Cyberzaun, Machinarium

"Maybe we don't have to wait until tomorrow night," Orpheus looked into the distance. According to the location, there was a small village that his team had just passed in the afternoon. There were no city walls or knights, only some farmers and livestock.

At Fiddlesticks' speed, he could reach the settlement before dawn, have a pleasant snack, and then disappear.

Tightening his grip on the sword at his waist, Orpheus focused on the attacker who had just attacked him, "Can we keep him here?"

"Impossible, we don't have that much holy silver to use. Unless it continues to attack us crazily, it will be dangerous if we keep chasing it."

A skilled hunter can easily weigh the situation. It is obvious that blind pursuit is not a good choice, especially when the prey is only injured but not unable to resist.

Be careful to fight every demon, this is Vayne's experience

"What if I attract the demon and try to hurt him? Can you kill it?" Orpheus stared at Wayne with a firm tone.

"First, this kind of demon can be defeated and dissipated, but it cannot be killed... after a few decades it will reappear on this land. Second, I don't see any tricks you can use to keep it."

"A stupid charge, a bit of clumsy stimulation, and a little wound on the outside." Putting on an ugly smile, Orpheus tried to tidy himself up, hoping to look decent.

"There is a village nearby. We cannot let others suffer the mistakes and problems we have caused."

"A question." After listening for a while, Enoch, who was amazed, asked, "Are you sure you are sane now? You haven't had any unrealistic thoughts because of the fear just now?"

"I know exactly what I am doing. I swore to protect the people, so I will take on this challenge alone. While this is going on, you should evacuate this place first."

"I'm sorry, but I'm a poor guide and can't fulfill your request."

PS:

Thanks to ZZHAO for the monthly ticket

Chapter 50 Decision

“You’re definitely stimulated.”

Enoch watched Orpheus looking for a warhorse, tying up his weapons, and asked Wayne for a lot of holy silver daggers.

"I have to remind you that when you faced its attack just now, you lay down without much resistance. The fear in your heart is much deeper than that of others. I don't want to see you charging at the demon and then falling off your horse."

Enoch was not a knight, so even though he could understand, he could not agree. "This is too risky and the success rate is too low. I think it is more appropriate to rush back to Secret Silver City to find the Illuminati."

"It will be too late then. You are right. I was indeed stimulated, but I am sober. Rather than betting that the monster will let us go after attacking others, it is better for us to take the initiative to challenge it. Besides, it may be another fake trap."

Orpheus untied his lyre from the saddle and handed it to Enoch: "I remember when we were on the road together, you said that you had a wide variety of bombs and stable effects? I want you to prepare a few now. Take this. There are some decorations on it. Just consider it as my advance payment."

Enoch stared at Orpheus' eyes closely, unable to detect any hesitation or flicker in them. He turned around, removed all the bombs from himself and Jinx, and gave them to Orpheus.

"I personally suggest you keep a distance of 30 meters from these things, and this thing." Enoch raised the lyre in his hand. "I will keep it for you first, and I will give it to you when you come back. I guess you will owe me a lot of money. Don't underestimate these things. The price is not cheap. You have to come back to settle your bill, understand?"

"Thank you very much." Orpheus straightened his helmet and rushed towards the shadow where Fiddlesticks was hiding with his spear.

"Come Out and Face Me"1

There was no clever way to provoke him, and Fiddlesticks just stopped, standing in the open space as if watching in anger. In the impenetrable black fog, a straw head seemed to stick out of the water and roared at the charging knight.

"Come on, I am not afraid of you, but you should be afraid of me. I will bring you destruction and slumber." The knight roared to cheer himself up and continued to shoot arrows into the darkness - even though he already knew it was useless.

It seemed that the demon realized that the little guy who could really hurt him did not come forward to attack him, but instead went away. The demon then stopped and turned to face the fool who dared to provoke him.

"I'm not afraid of you," Orpheus murmured. He couldn't fall here. He wanted to give the deadly hunter behind him a brief chance.

Darkness enveloped Orpheus and his horse. At the same time, the frightened horse raised its front hooves high and neighed helplessly.

The standing warhorse was hit by a fatal attack. A line of blood appeared from the horse's belly. As the belts broke one by one, a large amount of blood soaked the slipping harness. It fell to the ground and heavily pressed down on its owner who had no time to dodge.

"No, Isolde." The knight looked at his beloved horse painfully. It could no longer gallop on the dazzling grass of Demacia. He endured the pain and tried hard to pull himself out from under the horse. It was not easy, especially with all the slippery internal organs around.

Fiddlesticks enjoyed circling around the knight. Nothing made him linger more than what he saw before him. A little anger, a little regret, and a lingering fear.

"I... can feel it, I can smell it..." The hoarse words tortured the knight's heart intermittently. Like other prey, Fiddlesticks enjoyed the fear that erupted when they were desperate.

"Honor, yes, you want...honor"

The embarrassed knight took a deep breath, and after feeling a burning pain in his lungs, he slowly exhaled. He crossed his hands and gripped the hilt of the sword, with the tip of the sword pointing diagonally at the ground, ready to defend and counterattack.

Just like humans facing demons, they can only be fooled like fools. But even fools can still have a tiny hope of turning defeat into victory.

Finding the right moment, Orpheus moved sideways into the gap where the sickle was swinging, and swung his sword along the handle of the sickle to chop down heavily at the demon's wrist. With his other hand, he stuffed a grenade into the withered and messy straw.

Orpheus jumped out and looked at the pink smoke rising. The demon was not hurt at all. Even his wrist that had just been cut off was reconnected by the extended straw and restored to its original state.

"Too light... Are you tickling me again?" Fiddlesticks laughed at the knight's helplessness, and suddenly dodged an arrow flying from a distance.

"It's disappointing, isn't it? Neither you nor the archer can do anything to me." The demon happily sprayed venom from his fangs, and stuck in front of the unsteady knight, mocking his powerlessness. "Maybe I should let you watch the person you are protecting die in front of you first?"

Ophis took a deep breath and calmed down completely.

"You know what? Devil, I have to thank you. I always thought that my fear came from my father, who used poison dishonorably in a duel, bringing shame to my family, and it may also come from my sister, who restored the family's reputation and gave glorious titles to other members of the family - by killing my dishonorable father in a duel."

"I am very grateful to you. You made me see myself clearly. I was obsessed with fictional glory and blindly tried to help others until I became the knight that others expected me to be."

"I kept pursuing my own self-righteous glory, basking in the fame brought by my pseudonym, trying to hide the nightmare brought by the surname Laurent."

"I can't face my father's cowardice, and I can't face my sister's charity."

It's time to face the reality soberly. I no longer aspire to be a perfect knight, devil. I will no longer run away. I will offer any glimmer of hope of defeating you to my comrades.

Fiddlesticks looked at the knight in front of him in amazement. The fear almost disappeared from him. He was caught off guard and was tightly hugged by the knight. He couldn't break free or get away.

"Hear my roar, demon!" The knight roared in the demon's ear, and the ticking sound was like a requiem.

I am Harf, I am Orphus Laurent

I am a singing warrior

I am a dancer with a sharp blade

In the name of mercy, I will protect the weak

In the name of justice, I will stop committing sin.

In the name of honor, I will defend the city

Devil, you won't be able to move forward.

Because I am the storm and the thunder

I am your end.

Dazzling rays of light emanated from the darkness, and the indissoluble black fog was torn into pieces, falling like catkins.

This time, Fiddlesticks' body was torn into pieces like a rag and he could no longer hide. The flying holy silver arrow destroyed the last bit of his remains in this world.

"I heard your hymn, poet. Without a doubt, it describes a true warrior." The cold huntress looked at the dissipating shadows, accompanied by the rising sun, and headed towards the caravan in the distance.

Chapter 51: The Rift in the Heart

“I just can’t understand it.”

Since an explosion was heard in the distance, Enoch stayed behind with Jinx and asked the other guys to go to the nearby village to seek help first.

Not long after, the female hunter Vayne appeared on the road alone. She looked around but could not see any trace of Orpheus.

Maybe the knight was sacrificed? Enoch thought to himself. After all, the woman in front of him didn't look like she needed to retreat because her plan had failed.

"He promised to give me a chance to attack, and he successfully fulfilled his promise." Wayne answered silently and slightly coldly.

"Then why can't he retreat and find a suitable solution first? Does he have to choose such an...inappropriate ending?"

"People with insufficient talents always don't have many choices. At the last moment of his life, he realized his own value and didn't complain. This is the ending he chose. You should bless him and sing his deeds instead of complaining about his stupid death." He walked past Enoch who was waiting and handed him a deformed and broken long sword.

"You know him? That's good. I'll leave the sword to you."

Enoch took the broken sword and silently looked at the wound on the sword and the lyre he had stuffed into his bag.

"Is it worth it?"

"As long as he feels that he is worthy, no one else has the right to judge him."1

"Okay," Enoch sighed, carefully putting away Orpheus's belongings, "I think he must have dreamed about something, otherwise he wouldn't have suddenly made such a choice... I think so."

Wayne paused and turned to look at Enoch who was saluting in the distance. "What do you mean by 'what did you dream about at night'?"

Enoch raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I mean, at night all of us were immersed in nightmares and could hardly get out of them. We finally woke up and were chased by that demon. Yes, it was so embarrassing that we didn't fight back."

"No, you don't understand." Wayne shook her head seriously: "That thing is a demon. It represents something that humans don't want to encounter... If it is fear, it will chase you and dig out every bit of your pain. It will not let you have any nightmares."

"You mean," Enoch looked at the professional in front of him, "that there were not one but two attackers against us?"

"Maybe." Vayne said this and turned away. "But you don't have to worry for now. The devil has let you off for now. You don't have the stench of black magic on you now."

"Great!" Enoch urged his horse to catch up with Vayne. "You just gave me a death notice, but you didn't tell me how long it would take. That's very thoughtful. I have to thank you. How about you follow me to the company and I will help you upgrade a set of equipment?"

"Unless you are cursed by a dark wizard again, or do something to attract demons, it will be difficult for them to find you. You are not that special." Wayne looked straight ahead, ignoring Enoch who suddenly became attentive.

"Really? That's great, but I do suggest you go to my company. This is my personal thank you, and you can take it as a gift for this good deed." Enoch heaved a sigh of relief and thought it would be better to leave Demacia as soon as possible. He didn't want to encounter weird things again, especially the embarrassing situation of encountering such a magical thing but not being able to hire some mages.

"Where are you going next?"

"I don't know, but I will keep following the traces of black magic. If I pass by Mithril City one day, I will go to your shop to have a look."

Seeing Vayne accept his business card, Enoch raised his eyebrows in satisfaction and said, "You won't be disappointed. I will prepare something interesting for you. Now, since you are going to start your wandering, Enoch handed the horse that Jinx originally rode to Vayne and said, "Take it."

Wayne looked at the reins handed to him, then looked at Enoch who was holding the girl. "Thanks, little boy. Just a reminder to take good care of your girlfriend these days. The damage caused by demons often lasts for a while. Besides, I don't want to do anything to your boyfriend, so don't secretly point your weapon at me."

Obviously, the second half of the sentence was directed at Jinx in Enoch's arms. She had secretly taken out her electromagnetic pistol from Enoch's waist and pointed it at Vayne's head.

"When did you wake up? I didn't even notice."

"When you caught the thing that woman threw to you, stupid..." Jinx, who was discovered, no longer concealed her feelings and hugged Enoch in his arms. She was not in a very good mood.

"I won't disturb your intimacy. Goodbye."

Without bothering to say goodbye to Vayne who was leaving, Enoch lifted up Jinx's little face and quietly looked at the girl's expression.

Like a kitten hiding in a cardboard box on the roadside on a rainy day, Jinx showed a weak expression that Enoch had never seen before.

In the past, girls always looked confident, and even when they made mistakes, they would have an expression that said, "Whatever you say, I'm not listening."

Turning her face away from Enoch's outstretched hand, Jinx lay in Enoch's arms again, smelling the faint scent of chamomile.

Jinx knew that it was because she was always held by the boy. Littlefinger actually didn't like the smell of incense on him.

"I thought I had forgotten. I thought I could accept it all." Jinx murmured.

"Everything is fine." Enoch was not in a hurry to urge his horse. He just carried Jinx and slowly rushed towards the team. "Everything will be fine."

"No, you don't know anything," Jinx retorted weakly. She was really too tired and too hard-working.

"You know what, little lunatic?" Enoch pulled out a blanket and covered Jinx with it. "I once heard such a story, but I don't remember the details."

It is said that there is a circle that is missing a triangle, so it can only turn around in the world with difficulty, looking for the triangle that belongs to it, but because of the gap, it can only move forward stumblingly, until one day, it finds the piece that suits it, so it spins and runs quickly, like any perfect circle.

"Do you want to be my triangle? Little Finger?" Jinx said sullenly.

"No, the story is not over yet." Enoch touched the girl's hair. "Because it stumbled along the way, this circle was stronger than the other circles. One day, when it found its own triangle, it also spun faster than the other circles. Finally, one day, the rapidly spinning circle couldn't stop and fell off the cliff."

Jinx looked up curiously and looked at Enoch in surprise, unable to understand why there was such a strange ending.

There are many interpretations of this story, some say you should rely on yourself, some say you should stay humble;

But I haven’t actually thought about it that much. I just simply feel that maybe everyone in this world is imperfect, and there is always a part of us that is not so satisfactory. In this case, instead of being perfect in the eyes of others, it is better to learn to reconcile with ourselves.

You have to learn to accept your imperfections and embrace your flaws, which will make us stronger.

Enoch lowered his head and gently pressed against Jinx's forehead, feeling the girl's slightly trembling body.

There are cracks in everything, that's where the light comes in6

PS:

Thanks to the Chaos Four Peddlers for the blade reward

Thanks for the monthly ticket to the source

Chapter 52 Setting Sail Again (Part 1)

"I heard that your journey was not very smooth?"