Chapter 164: Channeling a “Spirit”

Chapter 164: Channeling a “Spirit”

For one instant, the cold night turned abnormally scorching, as though invisible magma surged within it.

But everything swiftly returned to normal.

The Red Angel evil spirit looked Klein up and down several times, then laughed as though nothing had happened.

“I’ll say it again. You have quite the talent for being a Provoker.

“When Zaratul was digesting the Bizarro Sorcerer potion back then, even He didn’t dare pretend to be Amon in front of me.”

His tone did not contain the slightest anger, nor did he say why Zaratul had not dared. Yet with just that sweep of his gaze, Klein felt as though he had been plunged deep into a glacier, chilled from head to toe.

This was what his main body felt. Even through a marionette, the hair on the back of his neck and along his spine still stood on end.

Without Sauron Einhorn Medici needing to say another word, Klein already understood the meaning hidden within His statement:

Anyone who dared frighten Him this way would endure the punishment of iron and blood on the spot!

Looking at the Red Angel evil spirit before him, whose aura was restrained yet carried a feeling of extremely high status, Klein could not help muttering inwardly:

If the Bizarro Sorcerer potion hadn’t just digested by quite a large amount, I really would have thought Your will was like steel and that Your strength had recovered to at least Sequence 1. But now, I can basically confirm that hidden beneath that composed performance is an intense fear of Amon. That also proves that Your current status is at most Sequence 2…

Besides, I was already mentally prepared to lose one marionette. To digest my potion as quickly as possible, this is a risk I had to take…

If Danitz were here and seized the chance to shout “coward” a couple of times, even after drinking four or five bottles of Provoker potion, he’d digest it quickly…

Klein did not continue provoking the Red Angel evil spirit. He smiled, removed the monocle, and said, “During the Solomon Empire, Zaratul should already have been an angel. How could He still be digesting the Bizarro Sorcerer potion?”

“I meant the younger Zaratul,” Sauron Einhorn Medici casually replied.

That matches the description given by the old grandpa inside Leonard… Klein nodded almost imperceptibly and shifted to the main topic.

“You’ve already dealt with White Witch?”

“What do you think?” The Red Angel evil spirit laughed. “Also, a person should have manners. Since Katarina calls herself the White Saint, don’t call her a witch anymore.”

Manners… A Hunter is emphasizing manners to me… At that instant, Klein very much wanted the corner of his mouth to twitch and display the absurdity in his heart, but in the end, he restrained himself.

It seems provocation is not limited to only mockery and insults. Hmm, Danitz, who can only manage a single curse when insulting others, is simply a disgrace to Hunters… As the thought passed, Klein spoke.

“I have already fulfilled my promise. I imagine you won’t mind giving me a small payment.”

“Payment?” The Red Angel evil spirit scoffed and asked in return.

Klein ignored His attitude and continued on his own. “I wish to spirit-channel White Witch and ask her about certain matters.”

“That is your request?” The Red Angel evil spirit asked, finding it amusing.

Klein nodded.

“Yes.”

“No problem.” Sauron Einhorn Medici raised His right hand and grasped toward the space between His own brows. From there, He dragged out a slightly blurry illusory figure. It was none other than White Saint Katarina, her expression blank, with terror still lingering upon it.

“Could we speak privately?” Klein asked, looking around.

The Red Angel evil spirit immediately laughed.

“Do you also need a separate room?

“Use your brain and think. Even if you hide what questions you ask, I can learn the details through Katarina’s spirit afterward. Unless, of course, you don’t plan on returning her to me? Or are you a little boy who needs a sense of ceremony?”

…Klein had his marionette answer expressionlessly, “I have a way to make her forget my questions.”

This was both truth and lie. The true part was that Klein could indeed use Hvin Rambis’s Manipulator Beyonder characteristic to accomplish this. It was merely quite difficult, with a high failure rate and considerable negative effects. The lie was that Klein had no intention of doing so at all. It would expose too many important matters. His sole purpose in saying this was to make the Red Angel evil spirit suspect that whatever was asked openly was not the true situation, to make Him believe that beneath the surface lay a crucial hidden part, thereby causing Him to overlook the value of the obvious questions. This worked wonders against someone highly suspicious.

Of course, Klein did not expect it to be guaranteed to succeed. After all, the one opposite him was the Red Angel, who commanded conspiracy.

“Not bad.” After hearing Klein’s answer, Sauron Einhorn Medici suddenly disappeared, reflected instead in that glass window.

Klein glanced at the blood that had already solidified into gray stone. Feeling somewhat regretful, he took the dazed, muddled White Witch Katarina away from anything made of glass and entered a shadowed alley.

He immediately took out candles, essential oils, and powdered herbs, setting up an altar and praying to the Evernight Goddess, hoping to complete the spirit channeling through ritual magic.

This was a skill he had mastered proficiently back when he had been a Nighthawk.

As the ritual was completed, an immense, terrifying, concealed power descended from an indescribable height, making the surroundings abnormally quiet.

Klein’s eyes instantly turned deep black, like condensed night.

Immediately afterward, he saw more around Katarina’s spirit. He saw a faintly glowing, hazy storm of the mind.

Passing easily through those obstacles, he directly faced White Witch’s mind body.

“Has the cooperation between the Demoness Sect and George III ended?” Klein did not grow careless. He began with a less sensitive question to observe Katarina’s state.

Some of the daze and bewilderment faded from Katarina’s face. She smiled purely and nodded.

“Yes.”

“Then why are you still in Backlund?” Klein asked further.

Katarina answered solemnly, “To pursue Trissy. She took away an important sealed artifact.”

“What sealed artifact is it?” Klein instantly recalled the unique sapphire-inlaid ring the witch Trissy had once worn on her hand.

With a devout expression, White Witch Katarina said, “It concerns the Primordial’s awakening. Aside from having a high enough status—a Grade 0 level—it has no special abilities of its own.”

As expected, it is related to the Primordial Demoness… You even changed Trissy’s name to Trissy Cheek… Klein did not reveal that he knew the Primordial Demoness’s true name. Instead, he changed the subject.

“Do you know where George III’s other eight mausoleums are?”

Katarina’s brows faintly knitted together, making her look pitiful.

“They are respectively in the southwestern outskirts of Backlund, Ahowa County, East Chester County…”

White Witch first briefly described the general areas of the eight mausoleums, then gave detailed introductions regarding their specific locations and conditions.

“The eight mausoleums have already been completely repaired. Their Teleportation passages have been temporarily closed. Even if one has the corresponding charms, they can no longer open them. And finding those places directly from the outside is almost impossible…

“Other than Prince Grove, Duchess Georgina, the two angels of the royal family, and George III himself, no one else can enter them anymore…”

Hmm. Some of them are places Qonas Kilgor often went hunting. That matches my conjecture, which means White Witch is not lying… Later I’ll confirm it above the gray fog…

If that really is the situation, then this is extremely troublesome… Under the current circumstances, whether it is Prince Grove or Duchess Georgina, they are certainly both within the angels’ sight…

The hardest part is how to enter the ruins. Once we can get inside, what follows actually won’t be as dangerous. War has already broken out. They need to fight the Feysacians, and the number of demigods is limited. George III cannot possibly have a saint guarding every ruin and still ask angels to provide support from the center… As thoughts flashed through Klein’s mind, he first threw out another question:

“The royal family has two angels?”

“More than that in reality, because George III himself is very likely one as well,” White Witch Katarina answered honestly. “One of those two angels is the founder of the Loen Kingdom, the Protector William I, who has survived since the Fourth Epoch. He is Sequence 1 of the Arbiter pathway, Hand of Order. The other is the former Duke of Southville, Dlink Augustus. He is Sequence 2 of the Arbiter pathway, Balancer… As for how many Grade 0 sealed artifacts the royal family possesses in total, I do not know.”

The “founder” printed on the ten-pound note is still alive? It feels like history has stepped into reality again… Klein ended that line of thought, nodded, and then asked, “Why did you cooperate with George III?”

“For a Conqueror Beyonder characteristic. It is now already in our hands.” Katarina’s expression became somewhat agitated.

Conqueror was the name of the Sequence 1 potion of the Red Priest pathway!

“And will it belong to the Primordial Demoness, or to the upper ranks of your sect?” Klein asked thoughtfully. “Who are the upper ranks of your sect?”

“It will be sacrificed to the Primordial. However, we must first recover the sealed artifact Trissy took. At present, it is being kept by the Black Saint… The upper ranks of our sect all use colors as codenames…” Katarina answered truthfully.

After learning more details, Klein ended the spirit channeling, dealt with the altar, and had White Witch’s spirit return to the glass window from before.

As for himself, his figure abruptly turned transparent. With Teleportation, he vanished from that area and rendezvoused with his main body and the other marionette.

After watching Gehrman Sparrow leave, the muddled bewilderment on Katarina’s face suddenly disappeared, and her expression became exceptionally lively.

She immediately entered the glass window, which had once more turned dim and dark.

A few seconds later, Sauron Einhorn Medici, wearing a black robe patterned with red, and White Witch Katarina walked out of the “mirror” together. The latter’s form was clear, full of flesh and blood, with not the slightest sign that she had already died!

“You’re saying he was asking about George III’s other eight secret mausoleums? And the power of the spirit channeling came from Evernight?” The Red Angel evil spirit stroked His chin and turned His head to ask Katarina.

White Witch nodded softly.

“Yes.”

“Heh.” The Red Angel evil spirit immediately laughed. “He doesn’t want George III to become the Black Emperor.”

Katarina’s eyes shifted, and a faint smile appeared.

“But that is something impossible to accomplish. Even if he improves quickly and can obtain no small amount of help, he cannot fight against the combined forces of the royal family, the military, and that organization. No, even the Augustus family alone is beyond what someone of his level and strength can shake—unless Evernight personally intervenes.”

At this point, the White Witch asked in a seemingly casual manner, “I’m rather surprised. After occupying an absolute advantage, why did You not directly kill me?”

The Red Angel evil spirit glanced at her, the corners of His mouth slowly lifting.

“Do you think you are qualified to become my true target?”