Chapter 4130: The Old Man of the Parchment

Because Xia De had opened the door using the Door Pendant this time, he reappeared exactly where he had been a moment ago. After the thick fog dissipated, he immediately saw the back of Vigo and the white hair of Ellie, as well as the fact that in the dim banquet hall—where there had been no enemies just three seconds prior—there were now several Skinners.

Vigo wanted to raise 【Night Watcher】, but Xia De placed his hand on her shoulder. The petite doll, who had been motionless before the phantom of the giant tree, also regained consciousness at this moment. The combat instincts of a demigod witch allowed her to immediately correlate Xia De's description with the current situation.

"Let's deal with these things first. Now is the time to use sealing arts."

She whispered to Xia De, and violet light spread from her body onto his. Miss Doll certainly did not possess true demigod-level power, but as a support, she could provide Xia De with a great deal of help.

"Moonlight Slash!"

That night at the "Charming Ladies' Club" had already proven that Skinners could rely on layers of skin-objects to have multiple chances to restart. For such enemies, sealing was more effective than killing.

The crimson moonlight, slashed out by Xia De with one hand, now contained a streak of brilliant purple. When that moonlight struck the Skinner closest to Vigo and Ellie, it was actually cut in half at the waist.

The remaining Skinners did not retreat and immediately cast spells to block the moonlight, but Xia De's hand had already gripped the hand Vigo was using to hold her sword. 【Night Watcher】 swung down, the crimson moonlight slicing through layers of skin-objects, and soon there were several more bizarre things on the ground, each severed in two.

The violet halo clung to the upper and lower cross-sections of the Skinners' bodies. The two halves struggled, but they were unable to fuse back together, and they were even temporarily unable to use their own power. Such a powerful effect was not only due to the power of Miss Feilian, but also because, after the final adventure in the 【Stained Blood Factory】, Xia De's red moonlight had become stronger than ever before.

He even had the feeling that he alone was enough to pierce through the core of the hall; the enhancement of the red moonlight gave him greater lethality against any enemy with life force.

Vigo's gaze was subconsciously drawn to the Skinners. She saw that there was no bone or blood on the cross-sections of their bodies, only textures like the rings of a great tree. Knowing what that represented, Vigo immediately looked away, and then she heard a strange voice explain:

"My light can temporarily seal the Skinners' power, but this cannot last long. Do not stay here; continue forward. First, go find the things you need, then head to the core area of the 【Skin-Object Hall】. If things go well, we should be able to completely resolve the trouble here this time."

Vigo returned 【Night Watcher】 to Xia De and turned her head to see what was speaking, then noticed a cute doll on the shoulder of the returned Xia De. Her first reaction was that Xia De's cat had turned into a human, but she immediately realized that couldn't be right. Little Mia was a creature as cute as the sun, while this female doll was as beautiful as a violet and possessed the power of a witch...

Miss Doll sized up Vigo, a bit surprised by her beautiful appearance, but still nodded gently:

"Mana Feilian."

Vigo responded subconsciously:

"Vigo As... ah?"

"Miss Feilian!"

Ellie smiled and waved at Miss Doll. The little unicorn, who should have long since entered a frozen state in the mid-Fifth Era, actually seemed to recognize the founder of Saint Byron's.

Miss Feilian smiled at her as well. In these few short seconds, the five Skinners that had appeared in the room had all been sliced in two by the moonlight, and the violet halo attached to the moonlight had temporarily sealed their power.

"This sealing power originates from my understanding of 'light.' I will share this power with you, but this power is absolutely not omnipotent."

The violet halo flew toward Ellie and Vigo. Ellie linked to this new power very easily, almost gaining a new spirit rune. Vigo did not have Ellie's talent, but she could also perceive from that streak of purple that this was not a power a witch of her level could touch.

"Xia De, are you alright?"

Vigo finally had time to ask about Xia De's condition, and then noticed in the dim light that there seemed to be a few imperceptible lipstick marks on Xia De's face. The tiny doll smiled, and the lipstick marks gradually faded. Xia De, meanwhile, hugged Vigo with great energy:

"Sorry to keep you waiting. The past matters have been successfully resolved; now it's the hall's turn. Ellie, you still lead the way; go in the direction you think is most correct. Be quick; Vigo and I can keep up with you."

"Okay!"

Having gained new power, Ellie was full of spirit. She turned back into her true form amidst soft white light, ran happily around Xia De, and then rammed headfirst into the wall beside them.

Violet light appeared on her dark golden horn, and the wall was pierced through by her. Ellie didn't even need to use the door this time, directly leading Xia De and Vigo into a new room.

Vigo clearly knew who "Mana Feilian" was. As Ellie rammed through every obstacle in front of them like a bulldozer, and Xia De danced wildly with his long sword to slice through layers of skin-objects, she participated in the fight, but would occasionally look at Miss Doll on Xia De's shoulder.

Vigo had a very strange feeling that the relationship between Xia De and Mana Feilian was definitely not normal. She chewed on her thoughts in her heart and praised herself for seeming to become more and more sensitive to interpersonal relationships lately.

Of course, while thoughts kept emerging in her heart, Vigo's spellcasting did not stop. The power shared by Miss Feilian also gave her Chaos Secret Art a sealing effect, and Vigo became more and more proficient with that streak of purple light:

"Xia De seems to just like purple."

Ellie charged very fast. Xia De, who had returned to his peak state after coming back from the past, thought about what he had seen and heard in the 【Skin-Object Hall】, and his silver sword moved even more swiftly and fiercely than before.

Mummified corpses wearing skin-objects, Skinners, and various bizarre things formed from human skin—nothing could stop the group. After the crimson moonlight fused with the spark of life, its lethality against skin-objects was like flames melting snow, and with the help of Miss Feilian, there was nothing left here that could stop Xia De and Ellie.

Boom!

After a loud noise, a mummified corpse wearing human skin was pierced through along with the wall behind it by Ellie's horn. Silver light orbs danced to illuminate the new room, and in this new room, Mr. Gerald Delong was fighting against a skin-wearing old man, together with that ring-mage whom the pseudo-humans suspected was from a True God Sect.

The opponent was not a Skinner, but his combat power was more formidable than any Skinner Xia De had seen. In a building similar to a study, there were bookshelves piled high with scrolls everywhere. In this room filled with human-skin scrolls, even facing the joint attack of a 13th-ring and a 12th-ring, the old man was not at a disadvantage at all.

Mr. Delong naturally noticed Xia De's arrival, but he was fully focused on casting spells to defend against the enemy's attacks. It was incredible that a derivative of a Sage-level relic could put so much pressure on a 13th-ring. Although the 12th-ring mage couldn't recognize Xia De at a glance, he recognized Ellie, who had turned into her true form in the light:

"The oldest records of the Church contain the following content: The 【Skin-Object Hall】 has a total of four active core derivatives—the Hall Master, the Skinner Leader, the Old Man of the Parchment, and the Sacred Artifact Master.

The thing in front of us is the Old Man of the Parchment. Force it out of this room, otherwise, the 【Skin-Object Hall】 can use all the contracts signed on human-skin scrolls with various existences since the Mythological Era as its power."

"Desire" had also provided this information to Xia De, but "Desire's" information was more comprehensive than the Church's. The "Sacred Artifact Master" among the four cores was specifically responsible for managing the divine artifact that had once been stored in the hall, but after the divine artifact was taken away by "Desire," the Sacred Artifact Master lost its significance and could no longer be considered a core.

And Xia De now felt that the agreement bearing his own signature was in this very room. The appearance of the Old Man of the Parchment also proved that the contract "Desire" had signed with the Skinners back then was likely also here.

He swung his sword to help, but Miss Feilian said:

"No need for such trouble. If your library were fully deployed, to what extent could it be displayed now?"

When Miss Feilian was a guest at No. 6 St. Deran Square last summer, Xia De had detailed the power he possessed; on that night last autumn when he was intimate with Blaney in the "Moon Sanctuary," Xia De had also mentioned his power related to the moon to her.

"I can manifest a small library. But although that is also a scene, it is not a maze; it can only display the books I have recorded."

"That is enough."

"I understand—Curio: Moon Library!"

As the long sword swung forward, the colors of the sea of stars in the dim space rapidly expanded, and star-blue translucent bookshelves gradually covered every corner of this library storing human-skin scrolls.

Except for Xia De, no one could directly take any book from those bookshelves, so the people fighting in the room passed through the phantoms without being hindered by the star-sea bookshelves.

This was indeed not a maze; it was even more like a phantom. Vigo, beside Xia De, couldn't even feel the power of the stars from this beautiful star-sea scene.

But after this library, which was almost a phantom, was deployed, the power of the old man, who could even suppress the "Construct Master" Gerald Delong for a short time, weakened sharply. Five seconds after the Moon Library was deployed, Mr. Delong could even resist all the opponent's attacks just by maintaining the simplest shield.

Miss Doll said to Xia De:

"You can understand this so-called 'Old Man of the Parchment' as a ring-mage who draws power from stories, only his stories originate from the human-skin scrolls in the library. These scrolls contain agreements signed between various existences and the Skinners, as well as stories and knowledge written by the Skinners themselves, so every human-skin scroll is associated with a real and ancient legend, which is why it is so powerful.

But as long as you cut off its connection to those scrolls, its combat power is not even as good as the mummified corpse Ellie smashed just now—now, use your chains to pull out its heart." ===== CHAPTER 4131 =====