After work, start to speedrun the other world-Chapter 98 - 14: The Cursed City_2
This is unquestionably an insult, the greatest of insults.
Therefore, after the Creation Witch died, her disciples received severe punishment, which was only reasonable.
"Yes, it’s her," Xi Mu replied, and then he stopped in his tracks, standing now in front of the castle’s main gate.
A few knights clad in armor leaned against the edge of the gate, seemingly indifferent to his approach.
"They seem like tough guys to deal with," Jed sensed the presence of the knights and drew the short knife from her waist.
"Don’t be nervous," Xi Mu waved his hand, grabbed Jed’s wrist, and then, under her puzzled gaze, hurriedly ran inside with her.
Before the gatekeeping knights could react, Xi Mu and Jed had already entered the castle.
If you were to walk slowly or stand at a distance probing these gatekeeping knights, you would find that the knights would gradually stand up and begin to attack the player.
But if you run in quickly, before these gatekeeping knights have time to react, and keep running fast,
You can avoid entering a state of battle.
By the time you reach the boss room, the chasing soldiers would consciously stop chasing and return to their posts.
"Boss, can we really find the meteorite by running around like this!" Jed followed Xi Mu’s steps, zigzagging through the castle.
To this, Xi Mu offered a confident explanation.
"I’ve already used astrology to determine where the meteorite is."
"Boss, it’s only been a few days since you started learning magic from Lord Hecate!" Jed couldn’t help but comment, very familiar with Xi Mu’s learning status. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
In the Magic Castle, if he wasn’t cutting down men, he was on the way to do so, with basically no time to learn magic.
For normal people, learning magic not only requires memorizing a vast amount of knowledge but also requires gradual practice, and this is even more true for the study of astrology, which cannot be mastered in a short time.
Otherwise, the profession of fortune teller wouldn’t be considered so precious.
"Just glancing over it is enough to learn," Xi Mu explained casually, then suddenly skidded to a halt and turned to run in another direction.
Jed: "..."
She suddenly remembered her boss’s setting, which seemed to be that of an extremely powerful genius, who could learn by just looking once; so it seemed understandable that the boss now possessed advanced astrology.
History also has clear records that some geniuses, with just one look, could copy another’s magic and use it even more brilliantly.
So, her boss must also be one of those people.
"We’re here."
Xi Mu stopped, arrived at the boss’s door, ignored the knights chasing from afar, and kicked the door open with one foot.
After that, a tired sigh was heard, and upon hearing it, the pursuing knights immediately stopped, then started to retreat.
"Outsider, you have an annoying odor on you," the weary female voice emitted hatred, "That is the scent of the gods."
"..."
Xi Mu didn’t reply, exchanging a glance with Jed before entering the room alone, while Jed stood guard at the door.
Stepping into the room, the first thing that caught his eye was a dangerous-looking young girl dressed in red, sitting on a chair crafted out of gems and gold, casually resting her chin in her hand.
"Let me guess which goddess you worship," the girl looked at the knight approaching her and nonchalantly extended her pale finger.
"It’s the Goddess of Life, isn’t it?"
"..." Xi Mu didn’t reply, moved to the side of the room, and eyed a locked chest, smashing it with his great sword.
The lock dropped, and he opened the chest.
As expected, inside was the Magic Queen’s meteorite, an essential material for enhancing his weapon to plus ten.
"Hey... human, I’m talking to you!" The young girl, noticing the cavalier attitude of the silver-armored knight, grew very angry.
Xi Mu finally reacted upon hearing her words, took out the meteorite from the chest, and approached the Ghostly Queen.
"You want me to pray to the Goddess of Life to lift the curse of the undead," he offered the meteorite in his hand, "and my payment would be this meteorite in my hand?"
Ghostly Queen: "..."
How did this human figure it out without her having to say anything? Why does he already know what she intends to do?
"Agreed," Xi Mu nodded, accepting the terms for himself, and the Ghostly Queen suddenly did not know what to say.
Normally, shouldn’t she be the one to fight the intruder, and after winning, display her queenly grace by releasing the trespasser?
Only then would she begin the negotiation, detailing the plight of her people in the city, appealing to reason and stirring emotions. Then she would use the city’s riches as bait to lure... ahem, request the favor of a person blessed by the gods to pray to the Goddess for forgiveness of their great sin.
"Wait, how do you know what I’m thinking?" the Ghostly Queen looked at Xi Mu, who was prepared to leave, and expressed her suspicion:
"And do you really intend to ask the Goddess to lift the curse as promised?"
Xi Mu replied, "I will pray to the Goddess of Life about your situation. Whether the Goddess of Life is willing to lift your curse depends on the Goddess herself."
In fact, it was possible for the Goddess of Life to lift the curse from the city, given the precondition that the Goddess of Life held the players in high favor, and a church dedicated to the Goddess of Life was erected within the city.
After a certain number of the city’s inhabitants had acknowledged their wrongdoings, the curse could be lifted, granting everyone a chance for reincarnation.
However, if the attempt to lift the curse failed, the Ghostly Queen would fall into utter despair and launch an attack on the player.
Once the Ghostly Queen had been defeated, she would make her way to the public square in desperation and apologize to Dao at the crater where the light fell.
Even if the player attacked the Ghostly Queen at that point, she would not resist; she would only cry in sorrow, considering the player’s attack as her... atonement.
After all, it was the Ghostly Queen who led the city to switch their faith to the Creation Witch, causing her own nation to fall into ruin.
Therefore, the Ghostly Queen was always in a state of guilt and pain.
"I cannot trust that you will pray sincerely to the Goddess of Life," the Ghostly Queen shook her head indifferently.
"Unless you..."
"This city does not have a church for the Goddess of Life," Xi Mu casually mentioned, "unless you’re willing to destroy the statue of the Creation Witch and replace it with the statue of the Goddess of Life."
The atmosphere became tense.
Looking into the Knight’s cold eyes, the Ghostly Queen wanted to scold this presumptuous human, but thinking about her subjects’ condition, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
She bit her lower lip, her expression torn.
"..." Xi Mu did not press her, watching the Ghostly Queen’s sad, but resigned face, and with a voice as tempting as a demon’s whisper, he said:
"After all, the Creation Witch has been dead for many years; she cannot blame you."
That was a lie. Although people believed that the Creation Witch had died, the truth was that the Creation Witch was sealed in Hell.
Once he opened the gates of Hell, the Creation Witch would return.
"..." The Ghostly Queen opened her mouth, looked very... troubled, then, as if to evade, she asked a question.
"Why do you understand everything I want to do so well?"
"Changing the subject is not a clever tactic," Xi Mu smiled, took a step forward, lifted his hand, and forced the Ghostly Queen to look at him.
"You have no choice but to choose one of two options," he asserted.
"Aren’t you changing the subject too?" the Ghostly Queen bit her lip, defiantly glaring back, and then Xi Mu withdrew his hand in response.
"Your Majesty, you don’t want your subjects to suffer the curse of undeath forever, do you?" His smile was gentle, but his voice was cold.
"Of course, if you want to continue your faith and wait for the Creation Witch, who will never return, I can understand that," he said.
"Don’t force me to make a choice so quickly," the Ghostly Queen responded as if pleading, her pathetic look making it difficult for anyone to remain unmoved.
But Xi Mu did not waver, saying coldly, "I have more important matters to attend to and can’t afford to wait for you to make a decision."
If he was willing to wait for the Ghostly Queen to make a choice, employing a gentle approach, he would be able to maximize her favor and have the Ghostly Queen become a summon to accompany the player in battle.
But he already possessed the Ten Shadow Magics and did not need the Ghostly Queen’s assistance in combat, unless she could offer something more.
Regrettably, such things were never allowed in this virgin game.
