Chapter 87: Black Death: Assassin Attacks [VIP]
"My lord! My lord!"
Xiao Yun heard a familiar voice and turned around.
"Karl?"
“Yes, it’s me!”
The man squeezed out of the crowd and knelt excitedly in front of Xiao Yun.
He was once a desperate husband and father, wandering the streets of Tadalafil late at night with his last hope, trying to use the blood of healthy people to cure his wife and daughter who were unfortunately infected with the Black Death.
"You saved us all! And I almost... ah, what a sinful bastard I am!"
"Your wife and daughter—"
"They have all been saved."
Karl looked up, his eyes sparkling: "Sir, I want to take you to a place."
"Where?"
Xiao Yun was curious.
Carl: "The other day, while I was collecting firewood in the suburbs, I saw something unusual. I suspect it was these things that brought the Black Death upon our city."
"What is it? Can you describe it?"
"yes……"
Carl squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, then slowly said, "I saw a strange black stone tower I'd never seen before. It was about waist-high. The stone surface was very rough, engraved with images and words I couldn't understand. There was blood on the ground... I think these things are related to the Dark Mage..."
"So serious?"
Xiao Yun looked behind him.
Two mages slowly emerged from the shadows. "Mr. Carl, on behalf of our master, we will accompany you to the woods to search for the strange stone tower you mentioned."
"……All right."
Carl seemed a little disappointed, but he finally accepted the disparity and led the magicians to the outskirts of Ted.
Xiao Yun continued to comfort the patients suffering from the Black Death.
…
…
In the evening, the two magicians who went with Carl returned with strange expressions.
"Owner……"
"What happened?"
"I'm afraid what's there is beyond our ability to handle."
"oh?"
Xiao Yun was surprised: "What is that?"
"That thing was most likely a fallen stone man," the mage said. "The stone men are an ancient demon that existed before the Eternal Empire. Rumor has it they live near ocean craters. It's almost impossible for them to leave the ocean and come onto land, let alone appear here."
"It's been a long time since I last stepped foot on land... but now..."
Xiao Yun fell into deep thought.
Why did part of the body of a stone man living in an ocean crater suddenly appear on the outskirts of Teide City? Not only is this land, but it's also inland, far from the ocean... Could it be...?
(Alans?!)
"Where is Alans now?"
"——Mr. Pharmacist!"
Munger shouted at the top of his lungs.
Alans, wearing a dark cloak, parted the crowd and appeared before Xiao Yun. "Sir, have you decided to buy my rat poison at my price?"
"I haven't thought about it yet, but I have something I want to consult you about."
"What is it?"
"Under what circumstances would the Stone Men leave the deep sea and appear in the woods inland?"
"This question..."
Alans narrowed his cobalt blue eyes, his smile slightly pointed. "Sir, I am neither your subordinate nor your brother. I have no obligation to answer your questions."
"So you don't know the answer to the question?"
"—you want to provoke me?"
"Now I'm convinced that you really don't know the answer to the question."
Xiao Yun turned around with a look of regret.
Alans smiled with interest and said, "If you want to know why the stone man appeared inland, why not capture it and ask it? The stone man communicates with humans through consciousness, and it doesn't lie."
"You want me to—"
Swish——
Alans threw a vial.
Xiao Yun caught it.
"What's in there?"
"A medicine that can make the stone man appear before you," Alance said. "My Lord, let me give you a piece of advice. The world that our eyes can see is not the whole world. At least, it is not the whole world of ours."
"I'll also give you a piece of advice: don't underestimate humans."
"Human?"
Alans's cobalt eyes flickered suspiciously again.
"You came all the way here, not just to sell me your rat poison. What exactly do you want?"
"What do I want? I also want to know what I want to get by coming here."
Muttering, Alance put on his hood and prepared to leave.
"—Do you want to keep him?"
Lance asked.
Xiao Yun shook his head: "No need."
He looked intently at the small bottle carved from a whole piece of lapis lazuli that Alans had given him.
(LA, is the stuff in the bottle poisonous?)
[Host, don't worry. The liquid in the bottle is completely non-toxic, but it will—]
(Will attract the
[yes. ]
(I see.)
, open the cork.
Suddenly, a white liquid with a strange texture flowed out of the bottle, fell on the ground, and quickly turned into slender white vines that looked like flat patterns along the ground.
The vines continued to extend into the depths of the forest. Xiao Yun and others followed the vines into the depths of the woods until the vines stopped moving forward and began to climb up along a rock.
born.
The vines cling to the rocks, forming strange patterns. As the vines climb and cover the rocks, the rocks also stubbornly possess a special temperament called "the spirit of life", as if -
【Hello! 】
A serious voice suddenly sounded, or to be exact, the voice came directly into Xiao Yun's mind.
[Are you, are you the human they want to kill this time? ]
The "stone man" seemed to be able to speak, with a rough and stuttering voice.
(The assassins of the "Assassin's Order" are not only proficient in the use of all weapons and possess a variety of unique and terrifying poisons, but many of their members are magical creations whose forms are completely beyond human imagination and endangered ancient demons.)
Xiao Yun's mind flashed with Yaris's instructions.
But even so, looking at the "stone man" assassin in front of him, he still felt that the whole thing was a bit too unbelievable.
"—Are you an assassin from the 'Assassin's Order'?"
[You bear the mark he left on you. You are... you are... you are...]
The "stone man" suddenly "stood up". The human figure made entirely of large and small stones looked weird and funny. A red, shining eye shaped like a vortex appeared in the place where the face was suspected to be.
[I want to kill you... If I kill you, I will be praised... I will gain courage and good luck...]
"oh?"
Xiao Yun looked at the "stone man" fearlessly, and looked around, and found that several flat, paper-thin men in black had emerged from the woods at dusk.
"Are you also assassins from the 'Assassin's Order'?"
The black shadows did not speak, but walked silently towards Xiao Yun and his subordinates.
"Damn it! How dare you attack me by surprise!"
Mung roared and swung his giant sword across. The black shadow's body actually flew up like a fallen leaf in the wind, relying on the wind brought by the giant sword. It was incredibly soft, and in his hand was a slender weapon that was shining bright blue!
"careful!"
Xiao Yun shouted.
Monger jumped up nimbly to avoid the assassin's attack, but another assassin came over again. His body was also soft as if riding the wind, but he was as strong as steel and used a strange weapon that was poisoned.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen assassins appeared.
They were all slender like black shadows, and exuded a strange inhuman aura.
"Who are you? Who told you—"
"They, like me, have been ordered to kill you. If we kill you, we'll be praised... lots and lots of praise..."
The stuttering voice of the "Stone Man" reached my ears, and its huge body began to move.
Seeing this, Mengge and others hurriedly protected Xiao Yun: "Master——"
"Calm down, I know how to handle this!"
As soon as the words fell, the shadows suddenly stopped moving collectively, took a deep breath and -
Wow!
Pressing in from all directions.
The "Stone Man" also attacked from behind, and his huge body became the most terrifying shadow at the moment.
Upon seeing this, Mung and the others raised their giant swords and chopped at the "Stone Man" without hesitation!
“Hoohoo!”
“Hoohoo!”
The battle with the alien creatures was so strange and disturbing that even Xiao Yun could not think of a way to break free from the encirclement and defeat them.
During the fight, he discovered that all the shadows had extremely similar slender bodies, as if their bodies were made up of only a layer of skin except for the muscles filling the gaps between their bones, without a trace of excess fat. Rather than being human, they looked more like aliens with the genes of snakes and birds integrated into them.
Moreover, all the assassins wrapped their bodies tightly with black cloth, and their heads were completely covered except for the eyes, making them look like the evil spirit Xiao Hei in the detective comics.
Although the shapes of their weapons were different and even unheard of, the blades all flashed blue light, obviously coated with deadly poison.
(Are these assassins truly pure humans? Or are they some kind of humanoid lifeforms transformed by unknown technology or magic?)
Xiao Yun thought sadly, and suddenly stepped back and used his flexible body to step on the head of the "stone man". He took advantage of his high position to attack downwards, knocking down the weapon of one of the black shadows and taking the opportunity to capture the other party.
"Tell me! Who sent you to kill me?"
“…”
The prisoner said nothing.
The other black shadows also showed a spirit of companionship at this moment that surprised Xiao Yun - they actually stopped their actions and stepped aside because their companions were captured.
"It seems like you are very important to them."
“…”
The prisoner remained silent.
"Are you determined not to speak?"
Let him go!
The voice of the "Stone Man" resounded in his mind, as if these black shadows were the most important existence to the "Stone Man".
Seeing this, Xiao Yun signaled his subordinates to take the opportunity to attack the black shadows.
Faced with the well-trained knights led by Monger, the shadows fought and retreated, refusing to leave.
At this moment, the "Stone Man" also did something that shocked Xiao Yun.
[I can be your hostage... let him go... let him leave...]
"Why?"
【because--】
"Don't worry about me! Let's go!"
The black shadow who was captured by Xiao Yun suddenly spoke. His voice was strange, so hoarse and low as if his vocal cords had been torn.
"As assassins, you act so loyal and righteous that it makes me look like a villain!"
Xiao Yun was speechless.
But what happened next surprised Xiao Yun even more.
After hearing the words of their captured companions, the assassins, including the "Stone Man", actually turned around and retreated.
Before leaving, the shadowy figure suspected to be the leader said to Xiao Yun in their unique, husky, low voice: "If you are truly a kind and righteous person, please don't let him suffer too much before he dies. Also, don't remove his bandages before killing him. Please!"
After saying this, the black shadows disappeared into the forest without looking back. The white vines on the "stone man's" body quickly fell off and wrapped around the black shadow leader's calf and left.
Without the white vines, the "stone man" turned back into a pile of bulky stones.
"I see... the white liquid is the essence of the 'Stone Man'..."
Xiao Yun muttered to himself, looking at the captured shadow. "What are you thinking now? Your companions abandoned you, and before leaving, they even blackmailed me, demanding that I couldn't even look at your face before I killed you... You're truly a bunch of people who are beyond appreciating. You can cover your face and attack and assassinate others, but you won't allow anyone to see the face of your captive companion..."
"No... they just... you don't understand us..."
The captive made a weak and pathetic sound.
"The Assassin's Order isn't just an organization that makes a living by assassinating... We have our own beliefs..."
"Faith? I only know that your rule is to kill people if you're paid, and you won't accept any persuasion or dissuasion."
"No, it's not like that... Our world... Our organization..."
The captive suddenly raised his head and looked at Xiao Yun weakly, his eyes pitiful and helpless: "If you have mercy on me, please don't look at my face after I die... If possible, please return my body to my companions... I, I, I..."
After three quick low gasps, the prisoner's body began to gasp violently, looking as if in pain.
"You have poison in your mouth?"
"I... once we're sure we can't leave, there's only one way out, and that's death... This is our fate. We, we have no choice... We've never had a choice..."
The prisoner gasped.
Xiao Yun had always thought that the bodies of these black shadows were unusually slender and tall, but now, after a closer look, he discovered that the captive's limbs were so thin that they seemed to be just bones - as a member of the Holy Family, his body was already slender enough, but the captive's arms and legs were less than half of his.
"What modifications did your organization make to your bodies? Why did you become so thin and slender? Why can't we see your faces? Is there any other secret hidden in your faces?"
"I'm sorry, I can't tell! I—"
After another rapid breath, the captive begged, "Please end my life! Every time we go on a mission, we need to take a certain medicine to resist the damage to our bodies caused by the toxic air outside... But, if we can't return in time, the effect of the medicine will wear off and then... Every breath will cause severe pain all over the body, and the body will start to melt from the inside out. Death will only come after a long period of hellish pain... I don't want to die... So I chose to commit suicide... Unfortunately, the poison I prepared seems a bit... Ah... Kill me!"
"Owner--"
Monger looked at the prisoner in distress. "He seems to be in real pain. Should we take this opportunity to get him to reveal more information?"
"...Kill me! I, I'm just a lowly person... My body... Ah... I don't know much..."
The captives' pleading made Xiao Yun feel extremely sad.
He sighed and said to Monger, "According to the information my brother gave me, after the first assassination attempt failed, the Assassin's Order will send an envoy to contact me again. We can obtain more information from the envoy of the Order. There is no need to torture someone who is already suffering."
"Yes, sir."
"When you act, be decisive and don't let him suffer too much."
"yes."
"……Thanks!"
The prisoner's eyes flashed with a star-like light, and he whispered, "To express my gratitude to you, I'll tell you... The captain said, said that the code name of this commission is 'Emperor'... 'Emperor'..."
After saying this, the prisoner turned around and looked at Monger.
"Please kill me—"
"good."
Monger raised his greatsword and swung it down with all his might.
The prisoner's head was instantly separated from his body.
“Oh my God!”
The muscles and blood at the incision were both bluish-green, and quickly turned black upon contact with the air, emitting a faint smell of sulfur.
Moreover, because the head was separated from the body, the black bandages that were originally tightly wrapped around the body inevitably loosened. The exposed bluish-green skin immediately began to smoke and sizzle when it came into contact with the air, just like a normal person coming into contact with strong acid. It continued to fester and ooze foul-smelling pus, and the black bandages were also covered with bluish-green pus.
"No wonder their leader asked us not to look at his face before we killed him. He also begged me to kill him before removing his bandages..."
Xiao Yun sighed softly.
"Do you need to remove the bandage on your head?"
Monger asked.
Xiao Yun shook his head: "We should give life the ultimate respect."
"That--"
"Prepare some firewood and cremate his body. I think, even if he is an alien, even if he has lost his life, he would not want strangers to see his appearance corroded beyond recognition by the toxic air."
"Understood."
…
The flames burned fiercely, quickly engulfing the body placed inside.
Looking at the body gradually being engulfed by flames, Xiao Yun had some strange thoughts in his mind.
(This organization claims that their ancestors came from beyond the stars. Does this mean that they are actually descendants of aliens? Therefore, they generally have such unique and strange appearances and racial attributes that are different from ours.)
(They build cities in the mountains, have their own language, laws, beliefs, technology, and currency system, and their only regular communication with the civilized world is "assassination commissions." Have they really never thought about integrating into our civilization, or is it because of their own unique characteristics that they are completely unable to integrate into our civilization?)
(If the truth is...)
"Master, we made a mistake."
Mengge suddenly stepped forward and whispered to Xiao Yun: "'He' is a female, and very young."
"--Yeah?"
Xiao Yun sighed, looking at the corpse that continued to emit a pungent odor from the burning flames. He said softly, "I hope that in your next life you can be born on your ancestors' planet, with an appearance that matches that planet's ecology and aesthetics. You will meet the most suitable partner at the perfect time, and live an ordinary, happy, and joyful life until your natural death..."
(Codenamed "Emperor," is it Edmund? Or the Dragon Emperor?)
(And Alans… what exactly is his position… why is he obviously a high-ranking member of the Assassin's Order, yet he's trying to sell me rat poison… and what exactly is the "Stone Man"?)
"—The sun has set. The master should hurry back to the city. We will stay and wait for the assassin's companions."
"No need."
Xiao Yun glanced at the gradually darkening sky and the corpses mostly burned by the flames, and ordered, "Let's all return to the city. Since they are assassins, they must be more familiar with darkness than we are. Fighting them in the dark will only result in our men being sacrificed in vain."
"But……"
“Once they take the order, they will definitely come back to me again.”
"Master, what you said makes sense."
…
After Xiao Yun and his group left, several slender black shadows appeared beside the fire that had not yet been extinguished.
They approached the fire cautiously, looking at the broken bones and charred bodies that had not yet been burned completely, with surprise in their eyes.
They collected some wild flowers, wild fruits and fallen leaves nearby, threw them into the fire one after another, and then left as quietly as they came.
…
As daybreak approached, a brown figure appeared in front of the completely extinguished fire.
The man who called himself Alans took off his hood and stared at the broken bones in the ashes with his cobalt blue eyes, which were so intense that they reminded people of lapis lazuli, and let out a broken sigh...
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