Volume 1: Stranger in a Strange Land Chapter 16 The Black Swordsman
William had seen this man at the Dogtooth Tavern.
He had been sitting alone in a corner of the pub drinking, seemingly the only one drinking there.
And this person had been staring at him since he entered the door.
Was it because of the money? Because he acted like a rich man in the pub, he was followed by greedy people.
But wouldn't it be too exaggerated to come and rob with a giant sword as big as a door panel?
Besides, this kind of development of the plot in another world is too cliché.
"Any questions?"
As his thoughts flowed, William still looked relaxed and asked.
"The territory of the Miners' Brotherhood was no longer here a long time ago. It is now just an abandoned mine."
The man replied.
William looked at the tall and thin man named Wilson beside him with some surprise. The other party was staring at the mysterious swordsman and trembling all over as if he was extremely frightened.
"What's in the mine?"
William asked Wilson.
"Nothing."
The one who answered his question was the swordsman holding the huge black iron sword.
He walked slowly forward, talking as he walked.
"The mine has been blocked, and the man next to you brought two people into this empty mine today, and in the end he was the only one who came out."
"You're lucky."
He stopped about ten steps away and said to William.
"Not being the third one today."
After saying this, he threw the cloak that was hindering his movement behind him, bent his waist, held the sword in both hands, and rushed forward in one step.
The distance of ten steps was shortened in an instant, and the exaggeratedly large black iron sword in his hand was swung out the moment he rushed over, and slashed towards Wilson's neck.
Logically speaking, Wilson's head should have flown more than ten , but...
"clang!"
The sound of metal clashing was heard, and Wilson was knocked seven or eight meters away by the sword. After landing, he rolled several times before he stopped due to inertia, and a cloud of slag dust was raised all around.
But his head was still firmly on his neck.
He, or rather it, crawled up from the ground twitching.
Its eyes rolled back, saliva was dripping from the corners of its mouth, and its whole body was shaking at an extremely exaggerated speed, as if something was hiding under its skin.
The left hand it had used to block the previous attack was bent at a strange angle, with cracks on it that looked like broken porcelain, and a sticky dark green liquid was slowly flowing out of it.
"Who are you?"
The thing that should have been named Wilson asked in a horrified voice.
"The one who sent you on your way."
The black swordsman said, then rushed forward and swung his sword again.
This time, the monster's broken left arm could not stop the heavy sword. The black swordsman cut off its arm and head, and they flew far into the mine.
Two strikes solved the problem, but the black swordsman did not stop. He threw the sword to the ground, then pulled out a sharp dagger from his belt and stabbed it hard into the broken neck of the headless corpse.
A palm-sized spider with a distorted human face on its back was nailed to the ground by him as soon as it crawled out. The human face let out a miserable scream.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. I can give you whatever you want. Do you want treasure, or power? Or something else? Just let me go, and I can satisfy you in any way you want..."
The human face on the spider's back actually spoke in human language, and it kept begging.
"I heard your kind say the same thing to my companions."
The black swordsman sneered.
"And then my companion died because of a moment of hesitation. Of course, you don't have to be too nervous, there is one thing I really need from you."
The black swordsman held the dagger tightly and said coldly.
"Whatever you want, I promise to give it to you."
The human face on the spider said sincerely.
"revenge."
The black swordsman pulled the dagger and the human-faced spider was cut in half.
William watched quietly from the side from beginning to end, until the black swordsman wiped the dagger on his cloak and put it back on his belt, then he walked over silently and squatted beside the corpse to observe.
The human-faced spider that was cut in half gradually turned into black salt crystals and dissipated, and so did the remains of the headless corpse. But the rest of the corpse remained intact, with no signs of dissipating.
"You see, this is what's hiding under the skin. God knows how many there are in this city."
The man didn't look at William. He picked up the huge black sword and spoke.
"If you're scared, just wait here for the guards to arrive. If you don't want to get into trouble , just pretend nothing happened and leave. No one will come after you."
"Did all the previous twenty-seven people die this way?"
William suddenly asked.
The black swordsman was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then he pulled off his hood, revealing a weathered face.
This person was indeed the wanted criminal Cass Durant that was seen on the bounty poster earlier, the former leader of the Blackthorn Mercenary Group, a thug who was accused of killing twenty-seven innocent citizens.
Of course, once the guards discovered Wilson's body, the number would be changed to twenty-eight.
"No one would believe it unless they saw it with their own eyes."
He said coldly as he watched the human-faced spider gradually turn into black salt crystals and disappear into thin air.
"Without a living spider shoved down their throats, they will never believe that there are threats beyond their understanding that exist in this world."
After making a series of complaints, Cass said to William who stood up.
"You can go now. If you want to go to the guards to collect the reward, you are free to do so, but it is best to pretend that nothing happened."
With that he fastened the sword to his back, put his cloak back on and turned to leave.
"By the way, I heard your conversation with the tavern owner earlier. A suggestion: don't get involved in any business related to source silver during this period, otherwise you may not be so lucky next time."
Before leaving, he turned back and said to William.
"Why?"
William asked.
"This kind of monster first came out of the Silver Stream Mine. So far, the twenty-eight infected people I have killed are all related to that mine."
"Then do you know what this monster is? "
Cas shook his head.
"I only know that they first emerged from that mine. I've visited several scholars before, and they couldn't find any monsters with these characteristics in the latest atlas of the Empire's extraordinary creatures."
William knew this monster.
Soul-Eating Spider Demon, a descendant of the Whispering Queen of the Void King, is a monster from the Silk Nest in the Moon Realm. It will parasitize in the throat of the host and slowly transform the host into a Moon Realm monster.
Although the Soul-Eating Spider Demon's combat power is weak, its infiltration ability is extremely strong. It usually lurks in human society and develops into a cult organization of the Void King, spreading panic and unrest, and creating conditions for the next large-scale invasion.
If the appearance of the Shambling Demon could be explained as an accidental situation caused by the approaching summoning day of the Lady of Hunger and Corruption, then after seeing the Whispering Queen's scout vanguard appear here with his own eyes, William no longer dared to make such an optimistic guess.
At the same time, he couldn't imagine what kind of tragedy would happen if the entire Vic Continent suffered another full-scale invasion by the Moon Realm at a time when being able to use master-level spells was considered high-end combat power.
"So what are you going to do next?"
Thinking of this, William asked Cass's back.
"Investigate their origins, and then kill them all without leaving a single one alive."
Cass said without turning his head
The tone of his voice reminded William of a former companion of his.
The fourth seat of the Thirteen Judgment Seats, the dark swordsman Black Seba.
He has the same image of a tall, taciturn tough guy, he also uses an exaggerated giant sword as big as a door panel, and he also fights alone for revenge.
" Are you going to solve all the problems by yourself?"
William unconsciously said the lines he used to recruit Black Seba.
Cass didn't answer, just like the man he had been back then.
William smiled and shook his head.
There was a sharp sound of something breaking through the air, and just as something was about to hit Cass's head, he caught it with his backhand.
He opened his palm, and there was a demon-sealing rune overflowing with lightning.
“Maybe you only believe in yourself, but if one day you feel you need help, just crush it.”
When Cass turned around, the wizard with gray hair and silver eyes had disappeared.
