Chapter 3441: The Demon Pact of the Sword

"That sounds noble indeed, but I must remind you: if you truly die here, the knowledge you carry will be lost, and your school will be one person fewer."

Xia De reminded her. Miss Keons remained silent for a while, only speaking when the elevator vibrated as it returned to the tenth floor:

"If this is the price I must pay, I will accept this fate. After all, our heritage exists precisely to eradicate these things. Evil spirits and demons have long since ceased to ravage the material world; it is only natural that hunters are gradually exiting the stage. Perhaps when the day comes that all hunters have vanished, the demons will vanish as well."

She did not open the door in front of her, but instead took out a scroll that looked quite aged and handed it to Xia De:

"Although you are not a hunter, I think you can learn this too. Eradicating demons requires more power, and hunters do not mind sharing our knowledge with others. Take this as a gift; I think it should be very useful to you."

The scroll recorded a Witch Secret Art that had long been lost in the Sixth Era. After all, very few people in the Sixth Era used swords to cast spells, and Xia De even suspected that this secret art had never been modified into a Miracle.

【Witch Secret Art: Demon Pact of the Sword】. This was inspired by the way demons and mortals signed contracts, allowing one to use a secret art to sign a contract with one's own weapon. Although called the "Demon Pact of the Sword," it could actually be used on various weapons—though not firearms.

The secret art could only select one weapon at a time, whether it be a common weapon, an alchemical weapon, or a Relic weapon. Once the contract was successfully signed, the weapon's abilities would be further enhanced, casting spells with it would become simpler and consume less, and it would possess the functions of "automatic return within ten miles" and "location alerts within the material world," essentially meaning it could never be lost.

This secret art could actually be considered a type of basic ability, but it was exceptionally suited for Xia De. He even imagined the scene of himself waving his hand in the snowy mountains, causing 【Night Watcher】, which had been left in the snowy mountain hall, to fly to him on its own.

As the binding time of the Demon Pact grew longer, the weapon itself would come under the user's control as if it were a part of their own body. Judging from the description on the parchment, this was very similar to how Xia De manipulated those Cards of All-Encompassing Change.

In short, this secret art was indeed suitable for Xia De.

"Miss Keons, please allow me to express my gratitude."

"There is no need to be so polite."

The huntress smiled and shook her head, reaching out to pull open the gate. Xia De followed behind her, thinking to himself that he must save this witch.

At this moment, white mist had even begun to drift from his body, but fortunately, this time Room 1024 appeared directly to the right of the elevator room, allowing Xia De to bid farewell to his companions for this trip.

The warm fireplace was very reassuring. Upon learning that the mission on the 19th floor had been completed, Miss Novaire and Miss Gerde in the firelight were both very happy:

"As long as we complete two more missions at this pace, we can leave at any time, right?"

They were indeed more concerned with "leaving at any time" than "leaving immediately."

Xia De could not take the matches he had hidden on his person with him. He had just asked Miss Keons to keep them for him in the hallway; after all, even though everyone had hidden things, such matters were not suitable to be spoken of openly.

As for the key on the third floor, Xia De left the decision to everyone:

"I am not sure when I will return. In the meantime, please decide what you want to exchange this key for."

Thinking of the complex situation of the vampire girl and the huntress, as well as the potential problems for Miss Gerde, who was searching for her mother, Xia De reminded them:

"Although this key can check the resident list and you can likely find what you are looking for, there is no need to fight over it. We still have opportunities to obtain other keys. Now that everyone is trapped here, the most important thing is unity."

The witches all stood up in front of the fireplace to see Xia De off. With the supplies Xia De had brought, the frequency of their exploration trips could be reduced significantly. As for what Xia De had said, different people had different thoughts:

"We understand... and without you, we would never go to the first floor ourselves."

Xia De smiled; at this moment, "She" in his ears had already begun the countdown.

"Then see you next time. I must also go back to face the challenge of the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】. With the blessing of the gods, I think escaping should not be a problem."

As he spoke, he took out the crystal slipper, and the three witches gave Xia De their final words of advice.

The vampire Miss Novaire said:

"Although the pseudo-humans look strange and varied, there is a bloodline connection between most of them. This is the source of their unique mother-nest-like mental abilities, and it also shows that the things that created them belong to the same source. Catching one pseudo-human, theoretically, allows one to find the one most similar to it by tracing the bloodline. Our race is particularly skilled at this.

I remember someone in our race was developing a secret method to track pseudo-humans. Although I don't know if it still exists in your era, go and ask the vampires."

The huntress Miss Keons mentioned the unicorn again:

"The interior of the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】 has a field damage effect on flesh-and-blood creatures, which even unicorns cannot fully exempt themselves from. So if you are going to take your unicorn friends to seek revenge on the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】, remember to protect those pure holy beasts."

Finally, there was Miss Gerde, with whom Xia De had not yet spent time alone. The middle-aged witch also gave a reminder:

"Destroying the exterior of the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】 can temporarily drive it away. But Mother had conducted quite in-depth research on the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】, and she believed that as long as the secret in the deepest part of the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】—that is, the true source of the pseudo-humans' power—is sealed, this Relic can actually be completely contained."

Xia De nodded to show he understood. Just as he was about to thank them, in the eyes of the three witches, he vanished like a phantom.

The witches stood for a while longer before each slowly sat back down. Miss Novaire rested her chin on her hand, looking at the flames; Miss Keons looked down at the notebook of the ancient hunter they had just brought back; and Miss Gerde looked at the pile of fresh food.

The time flow, which had been somewhat normal, became chaotic and disordered again at this moment, and their mental states returned to their original appearance.

No one mentioned the next step of the plan. The key on the third floor was now being kept by the red-haired vampire girl. Not only because she was the strongest, but also because she and Xia De had obtained this key together.

It would likely be a long time before any of them spoke first.

(Little Mia is running...)

【Outlander, you have returned to the present time.】

【Message from the Ancient God "Father of the Infinite Tree":】

【Mission incomplete.】

【Time Key; Fifth Era - Year 334 - Lord of the Walls, 1/3 damaged.】

【Next opening time, need to wait one week.】

White mist blurred Xia De's vision, and after the mist dispersed, the blood-red light returned once more. However, Xia De felt that his mental state had improved. This was not because anything had changed in the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】 during the three seconds he had been away, but because the negative influence of the 【House of Pseudo-Humans】 on him was clearly less than that of the dark hotel on the Whispering Hills.

"Where did you go?"

On the wall beside the blood pool, the face of the manservant appeared again. It did not detach itself from the wall; at this moment, blood vessels were spread around the skin, connected to the wriggling flesh wall.

Xia De put away his belongings from the ice, regretting to find that the door pendant had disappeared, and then turned to look at the door from which blood was dripping.

If he only wanted to drive away this House of Pseudo-Humans on Schluch Lake, he actually did not need to enter here again. But since this was a story of fate, and there was a feasible method, completely containing the "House of Pseudo-Humans" might be the only way to truly complete this scene of the story.

It was just that Xia De knew what conditions were needed to open the space left by the Ancient God, but he had never heard that conditions were needed to close it. Or rather, he had never closed such a door himself; these doors always closed automatically after he left.

【So?】

"So, it is not some mechanism of the 【Creation Birth Room】 that causes this door to be unable to close. It is some external force that causes this door to be unable to close."

Seeing that the fourth-stage pseudo-human had no intention of fighting him, Xia De did not answer its question, but instead walked toward the door with the crystal slipper.

He guarded against an attack from the other side, but it seemed the pseudo-human was not worried that Xia De could affect the state of this door:

"It seems you still haven't given up."

It said this.

The door covered with flesh tissue looked very disgusting. After hesitating for a moment, Xia De pressed his hand onto it, and the flesh on the door wriggled, wanting to assimilate his right palm. But in the end, they only rubbed against Xia De's palm and did nothing more.

And Xia De also understood after such a close inspection:

"There was originally no such flesh on this door at all; it is this layer of flesh that causes the door to be unable to close... What is this thing?"

Thinking to himself, the large Dark Moon Mark appeared on that door.

And this rune, which was enough to annihilate everything, only caused some debris to fall from the flesh clinging to the door in the end. The 【Dark Moon Mark】 was not ineffective; it was just that the Miracle in its current state could not annihilate things of this level.

"What kind of flesh is on this door?"

Xia De then asked the face on the wall. The other party probably thought Xia De really couldn't get out, or perhaps just to boast about its own excellence, it really said:

"The God of Flesh whom we revere—the 【Dusk Creator】—before creating the first race, first made a mass of omnipotent flesh, which is the 'Flesh of the Firstborn'. Later, many races, including the Titan giants, were made based on the 'Flesh of the Firstborn'. This is the miracle of the Ancient God's creation, and it is the common source of many alien bloodlines in the material world." ===== CHAPTER 3442 =====