Chapter 409: The Skilled Roaster Perishes in Flames (22)

The large open space in the center of Grey City.

After about half an hour, the round-bellied mage Kageru finally auctioned off all the flesh and blood of the female prisoner from head to toe.

He also grew tired of torturing the prisoner.

He retrieved the Black Gemstone Staff, shook off the blood staining it, and laughed heartily.

"The time has come, Géwēnnàwéi'ěr Dèngbō."

The tall guards stepped forward, one on each side, to take the female prisoner to the grill on the right side of the square.

The female prisoner forcefully shook off her arm: "Let go, I'll walk myself!"

The two guards didn't insist, released the female prisoner, and exchanged a laughing glance.

One of them said: "Interesting, still having such a temper even though they're about to be roasted to death."

The other laughed and said: "I've heard that people with big tempers have flesh with a special flavor; I don't know if it's true or not."

"Who knows? I really want to see if she'll scream loudly when she's being roasted."

The female prisoner ignored the schadenfreude-laden conversation of the Dawn Guard beside her.

She lifted her head to look at the villain with a big round belly, gave a cold snort: "Kageru, I'll be waiting for you in hell!"

Kageru didn't even blink an eyelid, for he was used to such threats.

"Lady, there's a whole bunch of unlucky folks in hell who think just like you, they cough cough they cough~~~ cough~~~ what's going on?"

Kageru began to cough nonstop, as if a mouthful of phlegm was stuck in his throat.

That phlegm was lodged extremely tightly, causing him to cough incessantly, coughing harder and harder.

"Cough cough~ cough cough~ it feels like there's a bug cough cough cough~~~~"

Before long, Kageru was coughing so hard it felt like his heart and lungs were being torn apart.

As he coughed, he suddenly grabbed his chest with force, 'pfft'—a large mouthful of blood spurted out! Not only did his mouth have blood, his nose, eyes, ears, and even the pores of his entire skin began to ooze fresh blood continuously.

"Ah~~~ cough cough~~~ why is this happening cough cough~~~"

Soon after, the villain was drenched in blood all over.

But he himself was a Ring Mage, with tremendous vitality.

Even though his appearance was horribly miserable, even though he was almost coughing up his lungs, with blood constantly spraying from his mouth, he still did not die.

His steps staggered, his face full of terror, he shouted like a madman.

This situation was indeed somewhat terrifying.

What's even more terrifying is that no one knows why he's like this, as if he had been struck by some horrible curse.

Kageru didn't know either.

"Cough cough~~ it's this woman's witchcraft that killed her!"

In desperation, he pointed at the astonished female prisoner and shouted loudly.

The two guards who had been chatting and laughing just moments ago immediately moved to carry out his order.

But before they could act, their noses also began to spurt blood, and then they started coughing violently.

They were merely Eight Ring Mages, far weaker than Kageru.

After supporting themselves for less than five seconds, they collapsed face down, completely breathless.

"Guards~~ guards~~~ cough cough~~"

Kageru panicked even more, letting out a hoarse roar while spraying blood and staggering forward.

But because the blood obstructed his vision,

his running path swayed left and right, actually veering all the way toward the grill.

He sprayed blood as he ran.

No one expected a person's body could spurt so much blood, it was practically a blood fountain.

This horrifying and bizarre scene also elicited waves of exclamations from the onlookers around.

The onlookers and guards were frightened, scattering to avoid Kageru, fearing they'd catch this terrible misfortune.

Finally, Kageru's internal blood was spent, and his vitality was nearly exhausted.

He tripped on something underfoot, lunged forward, and fell squarely onto the fire.

To ensure the execution was slow enough and to prevent the flesh from scorching, a small fire was lit beneath the grill.

After Kageru fell onto the fire, he immediately felt intense pain, and the little remaining vitality within him surged forth.

"Ah~~~~"

He let out a death‑like, pig‑squealing wail.

His whole body rolled back and forth in the fire, trying to escape.

But his consciousness was now muddled; he couldn't tell direction at all, and instead of breaking free, he rolled into the fire's center.

Under the flames, Kageru's hair was completely burned off, his skin scorched, the fat all over his body sizzled, and it gave off a pleasant aroma of roasted meat.

Even so, he wasn't dead yet, wriggling like a maggot on the fire, struggling back and forth, which only made his body cook more evenly.

Thus, the aroma grew richer.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted.

"Kageru is a powerful mage; his body holds immense vitality—eating it will surely grant a tremendously strong blessing."

This remark instantly enlightened the onlookers, who began whispering among themselves.

"It smells so good, far better than an ordinary person."

"It definitely smells good—look at all that fat; if it didn't smell, that'd be weird."

"Why not rush up and cut a slice?"

Many onlookers were tempted. But ultimately, the Dawn Eye Mage Association's powerful mages were present; no one stepped forward, so in the end they still didn't dare act rashly.

But soon, someone broke this balance.

A thin man with heavy dark circles under his eyes burst from the crowd, hurried to the sizzling, oily corpse on the fire, drew a dagger, and with one swing cut off a piece and left.

Someone immediately reacted.

「Bell~~ He cut off Kageru's bell! 」

「It's really too fragrant—I can't resist, death be damned! 」

Someone took the lead, and a second person appeared immediately.

Then a third, a fourth—soon the onlookers swarmed forward in a crowd.

The Dawn Eye's guards also dared not intervene lightly, for what had just happened was too eerie, and everyone was frightened.

In no time, the clearing became wildly chaotic, order completely gone.

Amid the chaos, someone draped a cloak over a female prisoner, and the iron cage full of prisoners was opened one by one.

Dawn Eye guards noticed the abnormality and tried to step forward to stop it.

But every guard who did so ended up with the terrifying fate of bleeding from the seven orifices.

The guards were thus intimidated, only able to stand afar, watching helplessly as prisoners were rescued.

When the chaos finally ended, it was already more than an hour later.

The whole clearing was littered with corpses, many of them trampled to death.

Kageru's corpse had completely vanished—not even a finger remained, let alone his black gemstone staff.

The surviving Dawn Guard stared at each other, you looking at me, me at you, nobody speaking.

After a while, someone spoke cautiously: "Obviously, this was done by the Dragon Mountain Brotherhood."

Another guard snorted: "Everyone knows it was them!"

「What now? 」

「What can we do? Return to Dawn Fortress and report the situation truthfully to the superiors. 」

That's all we can do.

When the Dawn Guard made up their minds, they all left the scene, leaving the ground in disarray.

A cool breeze blew by, carrying away much dust, taking the little remaining warmth from the corpses, and scattering the scent of flesh everywhere.

A pack of wild dogs ran over, sniffing and licking the corpses, then all opened their mouths.

On the other side, Rosen Ziran also left the clearing with the receding crowd.

He watched Aoliangde kill Kageru, saw him rescue the prisoners, and noticed Beilu Dandi secretly following from the shadows to protect.

He himself gave a push, letting Kageru die in the fire.

Originally, he also intended to follow up to see the situation, but that plan was interrupted by an accident.

At this moment, he was walking through streets and alleys, not fast, but never stopping.

He faintly felt someone behind him tailing him.

But this person's movements were very stealthy and extremely cautious.

No matter how Luosen probed or gave the opponent a chance, they never appeared, nor did they attack him.

「This person is probably a Divine Avatar. 」

「He surely knows he's been exposed, yet he still follows me—could he be planning to use the Fatigue Enemy Tactic, waiting until I can't endure and rest to strike? 」

If that's the case, then he's really miscalculated.

With Laifu around, he can maintain full alertness twenty-four hours a day.

If it really comes to that, Luosen at worst would end in a draw.

But Luosen felt that just dragging it out wasn't the way; better to speak openly.

So he turned and headed out of the city, walked straight to the wilderness suburbs, then found a secluded, wind-sheltered valley rarely visited by people.

First he used Transformation Technique to condense a stone table and two chairs under a big tree, then he took out prepared food and fine wine from the Time-Space Treasury and set them out.

He sat in one chair, leaving the opposite one empty.

Having assumed a negotiating posture, he began to enjoy the food before him while waiting for the other party to reveal themselves.

He wasn't sure if the other would appear, but he adopted a try-it-out attitude.

If he displayed such clear intent to communicate and the other still insisted on hiding in the dark, they were likely mortal enemies.

He waited leisurely for about a quarter hour; just as Luosen thought the other wouldn't show up, he suddenly heard a rustling of footsteps ahead.

After a moment, the air opposite the stone table faintly twisted, forming a translucent ripple in the shape of a person.

After another moment, the humanoid ripple solidified into a black-haired woman wearing a pure black robe.

The woman's features were picturesque, but her demeanor was like ten-thousand-year-old ice.

She walked slowly toward Luosen, her snow-white face bearing a hint of wariness, as if fearing he might suddenly erupt in violence.

Luosen's heart stirred slightly: "She seems also to be wary of me."

If so, it indicates their strength is comparable to his; in a real fight, he would have no assured victory.

Upon realizing this, he silently sighed in relief, his mood lightened considerably, a smile appeared on his face, and he raised his hand to pour wine into her cup.

「Miss, could you tell me your name? 」

The black-haired woman stepped forward, sat in the chair, took a sip of wine, then stared at Luosen, observing him for a while before speaking.

「My name is Aigedelin Luodani'er. 」

(End of chapter)