novelraw Chapter 213: Death Rune
Chapter 213: Death Rune
"Erwind is very cunning. He intentionally exposed his tracks, making me chase him all the way to another human city, only to catch a few of his clones. Furthermore, something happened at home, and Agreas has been constantly urging me to go back. It's a good thing I thought of coming to see you one more time before leaving, and ended up smelling that guy's stench here..."
Eliog stretched out her hands, pushing along the muscles on Fisher's body. Accompanying her squeezing and massaging with just the right amount of force, the bones within Fisher's body returned to their places one by one, emitting crisp "crack" sounds. Fisher hurt so much he gasped repeatedly, having to frown and look at the giant pit in the sky.
"Erwind belongs to an extremely mysterious organization, possessing a magical item that's unknown whether it's a relic or something else. Agreas said those bizarre pieces of knowledge were all bestowed upon him by that item... You have this kind of smell on you too."
As Eliog spoke, her two hands gently cupped Fisher's cheeks. That lazy, rather charming face looked straight at Fisher. Taking advantage of his inability to resist, she gently kneaded his face, changing it quite out of shape.
"You knew from the very beginning?"
"Yeah, I said at the very beginning that I smelled a hateful scent on you."
Eliog lowered her head. That long red hair fell upon his forehead rather excessively, transmitting waves of itchiness. Her actions were rather more excessive than usual. Wait until Fisher subconsciously turned his head away to look at the sleeping Jasmine nearby, he suddenly guessed: Eliog couldn't be doing this on purpose just because she saw Jasmine nearby, could she?
As a result, before this thought even surfaced for a second, Eliog forcefully reached out and pinched his chin, turning his neck to force him to look at her.
"No wonder I even thought you were going to kill me the first time we met..."
"I thought you were in cahoots with Erwind, but looking closely that wasn't the case, so that's why I stayed by your side at the beginning... You didn't really think a little bit of human currency that holds no value to me could abduct me, did you?""I thought it was my charm that attracted you."
Fisher cracked a joke, while Eliog let out a yawn. Leaning lazily upon him as if treating him as a comfortable soft bed, she then said very casually,
"There's also this part of the reason... mhm, it's so comfortable here."
Fisher sighed. His peripheral vision cast another glance at the sleeping Jasmine nearby. Why did the current situation feel a little strange?
Suppressing that strange feeling, Fisher opened his mouth to explain,
"A few months ago, in the Southern Continent I once defeated a human possessing bizarre powers, and from his body I obtained that kind of magical item. At first I researched the contents upon it, but I very quickly discovered the knowledge upon it could easily drive people mad, so I gave up researching it."
As a result, it seemed Eliog hadn't heard him at all. She closed her eyes comfortably, and from deep within her throat transmitted "gurgle gurgle" sounds similar to magma bubbling. According to his understanding of her, this meant it was very comfortable, so she was probably completely not listening to Fisher's words right now.
But then again, perhaps during the time she spent with him, she had already confirmed he hadn't abused the Completion Handbook, otherwise she would have acted long ago and chopped him to pieces.
They maintained this ambiguous posture like this until a dozen seconds later, when Fisher acutely discovered that bone-setting pain had passed, and his fingers could also move freely.
Slight vibrations continuously transmitted from the Saint-Nazareth urban area, indicating Anna was still moving within the urban area. Fisher gazed at the quiet treasury on all sides, suddenly remembering Xi Yate, who had also disappeared in order to attract those monsters; he still had to go find her back.
Thus, Fisher reached out and patted Eliog's back, letting her lazily stretch out comfortably. Her arrow-shaped tail also quivered slightly,
"I..."
"Say no more. Even if you want me to be affectionate with you, there's no time left, aww. Agreas has been constantly urging me to go back. I must set out right now."
Eliog smiled wickedly, biting Fisher's finger, and only then did she slowly get up. She let out another massive yawn. As the gas within her mouth was entirely exhaled, the air above her head became so hot it rippled, acting just like a fire dragon spitting fire. But upon remembering Agreas had been constantly urging her, she became as irritable as an employee being urged by their boss,
"So annoying, so annoying. Thinking about having to run back again is just so annoying, why couldn't you let me sleep a little longer..."
As she spoke, she reached out, taking off that rather short dagger behind her back. Contacting her skin, that dagger emitted streaks of deep black ominous radiance. Wait until Eliog untied that dagger, she casually tossed that thing to Fisher,
"That guy Erwind is like a cunning rabbit hiding in a burrow. Over so many years in the past he rarely showed his face; appearing in human society this time is an accident. He seems to be cooperating with a certain human... Originally I was still worried he wouldn't appear again, but now it's great, aww. Since he's going to find trouble with you, there's no need to ferret him out anymore. Giving this thing to you can also protect your safety, simply killing two birds with one stone... aww woo."
The Abyss huh.
Fisher suddenly recalled that giant pillar of fire he vaguely saw earlier. Eliog seemed to be the true body of that pillar of fire. And in his peripheral vision, behind that there were also many, many equally bright pillars of fire...
"Erwind cannot be killed using ordinary methods. It's long unknown where his own true body died off to, and there's no way to finish killing off all these remaining clones; you saw it just now too... But there is a once-and-for-all method, aww, which is using this."
"This is, the Death Rune?"
Fisher similarly sat up his body. Erwind saying she carried the Death Rune on her body earlier was clearly referring to this strange short dagger he had seen previously.
"Smart, mhm... but how to explain this thing to you... This world is like a doll entangled by countless threads. The doll is its superficial appearance, the silk threads behind it are its essence. And then, using a certain method, Agreas intercepted a tiny portion of a silk thread from behind, turning it into this dagger, aww... How about it, explaining it like this, do you understand?"
Eliog stroked her chin. After pausing for a second, she seemed to have thought of an explanation she considered brilliant. Her eyes brightened slightly, resting her hands on her hips rather proudly, explaining the principles within to Fisher.
Do you want to listen to what you're even saying?
Although regarding the specific principles of action within Fisher was somewhat bewildered, he still acutely captured the concept Eliog wanted to express. Therefore, he tentatively said,
"In other words, simply needing to use this weapon to stab him, regardless of whether the one stabbed is a clone or not, he will ultimately die?"
"Ah, you understood, aww. Not bad, not bad."
"..."
Eliog patted Fisher's shoulder in admiration, but still raised a finger, supplementing,
"But even Agreas cannot maintain the stability of this kind of rune. Therefore, this blade can only be drawn once. Once used, you must guarantee it hits..."
"...I understand."
Fisher cautiously stored that delicate dagger into his trouser pocket, and subsequently stood up, looking toward the still-quiet treasury in the rear,
"I still have a partner in the treasury, I have to go find her back."
"Alright, aww. Let me help you find her back before sending you guys back to the surface together, after which I must leave."
"...No problem."
She still had Agreas urging her. Even though they hadn't seen each other for a period of time, Fisher still opened his mouth to ask her to stay, merely replying like this.
As a result, before Fisher even moved, Eliog self-directedly hoisted the sleeping Jasmine nearby onto her shoulder. That posture looked just like carrying some kind of cargo. When Fisher looked over, she even used her tail to push Fisher to advance,
"You're injured yet still want to carry someone, aww? Hurry and go find the person..."
But why did it feel like she just didn't want him to carry Jasmine to advance?
Fisher suddenly thought this.
He prepared to go find Sir Book, Eimhart, back first. As a result, with one glance he saw that book huddled in the corner. He silently approached that little book lying in the corner, only to discover he was currently closing his eyes, mouthing repeatedly in a quiet voice,
"Oh, Demon Species, oh, monster, oh, truly too terrifying..."
"..."
Fisher grabbed him in his hand with one handful, scaring him so much he almost flew away,
"Ah! Goodness, Fisher, you're still alive? Thank goodness, you're still completely alive, I thought our deal was going to be canceled."
"If you die I won't even die... Do you know where Xi Yate went?"
"Oh, I heard the sound of horse hooves from the hall side earlier, she should be over there."
Originally Eimhart was quite excited, circling around Fisher enthusiastically twice. As a result, flying into midair he saw Eliog following behind Fisher carrying Jasmine. Eliog paid completely no attention to him, merely letting out a lazy yawn. As a result, Eimhart actually thought she was going to eat him, hurriedly huddling into another pocket of Fisher's.
His trouser pockets were currently in a fully loaded state; if Eimhart couldn't shrink, there was absolutely no way to fit him in.
"That little plaything is very interesting. He ran into the Abyss before, got caught by [Baimon], and had many pages torn off him before being let go..."
"Baimon?"
"That's a demon with extremely bad taste. In ancient times she very much liked to make deals with people, and has pretty good aesthetics regarding art, so she has a good relationship with Angel-kin. Sometimes she would disguise herself as an angel to bestow artistic inspiration upon humans, extracting the artist's Fallen Self-Nature through this, so humans generally refer to her as [King of Dominions]... but the angels have never acknowledged this title; they don't have a good relationship with humans."
A demon disguised as an angel? And even beat up Eimhart?
No wonder he could be this scared; this actually had historical origins.
"I didn't expect there would actually be demons with a good relationship with angels. I thought angels and demons were entirely incompatible... at least that's how it is in human mythologies."
"It's her having a good relationship with angels, not demons having a good relationship with angels. The relationships between Demon Species are all very loose, no one manages anyone. The only one relatively meddlesome is Agreas, very troublesome; other demons all avoid him when walking... If I didn't owe him a favor, I wouldn't have awakened from slumber."
Speaking of Agreas, Eliog curled her lip impatiently, seemingly very annoyed by that demon,
"Furthermore, the disparity between demon and demon is huge. Only the seventy-two can truly be called demons; the rest are either demon servants (familiars) with a bit of skill but not much, or little demons who don't even have sanity, only knowing how to eat, drink, shit, and piss every day... After all, lives are balanced."
"Is that so..."
If the place Demon Species resided was the Abyss, then could the map obtained from Eliog's research progress previously be the entrance leading to the Abyss?
While pondering Eliog's words, Fisher continued walking forward.
Before long, the hall entrance they entered previously had already appeared before their eyes. The place originally used to store treasure was at this moment nearing becoming entirely shattered and fragmented. The surroundings still bore not a little fishy stench resulting from Human-Insects dissipating. Only at the entrance passageway of the hall door did Fisher spot that Centaur girl collapsed paralyzed by the door.
"Xi Yate!"
Fisher called out to her, but she didn't respond in the slightest. Anxiously, Fisher reached out and felt her neck again. Only after confirming her breathing was still steady did Fisher breathe a sigh of relief; fortunately, Xi Yate was still alive.
Carrying Jasmine, Eliog looked at the Xi Yate lying on the ground, then turned her head to cast a glance at the bow arrows and blade marks covering the surrounding walls. The tail behind her raised slightly, her gaze revealing a bit of praise,
"She's somewhat exhausted her strength, nothing major... Mhm, I really like the combat smell on this guy, aww. If it were in the past, I might not hesitate to bestow a little reward on her."
The personality of this demon Eliog was very peculiar. Compared to other demons, she was much more like a pure warrior. In the illusory shadows just now, Fisher also saw many warriors kneeling before that pillar of fire praying to her for the will to fight. Perhaps in ancient times, this kind of thing happened frequently.
Eliog gave a yawn, gently stretching her finger toward the Centaur Race before her. A magical thing happened; only to see in the next second, the Centaur Race before her eyes stood up as if injected with stimulants. The blade in her hand already had its edge rolled over, yet she still subconsciously assumed a combat posture,
"Despicable monster! Bring it on!"
She panted and panted, but the endless stream of Human-Insects were nowhere to be seen on all sides. She panted for quite a while, only then slowly calming down,
"Fisher?"
"It's over, Xi Yate. Calm down."
"It's over? Jasmine... where's Anna? This person is..."
"This is another partner of mine, Anna, she..."
Before Fisher's words were completely finished, the entire cave began to vibrate. It wasn't a problem with the treasury itself, but rather strong shaking sounds transmitting from the surface; Anna seemed to have already closed in on the Saint-Nazareth urban area.