“Is there any church team nearby?”
Luvia asked.
"No, but ten minutes ago, we observed that a ring sorcerer from the Serpent Heart Society who was assisting the Orthodox Church had passed by nearby. In addition, according to previous communication with the Orthodox Church, there should be a high-level ring professor from the Zalas Academy of Literature nearby."
The Snake Heart Society is a group of ring sorcerers that has been active in the border area between Carsenrick and Draerion for many years, that is, in the central area of the Old World. Its size is roughly the same as that of the spiritual sect, and it has a good relationship with the "Peace Church" in the Orthodox Church.
This group of ring sorcerers adheres to secrecy, and apart from their name, very little information about them is known to outsiders. Even Luvia had only heard from the Prophet's Association that the power of this group of people was related to mirrors and dragons.
"Miss Swift, you and a lady of the Seventh Ring, take a dose of mud potion and go observe the situation. If the church's rescue is not in time, you will help."
Luvia quickly made up her mind. Although the mud potion had a near-instant-kill effect on earth elemental creatures, unfortunately, the configuration of this potion was limited in terms of raw materials and techniques. Therefore, before this major event began, the witches did not prepare much.
"besides."
Miss Swift turned and left, and Luvia called the girl who came from the rooftop to deliver the message:
"Keep an eye on the news from Miss Sylvia, and then communicate with the church. I want to know where the Red Moon Witch of Saint Byrons is now."
(Little Mia is running...)
The fire was blazing. The farther away from the riverbank and closer to Oxenfurt Manor, the more bizarre the scene in the burning woods became. The jagged rocks and the flames that created all kinds of illusions did not exist in the normal world. The grieving souls wailing in the fire and begging Shade to save them made this place look like hell in a fairy tale.
Shad didn't know what was happening in the city at the moment, what the girls who were thinking about him were thinking about, and whether the escaped Stone Oxenfurt had been caught by Joeyne Barton and Marilyn Handel.
He was still running forward in the maze. In addition to the monsters dropping gems and the illusions attacking Shad's mind, the Stone Mirror Demon Goethe also set up more obstacles on the way forward, trying to delay Shad's progress.
For example, Shade saw a cave full of gold and silver treasures on the way, and a golden egg placed on the top of a tree, guarded by countless flaming birds, which made the soul thirst for it. He even saw a stone bookshelf standing on the fork road that deviated from the direction of the highlight prompt and the source of chaos. If Shade guessed correctly, the bookshelf must have the knowledge he needed, but he still ignored it.
Sometimes people encounter the most tempting temptations at the most inappropriate time, and Xia De knows what he should give up.
According to the rules, the demon cannot directly hurt Shade, but the demon's domain can completely suppress Shade's wound healing speed, as well as the recovery speed of his spirit and physical strength. He held the big-tailed squirrel that was innocently involved in his arms, and even though he was gradually out of breath, he still did not stop to rest.
Finally, thirty-second minutes into the game, Shad finally caught a glimpse of the distant view of Oxenfurt Manor amidst the raging fire.
Ten minutes later, when Shad finally rushed out of the fire forest and staggered up the uphill road into the gate of Oxenfort's manor, he felt exhausted for the first time in a long time.
In the past, even if there were too many losses in battle, it was just the lack of spirit. The last time such a physical inability to support something happened, the outsider was still a ring.
The burning forest was bright enough, but the courtyard of Ossenfort Manor, separated by a wall, was as dark as a dungeon. In the normal world, the fire in the forest was enough to illuminate most of the courtyard, but now the light could not penetrate the demon's lair.
The world was still gray, with only a few unknown green lights, which appeared on the ground like moss. Without the flames, the sudden drop in temperature around him made Xia De, who had burn marks and sweat running down his forehead, shiver and feel even weaker.
After leaving the huge burning maze, the source of chaos could no longer guide Shad, but the bright traces seen by "Visual Demon" and "Blood Echo" under the amplification of Priest Augustus's eye drops were still helping Shad move forward.
However, after passing through the gate of the manor, Xia De, who was resting with his sword, actually saw in front of him that the bright traces were divided into five, and five branching traces appeared in the yard.
“You’re finally here.”
As expected, the devil's voice rang out in the sky. That greasy voice was more annoying than anything Shade had ever seen:
"After walking out of the maze, you come to the final puzzle. So, which one in front of you now is me?"
Then there was continuous laughter, which continued without any sign of interruption.
All Shad could do was follow the forked trail and continue searching in the courtyard of Oxenfurt Manor, amidst the laughter that upset him.
At the end of those traces, Shade found a tiger lying in the flower garden and sleeping like Xiaomia, a lion digging a hole under the damaged wall on the east side of the courtyard, a gray-haired squirrel standing on the eaves that almost merged with the eaves, a brown bear huddled in the shadow of the corner, and a giant black snake coiled on the headless soldier statue in the northwest.
All five animals were imprisoned by the aura of the "Imprisoning Light" and were then gathered together by Shade. Since the Imprisoning Light was harmless, it was not considered that Shade had violated the rules.
Xia De first took out the "Night Watchman" and aimed it at each animal, but he did not expect that signs of corrosion appeared on all the animals.
"It's not that simple. Choose one out of five, right?"
There were only ten minutes left in the one-hour countdown, and Shade didn't have much time to waste. He looked at all the animals one by one, and then "she" whispered softly in Shade's ear:
That tiger is not a demon.
"Why?"
You can try to touch it.
Xia De then stretched out his hand and touched the tiger's forehead. The tiger actually rubbed against Xia De timidly.
Xia De understood immediately:
"Is it you? The tiger that coexists with the soul of folklorist Mr. Benjamin Erford?"
Xia De's eyes widened in surprise, and the tiger rubbed Xia De again in a very humane way. Of course, this was probably because the last time Xia De met it, Xia De had beaten it up in the snow, and then used it to explain to the cat the dangers of big tigers.
"How come you haven't starved to death yet? But you are really unlucky to be captured by the devil."
Although demons can copy living things, there are still differences between the copies and the originals. However, this tiger has a unique soul mark because of its special experience. So the tiger's suspicion was ruled out, and Shade continued to look at the remaining four animals.
At this moment, the big-tailed squirrel in his chest pocket suddenly squirmed, and then crawled out of Shade's pocket. After jumping to the ground, it squeaked around the squirrel that was found.
"What's the meaning?"
So Shade took out the fish training ring and put it on the squirrel's big tail. This ring cannot be used on animals that eat fish, but fortunately squirrels don't catch fish.
"Do you know this squirrel?"
Xia De asked the squirrel that he had rescued from the fire, and the squirrel immediately spoke in the voice of a young man:
"Yes, this is my wife! We fell in love because of an acorn, got married in a tree hole of a big pine tree, and gave birth to our next generation on a romantic autumn evening."
This squirrel speaks in a surprisingly elegant way.
"Let her go quickly. Even though you are my benefactor, if you want to tie up my wife and do something bad to her, I will challenge you to a duel."
The talking animals that Shade had encountered in the past usually used slang and profanity, but he didn't expect this wild gray squirrel to be so civilized:
"Are you sure this is really your wife?"
Shade was worried that the squirrel had mistaken the mouse for a rat:
"Is it possible that she was transformed from something else?"
"Absolutely impossible. You are not a squirrel. You don't understand our fateful bond. Would you mistake your wife for your own?"
The squirrel actually asked Shade back, and then said:
"I'll prove it to you, this is definitely my wife."
As it said that, it actually went around to the back of the squirrel imprisoned by Shade, and then lay directly on it, and then...
Xia De took back what he had said about this big-tailed squirrel being very civilized.
"Okay, okay, I know that's your wife."
Xia De said quickly, and after taking back the fish training ring, he also released the female squirrel, allowing it to squeak and communicate with the big-tailed male squirrel that Xia De had rescued.
"There are three more."
Shade looked at the remaining lions, snakes, and brown bears, and ruled out the lion as a suspect:
"The butler among the two lower-level demons gave me a hint: I don't like lions."
Before he met the five animals, Shade was very confused about this hint, but now the meaning of this hint is too obvious. So, although the butler and the maid are both low-level demons, in a sense, when Ossenfort summoned them, his wish of "demons against demons" actually came true.
"All that's left are snakes and brown bears."
The brown bear was the largest of all animals, so Shade used five halos to restrain it. The snake was almost as thick as Shade's waist, and because it had no arms or legs, Shade also used five halos to cover its body.
"I remember that among the three cards Luvia used to tell fortunes for me, the first one was the poisonous snake."
Xia De looked at the snake that was still spitting out its tongue:
"But... is it really that simple?"