Chapter 182: The Call from the Depths of the Mausoleum

Chapter 182: The Call from the Depths of the Mausoleum

Seeing Admiral of Hell Ludwell’s reaction, Klein, just like the living crew members aboard the Black Tulip, almost could not believe his eyes.

The scenes he had originally imagined numbered two:

The first was that Ludwell had invited a demigod of the Numinous Episcopate to help, lying in ambush for Gehrman Sparrow and the powerhouse behind him. That was not impossible. Sequence 7 of the Death pathway was Spirit Medium, and it likewise possessed the ability to foresee danger.

The second was that this Admiral of Hell had made no preparations and would forcefully resist, only to be easily resolved by Mr. Azik.

Klein’s plan had been that, if it were the first case, Mr. Azik would deal with the demigod while he hunted Admiral of Hell and obtained his second marionette. If it were the second, he would respectfully ask Mr. Azik to watch from the side while he controlled his marionette and fought Ludwell one on one. During the process, he would use Creeping Hunger, hide within various shadows, and do his best to remain behind the scenes so that he could digest the Marionettist potion more quickly.

Who could have known that Admiral of Hell would not resist at all, directly prostrating himself on the ground and kissing the deck, like Azik’s most loyal and humble servant.

How can there even be a fight now…

Klein stared forward in a slight daze, not knowing whether he should open his mouth and say something.

The entire ship was equally silent.

Azik raised a hand and pressed the silk top hat on his head. Neither fast nor slow, he walked toward Ludwell, who was kneeling with his face to the ground.

One step, two steps, three steps. He stopped before Admiral of Hell Ludwell, then spoke in a low voice, “To what stage has the Numinous Episcopate’s artificial Death plan progressed?”

Ludwell pressed his forehead hard against the deck and answered hoarsely, “Artificial Death can already proactively influence high-Sequence Beyonders who fail advancement, but it still cannot respond to prayers or rituals…”

After describing it, he slightly lifted his upper body, removed the dark square ring from his right hand, held it in both hands, and offered it forward.

Silently, that ring seemed to be supported by countless spirits. It flew up on its own and landed in Azik’s palm.

Azik examined it for several seconds, pinched the ring, and put it on the index finger of his left hand.

All at once, an indescribably terrifying, deep, lofty feeling spread from his body. The living corpses and skeletons—some bare, some wearing broken leather armor—knelt on one knee one after another, lowering their heads as if only daring to look directly at his leather shoes. The flying wraiths and shadows likewise landed on the ground, pressing tightly against the deck. Not a single one remained floating in midair.

The remaining pirates aboard the ship dropped to the ground one after another, burying their faces against the deck without daring to lift them even slightly.

Klein stood at the other end, looking at Mr. Azik’s back and the suddenly open scene before him. His mouth opened, but no words came out.

Azik took another two steps forward, arriving at Admiral of Hell’s side. Then he turned to face Klein and said to Ludwell, “You will serve as his marionette for one year. When the time limit is reached, you may return to the spirit world.”

Azik spoke these words very calmly, as if they did not involve Admiral of Hell’s life and future. Or perhaps, to him, it was merely a small matter, and there was no need to care about the feelings or thoughts of the one being ordered.

Ludwell’s body trembled violently, as though enraged, as though unwilling. Yet in the end, he still did not raise his head. His forehead remained pressed against the deck as he said, “Yes, great Death Consul.”

The moment his voice fell, mysterious symbols dyed in pale white and shadowy green emerged one after another, interweaving together to form an illusory bronze door.

The bronze door quickly shrank, landed on Admiral of Hell’s forehead, and burrowed inside.

Klein watched in a mixture of astonishment and bewilderment until Mr. Azik nodded at him and pointed to Admiral of Hell. Only then did he woodenly step forward, enter the ten-meter range, and begin manipulating Ludwell’s Spirit Body Threads.

Several times, the pirate admiral tried to spring up and swing his arms, but never actually put those actions into practice. Soon, his thoughts turned sluggish, and he subconsciously struggled.

After a while, Admiral of Hell Ludwell, wearing the silver-white mask, rolled over and stood. With his head lowered, he retreated to Klein’s side, standing opposite Winner Enzo—one to the left, one to the right.

Azik quietly watched. Only at the end did he speak slowly: “In the Death pathway, higher-level beings possess very strong suppressive power over lower-level ones.”

…That much can be inferred. Before, when I threw out your copper whistle, even Admiral of Hell, a Sequence 5, completely lost control over the undead creatures that belonged to him…

Klein nodded lightly, indicating that he had remembered this matter.

Immediately afterward, a living corpse rotted in several places climbed to its feet, carrying a blue cufflink as it walked up to Klein.

This was the murloc cufflink he had lost!

Although it is no longer much use to me now, it has finally returned…

While Klein felt an inexplicable sense of emotion, he reached out and took back the item that belonged to him.

Then he saw Mr. Azik walk back toward him and reach out to grab his shoulder.

Klein hurriedly extended both hands, respectively grabbing the shoulders of his two marionettes, Enzo and Ludwell.

All the colors became rich—distinct yet overlapping. Having entered the spirit world, Klein instinctively asked, “Mr. Azik, where are we going now?”

“The Berserk Sea,” Azik calmly answered.

After a pause, he added, “Give me that copper whistle.”

“…Alright.” Klein made marionette Enzo take out the iron cigarette case and remove the ancient copper whistle inside.

As Azik reached out to receive it, he said in a low voice, “My intuition tells me that this ring left behind by Death, together with the copper whistle and me, should be enough to find the place where Death fell in the Berserk Sea.”

Klein subconsciously spoke up. “My dream told me that place is very dangerous.

“Perhaps we should first find those members of the Numinous Episcopate who are obsessed with the artificial Death plan and obtain more detailed information from them before making a decision.”

Azik fell silent for several seconds.

“A voice there is calling to me.”

Klein turned his head and looked at Mr. Azik. He saw that this man, whose features were gentle, skin bronze, and eyes weathered, had tightly tense facial lines without the slightest extra curve at the corners of his mouth.

Block after block of color flashed past swiftly. Azik brought Klein rapidly into the Berserk Sea region, where black storms swept through, and dim lightning streaked across the darkness.

Just then, the dark, cold square ring and the exquisite, ancient, brass-colored whistle both flashed with faint light, illuminating Azik’s face.

This Death Consul who had survived from the Fourth Epoch closed his eyes and quietly listened to calls coming from who knew where. Then his right hand suddenly clenched.

All the nearby scenes of the spirit world collapsed inward, turning into an enormous, slowly rotating dark whirlpool whose borders could not be seen.

The whirlpool abruptly expanded, swallowing Azik, Klein, and the two marionettes.

Klein felt sudden and intense dizziness, nearly vomiting on the spot.

After an unknown length of time, he finally recovered and found himself inside a dark, cold mausoleum. Around him stood open coffins, and within those coffins lay rotting corpses with white feathers growing from their backs.

Although I warned Mr. Azik, we still arrived here…

Klein froze for a second, and an uncontrollable sense of helplessness surged through his heart.

He turned his head to the side and saw Azik standing nearby, gazing into the depths of the mausoleum, where layer upon layer of steps led downward.

There, dense black aura spread and flowed slowly like smog.

“What is hidden there is very likely the artificial Death…” Klein could not help reminding him again.

The tense lines of Azik’s face eased slightly. The corner of his mouth rose faintly as he said, “The earlier slumber let me remember even more things. I saw myself seated upon a throne of skulls. I saw Beyonders and ordinary people collapsed dead before the throne. They had done nothing wrong. They simply died so suddenly. Then, one after another, they climbed back up, becoming pale undead creatures, undead creatures loyal to me.

“And I simply watched them coldly, without the slightest fluctuation of emotion, allowing that disaster to spread toward villages and toward cities.

“That made me feel as though I were looking at someone who was not me. Yet I also know very clearly that perhaps that is the real me.”

The Death Consul of the Fourth Epoch’s Balam Empire…

Klein’s mouth moved, then closed tightly again.

Azik raised a hand and rubbed his forehead. His tone was calm, without any rise or fall, as he continued, “I feel myself returning in that direction.”