Chapter 136: Out of the Blue

Chapter 136: Out of the Blue

160 Böklund Street, Dwayne Dantès’s mansion.

After returning by detour through Teleportation, Klein did not delay. He immediately set up an altar, held a ritual, and prayed to Death:

“You are the essence of death;

“You are the lord of the deceased;

“You are the final destination of all living beings.

“I pray for Your help. I pray to know how to resolve the problem of the Red Angel evil spirit. He has possessed a Gatekeeper, cooperated with Haiter, the high priest of the Numinous Episcopate, come to Backlund, and become Patrick Bryan’s assistant…”

In this matter, Klein truly had no solution. He could only ask the Evernight Goddess for help.

Putting aside whether he could find the leader of the ascetics, Arianna, cooperate with her, and whether they had the ability or opportunity to kill Sauron Einhorn Medici, even if they could, the moment the Red Angel evil spirit vanished, the high priest of the Numinous Episcopate’s Artificial Death faction would immediately understand that something serious had happened on this side. From there, He would connect it to other abnormalities, judge that something was wrong with Artificial Death’s condition, and then use His own level, His possible sealed artifacts, and His familiarity with His pathway to carry out some destructive action from which no one would benefit.

But if the Red Angel was simply left alone, this evil spirit born from the Conspirer pathway would not need long to notice that something was abnormal with Patrick Bryan. With the knowledge and intelligence He possessed, it would not be difficult for Him to guess the essence of the problem.

“No matter how this is handled, it’s a mistake. As expected of an angel in the domain of war—even reduced to a three-in-one spirit body, He can still leave others unable to find a way out of the dilemma He creates. This must have been the idea He gave Haiter…

“Actually, there is one extreme approach: have this Red Angel evil spirit get eliminated by the other Churches, official forces, or secret organizations because of some other matter. In short, anything related to the Goddess absolutely cannot appear. The situation must be clear, clean, and aboveboard…

“The difficult part of this plan is how to make a high-ranking existence of the domain of conspiracies jump into the trap… If it is not handled well, the fire will burn back onto me…” After finishing his prayer, Klein let his thoughts scatter while patiently waiting for feedback from the Evernight Goddess.

After more than ten seconds, the ashes of the herbs used to please the deity were swept up by an invisible wind. They flew out of the cauldron and landed on the table, forming one word after another:

“He has come here, and the earth shall rise in arms.”

What does that mean? Klein looked at the sentence that seemed strangely familiar and slowly furrowed his brows.

As a Seer, he instinctively began interpreting it.

Because of the King’s problem, Loen was already steeped in the shadow of war, and thus the Red Angel, who symbolized war, had come.

This signified that war might already be impossible to prevent.

At Sequence 1, one’s very existence would become a kind of symbol.

As Klein’s thoughts raced, the invisible wind stopped. The interior of the altar, isolated by the wall of spirituality, became extremely quiet.

No other revelation? Klein waited for a while and confirmed that this really was all. Only then did he end the ritual and put away the altar.

He then walked to the sofa area in the room and sat down, waiting to see whether anything else would happen.

Yet after a full quarter of an hour, he still did not see Arianna, the head of the Evernight Cloister and the secret angel ranked first among the thirteen archbishops.

There’s no need to handle the Red Angel evil spirit? Just leave it there? Or perhaps there’s another method, but I don’t need to get involved? At his core, Klein was not a devout believer of Evernight. Since the Goddess said there was no need to bother with it, he naturally couldn’t be bothered either. After all, for him, this matter was not only extremely troublesome, but also extraordinarily dangerous.

Shaking his head, Klein took paper and pen from his pocket and began a dream divination.

What had happened tonight made him instinctively feel that not a moment could be wasted. He had to digest the Bizarro Sorcerer potion as quickly as possible.

…

On the Sonia Sea, within a steam-and-sail hybrid merchant ship very close to a pirate vessel.

One man after another, along with older women, were pushed toward the edge of the deck with their hands bound behind their backs. Then, using either hands or feet, the pirates sent them falling into the sea.

Splash after splash rang out, but the pirates were utterly unaffected. Laughing and jeering, they completed this bloodless slaughter.

After clearing out the predetermined prisoners, they held guns and lanterns and crowded beside the rail, preparing to enjoy the sight of the poor wretches struggling.

But under the lantern light, the deep-blue sea beside the ship rose and fell quietly. Not a single human figure could be seen.

“They sank that fast?” one pirate blurted out in surprise.

The leader of the pirate crew frowned and watched for some time before saying, “Maybe some sea monster passed by and took those fools who dared resist as food bestowed by the gods.

“Just as well. Since it has been fed, it won’t attack us…”

At this point, the leader waved his hand.

“Everyone, enjoy yourselves!”

As a fairly experienced pirate, he knew there were many bizarre things upon the sea. When facing them, it was best not to investigate their causes or try to understand the truth. Since it had not harmed him or his companions, he might as well thank the Lord of Storms for His protection and pretend nothing had happened.

After arranging the men on watch, the pirates began drinking in great mouthfuls, eating meat in large chunks, and singing at the tops of their lungs. Some even drew blades and dueled over the right to claim young female captives.

In that lively, clamorous atmosphere, the pirate leader took a pretty passenger he had long since had his eye on and entered the room that had originally belonged to the captain, impatiently beginning the final part of the night’s revelry.

At midnight, the exhausted pirate leader, asleep, stretched out his right hand and touched something cold and utterly without warmth.

He woke with a start. By the crimson moonlight shining through the window, he saw that what he was holding in his arms was a rough-surfaced block of wood.

One branch after another, bearing green leaves, had grown from the wood. Like human arms and legs, they were hugging the pirate leader in return.

Smack!

The pirate leader’s pupils rapidly dilated. He shoved the wood away, jumped out of bed, and stumbled backward.

Was I just with that thing? His mind was filled with terrified thoughts. Without bothering to put his clothes on properly, he grabbed his gun and cutlass and rushed straight out of the room.

Outside the door, a pirate on watch stood guard.

“Cap’n, wha’ happ’ned…” Seeing the leader open the door and come out, the pirate hurriedly asked.

The pirate leader had originally intended to scold him for secretly drinking until his speech became slurred. But when he looked over, he saw that the man’s mouth, inside and around it, had sprouted one golden grain of wheat after another. Even the surface of his tongue was densely covered in them.

The pirate leader’s scalp instantly tightened. A numbing sensation raced downward, mingling with cold and shooting straight to his tailbone.

At that moment, the door to the room opposite also opened. A pirate ran out, his voice thick with tears.

“This is bad! Boss, I-I’ve got so many mushrooms growing down there!”

As he spoke, he came rushing out.

At the same time, he felt his eyes itch, so he raised his hand and rubbed his right eye.

As he rubbed, a green vine slowly grew out of the gap between his eye socket and eyeball. At its tip was a dark-red grape.

Around the grape, the flesh was a bloody blur.

“…” The pirate leader stared until his whole body nearly stiffened. In a voice that did not sound like his own, he asked, “What… did you all… encounter…”

The pirate, still rubbing his eye and not realizing anything was wrong, replied without needing to think, “Some shadow like a long stick hit me!”

“Me… too…” the pirate whose tongue was covered in golden wheat grains echoed in response.

He was blocked by the leader and could not see the horrifying appearance of his companion.

The pirate leader’s legs began shaking uncontrollably. By instinct, he wanted to turn around and sprint out of the cabin.

At that moment, however, he saw a long, stick-like shadow rush over from the side wall and strike him.

The shadow vanished in a flash and was soon gone, as though it had only been an unreal nightmare.

Only a beat later did the pirate leader instinctively raise his hand, trying to block it. Naturally, this had no effect whatsoever.

Then, terrified and flustered, he examined his own condition, but found nothing abnormal.

“Thank goodness, thank goodness…” The pirate leader couldn’t help but exhale.

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly heard a slightly muffled voice.

“Thank goodness, thank goodness…”

The voice seemed to come from inside his body!

The pirate leader’s pupils widened to their limit. His hands, no longer under his control, lifted his clothes.

He then saw three cracks split open between his chest and abdomen: one large and two small.

Inside the large one, two neat rows of white teeth sat in order. At the centers of the two smaller cracks were two nimble, rolling eyeballs.

It was a mouth and two eyes!

A mouth and two eyes had appeared between the pirate leader’s chest and abdomen!

“No!”

A scream exploded aboard the ship, carrying an indescribable terror so intense it had reached its absolute peak.

During the next quarter of an hour, some pirates went mad and hacked at their companions. Some successfully escaped back to their own ship, only to discover that the people aboard had also become deformed, whereupon they jumped into the sea in despair.

When everything finally calmed down, only a dozen or so relatively normal pirates remained, collapsed weakly on the deck or hiding inside rooms, the stench around them unbearable.

After another while, one passenger after another emerged from the cabins, not a single one missing.

They looked at the scene before them in disbelief. Some began thanking the gods, while others stood frozen in confusion and bewilderment.

…

At daybreak, Klein turned over and got out of bed to wash up.

He had just finished changing with the help of his personal valet Enyuni when Butler Walter, who had returned from leave, arrived at the doorway.

“Sir, Bishop Elektra has come to visit.”

“…Have him wait for me in the sitting room where cigars may be enjoyed.” Klein paused for a moment before speaking.

He suspected that this was the Goddess’s belated response.

Walter immediately turned around and went downstairs to make arrangements. Before long, he returned.

“Sir, Bishop Elektra has already taken his leave. He asked me to tell you that you must go to Saint Samuel Cathedral this morning. He said the Church and the government will jointly hold an air-defense exercise.”

“An air-defense exercise?” Klein’s brows slowly knitted together.

Just then, his spirituality was suddenly touched. He abruptly turned around and looked out the window.

In the sky, where the layers of clouds were not especially thin, one airship after another painted dark brown was densely approaching.

Upon those airships were red, white, and yellow diagonal stripes—the national flag of Feysac!

At the sight, Klein suddenly understood what he had previously overlooked.

The war did not necessarily have to be launched by the Loen Kingdom!

If an ancient and secret organization truly wished to influence the global situation, then it inevitably had high-ranking members in other countries as well!