I want to be a faded person for life

The nobleman's body was also set on fire by the flames. He struggled frantically, drew out his rapier and stabbed the other party more than a dozen times in a row like a rainstorm, each time bringing up a waterfall of blood like a flag.

At this time, Xiangzi finally completed the second stage of charging the Kalia Greatsword, and the huge sword blade was almost touching the roof of the banquet hall.

Blood gushed out from the corners of the girl's eyes and nostrils, and a layer of pyroxene crystals spread across her cut arm.

"Drink!"

The pale blue blade swept across the bodies of the swordsman and the limb-grafted noble at the same time.

The swordsman's soul immediately became transparent and dissipated, while the body of the limb-reattached noble froze in place and began to tremble.

"Hometown under the tree..."

After a violent shaking, the monster's body split into two parts in the middle, connected by sticky blood.

Chapter 31: The Gradually Collapsed Clockwork Doll

Xiangzi's sword fell to the ground, and she fell to her knees, and the two remaining wolf spirits also flew away.

Both her magic power and physical strength had reached their limits, and the girl's vision became a little blurry.

"No...I can't sleep yet. I must...I must find a light."

Perhaps it would be a sensible decision to return to the Blessing Point to recover before returning to the banquet hall, but Xiangzi currently lacks that kind of patience.

The words of the limb-transplanted noble filled her with fear.

[As long as I can make you lose your ability to resist, I will use many kinds of torture to torture you until you lose your mind - until you can no longer see the guidance of the blessed light.]

Xiangzi swallowed some more pyroxene powder, and his tattered body stood up swaying like a puppet.

Melina appeared beside her and reached out to stop her but it was too late. She could only put it back silently.

Melina sighed inaudibly, and an illusory golden mark appeared in her hand. The gentle light fell like raindrops, slightly healing Xiangzi's injuries and preventing her from dying immediately from excessive blood loss.

The one-eyed girl supported Xiangzi's shoulders and followed her to search every corner of the banquet hall.

Hundreds of human body parts were hung from the beams of the banquet hall, including arms, thighs, and torsos with hollowed-out internal organs and connected to the spine.

"No, none of them...definitely not these!"

The tragic and bizarre scene made Xiangzi want to vomit, but these limbs had obviously been dried by the wind for a long time, and the muscles had turned a dark brown color similar to ham.

Moreover, most of them were strong men, and even the few women were all slender and strong warriors, which did not fit the characteristics.

"Melina, these are obviously wrong, right?"

Xiangzi actually burst out laughing.

"I knew it wouldn't happen. The lamp must be fine... That child isn't a warrior at all, and there's no way Greg would use him as a limb-removal sacrifice. If it were me now, I'd be fine."

Melina remained silent.

Finally, Xiangzi stopped in front of a small door. Through the greasy wooden door, he could smell the pungent smell of blood.

This is the kitchen of the banquet hall and also the place where the limb-replacement offerings are stored.

There was a faint sound of some creature gnawing on something from inside.

Xiangzi put her hand on the door handle and squeezed it several times before she got a firm grip. She stood in front of the door for several seconds before she finally made up her mind and pulled the wooden door open.

Behind the door was a dim kitchen with a roaring fire in the fireplace and jars of various shapes placed on the surrounding wooden shelves.

There was still some smelly blood on the table, but all the servants here had disappeared. They continued to walk towards the direction where the smell of blood was the strongest - that was the miscellaneous warehouse located in the deepest part of the kitchen.

Placed here was a small mountain of corpses.

The huge body of the mountain monster was hung upside down on the stone beam, with its right arm and left leg cut off. Below the upside-down mountain monster were countless remains wrapped in gray shrouds.

The shroud was soaked with undried blood, which had gathered into shallow puddles on the warehouse floor. Two large dogs with festering fur but extremely fat were lying on the pile of corpses, gnawing on the dead bodies with big mouthfuls.

Xiangzi raised his staff and used his recovered magic power to instantly shoot out two balls of magic pebbles, smashing the heads of the two vicious dogs.

She walked to the pile of corpses with blood all over the ground and started searching inside.

The soul-summoning bell vibrated slightly, and Xiangzi received a hint from the soul jellyfish Kurala.

"This seems to be...Rodlika's?"

Xiangzi found a piece of red velvet cloth embroidered with gold patterns, and a blood-stained pin was wrapped in the red cloth.

Several torsos with their heads, limbs and arms cut off were tied here with shrouds and hemp ropes. They should be the companions that Roderica mentioned who were used as sacrifices for limb reattachment.

Bring this relic to her afterwards.

As Xiangzi was thinking this, his face suddenly turned pale because of something that appeared among the pile of corpses.

That was something that should never appear at the border, something with a special creature pattern printed on it. There shouldn't be such a creature at the border—

A Band-Aid with an Adelie penguin image.

Xiangzi took a few steps back and fell into a pool of blood.

She raised her hands to cover her face, and the things in front of her eyes became more and more blurry.

The surrounding environment suddenly became distorted, and Xiangzi suddenly found herself standing in that cramped cheap rental house again. The giant hanging on the beam shrank into a black shadow that was both familiar and unfamiliar to her.

The other person's neck was hung on an old-fashioned ceiling fan with a rope, and swarms of flies made a buzzing sound in the room filled with the smell of cheap alcohol and decay.

The hanged corpse opened its mouth and spoke to her in a sweet voice with a strange lilt at the end of its sentences.

【Hasn’t this been found? 】

"No, no no... No, that's not right."

Shoko Toyokawa waved her hands desperately, like a drowning person trying to grab the last straw.

"The light will give a Band-Aid to the wounded, just like when I first met her, there's nothing wrong with that..."

Two tiny pyroxene crystals penetrated the side of her face and grew out from under her skin.

[But isn't the body in front of you roughly the same size as that child?]

"This isn't her, this isn't the lamp... I'm going to keep looking. Since she's not in the banquet hall, I'll go to the City Lord's Steps and the throne."

The figure hanging on the noose swayed gently, the old ceiling fan creaked under the heavy load, and the surrounding environment began to distort again, as if the world was melting.

【Since you think so, why not take it apart and take a look? 】

The dead man on the noose began to sing, a song of nostalgia.

Shoko Toyokawa stood beside the tram tracks where the blood was gradually spreading, and her whispers became louder and louder.

Melina finally noticed the abnormality and her expression became unusually serious.

"...Who are you talking to?"

The girl didn't react at all, as if she didn't hear her voice at all, and more tiny blue pyroxenes emerged.

"Kill Greg—yes, I'm going to kill Greg and occupy Stonewell. I'm going to dig this city up deep, so that more people will come looking for her."

Melina took a few steps forward and put her hand on Xiangzi's shoulder. The latter suddenly lost all his strength, fell to his knees and fell into a coma.

Melina sighed softly again and picked up the velvet and the penguin Band-Aid for the unconscious Xiangzi.

After sorting everything out, the one-eyed girl carried the Faded One on her back and walked towards the direction of Blessing.

-

[Relics of the Pupa Group]

A brooch wrapped in velvet red cloth, a relic held by the pupa group that became the sacrifice for the limb grafting.

I can vaguely see souls floating above me and feel that they are talking to each other, but I can't hear the sound.

【Penguin Band-Aid】

Something that doesn't exist at the border is a drawing of a strange bird with a beard, and the bird's name is the Adelie penguin.

After use, you can restore a small amount of physical strength.

It is said to be an item that was once held by one of the three origin magicians recorded in later generations.

Author's message

Although I left a lot of hints, I was still afraid that someone would misunderstand me. The lamp was definitely not dead (

Chapter 32 Not Unbeatable

Toyokawa Shoko sat up from the ground.

Bathed in the blessed light, the damage she had suffered had been completely healed, and even most of the pyroxene crystals growing from the side of her face had fallen off, leaving only two tiny pieces.

The girl's eyes were dull and she sat on the ground without saying a word.

"I thought you'd need this."

Melina walked over to her and squatted down, grabbed one of Xiangzi's hands, and stuffed the penguin Band-Aid into her palm.

Seeing the funny penguin with a beard on the sticker, Xiangzi's eyes finally wavered again and she moved her lips.

"......Thanks."

The girl's voice was hoarse, like a traveler lost in the desert.

Melina sat across from her, across the blessed flame.

"Since we've come this far, why not go and confirm it with your own eyes."

In a trance, Xiangzi seemed to see the dead man hanging on the old ceiling fan again.

But when she came to her senses, she realized that it was actually Melina who was talking to her.

"As you said yourself, that's not necessarily the person you're looking for."

Toyokawa Shoko looked away and fell into another long silence.

The shape wrapped in the shroud appeared before her eyes again. It was like a hanging tree. The more she avoided it, the more it absorbed her fear and grew stronger.

Melina didn't push, but waited patiently for an answer—even if there was no answer.

The golden flames danced silently, and the shadows of the two people flickered on the wall.

The girl took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, trying to suppress the emotions surging from her chest.

"I'm scared."

Xiangzi stretched out his hands.

His hands, which had gradually become stable after countless battles and would not let go of the weapons even when cut by wind blades and bleeding, were now trembling slightly.

"I'm afraid, Melina, if that shroud really is her... I might never be able to move forward."

"But I can't stop, so I'm afraid to know the truth... I just want to keep a little hope for myself."

Melina didn't continue on the subject.

"Are you really going to challenge Greg?"

"of course."

Xiangzi answered without hesitation. When she heard the name, her originally confused eyes became fierce again, like a sword that was scarred but still sharp.

"Since—Grek will attach the Faded One's limbs to himself, I can just cut them off one by one."

"Even if... the worst-case scenario is that I still want to collect all the limbs. That way there's still a chance of resurrection, right?"

Melina hesitated for a moment, but nodded.

"It is indeed possible. In the era before the Ring of Magic was broken, life would return to the tree and be reborn after death. True death did not exist in this world... This is the natural law established by the Golden Rule."

Xiangzi laughed from the bottom of his heart.

"Sounds like heaven."

"If that's the case, then I should go. The Light of Blessing was originally pointing to Stonewell's City Lord's Tower, right?"

Melina knows all about this issue.

"To become the King of Elden—the Great Rune held by Greg is necessary."

"very good."

Xiangzi supported himself on the ground and stood up.