World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 269 The Demon Breeder

Kevin is the son of the Red Poppy Merchant Guild, and the only person who could speak to him in such an intimate tone, if not his wife, would be Countess Mariette van Hofwegen.

The voice cannot conceal the hardships endured; the latter is more likely.

Contrary to Lin An's expectations, the countess spoke in a soft and pleasant tone, but as an international entrepreneur who controlled the entire Bantu raw material export industry, copper smelting, and freight transportation, she was by no means simply a smiling noblewoman.

Having received no response for a long time, the countess asked in confusion.

"Son, why aren't you saying anything?"

Hello Zihan's mother, it's normal for a dead child to be unable to speak.

Lin An dared not be negligent in using a joke to lighten the mood.

Kevin's spirit appeared, his face changing from bewilderment to anger and panic, his eyes filled with the resentment of his dying moments.

During the battle, Lin An dared not let Kevin live for more than a few seconds, fearing that the opponent had a hidden trick to turn the tide. But since he had finally encountered a young master from a prestigious family, how could he let him die?

For the mystic, death is never the end.

Lin An still wanted to extract the secrets held by the Red Poppy Merchant Guild from Kevin.

Therefore, at the moment his neck was snapped, Lin An used "Ashes of the Saints II: Yemaia" - [Creation of a Spiritual Portrait], and at the moment of life and death, Kevin's struggling and churning soul made contact with him.

Since the voice of the spiritual portrait could not be transmitted to the mortal world through communication devices, Lin An sculpted a simple humanoid figure with a mouth out of clay, used the Philosopher's Stone to transform into metal as a medium, and placed it into Kevin's spiritual portrait.

Immediately afterwards, Lin An used the [Alchemy Golem Creation] to manipulate him into talking to the Countess, and the long silence inevitably aroused suspicion.

"Good evening, Mother. Thank you for your greetings. I am fine, but this rainforest is too hot, humid, backward and poor. I regret spending the night here."

Lin An responded to her in Kevin's arrogant tone.

“Oh, poor child, your dissatisfaction is understandable,” the Countess comforted. “As this is your first mission alone for the family, whatever the outcome, as long as you return safely, that’s all that matters.”

"Don't worry, he's not dead. Everything is fine at my grave."

"If you can't hold on any longer, you might as well use [Starlight Hour] to return to my side. As for that young lady from the rainforest, I can give her a temporary residence permit from Brosel, so you can play and frolic with her in civilized space."

Perhaps it was a mother's heart that connected with her child, or perhaps the countess's "inspiration" told her that something was amiss, but she took the initiative to prolong the conversation.

Lin An secretly groaned, and had no choice but to keep it brief, deliberately pretending to be slightly impatient.

"I understand, Mother, please believe me."

“In another week, no, in six days… I will personally go to the rainforest.”

Lin An raised an eyebrow; the timing was really tight.

"Hmm," he muttered softly, "Couldn't we have given them more time..."

"Haha, there's nothing you can't do if you're willing to do it." The countess smiled encouragingly. "I'm very sorry, but we're about to move the battlefield to Lacono and need to finish up the work in Mbanbuka as soon as possible."

"Understood, Mother. I look forward to meeting you."

With no results from delaying, Lin An had no choice but to give up.

“Me too. My dear Kevin, we’ll meet at the Tigerfish Village in six days,” the Countess said. “Keep in touch, so I can inform you as soon as I receive news from the Rangers.”

Okay, okay, great.

Lin An carefully and perfunctorily dealt with the countess.

Mariette noticed that Kevin's speaking habits were different from usual and found it strange, but she had not yet considered the possibility that her son was dead.

After all, Kevin possessed two mythical items and was himself a legendary mystic. The countess did not expect Lin An to act so swiftly, reducing her son to ashes in just a few hours.

It was late at night, and the countess was a little sleepy. After exchanging a few more words with Lin An, they yawned and said goodnight to each other.

Lin An put down the communication device and exhaled a breath of stale air.

The simple alchemical golem shattered, and the mental portrait that had finally regained its freedom struggled violently, with curses in a mixture of French and Dutch echoing in Lin An's mind.

"Damn it, my mom won't let you get away with this! You pig!"

Dealing with genuine aristocratic families—even if the Red Poppy Merchant Guild comes from the tiny Kingdom of Flanders, which is no match for behemoths like Xi Yong or Black Capital—Lin An felt like he was walking on thin ice with every step he took.

Unable to interrogate Kevin at the moment, Lin An slapped him and added his mental portrait to the Philosopher's Stone.

"Slap slap slap..."

Yellow bats flapped their wings and flew backwards from the night sky, their glass-like blind eyes reflecting the rainforest returning to silence, while a strange, bull-like voice came from the world of death.

"Forest ranger, has the problem been solved?"

"Clean and efficient, defeating 90 percent of the world's population."

Lin An told Zai that Mariette would arrive in the rainforest in six days. A ferocious and twisted look flashed across Zai's face, and he clenched his teeth.

“I told you before, ‘Your wife has a thorn in her side,’” he repeated bitterly.

Now that things have come to this, Lin An has a pretty good idea of ​​what the so-called "thorn" is. Considering its shape, Zai's description is quite accurate.

"Is the 'thorn' you're referring to a wand that looks like it's surrounded by thorns, is it jet black, and is about this long?" Lin An gestured to indicate a distance. "When Count Van Hofwegen uses his magic, there's also a triangular magic circle under his feet?"

Zai's light suddenly flickered incessantly, like a light bulb about to break down.

"The formal name of this spike is 'Impact Staff,' while the triangular magic circle is a contract triangle composed of the Mortier Stone and two Mass candles."

Lin An pondered the matter while explaining it to the public.

"Remember the great magic book 'Red Dragon' that I mentioned before?"

"Humph!"

"The Red Dragon, also known as The Gospel of Satan or The Grimoire of Honorius Thebes, contains incantations for summoning and controlling demons, the dead, and the great red dragon 'Lucifer'."

Lin An held up one finger.

"You must have met that countess, right? Could you describe the general characteristics of her occult arts?"

"No, I haven't met her!" Zai suddenly unfurled a vast yellow net, enveloping Lin An. "See for yourself!"

Darkness descends, followed by light.

Lin An looked around. He was in a bright room, but the humid, stifling heat typical of the equator told him that he was still in Bantu.

The house has three huge glass doors on the front, embedded in the white wall, and a corrugated steel roof above it, making it look very open. There are no iron bars installed on the windows and doors.

“We will not run away, we will not be afraid, we will always be with the prophet.”

As hymns sung in the Bantu dialect began to play, Lin An looked in the direction of the sound and saw that it was a church where a group of believers, led by a pastor, had gathered for morning prayers. As they sang the hymns in unison, darkness blocked the morning light streaming through the windows.

A group of soldiers surrounded the church.

Most of them had indistinct features, but one young man's features were clear. Lin An couldn't help but take a few more glances at him, and Zai spoke in his ear.

“That was my son. Until then, he was a polite and friendly person. But that day he was very arrogant.”

"You said your son was kidnapped by a warlord..." Lin An fell into thought, "What is he doing?"

"Execute the order." Zai's voice was filled with anguish.

Before Lin An could ask, "What order?", someone shouted.

"Fire!"

It was the second illusion that Zai revealed to Lin An. This time, he came with malice. Rather than letting people see the ins and outs of the story, Zai only wanted to trap Lin An in it.

At the officer's command, the soldier picked up his gun, peered through the narrow window, pointed it at the faces of the priest and believers, and pulled the trigger.

"Ping!"

The crowd screamed in terror, but the soldiers outside ignored them, raising their guns and firing inside. A grenade exploded not far from Lin An, and shrapnel pierced the bodies of several people.

The women put their children down from their backs, held them in their arms, and knelt down to pray to God.

The believers tried to hide in the aisle between the chairs and under the altar, but to no avail, as soldiers quickly put down their guns, grabbed axes, and rushed in, hacking the believers to death.

“To save bullets,” Zai explained.

"What exactly happened?" Lin An found it cruel, but he didn't understand why these people died. "And what does it have to do with Count Mariette van Hofwegen?"

"The president issued an order for the Hutu to massacre the Tutsi, or rather—massage the foreign invaders—in order to eliminate the remnants of the Patriot Front. But who remembers that more than a hundred years ago, the Bantu were just Bantu, living side by side, without distinction between them?"

The war rages from reality into a bizarre and fantastical world, with its colorful effects playing out continuously.

The soldiers sometimes transformed into animals, sometimes into babies, with a bright red mark painted between their brows.

The corpses began to walk, despite their skulls being smashed.

Amidst screams and crackling flames, Lin An saw three nuns lying on the ground, their underwear pulled down to their knees.

Pregnant women were disemboweled, and their dead fetuses were left beside them; a man's heart was ripped out, and his wife's genitals were cut off and taken away. They cut a woman open from her anus to her vagina, then used her limbs to prop up the corpse, with her buttocks facing upwards.

Lin An wasn't sure if this was a real event. He had witnessed Efron's massacre before and had seen many mysterious people's bizarre and unpredictable killing methods.

But these people's goal is only killing, unlike the soldiers in front of us.

They killed the victim, then killed him again, and then killed him once more.

"The Dreamer's narrative is like a mesmerizing dream, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. You have obtained 'Dreamer' x1."

"Your pollution level has increased by 1% due to radiation from the 'Dreamer'."

The system's cold notification tone brought Lin An back to his senses.

Even among allies, dreamers are impossible to guard against.

Lin An's attention returned to the story's development, and he heard a series of crackling sounds of burning wood, which gradually increased in volume until they became deafening.

The mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood collapsed in his direction, with a sliver of light peeking through the cracks.

Someone set fire to the church roof, and a purple fire engulfed everything. Burning straw and beams fell from above, forming strange patterns.

It is the "contract triangle array" that Lin An just mentioned.

A woman's figure danced gracefully inside, holding a thorny cane with elegant posture, like a conductor in the very center of the Moon Pool.

Count Van Hofwegen!
The monster's shadow cast shifting shadows on the snow-white wall with her movements; it bared its fangs and acted recklessly, gradually transforming into a gigantic red dragon.

Upon seeing it, the arrogant soldiers were terrified and tried to flee, but it opened its huge mouth and swallowed them whole.

Because of their foolishness and the sins they committed through instigation, they became the devil's favorite food. The great red dragon and its master laughed ravenously, indifferent and aloof.

It seems that the countess has ignited hatred and anger everywhere, stirring up war among the Bantu people, ultimately leading to everyone killing and seeking revenge against each other.

Lin An immediately grasped the general outline of the situation.

In reality, in this meaningless war, both soldiers and civilians, like Lin An, were completely unaware of their own behavioral logic and goals.

Until their deaths, the soldiers never knew that someone had deliberately made them make mistakes, turning them into "sinners" to be used as fuel to feed the demon and gain power.

Their lives were merely stepping stones for a mysterious figure to control "Commerx".

Zai's son was torn apart, chewed, and devoured by the great red dragon.

Before his death, he let out a weak and incomprehensible cry like a child, and together with those equally innocent believers who were attacked, he became food for the skeletons, feeding the handsome, shimmering demon.

"Boom!"

All the scenes suddenly shrank, and all the chaos and bloodshed were concentrated in one person's pupils.

He wore a blood-stained white robe, and his felt hat was tilted back, like a halo of a god.

Lin An remembered him; he was the church pastor.

At that moment, the dying priest lay in another man's arms. He suddenly grabbed the man's hand and shoved a ball of light, filled with fragments of various kinds of knowledge, into his hands.

"Never forget the screams of agony on this land! Continue the civilization of the Bantu Empire! Continue the legacy of Nzambi...!"

In an instant, the aura on the death side of the Kalenga line surged forth, and the memories, hatred, myths, and scientific wisdom of the ancestors rushed in, pouring into Zai's body along with the priest's hoarse words, causing him to scream loudly and fall into a coma.

"Snapped!"

After the loud noise came boundless silence.

The light mist condensed and dissipated, and Lin An and his pair of crazed, painful, and struggling eyes met.

It was Zay, who was neither blind nor disheveled at that time.

“His name is Stanislas Wabulakombe,” Zai grinned. “In our language, it means: He will do whatever God asks of him.”

"You inherited that pastor's name?" Lin An asked.

“I inherited the ghosts of everyone from that war,” Zai said.

Thank you to Kuiqiulv, Chenyingjun12121, CizaiE, Donglishui, Zhangmouren (with inner meaning), Reader20221001131345442444758, Mangowuyun, wooden baby, FoodPanda, Youlongjun, and Tianyupo for the monthly tickets, and thank you all for the recommendation tickets and subscriptions.

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(End of this chapter)