Chapter 59 Dangerous PersonTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 4803 wordsUpdate time: 2022-10-31 14:49:54
Putting down his hands and watching the "Dusk" sink, Alger Wilson exhaled gently. There were still tiny arcs of electricity running through his hair, making his messy hair like seaweed dance in the air.
The aftermath of the waves pushed the Blue Avenger away from the battlefield. Alger let it go and returned to the captain's cabin to sit in a chair more relaxedly, closing his eyes and savoring the signs of the potion digesting. If he looked out the porthole, he would be able to see how smoothly and naturally the Star Queen's fleet took over the enemy's only two remaining intact ships.
Not long after, a hazy gray mist appeared in front of Alger's eyes. A long table and twenty-two high-backed chairs appeared in front of him. To his right, the figures of "Star", "Moon", and "Sun" appeared in turn, and diagonally opposite were the two ladies, "Magician" and "Hermit".
"Thank you for your cooperation, 'The Hanged Man'. Our guess was correct."
She first nodded to Alger, then raised her hands slightly, as if tracing the shape of an altar in the air.
As she moved, some strangely shaped objects appeared on the long table. These were the goods that had been sacrificed by Ms. Hermit and had once belonged to Vice Admiral Dusk. As soon as they came into contact with the gray fog, they trembled and screamed as if they had the will to live. Their shapes began to break apart, and a strange and gorgeous blood-red glow faintly shone through them, like a miniature red moon.
The layers of gray-white mist immediately protected everyone. Behind the empty chair at the front, which was engraved with an eye without pupils and twisted lines, a blue-gray light gate appeared.
Two slender, smooth tentacles covered with mystical symbols slid out of the light gate, groping along the tabletop somewhat sluggishly, and finally circled those strange objects blessed by the outer gods. The tentacles were seen to be retracting inwards with force, and with the continuous "stealing" and "grafting", those objects were instantly crushed into powder by the mighty force, and a small part of them was restored to a relatively pure Beyonder characteristic.
To the members of the Tarot Club, all this was just a slight "pop" sound. Then the tentacles retracted, the light gate disappeared, and the gray fog returned to calm and peace, and their vision became bright again.
"Praise the Fool!"
They all lowered their heads at the same time, whispering in a pious or respectful manner.
After a short silence, "Xingxing" raised his hand to smooth the scattered hair on his forehead, leaned back in a relaxed manner, and said with a smile: "Thank you both for your assistance. Mr. 'Hanged Man', your reward will be exchanged for the assistance of the 'Church of Poseidon'."
Seeing this, the Moon immediately said to the Hermit, "Madam, I will pay you at the Tarot Club next month."
The two nodded in return, not caring about the reward - after all, to some extent, this joint action was also Mr. Fool's idea, and it was a common task for the members of the Tarot Club. Alger took the initiative to select two of the extraordinary characteristics on the table, and the rest went to the Hermit who had to support the entire fleet.
When it came time to exchange information, "Moon" coughed lightly, and after everyone turned their attention to him, he said solemnly, "At present, the Storm Church has prepared forces to block several ports in the southern continent. This situation should not happen again in the short term, but we cannot rule out the possibility that some ships carrying pollution have already arrived in the northern continent."
Alger hesitated for a moment and asked, "Will the joint actions of the major churches in the southern continent be affected?"
Although they were no longer in the church system, Alger, who had extensive experience in similar operations, knew that those currently carrying out missions in the southern continent were elite teams similar to the "Red Gloves" whose strength was close to that of demigods. Only in this way could they properly deal with the pollution from the evil gods and keep the casualty rate at an acceptable level.
Each church will not have too many such elite teams, which means that the current defense capabilities of the Northern Continent are somewhat weak.
The "Sun" at the back raised his hand slightly and responded calmly: "The Church of Fools will be responsible for the pollution in the northern continent. We will join forces with the Abraham family and send teams with strong tracking capabilities to act separately... At present, Loen, Feynaport, Renburg, Masi, Segar and other countries have completed negotiations, but the Intis Republic and the Feysac Empire have not given a positive response."
Derrick, the Sun, who knew nothing about international relations, was able to arrange these things in an orderly manner after coming to the Bright World and being taught by the Divine Envoy Danitz. The Hermit nodded in approval of his arrangement, and then said, "If Intis insists on refusing the intervention of the Church of Fools, I will try to find a solution through other channels, and I may need the cooperation of Miss Magician at that time."
The Magician nodded hurriedly: "No problem, I will stay in Trier, the capital of Intis in the near future."
"Xingxing" clasped his red-gloved hands together and rested them on his chin. He recalled and said, "...the Church of Darkness has recently changed its attitude towards the Church of the God of War and has become more conservative. Uh, to put it simply, it has cancelled many of the missions to hunt down the God of War's 'Resurrection Faction.'"
"If the 'Resurrection Faction' gains power, Feysac is likely to split." Alger was somewhat surprised by the conservatism of the Church of Evernight, but he did not show his emotion obviously, and only gave a side warning.
"Um..."
Before "Star" could shrug to show that he knew nothing, "Sun" hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "In fact, in fact, His Highness Antigonus... took the initiative to request to go to Feysac."
Everyone suddenly fell silent.
They all had their own ideas about this angel from ancient times who had taken the initiative to join the Fool, but none of them had the power to stop him. Even the Fool's Church, which held a Level 0 Seal, was not confident enough to face Antigonus.
After praying, the messenger of God passed on the oracle that the Fool allowed him to stay. As long as it did not damage the name of the Fool, the angel could theoretically go anywhere and do anything he wanted. However, Antigonus still stayed in Bayam honestly and peacefully. It is said that his daily schedule is shopping, tasting various foods and watching dramas.
Considering this, Alger suggested cautiously: "Why not let this prince take action? You haven't written this person into the holy book yet, right?"
"No."
First, we have not thought about how to compile it, and second, the frequent updates of the scriptures are not conducive to missionary work.
"That's good. Currently, no one knows that His Highness is a subordinate of The Fool. If He can solve the hidden dangers in Feysac, the Einhorn family will have nothing to say. Of course, it would be best if we could know... the reason why He went to Feysac."
The Sun suddenly felt a heavy responsibility. Seeing that no one else had any objections, he nodded seriously and said, "Thank you for your suggestion, Mr. The Hanged Man. The other senior executives and I will consider it carefully."
He is no longer the kid who believes whatever he hears... Alger smiled, which was hidden by the gray fog and could not be seen by anyone. He felt the gradual growth of the little "sun".
At this moment, as if remembering something, the Moon leaned forward, looked at the Sun and the Magician, and warned in a serious tone:
"Tell all teams to watch out for this guy!
"He is a follower of the evil god. He has committed many bloody crimes in the southern continent. But he has disappeared recently. We cannot rule out the possibility that he is heading to the northern continent.
"He may be carrying a contaminated High-Sequence Seal of the Earth Pathway. He is extremely dangerous! If you encounter him, you must pray to The Fool immediately."
Following the words of the Moon, the gray fog surged and a portrait materialized.
He was a middle-aged man with gray hair and green eyes. He was looking forward with a stiff smile, as if he was mocking everyone who was looking at him.
-
The city of Yetonef is a typical mining city. It is backed by a branch of the Antares Mountains and is surrounded by mountains on three sides with rich coal, iron, aluminum and other mineral deposits. Many factories are located in the southwest corner where a large river flows. There is always a smell of smoke in the air.
In this coal-ash-covered city, the only bright building is the "Blade Cathedral" belonging to the Church of the God of War in the city center. Compared with the surrounding buildings, the church has an unusually grand sense of proportion, and the high arched doorway made of white marble seems to be prepared for giants.
This allowed Douglas and Vanna to arrive at the Blade Cathedral without anyone leading the way. Although it was noon, the huge city seemed too quiet. The local miners and workers of Feysac, who had lighter skin and deep blue eyes, either sat in small shops on the street and cast cold glances through the dirty glass windows, or hurriedly walked through the streets and alleys to avoid these outsiders, with no intention of communicating at all.
Only a few streets near the Blade Cathedral were noisy because of the gathering of outsiders. Vanna tugged at the corner of Douglas's clothes and whispered in his ear, "Something is wrong. There are not many Beyonders among these deserters, mercenaries, adventurers...
Douglas turned his head left and right to look, then pretended to put his hand on Vanna's waist, lowered his head and lowered his voice: "What's wrong? Although the total number of Beyonders has increased in recent years, the overall proportion is still not high."
"No, I mean, think about why they let us into the city?"
Well, I did think about it, but I didn't figure it out... Douglas pulled Vanna behind him, blocking the wolf-like gazes of some guys who couldn't walk when they saw a woman, and humbly asked: "Why?"
"Anyway, it's not like these losers are going to fight the army of Wallydenburg." Vanna pretended to lean on his back like a little bird, muttering, "I'm more inclined to believe that something happened in this city. After all, it's really rare that I can't see any of my colleagues here."
Colleagues? Did they mean a spy organization like the Secret Order? Before Douglas could think about it, he saw several teams of clergy in black robes walking out of the main entrance of Blade Cathedral and began to divert the crowd to different places.
He saw Anderson and a few others who were taking another route and following the members of the Church of the God of War on foot to the west. Most of them were picked up by carriages after being questioned and driven north.
After waiting for a while, a slightly rounded bald "apostate" or self-proclaimed "resurrectionist" clergyman came to Douglas and Vanna and asked in a routine tone: "Where are you from? What are you doing here?"
Douglas straightened his expression, raised his hands, and made a gesture of holding a sword in front of him: "May you walk in the glory of the Lord, Father. I come from Larunia in Feynaport. My father converted me to Christianity. Now I come here to follow his last wish to find his brother's bloodline and complete the reunion."
Although he was of Loen nationality, both Vanna and Anderson believed that Douglas' dark skin and deep eye sockets proved that he had the blood of the Feynaport Plateau people - and because the stereotype of Loen gentlemen and Intis gentlemen would be more slick, cunning, and have two small mustaches - in short, this appearance would prevent Douglas from being kicked out of the city by the xenophobic Feysac people, and he could even pretend to be a shallow believer.
Therefore, all the way from the camp to Yetonef City, Douglas urgently memorized the scriptures of the Church of the God of War under the supervision of several Feysac teammates, and corrected his overly standard Feysac pronunciation, making it have a unique dialect flavor.
Seeing his gesture, the bald priest's expression softened a little, and he also responded: "May the immortal Lord bless you, and may your father's spirit rest in peace under the Lord's gaze. I understand your wish, have you found your uncles?"
"Not yet, Father. I just arrived today."
"Then please understand that there is an epidemic in the city recently, and outsiders need to be under the unified management of the church. You follow me... Um, who is this?"
Vanna leaned out from behind Douglas and lowered her head in a coy manner. Douglas once again prepared himself mentally and put on a smile: "My wife."
"…"
The bald priest gave him a look that said "you are a good kid" and then led the two of them to a nearly full public carriage. Vanna comfortably took the place on Douglas's lap to avoid the crowd, leaving Douglas and the people of different descriptions in the car staring at each other. Someone gave him a thumbs up, and Douglas responded with a middle finger to express his feelings in a friendly manner.
A middle-aged man with gray hair and green eyes squeezed next to him changed to a more comfortable position, looked at his raised middle finger, and asked, "What does this mean?"
"This is a custom in my hometown. The middle finger is the longest finger," Douglas lied with his eyes wide open. "When you recognize and respect someone very much, you can raise the middle finger to show that he is really great."
The other people in the carriage were very curious about the customs of a foreign country, so more people raised their middle fingers to express their admiration for him and his "wife".
Douglas: "…"
This was not quite the effect he had expected.
The middle-aged man with gray hair and green eyes also gestured a few times, and for some reason he was smiling happily. But this man seemed to have a bit of facial paralysis. Even with a smile on his face, his expression always felt a bit out of place. He introduced himself, "You can call me Ivan. I really want to walk around the city more. I heard that the girls in Feysac are very charming. Their eyes are so charming. I can't imagine how good it feels to be stared at by them...ah, the wine here is also very good."
Several talkative passengers started chatting with Ivan about the topic. After about 40 minutes of bumpy ride, the carriage stopped. Everyone got off the carriage with their luggage and walked along the gravel path that hurt their feet into a camp with a tall wall. This seemed to be a former miners' dormitory, with four rows of C-shaped three-story buildings, a public canteen and a bathhouse. At the end of the camp was the mine. Outside the wall stood tall steel equipment, with the paint peeling off, revealing spots of red embroidery.
If you raise your head a little higher, the nearby mountains seem to be pressing down like a collapsed giant, proving that this is already the deepest part of Yetonef City. Further ahead are the Antares Mountains.
The coachman who led the way also had a typical large physique of the Feysac people. He led them to the bottom of Building 3, explained the opening hours of various facilities, distributed room keys, and left on his own. Douglas and Vanna's room was on the third floor near the stairs. There was only a steel-framed bunk bed, a charcoal stove with pipes connected to the outside, and iron nails nailed to the wall for hanging clothes and oil lamps. The room was so crowded that there was barely enough space for two people to pass sideways.
Douglas measured the area with his feet and felt that this place might not be as spacious as some of the single rooms in Backlund's East District, but compared to the large bunk beds on the first floor and the dormitory with more than a dozen people in a room on the second floor, having a private room was already a good treatment.
Perhaps because there were not many outsiders, they were all placed on the third and second floors. He could hear the creaking of the floor and the vague voices of others in the next room. Vanna glanced at him, raised her hand, and the sparks flashing from her fingertips formed a line of words: "The obvious Beyonders are not here, but it is not ruled out that someone here is also hiding his identity."
Douglas imitated him and began to perform a trick of dragging the light and shadow. He responded silently, "I can go to Anderson's place tonight. It's too quiet here. The nearby mines are not in operation. This doesn't make sense."
Vanna listened attentively and nodded: "Maybe this is the anomaly. It doesn't look like there is an epidemic in the city. After lunch, we can go to the mine to take a look."
Chapter 60: The City of Dark CloudsTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 5319 wordsUpdate time: 2022-11-04 02:14:56
After enjoying a lunch in the public canteen, which consisted of roast onions and cream stew as the main dishes, and was quite substantial with only liquor as the only drink, Douglas and Vanna walked towards the mine without being noticed.
After taking advantage of the meal time to observe the people around them, they found that most of them were natives of Feysac, including businessmen, company employees on business trips, simple travelers, etc. They originally took the steam train and stopped at Yetonef City to refuel according to the route. Later, they were centralized under the Blade Cathedral on the grounds of "epidemic". They complained about the mess in their living place, but their overall mood was relatively stable.
It wasn't until they reached a more open area that the two began to have a brief conversation.
"The steam train leading here has not stopped running," Douglas felt a little unbelievable, "Did the Feysac government tacitly approve the occupation of this place by the 'Resurrectionists'? Logically, they should have cut off water and food supplies and prepared for an offensive."
"It's not that easy. They may not want to interfere in the church's internal affairs."
"It's an energy city after all. It should be very important for industry."
"Feysac is not short of coal. Guess what these apostate lunatics need most? Believers and people's hearts! Because only coal can be sold here, as long as their opponents are smart enough to spend some money and unite with the nobles of Saint Milon who have shares in the factory to refuse the coal produced by Yetonef, within a few months, the bankrupt mine owners and unemployed workers here will not care which god you serve."
Fanna casually gave an example, stretched out her hand to curl up the strands of hair hanging by her ears, and asked another question thoughtfully: "But it's not unusual for them to collect wild Beyonders. We can only wait and see what news Boss Tang En has... Hmm? There are people ahead."
There are also several buildings near the entrance of the mine, including an office building, the main shaft, the auxiliary shaft, a coal preparation building, a compressed air room equipped with ventilation equipment, and a long winch road extending from the underground to transport mine materials and underground waste rock. Next to it is a high slope of waste rock. It is also unusually quiet here at the moment. All the doors of the buildings are locked and no one goes in or out.
In the small square in front of the main well, there was an old man with white hair and beard sitting there with his eyes closed. A shiny long sword lay across his knees, he was wearing a metal breastplate with some pits, and at his feet were an old double-barreled shotgun and a bag of gunpowder. He looked like a knight from a story.
Hearing the approaching footsteps of Douglas and Vanna, the old man opened his eyes, looked at them with his slightly cloudy blue eyes, and then frowned, which made his already weather-beaten and deeply wrinkled face look even older.
"Strangers?" After taking a look at the two men, the old man frowned and waved his arms at them rudely, "There's nothing to see here. Go back and don't hang around here."
"This coal mine is not yours, so why not take a look around?"
Unlike Douglas, who still respected the elderly and loved the young, Vanna had no good feelings towards someone who ordered her around as soon as they met. She approached him nonchalantly while arguing with him, and even laughed at his outdated dress: "This is the age of gunpowder and steam. This dress can only scare children."
As if something was touching, the old man spat in dissatisfaction: "What do you know, little girl? When I was chopping off the heads of the Intis people on the battlefield, you were still suckling in your mother's arms!"
Although Intis's heyday had passed a hundred years ago and had nothing to do with Vanna, her pride in her country of birth still made her retort immediately:
"Why don't you tell me that I was playing in the mud at home when the Intis people beat the shit out of you knights with machine guns and steam rifles? Why don't you tell me that I was celebrating with champagne at home when you were defeated on the Loen front?"
Douglas, who was nominally from Loen, couldn't stand it anymore and inserted himself between the two men to try to ease the atmosphere. However, the old man, who had been hit twice in a row, stood up as if he could no longer endure it. He raised the long sword with an angry look on his face and chopped at the two men's heads, as if he wanted to kill someone to relieve his hatred.
It was not until the old man stood up that the two realized that despite being over fifty years old and hunched over, the old man was still over 1.9 meters tall. When he raised the sword, the old man's expression and momentum were as fierce as a weapon.
However, due to his age, the speed of this sword was not very fast. And judging from the visual, this blow would not hurt Fanna, at most it would flash in front of her with a cold light, which showed that the old man had not really lost his mind.
Of course, Vanna will continue to mock the other party for being too old and having poor eyesight to measure the distance accurately. It is unpredictable what will happen next.
As his thoughts raced, Douglas, who had originally planned to dodge, simply pulled out the sharp-bladed hunting knife that Anderson lent him for self-defense from the inside of his clothes, slid forward sideways, and accurately blocked the long sword, ready to end the conflict.
Seeing his decisive action, the old man narrowed his eyes slightly, turned his wrist, and stopped the downward momentum of the long sword at the critical moment, and drew a curve upward, attacking Douglas's shoulder and neck. The latter immediately ducked forward and dodged the sword with the greatest possible range, breaking out in a cold sweat.
No matter from which angle you look at it, the old man is just an ordinary person with outstanding martial arts skills, but Douglas only knows that he will really die if he is hit by this sword.
He paid 100% attention and stopped competing head-on with his skills. He pragmatically relied on his youth and strong reaction to deal with the old man for a few moves, then closed the distance and restrained the other's sword-holding hand. He threatened but politely persuaded him: "Old man, don't bother with us young people who have no experience. We haven't even been to the battlefield. How can we be as professional as you! If I hadn't dodged so quickly, I would have almost lost my head. At your age, don't wield swords and guns. It's too dangerous."
"..." The old man lowered his eyes and looked at the hunting knife across his throat. He glared at him unhappily and said, "Why don't you put away your broken knife!"
Both sides took a step back and stopped arguing, while Vanna clapped loudly beside them, creating a delicate atmosphere of both harmony and conflict.
Douglas also gave a stern look to Vanna, who loved to stir up trouble, and put his hunting knife on his belt for easy access. Just as he was about to ask the old man about the situation, he heard the old man sitting back in his original position and said in a muffled voice: "Don't say that I, Elijah, didn't warn you. It's very dangerous here. Go back quickly. Remember, stay in your room in the evening and don't go out if you hear any noise."
It was late afternoon…wasn't it still early? Douglas squatted down and looked at the old man in the eye, and asked sincerely: "Why are you sitting here alone…?"
Elijah snorted, his eyes showing a hint of coldness: "Don't bother me, I have my own things to do."
"What's the danger? Isn't the church in charge here?"
"The church... ah, a bunch of confused rubbish, saying that God was betrayed and that the hypocritical night has encroached on the Lord's authority, it's all baseless nonsense! I don't know what they are doing all day long, none of them are useful. Rubbish!"
Old man Elijah seemed to be quite disdainful when it came to the "Resurrectionists" in the city, but he did not explain what the "danger" meant.
Vanna was too lazy to listen to the old man's muttering, so she gave Douglas a look and went to check the nearby buildings. Douglas simply sat on the ground and tried to get around the topic by saying, "Okay, can I see your sword? I've never seen such a sharp weapon before. In our place, this sword will become a collection for the noble lord to hang on the wall."
When talking about the sword, the old man's expression softened. His rough palm gently stroked the sword, and while holding the sword upright to show Douglas in the sunlight, he said with nostalgia and pride: "By the way, young men like you have never touched a real sword... Look, how beautiful it is! The brass guard is shining... It would be unfair to her if she became a dead thing for others to see. When I was at my lowest point, when I had no money for my next meal and couldn't even afford a carriage ticket to go home, I never thought of betraying her. Hey, a knight must have a good sword."
As he spoke, his voice gradually became lower, as if he was sighing: "In fact, what the little girl said is right. With guns and cannons, my sword is no longer useful. When I was young, I was a baron's squire. Later, I became the captain of the cavalry because of my military achievements. Wherever I went, people were willing to give me a glass of wine... Haha, now chivalry can't be eaten! I understand that I, Elijah, am not old enough to not know right from wrong..."
It turns out that the knight class survived until 20 or 30 years ago when it was completely abandoned by the times... That's right, just like the firearms were not taken seriously when they first appeared in history. If it weren't for Roselle improving the ancient flintlock rifle and opening the steam age, which indirectly gave birth to the steam machine gun using phlogiston, maybe the old people would still be enjoying a good life now...
Douglas, who knew a lot about Russell's life and works but lacked respect for history, felt for the first time that he saw the shape of time and how the changes of the times fell on the old man's back like a mountain behind him, making him lower his head helplessly.
Before he could think of anything to comfort him, the old man shook his head and calmly changed the subject: "Compared to the young people of today, your skills are not bad... but you are not familiar with your knife, so you are not a hunter; you are not brave, you have never killed anyone, so you are not a veteran soldier. What do you do?"
Sorry, I'm a policeman! Douglas coughed lightly to dispel the Cantonese voice in his mind: "Police officer. I have received on-the-job training."
"Oh..." Ilya seemed to think about it for a while, and finally smiled with satisfaction, "Good job, good job... Young man, remember that you learn these things in the end to protect others, so don't use them for harm. Well, I spoiled my son..."
After the two of them exchanged some small talk, Vanna, who had come back from somewhere, gently kicked Douglas with a stack of materials in her hand, asking him to read: "For the past six months, there have been frequent collapse accidents in the coal mines here. The most recent accident happened more than 20 days ago, causing a lot of casualties, and the local mines were shut down. The mine owners jointly entrusted the matter to the War God Church, but there has been no result so far. By the way, the local miners have all returned home, and many out-of-town miners who stayed in the dormitory have disappeared."
Elijah was a little surprised: "How... did you open the lock?"
Vanna smiled and said nothing as she gestured with her hands stretched outward, which made old man Elijah doubt his life.
Douglas quickly flipped through the pile of materials mixed with newspaper clippings and work logs, and exhaled softly: "Old man, has there been any epidemic spreading in the city recently?"
"Epidemic? Who knows? Anyway, there is no epidemic where I live. I haven't heard of it."
"So is there anything strange happening recently?"
The old man tapped the blade of his sword with his fingers, his expression showing some doubt and vigilance: "What on earth are you doing here?"
Douglas thought about it and answered honestly: "It's hard to say."
"..." Ilya was silent for a long while, and finally sighed, "Some workers in the mine went crazy after they stopped working and went home. They kept saying that there were evil spirits in the mine, evil spirits that kill people. A good guy I know was so scared that he hid in the house with curtains drawn day and night, and told his family not to go out again."
In the warm afternoon sun, the old knight, who was still in good health, suddenly shivered.
"Everyone thought it was just a rumor at first, until someone woke up and found a pile of chopped-up bodies outside their house...
"The church inspected the mines, held mass, and ordered everyone not to go out after dusk, but despite this, the dead continued to be found.
"Alas, people are in a panic now. Some say it's a sociopathic murderer, some say it's a wild animal in the mountains, and some believe in evil spirits... The miners from outside are the most vulnerable. They have no families here, and after work stops, they can't stay idle at night, so they always go out to have fun.
"But after so many murders, they have all run away. You outsiders have come at the wrong time. Listen to my advice, Elijah, and leave quickly."
Douglas and Vanna couldn't help but look at each other.
The latter half turned around and took off the pendulum from his wrist. Douglas stared at the old man deeply and said with a complicated look:
"Old man, you're staying here...you don't want to solve this problem yourself, do you?"
Ilya's expression twitched, as if he wanted to curl the corners of his mouth to deny it, but his expression was uglier than crying.
"My son...even though he was a good-for-nothing, a disobedient bastard, he still had a wife and children waiting for him at home! There is no body of him, no one has seen his body...I don't admit it, I don't admit it! I am a useless old thing, but my sword is still sharp! I want to see with my own eyes what that is! I want to see it with my own eyes!!"
His hands, which could hold the sword steadily, began to tremble, and turbid tears flowed along the folds of his skin.
At the same time, Vanna behind him groaned and turned around.
"An extraordinary event at the level of a demigod." The magician covered his eyes, which were oozing blood, and put away his playful attitude. He calmly ordered, "Go find Anderson, immediately."
-
Maddenwalli Castle, inside the city lord's mansion.
Tony Twain strode with great familiarity through the corridor decorated with large oil paintings and handmade tapestries by Balam, leaving the sweaty butler behind and unceremoniously kicked open the door of the study.
The butler was so frightened that his soul almost flew out of his mouth. He stammered and begged for mercy: "Master, please forgive... him, this..."
Before he could finish his words, his master stood up from behind the desk and waved his hand casually. The butler immediately walked forward, closed the door and left as if he had been pardoned. Tony Twain snorted and laughed:
"What a grand sight! The people of Loen always say that you Feysac people are barbarians who don't know how to enjoy life. I see there are all kinds of people downstairs. Those idiots with canes are really ignorant."
"If you don't look like you haven't even digested the 'provocateur' when you come to visit next time, I will look forward to your visit even more, Tang En."
The owner of the mansion walked around the desk and welcomed Tang En in a noble manner. His red hair and the ends of his mustache that covered his chin from behind his ears were naturally curly and fluffy. Combined with his muscles and tall physique that were so strong that they seemed to be able to tear his formal clothes apart, he looked like a red-haired lion with sharp claws and fangs that could burst at any time, giving people a sense of extreme danger.
Caesar Einhorn, the master of Fort Maddenwalli, an imperial duke, and also a Sequence Three "War Bishop" and one of the actual leaders of the "Iron Cross".
Tony Twain, who was of the same sequence as him, could only be considered an ordinary senior member of the "Iron Cross" due to the lack of a prominent background to support him. He was inevitably constrained in his actions by the other party.
The two of them, or rather, Tang En unilaterally disliked Caesar for a long time, but now, Tang En's mentality has changed slightly.
After secretly following Medici with some of his confidants, he suddenly found that it was not impossible for him to become an angel before Caesar.
However, Tang En continued his usual style of mocking and maintaining his inherent mode of getting along, until the two of them sat face to face on the sofa in the reception room, and Caesar, as the host, handed over a finger-thick Balam cigar.
For a moment, smoke mixed with the smell of cedar and spices filled the study. Tang En first enjoyed the high-end goods for a while before slowly saying, "I heard that the crazy people who wanted to revive the God of War occupied a city right under your nose."
Caesar Einhorn's expression showed no emotion. He stroked the ring on his left hand that had the blood-stained spear family emblem printed on it. He took a deep puff of his cigar before speaking along with the fragrant smoke: "This is what a certain important person meant."
"Big shot? Hey, I never thought there would be a day when I would see you wagging your tail and acting like a dog."
"Don't belittle yourself like that, Tang En. To be honest, I have always regarded you as a real brother."
"Of course not. We are all guys who crawled out of the mire. It's an honor to be a pawn of a big shot." Tang En bit his cigar and snorted. "So? What price did you get for selling your ass this time?"
Caesar Einhorn put out the half-burned cigar, whose ashes were as valuable as gold, and leaned back, folding his hands on his abdomen. A miniature of Tang En was reflected in his rusty dark red eyes.
"Our great emperor is running out of time."
His voice was low and booming as he spoke calmly.
"The princes and princesses who have a chance to sit on the throne are all vying for the support of the Church of the God of War, no matter which church it is. I got a hint that someone made a deal with Yetonef City and the Resurrection Sect, a win-win deal.
"We will be witnesses to this transaction, Tang En."
Good man, you're going to do something big, huh?
Tony Twain remained calm as he said in a relaxed tone, "That sounds good, but I guess you're not the one doing the dirty work."
A slight smile appeared on the red-haired lion's face.
"Don't be impatient, my friend. The day after tomorrow at the latest, Yetonef City will have a new master and a completely new look. By then, we will know who to serve."Chapter 61 Waiting for DuskTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 3762 wordsUpdate time: 2022-11-07 17:15:01
Finding Anderson is a task that is simple in form but a bit difficult to execute.
Although Douglas could roughly sense the other party's position with the help of Anderson's preliminary "mind link" ability, the face of an outsider appearing on the streets of Yetonev was very conspicuous and easy to be discovered.
Nodding to Vanna, Douglas hesitated before leaving, and said to old man Elijah: "This is not a problem you can solve. It's safer to go home quickly."
The old man did not raise his head, nor did he let go of the sword in his hand. He said in a hoarse voice, "I will not leave."
After taking a deep look at the old man, Douglas didn't try to persuade him any further. He turned around and walked quickly outside, starting to think about how to find Anderson.
Soon, he figured out a solution: Yetonev was a relatively developed city, and most buildings were three to four stories high. Walking on the roofs of buildings with the help of "Creeping Hunger" was enough to avoid most sights.
Back in the dormitory area, Douglas saw from a distance that the gate he had come in through was already closed, and there seemed to be church personnel on duty outside. This was certainly not a problem for the "Master of Magic", and Douglas turned and crossed the small square paved with stone bricks between several dormitory buildings, preparing to go around the side wall to go out, but he saw Ivan coming in the same carriage in front of him.
The latter was holding a bulky camera and gesturing at the mountains not far away. With a loud "click" and an exaggerated flash, a photo slipped from the bottom of the machine - this reminded Douglas of his roommate who used to like to take pictures everywhere with a Polaroid camera.
When Alvin picked up the photo, he naturally saw him and greeted him in a friendly manner: "Are you taking a walk?"
"Um."
Douglas had no intention of chatting with him. He responded perfunctorily and continued to walk out. Fortunately, Ivan did not follow him, but just fiddled with his camera. When he walked out more than ten meters, Douglas felt a flash of light behind him. He turned around and found that the other party seemed to have just pointed the camera at him and took a picture.
When he saw him turning around, Alvin happily raised the photo to show his appreciation, without any sense of being secretly photographed.
...Just wait, I will secretly burn all your photos in the middle of the night. Although he was not very comfortable, he did not want to get entangled with the other party because of this matter. Douglas finally decided to postpone it. At least for now, it may be a demigod-level extraordinary event, which is definitely more important than a photo with only the back but no front face.
Douglas climbed over the wall and onto the roof, followed the instructions of the "Mind Link" and used a branch broken from the roadside as a divination rod to find his way. It took him more than half an hour to find Anderson's location. All the outsiders were placed in a church school, which was only two streets away from the Blade Cathedral. The defense was much stricter than that of the coal mine on the outskirts of the city.
Douglas, who was squatting on the roof of the apartment building across the street, waited patiently for a moment and had a simple understanding of the layout of the internal and external defenses before trying to use "Creeping Hunger" to enter the spirit world. After confirming that the corresponding coordinates were not protected in the spirit world, he directly "teleported" himself in.
This time it was not the rooftop, but an empty classroom. Douglas successfully appeared in the classroom, and the blackboard, podium, desks and chairs, cleaning utensils in the corner, and lockers at the back of the classroom gave him a sense of alienated intimacy.
After making sure that no one noticed his movements, Douglas glanced out the window at the playground. Anderson was right next to the basketball court, chatting and laughing with a few guys who looked like mercenaries.
And because they were talking so passionately and intensely, it felt like a fight was about to develop. Several guards unconsciously gathered towards Anderson, ready to resolve the dispute at any time.
It was hard to tell whether Anderson's move was intentional or not. After all, Douglas was able to get in because the guards were distracted, and now he couldn't get close to Anderson for the same reason - many pathways would improve memory at low sequences, and if he approached rashly, the guards might discover that there was a stranger here.
However, at such a close distance, the effect of the "mind link" was already very obvious. Anderson used some excuse to get away from the crowd and walked into the teaching building where Douglas was. After a while, he was heard walking into the classroom whistling a folk song that they had agreed on.
The blond pirate hunter was stunned when he saw him, and closed the door with his backhand: "Don't move, don't talk."
"?"
Douglas waited with some confusion as Anderson circled around him twice. Suddenly, he felt a burning sensation on his spiritual body, as if a flame was burning with spirituality as fuel, but he felt no pain - until Anderson put his hand on the back of his neck, as if pulling something out.
The feeling was almost like cutting off a living person's flesh. Douglas staggered, held onto the desk next to him, and asked dizzily, "What are you doing..."
Anderson stretched out his hand to show him that in the hunter's palm lay a harmless-looking particle, like the seed of some plant.
"What's this?"
"A kind of extraordinary plant that grows in the moonlight. This seed will take root in the spirit body, and in a few nights it will sprout branches and sprout, eating your brain along the spine... Ahaha, at that time you will be a real 'vegetable', and when it is mature enough, your head will be 'popped' open by more seeds, completing the sowing."
As he spoke, he lit a high-temperature flame that was almost milky white, and burned the seeds to ashes under Douglas' horrified gaze.
If it weren't for the demigod-level "mind link" that could share the damage and increase the spiritual strength of all connected parties, Anderson wouldn't have been sure he could eradicate all the seeds in one go.
He had seen similar methods used by the resistance forces in the southern continent. There was only a chance to pull out the seeds before they sprouted. The victims who were unfortunate enough to let them sprout would never see the moon in their lifetime and had to stay in a sealed and lightless room at night. Even so, it was very easy for abnormalities to occur during a blood moon.
At that time, the number of survivors in Anderson's adventure team could be counted on one hand.
Of course, because so many people died, everyone's pockets were bulged with gold coins when the spoils were divided.
If you ignore the process, the result is actually quite pleasant.
"Don't worry, drink more water." After solving the hidden danger, Anderson dragged a chair over and sat down, motioning Douglas to relax, "This way you will grow stronger."
"...Thank you, if you didn't add that last sentence."
Although the process only took a moment, Anderson's description was truly terrifying. What was even more terrifying was that Douglas did not notice at all who put the seeds in his body and how.
This means that there is at least one more extraordinary person in the mining area, and there is an unknown force. Vanna, who has not left yet, may encounter the same danger.
Douglas suppressed his fear and told Anderson everything he had learned without delay.
Anderson leaned back, pushing the chair back so that his legs were raised and propped up, trembling, maintaining a delicate balance.
After learning the relevant information, he touched his chin and frowned slightly: "It seems a bit troublesome..."
In his opinion, four forces with different goals have emerged openly or secretly.
One is the local "Resurrectionists" who believe in the God of War. They deliberately let extraordinary events ferment and create a tense atmosphere in the city. On the other hand, they also gathered outsiders. Anderson intuitively thought that this was all some kind of preparation;
Second, there were the Feysac officials who had turned a blind eye to the current situation in Yetonef City, and the "Iron Cross" controlled by Caesar Einhorn, which Tang En was in charge of contacting. These major forces were clearly waiting for changes to occur in Yetonef City, preparing to be the oriole catching the cicada;
The third is the "War Red" represented by Anderson himself, whose only goal is to overturn the table and make other people's calculations go awry, and to gain enough intelligence and benefits in the chaotic situation;
Fourth, there is an existence that attacked Douglas unknowingly in addition to the previous intelligence.
Although the "Resurrection Faction" and the Feysac officials were both huge behemoths that were difficult for the Anderson team to contend with, there was a certain logic to their goals and actions that could be guessed, and one could vaguely grasp the trend of things.
What really puzzled him was that the fourth person appeared out of nowhere and showed no good intentions.
Whether it is targeting the "Red of War" or the lunatics from the southern continent who attack indiscriminately, it is very troublesome.
Alas, I am not good at this kind of job... While scratching his head, Anderson looked at Douglas.
The latter was touching his neck unconsciously, as if he felt uncomfortable all over. From time to time, he changed his posture and leaned on the windowsill, paying attention to the movements of the guards on the playground.
Before leaving, Medici told him that if there was anything that had to be done, leave it to Douglas.
Because that guy will be "lucky" enough these days.
When it comes to luck, Anderson has always been a negative example and has little say.
So he chose to trust Medici's judgment and made his decision accordingly:
"Douglas, you stay in the mine and wait and see what happens at dusk. By the way, ask Vanna to come over and check if there are any hidden dangers.
"If nothing happens tonight, you can use your partner's disappearance as an excuse to provoke the church members tomorrow. If they insist on not letting you leave, find a place to hide and wait for our signal.
"It won't be long. I have a feeling these things will come to fruition soon."
Douglas nodded, and while accepting the arrangement, he couldn't help but ask:
"When will you come up with a name for yourself?"
As a demigod, Anderson theoretically has a considerable range of response capabilities. However, this guy has never said his honorific name, and Douglas only has two talismans in his hand to serve as a substitute.
"Let's talk about it later..." The pirate hunter blinked innocently and jumped off the chair lightly. "I'll show you a side door. Let Vanna come in from that side later."
-
He fiddled with the photos he had taken in the past few days. Some of them were simple buildings and landscapes, some were the hard profiles of local workers stained with coal dust, some were waitresses busy serving wine to guests, some were three or two children squatting on the roadside playing with glass balls, and some were elderly people with gray hair, wrinkled skin and hunched backs.
After careful selection, he found a newly taken photo with only a back view on it. Ivan picked up the photo and pinched the edge with his thumb and index finger, as if he wanted to tear it apart, but he couldn't make up his mind.
Not long after, the photo started to burn in his hand. Ivan looked at the photo paper in surprise as it was burned to ashes by the white flames.
Because he didn't let go of his hand when the photo burned, the places on his fingers that were burned by the flames became ulcerated and yellowish blisters appeared. He seemed to be unaware of it, and raised his hand to slap his forehead hard, ignoring the fact that the bubbles burst under the collision and burst into liquid, which mixed with blood and flowed down his forehead.
"I was careless..."
The remaining link was cut off by the attack from the demigod, and he could no longer follow the breath to find the little guy who taught everyone to give the middle finger. Ivan looked a little annoyed and regretful, but he quickly comforted himself: "Well, remember what the priest always told you before? There are always all kinds of setbacks in life, but it is better to try hard than to give up directly. Also, if you do something wrong, you must confess to the Lord. Well... forget about this, the people in heaven are not good people."
After putting away the remaining photos, Ivan was disappointed to find that it was still two hours before dark. He couldn't wait to see the fun, especially when the old knight challenged the evil spirit of a "Dawn Knight" with a sword. If someone was willing to open a bet, he would even bet on the old knight.
In comparison, the simple massacre that followed even made Ivan want to yawn. Once a hobby becomes a job, it is really boring, dull, and without aesthetic appeal. He began to regret his original choice.
Unfortunately, Party A was too strong and he couldn't get away for a while. Of course, if this operation went smoothly, Ivan estimated that he was only one step away from regaining his freedom.
Wiping his forehead with his sleeve, Ivan adjusted his appearance in front of the mirror on the table and began to think seriously: After solving the problem, should he go to Feynaport or Intis?Chapter 62 Knight and KnightTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 4388 wordsUpdate time: 2022-11-12 02:57:24
Vanna stood there waiting for the spiritual fluctuations caused by her divination. She had just performed a dream divination based on the "extraordinary events that occurred in Yetonef City", and briefly saw a wandering evil spirit, a golden ring on the evil spirit's hand, and a vague shadow of a Cyclops.
As soon as the giant's shadow appeared in her consciousness, she lost her divination state as if she had suffered a heavy blow. The blood vessels in her eyes burst and tears of blood flowed.
Fanna flipped her right hand and shook open the finely cut paper man as a substitute with a "snap" sound, and recovered her vision in the shortest possible time. However, the spirituality damaged by spying on the higher existence could not be repaired by the paper man substitute. She summoned the flame flow and burned the stack of materials stolen from the mine office, then turned her attention to Ilya, who did not accept Douglas's advice and stubbornly sat there.
"Old man, have you ever heard of the places 'Orville' and 'Tilland'?"
Elijah didn't look up, looking as if he didn't bother to pay attention to her.
So Vanna left directly and returned to the dormitory building along the same route, using meditation and other methods to stabilize her state until Douglas returned.
After informing Vanna of Anderson's arrangement, Douglas took out a piece of paper and placed it on his knees to draw a simple map to help Vanna find the location of the church school. Vanna held her chin up and watched him mark the intersections and buildings one by one with charcoal pencils, and suddenly asked, "It's okay for me to stay here, right?"
"No." Douglas looked up at her with a disapproving look, "Don't you think the seed Anderson mentioned is dangerous?"
"You also know the danger!" Vanna made an exaggerated expression to express her mockery, "If you know the danger, why are you willing to come back? Aren't you afraid of death?"
"I run fast."
Douglas raised his left hand with the "crying hunger". The connection between the spiritual world and the real world is close and special. Unless specifically targeted, it is difficult to completely restrict the "travel" belonging to the fifth level of sequence.
Then he added: "And if you're here, it will be very difficult for me if something goes wrong."
"Hey, I'm higher in sequence than you, okay?"
"What I mean is, if you have seeds in your body and become a monster that is half plant and half human..." Douglas stuffed the drawn map into Vanna's hand and said unhappily, "I will be too soft-hearted to kill you, and then we will all be doomed. Do you understand?"
"puff..."
Vanna burst into laughter, unable to straighten her back. Douglas pushed her shoulder in annoyance, "Go back to Anderson and laugh. Go away now."
"Okay, okay…"
Considering that there were other hidden Beyonders here, Douglas didn't plan to stay in the room alone, so he sent Vanna to the wall. It was not until he climbed over the wall that Vanna stopped teasing him and turned to look at him seriously: "Don't die, I'll be sad too."
That's not necessary... Douglas always felt that this "sadness" was not serious enough, so he didn't respond and turned away.
His mission can be summed up in one word: wait.
But the preparations needed to be made were much more than that. Douglas had a few small things to deal with before the possible danger of dusk.
He first took off the "creeping hunger" and patiently communicated with the human leather glove: "Would you like to advance your prayer tonight?"
The side effects of "Creeping Hunger" under Amon's seal were not many, but it was very unique, such as insisting on praising the "True Creator" three times a day, usually at the beginning of the three meals. For the wearer, the only difference between this praise and the evil god's mumbling was that it was not polluted, but it still caused a series of side effects such as headaches, auditory hallucinations, and spiritual fluctuations.
Of course, it is possible to simply pick it off and put it in a deserted place, or to carry a few mushrooms with you as a deterrent. However, Douglas will rely heavily on the "creeping hunger" in both fighting and saving his life, so he cannot simply ignore it.
He also had reason to worry that with his low sequence, if he threatened the "Creeping Hunger" without Amon's raid, he would be eaten by the glove without any recognition.
Fortunately, "Creeping Hunger" is a seal with ideas and living characteristics, so it can be done with a little negotiation.
So after enduring half an hour of endless praises to the "real creator" without any repetition, Douglas felt that if his ears were alive, he would have run away from home by now.
"No wonder the members of the Aurora Society always give people the impression of being crazy..."
For Douglas, the only benefit of listening to this kind of nonsense is that it is mixed with some rituals and mystical knowledge.
For example, today, "Creeping Hunger" unconsciously chanted the names of several pathways that could be interchanged with "Secret Prayer" and the incomplete formula of "Reader".
Douglas stood up dizzily, wiped the sweat from his forehead and put the glove back on his left hand. After walking around, he returned to the public cafeteria and chose a seat not far from the door with his back against the wall. While waiting, he slowly recovered his spirituality that had been disturbed by the "creeping hunger".
Two hours later, the people who were accommodated here came to the cafeteria one after another to enjoy dinner.
From the moment the first person stepped into the cafeteria door, Douglas switched the herding soul to the "Apostle of Desire" and activated the "Danger Premonition".
Because spirituality must be continuously provided during use and other souls cannot be switched, "Danger Prediction" is somewhat useless on weekdays, but it is very suitable for dealing with the current situation.
If someone develops ill will towards Douglas and has the ability to put it into practice, Douglas will be able to predict the other party's behavior in advance and have a considerable initiative.
He hoped to find the extraordinary person who was hiding in the crowd and planted the "moonlight seed" in him before dusk.
Men, women, thin, strong... Douglas broke the bread into pieces and threw it into the borscht, casually looking at everyone who came in. Among them, he also saw Ivan who was taking random photos in the afternoon.
The latter naturally ordered a meal and enjoyed it alone.
Douglas was unaware of the "malice" directed at him until no one entered the cafeteria anymore.
It seems that pulling out the seeds will not attract the other party's attention, or the hidden extraordinary person feels that he has completed the task and has already left quietly.
He relaxed a little, put the cooled beetroot soup into his mouth, and finished his dinner without tasting the sour and sweet tomato and the crispness of the cabbage leaves. At this moment, the light outside the window was gradually getting weaker, and an orange sunset appeared on the horizon.
…
Elijah, who was wiping the sword, stopped when the dim light spread to his feet. He slowly stood up, stretched his body, hung the hunting rifle that was originally placed at his feet behind his shoulder, and hung the gunpowder bag around his waist.
With the addition of a long sword and a pitted breastplate, his image became even more weird and ridiculous.
A middle-aged man with gray hair and green eyes came to Ilya at some point and looked at him with a smile.
Elijah didn't seem to have any problem with Ivan's appearance. Perhaps the old man was obsessed with finding the murderer who killed his son and had no time to care about anything else.
With his intuition honed over the past decade on the battlefield, Ilya sensed a certain solemn atmosphere. He raised his sword and walked cautiously towards the cafeteria until he saw a dark figure that looked like an unliving person.
The figure seemed to be made up of a mass of turbid black air, with limbs that were somewhat deformed; probably where the head should be, there were two flickering green ghost lights, like a pair of eyes, filled with undisguised greed and malice.
Taking a deep breath, Ilya squeezed out a word from his teeth: "Evil spirit..."
He didn't expect that the murderer wandering around the town and possibly killing his son was actually the evil spirit that often appeared in folk tales!
When he saw the evil spirit, it stopped walking towards the brightly lit cafeteria, turned to face Ilya, and slowly raised his hand.
Ilya was very familiar with that posture; it was clearly the posture of raising a sword!
Behind him, Ivan, who looked relaxed, saw this scene, cleared his throat, and said loudly as if no one was around:
"Yes, you are right. This evil spirit was once a 'knight', although it is not quite the same as the knight you know.
"You know him, he was the bishop of this city, the previous one.
"Perhaps you don't know him either. This bishop, whom you praised as pious and friendly, betrayed his faith and responsibility on the day the war was lost, and wanted to leave with the seal of the church.
"Unfortunately, he was contaminated by the aura of the fallen god and died silently somewhere on the mountain behind you. He was later discovered by members of the 'Resurrection Faction' and turned into an evil spirit using blasphemous methods."
As the story was narrated like a voiceover, a long sword that was not real enough but had a faint glow gradually condensed in the evil spirit's hand.
But Elijah seemed not to hear Ivan's noisy voice.
Although the scene before him went against the old man's cognition of more than sixty years, at this moment, there was only one voice taking root and growing stronger in Elijah's mind.
"Haha, you know that the chivalry you uphold has been eliminated decades ago! No one cares about you, an old man obsessed with old dreams! Even your son, who you have high hopes for, disdains to learn the bullshit honor and bravery. Instead, he resents you because of your strict training and distances himself from you!
"But none of this matters. You are here to kill it. No matter if it is an evil spirit or something else, it killed your offspring, and you swear in the name of the knight to make it pay with blood!
"You suddenly realize that this is a great opportunity! Nothing can prove your correctness better than killing a corrupt bishop! I believe that your grandson, who is tired of hearing the same old story, will be proud of his grandfather because of this!
"Noble knight, please! Show the world what a true knight is!"
That's right.
As Alvin became more and more excited, opening his arms like a stage announcer to draw back the curtain of a drama, the old man stopped thinking and raised his sword as well.
If it is an enemy, kill it.
Kill it!
The two very different swords collided violently, and the clanging sound of metal friction could be heard from far away.
Douglas, who was sitting in the cafeteria, was far away enough to vaguely hear the soft tinkling sounds.
When he walked out of the cafeteria among a few people who loved to join in the fun, he was immediately shocked by the scene in the distance and his eyes widened.
The strange humanoid black mist exuded a cold and bloodthirsty aura, and was undoubtedly an evil spirit.
The other man, with his odd appearance, was undoubtedly old man Elijah whom I had seen in the afternoon.
Douglas could never have dreamed that an old man in his seventies could fight so hard with an evil spirit that obviously had extraordinary factors!
This is not science... No, this is not mysticism! Douglas couldn't help but walk forward quickly, wanting to see it clearly.
As the distance shortened, in the still bright light of dusk, he suddenly felt that old man Elijah's posture was much straighter than in the afternoon, with no signs of hunchback anymore.
Even the old man's clothes were stretched out by his bulging muscles, and bulging veins could be seen on his exposed skin...
However, upon closer inspection, Douglas's face turned pale instantly.
The surface of the bluish-gray thing that was dormant under the old man's skin and kept beating was very rough. Compared with normal blood vessels and meridians, it looked more like the roots of some plant spreading outward!
Anderson's story flashed through his mind. Douglas looked at Elijah's face and neck in disbelief, and found that the old man's neck was exaggeratedly stretched by similar branches, and on his cheeks, which should have been reddened by intense exercise, tiny branches were wriggling like maggots, as if they would break free from the wrinkled human skin and spread out at any time.
That's why Elijah was able to fight against evil spirits!
"No..."
Douglas glanced up at the sky with a confused mind and found that the red moon had not yet risen. He subconsciously felt that Elijah could still be saved!
But when his eyes fell again on that face with green leaves beginning to grow in the eye sockets, he could not deceive his own reason.
It's too late.
In the few seconds he hesitated, the battle between the evil spirit and Ilya became more and more intense. Even with the extraordinary plants to support his body, Ilya was still no match for the evil spirit, who was already very good at fighting, and gradually fell behind.
Thinking of the ordinary people behind him and in the cafeteria who knew nothing about the extraordinary, Douglas knew he shouldn't think so much.
His nature, the education he received since childhood, the habits he acquired in the church, and the regret of being unable to do anything when watching his companions die not long ago, and the hatred for his own cowardice... made Douglas feel a kind of alienated calmness at this moment.
Without wasting time persuading the people behind him to leave, a giant sword shaped like a knife and covered with sulfur flames appeared in Douglas's hand. Under his command, he forcefully intervened in the battle between the evil spirit and Elijah!
The people who came out to watch the fun may not have noticed Ilya's abnormality, but they could not ignore the "Lava Sword" that appeared in public. This scene that went against common sense immediately made many people open their mouths in astonishment, and they lost the idea and courage to continue approaching. When a few particularly timid people turned around and shouted to run away, everyone retreated, trying to stay away from the three unknown things in the melee.
Douglas didn't bother to pay attention to what was happening behind him, his only goal was to separate the evil spirit and Elijah, kill as many of the former as possible, and reduce the probability of the evil spirit hurting people later.
As for Elijah... Douglas tried his best not to think about it.
The swinging "Lava Sword" blocked the evil spirit's dark long sword and slashed straight at the evil spirit's body, which was a ball of black mist. The dark green flames in the evil spirit's eye sockets swayed twice, and it turned around to avoid the sharp edge, stepping back a few steps.
Then, the evil spirit held a sword in one hand and raised the other hand to point at Douglas.
A golden ring was embedded in the evil spirit's finger, whose outline was barely discernible like the black mist. At the same time, a fist-sized hole appeared in the evil spirit's head, which opened and closed with difficulty, uttering a word in ancient Hermetic language:
"exile...!"