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Stray - Chapter 164

Published at 27th of June 2022 06:52:24 AM


Chapter 164

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After the two people walked slowly away, Nemo came out from behind the decorative stone pillar. His entire body was terribly depressed.

While he was relieved that he would still be sullen because of this kind trivial matter, he was overwhelmed by the trouble that was coming. In fact, if he was being honest, he didn’t regret filling in the answers sheet for the Pathology of Abyssal Magic section. If he could find more detailed information on this continent, it would be either the Abyssal Church, the Withered Castle, the Mercenary Guild, and Clementine Academy— Two of which had been destroyed by them.

Although Nemo had put all the information of the Abyssal Church into his head, because of its position, unlike other institutions that were dedicated to analyzing and eradicating curses and diseases, the perspective of the Abyssal Church wasn’t friendly. Believers wished the curse would be more difficult. For them, the Trent Plague was just an excellent weapon, and no one cared how it killed people or how to treat it.

The headquarters of the Mercenary Guild was far away, so Clementine Royal Military Academy in front of him was a suitable choice. The academy was closed to outsiders and he would never have such a good opportunity again.

The biggest trouble right now was Horizon was chasing their asses. Telaranea’s behavior was too unpredictable, so it was hard to say what it would do if it found them. It wasn’t like Nemo hadn’t though about erasing the demon’s memory again, but he wasn’t sure that the demon who was obsessed with knowledge would take any preventative measures in advance after discovering its memory loss. In case Telaranea really suspected Tumbleweed as a result, that demon would surely try its best to block them and expose their true strength.

What was more, Telaranea didn’t come alone this time.

Talbott Vance. Nemo sighed again and rubbed his forehead. He instinctively felt that it was the Vance who was the mysterious swordsman of the Tin Solider Mercenary Regiment, and not simply the same name.

Wait.

If Oliver’s father, Flint Lopez’s teacher, was really a superior demon, then everything would make sense. When he and Oliver had just met Bagelmaurus, the parrot made it clear that Oliver’s father used “domination” on the superior demon. According to Ann’s explanation at that time, Flint was able to transfer the summoning array, which meant that he also had research a lot of the theory of abyssal magic.

If this was the case, seeing as how Talbott Vance taught Flint, Flint should also be aware of the true identity of his teacher.

However, humans shouldn’t be able to use abyssal magic on their own. The current Nemo was undoubtedly sure. Either use surface magic to trigger the spell of abyssal magic, or make a contract with a demon, or at the very least, use enough demon flesh as a medium.

However, at the beginning, Oliver’s father didn’t have a burning array in his hand and there was no demonic enchantment following him. He casted abyssal magic with his bare hands.

Could it be that Flint Lopez was really a demon warlock without any obvious deformation?

Nemo tapped his chin with his fingers, desperately sorting out the information in his mind. If thinking could make sound, his high-speed thoughts should be able to shatter the glass windows of the building in front of him. He had stepped mechanically out and walked to the information room.

More than 20 years ago, Talbott Vance himself didn’t participate in the expedition and soon disappeared. Some people said he was dead or that he had some conflict with Flint Lopez. Over time, strange claims appeared one after another, but most people considered them as anecdotes. There was only one thing they could be sure about— Talbott Vance never appeared in public after the destruction of the Tin Solider Mercenary Regiment.

According to the situation when they first met, Vance should be working at the Dawn Tavern. Although Garland’s Noer City and Alban’s Roadside Town were only separated by the Border Forest, and the distance between them could be reach within a day, Oliver didn’t know who Vance was. Nemo wasn’t sure whether it was intentionally or unknowingly severed, but Vance didn’t have any contact with the Ramon family.

Now the mysterious demon had reappeared but was mixed with the weird-tempered Telaranea.

What happened back then?

Forget it. Nemo carefully explored the situation around him and quickly reached the archives room. It was more imperative to solve the current crisis. As for Talbott Vance, since he has been specially integrated into the academy, that demon shouldn’t leave so quickly. He could quietly observe him for the time being.

With Nemo’s current control, no superior demon could see through his disguise. If Mr. Vance didn’t have strange interest like Telaranea, they could even talk calmly. After all, in the legend of the Tin Soldier, that mysterious swordsman had always had a silent and reliable image. Flint must have good reason to respect Vance as a teacher under the premise of knowing his true identity.

The archives room of Clementine Academy was very large and was held in a beautiful crystal dome. The staircase moved regularly, and every corner was stuffed with the pleasantly thin sounds of gears turning. The interior of this building was intricate and elaborate, full of the unique beauty of engineering.

It was a shame that Mr. Demon King couldn’t appreciate such beauty at the moment.

Nemo could indeed detect living things. He had detected a powerful aura that was hovering in the corner of the building. Looking at the weird and slow movement, it shouldn’t be a professor who had nothing to do, but most likely Ann who was cleaning.

He wanted to meet Ann first and exchange information so that the female soldiers could also pay attention to her concealment, but Ann’s aura was far away, and he couldn’t get to her location.

After failing for the fifteenth time, Nemo retracted into the corner of the corridor in silence and sat down slowly against the wall.

Skipping class was indeed exciting, but how would he explain to Oliver that he gained nothing for two hours? Whether it was Ann or the information about the faculty, he didn’t find any of them. This place was more like a maze than the Great Isamel Labyrinth. The layout was clearly mapped in Nemo’s mind, but he couldn’t figure out the way.

Along the way, he had to avoid many surveillance arrays and he was getting tired. After discovering his identity, Nemo originally wanted to behave more calmly and reliably in front of Oliver, but the development of the current situation was contrary to the words “calm and reliable”.

Since he was idle anyways, he might as well probed where Telaranea was right now…

Nemo closed his eyes and started to explore. Unlike the simple judgement just now, the vast starry sky appeared in his mind.

Then he jumped as if his ass caught on fire.

Telaranea was here.

It was better to say that both it and Talbott Vance were here, in this corridor. They should have taken very strict concealment measures to hide their aura. If he didn’t have this other way of detecting them, he might have been misled by them. Since it was in this corridor, he would be able to find them this time. Nemo nervously straightened his collar, once again eliminated his aura, and walked extremely carefully towards the room where the two demons were.

This should be an extremely remote corridor. In a place like Clementine Academy that paid attention to rules and cleanliness, the decorative paintings in the corridors were covered with a thin layer of floating soil. Nemo glanced at the door sign, and the instructions above were very detailed— The room here was mainly used to store some ancient medical props that have long been abandoned.

There was no sound at all, obvious that the other party was using means to seal all noises. He could easily break this defense, but he would be discovered by the two demons.

Telaranea should have quickly gotten rid of their principal and came here. No matter what was happening in this room, it could be assume it was relatively important. Nemo’s gaze swept across a corner of the cobwebs, and an inexplicable sense of familiarity suddenly hit him.

Nemo sharply jump and caught a little spider less than half the size of a corn kernel. Probably feeling something, the spider laid quietly in the palm of his hand motionless.

He had definitely done something similar before.

That weird feeling reappeared. Some kind of weird intuition emerged from the depths of his mind and knowledge from unknown sources suddenly swirled in his thoughts. Nemo had an idea, and it was one that scared him a little.

He gently pressed his fingertips against the little gray-brown spider. Nemo didn’t unleash any magic but followed the knowledge in his head and wrapped it with power and precision.

The spider began to twist.

The size hadn’t change significantly, but it turned from an ordinary gray-brown to pitch black. The originally dim and rough abdomen turned into a moist and shiny sphere, and a cross-shaped pattern appeared on it. It began to slide slowly.

It wasn’t a pattern, but a pupil. A small eye was turning on the spider’s abdomen. The spider’s power wasn’t enhanced, and its strength had not change significantly compared to before, but its aura had now completely disappeared. The spider seemed to know what was going on as its eight thin legs began to move slowly.

Nemo’s hand shook a little, and he almost squashed the spider in this palm.

An extremely dim star lit up in the starry sky. He knew very well in his heart— A brand new demon was born.

Nemo desperately suppressed the shock and panic that surged in his heart, let go of his hand, and sent the transformed spider into the crevice. The little spider seemed to be in a good mood. After turning a few times in place, it quickly went into the room.

Because the power was too weak, it wasn’t affected by the barrier. The black spider moved quickly along the gap under the cabinet, then climbed up the wall from a dark corner and stopped where the view was best.

Nemo took a deep breath and hid at the corner of the corridor. He leaned against the wall and covered one eye with his hand then close the other one.

There were blurred pictures and sounds in the dark at first, then after a few minutes, the outline of things became clearer, and the sound no longer resembled a faint echo in a cave.

The spider was lying in the corner and didn’t move anymore so his vision stabilized.

That was indeed the Vance they had seen.

The long gray-white hair was casually scattered on his shoulders, and the orange eyes were alienated and indifferent. The demon was topless, sitting in a complex structure that he wasn’t sure what its purpose was, and stared blankly at the slowly moving mechanical arm.

The hose was wounded around the cold metal, and vicious liquid dripped from the long needle at the end of the mechanical arm. The sight would definitely make people physically ill as Nemo instinctively shivered and touched the goosebumps on his arms.

“Sorry for the long wait,” the woman he just saw, Telaranea, said softly, sounding unemotional. The Sage of the Abyss unbuttoned her robe and exposed her chest.

Nemo: “……”

He wasn’t sure if he should continue to watch.

However, it turned out that he thought a little too much. In the next second, Telaranea reached out her right hand blankly and pierced it into the chest of her body. Oddly enough, only a very small amount of blood diffused from the wound, but even so, the scene was extremely terrifying. Nemo held back the desire to vomit and forced himself to continue watching.

After the toothachingly sound of churning flesh and bones breaking, Telaranea took out a red ball the size of an apple from her chest. Countless pupils on it floated and merged, still stained with dark purple blood.

It was the flesh used by the Sage of the Abyss to possess those on the surface; one of its countless eyeballs.

The owner of the eyeball just rolled her eyes, gathered her protruded skin and broken ribs, then recovered as before under a spell. Except for the blood on her fair skin, the terrifying scene just now seemed like it was an illusion.

The “female professor” slowly buttoned up her robe, adjusted it, and casually threw the eyeball at Vance, as if it was really an apple.

“Please.” Telaranea shrugged. “What? Do you want me to wash it for you? Alas, I don’t have many eyeballs in existence here, and I have to find a way to replenish them after a while… What a nuisance.”

Vance didn’t say a word. He frowned and surveyed the crimson eyeball in his hand…

Then ate it.

Nemo covered his mouth. This time he almost really vomited.

Talbott Vance’s expression was extremely calm. Even when the mechanical arm suddenly swarmed around him with long needles piercing his torso, his face didn’t change a bit.

“Why bother?” Telaranea sighed, tidying up her copper-red hair. “I haven’t seen you like this… You persisted long enough. It’s meaningless to go on like this, and I’m in a lot of trouble on my side, tsk.”

“I’m still alive, and I can continue to live,” Vance replied in a low voice, ignoring the movements of the long needles as if he had lost the feeling of pain.

“No, no, no. Strictly speaking, you are dead.” The Sage of the Abyss shook her finger. “Your body is rotting at the bottom of the Abyss, isn’t it? It’s just that this piece of flesh is barely able to ‘move’. If I fail to provide an eyeball in one month’s time, you’ll lose your energy source, and even this piece of flesh would rot.”

She sighed. “Although I usually don’t care about this… As a compatriot who has survived for so long, I still want to warn you that it’ll be more painful than you can imagine.”

“I know.”

“Believe me, you don’t know. I understand that you are in pain now, but that pain is not of the same magnitude as what you’re feeling now… If you want, I can kill you now. Of course, in a completely painless way.”

“Not yet.”

“Won’t you reconsider?”

“No.”

“Well, old men are truly stubborn.” Telaranea shrugged and rolled her eyes again.

“What the hell are you clinging to when it’s clear the original body has already settled in its final years, Vance… No, Aurorae?”

The author has something to say:

Nemo: ??? Skipping class this time was worth it.

Vance is probably the most wronged person to get exposed (……

——————

In order to prevent everyone from forgetting _(:з”∠)_ Note:

“Talbott Vance” is the human name used for disguise, similar to “Cahill Edwards” and “Mrs. Mandy” used by Tela.

His real demon’s name is Aurorae XD

Kinky Thoughts:

Just a reminder that as demons don’t have gender unless otherwise stated, the pronouns used will be based off the body it currently possesses, so in this case, Telarenea is a “she” now (but its original form is just an “it”).




Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!


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