novelraw Chapter 211: Erwind
Chapter 211: Erwind
Seeing that tall headless corpse lose control and collapse into the puddle on the floor, Fisher finally covered the wound at his lower abdomen and squatted down on the ground, finally able to relax for a moment.
Beside him, Jasmine gently covered her mouth. Within her eyes, drops of tears fell like pearls.
Perhaps she had indeed avenged her aunt, but her aunt truly couldn't return, and she ultimately didn't see her aunt one last time during her final moments.
"Anna ran out from here, we have to hurry and leave this place now, Jasmine..."
Fisher's complexion was somewhat pale. He tightly covered the lower abdomen that was injured just now, once again rejecting Jasmine who wanted to use her lifeforce to heal him. He raised his head to look at that giant hole leading straight to the surface, truly unable to figure out why Anna would deform into that kind of monster in the end.
But in a place Fisher didn't notice, the blood continuously seeping from Black's headless corpse dyed the puddle on the ground a little bright red. Yet that bright red bizarrely didn't spread in the water, but rather slowly condensed until it became a tiny dot.
Just as Jasmine was supporting Fisher to stand up, he suddenly felt something.
At this moment, all the hairs on his body stood on end; a sensation of extremely terrifying danger instantly surged into his heart.
That oppressive and bizarre feeling far surpassed any enemy he had encountered. Fisher's expression changed, and he hurriedly grabbed Jasmine beside him,
"No, Jasmine... there's still an enemy.""Eh?"
But evidently, Jasmine wasn't able to spot anything. She looked around puzzled, but within this massive treasury, there was only the faint continuous sound of flowing water.
In the next second, from an unknown origin transmitted a voice that seemed neither male nor female,
"What a pity, this experiment failed again..."
"That girl named Anna was clearly so brave, actually able to accommodate so many people within her body. Earlier I even thought the experiment for [Life's Greatest Treasure] was about to succeed. I didn't expect that in the end she still turned into this just like the other experimental subjects... it truly is a pity."
It was only in the next second that Fisher's gaze finally discovered that the blood surging from Black's headless corpse had formed into a tiny circular spot at an unknown time. Within the water surface, that circular spot continuously rotated like a whirlpool in the water. Clearly the space was so small, yet it continuously sucked Black's corpse inside.
Waiting until Black's corpse had completely disappeared, as if it had reassembled, a brand new human figure slowly rose from the water.
It was a person wrapped entirely from head to toe in a black leather trench coat, yet one couldn't distinguish their specific gender, because upon their head they were wearing a pitch-black, pure black mask resembling a bird's beak. There were no facial features on that mask, nor were there other characteristics; it simply looked like a bird's head growing upon that person's body.
The instant that person appeared, the "Soul Completion Handbook" on the left side of Fisher's inner pocket became bizarre for the first time. In Fisher's line of sight, that person seemingly had an innate repulsive feeling with him, making Fisher want to kill him the first time he saw him.
Upon that person's body, there was another Completion Handbook!
"Ugh..."
Right before that person spoke, the complexion of Jasmine beside him changed slightly. Her eyelids seemed to grow increasingly heavy. From initially supporting Fisher, it quickly turned into Fisher supporting her body.
"Jasmine? Jasmine?"
"Ugh..."
Jasmine's eyes could already completely not open. After hearing Fisher's calling, she couldn't even speak words, only able to answer with this kind of groggy murmur, but this was already her limit.
In the next second, she completely lost consciousness and collapsed into the water.
Fisher hurriedly reached out to feel her neck, only to discover that apart from losing consciousness, her bodily functions were still considered normal. The current situation was much more like being poisoned with some kind of anesthetic poison.
However, when was she poisoned?
"Don't worry, don't worry, Mr. Fisher. It's just a little bit of whale-hunting poison aimed at Whale-kin. It won't cause any burden or harm to this little Whale-kin girl; she will wake up in a few hours... However, to tell the truth, the battle between you and Black truly amazed me. I haven't come across such a brilliant battle in a long time; there wasn't even a need for me to step in to protect your safety..."
That person with the bird beak took a step or two forward, clapping his hands while looking at the surrounding treasury of Black. Seeing the countless gold coins casually flowing toward the underground alongside the water current, he sighed with somewhat pity.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, I've forgotten to introduce myself. Nice to meet you... no, this should be our second time meeting, Mr. Fisher."
"Second time meeting?"
Fisher's expression changed slightly. He suddenly remembered; within the spatial magic when the Schwari delegation was attacked, an insect capable of speaking human language had once conversed with him. If not unexpected, that was him.
"When the Schwari delegation was attacked, and in the Healing House, you're also the one who left me messages."
That person wagged his finger, and subsequently added another sentence,
"And also the letter I wrote to Black you saw earlier... Originally I wanted you to stop Anna from shattering the bell, but ultimately she chose to die herself, which is truly a pity. Although she had already reached the limit of accommodation, perhaps accommodating one or two more people could have succeeded. At that time, perhaps she could have lived in a brand new life form... Ah, Mr. Fisher, no need to worry. The flesh-grafted parts will only carry the final tiny bit of obsession from before the experimental subjects died."
"In reality, they possess no self-consciousness; Muxi was like this, and Anna and the others were also like this. So right now Anna only wants to cross entirely through Saint-Nazareth city to leave the West Continent. Don't worry, someone will quickly deal with her. Let's still talk about the matter between us instead."
Speaking to this point, he fiercely opened his arms toward the injured Fisher before him, and then said,
"Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Erwind, the person in charge of the Life Seat of the [Creator's Society]; you may also address me as the Lord of Life, but this isn't important..."
"Lord of Life... Pherone is one of your people?"
Erwind admitted without any scruples,
"Ah, Pherone, Pherone... he is the seat person in charge who joined us for the shortest time, possessing a rather good mind. It's just somewhat a pity... a good few months ago, he reported a situation to the society, saying he discovered an unrecorded Completion Handbook."
Fisher's expression changed slightly, but he didn't open his mouth. Erwind continued speaking,
"The Completion Handbooks we collect all carry corresponding marks that prompt the existence of other Completion Handbook owners. Yet when you first met Pherone, you didn't discover Pherone had a Completion Handbook on his body. From this he confirmed, you possessed an unknown Completion Handbook on your body."
"And once two Completion Handbooks approach, their owners will inevitably engage in conflict until you seize the other person's handbook or your handbook is seized. He was defeated head-on by you before the society's support arrived. But in the end, he actually chose to cover your tracks for you, leaving us no way to investigate you, only able to deduce that the person who defeated him was a magic master..."
Fisher abruptly realized something. Back when Pherone fought him, he specifically locked down all the city gates of the Inner City precisely to cover tracks. If he had called other soldiers into the city to fight him, his chances of winning would absolutely not have been that high.
And the reason he wanted to keep Fisher's group behind fundamentally wasn't the Dragon-kin soul, but the Completion Handbook upon his body!
"After discovering Fisher Benavides was the person possessing two Completion Handbooks, I reported the intelligence that the person who defeated Pherone was right in Saint-Nazareth to the society. They hope I find you and rope you in, having you become the new person in charge of the Soul Seat and go to the Southern Continent."
Upon hearing this, Fisher slightly raised his brows. After remaining silent for a second, he surprisingly laughed,
"If you truly wanted me to join the society, you wouldn't have not reported to your society after knowing my identity. You want to kill me and seize the two handbooks on my body?"
Hearing this, Erwind's bird beak slanted slightly. That gender-neutral voice was very casual.
"Mr. Fisher, the Creator's Society is an extremely loosely managed organization. Everyone is dedicated to researching the ultimate knowledge recorded within the Completion Handbooks, looking forward to one day arriving at the shore of truth through the knowledge inscribed above. As the saying goes, there are many paths up the mountain, but there is only one summit."
"But through a long period of research, I discovered that although the knowledge recorded in other Completion Handbooks is completely different from what I possess, it is an extremely massive help to my research. If I could obtain more knowledge regarding souls... perhaps Anna wouldn't have become what she is now, but would have become... [Life's Greatest Treasure]."
Fisher's eyes darkened for an instant. At this moment, the massive, twisted cavity above their heads appeared so mocking to Erwind's words. That fundamentally wasn't any greatest treasure of life; it was merely a twisted, deformed monster.
But to tell the truth, arriving at this moment, Fisher had already reached the end of his strength.
His body had sustained injuries due to the battle with Black, and Jasmine was also knocked out by his whale-hunting poison. He waited this long to finally bare his fangs, precisely for this moment to kill him and seize the Completion Handbooks...
Thinking to this point, Fisher sighed, calmly standing up his body anew. Raising the Fluid Sword in his hand toward Erwind, he inquired,
"This Whale-kin girl, she will be safe, right?"
"...Truly an admirable moral character, Mr. Fisher. Don't worry, I have no intentions toward this young girl whatsoever. After Mr. Fisher's death, I will let her safely leave Saint-Nazareth and return to the seabed. I guarantee it with my personality."
"You merely need to obediently face death."