Chapter 253: Tail Devourer

Chapter 253: Tail Devourer

Bang!

Wrapped in streaks of silver light, Derrick’s axe struck the river painted on the mural, caving in the wall and sending stone chips flying.

With that single blow, the river connected head to tail was completely severed.

Just as he was looking forward to the cycle being broken and the entire exploration team escaping the temple scene along with him, Demon Hunter Colin’s figure flashed and appeared before him, his expression dark.

“What are you doing?”

The demigod’s sword tip still hung downward, but the hand gripping its hilt was clearly applying more strength than before.

Derrick recalled the explanation that had gathered the wisdom of everyone at the Tarot Gathering. With a mixture of “confusion” and “fear,” he said, “Just now, a black shadow flashed past here, Your Excellency Chief. Truly! It looked like the shadow of a child!”

Colin Iliad’s gaze did not move away as he asked another team member, “Heinm, did you see it?”

The exploration team member named Heinm subconsciously drew closer to the Chief and shook his head firmly.

“No. I saw nothing.”

In Colin’s pale-blue eyes, faint light immediately rippled, bringing out two complex dark-green symbols.

He quietly stared at Derrick for four or five seconds.

Finally, he withdrew his gaze and spoke without the slightest abnormality.

“This is your first exploration mission. It is very normal for tension to produce hallucinations.

“From now on, stay by my side. I believe this will help you calm down.”

“Yes, Your Excellency Chief,” Derrick answered without hesitation.

After that attempt, he had initially confirmed that the mural itself had no connection to the key point.

Mr. Fool’s hint, “Redemption Rose,” should still hide some deeper meaning. It is not that simple… Gripping the Hurricane Axe, Derrick silently walked beside Chief Colin.

What followed did not differ too much from the several explorations in his memory. Everyone repeated their past actions. For the sixth time, they arrived at the final hall where the altar was arranged, and discovered the yellow-haired little boy Jack curled in the shadows.

Hearing the words “Save me… Save me…” and seeing the clear figure of a child, Demon Hunter Colin nodded almost imperceptibly, withdrawing most of the attention he had placed on Derrick Berg.

Just as he weighed his words and prepared to speak, Derrick suddenly asked, “How do we save you?”

Little Jack revealed an excited expression.

“Save me! Save me! Send me home! Send me home!”

“Where is your home?” Derrick asked, both curious and afraid.

Seeing this, Colin closed his mouth and tightened his grip.

Little Jack weakly raised a hand.

“My home—my home is in Enmat Harbor!”

Enmat Harbor… Although Mr. Hanged Man never mentioned it, from the word “harbor,” Jack really doesn’t belong here. He is very likely from the outside world, from the Loen Kingdom where Miss Justice and the others live! Derrick felt a burst of joy, too excited to conceal it.

His reaction did not arouse Demon Hunter Colin’s suspicion, because this powerful Chief of the Six-Member Council had likewise never seen the sea. He only knew from a few surviving ancient texts that such a body of water existed, far larger than any lake, and knew the term “harbor.”

The “Enmat Harbor” uttered by this strange boy seemed to unfurl a painting of a new world before Colin’s eyes. For one who had been painfully seeking the City of Silver’s future, it made him forget other matters for a moment and blurt out, “How did you—or all of you—come here?”

Little Jack put on a recalling expression.

“My father and I first took a ship. Then we met up with his companions and continued by ship. After a huge, huge storm, the survivors went ashore and walked in the direction the Lord’s gaze pointed. We kept going and going until we reached here.”

Walked in the direction the Lord’s gaze pointed? Demon Hunter Colin, Derrick, and the others all looked at the idol on the altar, distinguishing where it was looking.

Very quickly, Colin determined the approximate information.

They came here by walking in the direction the idol’s gaze pointed. In other words, if we reverse this process, we can find the seashore and the place where they landed… The opposite direction of this gaze is… The map of the surrounding region that the City of Silver had gradually perfected through constant explorations surfaced in Demon Hunter Colin’s mind, allowing him to roughly trace the “travel route” of the unfamiliar boy.

If there are no other temples in between, no corresponding statues, and the line simply extends this way, then it will—then it will pass through the ruins of the Giant King’s Court! Colin’s pupils suddenly contracted.

That was the divine palace once inhabited by the ancient god, the Giant King Aurmir, and it was not far from the City of Silver.

The descendants of the Nation of Silver, long ruled by the giants, all knew clearly where its ruins were located. Yet they had never been able to complete an exploration, because that place was exceptionally dangerous, even more dangerous than pure darkness without any light.

And according to Colin’s reverse deduction, the unfamiliar boy’s group had reached this place after passing through the ruins of the Giant King’s Court.

How did they do it? Perhaps they didn’t walk in a pure straight line, but went around the Giant King’s Court… In any case, behind the Giant King’s Court lies a path to the sea, and on the other side of that sea there may well be a country of humans… Could that be the City of Silver’s hope? Colin could hardly stop himself from thinking.

At that moment, Derrick keenly noticed that the clothing over Little Jack’s chest and abdomen was stained dark red. Some kind of liquid seemed to be slowly seeping out.

“Are you hurt?” he asked cautiously.

Jack lowered his head and answered in a drifting tone, “Some ugly things grew there…”

As he spoke, he pulled open his clothes, exposing his bare chest and stomach.

Embedded there were two eyes, a nose, and a mouth!

They were not painted on, nor pieced together from gemstones. They were purely true eyes, a true nose, and a true mouth. And they did not seem to belong together, but to three different people.

In an instant, Derrick imagined a scene: after Little Jack ate his companions, he used the eyes, nose, and mouth left behind by them to assemble a bizarre human face on his chest and abdomen.

That human face was gentle and indifferent, and Derrick felt inexplicably familiar with it.

In only one or two seconds, Derrick figured out the reason for that familiarity.

This face closely resembled the angel in the mural above, the silver-haired angel who stood upon the river in a loop!

As expected, the reason we keep repeating this exploration comes from Him! Derrick’s heart stirred. Without thinking, he recited a word as solemnly as though he were giving the incantation to break the predicament.

“Redemption Rose!”

Little Jack raised his head and stared at him blankly. His mouth slowly split open, stretching all the way to the base of his ears.

“I’m so hungry…

“So hungry…”

…Derrick froze and witnessed a fierce battle.

When he regained consciousness, he was sitting once again beside the campfire.

“Redemption Rose” is not an incantation… He began reflecting on his mistake with deep seriousness.

The seventh exploration soon began. Having already tried once, Derrick no longer acted abnormally. He merely took the initiative to inspect the mural of Redemption Rose.

Everything proceeded as before. The exploration team entered the underground hall with the altar and idol, and discovered the obviously strange little boy Jack.

After a similar conversation, Derrick once more saw the human face pieced together from other people’s facial features.

With experience now, he made no provocative movements. Lowering his voice, he said to Demon Hunter Colin, “Your Excellency Chief, the human face on his chest resembles the angel in the mural above. The one with silver hair and a river connected head to tail under his feet. Mm, the mural with ‘Redemption Rose’ written in the corner.”

Demon Hunter Colin was first startled, then frowned.

While staring at Little Jack and soothing him, he looked at Derrick from the corner of his eye.

After several seconds of silence, he said in a low voice, “Because you mentioned this, it made me think of certain things.”

Without waiting for Derrick to ask, he continued on his own. “We studied that mural for a long time and simply believed it depicted an angel leading a group of ascetic pilgrims. Perhaps their group was named Redemption Rose.

“The river connected head to tail represented a cycle. Our interpretation was that the pilgrimage occurred again and again.

“Looking at it now, perhaps it marks that angel’s identity.

“This is an idea you made me think of, because Amon was once hidden inside your body.”

“Why?” Derrick asked in bewilderment.

Demon Hunter Colin watched Little Jack and said, “The little worm Amon left behind possessed symbols of time. A river in a loop is often related to fate. Put together, they remind me of certain contents, whose truth is unknown, mentioned in a few texts.

“When the Lord who created everything, the omniscient and omnipotent God, gazed upon this world, many angels surrounded Him. Among them were eight Kings of Angels, leaders of all angels and closest to the divine throne. The titles of some have already vanished into the long river of history, while some still have records—some brief, some detailed.

“It is said that among these eight Kings of Angels, some were even children of God.

“Among them, the titles of two Kings of Angels were respectively the Angel of Time and the Angel of Fate.”

Derrick immediately understood and asked as though confirming it, “You believe Amon is the Angel of Time, and the one on the mural is the Angel of Fate?”

“That cannot be confirmed yet. Only the title of Angel of Time has been passed down, while the records concerning the Angel of Fate are comparatively detailed…” Demon Hunter Colin suddenly inhaled.

Then he said solemnly, “Angel of Fate, the Tail Devourer, Ouroboros.”

…

At dusk, inside the Audra family’s underground building.

Emlyn White looked at the iron-black coffin and said to the ancient Sanguine lying inside, “Lord Nibbs, I accept the Ancestor’s mission!”

Nibbs responded in an aged voice, “Very good.

“When do you want to begin? Do you have any unfulfilled wishes?”

“…” Hearing Lord Nibbs ask about unfulfilled wishes, Emlyn White’s calves went weak, and he nearly regretted his decision.

He stubbornly held his neck stiff and said, “No need!

“We can begin now.”