NOVEL WEB chapter 31
31
Several days passed again.
Tick-tock… Inside a pitch-black cave sat a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to Ger Mu chanting unknown demonic phrases towards a black altar as though conducting some strange ritual.
Next to the altar lay a burly man who slowly opened his eyes in confusion. He was none other than Shan Pao who had attempted to rob Gu Ming two days ago. Looking around at his unfamiliar surroundings and noticing his bound limbs he felt eerily out of place; his memory still stuck on events from several days ago.
He only remembered that two days prior their trio had suffered defeat at Gu Ming’s hands so they decided to continue their usual banditry in the southwest. But who could have predicted the unexpected twist of fate? A few days ago, they were robbing as usual when they encountered a very strange person. This man was wrapped tightly in a black cloak, and the unknown aura emanating from him made the trio feel extremely uneasy.
Having learned their lesson from Gu Ming’s previous teachings, they decided to be more cautious and agreed it would be best to keep their distance. Just as they were preparing to retreat without provoking him…
The figure seemed to have noticed them, suddenly emitting waves of black mist that enveloped the three of them. They didn’t even have a chance to resist before they passed out.
Then time brought us to the present, with Shan Pao struggling hard to break free from the iron chains binding his limbs.
Feis spoke with some dissatisfaction,
“If you don’t want to die so quickly, stop moving around.”
Shan Pao looked at Feis and asked loudly,
“Where’s my brother?”
Feis stroked the scythe in his hand and answered indifferently,
“I’ve taken care of him.”
Shan Pao glanced up at the altar and immediately saw his brothers Gang Pao and Tie Pao. He yelled at their still bleeding bodies,
“Gang Pao, Tie Pao! Ah! Ah!”
Seeing his brothers’ tragic deaths, Shan Pao was uncontrollably furious. He mustered all his strength in a desperate attempt and miraculously broke free from the iron chains.
“Come get me!”
The breaking of chains did not cause any panic on Feis’s face. He just said hoarsely,
“Sigh! Why bother? I’m doing this for your own good; I’m helping you leave this sinful world sooner. If you won’t thank me that’s fine but why resist me? Sigh!”
“You’re talking nonsense! We don’t know each other; why did you kill my brothers?”
Shan pounced towards Feis throwing punches but only managed to injure himself without even touching a thread on Feis’s clothes.
Feis flicked off fresh blood from his blade then continued stroking it saying,
“Do you know why my blade is called Soul Reaper? Its crescent shape reaps souls while its sharp edge takes lives. It’s like a magical harvester reaping all sins in this world. Look at it; isn’t it enchanting?”
Seeing him still talking to himself, Shan Pao seized the opportunity to pick up a long knife from the corner and charged at him again, shouting,
“Who the hell are you?”
Phis remained silent, merely smiling at him in a manner that was eerily unsettling.
With a clink, Phis caught the long knife single-handedly. The Soul-Seeking Knife plunged straight into Shan Pao’s heart. Shan Pao immediately spat out a mouthful of black blood and looked at his bat tattoo in terror, gasping,
“Ugh… you’re a demon.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Shan Pao fell to the ground and could no longer open his eyes. He was dead.
“Sigh… this chain is indeed too old,” Phis mused aloud. “A mere fourth-tier child managed to break free from it. But it did provide me with some amusement to pass the time. The fury of witnessing a loved one’s death is truly delightful… hehehe…”
Suddenly, Phis seemed to sense something.
“Hehehe… fresh little mice have come knocking on my door.”
Phis licked his lips and leapt away.
Not long after Phis left, several black tentacles emerged from the altar behind him. They wrapped around the bodies of Shan Pao and his companions which were quickly sucked dry by mouths on the tentacles until they turned into ashes and disappeared from this world…
…
Mia looked around at the withered trees and crows feeling an eerie silence that was too quiet for comfort. She hadn’t encountered any magical beasts along her journey which was highly unusual; this instantly put her on high alert and she decided to leave this place as soon as possible.
Sensing that his prey was about to escape in distance, Phis naturally wouldn’t let her go so easily; he began chanting an incantation causing a massive magic circle to light up covering hundreds of miles radius – clearly showing that he had prepared this trap for quite some time now.
At the edge of the magic circle Mia saw trees around her morphing into tree demons. She cursed her luck under her breath.
She picked up her magic wand and prepared to fight back. Elemental magic splashed everywhere – ice cones, fireballs, stone giants; various spells were cast one after another. An ordinary third-tier magician would have been drained dry by now but Mia could afford to cast spells so freely thanks to her Eternal Heart.
Eternal Heart: It possesses ten times or even dozens of times the magical power of an average magician with a guaranteed minimum of tenfold; the rest depends on personal development.
Mia’s current magical power was twenty times that of a normal magician – she was highly gifted which was why
As expected, a black magic circle appeared out of thin air. After the thick smoke cleared, a giant bat transformed by Fis flew towards Mia to bite her.
Mia hurriedly summoned a light barrier for protection. Fortunately, this clone was only at the fourth level, and with her own Eternal Heart, Mia still had the power to fight it.
“What on earth is this thing? It’s really troublesome. Luckily there’s no one around here. I have no choice but to use that move: Demonic Thunder.”
Demonic Thunder as a system-distributed skill naturally had its special features. It didn’t have any ranks and would only become stronger with the user’s power.
Mia’s attack of Demonic Thunder directly reached the fourth level; black thunder instantly swept around her. The black bat and tree spirit immediately turned into fragments and disappeared on the spot.
“Interesting! Very interesting! You’re an elf… No, more accurately you should be called half-elf… And yet you possess our demonic spells… That’s really interesting! Can you tell me about it?”
Upon hearing this voice, Mia looked up at Fis whose sudden appearance put immense pressure on her.
“Fifth level… No sixth level…”
Fis looked at Mia indifferently; seeing that she didn’t respond he quickly lost interest in her.
“If you won’t talk then die!”
The scythe was unsheathed; Mia felt an intense chill and dared not take it lightly. She gathered all of her magical power and launched another Demonic Thunder attack towards Fis.
Fis looked somewhat surprised at the black thunder falling from the sky; he raised his scythe to release a blade aura in response – two forces collided head-on!
Mia gasped for breath while looking at that huge pit: “Did I kill him?”
Suddenly behind Mia appeared a purple bat which bit into her left shoulder causing injury
Despair filled Mia’s heart, her eyelids couldn’t stop twitching.
“Am I going to die here? I can’t accept this… I haven’t even had a child for my brother yet… Am I seeing my life flash before my eyes? It seems like my brother is getting closer and closer to me. My brother is so handsome, just like a prince…”
Gu Ming hugged the collapsing Mia in panic and quickly checked her status in the system:
Name: Mia
Race: Half-elf
Level: 39
Occupation: Magician
Status: Poisoned, Weak
“Mia, wake up, please wake up. I’m sorry I arrived late,” Gu Ming pleaded.
He held a purple bat in his hand, the dark absorption magic continuously draining the creature’s magical energy to restore Mia’s own power and physical strength.
Her body and magical energy were rapidly recovering, but Mia remained unconscious.
Seeing no effect, Gu Ming turned his attention to inspecting the purple bat.
Name: Purple Jade Bat
Race: Demon Clan
Occupation: Familiar
Level: 5 (Originally Level 7)
Skills: Purple Moon Dreamland (Can trap victims in a dreamlike state from which it is difficult to awaken), Purple Moon Vibration (Can emit powerful sound waves with its wings), Duplication, Blood Fang…
Realizing that Mia was merely trapped in a dream state and not in mortal danger, Gu Ming felt somewhat relieved. Looking at the massive pit ahead of him he instructed Tina,
“Tina, take Mia away from here.”
Tina knew she couldn’t be of much help; staying here would only be a burden.
“Master Brother Gu Ming,” she cautioned. “Be careful.”
Gu Ming nodded. Tina activated her Star Flash ability and carried Mia away from the area.
In the direction of the giant pit was not only where Mia had unleashed her magic earlier but also where Gu Ming had thrown one of his spells as well. However due to an oversight on his part ,Mia had been bitten by that Purple Jade Bat .
It wasn’t entirely his fault though; detecting a once level seven familiar using stealth was quite challenging for someone at level five like him.