[Painting Monster: A special magic created by a Great Magician. This kind of magic uses paintings as spells, blending magic power into the artwork. It is said that it can be preserved for a thousand years without the magic fading. Painting Monsters mainly feed on light. If they lose light for too long, they will lose their vitality. But once light appears around them, they instantly regain their vitality.]
[PS: Some people do the opposite and design Painting Monsters to attack wherever a light source appears, using them to protect certain treasures or guard certain places.]
Whoosh!
'So that's how it is.'
Ethan finally understood how this kind of Painting Monster worked.
Naturally, that made it much easier to deal with. He shot out another splitting arrow and nailed the Painting Monsters that were preparing to attack straight onto the ground.
"These things are monsters that specifically attack light sources."
Ethan thought for a moment, then started rummaging through his tail ring again and said, "But since we know it's a special kind of curse, that makes it easy to handle."
After saying that, he took out a strange item from his tail ring.
It was one of the special items he had deliberately kept from the tail rings stripped off the two fallen witches.
[Obedience Talisman: Can be used on non-living entities. Cannot be used on creatures with self-awareness.]
[PS: Extremely effective against curses.]
Just as expected. Before this, Ethan hadn't taken a close look at the Obedience Talisman.
But considering that the witch herself was an expert at curse-type magic, and most of the items on her were used to deal with curses, Ethan had guessed that the Obedience Talisman was probably meant for handling cursed objects.
Using this thing against wall paintings couldn't be more perfect.
He took out an Obedience Talisman, and the moment the mermaid oil lamp dimmed again, right at the instant between light and darkness, when the red exclamation mark appeared, he quickly slapped the talisman onto the mural on the cave wall.
[System Notification: Obedience Talisman used successfully. Please enter command.]
"Oh, that's pretty convenient."
Ethan didn't know what effect it would have if the witch used it, but he found it quite handy when he used it himself.
Then Ethan directly said, "Make the Painting Monsters erase themselves automatically."
[Command entered successfully.]
Right after that, Ethan saw that nothing happened for quite a while.
Only then did he hurriedly stick a torch onto the scarecrow's body. Then he hid to the side, raised his hand, formed a massive fireball, and blasted it toward the torch on the scarecrow.
This Great Fireball Technique was very effective for fighting monsters, but for lighting a fire, it was definitely even more useful than a lighter.
And it could light things from a distance.
'Safe!'
BOOM!
The moment the massive fireball touched the torch, flames roared up once again.
After a short while, the scarecrow finally realized what was going on and shouted in shock, ["When did I get a torch stuck on me? Ethan, was it you, you bastard?"]
"Who are you calling a bastard? Have some manners!"
Ethan shot back at it.
Then he looked around. Sure enough, the murals on the surrounding cave walls had all vanished in a strange way. There was no more danger.
Only then did he pull off the hood of his invisibility cloak, walk over to the scarecrow, and yank the torch out of its body.
Seeing this, the scarecrow grew even angrier and said, ["Was it too much for me to call you a bastard?"]
["You're always using me for experiments. You think I don't know why you stuck that torch on me and lit it? You were just afraid those murals would suddenly attack you!"]
["But I'm still a person, even if I'm a scarecrow person. Don't you think using a person for experiments is a bit too much!"]
"Not at all."
Ethan shrugged, completely ignoring the scarecrow cursing behind him nonstop.
He just held up the torch and continued walking deeper into the cave.
["Ethan, I'm telling you, if you do this again!"]
["I swear I won't go anywhere with you ever again!"]
["You're the kind of scum who only exploits employees, a vampire, a locust…"]
Ethan originally didn't want to respond to the scarecrow, but he realized this guy didn't know if he'd been holding it in too long or what.
Once he started complaining, he just wouldn't stop.
It made it impossible to focus on work.
"Big idiot!", Ethan took a deep breath and said, "If you don't shut up, when we get back I'll have Ivankov make you a body."
["Uh…"]
The scarecrow immediately went silent.
After a while, it cautiously and gently said, ["Lord, I was wrong! Can you please not let Ivankov make me a body?"]
["If you just arrange a cute attendant girl for me instead, I promise I'll behave. Whatever you say goes."]
["If you tell me to die right now, I'll do it willingly!"]
"..."
———
Treasure Land, outside—
After the stone man opened the door to let Ethan in, it was about to close the door again.
But for some reason…
'The door got stuck?'
"What's going on?", The stone man looked confused, "Why is it stuck?"
Clack! Clack!
The stone man tried closing the door again.
Because when it opened up, its face was on the door itself, it couldn't turn its head back to see what was happening inside its cracked body.
It just felt like something was stuck inside its body.
This feeling… reminded the stone man of many years ago, when it was still human and not a door.
When it was using the toilet and the poop was halfway out, with the other half stuck in its butt.
The feeling was almost exactly the same as now.
Just really uncomfortable.
And it couldn't clamp off the lump stuck inside its body, which made it feel even more awkward.
"Could that brat be messing around again?"
The moment that thought came up, the stone man felt more and more certain it was possible.
That kid was sly as hell. There was absolutely a hundred percent chance this was his doing.
'When he comes out, see if I don't beat him to death!'
But… the stone man's face turned a dull gray as it muttered, "Inside this Treasure Land, it's all a bunch of things that can't be killed."
"If that kid ends up dying in there, then this door of mine…"
"Wouldn't it never be able to close again?"
The moment the stone man imagined that for hundreds or even thousands of years to come, it might have to endure this half-stuck poop feeling, it nearly broke down.
"No!"
The stone man's expression changed again and again, from gray limestone to granite, before it finally came up with a good idea and said, "I have to send a message to that kid!"
After saying that, the stone man began chanting a long string of spells.
Soon, a paper crane folded from a leaf appeared in its hand. It spoke to the crane, ["Go tell the kid inside who's carrying a scarecrow and a cat! I can save him once, but he must agree to become my substitute and guard the treasure gate for me until someone breaks this Treasure Land."]
The paper crane was clearly just folded from a leaf, yet it seemed to have intelligence. It nodded at the stone man.
Then it flapped its leaf-made wings and flew into the stone man's cracked body.
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