Chapter 112: The Employment of the Baroness (Part 1)
Liu Hui's guess was correct.
Under Jiang Xia's command, Niu Hanhan burned three lower-level ashes in one night and gained three weakened magical powers: bone strengthening, self-healing, and brute force. Unfortunately, for Hanhan, who was already strong, the improvement was not obvious at all.
It hurts a bit though.
But Hanhan, who took the opportunity to have a big meal, showed with twitching lips and oily mouth that he had not reached his limit and could continue to eat.
As long as there was enough food, he could keep burning.
This made Jiang Xia even more curious about Hanhan's past.
Hanhan had obviously lost all his training. Apart from his good physique and brute strength, he had no other special features. But what was his realm before he met with disaster?
The body's endurance is surprisingly so strong.
Su was not very interested in these weird things at first, but later, unable to resist Jiang Xia's urging, he also burned one, just to experience the exotic characteristics.
Wang Liufu had seen it before. Su was an ordinary person with no spiritual roots at all. His limbs and organs had been replaced with prosthetics, and his meridians had long been severed. He had already cut off his own path of spiritual practice.
But because Su's limbs have been replaced with prosthetics and his internal organs have also been replaced, the chip in his brain can also suppress the pain nerves, making him not afraid of suffering at all.
Therefore, the whole process of burning ashes went smoothly.
With the help of a chip and prosthesis to suppress the pain, and an injection of strong anesthetic, Su was tortured by the weakened pain for three hours. According to him, after having a very confusing and terrible dream, he also gained supernatural powers.
This once again gave Jiang Xia a definite answer.
Just don't be overwhelmed by the pain.
Or use external force to reduce the pain. As long as you can hold on to the end, anyone can gain supernatural powers.
But this process is really scary.
According to Su's personal experience, even with the deep sleep brought by anesthetics, the process of burning to ashes is still like being cut into pieces.
Moreover, the dreams induced by the ashes are said to be very terrifying, a complete mental pollution. Even a warrior like Su expressed that he did not want to experience it again.
"Shua"
In the woods in the early morning, Su moved his arms, held the gun, and moved his shoulders, and a lifelike phantom clone appeared in front of him.
It's like looking in the mirror and seeing another self.
Su was very curious about controlling the phantom to jump around, just like a living person moving. This extremely unscientific but magical ability was just like giving orders with a chip.
There is no delay, it's like an innate ability.
"boom"
Jiang Xia, who had just come back from brushing his teeth, saw Su playing and also grabbed a pistol.
He raised his hand and fired a shot, destroying Su's phantom like shattered glass. The phantom gave Jiang Xia the middle finger and then disappeared on the spot.
"This magical power is useless. It can't even withstand a single shot."
Jiang Xia said to Su who opened his eyes:
"Can it carry a gun?"
"Not yet."
Su rubbed his head and said:
"But it should be able to grow with constant practice, and perhaps it will be able to carry a weapon in the future, which can be used to attract fire and create opportunities for snipers.
It works for me.”
"That's good."
Jiang Xia laughed, sorted out his personal belongings, and directed Hanhan to dismantle the tent. The new witch hunter Hake and his brothers were also helping.
The unlucky guy named Jack had his left arm exploded by soda and is still wearing a bandage.
But there was not much hatred on his face.
Because Boss Hake had just promised him that as long as he hunted another monster, he would perform the bloodline ritual on him, and he also said that the master from the East had a secret method that could greatly increase the success rate of the ritual.
This promise was enough to compensate for his broken heart.
"Which direction is that?"
Just after breakfast, he pointed to the northeast and asked his new lackey Hack. Hack scratched his head, took out a tattered map from his waist bag, looked at it, and then answered:
“Master, there is an abandoned manor at the end of this forest. It is a very dangerous place with a monster’s lair.
It has devoured many witch hunters.
Three years ago, the Witch Hunting Council issued a clear order to forbid any hunting group other than those of bloodline to go there. These few days happened to be the days after the Red Moon Dream, and the monsters there must be very restless.
We are few in number, so it is best not to go there.”
"very good."
Jiang Xia touched his chin, automatically filtered out Huck's suggestion, and said:
"We'll go there next."
The lackey was stunned for a moment, then he thought, since the master is a master, he must not be satisfied with hunting ordinary monsters. The master has his own challenges.
Isn't that abandoned manor an excellent target?
Hake immediately felt respect for Master Jiang.
He is worthy of being called a master. This kind of courage is probably what a powerful witch hunter must have. Although I am weak, I should not be in danger as long as I have the master with me.
If they could eradicate that nest, their little-known Sals hunting group would also gain great fame.
The master must be indifferent to fame and fortune and not care about these worldly matters.
But if you want to make money to support your family, it is important to build a reputation.
Thinking of this, the cowboy retracted the words of persuasion he was about to say, and without saying anything more, he turned around to pack up his equipment and prepare to set off.
But his imagination was completely wrong!
Jiang Xia's purpose of going to that manor was very simple.
Because the return star array is right there.
When he crossed the star array to come to this red moon world before, he saw the blue light shining there, which was the resonance of the star array.
It's probably similar to the situation in the wasteland. It hasn't been used for many years, causing the positioning of the return star array to deviate, but the landing point is not far away.
Soon, the team was on the road again.
Hanhan carried the tent, the ammunition box, Jiang Xia's weapons, and Jiang Xia himself...
Lao Jiang felt lazy and didn't want to walk by himself.
Just let Hanhan carry him.
Fortunately, Hanhan is strong and will not refuse this rude request as long as there is enough food.
The two cowboys also had two more cloth bags containing their brothers' ashes. Their horses had been lost in the chaos last night, so they could only walk on foot.
Su set out early and served as a scout to lead the way.
As for Liu Hui, judging from the positioning of the chip communication, the wolf demon had already run out of the forest from another direction, and was probably attacking the poor monsters with heavy punches.
With its strength as a demon general, in this spiritual world, killing those low-level monsters is as easy as chopping melons and vegetables. This is already a dimensionality reduction attack.
"There are other people ahead, a lot of them, all armed, heading in the same direction as us!"
The sudden warning in his mind made Jiang Xia look up.
Soon, Su transmitted what he saw to Jiang Xia in the form of images. From Su's perspective, it was on a road at the edge of the forest.
There is a place like a small market.
Forty or fifty people were busy there, and there was smoke rising from the extinguished campfire. It seemed as if they were dismantling their tents and preparing to leave. There was a lot of noise, and it looked both chaotic and lively.
Jiang Xia noticed that behind those people, there was a black carriage with people moving around on it, but it was a little distance away from the noisy crowd.
And these people are all dressed very similarly to Huck.
Most of them were dressed in cowboy outfits and carried the kind of guns that could be used to exorcise demons, which were basically at the level of World War I, or some that had been modified into quite exaggerated weapons.
Some of them were dressed strangely.
Some were wearing cloaks, while others were dressed like legendary wizards. Jiang Xia also saw some people wearing knight's armor and waving pennants.
There is an eerie feeling of the Middle Ages and modern times intertwined in the chaos.
"It should be a group of witch hunters who got together."
Jiang Xia had an answer in his mind. He turned his head seriously and said to Hake who was following behind him:
"My witch-hunting instinct senses that there are our companions ahead. Go ask them and come back to report to me."
"Yes, Master."
Huck responded, carrying his gun on his back, holding his command knife, and running forward with his little brother Jack, while Jiang Xia and Hanhan followed slowly behind.
He didn't plan to come forward immediately and wanted to wait and see.
So many witch hunters gathered here, definitely not to play house. They were still camping on the way to the manor. Perhaps the place they were going to was the same as their destination.
Although Jiang Xia had just come into contact with the witch hunter group, he knew from Huck's description that this was a group of people who had rules, but only followed the rules.
They are like mercenaries, with no ethics at all.
Murder, robbery, stabbing in the back, and tripping up strangers are common in this group where force is paramount.
"Su, be alert."
Jiang Xia said to Su during the communication:
"Don't get into conflict with them first..."
"boom"
Before he could finish his words, he heard the sound of weapons colliding from Su's side. Su did not send back a response, but the noisy background made Lao Jiang's eyes immediately become sharp.
"Shua"
He grabbed his fully equipped HK, jumped up from behind Hanhan, landed on the ground, pulled the safety with a click, and ran towards Su.
This group of witch hunters dare to attack actively?
That's really courageous.
——
On the other side, Master Jiang's lackey Huck also walked out of the forest with his brothers. When he saw the noisy group of guys and the flags standing in rows, he immediately understood what was going on.
This is a massive witch hunt.
It should be that many hunting groups were hired by one employer and acted in unison. This kind of thing is not uncommon in the new colony, although there are many witch hunters in this land.
But there are more ordinary people.
In addition to accepting bounties from the Witch Hunting Society to make money, witch hunters also take on tasks from ordinary people in their daily work.
Generally, they clear out monsters near the village, or help ordinary people find lost children, abducted relatives, etc. Occasionally there are big jobs, such as a monster nest suddenly appearing near the village.
Low-level witch hunters will need to cooperate.
The rewards are also shared equally.
Hack's Sals Hunting Group is just a small group of four ordinary people. They have no reputation at all. The most they deal with on a daily basis is fighting small monsters.
In this line of work, they aren't even real witch hunters, they just eat the leftovers.
But now that Huck has become a bloodline, he naturally has the confidence and is not afraid of those witch hunters who look like real witches. He walks over with his little brother Jack in a swagger.
"Hey, guys, what are you guys doing?"
He asked a man with a scar on his face, but the man glanced at him, did not answer, and continued to wipe the gun in his hand.
Huck didn't care.
Witch hunters are all like this, very arrogant and rude.
He stretched out a finger and opened it in front of the man's eyes, and as the black scales covered his finger, emitting a different kind of light, the man's indifference melted away.
With a flattering smile on his face, he immediately stood up, rubbed his hands, and said in a very mercenary way:
“Lord Bloodline, we were hired by Lady Helford to help her take back her ancestral property, which is the abandoned manor.
The Baroness was very generous this time.
Not only did he promise money, he also said that after retaking the manor, he would give everyone the demon-killing weapons left by her father as a reward.
You should also know that Baroness Helford's father, Sir Fleming, is a famous witch hunter.
Sir, did you also hear the news and come to participate in this hunt?"
"A weapon left behind by a master?"
Huck immediately became interested.
The profession of witch hunter is very dangerous. As a person who makes a living, every witch hunter desires to own a sophisticated weapon. Unfortunately, the production of demon-killing weapons is monopolized by the Vaslo Witch Hunting Society.
Apart from buying some shady weapons at high prices on the black market, one can only accept bounties from the Witch Hunting Society and accumulate merits to exchange them.
Fine products are rare.
No wonder the baroness was able to gather so many witch hunters at once.
"That's the Countess's carriage?"
Huck pointed to the big carriage behind. The mercenary man nodded and wanted to say something, but Huck ignored him and walked straight towards the carriage with Jack.
"I heard you were recruiting witch hunters?"
Huck walked to the front of the wagon and called to the old man who was packing his things with his back to him:
"As you can see, I am a bloodline, serving a true witch hunting master. If you can pay me in advance, I am willing to help you persuade the master to join your hunt."
"Hmm? A master?"
The old man who was gesturing something suddenly straightened up. The gray-haired old man, who was dressed very appropriately, like a medieval butler, narrowed his eyes.
He looked at Huck, who looked very pleased with himself, and after thinking for a moment, he said:
"Okay, we need witch hunters, the more the better. If he is really a master, then the Helford family is willing to pay in advance..."
"boom"
Before the old butler had finished his words, an explosion suddenly sounded in the nearby forest, causing a group of witch hunters to draw their weapons. Several people walked out from the flames rising into the sky.
Huck whistled and said to the old butler:
"Look, here comes the master I serve."
"Every time that sir appears, there is a roar of machinery and fire, which frightens the fainthearted. No matter how many times you watch it, it is always so shocking."
