NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54: Messenger
The Shadow Realm was a terrifying place.
Actually, in this bizarre world, any eternally lightless area was a terrifying place for humans.
But under the Divine Watcher's specialized vision for darkness, the lightless Shadow Realm became quite beautiful in David's eyes.
Like being at the bottom of a deep sea—peculiar plants emitting faint light, rugged strange rocks and ravines, shadows churning like water waves. Such scenery was enough to intoxicate anyone.
It's just that David currently had no mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery.
He only wanted to vent the malice forcibly stuffed into his heart by the evil spirit through combat, destruction, and killing.
He'd transformed into a beast with almost no reason, just wildly swinging three different arms to attack those shadows trying to approach.
A raging man fighting wantonly in a raging shadow colony. The shadows rejected this outsider from the light. They were fearless of death, wave after wave.
Among David's arms, only the Construct Blade could harm them. Battle instinct made him continuously swing the blade. Whenever those shadows tried to gather and release the terrible death curse, he'd rush up and cut them down with the blade.
If he made even one mistake, he'd die under the death curse.
But that terrifying evil spirit wouldn't let him die like that. It wanted to continue tormenting this human. It wanted more killing.
The malice dominating his mind drove David to carve out a chance at life again and again between life and death. He was like a dancer leaping in the darkness, an abyss at his feet...
Until one moment, David finally exhausted his stamina. He collapsed to the ground. The overloaded Construct Arm had reached its limit and could no longer move.
The malice in his heart finally seemed to weaken somewhat.
But he also had no strength left to get back up...
Turning his head slightly, he saw a huge white object lying in the darkness ahead.
Feathers... massive amounts of feathers scattered on the ground. They'd once been hard as steel, but now were slowly rotting away.
Was that the monster bird?
David gritted his teeth, moving his limbs to crawl over and sprawl on top of the monster bird.
"It's you..."
The monster bird's mouth, split into four parts and looking extremely twisted, let out a barely audible voice.
"You're still not dead yet."
David showed a weak smile. But soon enough—he saw quite a few shadows gnawing on the monster bird's massive body. Its life energy was about to bottom out.
Similarly, he wasn't much different.
Looked like he was going to die here with this dopey bird.
"I've already... completed my mission..." The monster bird's head twitched, its voice also somewhat distorted.
David sighed, looking at the shadows dancing all over the sky, silently speechless.
Right then, a bit of light appeared in the direction he'd come from... That flickering lightning lit up David's pupils.
In the light, an old man in a gentleman's suit with messy hair slowly walked over. By his side were two construct soldiers crackling with lightning. The constructs were holding two strange devices.
The two devices propped up a layer of strange blue light barrier, isolating the darkness outside. When those shadows touched the barrier, the lightning on it would bounce them away. They all shrieked, not daring to approach.
"Savior's here?"
David held his breath. He recognized Julius. This old guy had appeared mysteriously at the venue before—he'd definitely had ulterior motives.
It's just that this old fart was walking too damn slowly... Was he doing it on purpose!?
With his snail-like legs, by the time he walked over here, he could collect David's corpse!!!
Heaven seemed to hear David's mental cursing. Behind the light, another angel appeared.
That beautiful "angel" grabbed one of the devices and quickly ran toward David.
Her steps were so fast, like a ball of light...
Those peculiar metal legs stamped out a string of lightning in the Shadow Realm, cutting through David's field of vision.
After a blink, the "angel" stood before him, holding up a barrier isolating the shadows for him.
David's eyes widened, tears welling up.
He finally saw clearly what that "angel" looked like. She wasn't any angel—she was that little girl he'd rescued.
Her disheveled long hair flowed with beautiful white light in the wind. Her crystalline skin radiated flame-like colors in the darkness. She was naked, and she was beautiful.
In this moment, even the sweat droplets on her body sparkled like starlight, leaving an unforgettable impression on David...
What surprised him even more were the legs on the lower half of the little girl's body.
They were a pair of metal legs flashing with blazing light and lightning. They were absorbing the girl's blood, converting it into energy and feeding it back into her body. Under this cycle, her body lit up with that gorgeous light.
But it seemed to be searing the little girl's flesh and nerves, making her look somewhat pained.
"Are you... okay?"
Dorothy was indeed in pain, but she ignored it. Instead, she crawled up to David and carefully cradled his face.
"I'm... fine..." David smiled, breathing a long sigh of relief inside.
After a while, that damn old man finally slowly walked to their side, looking down at David lying next to the monster bird.
"It's you?" He seemed a bit surprised David would appear here. "What are you doing here?"
"That's what I want to ask you, Master Julius." David looked at the alchemist and sneered.
"I'm just here to handle some business... Watch your attitude, hunter. I saved your life." Julius pointed at the device in Dorothy's hands.
"Is that so? Well then, pardon my rudeness, but if you don't tell me your purpose, I'll just have to take you down too."
Julius raised his eyebrows. Was this something a half-dead person lying on the ground could say?
Could you not be so arrogant?
However, Julius still stepped back, because he sensed danger.
The danger came from that equally half-dead monster bird...
The twisted giant monster bird turned its head. Its three wildly moving eyes simultaneously locked onto the alchemical master, muttering.
"Leave... none... alive..."
Julius took a deep breath and raised both hands. "Fine, fine... I'll talk, okay? Just keep your synthetic beast under control..."
David looked at the monster bird in surprise, not expecting this "super monster pigeon" was still hanging on.
"Leave none alive..." The monster bird stared at Julius, its body starting to twist and twitch bizarrely, as if about to spring up uncontrollably.
David reached out and pressed down on it, shaking his head. "He's not the target."
"No... he is."
The monster bird's words made David freeze for a moment. He seemed to realize something. Looked like His Highness the Prince really didn't want anything here preserved.
Right then, the monster bird's body began twitching even more violently. Something seemed to be surging under its feather-covered body, and its head also started twitching uncontrollably, looking heart-stopping.
"Kill... kill me... I'm reaching... my limit... kill... me..." the monster bird suddenly shouted intermittently.
David looked at it with a complicated expression while extending the Hand of Monster.
"Is there a human soul inside you too?" He asked the monster bird one last question, somewhat trembling.
"I am... a messenger... nothing more... than that..."
Crack.
Just as the monster bird was about to uncontrollably flip over and lunge, David twisted off its head.
...
The dark tide covered the sky, blocking out the sunlight. Even though morning had come, the imperial capital still looked very gloomy.
Black clouds brought a heavy rain, shrouding the capital's streets and alleys.
No one knew how long this dark tide would last. Whenever this happened, the capital loved to rain.
The doorbell at 9 Michelin Avenue rang. The twins who'd been waiting at home for their young master for days hurried to the entrance. Opening the door, they didn't see Master David's figure.
The visitor wore a black raincoat, standing quietly in the heavy rain.
Zoe seemed to hear the sound of metal tapping the ground. She also caught sight of a lock of snow-white hair from under the person's raincoat hood.
The person didn't speak, just handed her a package, then left.
The two sisters received the package in confusion and discovered Master David's private seal printed on it. This finally let the two breathe a sigh of relief.
Master David had said before that he'd be back in two days at most, but it had been almost four days now and he still hadn't sent any word. This had made the sisters very worried.
Now the young master finally had information sent back. It's just... why was that messenger so strange?
In the pouring rain, the figure in the raincoat sped through the streets, fast as the wind. The carriages and pedestrians on the street didn't even notice before the figure had already flashed past with light steps.
Soon, the raincoat arrived at the Church plaza, pulled back the hood, revealing Dorothy's pale little face. She looked at the Church's spired buildings and took a deep breath.
The man who'd rescued her had been tortured to the point where he couldn't move, so she'd become his messenger. She had to hurry and bring back what he needed...