Boom~~
Suddenly, the female corpse, who had been ecstatically muttering "Golden Arm" moments before, flew backwards through the air like a golf ball struck by a club. Her entire body hurtled uncontrollably towards the wall, crashing into it with a thunderous thud.
Ruboo turned with delight, just in time to see Fiona striding in.
At last, she had arrived.
He breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"Boy, I shall hear the full account of events shortly." With a casual wave, she pressed the enraged corpse back down as it struggled to rise. Turning to Ruboo, Fiona stated coolly.
"Of course!"
Ruboo scrambled to his feet and scurried behind Fiona, clinging to her like a lifeline.
Zoe, clad in a nightdress, and Madison, wearing only black underwear, followed closely behind.
"Ruboo, are you all right?" Zoe hurried over, concern etched on her face as she gripped Ruboo's arm, scrutinising it for injuries.
"Don't worry, I'm unharmed," Ruboo reassured her.
He then turned to Madison, who looked rather pale. "A female corpse appeared at my location too."
A female corpse had appeared at Madison's location too?
Ruboo instinctively glanced inside the room, where the female corpse that had just attacked him was being pinned down and beaten by Fiona.
More than one corpse?
What on earth was going on?
There's only one Golden Arm, after all.
Ruboo was utterly perplexed.
At that moment, Fiona ceased her struggle with the female corpse.
Her eyes locked onto the corpse.
Instantly, blazing flames ignited spontaneously upon the corpse.
The corpse let out a shrill, agonised scream, desperately trying to extinguish the flames upon her body. Yet, the flames only grew fiercer.
Finally, with a look of utter resignation, it extended its left hand. Just as it reached towards the golden arm in Ruboo's grasp, the entire corpse collapsed in an instant, vanishing without a trace.
Just as in the hotel earlier, the instant the corpse vanished, all traces of it disappeared, leaving only Ruboo's somewhat dishevelled room.
Unsurprised by this phenomenon, Fiona waved her hand dismissively, extinguishing the lingering flames within the room.
All was over.
The corpse that Ruboo and Madison had struggled so hard to defeat, only managing to do so by accidentally using the golden arm, was now effortlessly disposed of by Fiona.
Such was the Supreme Witch.
The mightiest of the Salem witch lineage.
Where ordinary witches possessed one or several talents, the Supreme Witch possessed countless, and some even believed she possessed all talents.
It was worth noting that Fiona was currently far weaker than she would be under normal circumstances.
"Right then, Ruboo, and Madison, care to explain what sort of trouble you've managed to get yourselves into?" Fiona clapped her hands and turned to ask.
Just as Ruboo was about to reply, footsteps sounded outside.
Cordelia, Quini, and Nan rushed in at that moment.
"What's happened?" Cordelia demanded anxiously.
"A corpse. A dreadful corpse," Nan replied first, looking rather unsettled.
Quinny rubbed her eyes, still confused. "What on earth?"
Observing the commotion before her, Fiona sighed and said helplessly:
"We'll have to hold a late-night meeting then. Ladies, change into something more suitable and come downstairs for the meeting. Spalding, prepare a pot of coffee."
Having arrived last to change out of his children's clothes, Spalding nodded expressionlessly at Fiona's instruction and headed downstairs first.
Ten minutes later, in the ground-floor living room.
Refreshed by coffee and dressed appropriately, the group formally commenced their meeting.
"Now then," Fiona began, "explain precisely how, in a single day, you managed to attract the attention of a malevolent spirit."
All eyes turned to Ruboo and Madison, the instigators of this incident.
Having mentally prepared his account during the brief lull, Ruboo placed his golden arm on the table and began his explanation.
In short, he and Madison, bored and idle, had decided to visit the famously haunted hotel to see if any ghosts were present. They ended up being framed by someone who passed off the golden arm—this very object that provoked the malevolent spirit—onto them, setting off the subsequent chain of events.
"Foolish youngsters," Fiona remarked, lighting a cigarette with a sigh. "Why can't they just live peacefully? Always courting disaster."
Quinn chimed in with schadenfreude: "Madison, did you wet yourself when you saw the corpse?"
Madison shot her a dismissive glance. "If you'd been there, you'd probably have curled up into a ball."
"Enough!" Cordelia quickly cut off the impending verbal sparring between the two, turning her attention to her mother with serious concern. "Has the evil spirit been dealt with?"
Fiona replied, "Of course not. That was merely the spectre's curse."
Madison gasped, "What? Not even the Supreme Witch can handle it?"
Zoe clutched Ruboo's arm tightly, her face clouded with worry.
Quinny ceased her teasing, and just as Nan opened her mouth to speak, Fiona sighed helplessly once more. She looked at the group of witches with an expression of pity, as though they were fools. "Ladies, you really ought to read more books. Sometimes I genuinely worry about the future of witchcraft."
Fiona continued her explanation: "A curse isn't like a boss you encounter in a game, where defeating its health bar eliminates it entirely. According to wizards' understanding, it's a pattern. Unless you uncover the pattern's trajectory and break it, or eliminate the one who cast the curse, it will persist indefinitely."
"You were cursed by the original owner simply by touching the golden arm. The corpse is merely a manifestation of the curse, not its true form. Even if you destroy it once, the curse will return a second time."
Hearing this, Quini, who had been about to play with the golden arm on the table, hastily withdrew his hand, terrified of catching the curse.
Ruboo then inquired, "So the curse on the golden arm is why we're constantly attacked by female corpses?"
Fiona exhaled smoke from her mouth. "Yes. Whenever night falls, the curse arrives. The frequency varies—once or twice. Naturally, the intervals grow longer the further you progress. After all, many remain cursed yet still alive and kicking."
Cordelia turned to Fiona, voicing the question on everyone's lips: "Is there any way to break the curse?"
Fiona shrugged her shoulders. "I can cast a protective spell on this house. As long as you don't go out at night, the curse won't strike."
"No!" Madison recoiled, shaking her head vehemently, her expression even more ghastly than when confronting the corpse.
She had no intention of missing out on the vibrant nightlife.
Cordelia frowned too; this was merely a stopgap measure.
As a conscientious headmistress who cared deeply for both students and servants alike, she spoke again: "As the Supreme Witch, surely there must be a better solution?"
"The High Priestess is not a deity," Fiona shook her head. "Of course, there is a permanent solution. Breaking the curse's pattern is out of the question—it's too laborious and time-consuming. The simplest approach is to locate the source of the curse and eliminate it."