"All men must die..."
The right corner of Ossenfurt'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?"
"Fight with swords, and see who can kill the other."
As he spoke, he bent down, grabbed the soil under the snow with his rough hands, and then picked up a stone sword from the soil. This was the only extraordinary power he had shown so far, but Shade still felt that he was just an ordinary person.
"Why should I suddenly duel with you?"
"Because you really need the information I can 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 to your manor to get the statue I want."
He actually knew that Stone Oxenfurt possessed a certain degree of immortality, as Hela Oxenfurt had said in the morning.
clang!
The stone sword had already smashed towards Xia De's head, but Xia De raised his sword to block it. However, the force of the stone sword was beyond his expectations. Even with Xia De's current physical fitness, he felt that the opponent's strength was greater than his own.
The rusty sword in his hand was still solid, but the blade had already shown 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 hard at the opponent's abdomen. As Osenfurt bent back in a slightly embarrassed manner, Shade followed closely and slashed down from the upper right with the sword in both hands without holding back.
This time it was Ossenfurt's turn to hold up his stone sword to block. The force of the collision between stone and metal made both of them feel numb in their hands. But Shade recovered faster, and raised his long sword to stab him in the chest, but was knocked away by the swinging stone sword.
Oxenfurt's swordsmanship was also not formally trained, but he learned to use the sword from fighting on the battlefield. Each of his strikes was fatal, but Shade was able to constantly defend and counterattack in very clever ways.
The sound of metal hitting stone continued, and as the stone sword emitted a scarlet light, Shad could clearly feel that the opponent's speed and strength were becoming stronger and stronger.
In this state, he didn't dare to use the visual magic to observe directly, but he knew that this battle could not be dragged on. He took a deep breath and activated the power of the spell red dragon. At the same time that the stone sword with a scarlet glow hit his head again, Shade raised his left arm, and at the same time as the sound of fracture was heard, he blocked the sword with his left arm alone.
"it's over."
The long sword in his right hand thrust out and pierced through Osenfurt's left chest with a sound of breaking through the air.
He dropped the stone sword, looked at his pierced chest in surprise, staggered back two steps, and then fell heavily to the ground with the sword in his chest.
Xia De had already let go of the sword in his hand, and his right hand emitted a faint silver light to heal the fractured bone in his left hand.
He looked at the "corpse" vigilantly, and sure enough, Ossenfurt stood up again soon. He pulled out the long sword from his chest and threw it aside. There was not even any bleeding during the whole process:
"You are really cautious. I was planning to launch a sneak attack when you were close."
"I don't know if you really understand ring wizards. The careless ring wizards have died 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 eleventh day of the Rare Stars Moon. On the night of the day after tomorrow, Thursday, something very dangerous is going to happen around Lake Eldron, upstream of the Elrond River. Yes, very dangerous."
"Elderon Lake" is the largest lake in the upper reaches of the Elron River, one of the two important rivers that form the Randall River Valley, and it is also the largest lake in the southwest of the United Kingdom of Carsenrick. When Shad and Miss Benanis went to visit the "Saint Perry Cemetery", they went to the lake along the river and then returned to the land at the shore of the lake.
"event?"
Shade frowned slightly, and Ossenfurt continued:
"You can tell this to anyone. But I want to remind you that perhaps those guardians are not what you think."
"Guardian?"
"Don't tell me, you don't know what I'm talking about."
Osenfurt lowered his head slightly, but his eyes were fixed on Shade:
"You can 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 folded his hands in front of his chest and said with a smile under the tall dead tree on the top of the hill. It was the first time that Xia De saw him smile, and his face looked extremely strange under the faint moonlight.
"Aren't you saving yourself?"
Shad asked.
Oxenfurt did not answer:
"If you think this is dangerous, you can just quit and pretend you don't know me."
"I have already found two items. I will soon be able to obtain the Founding Earth. You want me to quit?"
Shade stared at him.
"Remember your promise. When I find your sapphire earrings, I will immediately know who holds the Creation Earth."
"You will be satisfied."
Stone Oxenfurt said this, turned around and walked down the hill in his clothes with a hole on the chest.
Only Shade was left standing under the dead tree:
"Don't forget to tell your butler that I will pick up the statue tomorrow."
Without turning around, Ossenfurt raised his hand and waved, then continued walking towards the dark farmland.
Xia De bent down to pick up the stone sword, and looked up at the moon with concern:
"Stone Oxenfurt, could he be the chosen one of the earth?"
(Little Mia is running...)
Tuesday night at 11 o'clock, Roentgen Avenue, East District of Tobysk.
Dr. Schneider, who had already washed up and was about to go to bed, was greeted by Shade who came to visit him 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 is a clue."
The two went to the reception room on the second floor to talk. Shade brought Little Mia with him to prevent the cat from being scared at home. He described his experience today in detail, including his interaction with Hela Oxenfurt in the manor in the morning, the battle with the ghoul gardener, the abnormalities of the maid and the old butler, and the conversation and experience with Stone Oxenfurt at the wedding party in the evening.
Dr. Schneider did not interrupt Xia De throughout his story. He waited until he finished speaking before expressing his guess with a serious expression:
"The soul at the wedding was contaminated. This is a simple way for the devil to harvest souls. As for Stone Oxenfurt, he has probably become a demon."
"Demonization? More powerful?"
"No, no, it's not the strengthening you think. This is the initial process of a soul's fall into a demon. There are two situations when signing a contract with a demon. One is that the demon wants your soul, and the other is that the demon sees your desires and sins and wants you to become one of them. Only the most sinful souls are qualified to fall, and this cannot be achieved by simply killing someone."
The doctor spoke of this soul with a look of disgust:
"You can't imagine how strong the inner desires and sins are to gradually corrupt oneself. If left alone, he will eventually be absorbed by the hidden demons, or become a new evil demon. Oh, the former is more likely."
"So who is the devil hiding behind him?"
The doctor said nothing, but took up the ghoul gardener's spade and marveled at it:
"It's incredible. This is a true demonic weapon. Made of corrupted souls, it's the workmanship of a demon and is drenched in demonic power. I only know that it's possible to get something like this by using high-level thaumaturgy to summon demonic weapons."
"Doctor, if you need this, you can keep it. I don't want to use a shovel as a weapon."
Shade said generously that being a night watchman was enough for him, and the doctor seemed very happy:
"I just happen to be without a melee weapon, so this might be suitable for me. Oh, let's get back to the point. Based on the features you saw, the petrified demon servant, the woman with snow all around, the black fog, and the rose vines, I can only make a rough guess and cannot completely confirm the other party's identity."
"Another clue came when I came across the saint's grave in the Randall River Valley, where a nun told me that the local evil was symbolized by a petrified rose (1230)."
Xia De said again, and 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 spoke, he picked up the stone sword that Xia De brought, stroked it, and then put it down:
"This weapon doesn't have any special features. It's just a simple application of the spell of turning mud into stone combined with the power of demons. From this stone sword, we can only judge that Ossenfurt signed the devil's contract and was corrupted four or five years ago. As for the demon, I have three different guesses: the Great Demon of Lust - Trasius, the Stone Mirror Demon - Goethe, and the Faceless Nun - Valak. We need more clues to determine who it is from the three."
Of these three demons, Shade had only heard of the "Stone Mirror Demon". Miss Benannis once said that the Stone Mirror Demon was often confused with the real evil god Stone Heart Demon by ignorant people.
"Hella Osenfurt told me that I could go to the curator of the statue museum in Randall Valley City, Mr. Fernandez, who is a folklorist. Also, I will go to Osenfurt Manor again tomorrow to pick up a statue. Maybe I will get something then."
"Well, I'll deal with the gardener's body you brought."
The doctor said that the body 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 a demon is more difficult to deal with than a normal corpse."
"Then let's split up and investigate... In addition to the curator of the statue gallery and tomorrow's visit, I have other clues. Oxenfurt said that something big will happen on Thursday. I will inform the local church to prevent this from being a trap to lure me. Of course, I will definitely go and take a look myself when the time comes."
"I still want to remind you, detective, not to trust anyone who is related to the devil. This time, your opponent is an ancient evil spirit in its full glory. You can never be too careful. The Great Demon of Lust - Tracius, the Mirror Demon - Goethe, and the Faceless Nun - Valak. If we describe these three in the context of a knight's novel, they are all enemies that will appear before you meet the final 'Demon King'."