The light of the restaurant's gas lamps grew dimmer and dimmer. The mood of the manor owners was affecting the entire manor, but Shade pretended not to notice anything was wrong and said indignantly:
“Don’t look at me as a man, but I can still talk to the emperor. You are so generous that I can rest. If necessary, I can ask Emperor Violet to send servants to teach that damn guy you mentioned a lesson.”
Then the tense atmosphere became normal again, the lights became brighter, the monsters at the table continued to eat, and the monster with excess fat said:
"That annoying guy also has a backer, and he is immortal. Our family has found a very good treasure that can deal with his immortality, so there is no need to trouble the ruler of Witton, the Flower of Shakadi, the Queen blessed by the stars, the great Violet."
The titles it mentioned were actually more than what Shade knew.
"So, the guy who lives on the other side of town's name is..."
The old corpse ghost said in a voice full of gnashing teeth:
"Stone Oxenfurt, of course!"
The meal was over before Shade could ask more questions. The old ghoul asked the butler, who was also a ghoul, to arrange a guest room in the corner of the third floor for Shade to rest. The monsters in the manor knew that it was now night, so the family eating at the table also dispersed in the mansion to do their own things.
Xia De did not refuse the old corpse ghost's arrangement. He followed the corpse ghost butler, walked up the creaking stairs, and carried his suitcase from the side stairs on the first floor to the third floor.
The third floor was slightly less damaged than the first floor, but was also more corrupted by the demonic power. The furniture in the guest room in the corner was quite complete, but unfortunately it was all covered with cobwebs. This room didn't even have window glass, and the snow that blew into the room almost completely covered the area under the window.
The corpse butler sent Xia De to the door and left. Xia De stood at the door and waited for a while. After making sure that the footsteps were far away, he pointed at the wooden door that could be kicked open with one foot, allowing the holy silver thorn bushes to cover the door panel.
Then he turned and looked into the room. Instead of closing the window that let in the cold wind, he looked at the oil painting on the wall at the head of the four-poster bed.
It was a portrait, and Xia De looked at the woman holding a parasol in the painting silently, without blinking. After staring at each other for half a minute, the woman in the painting could not help but blink first.
"Sorry, ma'am, I like to be alone during my break."
Xia De said, and the ghost in the painting nodded gently to apologize, and then disappeared from the picture. The thick spider web appeared like a phantom, covering the frame of the painting. Xia De was sure that he was really alone this time.
Although the glass in the window was gone, the tattered dark red curtains were still there. The wind and snow blew the curtains continuously inward. Xia De walked straight to the bed, reached out to lift up the bed board, and saw a ball of white flying towards him.
He dodged the white thing by tilting his head, and then noticed a spider web on the wall behind him. Looking under the bed, he saw a long-haired spider as big as a human head, coiled on a rotten corpse, its compound eyes glowing red, crawling around with a ferocious look.
"Have even ordinary spiders become like this?"
The yellow moonlight sword pierced the spider's body, and then the moonlight slashed it into four pieces. As the hairy spider's body fell next to the rotten corpse, densely packed black spiders crawled out of the hairy spider's body and fled in all directions along the cracks in the floor in the blink of an eye.
Xia De remained silent and looked at the rotten corpse. The corpse was wearing men's pajamas, and there was no fatal injury. It seemed that the person had died in his sleep and fell directly under the bed.
And if there really is a "guest" who dares to rest on the bed, he will probably be attacked by the rotting corpses under the bed after falling asleep.
"I know you can move."
He squinted his eyes and whispered. Seeing that the other party was "playing dead" without moving, he threw out the Light of Confinement. Then he opened his suitcase, rummaged through it, and took out a bottle of black potion according to the label.
"It will only work if you expose it to moonlight and shake it."
Shade looked at the label, put his finger on the bottom of the bottle and cast a light spell. Under the bright silver moonlight, the black potion quickly turned into a milky white. Then Shade shook it gently again, and the milky white faded, and the potion turned into a completely clear color.
Pulling out the cork, Shad poured half the potion evenly on the head of the completely immobile corpse, then put on gloves and poured the remaining half into its mouth.
Finally, he used the long sword in his hand to draw a feather shape on the corpse's forehead. After kissing the pendant hanging on his chest, he held the sword with both hands, touched the corpse's forehead, and whispered:
"Praise the first angel, praise the true death."
Some faint traces of light flowed on the feather scars. Shade retracted his sword and then canceled the effect of the confining light.
"How do you feel now?"
He stood beside the bed and asked, while the rotten corpse under the bed touched his head and climbed up, speaking as if there was a mouthful of phlegm in his throat:
"It's like a nightmare with no end."
But at least under the effect of the potion, he returned to normal, and looked at Shade with his rotten eye sockets:
"You saved me?"
"No, no, this potion can only work on materialized undead like you who are not severely corrupted by demons, and the effect does not last very long. I will destroy you in a moment and make you return to true death."
"Thanks."
The corpse said, its cloudy and yellow eyes looked at its hands, then at the snow blowing in through the window, and for a moment it didn't know what to say:
“It turns out it wasn’t a dream.”
"While you can still think, answer some of my questions. Who are you? Are you also a member of the Watson family?"
"No, I'm Mr. Watson's business partner. I'm here to check accounts with him and will stay for one night."
The corpse said.
Shade sighed:
"Do you remember what happened that night?"
"I remember, but I don't want to recall it, otherwise I will lose my mind immediately."
The corpse spoke honestly, and Shad noticed that the light on the feather wound on its forehead was rapidly fading.
"I can only say that it was a horrific scene that has never been recorded in any book. I am very lucky that I died very early. I just heard the noise outside while lying here, instead of seeing the scene with my own eyes."
"The Watson family thought about this situation, so they prepared some countermeasures in advance. Do you know what they prepared to deal with that annoying Ossenfurt?"
The corpse thought for a moment, which further dimmed the brightness of the feather mark on its forehead:
"Old Watson mentioned that the nasty Oxenfurt had extraordinary powers, but fortunately he got something very good from a grave robber. I don't know what it is, but I know it is packed in a box that is less than the size of a palm. The attack happened very suddenly. If the thing is still in this manor, I think you can go to the safe in old Watson's bedroom to take a look."
Shade nodded. Seeing that the light of the mark on its forehead had faded to the extreme, he could still ask one last question:
“Who is the ruler of the country now?”
"Your Majesty, I am not worthy to pronounce that great name."
It seems that the method provided by Priest Augustus can only wake up the undead from confusion, but cannot make them immune to the effects of the relics.
Before Shade could thank him, the light in the feather-shaped scar completely disappeared. The corpse, which was not controlled by any means, immediately pounced on Shade, and was kicked back under the bed by Shade.
Without using magic, Shade waved his hand, and a cross made of holy silver flew out of the opened suitcase. He reached out to take the cross, bent down, and stabbed it into the heart of the corpse, and the corpse trembled and then became motionless.
This did not destroy it, but used divine power to temporarily put it into a dormant state. Only by completely expelling the relics and purifying this land can these undead spirits leave.
Of course, Shade would have to come back to collect the crosses. These things were not cheap at all. This was not a silver-plated cross, but a real sterling silver cross. Even if Father Augustus hardly charged him for the labor, Shade had invested a lot of money in it.
"The safe in old Watson's bedroom, that is, the safe in the master bedroom..."
After packing everything up and picking up the suitcase again, Shade glanced at the door that was blocked by thorns and had no intention of going out from there.
Scarlet butterflies flew out from his body until his entire body turned into a swarm of red butterflies.
A flock of red butterflies carried the suitcase and flew out of the window without glass, then flew along the wall in the dark night and towards the master bedroom.
But what was strange was that the master bedroom on the third floor of the manor not only had glass, but the completely black glass actually had the function of protecting against intrusion. Even if Shad turned back into his own body in the wind and snow and squatted on the windowsill, he could not open the window.
Perhaps he could shatter the glass by simply using brute force, but Shade was sure that if he did so, he would have to face the onslaught of monsters from the entire manor at the same time.
"It seems that we still have to enter through the main gate."
So the glowing red butterflies once again carried the suitcase and flew along the outer wall of the mansion in the snow. However, Shade did not fly back to the guest room he had just been in, but continued forward and flew in through the next window without glass.
This room was obviously larger than the guest room, and had a separate bathroom and dressing room. Unlike the guest room, which was covered in cobwebs, this room looked barely habitable.
In addition to the gas lamps, there were also dim gas table lamps lighting up the table area. After Shade flew into the room in the dark and turned back into human form, he was first surprised by the environment in the room and thought there was no one here, but then he heard a slight snoring sound.