Strange Voyage: Summoning the Fourth Disaster.

Chapter 800 Moving Forward to Protect

"So... you can kill your former comrades without any remorse?"

Claymore forced himself to stand up, his body weak, and looked at him.

Upon hearing this, the blindfolded man slowly lowered his hands and let out a disdainful sneer.

"Compatriots?"

"What kind of damn compatriots are you!"

"I've never considered myself one of those damned wood gatherers, whether it's the witches, the Temple of Fire, or any other wood gatherer... all I get from them is coldness and scheming..."

"Killing them would certainly not be a burden to me!"

"Ah...you might not realize this because of your stupidity."

"Since that's the case, then I'll mercifully tell you the truth. Anyway, your soul is about to be used by me, so letting you die knowing the truth isn't so bad..."

The blindfolded man chuckled, confident of victory. The immense power granted to him by the ashes made him completely disregard Claymore.

He quickly revealed two things: each death of a woodcutter consumes their soul, and the witch only allows promising woodcutters to go to the Temple of Fire.

"So... do you understand?"

"To a campfire, everything is a piece that can be discarded, and everything is firewood that can be added to the fire!"

"Your loyalty to him, your sacrifices for him, are nothing but a joke!"

at the same time.

A voice followed closely behind Claymore.

"I think you're more of a joke."

A calm figure emerged from the shadows behind Claymore.

Upon hearing this, Claymore felt a great weight lifted from his heart. The summoned spirit had finally arrived, making his long delay worthwhile.

If all else fails, he's even considering using what the Candlekeeper gave him...

"Who?!"

The sudden turn of events startled the blindfolded man, making him realize that the firewood gatherer was actually stalling for time.

But in the next moment.

The body then flickered like a blur.

The black blade flashed past him in an instant, faster than he could react.

With a soft thud, the blindfolded man's head was severed in an instant, but instead of spitting out blood, it scattered ashes.

Even so, the blindfolded man did not seem to be dead; a sinister glint flashed in his severed head.

In an instant, his body moved, and his eyes, made of ash, tried to turn toward the attacker, attempting to use the power of the ash to kill him.

Unexpectedly!

The great power of the ashes will not let me die here!

Damn scum, just let me see you...

Blindfolded, a roar of anger erupts from within.

However, the countless black blades that followed instantly extinguished his hope.

Swish swish!
The sword flashed, as if weaving an invisible net.

The blindfolded man was finely chopped into minced meat.

Wow!

A pile of minced meat fell limply to the ground, ashes rose from it, and then disappeared.

[War Contribution +459]

"Hmm... I made some extra money, not bad."

Brother Yu nodded with satisfaction.

"What a disgusting feeling," his Deadfire Sword muttered.

Fish ignored him and turned to Claymore: "I'm a little late... Are you alright?"

Claymore shook his head to indicate that he was fine, then gave a wry smile and said, "Thanks, Fish."

He had heard of this person from other players on Candle Island before, so he knew his name.

The only thing he hadn't expected was that his opponent had grown so quickly that he could now easily kill the blindfolded man who had driven him to the brink of despair.

"How is this going?"

Brother Fish glanced around.

Claymore sighed softly, not responding immediately, but instead approaching the gradually cooling corpse at the bull's horn.

A cow with its heart crushed is naturally beyond saving; there's no way to hear its dying words.

After all, if he still had a finger to move, he wouldn't stand by and watch Claymore fight alone.

And having left his body behind, he clearly had no chance of being resurrected...

After stroking down the bull's unseeing eyes, Claymore explained the current situation to Fishman in a somber mood.

After hearing his words, Brother Yu fell silent for a moment.

Blackface and Horn were Claymore's two best friends in the Temple of Fire... but now they have both died at the hands of the Fallen Fire Gatherers.

For a moment, Brother Yu didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only gently pat his shoulder.

"I will tell the others what happened..."

Claymore nodded slightly, then reached out to take the bull's carcass away.

Although most of the dead woodcutters would die in obscurity, with no one to help them collect their bodies, Horn was lucky because he had a friend like Claymore…

But at this moment, Brother Fish suddenly made some discoveries.

After glancing at the dark boundary above his head, he quickly turned his gaze to the strange, long, narrow box.

This thing looks a bit like a coffin, yet it also has a lock like a treasure chest, making it seem quite strange.

"This is……"

Brother Yu stepped forward and began to observe.

"Looks like a treasure chest... but you don't have the key," Deadfire Sword sneered.

However, in the next second, Brother Fish took it and swung it directly.

The indescribable sharpness of the Deathfire Sword instantly severed the lock on the strange box, and the broken lock fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Xiao Hei: "..."

Fish Bro was about to reach out and lift the lid of the box, but then he seemed to remember something and glanced at Claymore next to him.

He was relieved to see that he had used the power of the campfire to move the bull's carcass.

“Do what you want to do, I’ll be here waiting.” Claymore nodded to him.

Because of the signal wax, if Fishman wants to open the box, he cannot leave.

In return, he plans to stay here and help Brother Fish for the time being.

"This should be the 'Greedy Treasure' that guy was talking about earlier. He came for that... and the bull horn came for him..."

Claymore sighed inwardly.

Greedy treasure...

Upon hearing this, Fish Brother narrowed his eyes slightly, said something to Claymore, and then raised his hand to open the lid of the box.

With a "whoosh," the opening of the box lid seemed to trigger some kind of mechanism, and the grooves and patterns hidden beneath it suddenly lit up with a pale white light, as if to transmit something to the surroundings.

However, the light abruptly stopped when it touched the edge of the darkness above.

after a while……

Nothing happened.

Brother Yu frowned, somewhat surprised, and put the sealed black sword away again.

“It seems… because of this Dark Frontier, the connection between the Greedy Treasure and something else has been severed…” Claymore understood.

Seeing that nothing unexpected had happened, Brother Yu was naturally happy with this, but when he looked inside the long box, he was quite surprised.

[Combat Skill: Heavenly Roar (Torchfire)] [Spell: Blizzard (Dustflame)] [Prayer: Offering of the Spirit (Torchfire)] [Sleeping Scroll (Collector's Edition)] [Armor of Greed (Excellent)] [Sword of Greed (Excellent)] [About the Greed Guardian Array]...

Inside the long chest were a pile of treasures of decent quality and... a mummified corpse in an incredibly peaceful posture.

"This is……"

Brother Yu hadn't explored the new map that Mr. Zhong and his group had visited, otherwise he would probably know what was going on.

Due to the shattering of space, the location of the Greed Guardian Array and the location of the Greed Treasure became two completely different places.

One became part of an infinitely overlapping space, while the other, by chance, retained the unique appearance of a special area.

This is why most of the mechanisms and layouts in the Greedy Treasure are rendered useless; as long as the locks on the chests are broken by a critical hit, outsiders can easily take the treasure inside.

"This treasure is indeed abundant... no wonder this guy came here first..."

Brother Fish glanced at the spot where the blindfolded man had died.

“Let’s divide it up,” Fishman suggested, looking at Claymore.

“No…” Claymore shook his head: “You have helped me a lot. If it weren’t for you… I wouldn’t even be able to avenge Horn. So, you can keep these treasures.”

Claymore spoke firmly. Although he realized his weakness at this moment and longed to become stronger again, he also knew that if it weren't for Fish and Candlelight, he would not have been able to kill the blindfolded man.

Seeing his insistence, Brother Yu did not refuse any further.

After sweeping away all the treasure, he bid farewell to Claymore.

"I won't keep you any longer. Goodbye, Claymore."

Fish knew that Claymore had one important thing to do.

Indeed, after saying goodbye to Fishman, Claymore quickly returned to the Temple of Fire.

The bull's carcass still lay there.

Many people who came and went saw this scene, but most of them were indifferent and busy with their own affairs, or they would sigh and leave on their own.

As firewood gatherers, they encounter this kind of thing far too often, so it's not surprising that they see it again; at most, they feel a sense of shared sorrow.

Claymore was preparing to leave with the bull's carcass.

But then an orange-yellow flame appeared behind him; it was the temple master, Agoni.

"The flames of Artubal have also gone out..."

"I'm sorry, Claymore."

"It is Argonine who spoke."

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” Claymore shook his head.

Then he prepared to take the bull's carcass away.

But at this moment, Agoni spoke up: "Although it may be inappropriate to do this, Claymore, I still hope that you will leave the bull's carcass behind... and put it in the fireplace."

Upon hearing this, Claymore became furious.

"why?"

"You were unmoved by the deaths of so many woodcutters, but now that Atubal is dead, you want to leave his body behind and throw it into the fireplace?"

Claymore laughed in his anger.

"Is it a shortage of fuel? How much do you need? Just name your quantity!"

“Calm down, child.” Argonne sighed. “The reason I want you to keep his body is not because of a lack of fuel… but because he died at the hands of the ashes.”

"Put it in the fireplace, and the campfire will learn some relevant information."

"In this way, other firewood gatherers may have some ability to deal with the ashes in the future."

Similar to Claymore's previous situation, Horn was also affected by the blindfolded man's ash power, but because the blindfolded man wanted to seize Horn's soul, he did not completely annihilate Horn's body.

That is why Agonis had no choice but to try.

Upon hearing this, Claymore remained silent for a moment.

But then, he said coldly, "Sorry, I can't do it!"

Yagoni spoke quietly: "...His soul still retains a trace...Why not listen to Atubal's own thoughts?"

Upon hearing this, Claymore stopped in his tracks.

After struggling internally for a long time, he closed his eyes.

Soon, Agoni led Clement and the horned corpse to a quiet room.

Argoni unleashed his power, and within the orange flames, the soul of the bull horn coalesced.

He opened his eyes, looked around blankly, and then suddenly realized something.

At this moment, Agoni also spoke up, succinctly explaining the situation.

"I'm dead..."

Looking at his own body on the ground, Niu Jiao muttered to himself, a hint of disorientation flashing in his eyes.

But he quickly accepted the situation and looked at Claymore in front of him.

“Bull horns…” Claymore clenched his fists, unsure of what to say.

"That guy is dead. Your revenge against Blackface is complete..."

However, Niujiao remained calm upon hearing this.

"That's not important... Anyway... I'm just glad you're alright."

On his deathbed, he saw Claymore appear.

He regretted most that he had dragged the other person into the mess because of the black face incident.

But now, seeing that Claymore was safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief and also came to understand the things that had tormented and troubled him in the past.

Then he said something that shocked Claymore.

“Claymore… don’t get hung up on this, it’s not the whole story…”

The bull looked up at the sky, seemingly lost in thought.

"Because of what happened to my teacher, I grew up in hatred. That was the goal that drove me forward, but it also blinded me."

"I used to think that becoming stronger was for revenge, and that revenge was everything."

"But in reality, this is putting the cart before the horse."

"It wasn't until the moment before I died that I realized, because of my weakness, I had already caused Blackface's death, and you, my last friend, are about to die because of it as well..."

“I will lose everything, lose you, my long-cherished wish to avenge my teacher, and even my own life… and I am powerless to do anything about it.”

"Now I realize that it was all because I got the order wrong."

"Revenge is merely a bonus on the path forward; more importantly, it's about protecting what we already have from further loss..."

With a smile, Bull Horn turned his gaze back to Claymore, meeting his eyes.

"Claymore, you still have people you need to protect, don't you?"

"Promise me you won't lose it again."

"Let's keep moving forward from this point on."

"Only when you are strong enough should you settle old scores and not let tragedy befall you..."

Niu Jiao's voice was still deep, but this time he broke from his usual silence and spoke a lot, his tone carrying a gentleness he had never shown before.

Claymore nodded silently, the dim firelight in the room not illuminating the tears on his cheeks.

"Thank you, Lord."

"You gave me the chance to make up for my last regret."

"Throw my body into the fireplace."

The bull horn looked at Agoni and calmly uttered its last words.

(End of this chapter)