Blood tax

Chapter 381 The Sealed Artifact and Aaron (Part [-])

"Where's Sonia?" Fiona stood up nervously, and Lana also drew out her sword and stood behind her.

Griffith's forehead was already sweating.This was the second time that Sonia disappeared from his hands, and both times happened in an instant without any warning.

This is the ship of Homemonwatts, how could people disappear without a sound... Sealed Artifact, this must be the attack of the Sealed Artifact!

Calm down, calm down...Griffith tried his best to contain his agitation and try to calm down.The soul contract between him and Sonia has not been triggered, at least it means that Sonia is still alive, and this place is on the sea, even if he is taken captive, he cannot leave too far.

"Fiona, Lana, come to us." Galadia's voice was calm and composed, and at the same time she spread her spirituality and swept across the cabin, "It's not just Sonia who disappeared. On this ship, I don't feel any other human breath."

"..."

Under such circumstances, Galadia was the calmest one.She leaned against Griffith, took out a scroll from her small bag and slowly unfolded it.

From the material point of view, this scroll is made of the outer skin of some kind of large spiritual creature, it is very tough, and there is a faint light like a firefly floating, and there are distant and ethereal rhythms echoing.On the front of the unrolled scroll, a disk made of intricate magic patterns was drawn, and a fluctuating fluorescent point appeared in the center, beating like a heart.

The moment he saw this light spot, Griffith felt as if his heart was being forced to resonate with it at the same frequency.

With the trembling light spot as the center of the circle, a straight light that can be regarded as the radius of the circle extends out, dragging the sparse light mist to continuously rotate and sweep across the disk.

This is obviously a tool for enhancing perception and detection.

Sonia once used the echo map that can outline terrain and actions, and helped everyone meet under the ruins of the Turan Swamp.This scroll in Galadia is different, with no other images visible except for sparkling points of light and thin spinning threads.

Galadia explained: "This is the Tome of True Sight, which can conduct a large-scale precise search through the medium of my psychic ripples. It does not require sight or hearing, and it can also prevent my spirituality from being directly exposed to danger. .After the spreading psionic ripples touch other psionic creatures, the echoes will mark them on the scroll. The stronger the target signal, the stronger the signal. The light spot in the center is us. Don't be too scattered, otherwise it will cause interference.

"As long as they provide spiritual energy, anyone can use it. However, the scope and precision of the search are related to their respective spiritual energy ripple characteristics."

Fiona stared at the scroll for a while: "I can't see anything, how far is your search range?"

"It's quite far away, and it can be very detailed. As long as I increase the output of psionic energy, I can cover this ship and the nearby sea area." Galadia focused her attention, and even Griffith who was present could feel it. There is a ray of delicate silk-like touch that appears and disappears from time to time.

In the dark, everyone heard an ethereal echo.

"Ding-dong-"

The sound was like a mountain spring dripping into a pond stream, pure and free of impurities.At the same time, a flickering light spot suddenly appeared on the scroll, not too big or too small, and it was moving outwards quickly.

"We found the trace, let's catch up!"

The four of them immediately crossed the corridor and chased in the direction where the signal appeared.However, in the blink of an eye, the signal disappeared, and no matter how hard Galadia tried, there was no response on the scroll.

"He's hiding," Miss Elf said, "Such a quick reaction is very similar to that of the Extraordinary of the Assassin Pathway. The strongest among them can travel through the gaps between planes and remain invisible. In this case, Their form and psychic power lie in the gap where the worlds meet, and they cannot be perceived by the scroll of true sight."

"Assassin? You can't let him go!" Griffith greeted, "Catch up, at least we can know where he has been!"

The four of them quickly climbed the stairs and rushed along the ship corridor to the place where the signal disappeared.

The Feiye, which contained two grades, turned out to be empty, and there was not even a single person on the way.

There were half-eaten cakes, knives and forks on the porcelain plate, and the black tea in the cup was still warm.Medicines and bandages were placed on the table, and they were all ready to be used after unpacking.From professors to students, including sailors and servants, all disappeared without a trace.

The fast sailing ship Flying Leaf is keeping its course, sailing across the lonely sea, and the whistling cold wind pours into the portholes, making people have a delusional illusion that they are the last inhabitants of the world.

Galadia stopped in a waiting room: "It's in this area. I don't know how long this creature can hide, but as long as he appears, I will find it again."

"Easy! As long as I can determine the approximate location, I will let Lana deal with this sneaky guy. I got a high score in Transfiguration this semester!" Fiona snapped her fingers, took out her wand, and pointed Looking at Lana, "Lana, I want to turn you into a big dog to find out the suspicious smell!"

"wait"

Before Lana finished speaking, he was turned into a big black dog.It looked at its paws suspiciously, and ran out in frustration, sniffing around in the corridor.

"Damn, what are you doing! Change him back!" Griffith exclaimed, "Lana is the best at dealing with concealment, I need him!"

"I don't listen~" Fiona shook her waist-length blond hair, "No one knows how to use Lana better than me!"

As soon as the words fell, the big black dog seemed to have discovered something, and quickly ran towards the end of the corridor.

"Look!" Fiona raised her chin triumphantly, and immediately chased after her.Griffith and Galadia looked at each other, but could only follow closely.

The three ran after the big dog, across the deck, past the dining room and library, apparently on the trail of something.

"Lana's sense of smell is a thousand times better than that of humans!" Fiona waved her fist at Griffith, "That sneaky guy hides the ripples of psionic energy, but he doesn't hide his own smell, look Come on, we'll catch him in a moment!"

What else can Griffith say.He could only follow, and ran all over half of the ship, but still didn't find a single person... Finally, they entered a cabin, and the big dog jumped on board, biting a package and tearing it up.

"There is a clue!" Fiona shouted happily, "This must be a clue to the identity of the attacker!"

The big dog bit open a luggage bag, and jumped back to Fiona with a piece of women's clothes in its mouth, wagging its tail excitedly.

This is a small piece of lace clothing, no bigger than a palm. Judging from the style and material, its owner must only wear it on private parts on private occasions.The big dog flicked back and forth, spitting all over it...

Fiona's face flushed to the point of burning.She covered her face, turned her head away, and forced herself to be calm:

"Ahem, did you find out~ From just now, there is no one else on the Feiye except us. Professors, students, sailors, except for immovable objects, there are no living things."

Yes, this is something we have known for a long time.Griffith nodded slowly, indicating that he understood.

Galadia stared at the little underwear in the dog's mouth for a while, blinked, and seemed to think of something:
"Wait a minute, this search didn't solve the problem,
"We're going to sort out the current situation."

"Our situation?" Griffith and Fiona both wondered, "Isn't it the danger that Sonia and the others encountered?"

Miss Elf shook her head: "I don't rule out the possibility of Sonia being in danger. However, the professor and two classmates disappeared together. There is an existence like Aaron among them, and there are also big families in charge of high-ranking sealed items. Members. Is it more difficult to deal with them than with us?

"We can't preconceive that other people are missing. Another possibility is also very high, that is, when Alyosha brought Neferti back, we who were in a certain area were thrown into a certain seal within the 'sphere' of object-making, isolated from others."

"I don't quite understand~" Fiona felt that this topic was beyond her understanding, "Then where are the others? They can only go to sea if they are not on the boat."

Speaking of this, Galadia looked at Griffith: "Just like the 'black domain' we experienced. The conceptually the same space is separated by different rules. Perhaps, others on the Feiye are also looking for us."

Griffith calmed down and began to think about several countermeasures: "Then, what is the purpose of the person who took this action? Is it to imprison us, or to divide and then attack... By the way, Fiona, You turned Lana into a dog, can he still communicate with us?"

"Emmm... this question is worth studying," Fiona touched the dog's head and stretched out her left hand, "Lana, stretch out your right hand."

The big black dog stuck out its tongue "wheezing and wheezing", looked at the countess, and ignored her.

"It's impossible to communicate," Galadia smiled and shook her head, "Even though Rana still has his own consciousness, his hearing, language, perception, body hormones, and even the foundation of his thinking are no longer human~
"There is no consciousness separated from matter, isn't this an axiom of the mysterious world?"

Fiona puffed her cheeks unconvinced, and gestured with her wand, "Lana Lana, tell me where is the villain who captured Sonia?"

"Wow!" Lana suddenly yelled, and rushed towards the corner.

"Look, ah, come back!" Fiona hurriedly chased after her.But the big dog didn't listen to her at all.

"The signal has appeared!" At the same time, a pulsating light spot appeared on the scroll in Galadia's hand, which was not far from the four of them.

In an instant, Lana, who had turned into a big dog, turned the corner and disappeared without a trace.Griffith stood by Galadia's side, not daring to move. Seeing that without Lana's anxious jump, Fiona dived into the shadows, and never came out again without any suspense.

This... Griffith covered his face, almost unable to face the reality of Fiona and Lana's disappearance.Lana's strength is very strong, and his Extraordinary characteristic has a strong restraint effect on the range concealment characteristic, but Fiona foolishly gave it away for nothing.

"This is great, so many of us are about to be killed by an assassin..."

Galadia crossed her arms and looked at the corner where Lana and Fiona disappeared, and thought for a while: "The black hand behind the scenes has the idea of ​​breaking us down, but this also exposed his characteristics and weaknesses. .

"First, it is a form of control or capture that makes the captured irresistible;
"Second, users can only use it for a single or small target at a time;
"Third, the user's combat power is limited. He doesn't even dare to take the risk of being discovered, but carefully captures one unit at a time."

(End of this chapter)