Chapter 40: The “Infectiousness” of Parasitism

Chapter 40: The “Infectiousness” of Parasitism

So Mr. Fool also has authority in the domain of Concealment… Leonard immediately came to a realization. He understood why the Old Man had specifically mentioned the protection of Concealment.

Before Leonard could respond, Klein added,

“Also, tell Pallez Zoroast that Amon most likely knows there is an angel of the Marauder pathway hidden around the Böklund Street area.”

This… Leonard’s pupils widened, and he blurted out,

“How would He know that?”

That isn’t very convenient to tell you… Klein muttered inwardly. Then he spoke with great seriousness:

“I am not Amon.”

“You inferred it from some of His actions and words?” Leonard instinctively asked in return.

No, I “told” Him… Klein chuckled, which counted as an answer.

As expected… Leonard nodded inwardly.

“No problem. I’ll pass it on to the Old Man.”

He paused, then asked,

“You want to wait for Him to come up with a specific plan?”

Klein gave a soft “mm.”

“When it comes to understanding Amon and the Marauder pathway, very few existences are stronger than Him.”

Having said that, and having already deduced that Amon would not come to Böklund Street for some time, he calmly added,

“There is no need to respond urgently. Give me feedback tomorrow at the Tarot Gathering.”

Looks like the matter is not extremely urgent yet… Leonard interpreted the most important piece of information from Klein’s words and nodded slightly.

“All right. We can discuss the details at tomorrow’s Tarot Gathering.”

Once this matter was settled, Klein immediately rose and bowed toward the position where the Door of Light was located.

“Mr. Fool, we are finished.”

Leonard had just stood up as well, and before he could make any movement, his vision blurred. Surging crimson starlight completely enveloped him.

When he came back to his senses, he had already returned to the sparse woodland on the outskirts of the North Borough.

“Is there anything you need to pass on to me?” Pallez Zoroast’s slightly aged voice sounded right after.

Leonard cleared his throat.

“Klein told me that he is a favored one of Concealment and can try praying for help.”

“A favored one of Concealment. As expected…” Pallez sighed. “Tell him that as long as he can truly pray for the protection of Concealment, I am willing to provide help in matters like dealing with Amon and finding all of His avatars hidden in Backlund.”

Leonard was not surprised by that answer. He gave a “heh” and said,

“Old Man, you aren’t as weak as you say you are!”

Pallez Zoroast was not angered at all. He laughed.

“Haven’t you read Quotations from Roselle? I remember there’s a saying in it: ‘A starving camel is still bigger than a horse.’”

“That depends on the breed of horse and the breed of camel,” Leonard instinctively retorted. Then he asked instead, “Old Man, how should we deal with Amon? Do you plan to use yourself as bait?”

“Cough!” Pallez answered in irritation. “If that happens, what you will face will be Amon’s main body, not an avatar. At that point, a war between gods will most likely be triggered. I might still have a chance to escape. As for you, perhaps you won’t even be able to return to Evernight’s dark heavenly kingdom.”

“…” Leonard could only respond with an embarrassed smile.

Pallez Zoroast continued,

“Unlike similar abilities from other pathways, Amon’s avatars can rapidly strengthen themselves by absorbing Beyonder characteristics of the Marauder pathway, splitting out more Worms of Time and parasitizing different living creatures. As long as there are enough Beyonder characteristics, this process can continue indefinitely…”

“Isn’t that like the spread of a plague?” Leonard once again felt a chill run down his back.

If there were enough Beyonder characteristics of the Marauder pathway, Amon’s avatars could develop from parasitizing one person to parasitizing everyone in an entire city!

“More or less.” Pallez Zoroast affirmed Leonard’s guess and sighed. “If you want to deal with Amon, you can only start from this aspect. Use a Marauder pathway Beyonder characteristic at the demigod level to lure Him out. As long as you can successfully eliminate one of His avatars, there will be ways to trace and clear out the remaining ones. However, Amon is a master in the domain of fraud. You must be sufficiently careful. Otherwise, a situation will occur where it looks like you are fishing for Him, but in reality, He is fishing for you. In this matter, Concealment is of utmost importance!”

“I understand.” Leonard exhaled quietly and asked instead, “How powerful can Amon’s strongest avatar be?”

Pallez Zoroast seemed to be recalling something and remained silent for several seconds before saying,

“In theory, His strongest avatar can reach the level of Sequence 1, but He almost certainly would not do that. It would destabilize His mental state and produce the risk of losing control.

“Generally speaking, one of His avatars is a Worm of Time, initially possessing the strength of a weak Sequence 4 while also possessing angelic essence, such as the ability to shatter Beyonder characteristics. After fully absorbing the Beyonder characteristics of the Marauder pathway, such an avatar can reach Sequence 2 level. However, Amon rarely does this. His avatars actively split themselves to create even more avatars.

“Furthermore, judging from Backlund’s actual circumstances, it would be very difficult for Him to collect enough Beyonder characteristics for an avatar to grow to Sequence 2.”

Leonard thought carefully and said,

“So what we will face is a group of Amons. Most of them will have weak Sequence 4 strength, a smaller portion will possess normal Sequence 4 standards, and a few may reach Sequence 3?”

“Based on Amon’s style, that should be the case. But you must always remember that Amon excels at deception,” Pallez Zoroast reminded him. “In addition, based on when Amon’s avatar arrived in Backlund, He cannot have gathered too many Marauder pathway Beyonder characteristics. After all, this is Backlund. Also, if the situation turns unfavorable, His avatars will take the strongest one as the core and proactively converge, raising the essence of that avatar. The most important point when dealing with Amon is that you cannot allow matters to develop to that stage. Otherwise, even if an angel of the Concealment domain comes, they will be unable to stop Amon from escaping.”

“He really is difficult to deal with. And this is only one casually thrown-out avatar allowed to develop freely. As expected of a King of Angels…” After sighing, Leonard suddenly remembered Klein’s reminder and hurriedly said, “Amon seems to have already locked onto a demigod of the Marauder pathway. Klein encountered Amon while tracking that person. Also, Amon seems to know that an angel of the Marauder pathway is hidden around Böklund Street…”

Pallez Zoroast fell silent again. For a long while, He did not speak.

After some time, just as Leonard could not help wanting to urge Him, He finally breathed out.

“Why is your former colleague as troublesome as you?”

“What?” Leonard looked completely confused.

Pallez Zoroast snapped in irritation,

“The fact that Amon knows there is a Marauder pathway angel hidden around Böklund Street most likely has something to do with him!”

“Old Man, did you use your ability to ‘decode’ it?” Leonard asked, somewhat surprised.

Pallez gave a cold snort.

“I used my brain!

“Otherwise, why do you think there would be the prefix ‘Böklund Street’?”

…That’s true. Anything related to Böklund Street cannot get around Dwayne Dantès… Did Klein cause trouble again? Only then did Leonard come to a realization.

At that moment, Pallez exhaled.

“Thankfully, he only said an angel and did not mention my name. Otherwise, my suggestion would be to leave Backlund as quickly as possible.

“Tell him that there are currently two methods.

“First, gather Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts of the Marauder pathway, or find some demigod of the Marauder pathway, and design a trap using them. This entire process must be under the protection of Concealment, and it must be natural, reasonable, normal, and without anything suspicious.

“Second, wait for Amon to enter Böklund Street on His own. He will most likely mix two methods: replacing someone’s identity, and infiltrating through the air. Therefore, that former colleague of yours must be able to see through the grafting of fate or detect abnormalities in tiny organisms. Otherwise, no matter how much planning is done, it will merely be delivering food to Amon.”

Leonard’s eyelid twitched as he listened. He nodded solemnly.

“I’ll discuss these matters with him tomorrow afternoon.”

“Mm.” Pallez Zoroast sighed again. “Also, if we can eliminate all of Amon’s avatars in Backlund, most of the remaining Worms of Time must belong to me.”

So this is a form of replenishment? No wonder the Old Man wants to take the risk… Leonard understood somewhat and asked,

“Do those Worms of Time contain Beyonder characteristics of the Marauder pathway?”

“In my hands, yes. In someone else’s hands, not necessarily,” Pallez explained simply. “After Amon’s avatars die, the Worms of Time left behind do initially contain sufficient Beyonder characteristics. But those will quickly drain away and return to the main body. One must possess corresponding abilities to stop this phenomenon.”

Leonard first nodded, then asked in puzzlement,

“Then why is the Luck Stealer charm made from a Worm of Time so powerful?”

Pallez immediately sneered.

“Have you forgotten the essence of charms?

“Their essence is to pray to high-level existences for power, then use materials capable of bearing it and corresponding symbols to fix the obtained power in place. The role the Worm of Time plays here is that of a unique carrying material. As long as its level is high enough, its essence is suitable, and its spirituality is sufficient, it satisfies the requirements.

“So the power of the Luck Stealer charm actually comes from Mr. Fool?” Leonard asked thoughtfully.

Pallez Zoroast chuckled.

“Yes. You can also try praying to Amon, using His power to create a Luck Stealer charm.

“Also, the uniqueness of the carrying material affects the final formed charm. In other words, different special materials can draw out response powers of different natures. Sigh. Charms are a profound and complex field of knowledge. They cannot be fully mastered by casually studying them a little. You must put more effort into it.”

Leonard immediately felt somewhat ashamed.

…

On Monday afternoon, after using the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog to observe Hazel’s family and confirm that there were temporarily no problems, Klein patiently waited for the Tarot Gathering to begin.

One crimson ray after another shot up inside the ancient palace, then quickly subsided.

Justice Audrey rose without pause and bowed toward the very end of the mottled long table.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~”