Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 76

The first to regain her composure was the head full of venomous snakes. Amidst the chaotic hissing, the punk girl sobbed and sat up straight in her chair.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice choked with emotion.

Ivy Beatrice asked, "How did you fall into the sea?"

The punk girl was about to answer when Blue Bubble asked curiously, "Why do you call it glasses? Did you name every snake on your head?"

“Yes, yes,” Medusa perked up immediately upon hearing Blue Bubble’s question, “Let me tell you, it’s like this…”

She was about to answer Blue Bubble excitedly when she suddenly remembered her situation. She quickly glanced at Ivy-Beate and changed her mind, looking rather sullen.

"I was thrown into the sea."

Ivy Beatrice recalled the light she had seen on the sea earlier.

It turns out that this Medusa-like punk girl is named Steo, an adventurer who works as a "Treasure Thief." She is also a renowned treasure hunter among the city-states north of the sea.

A month ago, Steo went to sea with his employer to search for a shipwreck containing hidden gold.

She said angrily, "Eight days ago I helped them find the sunken ship, and we were just waiting for the official salvage operation, but who would have thought that something strange would happen."

A meteorite fell from the sky, creating huge waves that nearly tore Steo and his employer's ship apart.

When the storm passed, the employer and Steo, who had been forced to return to shore to avoid the waves, arrived at the designated location again.

When they went underwater, everyone was stunned: the underwater terrain had changed drastically, and the sunken ship was gone.

After Steo's careful resurvey, he came to a startling conclusion: the meteorite that fell from the sky happened to hit the sunken ship underwater, not only creating a huge crater on the seabed, but also burying the ship under the meteorite.

Blue Bubble listened with great interest and couldn't help but ask, "Then won't we be able to find the hidden gold?"

Steo, the "emo" girl, sighed.

“If only it were that simple,” she said listlessly.

The employer has already invested a lot of time and money in recovering the hidden gold and has incurred a large debt, so he is unwilling to give up under any circumstances.

They decided they had to salvage something to give the investors an explanation.

“We actually did manage to salvage some things,” Steo said. “Around the underwater impact crater, we found a large number of hard, ruby-like fragments in the mud. There’s no record of these things on the shipwreck. So we concluded that this material came from the meteorite, which shattered when it hit the ground and scattered on the seabed.”

She shivered slightly.

"But who knew that the very next day, someone would go mad. They would become a cruel, violent maniac. Then, one after another, more and more people went mad. Madness was like some kind of disease, contagious, spreading throughout the ship... You have no idea, at that time, the treasure ship became hell, everyone was killing each other, blood flowed like rivers. I was also forced to kill two people, because if I didn't resist, they would kill me... But in the end, they put me in a sack, tied me up, and threw me into the sea. In utter despair, I used the 'Anywhere Door' magic wand to randomly teleport myself to save myself. After that, you all know what happened."

Ivy Beatrice asked, "Where did the wand come from? Since you were captured, didn't they take all your magical items and equipment?"

"They won't be taking anything away."

When Steo was feeling triumphant, all the venomous snakes on his head stretched out their bodies and danced in the air.

Everyone around instinctively stepped back or leaned back.

"My profession is treasure-hunting master thief, and my specialty is concealing things on my person. Our profession has a secret technique called the Storage Pouch, oh my god, it's amazing! It can turn any container into a dimensional bag. Whether it's a bottle, a wooden barrel, or even the inner pocket of your clothes or a backpack, it can all be transformed. For example, I've hidden my magic wand in my sock, and no one has noticed anything amiss."

Blue Bubble exclaimed, "Amazing!"

So the punk girl accepted it with a smug look on her face.

However, as soon as Ivy-Beate spoke, the punk girl's face immediately turned green: "Indeed very powerful... Now, according to the conditions you shouted for help, hand over the treasure and your professional legacy, thank you."

Chapter 88 New Job-Seeking Secrets

After Medusa Stéphane's repeated requests and with everyone's consent, Ivy Beatrice finally allowed her to remove her blindfold.

No one noticed anything unusual about her red eyes.

Steo wasn't lying; she really could control the "Petrifying Gaze."

Right now, both the people and the owl bear cubs are practically under a petrifying gaze; everyone is staring blankly at the table, their expressions somewhat dazed.

A dozen or so wet parchment rolls were spread out on the dining table, piled up like a small mountain.

Everyone gathered around the table, staring at them in a daze.

Ivy Beatrice blinked her green eyes, hesitated, and then stretched out two fingers to gently pick up the roll closest to her. She then casually tossed it away from herself, her expression indescribable.

“Don’t tell me,” she said with difficulty, “that this pile of rotten papers you’ve been rotting in your boots is the treasure and professional legacy you’re talking about?”

Medusa immediately bristled—no, she bristled like a snake.

Her red eyes widened, and her emotions seemed to be transmitted to the colorful snake hair on her head, causing the motif snakes to hiss and writhe angrily.

"Oh my god, what do you mean by rotten paper soaking in boots? These are all treasure maps and job application documents, all my precious collections!"

"Don't be fooled by the fact that I took them out of my boots and they're all wet. I turned the soles of both boots into dimensional pouches using a storage pouch. They were only soaked by the seawater that was poured into the boots after they were taken out of the dimensional pouches, so they didn't get soaked—Hey! What are you smelling!"

As they were talking, Gu Xiong curiously brought the large plate closer and sniffed the parchment roll.

Stio, enraged, tried to catch it, but his hand grasped nothing: the owl bear cub ran to the side with a babyish cry and jumped into Ivy-Beate's arms.

Ivy Beatrice stroked the bear's fur while casually unfolding a roll of parchment.

Her eyes became serious.

“It really is an initiation scroll,” Ivy-Beate continued unfolding the parchment scroll. “What is this, a War Shapeshifter?”

Stewart was somewhat sullen:

“These are treasures I painstakingly collected… We agreed beforehand that you can each take one of them: the treasure map or the job-appointment scroll.”

Ivy Beatrice casually replied, "Okay."

She put down the War Shapeshifter and looked at another roll of parchment.

Stewart cleared his throat twice.

“If you want more scrolls, that’s not impossible,” she said, “as long as—”

"I reject."

Stewart was furious. "...Aren't you even going to listen to me?"

Ivy Beatrice rolled her eyes at Stewart and continued carefully flipping through the damp parchment scrolls.

"I can guess what you're up to without even hearing it. You just want us to help you get revenge, go back to that ship, and take back the money they plundered from you, blah blah blah... I refuse."

Then Steo's cheeks puffed out, and his multicolored snakes hissed angrily.

Her eyes lit up, and she had a new idea.

The parchment scrolls on the table were all taken from her left boot, and now she had taken off her right boot and was reaching into the boot shaft to rummage around.

Ivy Beatrice's attention was drawn to Stewart as she fiddled with the boots, wondering what she could come up with.

Steo rummaged around for a while and finally pulled out an iron tube.

She unscrewed the cap of the iron cylinder and poured out a bundle of wood chips tied with rope.

His emerald green vertical pupils widened.

—What are these little wooden pieces? These are actually wooden slips! And those clumps on them are even Chinese characters!

How could such a thing exist in this world?!

"Clang clang clang clang"

Stewart spread out the wooden slips in front of her as if singing, covered with densely packed Chinese characters. Ivy-Beate stared at them, only to find that she didn't recognize a single one.

These square characters are very similar to the ancient seal script of Earth in our past lives, but they are all mismatched.

Ivy Beatrice pondered, then reached out and gently touched the wooden tablet with her finger.

She asked in confusion, "What kind of writing is this?"

"This is an encrypted script from a parallel-dimensional twin world called Karatu cipher."

Steo said, “I found it in a dragon’s tomb. It’s a really powerful job scroll, I dare say none of the others can compare. If, well, you guessed it, if you help me, I’ll give it to you and translate it for you word for word.”

Ivy Beatrice took the wooden slip from Stewart's hand and began to examine it carefully.

“Don’t think you can just take it by force,” Steo said quickly. “Even if you exercise your option to take it from me, the transmission of the Karatul Codex is not part of our agreement. If you try to take it, you can forget about ever knowing the true meaning of the codes on these pieces of wood—”

Before Stewart could finish speaking, Ivy Beatrice interrupted him once again.

Ivy Beatrice looked at the wooden tablet in her hand and slowly read it word by word: "The Sword of Military Strategy".

Stewart was utterly astonished: "How is this possible! I can't even understand it when I use reading magic... Oh my god!"

She finally realized she had let something slip, but it was too late to make amends.

"Seize"

The black blade of the Shadow Sword suddenly plunged into the table in front of Steo, startling Medusa.

Ivy Beatrice stared at her with a forced smile.

Medusa, looking utterly hopeless, slumped dejectedly into her chair.

"I'm not pretending anymore, I'm laying my cards on the table, I'm giving in to this bleak fate."

"I can't stand it," the girl said listlessly. Her long, snake-like hair hung down, clinging to her head, reaching her shoulders, and even covering her face. Her "punk" look had instantly transformed into a straight, drooping hairstyle reminiscent of Sadako from the anime *Sadako*.

"I have another translation here, it was translated by someone else... You can take it if you want, I just need to ask you for a favor."

She looked at Ivy Beatrice with a look of despair.

"Can you tell me how you suddenly understood the inaugural scroll when you didn't recognize the Karatu cipher just now?"

Ivy Beatrice looked at the dejected Stewart and smiled mockingly.

"Not only can I understand the Karatu cipher on this, but I also know that your cipher translation is in the dimensional bag that you converted from the inner pocket of your shirt."

"Of course, I actually know nothing about the Karatu cipher, neither the translation nor the translation itself."

"I only know one magic spell: mind detection."

Ivy Beatrice had preemptively cast the third-circle arcane spell of the Mortal Hunter, "Mind Detection," on Medusa.

This magic can read a person's surface-level thoughts, that is, some subconscious ideas.

As she turned her gaze to the scroll, Steo's eyes inevitably followed, and he subconsciously uttered the name of the profession in his mind.

Thus, Ivy Beatrice learned about the "Sword of Military Way" and the location of the translated scroll.

The translation of the secret scroll, also a roll of parchment, was carefully stored in an exquisite lacquered box and placed before Ivy Beatrice.

Under Medusa's reluctant gaze, Ivy Beatrice opened the lacquer box and began reading the translated version of the secret scroll.

Steo muttered to himself, "This is the most powerful combat profession of the Karatu people, part of the 'Combat Scroll,' oh my god, it's incredibly strong."

After taking a couple of glances, Ivy Beatrice became increasingly serious about it, almost unable to put it down.

It turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

The Sword of Military Way (Warblade) is also known as the "Sword Master" or "Sword King".

All things are impermanent, only the sword endures.

The core of this profession is to dedicate one's limited life to endless sword training and life-or-death battles. Through relentless training, one masters the essence of numerous sword styles, perfecting one's physical body and combat skills; and through endless life-or-death battles, one repeatedly hones and pushes one's limits.

"To live is to have the opportunity to test one's swordsmanship—the stronger the opponent, the more glorious the victory."

This is the way of the swordsman.

—This is just like those aloof swordsmen in martial arts novels and Japanese swordsman novels from my previous life.

Ivy Beatrice carefully put away the translated copy. Ever since sensing the lingering presence of Delaz in her mind, she suspected that Delaz's continued existence might be related to the "Nature Champion" class, which she couldn't use. This was also why she insisted on obtaining the job-changing scroll. If she could use the power of Demogorgon's jewel to replace the unusable "Nature Champion" class with another class, would she be able to eliminate Delaz from her mind?

Whether the glory of defeating an opponent is dazzling or not, she doesn't care.

But she happened to use swords, and six swords at that.

Ivy Beatrice twitched her ears.

"Okay, I've changed my mind."

She sighed, and then said something that perked up Medusa: "OK, I can help you."

"Really?"

"real."

"Oh my god, this is wonderful!" Stewart exclaimed with delight. "I'll tell you, their ship is not far from here, and its name is—"

"No introductions needed."

Ivy-Beate stood up, grabbed the spellcaster Mand who was leaning against the cabin wall, and stretched her shoulders.