Chapter 2097: Scale
"Death’s Finger" may confer an instant death effect; once successful, unless there’s corresponding resistance, death is inevitable. Even with resistance, severe injury is inevitable.
In that instant, the black light burst from Miss Belindel’s fingertip, like an invisible Grim Reaper wielding a scythe in the air. With the reaction speed of that wolf-like giant, it could have dodged, but the effects of three negative arcane techniques made its body completely immobile, allowing it to be utterly struck by the black light.
In the next moment, the werewolf’s black fur, illuminated by the firelight, turned gray-white, and its size began shrinking. But it didn’t die; the obviously weakened werewolf, seemingly affected by a peculiar effect after being hit by "Death’s Finger," temporarily broke free from the arcane technique’s control and turned to pounce on the blonde lady exposed due to her use of arcane technique.
The witch was not at all panicked; the golden bracelet on her wrist gently shook, and suddenly a set of foot chains sprouted from the muddy ground of the cave, binding the airborne werewolf and forcibly locking its right leg to the ground.
With the werewolf forcibly crashing to the ground, the cave trembled once more. Miss Belindel looked somewhat displeased at the dusty ceiling, while the fallen werewolf curled up into a ball. The maids immediately encircled it to pursue, but the werewolf with its right leg locked and unable to move suddenly leapt up again.
The right leg, bound by the ground chains, was just bitten off. Yet even with only one leg remaining, its pouncing appearance was still frightening.
"Watch out!"
When the black chains shot out in the near-lightless cave, besides the sound of slicing through the air, they left no trace. The airborne dire wolf, upon having its neck locked by the chains, immediately fell back to the ground for the third time while maintaining its pouncing posture.
The torch was just extinguished by the wind from the werewolf’s pounce but was rekindled; six pitch-black Great Sin Runes shimmered with eerie glimmer under the firelight. Standing behind Miss Belindel, Shard explained while holding the chains:
"I have a pet cat at home. Though cats and dogs are different, their curling up to protect themselves is somewhat similar. It wasn’t curling up to protect itself earlier; that action was clearly to prevent us from seeing her gnawing on her own leg."
With that said, three silver halos were thrown out to lock the werewolf’s neck, body, and hands before withdrawing the [Great Sin Chains]. Miss Belindel intended to inquire about the chains, but the werewolf presented a new issue.
After the chains retracted, its body shrank again, until it transformed into a curled-up form of a middle-aged woman. Her right leg was certainly still broken, but the flesh was rapidly regenerating.
"Such fast regeneration ability? Werewolves don’t recover so exaggeratedly..."
Miss Belindel pondered in her heart. Seeing the woman unclothed, she wanted to remind Shard not to look, but turning her head, she saw Shard had already looked away.
"Was the arcane technique just now Death’s Finger? I have a friend proficient in the Power of Death; I know this arcane technique well, you used it quite effectively."
Shard commented while observing the cave, as the three maids draped clothes over the immobile middle-aged woman and induced temporary unconsciousness. Naturally, due to the werewolf’s physical quality far surpassing humans, they took all sorts of precautions.
"Yes, Death’s Finger. I’m actually not skilled in combat; when fighting, I usually like to use this kind of directly effective arcane technique. Nonetheless, spending most of my time in Moon Bay City, there’s little that requires me to make a move."
She candidly admitted her lack of strength, prompting Shard to smile and say:
"Besides Maze Lock, Miss Benanis isn’t very adept at combat either."
This was the observation Miss Galina made about the female opera singer shortly after Shard arrived at Randall Valley. Subsequent events proved this evaluation wasn’t mistaken, as the Duchess was unquestionably one of the fiercely robust among Eleventh Rank Witches; compared to her, Miss Benanis was indeed lacking.
"She possesses her own Maze Lock and later showcased the ability to summon gigantic stone statues, which already makes her formidable."
After Miss Belindel finished speaking, she inexplicably sighed. Confirming the werewolf’s unconsciousness, she allowed it to remain temporarily in its place, and the group continued further into the cave’s end:
"Your control-type arcane techniques are quite impressive; those chains and halos are remarkable."
Passing the battlefield with the werewolf and traversing the narrow middle of the expansive cave led to the area under the trees at the cave’s end. However, the cave’s end wasn’t a stone wall, but a curtain made of vile, writhing vines.
Gray-green mucus saturated between the vines, while black insects scuttled busily between them. Miss Belindel wrinkled her brow, feeling repulsed yet unafraid:
"Torches."
She gestured for the maids to burn away the obstructing vines, but as her words fell, amidst the writhing vines a face appeared. In this world, there’s no concept of "spiritual entity" like from the Outlander’s hometown. Anything with wisdom undeniably creates a soul for a reason. As the vine-formed face emerged, Miss Belindel immediately discerned its nature:
"A wraith spirit has attached itself to the tree. It doesn’t seem very intelligent."
She did intend to have a conversation with the other party, but the wraith spirit attacked everyone directly. A deluge of tree roots and vines surged from all directions of what had been an empty cave. A swarm of tiny, black insects spread across the ground under their feet like a flowing river.
"Ladies, kill it."
"Yes, Miss."
All five of them summoned flames together; even Shard, who hadn’t learned the "Firewall Spell," managed to shape a massive firewall with flame shaping. Five firewalls guarded the front, back, left, right, and above, slowly advancing to burn away the creeping vines. As for the swarm of insects and vines emerging from below, they were directly blocked underground by Miss Belindel’s "Turn Mud to Stone" incantation.
The seemingly terrifying vines and insects were merely ordinary and were quickly burned to ashes by the flames. However, this also made the air in the cave more foul and suffocating. Fortunately, all five of them were in good shape, so they didn’t have to worry about issues like lack of oxygen.
Under the fire, even the wraith spirit attached to the giant tree became weakened. When the walls of flame from everyone dissipated, the wraith, having lost all reason, manipulated the tree roots and vines with its own hands, manifesting a tangible form to launch an attack on the five individuals.
It was difficult to describe what that pitch-black entity was. Its overall shape resembled a horse, yet it possessed deformed wings. It was definitely neither a pegasus nor a unicorn, but closer inspection showed the head looked somewhat like that of a dragon.
Then the flames appeared once more, completely eradicating the wraith spirit. Afterward, the obstructing vines were cleared one by one, and they finally slipped behind the curtain.
Behind the curtain was a very narrow space, not convenient for five people to stand together, so Shard, ever the gentleman, volunteered to wait outside. Then the two ladies of the Nine Rings also stepped out, leaving Miss Belindel and Miss Matilda inside.
The witch skilled in divination could indeed be very useful in such circumstances. Shard wasn’t too worried and instead chose to chat outside with Maggie Vincent and Miss Lena Ponset. Initially, the two were not very willing to speak, but after casually discussing a few topics related to flame sorcery with Shard, they gradually became interested.
When Miss Belindel emerged from the hole, the three outside were discussing the topic of applying flames to weapons. Upon seeing the witch appear, they all fell silent. Miss Belindel glanced suspiciously at her two maids, concerned they might have been "enchanted" by Shard:
"We didn’t find the wrong place. Inside, there’s a very ancient sealing tablet. I suspect that the evil spirit and this tree get their power from the influence of that tablet. Even the werewolf’s rapid healing ability might be related to it. To open the tablet, you need to use a specific secret language or the power of a dragon."
She paused for a moment:
"Unfortunately, although I found this place through family records, I didn’t find the secret language. Matilda and I just tried it, but ordinary arcane techniques related to dragons have no effect. It probably requires a dragonborn or a relic related to dragons. I’m sure my followers don’t have one, so do you?"
Then she shook her head again:
"It’s okay if you don’t. We can seal this place and return to the city to figure something out."
"I can give it a try."
So, Miss Matilda came out, and Shard re-entered the narrow cave with the witch. The so-called "sealing tablet" was actually above their heads. Miss Belindel likely divined its position and then cleared away a thick layer of earth to find it.
The square tablet was embedded in a solid rock layer, so attempting to dismantle the structure to access its sealed contents was impossible.
The light orb illuminated this area and the runes on the tablet. Miss Belindel was just about to explain the meaning of those ancient dragon language runes to Shard when, unexpectedly, Shard read them himself:
"Do not touch unless a dragon. Hmm... strange grammar, but easy to understand. Oh, why are you looking at me like that? I’m very proficient in ancient languages—not just dragon language, but also in the languages of mermaids and elves."
Shard said, reaching out to touch the tablet, realizing that even the "Key of the Door" would struggle to forcefully open it:
"I might have a way, but could you possibly turn..."
Wanting the other person to turn away, he also considered the effect of the "other me" used by Circle Sorcerers. Considering asking the witch to wait outside, he realized that if continued cooperation was in play, he would eventually need to reveal some secrets.
So he shook his head, stopped speaking, and instead took out the right-hand glove Fiona had given him, which he had kept close. Putting the glove on, he touched the tablet above. Despite Shard not exerting much force, the tablet almost instantly developed cracks.
Crack~
A few seconds later, the tablet shattered completely, revealing a bright, shiny scale embedded inside.