I want to be a faded person for life

I rubbed the wolves' heads. Although they were theoretically just souls awakened from ashes, the feeling of licking my fingers with my tongue was still a little wet.

Xiangzi also tried to use the spirit bell to call the ashes that she had originally obtained in the Chapel of the King. Although she received a response, the spirit not only failed to take shape, but instead gave her a splitting headache.

"Okay, okay...are you actually some big dog from somewhere?"

Seeing that the stray wolves had no intention of calming down, they became even more excited.

Xiangzi was unable to escape their entanglement, and finally he could only helplessly ring the soul-calling bell to send the souls of the three stray wolves back.

This is the second item that the doll that calls itself Witch Reina gave her last night, in addition to the Soul Summoning Bell - [Ashes of the Stray Wolf].

Xiangzi now suspected that they were forced to leave the group because their true identity as big dogs was exposed.

"...I'm not a wolf, and I won't eat you—you can open your eyes now."

"Little Red Riding Hood" carefully lowered the arms that were protecting her head and opened her emerald green eyes.

"Ah... So you're a Fader."

Xiangzi no longer objected to this. Since everyone who met her for the first time thought so, there seemed to be no harm in accepting it.

"What happened? Why are you hiding in this place?"

No matter how you look at it, the other party doesn't look like a soldier who can pass through the pass and the barracks in front of the checkpoint. Could it be that she came from the opposite direction... from Stonewell?

As Xiangzi was thinking, the other party finally hugged his shoulders and started to talk.

"My name is... Roderica."

"...Everyone except me has had their limbs reattached."

"Those who came with me to Nimgefu, who fought for me...ahhh."

Rodlika, wearing a red hood, covered her head with her hands and cried and laughed uncontrollably, tears streaming uncontrollably through her fingers.

"The hands, feet, and head were all cut off and became part of the spider."

Xiangzi felt a chill down her spine when she heard this, and she recalled for the first time in a long time the first enemy she faced after coming to this world, that strange monster with multiple pairs of limbs like a spider.

"Did you know that after being attached to a spider, a person will grow like a chrysalis... That's really weird, isn't it?"

The girl in front of him was obviously mentally unstable. She seemed to have encountered something extremely cruel. Her whole body was broken and she would laugh miserably from time to time.

Xiangzi's face gradually turned paler.

She was wrong. She was comforting herself just because of her friendship with Eric and the different Golden Crown Prince mentioned by the latter... Limb transplantation has always been an extremely perverted and twisted behavior, an evil act that normal people can never understand.

We must enter Stonewell as soon as possible, otherwise she will be...

Xiangzi seemed to see this scene... In the dark and dim basement, the lamp without limbs was thrown into the pile of corpses like a broken doll, and its originally beautiful and bright amber eyes had completely lost their luster.

Xiangzi gritted his teeth, forcing the image out of his mind, turned his head and stared at Stonewell with sharp eyes.

"Are you acting alone?"

Roderica noticed Xiangzi's expression and the direction of his stare, and she suddenly became calmer.

"Are we heading towards Stonewell?"

"Is it because you believed the good words of that Mr. White Mask, or... do you also want to become part of the spider?"

"If so, then you're just like me..."

As she spoke, her emotions began to become unstable again, and she began to hold her shoulders and tremble uncontrollably.

"But I don't have the courage—the thought of having my hands and feet chopped off, my head cut off, is too horrible. I really want to be like everyone else, to be like everyone else, but I'm terrified."

"I'm such a coward...Aren't you afraid?"

Xiangzi took a deep breath and patted the other person's shoulder.

"I'm scared, but I'd be dead already if I were a coward."

-

Ashes of the Stray Wolf

Ashes that house the soul.

Able to summon three wolf spirits.

The spirits of wild wolves driven from their packs are said to have met the nameless Faded Ones, hunting and fighting together.

Chapter 19 Important Clues

It's natural to feel afraid.

He was worried about the unknown outcome and afraid of pain, and even his sword-holding hand was shaking with fear.

But we must never stop moving forward.

Toyokawa Sho tasted the poisonous wine of regret.

If only I had kept that notebook...

If only I had been honest from the beginning...

What on earth was I hesitating about at the time?

Is it really so unacceptable to let an irreplaceable friend know about your embarrassing situation?

She doesn't want to say something like "I wish I had taken action earlier" one day in the future.

Therefore, you must do your best before things become irreversible.

Looking at Xiangzi's extremely determined eyes, Roderica was a little dazed for a moment.

"...You are such a brave man, I envy you."

After hesitating for a moment, Rodlika took out the clay pot from her body.

"Please take this child with you. I can see with my own eyes that all those souls love you very much."

Roderica's emerald eyes reflected the images of wolves and giant eagles.

"It would be a shame to be buried here with someone like me."

There was a hint of longing in Roderica's eyes.

"After talking with you, I think I can... muster up a little courage. If you see my companions who have transformed into chrysalis in Stoneville, please tell them."

"Sooner or later, I will catch up with everyone else...I will strive to be like everyone else."

No, no, no, there's no need to put in any effort to get a limb grafted and turn into a chrysalis...

Xiangzi thought so, but still accepted the urn.

To save the lamp, the more power you can get, the better.

Xiangzi pulled out the broken arrow stuck in his shoulder armor with great effort. The blessing in the broken house was very weak, and there was not much left after his injury was healed.

"One last question. Have you ever seen a girl about my age in Stoneville? She has short gray hair—she has a very unique aura. If you've ever seen her, you'll definitely remember her."

Rodlika thought about it for a few seconds and then nodded.

"...You mean Miss Deng? It's true that once you meet her, you'll never forget her."

Toyokawa Shoko's pupils suddenly shrank, and her hands tightly grasped Roderica's shoulders.

"So you've seen her?!"

"How's the light? Where is she now?!"

Rodlika felt a little dizzy.

"Yes...yes, we traveled together for a while."

"Later, we encountered danger. An enemy claimed to be the ominous demon Markit. Miss Deng... decided to stay behind to cover our retreat."

"The last place we met... was on the outer walls of Stonevale, which might have been..."

Before she could finish her words, Xiangzi rushed out of the shabby house without hesitation, holding the whistle to her lips as she ran.

"Torret!"

Accompanied by the neighing of the spirit horse, the girl leaped up and galloped towards the city of Stonewell, her loose blue hair dancing in the wind.

"Lord Fader, I wish you all the best... and may you be reunited with Miss Lantern soon."

Roderica clasped her hands together, but this time in true prayer.

-

The patrolling zombie soldier spotted the girl heading straight towards the city and immediately took off the horn from his waist.

"In the way!"

Xiangzi raised his hand and summoned the Storm Blade to cut off its head from several meters away.

The other two zombies had already raised their large shields and spears, but Xiangzi did not slow down his charge at all.

She pulled the reins and made Torret jump into the air. The spirit horse kicked the helmets of two soldiers in mid-air and continued to gallop at full speed, stepping on their corpses.

"Well done, Torret!"

The outer gate of Stonewell was already in sight. More soldiers noticed that the enemy appeared behind the chevaux de frise and slowly formed a battle formation.

Several crossbowmen nocked arrows in different directions, but before they could take aim, they were knocked to the ground by the sudden appearance of the wolf spirit.

Xiangzi had already rung the soul-calling bell, and grayish-white smoke quickly condensed into shape.

not enough.

Trying to suppress the headache that felt like it was splitting him in two, Xiangzi continued to ring the silver bell.

The phantom of another soul gradually gained substance behind her.

If "Witch Reina" were still here, she would probably be very shocked - usually, only one soul can be summoned at a time using the Soul Summoning Bell.

In addition to consuming a large amount of magic power, the act of summoning souls itself will also place a huge burden on one's own soul.

Even with the knowledge of Witch Reina, the only person who could summon multiple souls at the same time was her own mother.

A jellyfish-shaped soul appeared behind Xiangzi, pushing away the air as if moving in water, and floating up.

[Are you the new owner of Kulala? ]

The jellyfish actually spoke, and her voice sounded like that of a young girl who was not even as old as Xiangzi.

"You can actually talk...Kurara, I need your help right now!"

Although Xiangzi felt a little guilty about being called "master" by children younger than him, now was not the time to worry about such things.

In the direction of the city gate, a crossbow several meters wide was slowly moving its angle, aiming at the body of Toyokawa Shoko on horseback.

The soul jellyfish named Kulala saw the most threatening crossbow from a high vantage point.

[Okay, Master, Kulala will work hard! ]

Kulala's transparent body suddenly turned red. She suddenly expanded and became larger, and then suddenly sprayed a large purple-red poisonous mist forward.

"Good job!"

Xiangzi rushed into the poisonous fog head-on, and his figure was immediately obscured by the thick poisonous fog.

The Soul Jellyfish seemed very happy to be praised and sprayed poison mist even harder.

The zombie operating the bed crossbow lost the target it was about to lock onto, but it did not feel impatient.

Although it has lost the consciousness of a living person, the instincts remaining in this body allow it to still skillfully operate the crossbow.

A charging knight will never change direction in order to maintain speed, so you only need to shoot arrows along the enemy's path.

The zombie pulled the trigger hard, and a giant arrow that was thicker and longer than the spears used by the soldiers shot out with a "bang".

The giant crossbow arrows were powerful enough to penetrate rocks, and even heavy tower shields were unable to defend against them. The knight's brass kite was no different from paper in front of it.

The giant arrow instantly penetrated the area covered by the poisonous smoke and pierced the ground with a huge explosion. The crossbow arrows attached with gunpowder by the perfumer did not distinguish between friend and foe, and engulfed everything in the hit area in rising flames.

There is absolutely no possibility of survival.

But - a figure that absolutely could not possibly appear rushed out of the thick smoke!

In the poisonous fog, Xiangzi canceled the summons to Torret, put the smooth brass shield on his back, and used inertia like skiing to slide out on his back, keeping close to the ground.

The soldier wanted to load a second crossbow bolt, but he was already forced into a dangerous distance.

"too slow!"