Chapter 121 Spider
The sudden attack interrupted the man's actions and also blocked his unspoken mocking words.
He stared at the magic dagger that pierced through his chest with his eyes wide open, making a "ho ho" sound but unable to utter a single word. Blood flowed out of his throat, causing him to cough uncontrollably.
"Dengzhan, go check on the beast and subdue it if possible. First check if there are any survivors among the tumors."
Pulling out the dagger that had stabbed into the enemy's back, Delphinium mercilessly kicked him to the ground, tied the man up with magic thread, and then directly cast several Favor runes on the man's body, forming a forbidden magic: "Let me interrogate this guy."
"Okay." Dengzhan nodded, driving his magic power into the air, and rushed straight towards the pupa in the sky.
Soon, the roars of the remaining beasts and the explosions of magic power merged into one. Obviously, a battle had also begun in the sky.
Delphinium looked up at the battle above, then lowered her head and looked at the man she had tied to the ground with an extremely cold gaze: "Name, identity, purpose."
"Oh...oh..." However, the man was unable to answer. The blood in his throat was still gushing out. He opened his mouth wide, stared with his eyes, and gasped for breath. It seemed that he was about to die.
He looked quite miserable, but Delphinium had no sympathy or empathy for him at all. She just looked at him quietly.
Since entering this lair, everything she has seen and known has pointed to the same fact - that the man in front of her is a complete villain. Such a person does not deserve any sympathy.
She just stared at the man on the ground without saying a word.
Dozens of seconds later, looking at the man who still looked like he was dying but still seemed to be struggling to survive, Delphinium spoke again: "Have you had enough of acting?"
This sentence seemed to be a signal. The man on the ground looked at her for a while, and finally stopped making meaningless sounds. Instead, he raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said, "You are smarter than her, young lady."
"This is the first time I've heard of a human being who can defeat a Rei-level magical girl, but my intuition tells me that such a person shouldn't be in this state after having his heart pierced."
Delphinium said coldly: "Now, I give you two choices. Tell me where the missing magical girl is and what you are planning. You can get a chance to commit suicide or be killed by me. Or refuse to answer my questions. The magic kingdom has many ways to make you speak, but you may not be able to have a relatively stable death."
The man relaxed his wide eyes and stared at the delphinium in silence for a long time. After a slight pause, he breathed a sigh of relief: "What a pity, I don't like leggings."
His words made Delphinium stunned for a moment, and after a moment, she gradually realized what he was talking about, and then looked down at her skirt.
"You don't seem to want a peaceful death?"
Delphinium asked, then squatted down while holding her skirt. The magic thread condensed into a dagger in her hand. She stretched out the dagger and pointed it at the man's eyes: "Or do you want me to do something inhumane before you are willing to answer my questions?"
"I don't want to waste my time with scumbags, so I don't want to hear any more useless nonsense from you. Tell me your choice in three seconds, or this dagger will poke your eyes out."
"one."
"two."
The man tried to turn his head to the side, but the magic thread had already firmly fixed his body, making it impossible for him to move at all. "You are really ruthless, much more cruel than those magical girls who came to see me before."
Chi! "Ah!"
The dagger passed through the man's eye socket and directly cut open his lower eyelid, causing him to scream on the spot.
"Your eyes were saved, but your nonsense caused you to suffer more pain."
Delphinium removed the dagger: "Now, name, identity, purpose."
The man panted for a long time before speaking weakly, "Spider, Cinder Guard, collect nutrients."
"Explain the words you're saying, and don't speak to me in riddles." Delphinium narrowed her eyes.
"You don't know?" Hearing what Cuiqiao said, the man was slightly stunned, and then his eyes wandered over her face, revealing a somewhat inexplicable smile, "Interesting, it's really like the code name that Bud-level called you, a caged bird as the name suggests."
Delphinium raised the dagger and slashed the corner of his mouth.
"Hmm!" The man couldn't help but groan again.
"You're using my code name to provoke me, are you trying to irritate me?"
Throwing the dagger aside, the magic thread condensed into a new dagger, and Kuei-Jin raised her voice slightly: "I don't mind you continuing to do this, but time is limited. I hope you won't talk so much nonsense, otherwise my promise will become empty talk by the time the interrogation is over."
"…Spider is my code name."
Seeing that Kusanagi was completely unmoved by his provocation, the man finally said honestly, "My identity is the Palace Guard, so I have my own code name."
"Palace Guards? Is this your status and position?" Cuique asked coldly.
"The army before the court, the guards before the palace, the servants before the king"
The man gasped and uttered three words: "This is not a secret. Especially for your investigation department, it should have been information on the table."
Delphinium raised the dagger without a word, and the man shrank his head: "I know! I say! Don't do it!"
Seeing that Cuiqiao had put down her hand again, he breathed a sigh of relief and continued to explain: "The three identities are arranged from low to high. The lowest level is the Jin Army, followed by the Jin Guard, and the highest level is the Jin Servant."
"The Jin Army in front of the court are the most common members. They don't have their own code names, only numbers. For example, among my subordinates, the Jin Army who are dedicated to fighting are prefixed with "bingzhu", and with the number, they are Bingzhu one, Bingzhu two..."
"And the Palace Guards can get their own code names and serve as mid-level personnel, managing a portion of the Jin Army."
"The king's former servant is the person closest to the core of power and is synonymous with powerful strength. He often controls an entire area."
"An entire district?"
His words made Cuiqiao realize something, and she pressed him, "Is the southern part of Donghua Prefecture considered a district?"
"Of course I do." The man codenamed Spider sneered, "But I don't know exactly how many areas there are. This is not something we, the Ember Guards, can know."
"So who is the leader of Black Dawn in this area?" Delphinium stared into his eyes.
"I don't know." Spider smiled.
A cold light flashed, and another wound appeared on his abdomen.
"ah!"
He cried out in pain again, but this time he did not tell the truth like before. Instead, he said with cold sweat on his face: "I... can't say it."
"Can't tell?"
Delphinium frowned slightly, "Perhaps I should stab somewhere more painful next time to help you remember?"
"It's not... memories, it's me... I can't say it, I can't do it."
The spider spoke incoherently, his face flushed, "I can't tell the magical girl his name. This is his order, and I can't disobey."
"If you disobey your superior's orders, you will die. If you refuse to answer my questions here, you will also die. Which one do you think is better?"
Delphinium asked calmly, "Perhaps you could describe the price you pay for disobeying orders, and I'll try to go a little further than your superiors."
"I, I've already said...we can't disobey our superiors."
The spider continued panting, "Just like low-level beasts cannot defy high-level beasts, this is the hierarchy of life, a ladder that cannot be crossed."
"You mean to say that your superiors' orders to you are absolute and have nothing to do with your will?"
Delphinium raised her eyebrows: "Similar to a crippled beast? Do you really think of yourselves as crippled beasts?"
"As if that were the case? The power of beasts is the ladder for our advancement. What's wrong with climbing the path of human power?"
After the pain, Spider's voice gradually calmed down: "You magical girls will never understand."
"I don't intend to understand the monster's thoughts, I just want to know what you did."
Delphinium was unmoved: "Go on, explain your purpose clearly, what exactly is 'collecting nutrients'?"
"That is, to find food for the beasts."
The spider looked up at the sky, watching the spider beast that was fighting with the lantern and was clearly at a disadvantage. A gloomy look flashed in his eyes: "The beast can devour all life with magic power. Even the most stupid ordinary people have a little magic power in their bodies. Although it is only better than nothing, it can accumulate into a lot."
"And if we want to improve efficiency, we should find food with stronger magic power, such as other beasts, such as the magic power source of fairies, such as..."
At this point, his eyes glanced at Delphinium's collar, looking at the heart gem that appeared and disappeared on her neck, he swallowed and said, "The source of your magic power."
Delphinium was silent for a long time.
She stared at the spider for a long time before she spoke again: "You really are a bunch of beasts."
It is not difficult to understand what the spider said. In other words, the "nutrients" they are looking for are essentially all life with magic power. Whether it is humans, fairies, magical girls, or cannibalism with other remnants of the same species, it is an existing fact.
“This is the reality of this world.”
The spider said indifferently: "Without the power to protect yourself, you will be devoured one day."
"Are you responsible for all the disappearances of magical girls in Donghua Province in the past two years?"
Delphinium tightly grasped the dagger in her hand: "Where are the investigation team that came to Bai'an City before?"
"All of us? Who knows, but if it's Baian City, it should be me who did it."
The spider stared blankly at the sky, a smile on his face: "It's a pity that I couldn't catch those new magical girls here. I just trapped that troublesome Lei-level and you came. Otherwise, when I kill her, all the heart gems in this city will belong to me."
"You won't get this chance again."
Delphinium said coldly: "Tell me where the investigation team is, and I will give you a quick death."
"Investigation team? Ah, you're still talking about those stupid magical girls who questioned me a few days ago."
Spider's eyes wandered, gradually focusing on Delphinium's face. "You have been asking me about their whereabouts since the beginning. Why? Do my colleagues in the Investigation Institute really concern you that much? Cornflower?"
Delphinium's breathing was slightly sluggish.
Although his words were inquiries, he was not asking questions to Delphinium. When he reported the code name "Cornflower", he used an extremely affirmative tone.
Dengzhan had called out Delphinium before, so he had reason to know the code name "Delphinium". But no one had ever mentioned the code name Cornflower to this man.
It is possible that the Cat Tail Squad had mentioned this code name before, but why? What reason did they have to mention themselves in front of this man?
"You seem to still know me?"
Delphinium lowered her voice and raised the dagger once more: "Very good, now you have one more thing to explain. I hope the answer to this question will satisfy me as well."
"I know you, and it's not surprising, young lady, that you seem a little misled about your own popularity."
Zhu raised his eyes slightly: "But I am very surprised that the Investigation Institute actually let you investigate this matter, and you came to me so quickly. This is indeed beyond my expectations."
"I'll say it again, don't talk nonsense." Delphinium put the dagger to his jaw.
"I'm not talking nonsense. I'm telling the truth."
Spider suddenly locked eyes with Delphinium, looking seriously into her eyes: "I just want to tell you that you were not originally my prey."
Delphinium looked at him without hesitation, but there was a raging fire burning in her cold gaze, as if she wanted to burn the person in front of her to ashes.
She said no more words, but pushed the dagger upwards.
But this time, the dagger failed to penetrate the spider's skin.
"...Look, I told you, I'm not talking nonsense."
Zhu's face, which was originally extremely pale due to blood loss, showed a little more color. He grinned again, but this time with a bit of coldness: "You talk too much nonsense, young lady."
"——Delphinium-senpai!"
The next moment, a scream from the lantern was heard from high in the sky.
Almost at the same time when she heard the two voices, Kuija felt a sense of crisis as if a thorn was on her back. She immediately let go of the dagger in her hand, and the magic suit instantly turned into a square protective shell, completely protecting herself inside.
Then, purple-black magic power surged in from the sky, and flesh and blood threads appeared from nowhere and coiled down from the sky, tightly wrapping around the protective shell of the magic suit that Delphinium was in.
A white spider several meters tall hung from the air on a silk thread, slowly descended next to the spider, then picked up its own limbs and put the spider on its back.
The spider sat on the back of the white spider, suddenly looked up at the sky again, and muttered to himself: "Okay, your mission is accomplished."
As his words fell, the pupa-level beast that was originally hanging on the huge spider web and fighting with the lantern suddenly howled, and its body, which was already riddled with holes, collapsed in an instant and fell straight into the web it had woven.
The man codenamed Spider stood up from the back of the white spider and reached out to grab his neck, but the forbidden magic technique suddenly bounced his hand away, leaving a look of displeasure on his face.
However, he quickly put aside these slight unhappiness. He looked at the Jade Bird trapped in the magic suit in front of him and spoke again:
"You see, I really didn't say nonsense. As I said, the orders of the high-level cripple beasts are absolute to the low-level cripple beasts."
These words made Cuiqiao, who was about to change into her magic form again and cut the flesh web around her, pause.
"A high-level remnant beast..." She raised her head and looked at the spider after realizing something. "I was wondering why this nest didn't look like a pupa's nest from the beginning."
"Your intuition is really sharp."
The spider sitting on the white spider's back gently stroked the remnant under him: "The pupa-level remnant can command the larvae and eggs gathered in its nest, so why can't the pupa itself be commanded?"
As if in response to his words, the spider beast beneath him raised its head and chirped again toward the sky. Then, the huge spider that had landed on the spider web began to tremble all over, and after a few twitches, it became completely motionless.
"That beast is not the culprit of this incident at all. It is just a tool."
After looking up, Delphinium lowered her head and stared at the spider, saying, "You just controlled it, borrowed its nest, and turned its nest into a tool for your hunting."
The spider smiled.
"You keep asking me where those stupid magical girls are."
He opened his mouth, twisted his hand violently, and dug out a piece of purple-black flesh from the back of the white spider beast amid its hissing.
The purple-black flesh was still throbbing after it had separated from the remnant beast. Spider looked at the flesh with an infatuated look, and then slowly pressed it against his chest:
"The answer will be revealed by yourself."
"This is the time to eradicate traitors and suppress rebellion."
(End of this chapter)
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