[Vol. 8] Chapter 106: In the Name of the "Serpent"
Just like Edwina said, the strange golem summoned by Rudolph Lombard was indeed powerful, but it wasn’t strong to the point of being an unstoppable disaster. For someone like Miss Holy Knight, whose strength was at least close to the level of a pseudo god, it would have been more than enough to deal with the creature.
So why did Miss Violet the Priestess choose to take action herself?
One reason was that she saw Hongyan was about to forcefully use a powerful secret technique she hadn’t fully mastered yet. Violet didn’t think that was necessary, so she acted first.
The other reason was...
“Edwina, I remember you mentioned before, the assassin who sneaked into the orphanage pretending to be a caregiver and attacked you, when you slashed him, what came out wasn’t blood, but some kind of blue-green gas, right?”
“Yes… Wait, now that you mention it, when Rudolph summoned that monster...”
“Right. So it probably wasn’t just a coincidence.”
Besides this clue that Violet pointed out to Edwina, she had noticed other suspicious things, which is why she wanted to test the creature personally to find out more.
The golem-like creature was actually a type of "evil spirit". In the Ancient Spirit Realm, these beings are formed when the natural energy of that world, called spiritual energy, gets corrupted by some kind of twisted external force. The corrupted energy then attaches itself to things and forms monsters.
But here, in the Origin Realm, there is no spiritual energy. Instead, most unnatural events are powered by magical elements. So even if something like an Evil Spirit being shows up here, it would be different from the ones in the Ancient Spirit Realm.
Still, just like that strange energy that once secretly clung to Ayla Light, watching her for unknown reasons, this golem summoned by Rudolph shared many things in common with those Evil Spirit beings.
For example, they aren’t real physical creatures, they are made from some form of energy and need something else to give them a physical body.
Evil Spirit beings are formed by attaching to things filled with spiritual energy. This blue-green gas seems to form bodies by copying and connecting to other people.
Also, Evil Spirit beings usually have incredibly strong life force, and unless you use a method specifically made to fight them, they are extremely hard to kill.
This matched what happened with the golem. It was actually weak, but still managed to survive for a while under her powerful 8th-tier magic before finally turning to ashes.
The assassin who attacked Edwina also showed two clear traits. They could copy someone else’s appearance, and they was hard to kill, with strong life force
In addition, Violet had secretly checked the bodies of the more than ten elite fighters the Lombard family first sent out.
Even though their fighting power wasn’t too amazing, their muscles, bones, and vitality were far beyond normal people at their level. Almost reaching the physical limits of legendary-level humans. That was clearly not normal.
The likely reason for this unnatural strength was the blue-green gas that filled their entire bodies. It had soaked into all their organs and tissues, giving them superhuman strength and life force.
If Hongyan hadn’t used her special sword technique to destroy all their internal organs at once, simply slitting their throats might not have been enough to kill them.
So to say that all these things are completely unrelated… would be lying to herself.
The key to everything probably lies in that strange blue-green gas, or rather this foreign energy.
Rudolph Lombard might know a few things, but he was most likely just used as a pawn by whoever is behind all this. There’s a high chance he won’t be able to give any truly useful information.
Still, Edwina can interrogate him later. But they shouldn’t expect too much…
As Violet was thinking, she looked around. Suddenly, her eyes paused on something. She noticed a small, easily overlooked corner and immediately walked over to it.
It was a plain stone slab by the side of a country road, used to separate the road from the nearby farmland. But Violet wasn’t interested in the stone itself, she was looking at several broken crystal fragments scattered nearby. These pieces had been thrown hard by Rudolph earlier and shattered. They were once used to store that strange blue-green gas.
The crystals were nothing special. They were made from common magic crystals often used in potion-making and crafting magical tools. Even if she investigated them using the [Information Detection] spell, she wouldn’t find anything important.
However, Violet bent down, picked up the fragments one by one, and carefully checked them. Sure enough, on the outside of one piece, she found a line of tiny carved text.
“In the name of the Serpent, we bring salvation to the world…”
“That sounds a bit like some kind of cult slogan. But Miss Violet, I don’t really understand this writing. Could it be…?”
The black-haired girl stood up and nodded slightly to Miss Holy Knight who had walked over.
“Yes. This is written in [Ancient Niel language], the ancient language that, according to legend, only the ancient gods could use. This language holds special rules and power. Normal people can’t even say it out loud, let alone carve it into objects.”
“Whoever made this crystal... definitely isn’t ordinary.”
Edwina didn’t answer right away. After thinking for a moment, she spoke cautiously.
“If I’m not mistaken, Miss Violet, you already have a guess in your mind, right? You once said the force behind that large-scale assassination wasn’t the Austre Empire. And now, the trouble stirred up by the Lombard family seems to be connected to that event. It’s very possible that the same hidden group is behind both. You seem to know something about them, and you wanted to talk to me about it, didn’t you?”
Violet looked at her, then gave a helpless smile and shook her head slightly.
“You’ve gotten smarter, little one. You're starting to sound a bit like a Pope, always thinking many steps ahead. You’re right. There are not many people in this world I can trust, but you’re one of them. And this group is closely tied to many things that are about to happen…”
Giving such a clear sign of trust, Violet thought for a bit, then got straight to the point.
“Have you ever heard of the name [World Sustainers]?”
Violet didn’t expect Edwina to say yes. After all, Edwina had only become ruler a little over a year ago. Even though her control over the country was already firm, she still lacked deeper knowledge. Not even the Shadow Order of the Human United Kingdom had found much information about this name. So it was unlikely that someone like Edwina would have come across it.
But to her surprise, Miss Holy Knight paused, thought for a moment, and actually nodded.
“I’ve heard of it. In fact, something related to them happened right here in our country.”
“Oh?”
Violet’s eyes lit up.
“Are you serious? Tell me everything!”