Whispering Verse

"All men are mortal."

The right corner of Oxenfurt's mouth curled up, and he suddenly suggested:

"Would you like to compete with me again? If you win, I will tell you an important news."

"Compared to what?"

"Sword contest to see who can kill the other."

As he spoke, he bent down, grabbed the soil under the snow with his rough hands, and then lifted a stone sword from the soil. This is the only extraordinary power he has shown so far, but Shade still feels that he is just an ordinary person.

"Why should I suddenly duel with you?"

"Because you really need the information I provide."

So Shade picked up the rusty sword:

"Well, I hope you can tell me what you want to tell me before you die. If you die, I will take your body and go to your manor to get the statue I want."

He actually knew that Stone Oxenfurt had a certain degree of immortality, as Haela Oxenfurt had said in the morning.

Clang!

The stone sword had already hit Shade's head, but Shade raised his sword to block it. It's just that the strength of the stone sword is really unexpected. Even with Xia De's current physical fitness, he actually feels that the opponent is stronger than himself.

The rusty sword in his hand was still strong, but the blade was already bent in a subtle arc. Seeing that Stone Oxenfurt was really aiming to kill him, Shade no longer held back.

He raised his right foot and kicked the opponent's abdomen fiercely. While Oxenfurt bent down and retreated slightly in embarrassment, Shade followed up and slashed from the upper right with his sword in both hands without holding back.

This time it was Oxenfurt's turn to set up his stone sword to resist. The force of the collision between stone and metal made both sides feel their hands numb. But Shade recovered faster. The long sword was raised and stabbed at his chest, but was knocked away by the swinging stone sword.

Oxenfurt also had no formal training in swordsmanship. Instead, he seemed to have learned how to use a sword while fighting on the battlefield. Each of his blows was fatal, and Shade was able to constantly defend himself against counterattacks in very clever ways.

The sound of the collision of metal and stone was continuous, and as the stone sword emitted a scarlet light, Shade clearly felt that the opponent's speed and power were getting stronger and stronger.

In this state, he did not dare to easily use [Visual Demon] to observe directly, but he understood that this battle could not be dragged on any longer. Taking a deep breath, the spell [Red Dragon Power] was activated. When the stone sword with scarlet light hit his head again, Shade raised his left arm. At the same time as the sound of fractures was heard, he held the sword with his left arm alone.

"it's over."

The long sword in his right hand thrust out, piercing Oxenfurt's left chest with a sound of breaking through the air.

He dropped the stone sword and looked at his chest that was penetrated in surprise. He staggered back two steps and then fell heavily to the ground with the sword in his chest.

Shade had already let go of the sword in his hand, and his right hand emitted a faint silver light to heal the fracture in his left hand.

He looked at the "corpse" warily, and sure enough, Oxenfurt stood up again soon. He pulled out the long sword from his chest and threw it aside, without even bleeding during the whole process:

"You are really cautious. I originally planned to sneak attack while you were close."

"I don't know if you really understand the Ring Warlock. The careless Ring Warlock will be dead long ago."

Shade looked at him:

"Resurrection from the dead is not a common skill. I don't know what you are, and I don't care what you are. If I win, you must fulfill your agreement. What important news do you want to tell me?"

"Today is Tuesday, the 11th day of the thin star moon. The day after tomorrow, Thursday night, something very dangerous is going to happen around Lake Eldron in the upper reaches of the Elrond River. Yes, it is very dangerous."

"Lake Eldron" is the largest lake in the upper reaches of the River Eldron, one of the two important rivers that form the Randall Valley, and is the largest lake in the southwestern United Kingdom of Carsonlik. When Shade and Miss Bernanice went to look for "St. Perry's Cemetery", they followed the river to the big lake, and then returned to the land on the shore of the big lake.

"event?"

Shade frowned slightly, and Oxenfurt continued:

"You can tell anyone about this. But I want to remind you that maybe those guardians are not what you think."

"protector?"

"Don't say it, you don't know what I'm talking about."

Oxenfurt lowered his head slightly, but looked directly at Shade:

"To be able to fight against madness, distortion, and ancient and powerful evil forces, do you think you can just rely on the dead souls, who are more easily corrupted than normal living people?"

"what do you want to do?"

"I want to save you, my friend."

The tall and burly man clasped his hands on his chest and said with a smile under the tall dead tree at the top of the hill. This was the first time Shade had seen him smile. His face looked extremely weird under the faint moonlight.

"Aren't you saving yourself?"

Shade asked.

Oxenfurt did not answer:

"If you think this is dangerous, you can quit and just pretend you don't know me."

"I have found two items. [Origin·Earth] will be available to me soon. Do you want me to quit?"

Shade stared at him:

"Remember your promise, when I find your sapphire earrings, I want to know immediately who owns [Original Land]."

"You'll be satisfied."

Stone Oxenfurt said, turned around and walked down the hill wearing clothes with holes in his chest.

Shade was left standing under the dead tree:

"Don't forget to tell your butler that I will pick up the statue tomorrow."

Oxenfurt did not turn around, raised his hand and waved, then continued walking towards the farmland in the darkness.

Shade bent down to pick up the stone sword and looked up at the moon worriedly:

"Ston Oxenfurt, isn't he the chosen one of the earth?"

(Little Mia is running.)

At 11 o'clock on Tuesday night, Roentgen Avenue, East District, Tobesk City.

Dr. Schneider, who had finished washing and was about to go to bed, received Shad who came to visit in a hurry late at night. The doctor knew that Shade had visited Oxenfurt Manor today, so he hurried downstairs to open the door for him:

"Any clues?"

"There's a clue."

The two went to the reception room on the second floor to talk. In addition to himself, Shade also took little Mia with him to prevent the cat from being scared at home. He gave a detailed and complete account of today's experience, including the interaction with Hella Oxenfurt at the manor in the morning, the battle with the ghoul gardener, the anomaly between the maid and the old housekeeper, and the evening at the wedding party with Stone. ·Oxenfurt's conversations and experiences.

Dr. Schneider did not interrupt during the whole process of Shade's narration. After he finished speaking, he expressed his guess with a solemn expression:

"The soul at the wedding was contaminated. This is a simple way for the devil to harvest the soul. As for Stone Oxenfurt, he has probably become a demon."

"Demon transformation? Greater power?"

"No, no, it's not the strengthening you think. This is the initial process of the soul degenerating into a demon. There are two situations when signing a contract with a demon. One is when the demon wants your soul, and the other is when the demon takes a fancy to you. Desire and sin want you to become them. Only the most sinful souls are qualified to fall. This is not just about killing someone."

When the doctor talked about this kind of soul, he showed a complete sense of disgust:

"You can't imagine how powerful the desires and sins in the heart are to gradually degrade themselves. If left unchecked, he will eventually be absorbed by the hidden demon, or become a new evil spirit demon. Oh, the former is more likely .”

"So who is the devil behind him?"

The doctor remained silent, picked up the ghoul gardener's shovel, and marveled at this:

"It's really amazing. This is a real demonic weapon. Made with corrupted souls as materials, demonic craftsmanship, and soaked in demonic power. I only know that it is possible to obtain such a thing through the high-level thaumaturgy [Summoning Demonic Weapon]. "

"Doctor, if you need this, just stay. I'm not willing to use a shovel as a weapon."

Shade said generously that [Night Watch] was enough for him, and the doctor seemed very happy:

"I happen to have never had a melee weapon, so this probably suits me very well. Oh, let's get back to the topic. Based on the features you see, the petrified demon servants, the snowy women around them, the black mist, and the rose vines, I can only give It is a rough guess, but the identity of the other party cannot be completely determined."

“Another clue was that I came across the saint’s tomb in the Randall Valley, where a nun told me of the local evil symbolized by the petrified rose (1230).”

Shade said again, Dr. Schneider still shook his head:

"You don't know how many evil spirits and demons were born in the Third Age. These clues are not enough."

As he said that, he picked up the stone sword that Shade brought and touched it before putting it down:

"This weapon has no special features. It is a simple application of the spell [turn mud into stone] combined with demonic power. From this stone sword, we can only judge that Oxenfurt signed a demonic contract and was corrupted four or five years ago. I have three different guesses about the demon, the Great Demon of Love - Terasius, the Stone Mirror Demon - Goethe, and the Faceless Sister - Valak. We still need more clues to determine who is the demon among the three. who."

Of these three demons, Shade had only heard of the "Stone Mirror Demon". Miss Benanis once said that the Stone Mirror Demon is often confused by ignorant people with the real evil god [Stone Heart Demon].

"Hela Oxenfurt told me that I can go to the curator of the Randall Valley City Statue Hall, Mr. Fernandez, who is a folklorist. And, tomorrow I will go to the Oxenfurt Manor to pick up a statue. , maybe there will be gains by then.”

"Well, I'll deal with the gardener's body you brought."

The doctor said that the corpse was still in the state of a toy at this time, and the doctor planned to let Shade take it directly to the basement:

"If the gardener has really seen Oxenfurt's true face, I can indeed find clues through his eyes, but that will also take time. A corpse corrupted by demons is more difficult to handle than a normal corpse."

"Then let's investigate separately. In addition to the curator of the statue hall and tomorrow's visit, I have other clues. Oxenfurt said that something big will happen on Thursday. I will notify the local church to prevent this from being intentional. A trap to seduce me. Of course, I will definitely go and see it myself when the time comes."

"I still want to remind you, detective, don't trust anyone related to the devil. This time the opponent is an ancient evil spirit in its true heyday. You can never be too careful. The Great Demon of Love - Tera Hughes, the stone mirror demon Goethe, and the faceless nun Valak, if these three were described in a knight's novel, they would all be enemies that would appear before meeting the final 'Devil King'."