Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 98

She just wanted to get rid of this bastard who was lurking in her mind and mocking her as soon as possible.

Don't be silly, it's useless.

Diraz said.

It's okay if you don't admit it. I am who I am, and I am you, and you are me.

Ivy Beatrice ignored her.

Because we've arrived at the Four Symbols Pagoda.

The square shape of this stone pagoda is perhaps the origin of its name, "Four Symbols Pagoda".

Only half of the tower remains; the top is long gone.

The walls of the stone tower are grayish-black and covered with cracks, almost identical to the exposed rocks of the mountain cliffs. Even the walls facing the mountain path have collapsed. Standing outside the tower, one can see directly through the holes in the walls the scattered and broken stone walls and thick dust inside, as well as the spiral stone stairs on the inner wall.

—Its dilapidated appearance makes it seem like it has no owner.

Ivy Beatrice muttered to herself.

But the faint magic surrounding the stone tower doesn't lie.

"anyone there?"

Ivy-Beate raised her voice slightly, "Your Excellency Governor of Black Sails? I am Ivy-Beate, here to pay you a visit."

After saying that, she waited quietly for a while.

Apart from the gentle breeze in the mountains, there was no sound at all.

It seems the master has been gone for a long time. If that's the case, why is the magic tower still running?

The six-armed serpent demon didn't rush to crawl into the tower through the hole in the wall. Instead, she slowly circled the stone tower. She found the main entrance on the other side, facing the mountain peak.

The moment Ivy Beatrice saw the tower gate, her eyes widened, and the entire demon froze, as if struck by lightning.

The giant serpent's body trembled slightly.

Next to the arched gate, the stone wall, unlike the other three sides, has not been eroded by the sea wind and still retains its original vermilion color.

Ivy Beatrice's six hands were all trembling.

The door was deep red, with brass studs.

The six-armed snake demon Ivy-Beate, no, the reincarnated one, slowly raised her head and looked up. The moment she saw it, she felt a chill run down her spine, her snake body went limp, and she almost sat down on the ground.

Above the intact stone wall, you can see two huge upturned eaves between the first and second floors of the tower!

—A hallucination? Or an illusion?

--impossible!

—She is a demon; everything she sees is reality—that is the "Eye of Truth"!

She looked around frantically and found a large pile of messy vines on either side of the tower gate. She immediately pounced on them and frantically tore apart one of the piles of vines before slowly backing away.

Beneath the vines lay a broken stone lion!

"Is anyone there?" she asked in a trembling voice.

All the demonic choruses vanished, leaving only the voice that belonged to the Earthlings from their previous lives: "Is anyone there?"

Then he roared, his voice already trembling with tears: "Is anyone there?!"

There has still been no response.

Feeling his heart pounding, the reborn man took a deep breath and placed his trembling hand on the cold brass door studs.

“Your Excellency, Governor Black Sail, I am, Ivy… no, Chu Shixin,” she said in a trembling voice, “former—”

Before she could finish speaking, or rather, the moment she gave her name, she had already said everything she needed to say.

The two tower doors opened silently in front of her.

The intense light from inside the door almost blinded her.

When the reincarnated woman opened her eyes again, she was horrified to see that everything in the tower was different.

Inside the tower gate, the drafty hole in the opposite wall was gone, along with the dust and stones. The ground inside was paved with massive, golden palace bricks, and a river of mercury flowed beneath. Above, an endless expanse of deep blue stretched out, and countless bright stars twinkled in the sky.

The reborn one stepped through the tower gate, gazing intently at the familiar starry sky.

She knew she shouldn't be so sentimental, but she just couldn't help it.

Because she recognized it; this was a starry sky that could never be seen in Abel's, no, in Toril's universe.

When she recognized the Big Dipper in the center of the starry sky, gazing at the bright North Star, two streams of hot tears welled up in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks.

Only ancient China on Earth would have drawn the North Star in the very center of a star map!

The reborn person reached out to wipe away the tears, only to realize that he had more than one hand outstretched, and that the tears on the back of his hand were not transparent, but rather a purplish-black color.

Yes, she lowered her gaze sadly. She was no longer the person she had been in her previous life.

Suddenly, she was astonished to discover that her own mental phenomenon, which resembled a black hole universe, resonated with the entire starry sky within the tower.

With a rumbling, resonant sound, she saw the floor tiles in front of her crack open, revealing a large hole. Then, a bronze vessel, all too familiar to her, slowly rose from the hole before her.

"armillary sphere…"

She couldn't help but say aloud, "The Four Symbols Tower... so this is what the Four Symbols are."

Only ancient Chinese star charts divide the sky into seven major star regions with Polaris as the exact center.

The North Star is surrounded by the three major star regions known as the "Three Enclosures".

“Yuan” means “city wall”. The “Three Yuan” are “Ziwei Yuan”, symbolizing the emperor; “Taiwei Yuan”, symbolizing the imperial court; and “Tianshi Yuan”, symbolizing the prosperous people.

Beyond the "Three Enclosures," the "Four Symbols" surround.

The four major star regions, namely the Eastern Azure Dragon, Western White Tiger, Southern Vermilion Bird, and Northern Black Tortoise, are composed of the Twenty-Eight Mansions. The constellations in the east resemble a dragon, those in the west a tiger, those in the south a bird, and those in the north a tortoise and snake.

Because the Earth revolves around the sun, the constellations in the sky change with the seasons.

Every evening at the turn of winter and spring, the Azure Dragon appears; at the turn of spring and summer, the Vermilion Bird soars; at the turn of summer and autumn, the White Tiger emerges; and at the turn of autumn and winter, the Black Tortoise rises.

As a result, over time, the meanings of the four star regions have expanded and changed in people's minds, and have been given the appearance of the four seasons or mythical beasts.

The reborn six-armed serpent demon stared in shock at everything before him, feeling the resonance echoing within his own black hole-like spiritual vision.

A strong sense of familiarity drew her toward the armillary sphere in front of her.

She noticed a golden flame flickering and dancing in the center of the armillary sphere.

As if possessed, she bent down and stretched out a hand to it.

“The you of the past,” a soft, ethereal voice suddenly sounded from behind, “wouldn’t be like you now, rashly touching the power of a divine realm without even understanding what it is.”

The six-armed snake demon turned its head upon hearing the sound.

She saw a semi-transparent female figure standing not far behind her, her face obscured.

She withdrew her hand and nodded to the shadow.

"You must be the Governor of the Black Sails?" she said. "Nice to meet you, I am—"

The six-armed serpent demon reborn hesitated, momentarily unsure of what name to give. She should call herself "Chu Shixin," but having been in this world for so long, her first instinct was to call herself "Ivy-Beate."

"It's been such a long time."

The shadow sighed to itself, seemingly oblivious to her embarrassment. "Why bother with these formalities? I only see your spirit. Ivy Beatrice, Chu Shixin, or... aren't you still you?"

When the shadow uttered the last name, the reborn felt as if her ears were about to be deafened; she heard nothing at all.

The shadow looked at her, its tone turning somber.

“I see,” she said to herself, “You are not you, you are only a small fragment of yourself. I am about to perish, but you in your current state cannot bear your name and power, nor can you be as you were before…”

Her voice gradually faded away.

The six-armed snake demon asked cautiously, "Who exactly are you?"

“I told you, but you can’t hear me. You’re too weak.”

The shadow said eerily, "But I sense something dirty about you. It seems to be the spirit of some beast that has secretly tainted you."

She pointed at the six-armed serpent demon from afar.

“I am going to fall silent,” said the shadow. “This is the last thing I can do for you. Goodbye… I hope to meet you again someday, perhaps tomorrow, or perhaps millions of years from now. Next time, don’t break me.”

Ivy Beatrice could no longer hear what was said after that.

With a flick of the shadow's finger, the golden flames within the celestial sphere suddenly soared up, enveloping the six-armed serpent demon.

Ivy Beatrice screamed in pain.

She was enveloped by endless light and heat, burning from the inside out, as if in every cell of her body!

Before she lost consciousness, she seemed to hear the furious roar of the two-headed baboon.

Author's note: A family member is sick and undergoing surgery, so I'm constantly running between the hospital and home. I'll be taking a day off today and will resume updates tomorrow.

Chapter 113 Permanent Radiation: Anti-Magic Field (No update tomorrow, will resume on Sunday)

When Ivy Beatrice regained her senses, she sat up in a daze and found herself alone, perched atop a solitary, high rocky cliff. The dilapidated stone tower, and the shadowy owner of the tower, were nowhere to be seen.

Everything before my eyes seemed to have changed in some way.

Everything in the world—the air, the rocks, and the sea—seems to be covered by countless faint, transparent lines.

His emerald green vertical pupils narrowed slightly.

As her attention focused on a certain line, the corresponding transparent line became clearer and even gained a certain color; while others faded or even disappeared.

--What's this?

She followed the line closest to her, gradually looked up, and then froze.

She was staring directly at the pale blue sun against the steel sky.

—Is it already noon?

No, could it be… Ivy-Beate looked around in astonishment.

—Is every line I see the path of sunlight? Refraction, reflection, and even the curvature of the lines visible on the sea surface…

The six-armed serpent demon sensed something and hesitantly raised one hand.

As her thoughts flowed, she saw golden flames flickering at her fingertips.

This was clearly arcane energy, but it manifested as the magical effect of the first-tier divine spell "Sanctuary." Moreover, five new arcane spells appeared out of nowhere, in addition to "Sanctuary." Besides "Sanctuary," there were "Defend Against Others," "Protect Against Energy Damage," "Magic Immunity," and the fifth-tier spell "Magic Resistance."

She had previously exchanged her soul power for the "Advanced Spell Slot" feat, gaining the ability to cast fifth-level magic, but she didn't know a single fifth-circle arcane spell. Now, however, she suddenly had the ability to use it. Although the six-armed serpent demon itself had strong magic resistance, the only fifth-level spell she possessed was somewhat useless.

“What’s this?” she said blankly.

[Domain Power and Magic]

She heard Diraz's haunting voice, the demonic predecessor's roar in her mind filled with jealousy and resentment: "How is this possible? This is absurd! This is a protected area! I am a demon!"

[Protected area?]

Ivy Beatrice instinctively tried to open the "System Panel" to check her current situation, only to find that all the panels with the demonic text had disappeared.

It seems that the Shadow truly lives up to its promise to erase the spirituality of others.

The mark that Demogorgon left in his spiritual world has disappeared.

Ivy Beatrice quickly looked around for the figure, while trying to call out "Governor of the Black Sails" in her mind.

No need to look anymore.

"I can't believe it," Diraz said impatiently.

Its energy was exhausted; it could only wait until we arrived at its limit, and now it is completely destroyed.

Ivy Beatrice looked bewildered: "Has it been waiting for us all this time?"

【if not? 】

Diraz sneered: "What do you think we are? What do you think it is? Do you think our arrival here is just a coincidence? But isn't this coincidence actually a series of inevitable consequences?"

Ivy Beatrice was horrified.

She climbed the stone tower because she arrived in Blacksail Town and saw that the magic tower was still operating; she came to Blacksail Town because she needed to repair two ships; the reason she needed to repair the two ships was because of her encounter with the resurrected Red Dragon Lord; the encounter occurred because she set sail to find the Red Dragon Lord's divinity; she wanted to find the Red Dragon Lord's divinity because she witnessed with her own eyes the two-headed evil dragon Hesladi's head being severed during the Battle of the Fiery Earth; but the reason why the two-headed evil dragon Hesladi's head was defeated and beheaded in the Battle of the Fiery Earth was because she, Ivy Beatrice, snatched the "Dragon Madness Lock" that should have belonged to Hesladi!

This is impossible.