Chapter 42 Iron Hook Demon

The abandoned chemical plant is flanked by cracked brick walls, but looks relatively neat from the outside. There weren't many ivy and weeds growing there, just a layer of grayish-yellow ash and mud.

It looks more like an abandoned villa or warehouse than a factory.

The corridor is not wide and can only accommodate two or three people walking side by side. Because there is no lighting at all, it is still dark after entering even if it is noon outside.

As soon as Aiwass entered, he smelled a very strong smell of dust. There is also a pungent smell like durian, which is very choking.

Lulu held the child in her arms and walked inside cautiously while coughing softly.

Even though she knew there was no one here, she still kept on tiptoe.

She felt her heart beating faster - even though she still hadn't left the glass island, she felt an unprecedented sense of adventure. Everything here was so new and exciting.

"We are here..."

Lulu whispered: "Is it to avoid the murderer? Since this is a chemical factory, should we get some chemical reagents for self-defense? What if he follows?"

"First he has to be able to find the door."

Aiwass spoke without hesitation about the overly accurate information: "There is no front entrance to this chemical plant, because the back door here is actually a dead end. Only the back door of the warehouse can lead here. After it was abandoned, the back door originally led to The main entrance here was blocked by the newly built stone warehouse. With the expansion of the warehouse, it was eventually completely blocked.

"This chemical plant is two stories high, and there are higher places that can be reached with ladders. There are a large number of connected rooms on each floor, and there are three stairs going up and down. If there is only one intruder, we have Very ample space for guerrilla warfare..."

In the middle of his sentence, he suddenly heard a death knell.

So Aiwass immediately fell silent and turned back to meet the two people's eyes.

"the fourth."

Sherlock said softly.

"There are three of us, plus the 'Bone Sculpture', so there are four of us."

Aiwass narrowed his eyes and asked, "Who else do you think can survive?"

"Coco. I suspect she is dual-path."

Sherlock reminded him softly: "Do you remember, Fox? Lady Eleni mentioned that 'there are three advanced people with multiple paths this time'.

"You, the knight, and Lulu are obviously newbies. The king and cheese are not very smart either. Apart from me and the bone sculpture, there should be one other person...either Basil or Coco."

"I don't have much impression of Ms. Basil."

Lulu leaned over and whispered, "I can't even remember her features."

"This is one of the manifestations of adapting to the path, gaining advantages by hiding oneself and blending into the environment. Don't underestimate her - if you think about it carefully, you will find that among the nine of us, only Basil has not disclosed any information. We don’t know anything about her.”

The newsboy reminded: "If this is a new moon ceremony, the one I am most wary of will not be the bone sculpture, but her. Every extraordinary person who has adapted to the path is a professional hunter and assassin. I will never let go until she dies. Come."

"What about Coco?"

Aiwass asked: "Why do you think Coco has a dual path?"

"I'm not sure, I just prefer that the third person is Coco. If there is a reason..."

Sherlock said: "That's what she said, 'My profession is not a demonologist'.

"She was the last two captured, later than the King. The King is in Star Antimony, so Coco is definitely not in Avalon.

"But in Star Antimony, although it is legal to transcend the path, ordinary people cannot obtain extraordinary professions other than demonologists."

"Just like in Avalon, are the only three extraordinary professions on the authoritarian path to be the Lawyer, the Arbitrator, and the Air Cavalry?"

Lulu asked.

Sherlock corrected: "To be precise, there are only lawyers and supervisors. Not all supervisors can advance to the arbitrator level. Even if they reach the level, they are not allowed to advance without passing the review of the Round Table Hall. The arbitrator's The necessary advancement condition is to obtain "arbitration rights" and be able to conduct a single trial by bypassing the court structure.

"Even if a supervisor enters the Supervisory Court, he or she will only have law enforcement powers at most. He will not be able to meet the advancement requirements of an arbitrator.

"And the air cavalry advanced by Mr. Knight's light cavalry profession is an advancement exclusive to the army system... Every air cavalry is the elite of the elite in the Avalon army."

"Ah, I know this!"

Lulu's eyes lit up: "The red griffin needs to turn into a talking white griffin to transform from light cavalry to air cavalry, right?"

"Yes. When their gryphon companions reach adulthood, all the dangerous brown-red body hair will fade away and turn into pure white, the body will rapidly increase from 1.8 meters to over 2.5 meters, the violent habits will become calm, and the intelligence will increase to the point where it can be said that To put it simply...the light cavalry can advance into the air cavalry, and this requires them to use authoritarian methods to continuously strengthen their partners. The white griffon has to eat thirty pounds of fresh food every day without training. Meat should be doubled during training and combat.

"Due to different breeds, the griffins obtained under ordinary supervision can only grow up to one and a half meters tall in their lifetime, and cannot learn human speech. Their food intake only requires about five pounds of fresh meat per day, and their life span is only a short three years. Ten years. More like loyal flying pets than companions, the white-feathered griffins used by the military can live for hundreds of years—while their human companions age and die.

"In the Kingdom of Star Antimony, the extraordinary profession corresponding to the supervisor is the devil, and the corresponding profession to the lawyer is the demon scholar. If an ordinary person enters Wangli University of Law and becomes an extraordinary person, he cannot become a light cavalry when he graduates. Because he is pure Griffin resources are scarce, and the loyalty of the light cavalry must be guaranteed, so the light cavalry will only be selected from the knight family - just like our Mr. Knight, he is wearing a helmet during the ceremony. "

The "Knight" may not realize that he is actually the first person to open the box himself. It’s a little faster than Lulu opening the box.

Because in Avalon, people outside the knight family are not allowed to hide armor privately. That would most likely result in a death penalty.

This means that his father or mother must be a knight of the Round Table Hall. That's why he can get the knight's helmet, and that's why he can become a light cavalry.

"...A noble from Star Antimony Kingdom?"

Lulu murmured: "I heard that there are 'nobles' passed down from generation to generation over there in Xing Antimony. They have titles, and their own land and manor. I have read about it from many dramas and poems."

Avalon regards Star Antimony as an enemy country, but does not dare to initiate a war directly... Part of the reason is indeed that they are not sure whether the royal curse was initiated by the Star Antimony Kingdom. The power of Avalon is not so much concentrated on the queen, but rather in the Round Table Hall... Such a vague excuse is not enough to make Avalon, whose country is relatively weak, take the initiative to declare war on Star Antimony.

The Star Antimony Kingdom is now the most powerful country on this continent.

They were once the only empire on this continent. It remained strong even after splitting into four countries.

The Kingdom of Star Antimony, founded by Valentine I who wrote the sacred book "The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony" on the path to balance, has now swallowed back two fragments of the former empire and restored 80% of the empire's territory.

Avalon can beat Iris, but he certainly can't beat Star Antimony. Alchemical research more than fifty years ahead of Avalon has made Star Antimony's technology extremely advanced. They just launched a war a few years ago and annexed another neighboring country that had previously split from the empire... The huge golems on the battlefield that can constantly regenerate are terrifying.

Only when Avalon unites with Iris and the Theocracy can it barely maintain a balance of power in the political landscape. But if someone is really attacked by Star Antimony, other allies may not participate in the defense unless they show strong resistance.

But Princess Isabel had another question in her mind:

The nobles of such a powerful country... why did they become extraordinary at this age?

Although she looks very young, as if she is only in her early twenties. But Isabel's keen perception of the path of beauty and her knowledge of being a woman convinced her that Miss Coco...or Mrs. Coco was at least thirty years old.

She must have used some alchemical medicine that can restore her appearance to maintain such a young, girl-like appearance.

Is it too late to become a transcendent in your thirties?

So she reacted immediately and said with great certainty: "Keke should be the person with dual paths!"

"Why are you so sure?"

Sherlock asked rhetorically.

"Because Miss Coco is not as young as she appears, she should be over thirty years old. She has used alchemy drugs to stay young."

"...I see. That makes sense...the fifth survivor should be Coco."

Sherlock nodded slowly, but his expression became serious: "That might not be good."

Aiwass raised his eyebrows: "You mean, the enemy might be a demonologist?"

"Listen, you two. I'm reminded of an incident."

Sherlock whispered: "Ten years ago in 1888, that is, four years after the current timeline, a serial killing incident occurred in Lloyd District. Every eight days, a pregnant woman was killed and her unborn baby was killed. He was brutally cut open and his kidneys were taken away from his body. This was an obvious sign of ritual murder.

"The Inspectorate called it the 'Jack the Ripper' incident. I was sixteen years old and participated in the investigation of this matter."

The boy-faced detective slowly spoke: "The murderer in this case is a young demonologist, who inherited an iron hook demon from his mentor. It was more than a hundred years ago, from the image of 'surgical abortion' The devil was born in him. So he tried to strengthen this image and strengthen the devil he got through this ritual.

"He was eventually arrested and executed by us. But before Jack was executed, he confessed to us that he had a master.

"——He confessed that his master stayed on the Glass Island for a long time and seemed to continue to serve a certain person. In the past few years, he killed many people for the mastermind behind the scenes. And recently he went abroad It was said that the destination was the Horus Empire or the ancient kingdom of Parthia. 'In order to pass through the desert, he needed to keep himself clean, so he transferred the demon to me.' After that, his master was gone forever.

"According to time calculation, the demon scholar should be on the Glass Island now. The Iron Hook Demon is a low-level demon. It is not very capable of frontal combat, but is particularly good at sneak attacks..."

When Sherlock said this, he suddenly asked: "Did you have a curse on you when you appeared?"

Aiwass and Lulu looked at each other and said, "We don't have it on us, but little Aiwass does. It's a curse that is not very powerful, but is used for positioning."

"That's right!"

Sherlock affirmed: "When I appeared, there was also one, exactly the same type. I used a spell to dispel it myself. This may be the reason why we have not been attacked until now... The curse positioning restrains the hiding ability of the Adaptive Path. The person who just died should be Basil. She persisted for a long time, but still did not escape.

"The Iron Hook Demon can use the curse to locate the target and jump directly across the space. The mirror demon that also meets this requirement needs a mirror as a medium, and the shadow demon cannot appear at noon. And these two demons are both upper demons..."

"Coco is only at the first level, right?" Aiwas asked.

"Transcendence Path itself is proficient in demon knowledge. The anti-demon ritual she performed should be able to dispel lower demons. It is also possible that she transferred the curse on herself to others."

"In other words, our enemy is the demon scholar who controls the Iron Hook Demon?" Lulu understood.

"Well, to be precise, it is the Iron Hook Demon that he remotely controls. The only problem is that although the Iron Hook Demon is only at the second energy level, it is too fast and good at sneak attacks... It is almost impossible for a second energy level transcendent to defeat it. Unless one of us is a law mage who can suppress it instantly, it is possible to kill it. "

Sherlock frowned and said in a low voice with some dissatisfaction: "I don't know how much the Bone Sculpture and Coco have raised the difficulty of this ritual - they raised the difficulty, but they didn't cooperate with us!

"The three of us are definitely not able to beat the Iron Hook Demon, and I'm afraid it won't work even with the Knight. He is not an inspector or a law mage, but a light cavalry, and has no suppression ability. According to the difficulty of this ritual, it is estimated that at least one of Coco or the Bone Sculpture must be willing to cooperate with us to have hope of repelling the Iron Hook Demon.

"Now we can only hope that you have not left any other cursed items... The second energy demon scholar can only curse one person once a day. I have been cursed, and there are only you and your wife left. If we are lucky, maybe we can delay the time until the end... There are only two hours left. "

Hearing this, Aiwass touched his nose subconsciously.

... I'm being honest.

I'm not exaggerating.

If the enemy is a demon... then the difficulty of this ritual may have been increased by me accidentally.

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