Volume 1: Stranger in a Strange Land Chapter 9 The Judge
"die?"
How arrogant.
The white ringworm, with only its head still sticking out of the dark quagmire, made a sarcastic sound.
That's right, it is completely controlled by this evil spell and can only be bullied at the moment. Its physical body in the world will indeed be destroyed by the magic caster.
From a mortal's perspective, it is indeed about to "die".
but……
"Okay hero, come on, try to kill me."
White Ringworm laughed wildly at the magic caster.
"Kill me with your weapons, with your magic, with your wisdom, courage, will or something else."
Even though it was still enduring the pain of being bitten by thousands of hungry undead souls, it still couldn't hide its pleasure.
"Kill me like a fool shattering a reflection in a mirror, or like a madman shattering the moon in the water. Don't be polite, tear my shadow in this world in vain. If you are not satisfied, you can torture me before killing me."
Bai Xuan said grimly.
"Then I will come back again, again and again, carrying with me my hatred for you and the experience of my last failure. I have infinite time and countless chances. So what if I let you win this time? You can't win all the time, mortal."
"There is a story that is widely circulated in the Moon Realm. I'm sure you have heard of it."
Zhou Mu waited until the other party finished speaking before he slowly spoke.
"A long, long time ago, there was a most cunning and arrogant liar in this world. He was so bold as to make a bet with the thirteen Void Kings of the Moon Realm, and won twelve bets in a row. And every time he won a bet, he asked the Void King to make a weapon that could hurt him."
As Zhou Mu spoke, he opened a deep space crack and reached his hand in to feel for something.
"But in the last bet, he lost, and his soul was eventually eaten by the Void Kings. This story is often used to warn mortals not to try to bet with demons, but I think that trickster is a great warrior. Because he left behind twelve weapons that are enough to hurt the essence of the Void Kings."
Under Bai Xuan's uneasy gaze, he pulled out a simple straight sword from the space crack.
It was a sword so ordinary that no one would pick it up even if it fell in a downtown area. Its workmanship was so crude that it looked like a work that an old blacksmith from the next door village had forged for the first time while guiding his son.
"Later, someone traveled across the continent to collect all the twelve weapons and gave them to his companions. He formed an organization specifically to defeat those monsters that could not be killed no matter how hard they tried. You may have heard of it. The organization is called the Thirteen Judgements, and the people who hold those weapons are called..."
As Zhou Mu spoke, he pointed the ordinary straight sword at Bai Juan's throat.
"The Judge."
Feeling the power contained in the straight sword that could completely kill him, Bai Xuan felt some unfamiliar emotions for the first time.
fear.
"Wait...wait a minute, I don't..."
Looking at the sword against his throat, Bai Xuan was about to say something in horror, but Zhou Mu ignored him and stabbed him directly with the sword.
There are no fancy special effects and no deafening sounds.
The shambling demon died quietly.
The corpse did not turn into black salt crystals and disappear, but was gradually swallowed up by the quagmire.
Die as simply and cleanly as an ordinary person.
…………
A vortex of flames rose from the bright spore cloud and burned the cursed mist to ashes in just a dozen seconds.
[Purgatory Storm]
An eighth-level spell of the fire element.
If she had witnessed the casting of this spell a few days ago, Liliana would have screamed with excitement. However, now when she saw the eighth-level spell, she felt nothing but numbness.
Today she witnessed more eighth-level spells than she had in her entire life.
The man who had shattered her worldview countless times today was now standing on the devastated scorched earth, staring at the huge black gem floating in the air.
"Come on, it's safe now."
Liliana walked over obediently when she heard the other party's voice. The air was filled with the stench of burning feathers, and she felt the residual heat of the previous flames with every step she took.
Liliana asked as they walked.
"Where's the monster?"
"Dead."
The man answered in a hoarse voice, his eyes still fixed on the large black gem.
"Is David Orbis imprisoned here?"
"Yes, I still have some questions... cough cough cough, shit, cough cough cough..."
Before the man could finish his words, he suddenly started coughing violently.
Liliana looked nervously at the man who suddenly started coughing and gasping for breath. She waited for a while until he calmed down his breathing before asking carefully.
"Are you okay..."
"It's okay, it's okay. I was just choked by the fog just now. I'll be fine soon."
Was it just choking?
Liliana's mind flashed with the scene of birds, animals and insects being devoured from the inside by mycelium.
If it weren't for that man's sunbird pendant, she would have died in that horrible fog.
Thinking that the other person's pendant was still hanging on her body, she quickly took it off and prepared to return it to him, but the man just waved his hand, indicating that she should keep it for herself.
"How can this be possible? Such a precious thing..."
"I may need you to do me a favor later, so this is your reward. Besides, this thing is a fake that I made by imitating the enchantment of the Phoenix Pendant. It is not a precious thing."
I enchanted myself...
Liliana's mind fell into numbness again because of the other party's words.
Zhou Mu ignored Liliana who was stunned behind him, stepped back a few steps, raised his staff and removed the effect of [Shadow Cage].
The huge floating black gem turned into a shadow and dissipated, and the genius wizard named David fell to the ground from mid-air.
His sense of time seemed to still be stuck at the moment before he was imprisoned. As soon as he landed, he tightly grasped the staff in his hand and pointed it at Zhou Mu and Liliana not far away.
But he soon realized the battle was over.
"Where is my contracted monster?"
Perhaps he was unable to sense the staggering demon that was connected to his soul. After seeing that the two people not far away had no intention of attacking, David asked directly.
"Since you can't sense it, then of course it's dead."
Zhou Mu answered as a matter of course.
The Moon Realm monster will never die. Even if its body left in the real world is destroyed, it will only shatter its reflection in the mirror and banish it back to the Moon Realm, which will not harm the monster itself in the slightest.
But at this moment, David was in no mood to correct the other person's words.
"You defeated it?"
The other party nodded.
With a clang, the lead-colored staff was thrown to the ground by him.
"I surrender."
David said decisively.
"I thought you would struggle."
"Being able to banish the Shambler alone, there is no chance I will win."
Zhou Mu nodded, and a silver thread extended from the top of Withering Cold, binding the opponent tightly.
"So what will happen to me? Will I be handed over to the church or..."
"Answer my question first."
Zhou Mu walked up to David and unfolded a parchment map to him.
"You deliberately spread this treasure map of the southern Sorrow Mountains through the black market, right?"
Liliana felt her heart tighten when she heard this question.
Earlier, when they were still in Dusk Fortress, the mysterious wizard asked her in detail how she found the ruins.
After she told him how she had bought the treasure map from a mysterious vendor on the Nordland underground market for a large sum of money, the man took the map from her.
So, this map, this relic...
Was it a trap from the beginning?
Was it all her fault? Did her two classmates and the adventurer team she hired die because of her?
"Yes."
David replied.
"I distributed the map on the black market in Nordland to attract reckless adventurers or archaeological teams. Both the communication ritual of the Hungry Lady and the anchoring ritual of the Moon Realm Monster require it..."
Liliana felt as if she was falling into an icy cave.
"It all requires a sufficient blood sacrifice. I know that. You don't need to tell me. That's not what I'm asking."
Zhou Mu bent down slightly to make his eyes level with his.
"I paid special attention when I came here just now. Many places marked on this map are different from the actual ones. For example, the forests on the map have disappeared, the largest pass is blocked by a landslide, and these rivers have dried up."
Zhou Mu pointed to the locations he described on the map and said to him.
"Do you know why?"
Although it was a question, the other party's tone didn't seem to mean to ask him at all.
David shook his head.
"It's simple, because this map depicts the southern part of the Mountains of Sorrow a thousand years ago."
Something in the man's eyes made the hair on David's back stand on end.
"Where did you get this map?"
