Chapter 1301

The three skeletons sat around two black stones placed on the snow, and the word "Death" in the language of demons was carved on the stones.

The three skeletons were undead creatures and were not afraid of the cold, snowy weather at all. They should have been sitting here for a long time, as their clothes, shoulders, and bare skulls were all covered with a layer of snow.

Under normal circumstances, Xia De would choose to go around when encountering such things, but since he came here to look for clues, he walked over. However, the skeletons did not pay attention to him, but stared intently at the two black stones half-covered in the snow.

【Undead, but corrupted by demons, their souls are imprisoned in their bones.】

"She" reminded him softly. Xia De stopped his steps, suitcase in hand:

"Gentlemen, what are you doing?"

After the question, he indeed received an answer. Among the three skeletons, the jawbone of the one wearing dark red clothes moved up and down:

"We are allocating the quota for death."

"What do you mean?"

The skeleton wearing black clothes said:

"We were hunters from a nearby village. A year ago, when we entered this forest to hunt, we chased a pheasant here. The three of us fired at the pheasant hiding in the bushes at the same time. When we went to look for it, we found the pheasant lying under a man's feet. We threatened the other party to hand over our prey, and then we became like this."

When he spoke, there was actually a hint of operatic monologue in his tone.

"Aren't you already dead?"

Xia De asked again, and then the last skeleton wearing dark blue clothes said:

"That man let us die, but we cannot leave completely. He said, since we like to suspect others of taking our things, then let us decide for ourselves who this thing belongs to. He turned that pheasant into two stones, which allows two of us to die completely, while the remaining one continues to suffer."

When the three skeletons spoke, they never looked at Xia De, but stared fixedly at the two stones, as if afraid that their companions would grab them first:

"So, we are trying to allocate the quota for death."

"Hmm..."

This kind of malicious curse was indeed the work of that stone-mirror demon, Gothe:

"So, you've been deadlocked like this for a year?"

"Yes."

The black-clothed skeleton, who was still the first to speak, said:

"We balance each other, we constrain each other. No one dares to reach for the stones first, otherwise, they will definitely be attacked by the other two together. Now we are competing to see who has more patience, but the good news is, we all have infinite life to wait."

This sentence made the feeling of black humor even stronger:

"Have you ever thought that your deadlock and waiting are part of the permanent torture itself?"

The dark red-clothed skeleton said:

"Of course we know, but what can we do? Who can selflessly sacrifice themselves to let the other two leave?"

The three skeletons nodded, and during this time, none of them moved their skull's eye sockets away from the two stones in the snow.

"Do you want me to help you?"

Xia De suggested in the snow, but the three skeletons probably misunderstood his meaning. The black-clothed skeleton said first:

"I have an ancestral treasure at home. Help me entangle one of them, and these will all be yours."

The red-clothed skeleton said:

"Don't believe his treasure; it's just a crude pottery jar. I have a beautiful daughter; help me entangle one of them, and she will be yours."

The blue-clothed skeleton said last:

"Oh, sir, his daughter is stronger than a wild boar and more savage than a brown bear. I have the talent of a sharpshooter; help me entangle one of them, and I will give you a part of my soul."

"This is a lie. If his talent were outstanding, he wouldn't have come hunting here with us. Don't believe his nonsense, sir; what I offer is the most valuable gift."

The black-clothed skeleton said again,

and then the three skeletons asked together:

"So sir, who are you going to help?"

"Wealth, beauty, and power, choose one of three?"

Xia De asked, his left hand still holding the suitcase, while silver thunder crackled on his right hand:

"How about this, I don't want any of the three!"

In an instant, lightning flashed, and the thunder spear hit the center of the three skeletons at close range. With the explosion of stones, snow, and mud, all three skeletons were sent flying. At the same time, a large pit was blown into the ground, and silver electric arcs continued to jump on the snow.

In the large pit on the ground lay dozens of skeletons just like them:

"It is common knowledge for a Ringed Shushi not to make deals with demons; it is another common knowledge not to make deals with things corrupted by demons."

The skeletons picked up their broken limbs to piece them together and struggled to stand up from the snow. Some black shadows slid quickly under the snow layer and split into three strands, rushing into the three skeletons' bodies. Thus, the strange black stones clung to those skeletons, and six black flames appeared in their eye sockets.

A stone scythe appeared in the black-clothed skeleton's right hand, the red-clothed skeleton held up its right hand, and mud pellets appeared in its palm, while the blue-clothed skeleton's body grew larger, full of oppression.

And while they were feeling their power, Xia De opened his suitcase and took out a small bottle. He opened the stopper and hooked his finger, using a spell to control the water flow, letting the holy water in the bottle fly in front of Xia De like a dancing long snake. As he opened his mouth and breathed forward slightly, the holy water passing in front of him slowly froze in the snow, forming a complete ice spear:

"I haven't even made a move yet, and you dare to resist?"

The black-clothed skeleton was the fastest, sliding as if it were against the snow surface, holding the scythe and smashing it towards Xia De. But Xia De easily dodged it by turning sideways, and then, as if dancing with a sword, backhanded the ice spear to shave off its skull. He broke off one-third of the ice spear, stabbed it into its left eye socket, and then continued forward.

His movements in the snow were smooth and fluid, and the confrontation between the two sides lasted no more than two seconds.

Then came the huge blue-clothed skeleton, which rushed to Xia De's front like a wild bear charging. But Xia De did not think about dodging, slightly bent his waist to lower his center of gravity, and with a slightly serious expression on his face, activated the spell "Power of the Red Dragon," colliding directly with the blue-clothed skeleton:

"Hah!"

After a power confrontation that did not fall behind at all, Xia De kicked the skeleton over:

"You actually dare to resist?"

Xia De held the ice spear high and stabbed it in from its left eye socket, then broke it off inside the blue-clothed skeleton's skull, and kicked the immobile skeleton to the side.

He turned his head slightly to dodge the black mud pellet flying from the front, weighed the ice spear in his hand which only had the last section left, moved his right foot back, lifted his left foot, tilted his body backward, and threw it forward fiercely with his right hand raised high.

As the ice cut through the snowy forest, amidst the sound of breaking air, the holy water ice spear stabbed into the red-clothed skeleton's right eye socket, and then flew backward with it. With a "clink," it was nailed to a pine tree, and the shaken snow from the branches buried the skeleton directly in the snow pile with a "whoosh."

The wind carried the snow through the eerie forest. Xia De, standing on the open space beside the path, hummed, clapped his hands, and turned to pick up his suitcase again. Just as he was thinking about continuing to walk towards the manor not far away, the sound of clapping "Clap, clap, clap" came from behind him.

Xia De frowned and turned to look, only to see "Stone Ossenfort" wearing a brown robe and black boots, walking out from the forest while clapping:

"Really not bad, really not bad."

But this was definitely not Stone Ossenfort. Although the two looked exactly the same, the casual smile on his face at this time and the oily tone could not be expressed by Stone Ossenfort, who looked more like a robber. And the eyes that appeared pure black even in the daytime, as well as the slightly dull skin, directly pointed out what the thing in front of him was.

【Demon body.】

Just like that, at this somewhat unexpected time and place, Xia De met the demon of Randall Valley for the first time.

"No, unless I burn

divinity, I have no certainty of defeating it right now."

Xia De was very clear about this point. The doctor had said that the opponent was the kind of enemy that would only appear at the final checkpoint before defeating the Demon King among knights.

"Ossenfort? No, you are not him."

Xia De said, his left hand still holding his suitcase, while his right hand reached into his pocket, and a silver cross pendant with a silver chain was taken out by Xia De. One end of the cross was extremely thin and sharp, and the cross itself was coiled with a silver long snake, with a ruby that seemed to glow in the snowy weather embedded in the snake's head.

The Shoumiren-level relic 【Blasphemous Cross】, stabs into the chest of a supernatural humanoid creature, absorbs the soul of the imprisoned party, and can even absorb the soul into one's own body, forming a special blasphemous spirit rune.

Xia De held the relic in his hand towards the demon. The latter indeed slowed down its steps, but the smile on its face did not change at all:

"Silver cross? It seems you have already investigated my identity."

"Since I dared to accept Stone Ossenfort's commission, I naturally wouldn't investigate nothing. I have no interest in you, and even less interest in your relationship with Stone Ossenfort. I just want to complete the commission and then get Ossenfort's reward."

The demon crossed its arms over its chest and looked up at Xia De in the snow. This posture was actually very similar to the real Ossenfort:

"An outsider Ringed Shushi, but you are not as loyal as you say. Since you agreed to help Stone Ossenfort obtain those three items, why did you hide it from him and accept Hela Ossenfort's commission?"

The demon indeed knew what happened in that manor. Fortunately, Doctor Schneider had already told Xia De what might happen, so Xia De was not particularly surprised by this:

"When a beautiful woman asks me for help, even pulling my hand to touch her chest, and I also feel that I can do it, then I have no reason not to agree to her."