Chapter 182: Racing Against Time

Chapter 182: Racing Against Time

Mermaids?

Joy rose within Klein’s heart, bringing with it an excitement he had not felt for a long time.

After leaving Backlund for nearly four months and experiencing many things, he had finally reached the destination of this “journey” and fulfilled the final condition needed to advance to Sequence 5, Marionettist!

The impatience and agitation produced by waiting had already been growing continuously in his heart ever since he entered this sea. The various seemingly absurd and laughable, yet upon reflection exceptionally terrifying things that had happened aboard the Future, as well as the dangers and unknowns hidden respectively within the three states of night, noon, and dream inside this divine-war ruin, had kept his nerves tense the entire time. He had endured every hour and every minute in torment.

Now, those emotions and that pressure finally had a chance to be vented and released!

Phew… Klein slowly exhaled and returned directly to the cabin, entering his own room.

Without panic or loss of composure, he followed the predetermined process, taking out Azik’s copper whistle and Will Auceptin’s paper crane to interfere with any possible observation from the Queen of Mysteries.

After taking the remnant spirituality of an ancient wraith, the eye of a six-winged gargoyle, the bark of a dragon-patterned tree, and the metal bottle containing water from the golden spring of Sunya out of his suitcase and laying them on the desk, he entered the washroom, locked the door, and skillfully arranged the ritual for requesting bestowal.

Once that ritual was ready, he did not hurry to respond above the gray fog. Instead, he arranged another ritual as well—a ritual to summon himself!

Taking four steps counterclockwise and softly reciting the incantation, Klein arrived above the gray fog. He responded to the summoning ritual and, through it, entered the real world in spirit-body form, bringing the Fire Seed glove back to that mysterious space.

After completing the preparatory work, Klein did not relax. He arrived at The Fool’s seat, conjured paper and pen, and quickly wrote a divination statement:

“The ones singing ahead are mermaids.”

Removing the yellow crystal pendant, he used divination to confirm the situation:

The ones singing ahead of the Future were indeed mermaids!

After calming himself slightly, Klein beckoned, causing the iron cigar case to fly out from the junk pile and land on the mottled, ancient bronze long table.

With a snap, he opened the lid and saw the All-Black Eye, which had no pupils, still lying quietly inside. Extreme madness and danger could faintly be felt from it, yet it seemed to be sleeping.

After silently staring at it for two seconds, Klein picked up the Fire Seed glove and slowly put it onto his right palm.

Once all this was done, Klein hesitated no longer. He stretched his right palm forward and spread his five fingers.

In the scene before his eyes, all kinds of clusters of light abruptly surfaced. Gray-white, copper-green, deep red, and heavy black formed the basic tones of this mysterious space.

And within the All-Black Eye, steaming, clawing iron-black radiance was wrapped around all the remaining colors.

There was no need to rely on his spiritual intuition. Based purely on his understanding of the matter, Klein could clearly recognize that the iron-black light represented the True Creator’s mental corruption!

Highly guarded, he closed his five fingers, grabbed his target, then twisted his wrist.

That iron-black radiance was abruptly extracted and merged into the Fire Seed glove. At once, Klein heard illusory, evil, terrifying, familiar-yet-indescribable roars beside his ears.

They destroyed his thoughts, ground down his spirit, and brought a pain as though his head were about to burst apart. But very quickly, the power of the gray fog suppressed them, and all became completely calm.

Klein had no spare capacity to think. Following the predetermined plan and movements he had practiced many times, he grabbed the Fire Seed glove with his left hand, stripped it off, and threw it onto the stone floor of the grand palace.

Immediately afterward, somewhat numb, Klein grabbed the now-problem-free All-Black Eye and swiftly responded to the ritual for requesting bestowal, passing this Marionettist Beyonder characteristic through an illusory gate to the altar inside the washroom.

He did not dare delay at all. He merely glanced at the Fire Seed glove, now stained iron-black, its five fingers twisted, its palm torn open, filled with an evil strangeness, before wrapping himself in spirituality, simulating the sensation of falling rapidly, and returning to the real world.

If Creeping Hunger had witnessed the Fire Seed glove’s entire experience and ending, I wonder what it would think… As Klein opened his eyes, grabbed the All-Black Eye from the altar, and rushed toward the outer room, this thought spontaneously appeared in his mind.

Stopping before the desk, Klein took from the side the steel milk pot that had originally belonged to the Future’s kitchen, then poured eighty milliliters of the golden spring water of Sunya into it.

The pale-golden liquid slowly rippled, clear and transparent. It made one subconsciously feel one’s mouth go dry, wanting to drink a refreshing mouthful to quench thirst.

One by one, Klein placed the dragon-patterned tree bark, the eye of the six-winged gargoyle, and the remnant spirituality of the ancient wraith into the pot, stirring up different reactions. In the end, the potion base turned dark gold, but looked light and airy, as though it had no weight at all.

At this crucial point, Klein instead became exceptionally calm. He steadily picked up the pupil-less black eye and submerged it in the base.

He could already confirm that the True Creator’s mental corruption could not pierce the gray fog and return to the All-Black Eye!

And that was something foreseeable.

The All-Black Eye was instantly submerged by the dark-golden liquid. One bubble after another immediately rose to the surface.

Every time a bubble burst, the potion became a little blacker. After ten-odd seconds, all changes came to an end.

Inside the milk pot, the potion had formed. It was entirely black, and within it there seemed to be countless tiny worms, difficult to see with the naked eye, swimming rapidly.

Klein took out a gold coin and swiftly made a confirmation through divination.

After receiving the revelation of success, he exhaled and poured the Marionettist potion into the metal bottle he had prepared ahead of time, then tucked it into his pocket.

He did not rush, nor did he panic. Following the predetermined process, he quickly dismantled the altar in the washroom and retrieved Azik’s copper whistle and Will Auceptin’s paper crane.

Only then did he leave the cabin with slightly hurried steps and arrive on deck.

At that moment, the symbolic signs, magical marks, and mysterious patterns across the Future had already lit up in distinct layers. They formed a brilliant sea of stars, weakening the mermaids’ song to the greatest possible extent.

—It was rumored that a mermaid’s song could make humans lose reason and become frenzied, causing them to jump off their ships and become the mermaids’ food.

Klein instinctively looked up toward the window corresponding to the captain’s cabin.

Admiral of Stars stood there, surrounded by specks of starlight. The gaze she returned was rather complicated.

Is she remembering what she said and the attitude she showed in the dream? Klein lampooned silently. With an indifferent expression, he said, “I need a small boat.”

“It is already prepared.” Cattleya pointed toward the ship’s side, not surprised.

When Gehrman Sparrow hired the Future, he had already mentioned that his purpose was to search for mermaids!

Before long, Klein left the Future and the protection of that radiant sea of stars. He stepped onto the small boat and placed himself upon the ocean.

Ethereal singing drifted over, seeming to drill directly into his spirit body. It made his entire body tingle and filled him with an urge to hear more.

For Klein, that intensity was still far from enough. His spiritual intuition told him that he had to get a little closer, making the singing clearer, before it could satisfy the ritual’s requirement.

“Storm!”

Klein took out a charm made of white tin, summoned a controllable gust of wind, and used it to push the boat forward.

After an unknown length of time, the mermaids’ song suddenly grew louder, clear as if they were chanting softly right beside Klein’s ear. Every note struck his spirit body, and every melody intoxicated him, filling him with yearning.

Klein fell into a trance for a moment and nearly jumped into the sea, swimming toward the source of that beautiful song.

He controlled himself with difficulty and discovered many reefs not far ahead. One figure after another sat at their edges, singing softly and slowly.

These creatures had human heads, their brows and eyes pure yet tinged with beauty. Their chests rose high, but were covered in dark-red scales. Their lower bodies were enormous fish tails that rhythmically slapped against the reefs.

Different mermaids had different appearances and different colors of tail scales, giving humans a strange sense of beauty.

Klein released control over the boat and raised his right hand, about to reach into his pocket and take out the potion.

Just then, the mermaids sensed his approach and turned to look over one after another.

Then these creatures, also known as sirens, stopped singing in panic and leaped into the water with splashes.

Don’t go… Klein’s right hand weakly grasped at the air twice.

Weren’t you supposed to use your singing to lure humans in as food? Why are you running away when a human comes? I’m not some bad person. I just came to listen to a song… At that moment, Klein’s heart was filled with an emotion that could only be described as what the hell.

Very quickly, he discovered that the mermaids’ singing had not completely stopped. Farther away from these reefs, several mermaids had their backs to this side. Against the backdrop of wind and waves, they had not noticed their companions fleeing and were still boldly singing.

Klein’s spirits lifted. After brief consideration, he took out another charm.

This was a charm from the Sea God’s domain that made underwater creatures feel close to the user!

“Storm!”

Amid the incantation, cyan-blue flames wrapped around the thin white-tin sheet, causing it to vanish from the real world.

Seeing that the remaining “mermaids,” although aware of him, no longer fearfully fled, Klein immediately took out the metal bottle containing the Marionettist potion and unscrewed the lid.

Seize the time, in case something unexpected happens!

Gulp. The slightly bitter potion, carrying a sense of staleness, flowed into Klein’s mouth, down his esophagus, and straight into his stomach.

All at once, Klein discovered that he had become exceptionally stiff, as though he had returned to Tingen—returned to that state when he had been controlled by the strange puppet, Sealed Artifact 2-049.

He tried to move his joints, but they seemed filled with molten lead.

At the same time, he felt one tiny worm after another burrow into every cell of his body and into his spirit body.

His thoughts began to slow. The ability in his mind to reflect his own state gradually failed as well.

The mermaids’ song came melodiously, stirring that desire and accumulating frenzy and obsession. It allowed Klein to preserve his final emotions, and through that temptation he slowly broke free from the stiff, sluggish state.

Pale gray-white fog swiftly surfaced before his eyes. Beside his ears rang an illusory “Hornacis… Flegrea… Hornacis… Flegrea…” Compared with when he advanced to Seer, Clown, and Magician, the whispering had clearly become intermittent, as though something was interfering with it and excluding it.

Unlike when I became a Faceless, the whispering is obviously much stronger now. It can intermittently break through the barrier formed by the mingling of the gray fog and reality… My ability to think has recovered! Joy rose in Klein’s heart, and he tried raising his arm.

The stiffness in his joints remained, but it was growing weaker and weaker!

At the same time, Klein “saw” what he currently looked like:

His skin was yellow-brown, like an old doll that had been wrapped in aged bandages and buried alive for many years.

Fleshy buds hid beneath his skin, wriggling, separating, and merging.

Klein immediately outlined countless spheres of light in his mind, using meditation to calm that state.

Throughout the process, the mermaids’ song continued echoing beside his ears, causing his joints and muscles to twitch as the stiffness slowly faded away.

After an unknown length of time, Klein opened his eyes. His body had completely returned to normal.

He inhaled and silently sighed.

“Finally…

“Finally Sequence 5!

“Finally a Marionettist!”