Chapter 188: Mr. Door

Chapter 188: Mr. Door

As Trissy recited, the gemstones around her emitted cracking sounds one after another. They shattered into powder and floated upward.

They flickered with faint glimmers of red, blue, green, and dazzling light, swiftly converging into a torrent and pouring toward the candle flames on the altar.

At the same time, the hair that had burned away inside the large cauldron joined them.

The firelight abruptly swelled, interweaving into something increasingly dark, like an illusory door leading to another world.

Trissy immediately felt the surrounding temperature drop sharply, as if countless dangers were seeping out from within the flames.

A sentence flashed through her mind in that instant. It was Gehrman Sparrow’s warning:

“Be careful of Mr. Door.”

As expected of someone who possesses a messenger at that level… His understanding of Mr. Door and grasp of my intentions may be deeper and more precise than I imagined… Trissy slowly inhaled and patiently awaited what would follow.

In the blink of an eye, she felt the void inside the room grow considerably “thinner.” In many places, vague and indistinct shadows appeared, as though countless indescribably strange and dangerous creatures were hiding behind them.

The dark, swelling flames slowly began to rotate, transforming into an enormous, deep vortex with crimson hidden within.

As the vortex turned, an ethereal voice capable of piercing spirit bodies finally sounded from its depths:

“…Cheek?”

The moment she heard that voice, the blood vessels at Trissy’s temples throbbed. It felt as though countless steel needles had plunged into her brain and were stabbing and stirring madly.

Her black hair lifted by itself though there was no wind, each strand thickening slightly. The skin of her face turned transparent, and one blood vessel after another bulged out, dense as a spiderweb.

It took tremendous effort before Trissy finally controlled herself. Then she heard that voice, which was enough to make most Beyonders gradually lose control, chuckle.

“So it is a blessed of Cheek…

“Those who viewed the second Blasphemy Slate together back then… and were able to surpass Sequence 1… who are still alive now… should be only the Artisan, Cheek, and me…”

Trissy ignored Mr. Door’s sighing reflection. Her expression difficult to conceal its distortion, she said, “Honorable Mr. Door, I have something I wish to ask you.”

“Speak… The years of being lost in darkness and trapped within storms are far too dull… It is rare for someone to chat with me…” Within the deep vortex that was still slowly turning, that terrifying voice answered without much change.

The muscles of Trissy’s face twitched uncontrollably a few times. She still could not fully adapt to the voice that could almost be called the ravings of an evil god.

After a few seconds, she said, “…I wish to know whether there is an abnormal method to enter the nine secret mausoleums built by Blood Emperor Tudor when he sought to advance to Black Emperor.”

From somewhere unknown, from across endless void, Mr. Door’s voice gave a drifting laugh.

“So it is for this matter…

“That is not difficult… I will give you a symbol… Collect the blood of Beyonders from different pathways and mix it together… Then stain your spirituality with it, and before the mausoleum, draw that symbol in the void. This will open the hidden passage leading inside…”

As that existence spoke, sparks separated from the dark vortex and formed a rather complicated symbol in midair.

It resembled door after door, each smaller than the last, layered chaotically one upon another without end.

Trissy endured the pain of her spirit body being torn apart and memorized the symbol. Then she sought confirmation:

“Must all twenty-two Beyonder pathways be represented?

“Does each pathway require only the blood of one Beyonder, regardless of Sequence?

“How much blood is needed from each pathway?”

Mr. Door answered in the same raving state as before:

“Yes… Not too much… A small tube is enough… As long as it can finish drawing the symbol…”

Although Trissy’s expression was twisted by pain, having obtained the crucial intelligence, she still could not help the corners of her lips from lifting, revealing a faint smile.

Combined with her overall expression, it looked exceptionally strange, making her seem like a lunatic.

After achieving her main purpose, Trissy, in order to make later cooperation with Gehrman Sparrow smoother, spoke again.

“The Abraham family wishes to know how they can free themselves from the ancient curse upon them.”

The dark vortex fell silent for several seconds before sighing.

“Set up this ritual… Use one demigod each from the Seer, Apprentice, and Marauder pathways as sacrifices… Once I break free from the storm and pierce through the darkness… the curse will no longer exist…”

Trissy had no interest in how the Abraham family could escape their ancient curse. After obtaining the answer, she could no longer endure it. While thanking Mr. Door, she began terminating the ritual.

Mr. Door, meanwhile, made no attempt to entice, threaten, or contaminate her.

Only after the dark vortex of flames collapsed and the ritual ended did Trissy begin meditating. She spent nearly an hour calming the effects Mr. Door’s ravings had caused within her.

After finishing all this, Trissy searched out paper and pen, reproduced the symbol Mr. Door had provided, and wrote a detailed description of the two answers.

She knew that White Saint Katarina was tracking her, and that it seemed an even more terrifying hunter was waiting behind her. It would be difficult for her to find an opportunity to swiftly gather the blood of Beyonders from different pathways, so she intended to leave that matter to Gehrman Sparrow.

In addition, she believed that even if George III and the others trusted that the secret mausoleums no longer had problems, were sufficiently safe, and had not left behind many guards, there would certainly still be necessary defenses inside. As only a Sequence 4, she would not be able to quickly break through and complete the sabotage. If that happened, reinforcements would intercept her, and she would lose the best opportunity.

Gehrman Sparrow, on the other hand, possessed a messenger at the angel level. One could imagine the strength of the organization behind him. They had enough ability to destroy a mausoleum in one strike at the critical moment and cause the Black Emperor ritual to fail.

What she could not accomplish herself should naturally be handed to someone capable of accomplishing it!

After dropping the letter into a mailbox on a nearby street, Trissy, wearing a black dress under a black overcoat, her glossy black hair hanging down, slowly walked along the cold, quiet, dim road. Looking at the gas streetlamp light, she gave a self-mocking laugh.

“For just a little unwillingness, I have somehow come this far, step by step…

“You are fortunate. At least I will avenge you…

“And if I die, aside from those who hate me, no one will remember me…”

…

After receiving Trissy’s letter from Miss Messenger, Klein sat in his chair and read it several times.

Before going above the gray fog to divine the authenticity of Mr. Door’s method, he subconsciously considered how quickly he could gather blood from all twenty-two Beyonder pathways:

“The symbol is very close to the symbol on the back of Miss Magician’s chair… For the Seer pathway, I can use my own… For Apprentice, I can find Miss Magician and, while I’m at it, put a little pressure on her writing… For the Marauder pathway, there are three choices: marionettize a mosquito to bite Hazel; obtain it from the third mate called Bow Tie aboard Vice Admiral Iceberg’s ship; or ask Leonard’s old grandpa for some…

“For the Spectator pathway, Miss Justice… For Bard, Little Sun… For Storm, Mr. Hanged Man… For Reader, Vice Admiral Iceberg or that demigod called Luca… For Secret Supplicant, I can find The Hermit’s second mate, Heath Doyle the Bloodless…

“For Corpse Collector, Patrick Bryan of the Numinous Episcopate… For Sleepless, my poet classmate… For Warrior, most of the City of Silver’s residents or Father Utravsky…

“For Planter, Frank… For Apothecary, Emlyn…

“For Arbiter, Miss Xio… For Lawyer, my marionette Qonas…

“For Hunter, Danitz or Anderson… For Demoness, have Trissy provide her own…

“For Prisoner, Miss Sharron or Maric… For Criminal, I currently have none…

“For Mystery Pryer, The Hermit… For Savant, Frank’s experimental assistant…

“For Monster, my marionette Enyuni…

“From this perspective, I can obtain the vast majority very quickly, and the corresponding channels all trust me enough to believe I won’t use their blood to curse them… Trissy, as a witch, definitely has a way to sever the connection between blood and the main body, so she won’t oppose it… Only Demon is lacking. I have encountered several already, but they are either dead or escaped. At present, I have no available option…

“Mm, I’ll ask Little Sun whether the City of Silver has stored demon flesh or blood. They run into such things from time to time…”

Until he thought it through, Klein had not realized that in less than two years after transmigrating, he had already established relatively deep connections with Sequence Beyonders from most pathways.

He immediately restrained his wandering thoughts and seriously considered Mr. Door’s escape ritual:

“It requires sacrificing one demigod each from the Marauder, Apprentice, and Seer pathways… These are the three interchangeable pathways… Does Mr. Door intend to use a temporary convergence of the three pathways, through a clever method, to open a passage for His return?

“…Demigods from these three pathways are not so easy to capture. During the Abraham family’s heyday, it might have been possible. But after all their high-Sequence members died in the War of the Four Emperors and the aftermath, there was basically no hope…

“If Mr. Door had been a little more patient, giving His descendants more time to grow, it would not have been impossible. But why does He continue crying for help without pause, shouting one promising descendant after another to death…

“Could He already be insane? A madman who looks normal on the surface?”

Klein pondered for a while, burned the letter, entered above the gray fog, and performed two divinations.

The revelations he received were: the method for entering the secret mausoleums was real, and Mr. Door’s return ritual was also real.

Looking at the pendulum in his hand, Klein sat silently in his high-backed chair for quite some time.

After several minutes, he pulled with his left hand and clenched it tightly around the yellow crystal pendant, then muttered to himself, “All that remains is to wait for the Bizarro Sorcerer potion to be completely digested—and for George III to hold the ritual…”