“That’s amazing.”
Shade, who appeared behind Miss Sylvia, exclaimed sincerely. The witch smiled and turned around:
"Be my apprentice, I can teach you everything."
Without giving Xia De time to react, he added with a smile:
"If you don't want to be my apprentice and establish some other relationship with me, I can teach you everything."
"Let's wait until this is over. I don't really understand where the snake went."
asked Shad, climbing onto the horse again with Miss Sylvia.
"It was compressed into a point with mass by space. Don't be fooled by the monster's appearance. But on the ground, we have no way to completely destroy it. Only a few seals and methods like mine can really make them lose their combat effectiveness. So, you'd better not leave me tonight."
The sound of horse hooves faded away, and the two men continued to move deeper into the valley.
At 7:30 in the evening, in the gray snow, Shad and Miss Sylvia arrived at the small bridge outside the forest surrounding Oxenfurt Manor.
Shade and Miss Sylvia stopped here. After getting off the horse, Shade looked up at the manor in the distance in the snow:
"We'll stop here. Although it's a superstition among country women that demons and vampires won't cross the river, if we go any further, it might really be able to sense us."
Shade took off his gloves and stuffed them into his saddle bag:
"Miss Sylvia, you will have to wait for me in the snow, which is not a good job."
The young witch looked at him:
"You have something far more terrible to face than the weather. So go ahead and take this."
She handed Shade a stone rune with an ancient elven rune representing "space" engraved on it in dark red paint:
"As long as you carry this with you, I can always locate you. And if you crush it hard, yes, crush this stone, even if you fall into another dimension, I can still find a way to find you."
Xia De handed her the Genesis Balance:
"If I need help, this card will disappear from your hand."
At this point, except for Founder Silver Moon, all four cards in Shade's hand have been temporarily loaned out.
"I see."
Miss Sylvia didn't say anything more and kissed Shade gently. At this time, Sister Defulin, who had arrived earlier, walked out of the forest. She explained to the two that the church team was with the clones, and then she and Miss Sylvia each led a horse and walked in the direction they had just come from.
The two figures flashed briefly, and then disappeared along with the two horses.
Xia De touched the various relics and spellcasting materials on his body, then pressed his chest to feel the presence of the Mia doll, and then walked towards the forest path at the other end of the bridge.
No one came to greet him in the snow, and there was no light in Oxenfurt Manor at night, as if there was no living person in the manor.
Note that after crossing that bridge, the demonic power has seeped into the soil.
"She" reminded softly, and Xia De stared at the gray snow and came to the gate of the manor. This time, there was no old butler to greet him.
Looking through the gate, there was no one in the courtyard surrounded by high walls. Xia De didn't want to call for someone to open the door, but just reached out and pushed it, and then found that the door was locked as expected.
And it was not an ordinary iron chain. When he exerted force, the demon rune flashed with a dim light and appeared on the fence. Xia De had contact with the doctor many times, and interpreting ordinary demon runes would not cause mental stress. The meaning of the rune was roughly:
No traffic is allowed before the end of the night.
"The prohibition order at night is very similar to the 'Law' magic that Miss Carina taught Yin Luna."
Xia De thought in his heart and muttered:
"You let someone come to get something, and then you locked the door on purpose. I hope you don't mean to owe me a debt. Generally speaking, I don't like to force my way in..."
The key to the spell gate can open this special conceptual lock, but Shade did not do so. Instead, he looked up at the sky and said softly:
"There is no moon or stars now, so it is not night. Because it is not night, it is day."
After that, he took out the Soul-sucking Blade, a Secret Keeper-level relic given by the demon last time at the Sturgeon Tavern, and engraved the words "Daybreak" on it in ancient Elvish. It would be better if he could use Demonic language here, but it was a pity that Shade didn't know Demonic language, and Treefather hadn't given him any rewards like "a piece of knowledge - the demon race" for the time being.
As the Elvish words were engraved on the gate, it opened automatically with a click. Shade put the Soul-sucking Demon Blade back into the scabbard at his waist, and then took out the hilt made by Priest Augustus.
He pressed the back end of the hilt and shook it four times. With four clear metal friction and collision sounds, the long sword appeared in Shade's hand. A faint light radiated from the crossed finger bones, as if sensing the presence of the undead.
He officially entered the manor.
Crossing the gate of the manor, the courtyard with gray snowflakes floating in the air looked even more eerie. The manor, which was already in a semi-destroyed state, now looked more dilapidated than any other time Shade had been there. The renovated pavilion collapsed, the flowerbed was buried in the snow, the big tree fell to the ground as if struck by lightning, and even the fountain sculpture that could not spray water disappeared.
"Why does it look like decades have passed since my last visit?"
There was no moon tonight, and Xia De's footprints were left on the snow, extending all the way to the door of the mansion. But this time Xia De did not reach out to push the door, because of the double doors at the entrance of the mansion, only the left door was left:
"What happened? Is this place abandoned?"
The building seemed even darker and more eerie than the outside, with old furniture blocking the corridors and spider webs clinging to every corner. The corridors were full of gray snow blowing in from the windows, and from time to time one could even hear the sound of a woman sobbing from an unknown direction.
"Have you discovered the power of time?"
Xia De asked in his heart.
No.
"She" replied gently.
Instead of exploring the first floor, Shade found the stairs in the dark. The stairs leading upstairs from the first floor were divided into left and right sides, but the right side was broken, so he chose the left side and continued up to the third floor.
During his many visits to Oxenfort Manor, Shade had never been to the manor owner's bedroom, and this time his destination was there. Although he didn't know the exact location, the architectural layout of such large manors was similar. He easily found a half-open door with candlelight inside in the dilapidated building. After pushing the door open and entering, the interior decoration was indeed the manor's master bedroom.
The decoration here is not very luxurious, but it has a very living atmosphere.
A large oil painting of Hella Oxenfurt and Stone Oxenfurt was hung above the bed, and fruits and snacks were placed on the small table beside the bed. On the desk was an unfinished letter, and a burning candle was placed on a golden candlestick, which was the only light source in the room.
In addition to the door that Shade entered, there was another door on the other side of the double bed that led to the terrace outside. Although there was a wardrobe in one corner of the room, there was still a hanger at the door. A gorgeous men's robe was hung on it, and under the hanger was a cane with a golden lion on the top against the wall.
There was no moon outside the window, and the candlelight was not very bright, but this did not prevent Shade from seeing Hela Osenfurt, who was wearing a black dress, lying on the bed, near the window and the terrace. She held her hands together in front of her chest in black lace gloves, but still wore shoes, but the veil was placed on the bedside, not worn as usual.
"Asleep?"
Xia De walked into the room very rudely and came to the bed. He didn't say anything, but while his shadow was projected on the woman's body, he touched her neck with his hand.
Completely cold and lifeless.
die.
"Her" voice is still gentle.
Hela Osenfurt's eyes were tightly closed, and her pale face looked even more unlike a living person. Her lips were purple, and the blood vessels on her face were quite obvious. In her clasped hands, she held a withered black rose.
Such roses have also appeared in the hands of Stone Oxenfurt and Stone Mirror Demon-Goethe.
In addition to the black rose, Shade also saw familiar sapphire earrings on her ears and a familiar wedding ring on her fingers. On the empty pillow next to her, near the door, lay the familiar Ossenfort family medal.
"What kind of trick is this... Vision Devil."
Shade activated the magic given by the doctor, and while the rest of his vision became distorted, he squinted his eyes and looked at the corpse lying on the bed.
Just like what we saw before, snowflakes fell from Hela Oxenfurt's body. But unlike before, petrified rose vines climbed on her body, and those rose vines seemed to grow from her heart. Apart from the stones, there was nothing unusual about the body itself. It was indeed a corpse.
"The body was not warm, but there were no signs of decay..."
Shade turned around and looked at the unfinished letter on the desk under the candle. He walked over and saw the feather pen inserted in the dried ink bottle. On the unfolded parchment was written short dark blue words. It was the handwriting of Stone Oxenfurt:
"What you want is down there."
Lifting the parchment, the Rhodes card with a robed woman, the Holy Grail, the countryside and the village appeared in the flickering candlelight.
Xia De picked it up:
"Flower 12, Origin, Earth."
This is the real thing, and it appeared in Shade's hands so easily. He originally thought that he had to kill Osenfurt before he could take it out of his body pocket.