Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Fantasy -> alchemical age

Volume Five: Dance of the Ice Dragon, Prologue: Traveler (Part 2)

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    As time went by, the number of guests gradually decreased.  When the clock struck midnight in the distant village, there were only a few people in the hall.  Even the dancers stopped showing off their powerful waists and walked backstage.

    In a corner of the hotel, a man stared at Charlotte with gloomy eyes - from the moment Charlotte entered the hotel, his eyes followed Charlotte covertly.  When Charlotte noticed his prying eyes and turned her head in confusion, the man looked away without any trace.  He looked at Charlotte with careful eyes, and finally stopped at the long sword beside him.  The crest on the scabbard made the man's pupils shrink.  He lowered the brim of his hat and stood up, lowered his head, left his seat in a hurry, blended into the leaving crowd, and went into the dark night with the howling cold wind.

    The innkeeper finished his work, came to Charlotte and sat down by the fireplace.  He asked the waitress to refill the glass.

    "There is no better wine here." Warren picked up the cup. "The guests who come and go are all traveling merchants. They don't need the mellow and delicious cherry liqueur. Therefore, I can only use it to entertain you."

    "I'm very grateful for your help." Charlotte said, feeling that his mood had improved.  "A glass of strong wine to relieve sleepiness and dispel the chill is good enough. I have no right to ask for more."

    "Every hotel owner does this. Unless he is an iron rooster with no hair off, or a fat sow wearing a dirty apron with a chicken coop head" Warren couldn't help laughing, but he quickly realized,  He smiled dryly and said, "It's not worth thanking."

    "No matter what, for your kind character"

    Charlotte and Warren clinked glasses.

    "This is the first time someone has said such a toast." The hotel owner put down his glass and said with a wry smile.

    Charlotte also took the opportunity to put down her heavy wine glass, "Is it very different from the previous one?"

    "Of course it's big. We will celebrate for the harvest, for the family, for the mare to give birth to a foal, but never" Warren smiled awkwardly, "for kindness."

    "Is there anything wrong?"

    Warren remained silent.  Charlotte didn't rush.

    After a while, the hotel owner said dryly and carefully, "Now, this is a derogatory term to be precise, it is a curse word."

    Since when has kindness become a curse?

    Warren was quick to give his explanation.

    "Mr. Charlotte, you must live in a big city like North County and rarely go out, right? Of course you have no idea." Warren said, "The world is no longer peaceful."

    Charlotte sat up straight.

    ¡°No more peace?¡± he repeated, and then asked, ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    Warren picked up the wine glass and took a long sip. He sighed and continued, "This winter is extremely cold. Don't you feel it? Most people are saying that the end is coming. There are gray colors everywhere on the trade road.  The skin, the shadow of a monster with fangs exposed from its mouth. The priests who came out of nowhere are saying that only the gods can save the world, but aren¡¯t the gods already dead? I no longer believe in those gods, but those  Monsters do exist."

    The hotel was lit by a lonely light.  The increasingly bad weather caused the howling cold wind to sweep in large clumps of snowflakes, lapping at the outer wall of the hotel like waves, making a ghostly and shrill sound.  Warren drank all the wine in the glass, sighed, held the oil lamp, and staggered away. The hall was silent, with only the crackling of firewood ringing from time to time.  Without the prying eyes of others, Charlotte's tense spirit relaxed and she fell into a deep sleep soon.

    He was awakened by a knock on the door.

    The locked door was kicked open, and a group of men in black broke into the hotel.  Almost at the same time, Charlotte grabbed the sword beside her, jumped up from the couch, and hid silently in the shadows next to the fireplace like a nimble black cat.  He moved faster than he knew, surprising himself.

    The leading guy held a bright short knife in his hand.  He glanced around and ordered gloomily: "Go and bring everyone out!"

    Charlotte hid in the dark, watching the movements of the thieves.  Their movements were a little unfamiliar, stumbling around in the hall with a large number of tables and chairs.  The angry thieves violently kicked aside everything in front of them and rushed up the stairs quickly.  Soon, the screams of ladies, curses of men, and cries for mercy could be heard upstairs.

    "Hurry up! Don't wait any longer!" the thieves urged impatiently.

    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Dozens of passengers, as well as waitresses and hotel owner Warren, were driven into the hotel lobby like lambs at the threat of swords.  Trembling with fear, they huddled close to each other.

    ¡°Boss.¡± The leading guy walked up to Warren.  His appearance was hidden under the dark scarf, with only a pair of malicious black eyes exposed.

    "Who are you?" Warren asked loudly.

    The man said nothing.  He pulled off the turban and exposed his face to the light of the fireplace.  Charlotte could see clearly.  He was a guest who had been drinking in the hotel before.  It seemed that he was watching him from the sidelines.  Charlotte felt intense uneasiness in her heart.  He instinctively sensed that the other party was coming for him.  He tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword and began to grope along the wall.  He tried to avoid the area illuminated by the firelight of the fireplace and slowly approached, looking for opportunities.

    Warren recognized him, "You want money? I can give it to you!"

    "Money?" The man smiled coldly, "I don't need it."

    "Then what do you want?"

    "Looking for someone." The intruder stared at the hotel owner and asked coldly, "Where is that poor outsider?"

    "Did you rob|rob him?"

    "Tell me, where is he?" The intruder lost his patience.  The dagger was held to Warren's neck.

    The icy chill on the blade invaded Warren's blood, as if it was freezing his body.  However, Warren was undeterred by the intruder's threats.  "He's gone!" he shouted.

    Charlotte¡¯s sneaking movement suddenly stopped.  He did not expect that Warren, whom he had just met for a short time, would do this.  Charlotte gritted her teeth.  He knew that Warren's actions would anger the other party.  He had to move faster.

    "Leave? The weather outside is freezing enough to kill anyone." The intruder moved the blade slowly, leaving a wound on Warren's neck.  He tilted his head, looked at the waitress beside him who was hesitant to speak, and smiled gloomily, "Besides, even the beautiful lady doesn't believe your lies."

    Warren had a cold sweat on his head, "I told the truth!"

    "You have no value at all. Because there are many beautiful ladies here who are willing to tell me the truth." The intruder said, while holding the handle of the knife tightly, and slowly stabbed the short knife into Warren's neck.  Warren made a short sound in his throat, his hands tightly grasped the intruder's arm, trying to resist, but was held tightly by the intruder Just as Charlotte jumped angrily from the shadow beside the wall  As he came out and rushed towards the intruder, he saw death.

    Then, everything stopped.

    A cloud of gray mist drifted in like silk.  It's like the threads spun by a spider swinging along the airflow, and then weaving into a huge spider web, covering everyone's body.  The spider silk bound everyone, making them seem to have been cast a magic spell that stopped time, maintaining the posture of the previous moment.  Their eyes widen with horror or with twisted pleasure.  Charlotte even saw the blood that was stagnant in the air and had not yet fallen, as well as the fearful face of Warren, the hotel owner, who was close at hand.

    ??Emotions of sadness and anger filled Charlotte's heart.  He tried to move his body and use the sword in his hand to end the intruder's crime.  However, the realm of gray mist quickly isolated everything.  The surroundings were empty, and it seemed that only Charlotte was left.  He roared unwillingly, but to no avail.  Suddenly, an extremely cold power enveloped Charlotte, making Charlotte feel fear from the bottom of her heart and an inexplicable sense of familiarity.  The intertwining of two mutually exclusive emotions made Charlotte eagerly raise her head and look at the source of the change.

    A ghost knight wearing heavy black armor appeared in front of Charlotte without warning.  It rode a tall war horse that was also wearing armor, and its right hand hanging down by its side held a huge black scythe.  Like the mount beneath it, the Ghost Rider also has a pair of eyes burning with cold gray flames, looking straight at Charlotte without emotion through the slits in its helmet.  The majesty in her eyes made Charlotte tremble uncontrollably.  It is like a god as powerful as the sea.  It took Charlotte almost all her strength to kneel down on the ground without fear and beg for forgiveness in the most humble manner.

    "Charlotte."

    A voice full of endless majesty seemed to penetrate countless obstacles and sounded directly in Charlotte's heart.

    Charlotte stared at the Ghost Rider in front of her. He could hardly suppress his fear of him, and his voice even became hysterical like a madman.

    "Who on earth are you?" he yelled with anger and anger.

    ¡°I came in response to your prayer.¡± Ghost Rider¡¯s emotionless voice said plainly, ¡°Fulfill the previous deal.¡±??¡±

    "I don't remember who I prayed to!" Charlotte clenched the hilt of her sword and denied loudly, "I don't remember any deal with you! Who are you? Get out of here!"

    The gray flames in Ghost Knight¡¯s eyes never seemed to waver.  It stared at Charlotte and was silent for a moment.  "I control everything about you." It said, "You are dead. You can keep your body, keep your consciousness, and walk in the sun, all because of my will."

    "Am I already dead?" Charlotte staggered and fell backwards.  The muscles in his face twisted together from the sudden blow.  He opened his mouth with difficulty, but found that he could not find a reason to refute.

    "Your body belongs to death, and your soul belongs to me." Ghost Rider's words erased Charlotte's last fantasy, "Touch your heart - Andal no longer protects you."

    His heart stopped beating and his breathing was useless.  His body is dead just like Ghost Rider said.

    "Am I still alive like this?" Charlotte asked as if talking to herself.

    ??Ghost Rider didn¡¯t give Charlotte the answer he wanted.  It said nothing, sat upright on the horse, and stared at Charlotte indifferently.  For a moment, Charlotte seemed to see death in the other person's eyes.  The bone-chilling cold quickly took over his consciousness, driving away his negative emotions and even trying to freeze his soul.

    ¡°Complete the deal,¡± Ghost Rider¡¯s voice sounded again, ¡°Or, accept true death.¡±

    "What deal?"

    "You don't need to know." Then, Ghost Rider issued an ultimatum to him again.

    ?Choose one or the other¡ªCharlotte felt she had no choice.

    The Ghost Rider raised his left hand, and a voice that seemed to have the power of bewitching began to wash through Charlotte's mind, causing him to involuntarily raise his head and look into the eyes of the Ghost Rider who made him feel fear.

    "¡ª¡ªThe contract is reached."

    With the sudden explosion of Ghost Rider's power, which was as powerful as the mountains and the earth, Charlotte felt the gray flames in the opponent's eyes burning crazily. The strange coldness emitted by the flames enveloped him, binding him and making him unable to break free.  He was horrified to find that a gray flame as thin as a hair fell from the Ghost Rider's eyes and gradually approached him.  He cursed and struggled, but could not change the outcome.  The flame split into two spark-like points of light and merged into his eyes.

    He closed his eyes reflexively, but unexpectedly did not feel any pain.  When he carefully opened his eyes, he found that his consciousness had returned to the body that had been suspended by magic.  The figure of the Ghost Rider has also disappeared before his eyes.  The gray fog quickly dissipated as it left, and the frozen world reappeared before his eyes¡ªincluding the horrified face of the hotel owner Warren.

    Anger swept over me like a flood, uncontrollable rage and madness blurring my mind.  The next moment when time started, he used the inertia he had accumulated to jump forward, and when the intruder leader looked panicked, he slashed out with his sword.  The collision between the long sword and the dagger made an unpleasant sound of metal clashing.  The intruder slipped and kept retreating, luckily avoiding Charlotte's sweeping sword.  Then he recognized Charlotte's uninvited guest.

    "The one I'm looking for is you!" the intruder said fiercely after he retreated to the wall and stopped. "Don't worry about the others, catch him!"

    At the same time, among the panicked passengers, a soldier with short brown hair caught the thieves' attention and snatched the machete from one of the thieves' hands, then chopped him to the ground.  Then, he rushed into the group of thieves, blowing up a bloody wind like a wolf rushing into a flock of sheep.

    The woman screamed again, incessantly.  The guests crawled and hid in the corner, holding their heads and shivering.

    Two thieves rushed forward.  Charlotte made a delicate pirouette, knocking them off balance.  The long sword danced in the dim fire.  One thief fell at his feet, while another stumbled forward, knocking over tables and chairs.  Blood gurgled out from under their bodies, like an abstract landscape painting.

    He stared closely at the intruder leader who had lost his guard, with the same gray flames dancing in his eyes as the Ghost Rider.  The frightened leader was tightly grasped by an inexplicable force and pulled straight in front of Charlotte.  He acted like an Avenger who had lost his mind, but waiting in front of him was Charlotte's raised sword, the tip of which was aimed at his heart.

    The guy fell at Charlotte's feet, blood smeared all over Charlotte's pale face, but this did not extinguish the anger in his eyes at all.  He stood there for a while, then turned his head to the unarmed men, women, and children in the hall
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report