Watching Mr. Riddle eat, Shad was not worried that he would suddenly eat too much and get an upset stomach, as bloating food is very effective in curing gastrointestinal problems.
But Mr. Riddle did not finish all the food. Instead, after eating one-third of it, he asked Shad for a wooden box, put the remaining food on a plate, and then put it in the box, apparently intending to save it for later.
After all, no one can stand eating cookies for who knows how long.
After tasting normal human food again, Mr. Riddle, who was on the verge of mental collapse, became much more energetic. In addition, with the appearance of Shade, he had someone to talk to again, and his mental state obviously improved a lot.
Before starting the gambling game again, Shade asked Mr. Riddle about the origin of the god summoned by the gambling table. The middle-aged man who had stayed here for a long time gave the answer:
"This is the holy emblem of God."
He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his robe. Although there was still blood in his eyes, at least his voice was no longer trembling.
After asking Shade for paper and pen, Mr. Riddle drew a complicated pattern on Shade's notebook. His hands were shaking because he hadn't written for a long time:
"Every time I fall asleep, I dream of this symbol and hear someone urging me to continue the game. It's like the moment I close my eyes, these corpses will whisper in my ears. I even have a feeling that even if I find another way to leave the Dreadfort, as long as I don't complete the game, I will continue to hear this voice throughout my life until I return here and sit back at the table."
After drawing the holy emblem, Mr. Riddle returned the pen to Shade, then bowed his head and closed his eyes to pray to Mr. Huan. Because he already knew that Mr. Huan was the Ouroboros, the circular holy emblem he drew on his chest was, as expected, an abstract representation of the Ouroboros.
Xia De smiled as he looked at the holy emblem of the "God of Gamblers" on the notebook, thinking that with this, he would be able to find clues about this god at the time point of the Sixth Epoch.
Ready to fight with God again, Mr. Riddle took a few breaths and sat back on the chair at one side of the square table. As the kerosene lamp and the candle lighted up again, the other half of the room was illuminated, and the figure in the black robe reappeared.
Cracks appeared on the surface of Shade's body again, and Mr. Riddle groaned in pain. The air became somewhat sticky, and every breath required the lungs to exhaust their strength to obtain oxygen. Although it looked like a human form, the space it occupied was much larger than it appeared.
“I found your story.”
Xia De whispered behind Mr. Riddle and told him the information he had seen:
"When you were 32 years old, you went out to sea with the fleet, heading from the East Continent to the South Continent. During the voyage, you encountered a storm at sea. In the storm, you encountered..."
Shade paused, and Mr. Riddle, with his head in his hands and his head down, actually continued:
"Sea monster-eight-legged kraken!"
With the reminder, he also recalled this memory.
Mr. Riddle placed his hand on the third groove in front of him, and when he took his hand away, the third card appeared. In the pattern on the card, Mr. Riddle was holding onto a wooden board on the rough sea, and behind him, dense tentacles stretched out from below the sea level, wrapping around the ship and dragging it into the sea.
The name of the Gilded Card is Deep Sea Monster.
"But how did you survive this time?"
Xia De asked curiously. The information only said that this gentleman was one of the few survivors of the accident:
"Could it be that the sea monster is not interested in you?"
The middle-aged man in a brown robe covered his head in pain:
"At the time, I was carrying a wooden idol that I had borrowed from a friend. It was an idol of the god Lord of the Scarlet Spiral. I think the sea monster probably didn't want to offend the idol, so it let me go."
Hearing the familiar name, Xia De raised his eyebrows:
"Your life is truly extraordinary."
"I just want to know more and write down the secrets of the world."
Mr. Riddle shook his head violently, as if trying to drive away something he couldn't see. In the groove across the table, a light flickered, and the third card representing the witch appeared.
Six grooves of different colors converge the light from the front of the six cards on the table to the center of the table. The three witches fight against the undead, the dragon and the sea monster covered with tentacles.
With only four cards, it was unclear which side had the upper hand, but with six targets in a melee, it was obvious that Mr. Riddle's side was at a disadvantage.
The real people corresponding to the three witch cards are probably thirteenth-level witches like Miss Feliana.
"Sir, what else have I been through?"
Mr. Riddle asked again. Seeing that the situation on the table was not good, Shad could only pick out the most powerful creature involved in the information provided by Luvia:
"You've encountered a demon!"
"demon?"
"Yes, a weird evil spirit left over from the Third Age. That was your experience when you were twenty-five. Think about it carefully, Mr. Riddle, the reverse cross~"
"cross?"
"Think carefully, the inverted cross you brought out from the ancient ruins. It's made of stone, and is wrapped in chains."
"Oh, I remember now!"
Mr. Del looked down at the table, then slowly placed his hand on the fourth groove. While Shade showed a surprised expression, the gentleman added a lot of information that Shade didn't know:
"Many years ago, I followed the ancient legend and found a stone cross among the ancient ruins unearthed deep in the mountains of the Western Continent. What happened afterwards was truly horrible... I forced myself to forget about it. It turns out I had this experience before."
The information Xia De saw was still just a few written records and a pencil sketch of an inverted cross:
"Mr. Riddle, if you ever encountered a demon, how did you survive?"
The answer may also help Shad.
The middle-aged man hesitated and thought for a moment, then took his hand away from the groove.
The fourth card appeared. On the card, Mr. Riddle ran out of an old house with a suitcase in his hand, looking terrified. Behind the gate of the dilapidated house in the background, a pair of scarlet eyes were staring at him.
The name of the gilded card is Shadow of the Devil. Seeing that this record is also true, Shad has greater doubts about the record that this gentleman died at the age of 62. It is actually a miracle that he can live until now.
The middle-aged man in the brown robe seemed to be lost in thought. After a long while, he spoke again:
"In the mansion, an inverted cross was inserted into the ground, awakening the sleeping terrifying evil demon... Yes! I once helped a witch find ancient materials. As a reward, she used a red-hot seal to leave an indelible mark on my body. That mark helped me expel the demon! Seeing that it couldn't get close to me for the time being, it left."
As he spoke, he rolled up the sleeve of his right arm. On his right arm, a disgusting burn scar appeared in front of Shade.
The mark looked like a scar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it looked like several complex runes overlapping each other. The dense lines and traces of burnt flesh made Shade feel a little nauseous.
After obtaining the other party's consent, Shade reached out and touched the scar. After his fingers touched it, the sound in his ear immediately reminded Shade that he felt an extremely slight whispering element.
"Extremely low? The brand seal used by that witch is a relic of a powerful enemy demon! Otherwise, it would be impossible for even the mark left by the seal to have such an effect!"
Xia De was shocked and hurriedly used the notebook he carried with him to record this complex symbol. After returning to his own time point, even if he could not find the relic seal corresponding to the brand in the Sixth Epoch, analyzing this symbol might provide an effective means to fight against the demons.
This gain alone is enough for this trip.
While the two were talking, a card appeared in the fourth rectangular groove in front of the black-robed god across the table. The card also showed a witch, who was standing in the temple, holding the holy emblem in both hands and praying.
Judging from the approximately one-fifth of the holy emblem exposed on the card, it was exactly the holy emblem that Mr. Riddle had drawn in his dream.
The black light flowed out from the groove of the Demon's Shadow along the slender grooves on the table, passed through the overlapping grooves, and merged with the other seven flowing lights in the center of the table.
The light of chaos became even stronger, and a strange darkness appeared above the demon's shadow. The demon's shape was the darkness, and the bright scarlet eyes made it look like a human.
Its body gradually overlapped with the surging tide of the dead, and as the demon roared, the two merged completely. The demon's size at least doubled, and it rushed towards the center of the table together with the dragon and the sea monster.
"Demon's Shadow and Resurrection of the Dead interact with each other!"
Xia De thought to himself.
Although there were only three monsters left on Mr. Riddle's side, the demon in the form of darkness was able to suppress the witches in a one-on-two situation. It manipulated the darkness, combined with the dragon's breath and the sea monster's tentacles, and beat the witches back with almost one contact.
The battle that broke out above the table really opened Shade's eyes. The Fifth Epoch witches manipulated the flying light bullets to create strange light and shadows, and the roars of the monsters almost shattered the eardrums. Not only the light and shadow effects and sounds, but also the heat and even the air vibrations caused by the explosion of energy could be perfectly felt by Shade and Mr. Riddle at the table.
It seems that as the number of cards increases, the realism of these battles is also getting stronger. Now it just makes Shade and Mr. Riddle feel shocked. When all twenty cards are complete, Shade can hardly imagine what will happen.
The journey was already halfway through, and Mr. Riddle was lost in his memories, but Shade was unwilling to waste time. The demon's joining had tilted the advantage in Mr. Riddle's favor, and Shade took this opportunity to reveal the remaining two pieces of information:
"Mr. Riddle, when you were thirty-five years old, you and your companions accidentally fell into the abyss while exploring a deep underground cave. You found a locked door in the abyss, and behind the door was a black one-handed sword that absorbed life force. Can you recall this incident?"
Mr. Riddle shook his head a few times, and after a painful groan, he put his hand on the fifth groove. After letting go of his hand, the card showed a terrifying black rune sword that was locked in the dark room by several silver chains connected to the wall. The old metal door on one side of the dark room opened a crack, and the light of the torch outside the crack and Mr. Riddle's terrified face were visible.
Card Name – Cursed Sword.
The shadow of the rune sword appeared above the card, and the demonic shadow laughed wildly, raised the sword, and rushed towards the witch in front of him. A new witch also joined the battle. Currently, Mr. Riddle's side was fighting three against five, and the terrible magic sword seemed unable to offset the disadvantage brought by the number of people.
"What else? What else have I been through?"
The man holding his head asked anxiously. He also knew that the current situation was not favorable for him. But this was all the life experience that Xia De had found about the other party. He had no other choice:
"Mr. Riddle, when you were 29 years old, you were investigating a primitive tribe in the northern continent. You were chased by a cannibal tribe and got lost in the wilderness. You came across an inn in the deserted wilderness, and eventually discovered that the inn itself was a huge, terrifying cannibal creature."
The sixth card shows an abandoned inn. A terrified Mr. Riddle stands behind the second-floor window, knocking on the glass with his right fist. The name of the card is - Cannibal House.
This time, no new monsters appeared above the cards. Instead, on the side of the square table close to Mr. Riddle, the shadow of the big house enveloped all the monsters summoned because of Mr. Riddle's life experience.
This shadow brought new light, and in this light, the bodies of the demons, sea monsters and dragons became larger. Not only that, their bodies could better resist the light bullets of the witches, and when they launched attacks, strange light would emerge from the three monsters, bringing special attack effects.
The black-robed god remained motionless, and a light flickered in the sixth groove in front of him. But this time, the card that appeared was not a witch, but a gray stone altar.
The shadow of the altar appeared behind the five witches. The connected light and shadow provided them with new strength. At the same time, the light and shadow of the altar were also fighting against the shadow of the cannibal, consuming each other's strength.
The five witches stood together, the light from their fingertips converged in one place. The dragon, the demon and the sea monster charged at the same time, the wriggling tentacles provided protection, the dragon spitted in the light to open up a path, and the rune sword in the demon's hand was the most powerful weapon.
The light finally collided with the monsters' bodies, and the huge wind caused by the energy collision almost blew Mr. Riddle off his chair at the table.
Shade supported him from behind, looking at the temporarily stopped battle. Three monsters against five witches, in the current situation, the gods had a clear upper hand.
“Ahem~”
Mr. Riddle coughed loudly. The huge mental and physical pressure brought by the bet with the gods had caused blood to seep from the corners of his mouth. By now, the bet was halfway through, and looking at the strange light and shadow reflected on Mr. Riddle's weak face, Shade fully understood why he was called the "Legendary Prophet."
Seeing that his body could no longer hold on, Xia De said in a low voice:
"Mr. Riddle, that's all for this time. I'm leaving now, and I'll bring you victory next time I come back. If you really can't hold on, maybe I can find a way to win outside of the bet."
"No, no, I must win."
The frail man held onto the tabletop, his voice weak but his tone unusually firm:
"Do you know why I go on so many adventures?"
The body is already feeling a pulling sensation, which means the time is up.
"have no idea."
"In order to see more things until my death, so that I will not be in vain in this world."
The middle-aged man answered without hesitation. Even though he had lost some of his memory, he still remembered his original intention.
Holding on to the table, he stood up with the help of Xia De. The candle opposite the table went out and darkness fell again.
"So if you died as a result of these adventures, would you regret it?"
Shade asked softly, trying to help him to the wall. Outsiders admired such people. Maybe some people thought that people like Mr. Riddle were crazy and were deliberately seeking death, but Shade knew that the world could not be without such people.
"Of course I will regret it, but I will still do it. I don't want to boast that I am an adventurous person, I just want to see more and learn more. Even though, I already know what this means to me."
After hesitating for a moment, Xia De asked again:
"If you survived but died of madness in your old age, would you not regret it?"
Mr. Riddle turned to look at Shade. His face was pale and there was blood on the corners of his mouth, but his brown eyes were very calm.
"As long as I gain knowledge, I will not regret it even if I end my life in madness. I am just an ordinary person, without the power of a witch. I will never have a second chance to face a god like this in my life. I want to challenge this great being, no matter what the outcome, I will challenge Him fairly. With my life, with my adventures, with everything I have."
Xia De nodded and asked him to slowly sit on the ground against the wall:
"Okay, I'll help you win the bet, the way you want. Mr. Riddle, do you know that everything is unpredictable?"
He suddenly asked, and the white mist behind him had appeared.
"I'm sorry, I don't know. But if I can get out alive, I will help you investigate. Even though you may just be my illusion, even though we may never meet again after leaving the Dreadfort. But I will definitely help you investigate, this is my promise."
Faced with Shade's departure, Mr. Riddle was obviously much more rational. He tried to stand up, but unfortunately failed:
"Thank you for your help, sir. May the Father of the Infinite Tree and Mr. Tamaki protect you and me."
He said this sincerely, and it seemed that experiencing Shade's second coming had made him more determined.
"Aren't you curious about my origins?"
Xia De turned and walked into the white mist, and finally turned his head to look at him. Because he left on his own initiative this time, he was not forced to retreat.
"curious."
Mr. Riddle's figure was already a little blurry to Shade:
"But it doesn't make sense, I'll figure it out one day..."
Xia De stumbled out of the bedroom door backwards. He was walking forward just now, but suddenly he was walking backwards. The sense of dislocation made him unable to control his steps, and he almost stepped on the cat walking back and forth at the door.
After he stood up, he bent down and picked up Mia, then turned to look at the moon outside the living room window:
"So, Sledge Riddle researched and found the Card of the Vientiane because of my guidance? He really kept his promise?"
A month ago in Saint Teresa's Square, when Shad listened to Luvia's story about the impermanence of everything, he had never imagined that this was a promise that would span five thousand years.
Although the third key has not brought Xia De more doubts about the world so far, but after doing this kind of thing of communicating the past and connecting the present too much, Xia De always feels that what he is doing is actually something that has been destined.
The arrival of outsiders did not seem to bring any changes to the world.
is that so
She chuckled in my ear, as she always did.
After sighing for a long time, I carried God's gift box from the basement to the second floor. After washing my hands, I took out the gifts for this week.
Perhaps last week's note was so unusual that this week's item was rather mundane. It was a brand new metal screwdriver, in pretty good shape, and you could buy one for about 5 shillings in a shop in the city.
"As expected, we still can't rely on this method to obtain special items."
This week's requirement is to drink a glass of milk for breakfast, which is not a requirement for Shade at all. He opened the window of the living room and planned to ventilate the room before going to bed. The night breeze in late summer is still slightly hot, but you can also feel the coolness different from that in midsummer.
"It is Monday, early morning, the 19th day of the Flower Moon."
He looked at the night view and murmured to himself, summer is really coming to an end.