Chapter 186: Guesses and Thoughts

Chapter 186: Guesses and Thoughts

Gurain, inside the hotel room.

Klein sat in an armchair and reached out to accept the black tea with lemon slices that Winner Enzo served him.

On his other side, Admiral of Hell Ludwell, wearing his mask and carrying a rapier at his waist, stood perfectly straight, as though he were the most loyal of guards.

Only now, after fully calming down, did Klein have enough mental space to analyze what had happened inside Death’s mausoleum. Among all the details, what he cared about most was which existence had helped Mr. Azik escape his predicament at the critical moment, and had given him those three choices.

“First, it was a female voice.

“Second, this matter must be beneficial to ‘Her.’ Otherwise, no one would cross such a vast distance just to provide assistance. Of course, if She had merely happened to be passing by and helped out of kindness, that is also understandable and acceptable. But the problem is that the mausoleum was the product of the divine power, characteristics, corpse, and natural environment left behind when Death fell. Without the corresponding ‘key,’ even gods cannot discover it or open the door. How could anyone just happen to pass by?

“Third, Mr. Azik’s action was very sudden. He did not first go find the members of the Numinous Episcopate carrying out the artificial Death plan to ‘gather information.’ He directly followed the call to the Berserk Sea and entered the ‘Death treasure vault.’ Unless an existence could locate either him or me, or possessed powerful prophetic ability, almost no one could have arrived so quickly and so precisely.

“Finally, Salinger, who could be reborn from within Mr. Azik, is almost certainly that Death from the Fourth Epoch who ‘went mad, but also became stronger.’ Yet that female voice directly called His name without the slightest respect.

“This…”

As Klein analyzed carefully, a certain guess suddenly appeared, yet he could not help wanting to avoid that possibility.

As far as he knew, the Evernight, Death, and Giant Beyonder pathways belonged to one group and could be interchanged at the high Sequences. Besides borrowing the honorific name “Lady of Crimson” or perhaps relying on some specific Grade 0 sealed artifact to occupy part of the Moon’s authority, the Goddess also possessed the title “Lady of Repose and Silence,” which could completely point toward the Underworld and Death’s domain.

In addition, after the previous experience in the foggy town, the fact that he had once used the holy sword in Tingen to establish a vow under the Goddess’s witness, and the clear fact that the Goddess also possessed authority over misfortune, Klein believed he might already be on Her “special attention list,” just as he used the Sea God Scepter to mark certain believers.

“Bold assumptions, cautious verification. If it truly was the Goddess, then almost every question can be answered.

“As one of the seven orthodox deities, and as one of the final victors of the Pale Era, Her status and level are sufficient for Her to directly call Death by name.

“And if I, whom She has marked, encounter an abnormal change—for example, entering a strange place such as the ‘Death treasure vault’—She would definitely notice and respond accordingly. And because that inevitably requires a cycle, She could not arrive at the very beginning to stop it.

“For Her, that artificial Death—or the initially activated Uniqueness of the Death pathway—can clearly strengthen Her authority over ‘repose and silence,’ perhaps even allowing Her to directly erode Death’s domain, just as the Mother Tree of Desire did to the Chained God.

“When Death fell, the three Sequence 1 characteristics should have actively separated. Who knows who obtained them? If the Goddess gathers them again, perhaps Her title will need to add phrases such as ‘Ruler of the Ancient Underworld, Lord of All Undead.’

“Although Mr. Azik was tracked by a high-Sequence powerhouse of the Church, he was never substantially threatened. It seems the Goddess had been waiting for today’s events to happen all along…”

Thinking to this point, Klein suddenly felt guilty.

With considerable piety—at least, surface-level piety—he lifted his right hand, tapped four points on his chest clockwise to draw a crimson moon, and murmured to himself, “Praise the Goddess.”

This made him think of the answer he had received when he had asked Will Auceptin, the Snake of Fate, how to obtain the Seer pathway’s high-Sequence potion formulas:

“…You can only find the mad Zaratul or go to the Hornacis Mountains. If you are Evernight’s Blessed, pretend I said nothing.”

After the foggy town incident, Klein had already discovered that going to the Hornacis Mountains and finding Zaratul were the same option. Even stealing the Antigonus family notebook from beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral was the same as well. But only today did he feel that perhaps the final “useless” half of that sentence was not meaningless.

He lifted his hand and rubbed his chin, silently muttering:

“Perhaps, maybe, possibly, I really count as Evernight’s Blessed…”

In truth, Klein was not especially resistant to this point.

On one hand, after arriving in this world, his earliest days had been spent as part of the Nighthawks squad in Tingen under the Evernight Church. There, he had a group of good teammates and colleagues, a comparatively warm life, and ideals he mostly approved of. Even now, he still often recalled them. Therefore, although one could not say he believed in the Evernight Goddess, she remained the deity he recognized most.

On the other hand, at least so far, the Evernight Goddess had shown no malice. On the contrary, she had given him certain “graces.” Since Klein had already been specially marked and could not escape it for the time being, he could only learn to accept it and make full use of it.

Of course, necessary vigilance could not be lacking… Also, I already have too many enemies: the Mother Tree of Desire, the True Creator, the Primordial Demoness, the Primordial Moon, Blasphemer Amon, the Angel of Fate Ouroboros, and so on. Some of them might even be able to catch onto my trail at any moment. If I do not find some thigh to hug, the future will truly be extremely difficult!

Having faced too many things, Klein quickly adjusted his mindset.

To him, as long as the Goddess’s mark on him had begun when he established the vow with the holy sword, not earlier, and as long as it was not constant “surveillance,” then he could accept it.

At least judging from how the Sea God Scepter marks special believers, constant “surveillance” does not hold… Mm, Mr. Azik will be asleep for a long time, and the Goddess cannot simply descend whenever She wants. There must be corresponding obstructions and difficulties. Otherwise, the seven orthodox deities would have long since descended all over the world to solve every problem. So, on the Southern Continent, I still need to keep a low profile, behave honestly, and do my best not to pin hope on external forces…

After reminding himself of these things, Klein turned to examine his new marionette, Admiral of Hell Ludwell.

To be honest, he had always been rather curious about the face concealed beneath that silver-white mask. But thinking of the abnormality Ludwell had caused when he removed the mask during their previous battle, Klein restrained his thoughts, preparing to try only after leaving the city and entering the jungle or some other uninhabited place.

After some busy work, Klein preliminarily figured out the Sequence and abilities of his new marionette.

Ludwell was Sequence 5 Gatekeeper of the Death pathway, and he was not a normal human.

The corresponding Sequence 9 was Corpse Collector. Klein had already known the specific situation during his time in Tingen. He clearly understood that Corpse Collectors possessed certain corpse-like traits. Their entire person appeared rather gloomy, their body temperature was comparatively low, allowing them to avoid being attacked by unintelligent undead. At the same time, they obtained improvements to their physical constitution, could endure corrosion, cold, and the aura of death, naturally possessed Spirit Vision, and understood many traits and weaknesses of undead creatures.

Sequence 8 was Gravedigger. Corpse Collectors who advanced to this level became physically stronger, possessed more powerful Spirit Vision, and became more agile. They could preliminarily communicate with a small number of nearby “spirits,” allowing those spirits to provide help. In addition, even when Gravediggers faced unfamiliar undead creatures or spirit-world creatures, they could quickly identify the creatures’ weaknesses through “observation.” This was called the Eye of Death.

Sequence 7 Spirit Medium was the stage of qualitative change. Beyonders gained mastery over all kinds of mysticism rituals related to spirits and could directly communicate with natural spirits in the real world and wandering dead souls. To them, informants were everywhere.

At the same time, they could borrow different spirits to accomplish all kinds of magic and produce all kinds of supernatural phenomena, making them quite comprehensive.

Sequence 6 Necromancer and Sequence 5 Gatekeeper did not contain essential changes compared to Spirit Medium. They simply expanded the range of communication. Necromancers began involving themselves with the spirit world. They could independently “recruit” messengers and receive help from certain spirit-world creatures. Gatekeepers could sense the entrance to the Underworld and command the undead inside it, as though they guarded the boundary between life and death.

From Spirit Medium onward, with every Sequence advancement, the quantity and quality of natural spirits, undead creatures, and spirit-world creatures a Beyonder could control and command would explosively increase. Necromancers further mastered Words of the Dead, which could bypass the protection of flesh and blood, raising communication directed at spirit bodies into command, even enslavement. Gatekeepers could make limited use of that mysterious door between life and death—the door leading to the Underworld!

“If not for Azik’s copper whistle naturally countering the Corpse Collector pathway’s control over spirits, I may not have even been qualified to fight Admiral of Hell back then. And even now, without Travel as a last resort, even if I used demigod-level powers, I probably still could not deal with Ludwell. I must pay attention to this when taking revenge against Ince Zangwill in the future. He was once a Gatekeeper.”

Klein lightly nodded while lifting the cup and drinking a mouthful of black tea.

As for Ludwell’s weapon, it was called the Harris Rapier. It came from an ancient prince of the Southern Continent. It did not directly correspond to any pathway or Sequence. It was closer to the irregular aggregation of similar characteristics, like the King of the North, Ulyssan.

It had only one Beyonder ability: bringing absolute destruction to anything it pierced.

As the Pirate Admiral with the highest bounty, Ludwell did not possess only this one mystical item. Unfortunately, his most precious Death ring had been taken by Azik, and Klein could not remove and study the silver-white mask on his face for the time being.

“Also, he really did not love money. He had no need for money at all…”

Klein set down the cup and withdrew his gaze, deciding that while it was still relatively early, he would leave Gurain and wait somewhere else for Danitz to finish his investigation.