Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 25

The lizardman headhunter's throat was crushed, and he breathed his last in terror.

The fierce, cold wind sweeping across the plateau tousled her thick, fiery red hair. It cut like a knife across her snow-white body, raising goosebumps on her skin.

But she didn't care at all.

The six-armed serpent demon picked up the mithril ring, restored the sealing wax seal on the ring face, and casually put it on his middle finger.

The size is just right.

She drew the Spellbreaker Mand, gazing at the silver-blue blade of the paladin's sword.

The Holy Demon-Slaying Greatsword hummed, as if echoing the body's former profession, or as if lamenting its own fate.

She gazed in the direction of the northern port city, raised her snow-white hand adorned with a ring, and gently brushed back a few strands of red hair that had been blown across her face by the wind.

"So, I am a woman with amnesia. With the help of the three of you, I managed to escape from the lizardmen. So now I am with you all."

She seemed to be speaking to Raphael the Devil Claw and the Owl Bear Cub, or perhaps she was talking to herself.

"thank you all."

Chapter 28 City of Fiery Earth

Looking north from the road that stretches across the plateau, "Yan Tu" is a black stone city located at the end of the plateau.

The city wall's gray-black stone bricks are all cast stone made from basalt. Through a series of processes including melting, casting, crystallization, and final annealing, this stone is stronger and more wear-resistant than alloy steel, and more corrosion-resistant than lead. This processed stone is also known as "Dragon Stone," because only the mighty power of a dragon's breath could create such cast stone.

The ancient bronze dragon that created and rules this city resides in the bronze palace at the city's highest point. On days when the sea breeze blows, one can occasionally hear the ancient dragon's deep breathing—the sound of its slumber.

Yes, it was Him.

Like other dragon rulers of the world of Abel, this ancient bronze dragon had transcended the ordinary and acquired divinity. Holy knights and priests who ruled the city in his name worshipped him, regarding him as a symbol of the sun, fire, and war; the two hundred thousand human inhabitants of the city believed in him, regarding him as the capricious fortune and the guardian of the sea.

Despite being situated on a plateau, the vast majority of Yantu City's residents are fishermen and maritime merchants.

This black stone city is surrounded by plateaus on three sides, and a sheer cliff facing the sea on the other. After entering the black outer city wall of Dragonstone, do not go into the inner city, but follow the outer wall until you find two mountain paths leading down the cliff. Follow the mountain paths downhill, passing six urban residential areas of varying heights nestled on the mountainside, and finally arrive at the red seaside called "Fire Harbor" at the bottom of the cliff.

To the left of the city gate is the "Yan Tu Grand Market," a bustling and lively place filled with people.

Under the rule of the paladins, the city of Flame Earth was orderly and heavily guarded, making it difficult for most merchants to obtain permission to enter. They could only stay outside the city gates and simply set up stalls to do business there.

Over time, this open space to the left of the city gate became the "Yantu Grand Market," a place where merchants from the north and south settled and gathered.

At this very moment, Patrick, basking in the sunlight, is leisurely strolling through the market.

He walked around, stopping frequently, until he came to a spice stall.

The stall owner used long, dry bamboo poles to prop up brightly colored purple gauze to shield the stall from the glaring sunlight. Underneath the gauze stood dozens of spice bags, all open, revealing the various spices overflowing inside for customers to choose from.

The stall owner was a woman in her thirties wearing a veil, sitting cross-legged on a blanket behind a spice bag, breastfeeding her baby.

She also had two older children, around twelve or thirteen years old. The two kids were laughing and making a racket around the stall, driving everyone crazy, and they never stopped for a moment. Patrick's brow twitched. He hated these kinds of teenagers the most and wished they were far away from him.

But the stall owner yelled at the two children a few times, and seeing that it had no effect, he let them be.

Patrick sighed.

He walked to the corner of the stall, casually grabbed a small pinch of spices from a small bag in front of him, smelled it under his nose, shook his head regretfully, and put the spices back in their place.

Just then, the two children ran to his side, first wrestling with each other like wrestlers, then throwing stones at each other, one of which nearly hit Patrick on the forehead. The other spat at the one throwing the stone.

His drool landed on Patrick's beloved ostrich leather boots.

Patrick looked up and saw that the stall owner was focused on breastfeeding the baby in her arms and hadn't even looked in their direction.

So he took out three copper coins, whistled softly to the two children, and gestured for them to come to him.

The two children looked at each other and walked over curiously.

One: "What can I do for you, sir?"

Another: "Yes, sir, what can I do for you?"

"I have a big business deal I'd like to discuss with your father. Where is your father?"

“Dad died, but you can talk to our mother, sir.”

"Yes, sir, Dad has died. You can talk to our mother."

"What a misfortune."

Patrick sighed, knelt down in front of them, and placed one coin in each of the two children's hands.

He looked them in the eye with genuine sincerity.

“I’m giving you money because I understand your fate. I was abandoned by my mother. The years that followed were really tough… Be strong, children.”

The two children looked at each other, both feeling bewildered.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Yes, sir, what do you mean?"

Patrick looked at them both with pain.

“You actually know, don’t you,” he said softly, “that your mother doesn’t love you anymore. She now loves your little brother with all her heart. Have you noticed his hair? Your brother’s hair is curly, but yours isn’t. That means he has a father with curly hair, and you don’t. Do you know why your mother found a new man? It’s because she started to hate you.”

The two children stared blankly, speechless.

They may have understood, or they may not have.

“See, that’s always how it is,” Patrick said. “You were always arguing like that, and she got annoyed, so she stopped loving you. She hated you, and by extension, she hated your father. So she secretly poisoned your father and found a new man. Do you know how she did it?”

He pointed to several of the spices.

"Pick out all the pith and keep only the shells. Collect six pounds of shells. Then find another one, grind it into powder, mix it with the shells from the first one, heat it up and bring it to a boil. Then put all six of these ingredients into the pot. Keep heating it, but don't burn it. It will create a unique and deadly toxin that is very difficult to detect. Actually, that's how your father died. Think back carefully, in your house, can you always smell these spices?"

The innocent, joyful smiles disappeared from the faces of the two children.

They showed expressions of sadness, anger, and terror.

“If you were men, I would suggest you avenge your father. But you are too young.”

Patrick said softly, “See those slave stalls over there? That boy being auctioned off, that's the one his mother brought to sell. Your mothers bring you to the market because they're going to sell you, just like my mother sold me. So, be strong.”

He sighed sincerely, stood up, patted the two bewildered children on the shoulder, and turned to walk away.

After turning around, a distorted smile gradually appeared on his face.

Lana turned the corner from the side and walked side by side with Patrick, who was humming a little tune.

Lana said irritably, "When are you going to stop spouting nonsense like that?"

“Not entirely,” Patrick said. “If they follow my method and mess with those eight plants, and if they’re lucky, they really can produce the toxin I’m talking about.”

Lana was stunned: "Are you serious? Their mother really poisoned their father?"

Patrick gave her a puzzled look.

How would I know?

Patrick grabbed a banana from the fruit stand and tossed the vendor a coin. Without even peeling it, he popped the banana into his mouth and started biting into it.

"Have we found our target?"

“Completely clueless,” Lana said. “I sent Tusu to scout the area, but she hasn’t returned yet. But as far as I know, no one has entered the city recently, not even a few days ago. Maybe she just didn’t come. If I were her, I wouldn’t come here at all. An abyss demon coming to Paladin City? That’s utter nonsense.”

"That's hard to say."

Patrick was about to continue speaking when he stopped and squinted at the person coming from the main road.

Lana followed his gaze and saw a very conspicuous and strange group slowly approaching.

Leading the group was a tall, beautiful woman with red hair, fair skin, and long legs. Although she was very beautiful, her facial features were too harsh, and her blue eyes were captivating.

The red-haired beauty wore a suit of muscle armor made of gray-green lizard (human) skin, revealing her curves, and carried a giant sword that exuded a divine aura.

Following behind the red-haired beauty was a bird-beaked monster with hooked claws on both hands and a body covered in armor.

The bird's beak head was wrapped with an old red cloth strip, and two copper rings were sewn onto the cloth strip, with two obsidian discs inlaid in the copper rings.

There were also two owl bear cubs, trotting happily around beside the red-haired beauty, their thick, grayish-brown fur swaying back and forth.

Patrick took a magic storage ring from his pocket and put it on his ring finger, then cast a detect evil spell on the red-haired beauty.

Both the bird-beaked monster and the owl bear cub were absolutely neutral, and the holy aura emanating from the greatsword was simply dazzling to his eyes.

The red-haired beauty glared at her, her eyes sharp as knives.

Patrick quickly bowed to her, silently apologizing for his rudeness.

Then he and Lana watched as the red-haired beauty walked straight toward the city gates of Flame Earth. They saw that the dragon guards at the gates panicked at the sight of her and quickly opened the gates to welcome her into the city.

Damn it, a bronze dragon paladin. He thought.

After the red-haired beauty disappeared through the city gates, Patrick continued answering Lana:

People always miss the truth because they only believe what they want to believe.

"For example, those two brats. Since they are in the spice business, their house will naturally have the smell of various spices. However, they can only smell the eight that can be used to make poison, and then they will conclude that their mother has made poison."

"Do you know why? Because when they smell the spices with suspicion, they no longer think about other spices, but only about whether they have those eight in their home."

Lana shook her head.

“Nonsense,” she suddenly realized, “Then what the hell were you doing at the spice stand, instructing those two brats to poison their mother?!”

"How can it be."

Patrick chewed the banana, peel and all.

"They'll only poison themselves; the steam from boiling those things is far more deadly than the remaining liquid."

Lana was stunned for a moment, then shook her head.

“You little bastard,” she said.

Author's note: I had a lot to do on the weekend evening, so I updated early.

Chapter 29 Ivy Beatrice

Golden sunlight streamed through the colorful stained-glass ceiling of the church, warmly bathing everyone in the hexagonal chapel.

The red-haired beauty, the avatar of a six-armed serpent demon, stood alone in the center of the chapel, her entire body enveloped in magical light that detected lies. She was still wearing the same self-made leather armor she had worn when she entered the city, and carried a greatsword imbued with divine power.

Six paladins, as if facing a formidable enemy, stood on either side of her and behind her, about ten feet apart. Each of them had their hands on their sword hilts, and their wary and suspicious gazes never left her.

Three ferocious-looking bronze dragon priests filed into the chapel through a side door and approached the red-haired beauty, scrutinizing her from head to toe. They were the same size as humans, except that their necks and the backs of their hands were covered with bronze-colored scales, and they had heads that resembled bronze dragons.

"Lower-rank paladin Ivy Beatrice".

The female dragon priestess, dressed in a white robe embroidered with gold thread, suppressed her anger and solemnly asked, "Does your return to Flame Earth City signify that you have repented for your sinful act of abandoning the sacred marriage contract and fleeing?"

His emerald-like vertical pupils stared straight at them.

After practicing all the way, the demonic voice had transformed into the original body's clear and cold voice: "I don't remember this name, and I'm not sure if I'm the person you're talking about."

This answer astonished the priests and paladins, who widened their eyes in surprise.

"Nonsense!" the female dragon priestess roared. "You have tarnished the honor of the dragon family, Beal!"

She had just realized that the redhead wasn't looking at her, but rather staring upwards. This disreputable man's contemptuous attitude only fueled her anger.

"You can tell whether I'm lying or not."

The demon, mistaken for Ivy Beatrice, continued, "This body's memories begin with the stone bridge. The beginning of the memories is a galloping carriage plunging into the valley. What happened before that, as well as my name and identity, this body can't remember now."

The priests looked at each other in bewilderment.

But the magical aura that detected the lie remained unchanged told them that she was telling the truth.

After a long silence, the priestess composed herself and asked, "So, what do you remember?"

“I was attacked by lizardmen above the valley; they wanted to cut off my head.”

She said, “My companions helped me kill them; they were the three companions who came into the city with me. I skinned them to cover myself, and then followed the faint remnants of my past to this place. I was found by the guards at the city gate and brought here. That’s all I remember.”

A paladin behind him couldn't help but ask, "Then what about Adok? You all came together... You've forgotten about him?"

She didn't turn around to look at him. After a couple of seconds of contemplation, she shook her thick, red hair.

"I have absolutely no recollection of this name."

The priests and paladins fell silent.

The questioner looked once more at the magical aura that detected lies. And the magic proved that she was telling the truth.

“So,” the demon asked, “who am I?”