Free Web NovelChapter 154: Chapter 154 Taming Mercury_1
The liquid metal gathered again into a flat sphere, issuing a low, metallic whisper that was incomprehensible.
Even the Magic_bullet was of no use, and even divine words could not affect it... There was a moment when Aiden felt he was going to die here.
However, what happened next was that the mercury sphere did not attack Aiden, who had been cornered, but instead it undulated violently a few times before spitting out a cherry-sized object. The object shot out and hit the bars of the cell, bounced a few times on the ground, and finally rolled to a stop by Aiden’s feet.
Then, the mercury sphere completely ignored Aiden and slowly crept towards the other cell.
Aiden realized that this thing no longer seemed to have any intention of attacking him—it didn’t even bother with him.
He hesitated for a moment, then bent down to pick up the object that the mercury sphere had spat out.
It was a glass sphere... or perhaps made of crystal, sealed inside was a strand of hair, and on the surface of the sphere, there were some extremely fine, hard-to-discern runes etched with exquisite craftsmanship.
Could this be... the core of a golem?
Aiden still remembered Rebecca telling him that the golems created by Vila were driven by hair and curse scripts to sense and recognize their targets. And this glass sphere must be the core of the enchantments that drove the golem, as the metal in its liquid form couldn’t be inscribed with runes; instead, this tiny core was used as a substitute.
But now the golem had voluntarily discarded this core, probably due to the divine words Aiden had uttered just before.
The divine words were effective, at least in deactivating the core that controlled the golem’s movements, so the golem no longer saw Aiden as a target and spat out the core as a foreign object.
The problem was that the golem, now without its core, could still move.
Just as Aiden puzzled over this issue, he saw the mercury lump slowly attach itself to the cell bars, followed by a crunching sound, akin to chewing.
Aiden was stunned—this thing was gnawing on the bars.
It was eating!
Asenna had just mentioned that there were two methods to animate mercury like this: one was to create a golem using the most delicate Alchemy, and if that was the case, Aiden’s divine words should have reverted it completely back to its original form. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
The runes on the glass sphere were likely only to control its logic for action, like installed software.
And the other method, which involved imbuing the metal with life through means beyond dark magic, was probably the fundamental reason for the hardware, the mercury itself, to move.
Thinking this, Aiden had some idea of what was going on and began to think about running an experiment.
He took out his service pistol and removed a Magic_bullet from it, tossing it towards the mercury lump.
The moment the Magic_bullet made contact with the mercury sphere, it was instantly swallowed up, accompanied by a crisp chewing sound.
Afterward, the mercury sphere spat something out, and Aiden took a closer look—it was the bullet’s Anti-Magic Stone head and some gunpowder.
It had only consumed the metal part of the bullet, and the Anti-Magic Stone had no effect after entering it.
At that moment, Aiden was certain.
This mercury golem was the creation of divine words. So, both the Magic_bullet and the divine word "return" were ineffective in reverting it to a pure material state.
According to Daili, Vila was not supposed to be versed in divine words. It was likely that one of the three witches who mastered the divine words had actually made the golem and given life to this body of mercury, while Vila created a core that could manipulate it.
Could it be... Abigail? If this was the work of an opponent of saintly rank utilizing divine words, then at his level, it should not be possible to disperse it with divine words.
Was this the effect of the "material" authority in divine words? No, it felt more likely to be the "life" authority—of the three Great Witches, at least one possessed two or three sentences of "life" divine words.
While Aiden was rapidly contemplating, the mercury sphere suddenly detached from the bars it was adhering to and slowly moved towards him.
Aiden became aware of its movement and was slightly on guard.
But the mercury sphere only slithered around Aiden’s feet, emitting some incomprehensible sounds, without making any obvious aggressive moves.
After several seconds, a part of the mercury sphere extended and moved towards the gun in Aiden’s hand.
Aiden finally understood the creature’s intent; it seemed to be begging for food.
He glanced at the railing gnawed by the mercury sphere. A small notch appeared on it, but it wasn’t too noticeable. Compared to the large metal structures secured in place, the mercury sphere appeared to prefer smaller metal objects, probably because of the bullets Aiden had fed it earlier, which had piqued its appetite.
Could this creature specialize in consuming metal...?
After pondering for a moment, Aiden stepped back and put away his gun.
The surface of the mercury sphere rippled quickly, and it let out a low growl, seemingly displeased with Aiden’s actions.
Aiden calmly took out a few coins from his pocket and held them up between his fingers.
The mercury sphere ceased its growling, bounced twice, and emitted a sound akin to a triangle being struck, appearing quite lively.
It was clear that it preferred these coins even more.
Aiden tossed a few copper coins to it, which were promptly swallowed by the mercury, and the sound of chewing resonated abruptly.
While it was feeding, Aiden tried to walk around it to the other side and took a few steps towards the gate.
The mercury sphere noticed his movement and slithered after him.
It seemed to consider itself a caretaker, its behavior indeed similar to that of animals - not the type to hunt wild animals directly, but rather reminiscent of tamed stray dogs or cats.
Was it because of being raised by witches...?
A sudden thought flashed through Aiden’s mind—this thing, maybe it could be tamed!
At that moment, noisy footsteps came from behind Aiden, and Veronica led the core area’s riot control officers rushing over.
"Commander, are you alright!?" Veronica called out with concern.
Upon seeing the mercury sphere before Aiden, all the riot control officers were taken aback.
"Stay alert!" Veronica shouted.
All the officers drew their weapons, forming a horizontal firing line.
The mercury sphere sensed their movement and instantly growled, transforming into an urchin shape, akin to an angered cat fluffing up its fur.
"Nobody move, put away your guns! Back off, move back!" Aiden stopped them in time.
Veronica was initially startled but did not ask questions and obeyed the command, quickly putting away her gun and gesturing for the other officers to do the same.
The riot squad backed away, but the mercury sphere was still tense.
Aiden thought for a moment and then showed the silver coin he had been holding.
The mercury sphere paused for an instant, then suddenly retracted its spikes, making a pleasant jingling sound, and scurried toward Aiden’s feet.
Seeing this, Aiden couldn’t help but chuckle—this guy, it even had a particular fondness for the expensive stuff!?
