Kapitel06 Dear Father

Foreword:

Father, I'm leaving. You know what you've done.

In this silent night, I must escape this terrifying doghouse!

--Black Sabbath

[Part 1: The Ritual of Liberation]

Jason Megan and his group repelled Lord Fret's Night Beast Sentinels.

The bizarre Magic Creature turned into a pile of rotten flesh, and were reduced to minced bone and blood under the bombardment of modern firearms.

The reliable Uncle Qingjin didn't rush forward to explore; instead, he stopped beside the remains of these Netherworld monsters, carefully examining them and searching for something.

Jason Megan crouched under the iron mesh of the waterway hub, on the sunlit side of the underground ventilation duct.

In Hao Bro's eyes, this old senior from the unknown was like a cast iron sculpture, holding the emblem of the Azure Wolf. The Flash Butterfly Armor arched slightly as he squatted down, and the various cables and mechanisms of the armor deformed, emitting a cold and desolate whistling sound.

"Shhh"

As if she had a premonition, Jason Megan lightly tapped the steel stamp on the helmet with one finger, signaling Hao Bro to quiet down.

Removing the cut-resistant glove from his broad, fleshy palm, the Inspiration Lapis Lazuli Guards's Thumb was adorned with a string of bronze and iron bells—not Summoning Bell, but bell-shaped incense burners. The burning chambers of the incense emitted a clear, ringing sound as his palm and fingers clasped together.

Jason Megan is undergoing a spirit-raising ceremony. Her hands are covered in tattoos, among which a unique Egypt hieroglyphic life symbol has lit up, emitting a deep blue glow.

"Don't disturb the deceased, Xiao Hao."

As the ritual progressed, Xiao Hao could feel the pungent smell of sulfur fading. The Spirit Realm from the Nine Hells finally left in a huff—armor-piercing incendiary bombs could at most destroy their possessions and shatter their physical bodies, but they couldn't completely banish the demons.

Mr. Jason needs to awaken the souls of these corpses in order to complete the exorcism ritual. Otherwise, if too much time passes and they go deeper into the underground sewers, the remains and scraps of flesh that haven't been dealt with in time will likely re-form into new nocturnal beasts.

Xiao Min and Katusha remained on high alert, and Jason's longtime attendant, who had followed him in battles for many years, also understood the terrifying nature of this spell.

"Is it a product of the Black Mass (a ritual performed by Homo sapiens)? Or is it the devil's innate power?" Katusha asked about these details.

"If my spiritual power can still intervene, then it must be a product of the Black Mass." Jason patiently gave the children a lesson in demonology. "They are flesh golems created by a Homo sapiens performing a ritual, not born from the demon pool along with the devil."

"There's good news and bad news."

"The good news is that I can help these spirits find peace, turn offerings back into ordinary spirits, and even extract some information from them."

"The bad news is that these little devils, in disguise, are definitely guarding important facilities around the Demon Pool—"

"--There is a commander manipulating them; this guy is a subject of the Great Devil, a lackey of the devils of the Netherworld."

"We're heading in the right direction, but there are more enemies than we thought."

"We not only have to deal with monsters, but also cultists who have mastered psionic magic."

"Now, rise up and respond to me!"

The multi-talented Mr. Jason cast a spell, and a finger crawled out from the remains of the Nightwalker.

What was originally a facial muscle of a demon has now become a crucial medium, a bridge for communication between the living and the dead.

--Using it as the origin of "chirality", all the tissues, organs, bones and thick, charred blood belonging to this corpse rushed over.

Suddenly, a chilling wind swept through the underground passage, and the stench of blood mingled with the foul smell of the environment.

The scattered pieces of flesh interlocked and pieced together, transforming back into a highly decomposed body—a man's body.

--Unclothed, missing its most vital organs, heart and liver, its skin completely ulcerated, covered in abscesses and sores.

The undead felt excruciating pain as it returned to its body, and let out a piercing roar!

At that moment, Hao Bro covered his ears tightly, and Xiao Min also lost her will to fight, unable to even stand up straight.

They did not travel this road with the expeditionary force, nor did they witness the mountains of corpses and seas of blood. These children lived in the rear, in a peaceful era.

Jason and Katusha, on the other hand, were used to it and their minds were not affected.

The smoke from the copper bell incense burner was poured from Jason's large hand onto the pitiful and horrifying corpse. The sorrowful and helpless spirit slowly calmed down, its shoulders and back lifted by an invisible force, as if Anubis' scales were carrying the soul across the extremes of good and evil, preparing it for its final test.

This is a unique skill of the Lapis Lazuli Guards, namely [Communication with the Dead - Death God Anubis Avatar Spell].

The deceased's heart was missing during the ritual, so Jason took a bottle of alchemical base material from his bag.

--That was dried cow's heart powder, sprinkled on the face of the dead. When the powder touched the flesh and blood of the corpse, it turned back into the throat and tongue of the skeleton.

Strange, gurgling sounds emanated from the Barry. Under the protection of the incense burner, the corpse seemed to remember something and ceased its pain and wandering.

Jason emphasized cautiously, "I need to ask him some questions. He's too weak; the monsters have taken far too much of his vital energy. He might die completely after I ask him two or three questions—don't interrupt."

A Hao immediately nodded and replied, "Okay, I'll definitely keep my mouth shut."

Xiao Min had never seen anything like this before. This was the first time she had witnessed a lapis lazuli spirit-awakening ritual, and it involved transforming the elemental material of a demon back into a human. The aura and spiritual pressure in the environment alone made her feel like she was about to vomit.

Jason took a feather from his bag.

--Speaking of which, this feather is actually an eagle feather from Pellegrini Tuan, a very precious material for Immortals.

Following the Libra Spirit Awakening Ritual, Jason placed the feather on the corpse's forehead. The tattered body gained sentience and began to flailing its arms and legs wildly, before soon becoming paralyzed and suppressed by the power of the feather.

Jason was about to speak.

A Hao asked, "I can't speak, right?"

A hoarse reply came from the corpse's throat, "No, you can."

Jason roared, "You!"

"Is this a problem?" Brother Hao said in a panic.

Corpse: "That's right."

Jason: "Please."

Hao Bro quickly covered his mouth, then squeezed out a complaint through gritted teeth.

"--Isn't that a bit too harsh?"

Corpse: "I totally agree."

The curse's power dissipated.

The soul that passed the ritual test gradually floated upwards, and a pure blue-green spirit emerged from the stiff, terrifying body and rose into the sky, flying towards the heads of the crowd on the humid sea breeze.

It gradually became whole, holding Pellegrini's eagle feather, transforming back into an ordinary boatman in East Horse Port, wearing brown overalls and a white shirt, his face covered in stubble, his eyes filled with gratitude, and a joyful smile on his lips. Floating in mid-air, he bowed to Jason Megan in thanks before disappearing.

The corpse crashed back onto the wire mesh road with a loud thud, turning back into a pile of mangled flesh.

"Damn it! My money!" Jason was almost going crazy. He never expected that the nameless students, just like their teacher, could always find unexpected ways to ruin his savings.

A single spirit-raising ritual consumes over three thousand Hui Stone Currency, not even counting top-tier materials like [Pellegrini's Bird Feathers]—this caused Jason's inner world to collapse once again.

"I'm sorry," A Hao quickly apologized, "I wasn't paying attention, I just can't control my mouth! There's nothing I can do about it!"

As he said this, Hao Bro, the "problem child," muttered to himself again.

"Uncle, you're not angry with me, are you?"

A faint reply came from above; it was the final, generous gift from the spirit of the deceased who had just successfully ascended to heaven and completed the ritual of deliverance.

No, it won't.

Jason's expression changed drastically, and he looked up and cursed, "Damn it, why didn't you say so earlier! Why did you keep asking?"

The sounds in the air gradually faded and became ethereal, eventually fading into silence.

"That's right, this is the last question. I've answered all five."

"Thank you."

[Part ②·Soul Vessel]

Katusha, who witnessed the whole thing, kept scratching her head; it was so itchy, she felt like she was scratching her brain until it bled.

She never expected that after seeing off a General of Tears, Hao Bro would come to soothe Mr. Hao's mindset.

When Jason angrily roused the second corpse, Katusha helped Hao Bro solve his problem of not being able to control his mouth.

Jason: "I'm going to release the feathers."

Katusha: "All done."

A Hao looked completely innocent, with three layers of duct tape over his mouth.

The second corpse was a woman, from whose mutilated body a spirit emerged, wearing clothing characteristic of the local people of Huacheng Bay.

The feather pressed against the innocent victim's forehead, Jason asked softly.

"How did you die?"

The female corpse replied, "Husband. Opium addict. Borrowing money."

"My daughter is being used as collateral. I'm resisting."

"Beaten to death"

"The body was sold to Fret."

It seems to be a family deeply harmed by the drugs in Huacheng Bay, and an innocent and helpless mother.

[Part ②: Devilish Aesthetics]

Jason sighed, then asked, "Who resurrected you? Who turned you into a night-stalker?"

The female corpse responded, "Terrifying. Mom."

Lord Fret

"Soul Artifact Dad".

"Numb steel nails."

"Sir Knight"

Even piecing together these scattered words doesn't yield reliable information.

--Even after death, this woman followed her corpse to the underground sewers, all the way to Lord Fret's Demon Pool headquarters, where she merged and transformed with other corpses, becoming a Night Beast.

But there's one word Jason is very familiar with --

That's a Horcrux.

It's entirely possible to connect it to the extraordinary skills of a noseless, virtuous, and talented elderly artist from Harry Potter, a character with a superhuman personality.

For demons, the spell of splitting souls is nothing special; it's a means of payment.

When the devil needs to change the contract template and sign a contract with mortals, those who are willing to accept the devil's test but are unwilling to pay with their entire souls, the soul-splitting spell comes to the rescue.

The devil will steal a part of the soul from these ordinary people, leaving these spirits in an object, while also bestowing upon them extraordinary Inspiration and spiritual power.

Little Sister Benni was once also permanently stripped of a part of her spirit by this soul-splitting spell, turning her into a wandering ghost on a bus.

Jason could deduce a lot from the words this woman used.

Fret used a soul-splitting spell to hide his soul within many Horcruxes.

Transforming mortal flesh into night-walking beasts requires complex processes, and relying solely on a sorcerer to create an army would certainly be inefficient.

--A terrifying mother.

--Sir Knight

--Numb steel nails.

--Sir Fret

--Soul Artifact Dad.

These five people created the Night Beast together.

Having thought all that through, Jason Megan continued to ask.

Where is Soul Artifact Dad?

He needed to find out the exact location of the Demon Pool. As the vessel that the Demon Pool possessed, the Horcrux could allow Fret to quickly regain his consciousness and memories time and time again, and be reborn from the Demon Pool.

Once Homo sapiens transforms into a creature like the devil, they are no longer the same [human].

His mind must be highly integrated with the Original Seed, undergoing a complete transformation to think using a different set of elements. The neuronal structure of his Homo sapiens brain will be replaced with a psionic grid of iron-nickel cores—rather than an upgrade, it's more accurate to say that the Original Seed has found a suitable puppet.

How can he continue to live as a demon?

That's a joke, a lie.

It was just something called the devil, which devoured Fret and, carrying his memories and fragmented consciousness, continued to wreak havoc on the world.

The moment the hypothalamus, the center of consciousness in Homo sapiens, dies, that person ceases to exist, completely vanishing from the world.

The survivor was a parasite of the Original Seed, which continued to spread its memes and genes through this puppet body, causing Spirit Calamity and plagues.

"Where is Soul Artifact Dad?" The female corpse looked puzzled, seemingly struggling to recall this crucial matter from her fragmented mind.

"--In the Magpie Mountain Underground City."

"Ruins"

"The torture chamber, the place where prisoners are held."

"At a meat processing plant."

In Fret Freyt's bedroom

"They fight in bed"

"Dad."

Horcrux.

Jason was unaware that there was an underground city in Magpie Mountain, but this information suggested otherwise.

--Lord Fret seems to have a morbid Oedipus complex. This devil retained this part of his feelings and created a movable puppet, turning his partner into a Horcrux vessel.

This is very rare in the behavior patterns of demons. Horcruxes and the demonic pool are the fatal weaknesses of demons. No man would walk around in the street exposing his weaknesses while wearing open-crotch pants.

It seems that Fret used this part of the soul as an important asset, managing the human flesh business in Huacheng Bay and processing and producing monsters from the Netherworld.

"Where are the ruins?" Jason pressed.

The female corpse hiccuped several times but couldn't answer.

It seems she had no idea where she was taken after her death, nor did she know the specific structure of the underground sewer system.

Jason then asked, "What is your wish?"

The female corpse. "My daughter, Lü Piaopiao, may you be safe and happy."

A story, pieced together, finally yielded an answer.

She was the mother of the singer Bailan. Years ago, because her husband was addicted to drugs, the mute girl was sold to Lord Fret. After changing hands several times, she ended up in the Church of Dionysus of Gloria. She herself was killed by her husband and the drug trafficking forces in Huacheng Bay. Her body was used as material for the Night Beast.

Jason was unaware of the duel between Bailan and Meteor; he simply agreed casually.

"Okay, I'll try to go see her when I have the chance. I'll tell her about your situation."

"Thank you," the female corpse replied, then picked up the feather, her spirit leaving her body and slowly floating into the sky.

Before the ceremony was over, Jason prepared to summon another corpse to question it.

The spirit, which had flown into the air, was suddenly gripped tightly by a large, blood-red hand.

Hao Bro and Xiao Min both experienced bleeding from their ears and noses. The violent spiritual pressure caused their eye pressure to surge, leaving them dizzy and disoriented.

Heavy chains were embedded in this strong body. A burly, blond giant seized the soul of Bailan's mother, stuffing the innocent and helpless spirit into his mouth and devouring it like a shrimp cracker.

Within this hub shaft passage, amidst the complex network of pipes and holes, the giant gripped the pipes and slowly slid down. His body was covered in charred and rotting inverted pentagrams, tightly bound by layers of iron caltrop chains. Solid chunks of flesh twisted and squeezed against each other, and two lifeless heads hung from rust-covered nipple rings.

He was barely clothed, wearing a shimmering, tight-fitting high-V halter top, with a bright red bone spur extending from his exposed spine as he hurtled down, leaving a trail of golden sparks on the rusty water pipe.

His eyes were bloodshot, the whites of his eyes were no longer visible, and his golden linear pupils were filled with only anger, with very distinctive dark eye markings.

He had two bronze horns on his forehead, like a kind of torture device, which pierced through his frontal lobe and penetrated his brain tissue, turning them into devil's horns.

He wore a leather apron around his neck, gripped a thick white brass cane, and his left breast was stuffed with sixteen pyroxene jewelry pieces—birthday gifts from Fret Caesar, exquisitely crafted prosthetic eyes personally polished by Wood Plark.

--This is [Hordeal Number One: Father]

It was a hellish craftsman created by Hope Plark according to devilish aesthetics.

He nearly smashed through the metal mesh panel. Only after returning from a deep squatting position to a standing posture with his head held high did Jason realize just how tall this guy really was!

This monster is almost three meters tall! It's the offspring of giants! This is a gift from Judas to the Immortals of Huacheng Bay!

Liu Xiaomin: "Oh"

Xiao Hao tore off the tape on his mouth.

"My"

Katusha pulls the firing handle, bullet chambered and ready to fire.

"God"

What? You want to ask what Jason is doing?

Jason failed to remove the Azure Gold Spirit Orb in time, and stood frozen, bleeding from all seven orifices.

Don't worry, this is normal.