Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 53

She looked around blankly before realizing that the newly recruited totem demon-slaying warrior had somehow hidden behind a building next to the dock passageway, his face clearly showing his readiness for battle.

Her heart sank.

Lana naturally walked a short distance with "Ivy Beatrice" before turning back quickly as if she suddenly remembered something.

She walked straight past the corner where Tusu was hiding, gazing into the distance as she whispered, "What's going on?"

From the shadows beside him, Tusu answered, "It's her."

Lana's spirits lifted: "The demon detection indicates she's the six-armed serpent demon?"

"No."

"…What?"

“The Detect Demon doesn’t show anything,” Tusu said. “My Detect Demon doesn’t work on her; she turns into a cloud of mist within my detection range.”

"She must have used magic or something to hide her faction... No, that's not right."

Lana immediately realized the key point.

“Trying to cover it up only makes it more obvious,” she said softly. “It’s precisely because she has a big problem that she’s hiding herself like this.”

“I need to use the orb again,” Tusu said urgently. “I have a feeling that once I advance in the Totem Demon Slayer class again, I will be able to enhance my ability to detect demons. At that time, even if demons hide in the spirit world, possess others, or use magic to hide their true nature, it will be useless. But right now I can’t detect anything.”

A look of helpless disgust appeared on Lana's face.

The "jewel" is Patrick's secret technique.

Patrick worships a dragon that rules the kingdom across the ocean. This red dragon, known as the "Lord of Blood and Fire," is as large as a mountain range and has two heads: one of "Scattered" and the other of "Tyrannical."

After he prays to the Dragon Lord using an unknown sacrificial ritual, he can request the "Lord of Blood and Flame" to bestow upon him a "precious pearl." It is the size of a fist, strangely shaped, and covered with large and small, blinking purple and green eyes.

Patrick can only pray like this once a day.

But it is undeniable that the "jewel" possesses magical power.

Adventurers can quickly enhance their class abilities by crushing and consuming it.

Those who consume the "jewel" will become the eyes and ears of the "Lord of Blood and Flame." Their senses will be inextricably linked to the Dragon Lord, and the "Lord of Blood and Flame" will see and hear everything they see and hear through them.

Moreover, this state is irreversible; no magic can remove it.

Patrick never forces anyone to take the "Gem," but those who experience a rapid increase in power find it hard to refuse to take it again.

In Lana's view, the red dragon who used such insidious methods was more like a demon than their target, and more like the king of demons.

In order to successfully become a witcher and inherit the Boto family's title, Lana also consumed the "jewel" twice.

Each time she consumed the "precious pearl," she noticed a growing sensory connection with an entity in the void. This terrified her: what would happen if she continued to consume it?

—When that time comes, will I still be myself, or will I become a puppet manipulated by the Dragon Lord?

To date, Tusu has swallowed the "precious pearl" seven times.

The native's current level of spiritual development is almost catching up to when he was a "Firestorm Berserker." However, he occasionally exudes an unusually terrifying aura. There are often moments when he seems no longer to be a native, but some higher-level transcendent being, a god or something else coldly looking down upon the mortal world.

Based on Tusu's condition, Lana stopped consuming the "precious pearl" not long after successfully taking office.

"Let's talk about it when we get back."

Lana decisively strode away, heading in the opposite direction from the red-haired beauty who was still lingering at the dock.

“There’s no need to follow her anymore. We’ll keep our distance and just keep an eye on where she lands from afar. Then we’ll tell Patrick.”

Author's Note: I have a cold, so the update will be shorter. I'll make up for it the day after tomorrow. Also: City transportation has returned to normal, and staying home is no longer mandatory. So, my family, who have been out of school and work for so long during Children's Day and the Dragon Boat Festival, will be going out. I have to go with them, so I'm requesting two days off in advance.

Chapter 63 The Bait for Corrupting the World

As soon as Ivy-Beate returned home with Xiong Gu, she immediately changed into her home clothes and went straight to bed.

While waiting for Blue Bubble and Green Bubble to finish frying the fish and call her, she covered her face with the now-unmaged "Meditations Scroll" and communicated telepathically with Raphael, the Terrorclaw Monster.

Today was a peaceful day; no one came to disturb us. The two little water elemental girls spent the whole day playing with the bear.

The two Zionist demons still haven't shown up, which gives the six-armed serpent demon a bad feeling.

Either they deemed her untrustworthy and abandoned their plan to use the Beate family's six warehouses after the pimp couple died, or something happened to them and they died.

The latter is quite likely.

After all, judging from the clues we found today, the bronze dragon paladins had long been wary of their plot to restore their kingdom, and had begun investigating several months ago.

Moreover, it seems that the person in charge of the investigation is the original person with this identity, Ivy Beatrice.

This discovery made her feel very unhappy.

This means that you have unknowingly become involved in a very, very troublesome situation.

Everything began to take a confusing turn, and even the elopement and death of the lower-ranking paladin princess became shrouded in mystery.

The face of Paladin Squad Leader El reappeared in her mind.

Squad Leader El was the one who restarted the investigation into the port salt marsh files after the original owner's death. What role did he play in the investigation of the original owner's daughter and her mysterious death? Was his hatred for the original owner's daughter genuine or feigned? Were there hidden meanings behind the nonsensical stories he told her about his fiancée?

The six-armed serpent demon, now disguised as Ivy Beatrice, buried her face in the book and sighed.

She hadn't seen Juan, the clue-gathering tool, for several days, and to be honest, she was starting to miss him.

Suddenly, she felt the visions in her mind change again.

At the center of her spiritual world, the circular darkness surrounded by a halo once again exerted a tremendous attraction, and the rising and falling murmurs were beckoning her attention.

—Someone, no, a demon, is summoning her again.

When the six-armed serpent demon regained its sight from the darkness that had shrouded its eyes, it found itself in a place it had never been before.

The crimson air was filled with evil and chaotic energy, which made her feel incredibly free and at ease each time. This feeling told her that she was still somewhere in the bottomless abyss.

Numerous monsters roared and fought each other around her.

Some of them were demons, she recognized them. Others, equally strange-looking creatures, also carried a strong, malevolent aura, but she had never seen them before. They seemed to be some kind of demonic being as well.

She couldn't be bothered to go up and argue with them.

With a casual flick of his sword, he knocked down a guy who was being forced to retreat and was getting closer to him, then began to look around curiously.

This place appears to be an abandoned city.

The reborn six-armed serpent demon trembled slightly as he watched.

Not far ahead is a dilapidated building that looks old and has suffered many hardships, especially its red brick architectural style...

Behind the horde of demons locked in battle, something seemed strangely familiar…

She stared intently in that direction, her giant serpentine body swiftly moving towards it. With her immense size, she charged headlong into whatever blocked her path.

Disrupted by her actions, the numerous demons who had been fighting amongst themselves roared and turned their attacks on the rampaging figure.

However, they were met with silver-blue sword light and black sword energy.

Wherever the Demon Slayer Mand and Shadow Sword went, corpses littered the ground, leaving no trace of friend or foe.

In an instant, the demons that had surrounded them scattered and fled.

The six-armed serpent demon, having broken through layers of obstacles, arrived before the thing she had just seen. She was struck dumb, staring at it, frozen in place.

This is a huge steel shell.

Its surface is covered in reddish-brown rust, obscuring its original color. It's unclear how long it's been sitting here. Right in the center of the protruding steel shell, there's a peculiar yet familiar mark.

It was a similarly rusty metal ring.

The gaps inside the ring were filled with dirt and red rust, and you could vaguely make out what looked like three English letters spelling "Victory" made with two fingers.

Why are you standing still?

The telepathic voice sounded familiar. It was still the same olive-green, six-armed serpent demon from before. The olive-green creature stood not far from her, looking at her with an impatient expression.

[Good job! Keep fighting! I want to see them bleed!]

After a long while, the reborn six-armed serpent demon finally asked: "Where am I?"

Wisps of black mist rising from the corpses of demons scattered on the ground were constantly pouring into her mouth and nose.

【What? 】

The summoner stared in disbelief, then flew into a rage. "You have no right to question me? I summoned you! You should attack my enemies and fight for me! That's the rule!"

The telepathic connection hadn't ended when it turned into screams of agony.

The silver-blue blade easily sliced ​​into the left shoulder of the olive-green six-armed serpent demon, slicing all the way down to below its navel, almost cutting into its olive-green tail.

I had no idea that even demons had rules.

The olive-green, six-armed serpent demon howled in agony as it watched the black, misty demonic essence rapidly spill from its wounds, flowing into the mouths and noses of its summoned kin.

The olive-green man was completely stunned by the sword strike.

She hesitated for a full second before realizing she should dispel the summons and quickly send this strange projection of its kind away.

But it is already late.

The thought of dispelling the summons had barely formed when the Demon Slayer, Mand, pierced through her nasal cavity, penetrating her skull and brain.

The Holy Demon-Slaying Greatsword gently stirred within the olive-green skull, preventing the olive-green from concentrating and forcing him to scream in agony under the corrosive power of the holy energy.

I won't kill you. These injuries are nothing to us; we just need some rest.

The reborn are telepathically connected by olive green.

Where am I? What level of the bottomless abyss am I on?

[The Nameless World]

Olive Green screamed on the telepathic channel: [No hierarchy! No belonging! A nameless world!]

The silver-blue sword blade was pulled out of Olive Green's head, causing Olive Green to howl in agony.

I have this.

The six-armed serpent demon reborn placed the sword's edge beneath the olive-green nose with its gaping hole, allowing her to closely observe the divine energy flowing within—a powerful force capable of piercing through demonic damage reduction.

As long as you continue to summon me, I can bring you even more victories and carnage.

Olive green glared fiercely at the reborn, clutching the wound on his face and breathing heavily.

But in the end, she did not release the summons.

The six-armed, olive-green snake demon asked: "What do you want?"

【information.】

The reborn individual replied: [Regarding this nameless world, all information.]

"This is the spoils of war, this world," Olive Green said. "The demons of Purgatory came up with a brilliant idea to recruit followers and expand Purgatory's territory, so Lord Dark Lord copied them..."

At some point, the purgatory demons, who loved order, suddenly came up with a brilliant idea to annex the material world.

They scattered countless imprinted magic cores far and wide.

These demonic cores wandered through the vast universe, and some of them accidentally landed on other prime material worlds, or planets, where they came into contact with the local intelligent life.

The devil is best at manipulating the rules, finding backdoors and loopholes to profit himself.

This is the purpose of these magic cores; they are all made from the essence of the Nine Layers of Purgatory, and each one contains incredible power.

When the magic cores come into contact with intelligent beings in the prime material world, they take root in that being's heart, revealing backdoors and loopholes in the world's rules.

They will use various methods to gain the trust of those creatures, making them believe that they are "chosen by heaven" or "the chosen one of the plane," and that they will pay a certain price or complete a certain task in exchange for power.

Based on their impressions of the magic cores' effects, the creatures called these magic cores "system panels," while the demons called them "bait."

The more power an organism gains through the backdoor of the world's rules of "bait," the stronger the "bait" rooted in its thoughts and soul becomes.

Various ever-increasing forces will cause the mind of living beings to undergo a transformation.

In the end, creatures are enslaved by the "bait," becoming devilish puppets single-mindedly focused on paying the price or completing tasks in exchange for greater power. They are gradually corrupted and transformed by the bait, eventually affecting the entire world.

At that time, the creature whose inner self has become a demonic puppet will ultimately sacrifice the entire world, handing it over completely to the Demon King in exchange for power.

He will receive an unprecedented reward, ascending directly from a mortal to a great demon. The world that was sacrificed will also be dragged into purgatory by the sacrificial ritual, becoming part of the nine layers of purgatory.

This method is said to have been proposed thousands of years ago by a little devil from a cosmic edge world called "Earth," who killed his girlfriend.

The devil corrupted and devoured many worlds with bait, and the little devil thus accumulated merit and rose in rank.

Later, the demons discovered the secret of the devil's "bait," and so, led by a demon lord nicknamed "Lord of Darkness," they followed suit, using the essence of the Abyss to create "system game panels" and releasing them into the multidimensional universe. This method was quickly learned by other demon lords, who then rushed to create similar things to pollute more worlds in the universe.