Chapter 24: Blood Mark
Within the courtyard before the ancient castle, rumbling sounds continued without end. Golden light elemental force surged skyward, large swaths of black curse crows shattered, falling as fragments.
Several golden magic circles appeared in the sky. These circular formations, composed of light elemental force, rippled with layers of waves as golden arrows nearly two meters long shot out from within the circles.
Clang, clang, clang...
The golden energy arrows embedded themselves everywhere, including atop the ancient castle, affecting the surrounding area up to a kilometer away.
After these golden energy arrows landed, patterns emerged on their shafts. All the energy arrows exploded, fragments tearing through the air with a piercing wail.
Female Spellcaster Ava crouched low, the rapier formed of light elemental force in her hand thrust into the ground. She gripped the hilt with one hand, breathing heavily, blood already soaking her white robe.
Most of the surrounding cursed people were injured, some completely shattered. As their consciousness dissipated, their broken bodies began to decay, leaving only fragmented bones.
Female Spellcaster Ava looked around. She had attempted over a dozen breakthroughs but failed to escape the encirclement, instead suffering severe injuries. The most fatal wound was a pierced throat.
"Just a bunch of... half-dead monsters. Keep going!"
Female Spellcaster Ava pressed her twin rapiers together, the blades scraping with a sharp ring.
"Captain, orders, you, die."
The cursed people surged from all directions, charging at Female Spellcaster Ava. Ava tilted her head back slightly, took a long, deep breath, and looked at the sky. She didn't see what she expected—the sky was blocked by a swarm of crows.
Pfft, pfft...
Blades pierced Ava's body. Her hands grew weak, and the two rapiers clattered to the ground. The golden pupils in her eyes gradually dimmed.
"Where exactly... did things go wrong."
Until her death, Female Spellcaster Ava couldn't figure out where she had gone wrong. Her plan was flawless. From start to finish, neither she nor the two people she hired had been exposed. So why was the enemy prepared?
In reality, this was thanks to the Ouroboros Tablet and the pursuit of Apocalypse Paradise Contractor Jin Ke.
The Ouroboros Tablet had warned Su Xiao of danger, though it didn't provide specific details. Jin Ke's intelligence, however, let Su Xiao know someone was targeting him.
This made it easy to deduce. From the first rank to the eighth, Su Xiao had few enemies. The reason was simple: he not only eradicated the roots but also dug up the ground to check for any remnants.
As a result, the forces currently hostile to Su Xiao were very limited. Through process of elimination, when he saw Female Spellcaster Ava, he basically understood the situation.
Female Spellcaster Ava's defeat was inevitable. Su Xiao had prepared his defensive forces on a scale meant to deal with Mage Sage Seraphilia.
If Seraphilia entered this world, no matter how strong she was, she would be limited to eighth-rank strength. That was the world's restriction. The difficulty of the Demon Sea World was in the upper-middle tier of the eighth rank, meaning no power beyond the eighth rank could exist here.
If it were a world in the top tier of eighth-rank difficulty, the power ceiling might exceed the eighth rank slightly, but Demon Sea wasn't that kind of world.
Therefore, even if Seraphilia herself came, Su Xiao could fight her head-on. The cost would be high, possibly requiring him to empty his storage space of accumulated trump cards.
If Seraphilia herself came, Su Xiao wouldn't be afraid, let alone her disciple. Even if there were three or four more Avas, with the Doom Number, Su Xiao could handle them—just at different costs.
One by one, the sailor knives were pulled from Ava's body. She fell face-first to the ground with a thud, losing all signs of life.
[Tip: You have obtained the Law Chest (chest-type item).]
No World Source or Soul Coin rewards, but a chest dropped. Su Xiao stepped forward and picked up the chest from the ground.
The [Law Chest] was entirely golden, covered in blue patterns, with a faint ripple of energy brewing inside.
Such a rare chest, Su Xiao decided not to open it immediately. He would wait until he had accumulated enough chests. The Fate Dominator had a trait that temporarily boosted Luck Attribute when opening chests.
Su Xiao walked toward the ancient castle. Just then, footsteps came from diagonally behind him. It was Cursed Person Amangs, leading two other cursed people. In his hand, he carried a small figure—a contractor.
This contractor was covered in fluorescent green liquid, with the lower half of his body and left arm missing. The wounds were jagged, as if blasted apart by a powerful impact.
Not only that, but Amangs was also stained with the fluorescent green liquid. His right arm and half his face were broken. Cursed people weren't afraid of severe injuries. Once they returned to the Doom Number, they could gradually recover their broken bodies.
Amangs threw the contractor to the ground. This contractor, named Firefly, was young but exceptionally vicious. Before being captured alive, he tried to take down several cursed people with him, but Amangs stopped him.
With a thud, Firefly hit the ground. He could no longer move, but his eyes were fixed on Su Xiao.
"You can call me Firefly. You've already killed that woman, haven't you? Let's make a deal. If I die here, someone will come after you for revenge. If you let me go, we can compensate you."
Firefly's gaze was calm. Judging by his build, he seemed young, but his mental age didn't match his appearance.
"..."
Su Xiao contacted Bubu Wang, instructing him to bring Winnie, who was still at the dock. At this moment, he needed Winnie's ability to read memories.
Aside from Female Spellcaster Ava, there were two other enemies: Firefly and another contractor whose name was unknown.
Of the three, two had been dealt with. The last one was nowhere to be found. He wasn't on Shipwreck Island. Although Su Xiao had released black curse crows to monitor the island, Shipwreck Island was large, and releasing too many crows would alert the enemy, so he only sent two.
Before long, Winnie Wanda arrived. Her appearance had changed drastically. She wore a white shirt-like garment with lace cuffs, black cloth gloves on her hands, and her previously loose blonde hair was tied up.
"Is this him?"
Winnie stopped in front of Firefly. As a newly minted "villain," Winnie's lips curled into a smile she thought fit the "villain" style but was actually somewhat comical.
After building up her mood, Winnie said, "How pitiful. Any last words..."
"Stop wasting time. Get on with it."
Baha glared at Winnie, who shrank back. She removed the glove from her right hand and pressed it against Firefly's forehead.
"His memories... are strange. There's a lot I can't see."
Winnie began sifting through Firefly's memories. In reality, the memories she couldn't "access" were related to the Paradise. These were memories Winnie could never learn about through her abilities.
"He has an accomplice, wearing full-body armor, named... Gluttony? He went to see the Duke a few hours ago."
Winnie frowned. She could sense that the name "Gluttony" was more of a title. The specific memories of this person were blurred for unknown reasons.
The intelligence gained was limited, but for Su Xiao, it was enough. He hadn't expected Winnie to know much.
"Let me tell you a secret. I am a faint firefly, so I envy the raging flames. I represent envy, you know."
With that, Firefly turned his head with difficulty.
"After you kill me, Gluttony will come for you. It'll go from a hostile stance to a personal grudge. Are you really... ready for that? You'll die horribly, heh."
"..."
Su Xiao said nothing. He kicked Firefly unconscious. He felt that this contractor named Firefly was deliberately provoking him, trying to make him kill him personally.
No one wants to die. Su Xiao considered a possibility: Firefly had a death-triggered ability that would track his killer or cause instant death. The latter was less likely.
Having a cursed person kill Firefly directly seemed like a good choice, but it wasn't. Su Xiao still needed time to develop, and this was an opportunity.
Su Xiao called over a cursed person, then took out the [Primordial Mask]. He placed the mask on the cursed person's face, crushed a Soul Crystal (Complete), and used a Banishment Fragment to cut his own palm, smearing blood on the mask.
The [Primordial Mask]'s effect activated. The cursed person wearing the mask was disguised as Su Xiao, and the sailor knife at his waist was disguised as Dragon-Slaying Flash.
The [Primordial Mask]'s disguise was flawless. Beini had obtained it from some ruins. It was a secret treasure far beyond the rank of that world. To this day, Beini hadn't figured out the mask's origin.
The [Primordial Mask]'s disguise was powerful, but the cost was high—one Soul Crystal (Complete) per use. Apart from this equipment, Su Xiao had never seen any ability or item that could 100% disguise aura.
Su Xiao stepped into the black mist. Now, the cursed person disguised as him stood alone beside Firefly.
The long blade swung down, severing Firefly's throat. Blood splattered everywhere, then suddenly coalesced into a blood eye, staring at the disguised cursed person.
The blood eye turned back into blood and shot toward the cursed person at an impossible speed. This was a tracking mark, triggered upon the host's death.
With a tearing sound, like a red-hot branding iron pressed against flesh, a blood mark was branded onto the cursed person's chest. The faint smell of burning flesh could be detected.
From the distant black mist, Su Xiao checked the cursed person's data. This cursed person's Strength and Endurance attributes each dropped by 10 points, and his Health Points temporarily decreased by 35%. This debuff lasted a full 15 natural days.
Moreover, the blood mark came with a tracking effect that was extremely difficult to remove.
Su Xiao emerged from the black mist, removed the [Primordial Mask] from the cursed person's face, and the cursed person's appearance returned to normal.
[You have obtained a Scarlet Card (★★★★★★★★).]
With a pull of the Realm Severing Thread, the Scarlet Card landed in Su Xiao's hand. An eighth-rank contractor's Scarlet Card was highly valuable.
Su Xiao gave a command to the cursed person beside him, ordering him to head straight for the sea, swim north to a designated area, then make a sharp turn.
Go wherever the sea was dangerous. In the ocean, even the strongest sea beasts wouldn't easily provoke a cursed person. The cursed person's aura was too ominous.
If someone tracked this blood mark—that is, tracked this cursed person—they would question their life choices within two days. Unless they used the Duke Pirate Crew's four-masted ship, the Plunderer.
Otherwise, even if they sailed a high-performance three-masted ship, they would sink within three days at most, beginning a drifting journey at sea.