Chapter 3185

"What have you done?"

The witch asked. She hadn't realized what had just happened, but she was certain that neither she nor her severely injured grandfather had been casting spells. Looking at Xia De, she immediately noticed the blood-red hue that had yet to fade from his pupils. Her heart seemed to skip a beat for a second, though it returned to normal immediately after.

Xia De shook his head:

"That question is hard to answer. In any case, it's a good thing you weren't drained of blood... The origin of this Keeper-level relic is likely very interesting. I mean the source of these curses."

The dice returned to the hands of the fat fishmonger. This time, the throw only resulted in a 3. He continued forward to the 14th square. This way, even if the three of them rolled a 6, the final score would be 14:16, and the gap in combat strength between the two sides wouldn't be too large.

Miss Reinhardt appeared somewhat nervous, but this girl, who looked cold but was actually quite warm, still decisively threw the dice.

The three of them looked up together, and the spinning dice finally stopped on 2.

"It's okay, luck has its ups and downs."

The witch was somewhat disappointed, so Xia De whispered a few words of comfort. Then, bracing against the gale coming from above, he supported the old man and moved forward with her.

The three of them reached the 12th square. This time, there were no abnormal phenomena like snowstorms or bats attacking; only the sound of rumbling stomachs came from all three of them at once.

The long-lost feeling of hunger reminded Xia De of the bewilderment and helplessness he felt when he first arrived in this world, while Elder Harald could barely stand. For someone as severely injured as him, this hunger was quite fatal.

As for the witch who looked to be about the same age as Dorothy, she tried hard to keep from blushing. Any well-bred girl knew that having a rumbling stomach in front of strangers was quite embarrassing.

The hunger burned her as well, but she pretended not to care:

"There are only four squares left."

This hunger stemmed from the relic's curse and couldn't be eliminated by just eating a few pieces of bread. Combined with the cold from earlier, the dual curse of hunger and cold even formed a synergy; the flow of Qi between her body and soul became sluggish, her Qi limit was reduced by a third, and her reaction speed was decreasing. At the very least, Miss Reinhardt believed this had a significant impact on her strength.

She looked at her grandfather with concern out of the corner of her eye. They hadn't seen each other for three years since 1852, and the old man hadn't changed much. If he weren't injured now, he would even look more spirited.

As for that strange "man" from out of town, he didn't seem to be affected by the curse much, except for his stomach, which kept growling continuously.

"I have a particularly poor tolerance for hunger."

Xia De, supporting the old man, whispered an explanation. This was, of course, because of the "Lord of the Blood Banquet" from back then. The first drop of divinity he had seized and integrated into his soul brought more than just the cry of "Not enough!". "She" had once said that 【Gluttony】 was Xia De's original sin. Thinking about it carefully, it seemed that every time he fell into uncontrollable hunger, a major event would follow.

But fortunately, this hunger was still manageable.

The dice returned to the hands of the sword-wielding fat fishmonger. When the phantom of the giant metal die spun continuously in the air, even Xia De felt nervous. Soon, the die stopped, and the four bright red indentations proved that the game had entered its final stage.

At that moment, the feeling of power dropping due to the 18:12 score made the witch quite uncomfortable. Because of this, she failed to see how Xia De, four squares away, and the fat fishmonger collided before the yellow and black sword lights clashed.

One going up, one going down, the two met on the narrow snowy slope. Violent wind and snow howled through the mountains. On this desolate snowy slope halfway up the mountain, because they couldn't leave the squares and could only move forward or backward, there was actually no retreat for them once they stepped into the game.

The moment the dice result appeared, Xia De had already summoned the yellow Moonlight Greatsword to meet the magic sword, which was faster than the "Rapid Spell" state. The power drop caused by the relic had almost no effect on him. The two, not considering retreat at all, collided instantly. The sound of the wind generated by the golden "Moonlight Greatsword" attached to the Dragon Scale Sword clashing with the Angel-level relic was even more terrifying than the surrounding blizzard.

The puppet wasn't important; the consciousness of the Angel-level relic itself was a cold-weapon combat master not inferior to Xia De. The magic sword's swordsmanship and the Witcher sword techniques inherited from the Third Era competed, leaving even the witch behind Xia De stunned for a moment.

"Go help him quickly!"

The old man, who was sitting in the snow because Xia De had let go, pushed his granddaughter, but before she went to help, he handed his long staff to her:

"Don't go empty-handed. Take this, and don't let that sword touch you."

The long staff, which she had often stolen to play with as a child, was now, after so many years, handed to her by her grandfather himself. The witch even felt a bit dazed at this moment. She nodded solemnly, only to find that her grandfather, whose beard, eyebrows, and hair were already frosted, hadn't let go of the other end of the staff.

The old man was very serious:

"Claire, this sword must be left behind, otherwise everything today is meaningless. I know you don't like staying at the foot of the snowy mountain, and I know you want a freer life, but you shouldn't forget what I taught you since you were a child, nor should you forget the favor this snowy mountain has shown you.

Use that power to keep that sword. Even if you have been away for so long, the Holy Mountain will not forget you—don't let that Dragon-blooded outsider look down on us."

The last half of the sentence was spoken in pure local dialect, but he didn't know that Xia De, with his back to them, could actually understand it perfectly. However, Xia De had no intention of reminding the old man that while he might not necessarily be human, he certainly wasn't a dragon. All his energy was currently invested in the sword-fighting duel before him, from which he could not retreat.

His strength was superior, but his weapon was not, so he had to strike while repairing the cracks on the blade at any time. As for the level of swordsmanship, he was very fortunate that the current wielder of the magic sword was a head shorter than him. With Xia De's slightly longer arms, the fact that his swordsmanship was a bit lower than the opponent's could be compensated for.

The long sword hidden in the black light and the golden greatsword clashed in the snowy mountain, the "clang-clang-clang" sounds almost merging into a sharp, explosive roar. The sword wind and the sword light transformed from Qi tore through the air and the blizzard. When the witch, holding the tribe's inherited staff, arrived behind Xia De through the wind and snow, even her eyes could barely see the trajectories of the two swords clashing at high speed:

"Just how strong is this outsider? Where did grandfather find him?"

She hadn't encountered Ringed Shushis who used sword-type weapons in the past, but this was the first time she had seen such a primitive and wild sword duel. After all, the higher the level of the Ringed Shushi, the more they tended to cast spells to kill from a distance.

She knew very well that she couldn't participate in such a sword duel with her level, so she first softly cast spells to add blessing states like "Sun Power," "Warm Body," and "Expel Cold" to Xia De. Then, holding the ancient wooden staff with both hands, the tip of the staff poked out from Xia De's waist and pointed forward:

"Solar Ray!"

Even though it was amplified by the staff, the effect of this spell was not up to the normal level. The scorching stream of light surged forward, but before it could evaporate the fat fishmonger's legs, it was blocked by a black-red light shield.

But although it blocked the witch's attack, the fat fishmonger was forced to take a step back by Xia De due to a momentary distraction during the high-speed clash of the two swords.

He had stayed behind to cover the retreat, and even with the help of the relic, it was impossible to hold off three people with one sword. Therefore, seeing that the situation was worse than expected, the fat fishmonger, who was in the middle of a strike, suddenly retreated. At the cost of having half his face torn by the Moonlight Greatsword, he broke free from the coverage of Xia De's long sword, and then used spatial movement to return to his starting point, which was the snowy square at the very end and top.

The Solar Ray released by the wooden staff followed closely, but it was shattered by a single strike of the magic sword's light.

Then, the fat fishmonger held the sword with both hands and made a thrusting motion with the blade forward. Xia De was all too familiar with this move; he did the same when using the light cannon.

Even though 【Nightwatcher】 wasn't by his side for fear of disturbing the local demons, Xia De was absolutely not afraid of such a duel:

"Miss Reinhardt, what do you need to do to keep that sword?"

He also imitated the action of the fat fishmonger, who was 18 squares away and separated from him by the wind and snow, and made a thrusting motion with his sword forward.

The witch gave a soft response:

"We absolutely cannot completely destroy him, otherwise I'm worried that other magic swords will appear. Make him lose his ability to act... I'll come with you, you can radiate moonlight from a distance, right?"

"Sunlight works too."

The miracle 【Sunlight Ray】, which he had learned from 【Witch Echo · Violet】 back then, was actually a variant of the 【Solar Ray】 that Miss Reinhardt had just used. While discarding the original powerful output capability, it gained the advantage of faster spellcasting. However, Xia De cast the spell through the ritual sword 【Nightwatcher】, almost restoring that witch secret art to its most primitive version.

Before today, he had only seen 【Solar Ray】 used by the crowned Emilia, who borrowed the power of the ancient Elf King, but seeing it once was enough; he basically understood all the principles of this secret art.

In the past, he would have worried about being discovered by witches for using witch secret arts, but now that his knowledge and theoretical level had improved, and he had used various energy-radiating abilities many times, he could already disguise witch secret arts as miracles.

Even if the ritual sword wasn't in hand and the World Tree Staff wasn't convenient to take out, now, facing the gale and blizzard, he could radiate sunlight on his own.

"Meow!"

He seemed to hear Little Mia's cry in his ear, but this must have been an auditory hallucination.

?? PS: The image for this chapter is "Claire Reinhardt".

? (End of chapter)