to possess sentience at this moment, her expression lively, and she was speaking softly to someone.

“That’s interesting…” Jules narrowed his eyes, trying to get closer to hear what it was saying.

On the way, he had already recited the prayer given to him by the priest, so Mary seemed completely unaware of his arrival.

However, he felt that the efficacy of the prayer itself was questionable, and perhaps only the "silence" itself was truly effective.

Jules held his breath, pressed himself against a dead tree, and, using the shadow to conceal himself, quietly peeked out half his head to watch and eavesdrop.

This sight, however, left him stunned.

The person Mary was talking to was none other than old John!
Even more shocking was the sight of human limbs scattered around Old John's feet, the bloodstains that led there.

At this moment, old John's face was extremely gentle, like a kind old father listening to his daughter's words—and indeed, that was the case. "Father, how are you feeling? Are you eating enough?" Mary's terrifying face revealed a gentle smile, which only made the scene seem more eerie.

Old John, however, seemed completely oblivious, simply chuckling to himself.

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm not too hungry..."

Mary smiled gently again:
"I'll feed you."

Her clawed hand gently picked up a still-bleeding human finger and put it into old John's mouth.

Old John stared at the human finger, a look of struggle flashing across his face for a moment before he finally closed his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Eat, Father.” Mary smiled gently, then stood up, reverting to the dazed state Jules had previously observed.

Old John lay there by the grave, watching Mary leave, his expression one of indifference and numbness.

Once Marie was far enough away, Jules's mocking voice rang out:
"Old John, you've really done a good thing."

Old John's eyes flickered, a hint of wariness appearing on them:
"……It's you?!"

He clearly still remembered Jules' voice.

Jules slowly emerged from the shadows and stood high above old John, blocking out all the moonlight.

“Old John,” he said, his voice filled with disappointment, “I misjudged you.”

Old John pursed his lips and said:
"I am right."

Jules didn't rush to refute, but simply leaned against the nearby grave and said leisurely:
"Tell me, what exactly happened?"

Old John lowered his head, his voice hoarse:

"It's very simple. I found a way to bring my daughter back to life in the cemetery, so I did it, and it worked great."

"A good result?" Jules's voice rose several octaves. "You call this a good result?!"

Old John raised his head, looked directly at Jules, and murmured:

"What's wrong with her? Look how much she resembles her when she was alive... She can even call me 'Dad'..."

His expression held a subtle madness, even a kind of piety, as if he were completely unaware that he had done something wrong.

Upon seeing this, Jules couldn't help but frown.

This is the most troublesome situation.

If the other party could still communicate, that would be fine, but judging from his appearance, Old John is practically insane.

His tone turned colder and became stern:

"What about your grandson? Are you just going to abandon him?"

"Grandson..." Old John murmured a couple of times, then shook his head.

“He’s old enough to take care of himself.”

At this moment, Jules finally realized that old John before him was still the same old man, but his inner soul had perhaps been completely distorted.

A hint of pity inevitably appeared in his eyes.

Was Old John wrong? Perhaps he was wrong, but ultimately the other party did not have any evil motives.

However, the pure motives led to tragic consequences.

Jules paused for a moment, then made a final attempt to communicate:
"Is the outcome of your resurrection different from what you expected?"

He felt that the knowledge about the resurrection ritual that Old John had acquired must not be what it is now.

Sure enough, old John's lips twitched, and a trace of numbness finally appeared on his face.

"There are differences, but the result is the same, and I am satisfied..."

Jules shook his head, saying with some pity:

"If you consider this a resurrection, then it is a desecration and torture of your daughter's body."

He had just turned to leave when Old John suddenly roared nervously behind him:
"This is resurrection! She was perfectly fine! How could anyone desecrate her body!"

Jules stopped and turned to look at old John.

Old John at this moment was like a completely different person compared to before.

His facial expression was incredibly distorted, and coupled with the crisscrossing bloodstains at the corners of his mouth and the cracks and scars on his skin, it was downright terrifying.

His words had clearly touched a nerve with Old John, who was now glaring at him angrily.

"How dare you insult my daughter! You're dead!"

Upon hearing this, Jules felt a chill creep up his spine.

The chill didn't come from old John's threatening words—it came from some real threat!
Driven by instinct, he rolled to his side.

A cold glint flashed, and the stone tombstone next to where he had just stood was split in two.

Mary's expression was dazed and indifferent, filled only with endless murderous intent towards this stranger, Le.

Jules leaped to his feet, distancing himself from old John and Mary who were standing together, and sneered:

"Old John, you've really gone mad."

"Am I crazy?" Old John murmured for a while, then suddenly returned to an eerie calm.

"Maybe so, but I feel that the past has never been better than the present."

Having said that, his expression immediately changed, and he said sternly:
"Daughter, kill him!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Mary's figure vanished silently into the darkness.

At that moment, Jules felt as if all the graves around him had eyes and were "watching" him.

He licked his lips, his gaze gradually turning cold.

“Old John, since you’re going to do this, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

He might have a hard time defeating the ghoul in a one-on-one fight, but taking down Old John would be no problem.

With a thought, the pistol he hadn't used in a long time appeared in his hand.

This pistol, inlaid with the Holy Emblem of Forging, became almost useless after he reached the second tier.

After all, its destructive power is somewhat insufficient when facing those monsters.

But it's much more convenient to use it to kill ordinary people than his abilities!
Without the slightest hesitation, Jules aimed directly at old John and pulled the trigger.

boom!
Old John had no time to dodge and could only sidestep to avoid a fatal blow, but a terrible bloody hole still exploded in his body.

The blood was instantly evaporated by the terrifying heat, and the flesh and blood emitted a burnt smell.

"Ah!" he screamed and staggered back, his eyes filled with madness.

"Someone is plotting to murder your father!!! Kill him!!!"

In response to old John's call, a pair of claws, gleaming with the light of death, reached out towards Jules.

(End of this chapter)