She is not an investigator.

Igris encountered the trouble she least wanted to deal with, but which always seemed to find her.

The biggest commonality among them is probably that... these anomalies always like to separate Igris from ordinary people and keep her in a state of fighting alone as much as possible.

Of course, Igris couldn't blame everything on those incomprehensible creatures, since her current mental state made it difficult for her to distinguish between hallucinations and what was actually happening.

"Igris? Something's coming."

Meanwhile, the Mirror Demon's notification reached Igris's ears as she silently reached into her pocket.

The Gods' Fool - The Northern Train: Chapter 8, The Anomaly?

In the dark train, Philina remained quietly seated, clutching Igris's sleeve tightly.

She was a little frightened by what the train conductor said, and coupled with her fear of the dark, she didn't want to wander around.

However, not everyone thought that way. While she was still thinking, footsteps slowly approached her room from the back of the train.

The footsteps weren't heavy, but they were likely male, and the person was moving quickly, trying to keep their footsteps as light as possible.

Based on the current composition of the passengers on the train, she couldn't think of anyone else besides Constantine, who was in the same carriage as her.

But... what is he planning to do here?

"There are only three of us in this carriage right now, and there may be even fewer people in the other carriages. I don't know if this is your first time taking this train, but I must remind you not to let your guard down."

Constantine's voice came from the darkness. He sat opposite them, not far away, so he could easily handle most of the unexpected events that happened around them.

"as well as…"

His voice came again, but this time it sounded hesitant.

"Igris, are you still listening?"

silence.

There was no cold voice from Igris in the carriage; instead, there was a deep silence.

Felina gently tugged at Igris' sleeve, trying to prompt her to answer, but even so, Igris remained motionless.

“…Igris?”

Felina suddenly felt inexplicably scared, unsure whether she should let go of Igris' sleeve.

But just as she was hesitating, a light shone from the back of the carriage.

The brightness wasn't very high, but it was enough to attract attention in this dark environment.

Constantine and Philina turned to look at the source of light at the same time, their expressions showing a hint of confusion and bewilderment.

It was a white sphere of light that appeared from the last carriage and floated in the air.

Perhaps something was holding it, or perhaps it was due to visual distortion that they couldn't see clearly what it was.

But at least for now, it looks like a ball of light floating in the air.

Its light illuminated the carriage it was in, but there was no one there; the train conductor was not there, nor was Anfer.

Gradually, its trajectory began to change, and it slowly moved forward.

They were separated by three carriages, not very far, but it was indeed difficult to see many details clearly.

The question now is, what exactly is this thing?

"You can see it too, right?"

Constantine's voice came again, drawing Philina's attention back from her fixed gaze on the orb of light.

She nodded, then realized that Constantine probably couldn't see her gesture, so she simply hummed in response.

She could see it, and she knew that the thing was slowly moving towards the first carriage, and would eventually come to them.

Whatever it may be, such an unusual event occurring under these circumstances is enough to warrant the use of force.

"Is Igris still not awake?"

Constantine drew his sidearm and silently aimed it at the distant light source.

He couldn't be sure what it was; it could be a person holding a lamp, or something else entirely, so he couldn't just fire until it actually came into the first carriage.

Felina shook Igris beside her again, but because of this overly excited action, Igris's body suddenly went limp and fell straight onto Felina's shoulder.

"...She fainted!"

Felina's panicked voice made Constantine frown, and the lights in the distance seemed to have heard her call, and their pace quickened.

"What should we do! Did she... did she have any medicine with her?!"

"I do not know."

Constantine didn't know, but he did know that if Igris really had a relapse, then apart from anesthetics, other medications would hardly help her much.

"In short, please take care of her for the time being."

Constantine slowly stood up and walked towards the strange light that was coming towards him.

In the dim light, Constantine's figure appeared in the corridor.

"I have to make sure she's safe, in case she needs help."

As the light drew ever closer, Constantine's brow furrowed deeper and deeper.

If he couldn't determine the true identity of the light before, he can now.

In any case, that person shouldn't be a normal person, and Constantine had never seen anyone like that on the train.

He was a man with skin so dark that he almost blended into the darkness.

Constantine could not see its facial features or its various organs; it was like a pure black doll, nothing but a human-shaped frame.

But above its head, a strangely shaped stick pierced through its brain, and at the other end of the stick hung a pure white ball of light.

That was the true nature of these light sources: a bizarre and unsettling peculiar creature.

Constantine had never seen this thing before, but Igris might know about it and how to deal with it.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely that Igris can offer them any useful help at the moment.

“…Protect Igris.”

Constantine gave another warning, steadied his trembling wrist, and put away his light sidearm.

He certainly wasn't giving up because he was too scared; after all, he had indeed worked as an exorcist for a period of time... a profession that could also be called a demon hunter.

Therefore, he probably understood that when facing some strange creatures of unknown origin, if one is not very experienced and knows relatively little about them, one should not simply regard them as life forms similar to humans.

In other words, instead of thinking about how to attack effectively to kill it in one blow, it's better to choose a simpler and more brutal approach.

Constantine opened his box and pulled out a short-barreled shotgun.

Most conventional life forms, when accurately hit in a vital spot, will most likely lose their fighting ability or die on the spot.

However, these aberrant creatures do not seem to be entirely like that, so in combat, aiming to cripple is not an undesirable tactic.

When it comes to crippling attacks, shotguns, with their relatively wide coverage, are obviously the best choice, especially in such narrow terrain where there is almost no room for maneuver.

"May God bless me..."

Although he did not believe in God, he always needed a false emotional anchor at times like these.

Of course, he could also choose to transform this false God into a real deity as a source of emotional support.

The premise is whether he would want to see a moon suddenly rise out of the train carriage.

The Gods' Fool - The Northern Train: Chapter Nine, The Train Conductor?

On the other side, less than two seconds after the Mirror Demon's notification, a series of urgent sounds rang out.

The sound was strange, with a high frequency, accompanied by a faint metallic clanging sound, and it was rapidly closing the distance to Igris.

Igris did not choose to open her eyes to look. She still remembered the train conductor's words, and in many cases, even if she did not look, it would not have a significant impact on her.

"Mirror Demon, be careful."

"Yes, of course..."

The Mirror Demon's physical strength is really limited. If they were to encounter a terrorist attack, Igris would be more concerned about the Mirror Demon's safety than about her own.

After all, even if Igris suffered some injury, it wouldn't be a big problem, and she would recover in the blink of an eye, but the Mirror Demon is not like that.

If it gets injured, it probably won't have the chance to come out and wander around anymore.

Clang—!

Igris slowly raised the hilt of her sword, and with a slight rotation, the sharp blade instantly sprang out.

It was at this moment that the sound, which had been approaching from afar, suddenly quieted down considerably. Judging from the location where the sound was last heard, it was probably about five meters in front of Igris.

It was very close, but it didn't continue its actions, and Igris couldn't take the initiative.

When faced with such an unidentified creature, the best course of action is to avoid taking action altogether. After all, without clear observation, Igris cannot determine what type of creature it is.

Or perhaps it's not a living organism.

Even so, Igris actually had some personal guesses about what was in front of her.

First of all, its speed of movement is definitely quite agile, and you can tell from the sound of its footsteps that its movements are fast and dense. That is to say, either its limbs are relatively short, enough to support its rapid back and forth movements, or it has more than just four limbs, but also more extra limbs for movement.

If we follow this method of speculation, then the possible identities it could have become countless, making it clearly impossible to accurately identify the corresponding individual.

However, considering that it prefers to move in dark environments and has not yet shown any signs of attacking, coupled with the sounds it makes while moving, Igris still thought of a relatively weak anomalous creature.

Human-headed spider.

This is an unusual spider-like creature, with adults reaching about one meter in length. However, due to a genetic defect, most human-headed spiders die within a week of reaching adulthood, making them relatively rare.

As its name suggests, the human-headed spider is a spider with a human head. Similar to ordinary spiders, it has a flat body, large limbs, and multiple compound eyes.

However, the difference lies in the fact that a strange organ resembling a human head will grow out of nowhere on the abdomen of the human-headed spider. This organ has no actual function and is mostly used to intimidate and deter prey.

When they are dying, the human head spider's abdomen will detach its head, and it will actively escape with the spider eggs. This is probably the main reason why they are able to survive.

However, contrary to its terrifying appearance, the human-headed spider is not actually an abnormal creature that will actively attack humans.

Its instincts make it avoid attacking prey that is too large for it, namely humans.

Similar to spiders, it weaves webs as much as possible to trap its prey.

For example, birds like sparrows and crows, or relatively small animals like hares.