madnovel Chapter 204 The White-Turbid Dwarf
Chapter 204 The White-Turbid Dwarf
Chapter 204 The White-Turbid Dwarf
It's blooming? What does that mean?
"It's over, we can't keep this dwarf."
Geb quickly came to a conclusion: This guy must have lost his mind.
"What a pity, such a good Dulin is gone."
The halfling clapped his hands and made a regretful expression.
"Be serious—what do you mean by 'blooming'?" The swordswoman poked the half-man and then asked Dulin.
"This—it's hard to explain, it just opens up from the middle, like—like a ripe fig, splitting open from the middle, and then a grayish, slippery thing pops out—"
"Head?" Geb blurted out.
"Are you being polite?"
The woman scolded him playfully while pinching Gebu's ear.
Tissah, standing to the side, was both amused and exasperated. She coughed lightly and asked, "What exactly is this monster you're talking about?"
The dwarf scratched his head: "More like a gray, tentacle-covered eel than a turtle."
"And then? And then you got... you know... done by the eel?" Geb continued his dangerous remarks, trying to ease the tension with a touch of dark humor: "I just passed out—"
The crowd fell silent for a moment. This gray, eel-shaped flowering monster sounded incredibly absurd, but Dulin's expression didn't seem like a joke. Combined with the gruesome state of the cultivator's corpse, this terrifying monster seemed more and more real.
"Strange, if that monster is real and killed that cultivator, why are you unharmed?" Gebu asked in surprise.
Tissah stroked her chin and chimed in, "The nun who discovered the scene heard noises downstairs when she passed the wine cellar, but the noise stopped when she reached the door. Perhaps the monster noticed someone approaching and gave up its attack."
"You're lucky to be alive, Dulin. This isn't the first time."
The halfling patted Dulin on the shoulder, speaking with a mix of teasing and relief. Dulin was completely bewildered.
Unlike Gebu, the woman with the sword was not optimistic. She asked warily, "Then, where did that guy go?"
Good question. Geb thought.
Actually, aside from the jokes, Gebu had been pondering this question since discovering the body. The wine cellar was completely sealed off from the outside world; there were no other exits besides the main entrance. So how did the murderer leave?
Or is it that it never left at all?
The swordswoman, Geb, and Tissanthemum simultaneously realized this possibility, their expressions instantly becoming alert. Only Dulin remained, still dumbfounded, clutching his head; it seemed the recent memory had drained his brain cells, and he was now suffering from a headache.
Snapped.
A wet sound suddenly came from the far end of the wine cellar. Several people looked at the dark end of the basement at the same time.
The swordswoman drew her longsword and gave Gebu a look.
Geb frowned and used a communication spell to say to his female knight companion, "With Tissanthemum here, I can't use magic."
Doffin immediately said to Bishop Tissant, "Your Excellency, it's not safe here. Please take Dulin and leave."
Dulin: "Huh? What's wrong?"
Tissah gritted her teeth and said, "Although I am not a combatant, I can use divine magic to help you."
Gebu finally couldn't hold back any longer and said urgently, "If anything happens to you, the court won't let us off the hook! What a coincidence! We just arrived to visit, and such a major incident has occurred at the Saint Vandu Monastery—we simply cannot prove our innocence before the court. Your life is more important than anything! Stop arguing!"
The woman with the sword immediately chimed in, "Gebu is right, please help us protect Dulin."
Dulin: "Huh? What happened to me?"
Geb glared at the dwarf. "Are you really stupid? Get out of here with the bishop right now! That monster is still in the basement!"
Upon hearing this, Dulin snapped out of his daze and turned to run outside. Bishop Tissant hesitated for a moment, then took out a miniature incense burner from his waist, picked up a pinch of incense, and sprinkled it over the heads of the two men while chanting incantations.
"May the Lord grant the brave the courage to win."
After casting a blessing, the bishop said to the two men, "I will send someone to request assistance from nearby towns to send guards. If you are unable to handle the situation, please do not force yourself."
"Don't attract the people from the courthouse," Geb reminded them.
"Nothing on this land escapes their notice. However, the nearest trial is in Port Queens, so they won't act so quickly, and there's no need to worry—good luck."
After speaking, Tissah nodded to the two of them and then quickly followed the dwarf up the steps.
Queensport has a courthouse—dangerous, oh dangerous. Geb secretly memorized this information.
Half a minute later, the room fell silent, leaving only the swordswoman, Geb, and the increasingly oppressive atmosphere in the cellar.
"Phew—it's the two of us again—why do we always run into this kind of thing?"
As Gebu muttered a complaint under his breath, he touched his storage ring. After a flash of white light, he pulled out a bottle of tree bark potion, gulped it down, and soon a hard tree bark armor began to grow on his body.
"It's more accurate to say you're always looking for trouble—but thankfully it's you."
The swordswoman took out a small bottle of holy oil blessed by the priest from her belt, poured it down the blade, and then wiped it with a cloth, letting the oil cover the entire blade.
The Kingdom's paladins' trick. Blessed oil is incredibly effective against the undead and monsters. If she had known this when fighting the manticore, she wouldn't have been so passive.
Hey, why should only Gebu get stronger? I won't be left behind.
Along the way, Gebu was driven crazy by the swordswoman—she kept pressuring him to use that precious book to look up the training methods for paladins. There was no such book as a "Paladin Crash Course," but Gebu compiled some training methods that paladins often used from records about them and taught the swordswoman to teach like a true Rose Knight.
Of course, the swordswoman hadn't yet learned how to control divine power; she had only acquired some breathing techniques and auxiliary skills. Paladin magic was a closely guarded secret of the Church—knowledge possessed only by the priests of the Thirteen Knights and the Inquisition, passed down orally without written records. Geb believed that paladin magic, such as the Guardian Spirit used by the vulture, the Shield of Devotion, and the Holy Slash, was, to some extent, consistent with the path of spiritual wizards.
This guy who's always against magic and wizards, yet the supernatural power he uses is also a form of witchcraft—how ironic.
Gebu: "It's okay, don't be discouraged. I'll catch a judge for you another day and force him to teach you."
Swordswoman: "Keep pretending. Just be careful not to get caught by the Inquisitor."
Gebu released a shadow ten steps in front of him, then hid behind the swordswoman. The shadow scouted ahead, the swordswoman was in the front row, and he was ready to cast a spell to counterattack from behind.
Gob explored the depths of the wine cellar through the sense of shadow. The darkness, like a curious monkey, probed the edge of the goblin's vision. If you paid attention to it, it would hide; if you didn't, it would sneak up behind you and stare at you with its dark eyes.
Tick.
Gebu located the source of the dripping sound at a corner at the end of the wine rack, not far from where the body was found.
Geb's shadow peeked out from the corner.
The black, unknown object was twisted into a ball and carelessly placed in the corner of the wine rack, with a viscous liquid dripping from under its edges like melted wax.
Geb cautiously examined the corner, but apart from the lump of substance and some viscous liquid on the walls and floor, he found no other suspicious objects.
The halfling gestured for the swordswoman not to go any closer. Then he released the Wizard's Hand, using the shadow to grab a corner of the thing and lift it up.
The thing looked like a snotty handkerchief, all stuck together and almost impossible to discern its shape. Judging from the texture and color of the fibers, it seemed to be a monk's robe.
"Ugh—I feel nauseous—" Gebu pinched his nose and pretended to vomit.
What's this—toilet paper from a teenager's trash can? Wow, that's a huge amount!
Seeing that there was no threat, the swordswoman walked up and used her sword to lift the filthy robe. The robe slowly unfolded, revealing a large hole torn in the chest.
"It really has bloomed? Dulin wasn't lying."
Gebu muttered to himself.
What kind of monster is this—did it emerge from that monk's chest?
The goblin wizard felt uneasy. He wasn't a coward, but suddenly facing such an unknown enemy sent chills down his spine, and his hair stood on end.
No, that's not right.
The monk's body was broken in half, not split open like a fig as Dulin described.
Moreover, why would that monster go to such great lengths to hide the cultivator's corpse and this garment?
"Hey, swordswoman, what do you think—"
Boom!
The barrel next to the swordswoman suddenly jolted, and the two of them jumped back as if they had been electrocuted—the barrel tilted and then rolled off the shelf!
*Smash!*
The heavy wooden barrel made a loud thud when it hit the ground. The iron hoops holding the barrel shattered instantly, the wooden planks exploded, and a pale, fleshy body fell out of the broken barrel with a tearing, wet cough.
"Monster!!!"
Dove swung his sword, the blade rapidly approaching the rolling object. Geb reacted quickly, lunging at the woman's waist and pulling her away!
"Spare his life!"
The swordswoman's strike missed by an inch, flying past the pale skin. The thing on the ground coughed three times and opened its eyes, which were stuck together with slime.
"Cough—Help, help me!"
Dove stared intently, gasped, and exclaimed, "Du-Dulin?!?!"
The bearded dwarf was curled up on the ground, naked and covered in slime, as if he had fallen into a bucket of glue. He kept coughing up slime, looking like he had just survived a disaster.
Dove immediately knelt down and patted the dwarf's back to help him clear his phlegm. She and Geb met eyes, and their expressions changed simultaneously.
Wait a minute, what would Dulin say if he were here—
Who was that guy just now?!?!
Both of their hearts sank to the bottom at the same time. Just then, outside the wine cellar, an inhuman roar pierced the suffocating twilight!