novelonline Chapter 3661 Black-Scaled Serpent Man
Chapter 3661 Black-Scaled Serpent Man
Chapter 3661 Black-Scaled Serpent Man
"The medium through which that woman transmitted this cursed plague might have been intimate contact, or perhaps a kiss. To thoroughly contaminate a corpse through such a symbolic act would have been a simple matter for the 'mermaid's' followers. Our concern now is whether only those who die from having their spiritual energy drained possess this contamination, or whether anyone whose spiritual energy has been drained by her will inevitably experience problems."
Fortunately, this extraordinary plague has no effect on ring mages, but even so, I find it hard to imagine hundreds or thousands of infinite snakes appearing on this island.
Although Fatummster Island is a small place, Time Wheel City is still a "city" level unit, and the combined population of outsiders and locals is still considerable. Although the total population of the entire island cannot compare with densely populated and wealthy regions like Tobesk and Moon Bay, its population is certainly no less than that of the City of a Thousand Trees - Vista.
After sharing the intelligence, Mr. Mortis hurriedly left. The Clown Troupe had already mobilized to track down the woman, suspecting that "Desire" was collaborating with Mr. Snake.
However, Shad also informed Mr. Mortis that in order to participate in the final act of the Battle of the Chosen Ones, one would need a Ring of Destiny that matches oneself.
Soon after, the ring sorcerers sent by the church to the town to explain the situation also brought similar news, and their news was even more extensive than that of the [Clown Troupe]—
"A case of 'snake man disease' was also discovered in Lomari earlier this afternoon. Although the person had just left Fatummister Island before the blizzard, it is currently uncertain whether he was infected before or after leaving the island."
The fourth act of fate had just ended last Friday, and after only a weekend of rest, an even bigger problem appeared before everyone.
The elders hurriedly went door-to-door to check if anyone was concealing their physical changes, while Shad personally went to the city with Claire and Vanessa to check on the situation of "snake-man disease".
Currently, all cases are being studied and treated together. The church, knowing of the arrival of the "Callers of God," arranged for someone to guide them to see the patients.
"Although we have only taken in 39 cases so far, these are just patients with more severe mutations. There must be many more people in the city who are hiding their condition."
The physical mutations of those "snake-man disease" patients were indeed different, but after personally contacting several patients, Xia De could only sense that it was indeed some kind of extraordinary plague.
His "Moonfire" couldn't even treat patients, because this plague was essentially a permanent alteration of life forms, and once infected, the entire process was irreversible; the Moonfire had no one to burn.
The most severely mutated individual so far is a young police officer who had come into contact with a corpse. When Shad saw him, apart from his eyes still being human, he was already almost indistinguishable from the mutated snake-man.
His hair had all fallen out, and his face was covered in black snake scales. Because he had serious mental problems and exhibited a certain degree of "reality distortion," the church's ring sorcerers cast a spell to put him into a deep sleep.
"The shape of the snake scales does indeed resemble that of the Infinity Serpent."
The preliminary research conclusions obtained by the Prophet Association at noon were correct; from the time of discovery to the present, this disaster has transformed into the highest-level incident in just over ten hours.
Having returned from the city, Shad was well aware of the danger of this matter, so upon his return he sought out the witches:
"Has your discussion yielded any results? Is it possible for me to receive the protection or blessing of Chaos? Even if it's just a one-time thing."
Although they weren't entirely sure what Shad was trying to do, the witches still offered their advice:
"Are you sure we don't need to contact the Great Witch of Chaos?"
"That was an action taken when there was no other way. Were there any other options?"
Sevier put forward a new suggestion:
"Besides the Great Witch of Chaos, there is indeed another person in the council who has the ability to bestow Chaos blessings upon others—the Speaker can do it too. Don't rush to object; I mean, you can have the Speaker bless our jewelry, and then when you wear our jewelry, it's equivalent to temporarily having the protection of Chaos."
However, this is time-limited, and we don't know exactly how effective it will be.
Shad nodded immediately; Sevier's idea was excellent.
"Very well, please contact Lady Isabella as soon as possible. I need two blessed witch's jewels."
"Two items? What are you planning to do with that?"
“I’m going to see ‘Desire’. In fact, it sent someone to look for me in Tobesk last night, so it seems it anticipated this.”
He usually doesn't directly involve the witches in anything related to that mermaid. To avoid worrying everyone, he hadn't even mentioned that "Desire" had sent someone to Tobesk to look for him last night.
The ladies remained silent after hearing his words, clearly not agreeing with what Shad was doing, but knowing that he did have his reasons.
"So who will wear the other piece of jewelry? Who do you want to accompany you?"
Finally, it was Sevier who asked.
“Iluna. Galina has experimented with this before. After she activates the power of the Chosen One, she can also use part of the power of your jewelry. You can rest assured that she will come with me.”
Aside from Sister Daphne, Iluna was, in Shad's opinion, the most suitable person to accompany him to see the mermaid.
Claire and Sylvie voluntarily offered their gold rings, and the blessing from the Speaker of the Witch Council required a council vote, which Vanessa and the others thought was perfectly acceptable.
“We have enough people, and His Excellency the Speaker has no reason to vote against it, so this matter will definitely go smoothly.”
Even if they went through the proper procedures, it was unlikely that Shad would receive the two rings tonight. Therefore, he had the witches prepare them, and at the same time, he wrote a letter to Iluna, asking her to come over the next morning.
With these arrangements made, it was Monday evening. Miss Elizabeth suggested that since Galina wasn't going to Shad's place that evening, Shad should invite Dorothy to join everyone for dinner on the ship.
When Shad returned home and waited for Dorothy to change her clothes, he recalled what Lady Gerd had mentioned about her mother’s “snake-man” experiments when he said goodbye to everyone by the lakeside campfire under the starlight after the story of Whispering Hills ended (Chapter 3641).
At that time, Ms. Gerd told Shad that her mother had discovered that the snake-men were not a subspecies of beastmen, but rather mutated humans. Moreover, because these strange snake-men possessed such dangerous mutating tendencies, her mother had wiped out the entire group.
Could it be...?
Shad, who had originally planned to bring Winnie along, asked the Ice Maid about this issue after returning to the ship:
"After I left, did Ms. Gerd investigate the human subspecies that her mother had wiped out?"
Winnie had lived with Lady Gerd for many years, until Lady Gerd ascended to the eleventh rank before returning to the northernmost part of the world. She had already heard about what had happened in the city today, and therefore understood what Shad wanted to ask.
"Yes, the Zaras Institute also investigated that matter later. Because Miss Gerd's mother left no survivors, the investigation did not go very smoothly at first. Later, the 'Queen' who was imprisoned in the kingdom took the initiative to speak up and told Miss Gerd that those human subspecies that looked like snake people were not something that the Zaras Institute should study."
The witch warned Lady Gerd that the birth of those 'snake people' involved a very ancient secret, that their very existence was wrong, and that they should not have been born then, but rather in the future, in the twilight age of annihilation.
She paused briefly, giving Shad time to think:
"These human subspecies are more adapted to harsh environments than normal humans, and can remain normal in extremely chaotic environments, even without drinking water or eating for a long time. If it weren't for their extremely detached emotions and lack of feelings, as well as their extremely dangerous mutation tendencies, these human subspecies would actually be quite formidable."
Shad felt he knew what this was. When Adele from the apocalyptic era last talked to him about that terrifying time, she mentioned some monsters that still roamed even in the final days before the world ended.
Besides the well-known and powerful apocalyptic monsters, there were also less powerful monsters like the undead existing under that gloomy sky. The "Blackscale Serpent People" belonged to this category, and Adele even believed that they could be found in every corner of that era.
Adele's way of dealing with these things is to eliminate them outright, but that's not what Shad wants:
"When Ms. Gerd's mother was doing her research, did she study how to reverse this change? Or what were the specific reasons that this change occurred?"
"Change is irreversible."
Winnie spoke with certainty:
"As for the cause of the change, similar to the prevailing narrative of this era, it is some kind of supernatural plague. But as long as those who have undergone the change are driven to deserted wilderness, there is no need to worry about the spread of the plague."
The witch didn't actually care about the plague; she just wanted to figure out why these human subspecies were so powerful.
Now, in the Sixth Age, there are no longer people who study forbidden knowledge and human transmutation. Preventing humans from accessing and conducting such research can indeed make the world more stable, but if a similar situation does occur, there will be a lack of professionals to handle the trouble.
"Laplace Howard did study forbidden knowledge and human transmutation. Although he probably had no contact with this strange human subspecies, he might have had his own opinions on it. It's a pity he's dead."
At the dinner table, Audrey spoke of her ancestors in this way.
Flora looked at Shad:
“Death is not the end, especially for those of us who know the secrets of death; death is merely a process before reaching the end.”
Claire then said with interest:
"So, is Shad going to meet that dead traitor from the Prophet's Association? I heard you mention that last autumn in Vista Grove, Shad brought the Radiant Messenger to the brink of death in order to send an immortal dragon to its death."
You've all seen that world, but I haven't.
(End of this chapter)