My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 150 The Death of Old John

In just a few breaths, Jules had several deep, bone-revealing wounds on his body.

Furthermore, the claws seemed to carry some kind of terrible disease, causing his flesh to visibly begin to shrink and become diseased.

After narrowly avoiding another attack from the ghoul Mary, Jules wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes slightly darkening.

"This can't go on..."

Mary was incredibly fast, and more importantly, she made no sound.

This is a huge disadvantage for him, who is used to locating objects by sound.

Furthermore, his figure was concealed in the shadows and the intricate terrain of the cemetery, which put him in a passive position.

Suddenly, another terrifying claw emerged from the shadows beside them.

Jules dodged again with lightning speed, but was a beat too slow, leaving two shocking wounds on his shoulder.

The excruciating pain turned his face pale, but he did not back down. Instead, his eyes hardened, and he made his blood firmly "grab" the sharp claw!

Then, the edges of the blood began to become incredibly sharp, tearing and severing the claws!
As the claws broke, Mary's ghoul form emerged from the shadows.

She still stared with those empty eye sockets, which, combined with her slightly decaying face, made her look extremely eerie.

"It worked?" Jules breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he could cut off the ghoul Mary's claws.

But the next moment, the scene before him made his eyelids twitch violently.

The severed claws regenerated at an astonishing speed, and in the blink of an eye, they were restored to their original state.

Then, it struck again!
Seeing this, Jules narrowed his eyes, and instead of retreating, he advanced, grabbed a tree branch from the side, and took the initiative to attack!

In just a moment, this ordinary tree branch was imbued with an extremely terrifying sharpness.

The ghoul Mary in front of them showed no intention of backing down, appearing ready to trade blows.

puff-

The sound of flesh being torn apart rang out, and Jules let out a muffled groan, while the ghoul Mary only swayed twice before regaining her balance.

However, judging from the extent of his injuries, his opponent's injuries were clearly much more serious than his.

The ghoul Mary's neck and shoulder were cut off by his branch, leaving her head hanging above the exposed flesh, looking extremely eerie.

He himself only suffered another wound on his chest.

However, in the ensuing battles, Jules's spirits gradually sank to rock bottom.

Even with such injuries, Mary, now a ghoul, remained completely unaffected, and her attacks continued as fiercely as before.

Moreover, the injury was healing at an extremely fast pace—but the injuries on his body were healing much slower than those on his opponent's.

If this continues, he'll be dragged down to his death sooner or later.

Finally, he found an opportunity and, using the scattered blood, directly shredded one of Ghoul Mary's arms!
Chunks of meat scattered all over the ground with a "thud," and the other person showed a pained expression for the first time.

Jules' eyes lit up with joy, and just as he was about to expand his gains, a sudden change occurred—

The opponent suddenly retreated, and with her incredibly strong other hand, she reached into the nearby grave, pulled out a corpse, and ripped off an arm, attaching it to her own body!

In an instant, the shattered arm was restored to its original state, and even the claws were exactly the same.

Jules was stunned—you can do that?

What's the point of fighting? This place is full of corpses, how can we fight?
For the first time, he had the thought of retiring.

"By the way, she can't sense the presence of those who remain silent..."

Jules' eyes flickered slightly, and while she recovered, he quietly disappeared into the shadows without making a sound.

As expected, the ghoul Mary seemed to have lost sight of him, his empty eyes scanning his surroundings repeatedly, revealing a human-like look of confusion.

"very good……"

Jules breathed a sigh of relief and carefully moved to the outer edge.

However, at that very moment, a familiar roar rang out:
"Mary, he's there! Kill him!!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Mary, who was in a daze, seemed to sense his location and rushed towards him as if she were flying.

Old John...

A cold glint flashed in Jules' eyes as he realized he had overlooked something.

Mary now can be said to be driven by old John.

In other words, this matter won't end until Old John is dealt with!

"You won't let me leave unless I kill you...?"

Jules sneered, ignoring the ghoul Mary behind him, and headed straight for Old John's position!

As he ran, he raised his pistol and aimed—

boom!
Deafening gunshots rang out, and crows began to caw and take flight, fleeing from this place of trouble.

Old John's attempt to escape faltered as a horrific bloody hole appeared in his thigh, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

To Jules' surprise, Marie behind him also let out a piercing scream:
"Father!"

Upon hearing the voice, Jules turned around abruptly.

He had already concluded that Mary certainly did not have an inner self that could truly be called sanity, so what just happened?

However, when he turned around, Mary had already transformed back into that beast-like form and was frantically pouncing on him!

……

Old John stumbled and fled, eventually stopping at a place he thought was safe.

This was the edge of the cemetery, with several stone tablets blocking the view from the outside. He figured Jules shouldn't be able to see this place.

"call……"

He closed his eyes, his mind connecting with his daughter.

After his daughter was resurrected, her eyesight was impaired and her hearing was always poor, so he had to help her to move around without any hindrance...

"Hey, where's that damned guy who bothered us?" Old John frowned, deep in thought, somewhat annoyed.

After sensing for a while without finding anything, he had no choice but to disconnect, sighed, and looked up to see what was happening in the distance.

As soon as he looked up, he felt the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against his forehead.

“Old John, you have truly disappointed me.” Jules’ cold gaze fell on Old John, and he pulled the trigger down half an inch.

Old John cowered in the corner, staring intently at Jules:

"Why, why did you have to disrupt our reunion as father and daughter!"

"why?"

Jules chuckled and said:
"Is it enough that you resurrected a monster that only harms people, and you've become a monster just like her?"

These words seemed to have touched a raw nerve with old John, and he roared hysterically:

"No, what right do you have to call my daughter a monster! She's the best in the world! She, she..."

Halfway through his roar, Old John suddenly rolled over, trying to escape.

Jules, however, fired decisively, giving his opponent no chance.

With a gunshot, a horrible, bloody hole exploded in Old John's chest, emitting a burnt smell.

"what……"

Old John collapsed to the ground with a thud, his eyes gradually losing focus.

Jules walked up to old John and shook his head, saying:
"Why bother?"

He thought old John would fight to the bitter end, but to his surprise, old John started to sob.

"What...what have I done..."

Like a final burst of light before death, he murmured, his eyes filled with fear and dread.

Then, with difficulty, he raised his head and said to Le as if pleading:

"I'm sorry, I lied to you, but I really didn't mean to hurt anyone... It's all because of that damned tattered page..."

Yule narrowed his eyes and said:

"Torn pages?"

"I gave you one, but I kept the most crucial one for myself..."

Jules remained silent for a long while, then said:
"Do you have any last words?"

"Take care, okay..." Old John stopped mid-sentence and breathed his last, leaving only his wide-open eyes to express his regret and resentment before his death.

Although he didn't finish speaking, Jules knew what old John wanted to say.

It's simply about taking care of teenagers who haven't reached adulthood yet, and helping them grow into adults.

"Send it to the priest later..."

He quickly made up his mind and looked at Mary, who was not far away.

At this moment, with the death of old John, Mary seemed to have lost her pillar of support. Blood tears streamed from her empty eyes as she looked around blankly.

"Father? Father?"

The sound was heartbreaking.

Jules, witnessing this scene, couldn't help but feel heavy-hearted.

Even though he knew the true nature of the monster before him, he still felt sad because of it.

Did anyone do something wrong? Maybe not.

Old John was driven by his longing for his daughter and was also blinded by forbidden knowledge, which led to his daughter Mary suffering an undeserved misfortune.

Jules killed old John only in self-defense.

If one had to pinpoint the only fault, it might be that the one who distorted Old John's mind was the one who made it wrong.

He glanced at old John's body, then bent down and began to grope around.

Soon, he pulled out a piece of human skin paper from it.

However, this piece of human skin seemed to be wrapped and sealed by several thin threads.

"Is this the gravedigger's fragment left by old John?"

Jules examined the parchment and then put it away.

Now is not the time to think about this thing.

He turned his gaze to Mary not far away, took a deep breath, and his eyes gradually turned cold.

Now that Old John is gone, dealing with this blind monster that can only hear shouldn't be too difficult...

……

Without old John's interference, Jules easily set up a deadly trap in advance, luring the ghoul Mary into it and effortlessly ending her twisted life.

However, the fact that she was still calling out "Father" like a child before she died left Jules with a lingering sense of unease.

"call……"

Jules took a deep breath as he walked toward the cabin.

At the door of the hut, the boy was eagerly waiting. Seeing Jules arrive, he became quite excited, but he didn't forget the possibility of attracting ghouls, so he spoke very softly:
"Mr. Jules, how is he?"

He clearly noticed Jules's injuries, and there was some worry in his eyes.

Jules remained silent for a moment, hesitating whether to tell the boy the truth.

But in the end, he decided to make things clear—the other party has the right to know the truth.

"The ghoul is dead, and your grandfather is dead too. I killed him with my own hands."

The boy opened his mouth wide, his eyes filled with confusion.

"what did you say?"

He seemed somewhat incredulous, wondering if he had misheard, and repeated the question.

Jules shook his head wearily and said:

"You don't need to doubt it, it's exactly what you heard. If you want to hate, then hate me."

The boy slumped to the ground, muttering absentmindedly:

"How could... how could it have turned out like this..."

Jules remained silent and slowly walked toward another door.

Upon reaching the door, he paused and said:
"If you have no one to rely on, go to the priest; he will take you in."

After saying that, he opened the door and walked straight out.

However, before they had taken more than a few steps, a boy's tearful shout rang out behind them:

"Thanks……"

Jules did not turn back.

……

The plan to find Uriel was ruined because of Old John's interruption.

Jules did not go to his rented place, but instead went to find the priest.

The priest was horrified by Jules's injuries as soon as he saw him.

"What's wrong with you?"

Jules glanced down at the crisscrossing wounds on his body and said calmly:

"I was just scratched a few times by the ghouls."

Mary truly lives up to her reputation as the most intimidating ghoul to him so far; the injuries inflicted by her claws have been slow to heal.

Even the diseases that were attached to it still exist.

It's worth noting that the toxins the sorceress extracted directly from the ghoul's corpse were instantly purified when faced with his Heart of the Tide.

But the plague left behind by Mary lingered for a long time.

The priest frowned and looked Jules over a few times, then said:
"Ghouls? Didn't the curse concentration in the graveyard just begin to decrease? Or is it—"

Jules nodded, confirming the priest's conjecture:

"It's from the outside world, and the one who caused this is someone we know."

“Our…acquaintance?” The priest was somewhat surprised, but he quickly thought of a possibility.

"Old John?"

Jules nodded.

In Blancco, neither of them knew many people, and considering Old John's previous unusual behavior, it wasn't hard to guess.

Upon confirming that Jules was indeed Old John, the priest closed his eyes and began to sense his presence.

"...It's true, Columba is dead too."

After confirming the death of his informant, the priest sighed.

“Back then, John asked me for Columba so that I could help his family hunt and improve their lives. I never expected it would turn out like this.”

Jules shook his head and sighed:

"Unverified knowledge can corrupt the soul."

He recounted the events to the priest in detail, who remained sorrowful throughout.

When the priest heard Old John's daughter calling for her father as she died, he lowered his head and fell into a long silence.

After a long while, he finally spoke, his voice much hoarse:
“It is my incompetence. The priest’s duty is to protect the people of Blancog, but I have failed to do so.”

Jules patted the priest on the shoulder and said:

"Old John also left behind a grandson, you see..."

"Don't worry, I will take good care of his child." The priest said this with great determination.

“That puts my mind at ease,” Jules nodded.

The priest sighed helplessly, then suddenly looked at Jules and said:

"Speaking of which, didn't you ask me before how I received the prophecy?"

Yule raised his eyebrows:

"I did ask that question during a casual chat before."

The priest laughed:

"Come with me, and I will show you how I received the prophecy."

(End of this chapter)