Chapter 204: The chess game of the devil's followers, the black knight's token

The memory palace, where sunlight shines through the dome's stained glass windows into the magnificent library.

Next to the towering wall of books, Yeats sat on a chair at the top of a high ladder, flipping through the records about the "Dancing Plague", his eyes flickering slightly.

In medieval Europe, during Yeats's previous life, there was a large-scale outbreak of a virus called "Holy Fire Disease". After the onset of the disease, the patient's limbs and muscles twitched, the whole body was numb, and then the muscles gradually rotted and peeled off until death, the scene was horrible.

The cause of the disease is a fungus called ergot that parasitizes rye. When cereal plants are infected with ergot, they produce this hallucinogenic and even lethal toxin. In the Middle Ages, when food was scarce and medical knowledge was lacking, ergot poisoning claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The Dancing Plague had the same cause as the Holy Fire Disease: ergot poisoning, which caused hallucinations and made people dance wildly and tirelessly.

In the atrium, a world with supernatural powers, demons, curses, evil spirits... can all drive a town into madness. The cause of the dancing plague is far from as simple as ergot poisoning.

Yeats closed the book and murmured to himself, "The tranquilizing song of Pan's Flute can effectively restrain this dancing plague and help me find the Red Shoes."

"But my identity is special. This time I am dealing with the witches and the church, so it is better for me to wear a vest."

The 'Thousand-Change Mask' bestowed by Daisy herself is just right for the current situation.

Yeats closed his eyes, and his consciousness withdrew from the memory palace. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the study in the palace.

Grey would often borrow this study. Thick legal documents were placed on the bookcases and her reading notes were left in the drawers, which showed how hard she worked.

In addition, there are a bunch of low-ring scrolls in the drawer, which should have been stuffed into the drawer after Snowy Owl was completed.

Ye Zhi stared at the scroll, and heard Fei Tan's slow complaints in his ears: "Every time I see it, I am surprised that a king-level monster would actually consider how humans can earn gold coins."

Ye Zhi smiled slightly. This was a scroll drawn by a high-level wizard. It was of outstanding quality and would have no trouble selling.

"Owls, they should eat snakes, right?"

Ye Zhi thought to herself, "It just so happens that there is a plot location in Jianhe County that is related to the Fire Wing Ancient Snake. I will use this ancient snake to add to the Snow Owl's meal!"

After deciding on today's itinerary, Ye Zhi felt a faint fluctuation of magic power coming from the space bag, and took out and held a hot ancient coin.

Multiple communications were transmitted simultaneously within the magic net.

Ye Zhi connected to the Ghost Society channel which was similar to a chat room, and the mist formed by magic power condensed into words before his eyes.

"Ferryman: Is there anyone who wants to go with me to investigate the Dancing Plague incident in Sternberg?"

"Fisherman: You really can't take a break, Mr. Ferryman."

"Blood Eagle: Dancing Plague, huh? Even my people have heard about it, but the one sent there was not the Knight Commander, but the Inquisitor."

After these days of screen spying, Yeats secretly deduced the identities of some members of the Ghost Society.

For example, the "Fisherman" should be Nash, the fisherman who always comes up empty-handed and whom I have met once.

The Blood Eagle is most likely the management of the Blood Eagle Knights.

The Knights believe in the Black Knight, the god of tactics and strategy, and the Blood Eagles are most likely followers of the Black Knight.

Looking at the chat text, Ye Zhi was a little surprised that Cran was also involved in this operation.

Wherever this detective went, murders occurred. Yeats felt quite pressured traveling with him.

"I won't inform Mr. Crane. I will just go with Gray and Zuanya this time."

Ye Zhi thought to himself, "Before setting off, I will first go find the Fire Wing Ancient Snake and try to obtain the Black Knight's token. I will then use the token to meet the Black Knight's incarnation!"

The ancient snake is a follower of the Lord of Wrath among the seven demon kings of hell.

According to legend, the Lord of Wrath, who was cursed by God, held a grudge against him, so he sneaked into the Garden of Eden and transformed himself into a snake, tempting humans to commit original sin.

Therefore, rage does not refer only to the emotion of anger. In The Divine Comedy, Dante describes this crime as "the perversion of the love of justice into revenge and hatred."

In the original plot, this ancient fire-winged snake living in Jianhe County intends to lure passers-by into committing crimes of rage, and its method is so strange that it actually sets up a chess game.

It is worth mentioning that the devil who was killed by Hildreth with a chessboard was also a believer of the Lord of Wrath.

At that time, Hildur was indeed furious, but the devil had long since died...

Ancient snakes would often use gold, silver, jewelry, rare treasures and exotic herbs as stakes, and use magical words to lure passers-by to play chess with them.

Pedestrians are usually no match for them, and after losing the game of chess, they gradually become too angry, and eventually completely lose their minds and become zombies controlled by rage, and become the ancient snake's meal.

Put yourself in his shoes. When Yeats was playing chess and someone was blocking him, or someone was pointing fingers at him, he would also be furious! Ancient Snake’s chess game is usually King’s Chess, and Yeats’s attainments in King’s Chess are second only to the Black Knight.

Ye Zhi thought to himself, "Let's play two games of chess with the Fire Wing Ancient Snake and see who gets anxious first!"

*The warm sunshine of early summer illuminates a lush old tree. Not far from the old tree is a clear river where villagers from nearby often come to fish.

According to his memory, Yeats flew to the vicinity of the river on the wings of the Muse of Poetry. He looked around and soon noticed the ancient tree that exuded a cold and gloomy atmosphere.

The Wings of Poetry can fly short distances, but if you want to fly to the Brocken Mountain, the Wings of Poetry alone will definitely not be enough.

If Radish could obtain the blessing of the Black Knight and thus have the ability to fly, it could function as a flying pet.

"Aren't we going to Broken Hill? Why are we here?" Zuanya stood on Ye Zhi's shoulder and asked curiously.

"Come here and catch an ancient snake!"

Zuan Ya was slightly startled, only to see Yeats restrain his breath, take out the lyre made from a musical instrument brooch, and sit beside the clear lake to play.

The music is melodious.

There was a rustling noise in the trees.

Zuan Ya looked in the direction of the sound and saw a blood-red python coiled around an ancient tree, hissing and spitting out its tongue, with a pair of wings behind it.

Soon, Zuanya identified the origin of the python and couldn't help feeling a little surprised.

In a place like this, one can actually see the devil's followers.

The ancient snake's blood-red body was covered with black stripes, and its pair of yellow eyes emitted a deep and brilliant light. It spoke in human language, "Young man passing by, please have mercy on me and listen to my request."

Ye Zhi glanced at the drill on his shoulder and signaled it not to expose itself.

Immediately, Ye Zhi took half a step forward and pretended to be frightened.

“Please don’t be afraid.” The ancient snake seemed to have known that Ye Zhi would have such a reaction, and explained, “I was originally a human, but because of the curse, I became what I am now.”

The fear on Ye Zhi's face eased a little, and he said, "So, what is your request?"

Deep in the ancient snake's eyes, a human cunning was revealed, which did not escape Ye Zhi's eyes. He said in a gentle voice: "I would like to invite you to play a game of chess with me."

"As long as you can defeat me who is giving my all, you can lift the curse for me, and the ruby ​​in the tree hole will be yours."

Under the control of the ancient snake's levitation technique, a chess piece carved from ruby ​​floated out of the tree hole, flashed past Ye Zhi's eyes, and then flew back to the tree hole.

This chess piece is the token of the Black Knight. With the help of the power brought by this chess piece, the ancient snake is always invincible in the game of chess.

Ye Zhi's thoughts raced, and a look of excitement appeared on his face, which made the ancient snake's voice seem even more intimate:

"Even if I lose, I won't ask anything of you. That's a good deal for you, isn't it?"

Ye Zhi nodded and said, "I agree, let's get started!"

A hint of pride appeared in the ancient snake's eyes. It climbed down from the ancient tree, then coiled its body and tail together, holding its head high.

In front of it, a chess table created by magic power appeared. The chess pieces on the table had already been placed. It picked up a chess piece with its invisible "magic hand" and said with a smile, "Then, I'll go first?"

After five rounds.

The ancient snake put away the contempt in his eyes, looked deeply at the silver-haired boy sitting in front of him with a focused face, and said secretly.

It seems that this is a high-end game, so we need to be more serious...

After ten rounds.

The ancient snake's body was shaking, and it was beginning to panic. Looking at the disadvantageous situation, it was horrified.

What's wrong with this kid? His chess skills are as if he had received personal instruction from the Black Knight? "What's wrong with you? Are you going to remove the curse?" Ye Zhi urged, "Hurry up!"

The ancient snake felt ashamed and angry. As a follower of the demon god, he made his living by playing chess. How could he lose to this young boy? He was extremely focused and threw himself into the chess game to fight with Ye Zhi. The solemnity in his heart gradually turned into despair.

At the chess table, defeat is already decided.

The ancient snake stared at the chess table, his eyes were red and he was roaring in his heart.

How is this possible? He must have cheated! Otherwise, how could I lose the game?

On the surface, Gu She made his voice as gentle as possible, suppressing his anger, and said, "How about we play another round?"

Ye Zhi asked curiously, "Didn't I say that if I win one round against you, the curse will be lifted? Why do I need to play a second round?"

Please...collect 6...9...books...!

Gu She gritted his teeth and said, "I didn't play at my best in that game, so it doesn't count!"

"All right, but you have to raise the stakes," said Yeats.

"How to add?" Gu She vaguely felt that the word sounded familiar.

In the past, I should be the one to say this, right? "If I win, you have to swear to Mammon that you will give me half of your wealth." Ye Zhi smiled slightly, "Do you accept this condition?"

"You are a businessman?" the ancient serpent said in surprise, "and a pagan businessman who believes in Mammon!"

Yeats smiled but said nothing.

Mammon, in the business circle, means the god of wealth, but under the severe crackdown of the church, only a very small number of businessmen believe in him.

Few people know that among the seven demons of hell, the demon who is in charge of the sin of greed is also Mammon.

As a follower of hell, the ancient snake swore an oath to the greedy demon, and the binding force of the oath is extremely strong.

It just thought that Yeats made it swear to Mammon by accident, but it felt a little scared in its heart.

If I lose the next round, I will suffer a huge loss!

However, it is still acceptable to lose only half of the wealth, but I really cannot accept losing the game!

There was anger in the ancient snake's voice: "Okay, I raise the bet!"

After ten rounds.

This time, Gu She lost even more miserably than last time. He stared at the chaotic chess game and murmured in disbelief:

"How is this possible? Are you a chess master?"

Ye Zhi did not answer Gu She's question, and said, "Again? But you have to raise the stakes."

“Come again!” The ancient snake’s eyes seemed to be spitting flames, and he shouted angrily, “I just don’t believe that I can’t beat you in even one round!”

He was so happy while drilling his teeth that he covered his mouth and laughed.

Even the followers of the demon god were getting angry. Ye Zhi, you are worthy of being me! It was another clean game, and the ancient snake lost the game again.

It stood there in a daze, with numbness and trance in its eyes, as if it was doubting itself.

"Mammon, it's time for you to fulfill your oath," Yeats reminded.

The ancient snake looked at Ye Zhi with full humiliation and hatred, and then summoned a small dimensional channel.

From this plane channel, the cold breath of hell was revealed. It took out a small space bag worth one thousand gold coins and threw it directly to Ye Zhi: "Here you go!"

Ye Zhi was stunned, and then overjoyed.

This snake is unexpectedly rich! If it weren't for this chess game, it would be impossible to get the ancient snake's wealth, which is enough to show that the gambler has nothing.

Yeats vowed secretly:

"I, Ye, will never reconcile with gambling and drugs!"

He took a quick look at the space bag, which contained a lot of valuable jewelry, a rare quality "Snake-wrapped Cane" with a healing enchantment, and a red agate gem that could help extraordinary people learn the "anger magic".

The spell of anger can be combined with Yeats's spell of 'adding bad words'. It can make the opponent's blood pressure rise rapidly while mocking him. It is possible to scold him to cause cerebral hemorrhage or heart disease.

With the wealth gained from the devil's followers, his signature spell 'Bad Words' was further strengthened.

Yeats nodded with satisfaction.

The ancient snake's eyes shone dimly. The oath did not stipulate that he could not take back the wealth! Before it attacked, Ye Zhi quickly pulled out the Eclipse Pistol, and the Moonlight Bullet vented out!

Sneak attack!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Amidst the hail of bullets, the ancient snake screamed angrily: "You deceived me, human, you are a Moonlight believer!"

Ye Zhi was startled, and quickly changed his words, speaking righteously:

"That's right, I will represent Moonlight and destroy you, the villain!"

The eyes of the Fire Winged Ancient Snake shot out a ball of red light containing furious divinity, but it was dispersed by Zuanya's wave of his hand. The ancient snake was startled and stared at the little squirrel in disbelief.

As it hesitated, a snowy owl swooped down from mid-air with a biting cold wind.

King-level monster! The Fire Wing Ancient Snake suddenly felt thorny.

At the same moment, Ye Zhi drew his bow and shot the arrow into the sky.

Immediately, hundreds and thousands of fire dragon arrows turned into a rain of arrows, pouring down from the sky!

Wild Hunt's blessing, thousands of arrows are fired at once! The Fire Winged Ancient Snake looked up, the rain of arrows reflected in his pupils, his eyes were full of fear!

This is a combat skill that a low-level transcendent can perform?! There is no escape route at all, it is completely covered by arrows! Swish! Swish! Swish! After the comprehensive fire attack, the Fire Wing Ancient Snake was covered with wounds, horrified and desperate, but still gasping for breath.

The snowy owl swooped down from the sky and took the head of the fire-winged ancient snake.

Ye Zhi nodded with satisfaction: "Arrows are raining down, how wonderful!"

Zuanya recalled the rain of arrows just now, and there was also some surprise in his eyes.

The power of this blessing is so strong that it can even harm a fourth-ring being. It is truly extraordinary.

This is enough to show that Yeats possesses the divinity that is compatible with this blessing.

But this blessing seemed to come from the King of the Wild Hunt? Zuanya was a little puzzled. How could Ye Zhi be related to him? Zuanya scratched his head, and saw Ye Zhi pick up the ruby ​​chess piece and lean over to draw a chessboard-shaped magic circle on the ground.

"What are you doing?" asked Diaoya curiously.

"Use this token to pray for the Black Knight to descend incarnate."

Yeats explained: "I have some friendship with her. She may be able to give some constructive advice before Walpurgis Night."

Zuan Ya was startled, then his eyes widened.

How come you are friends with everyone?

(End of this chapter)