Chapter 49: The Ominous Box

Chapter 49: The Ominous Box

Regarding the return—or rather, the restoration to normal—of Botis’s Grade 0 sealed artifact, The Hermit Cattleya and Justice Audrey had indeed made certain contingency plans. After all, they were not confident they could kill a demigod in such a short span of time.

If Botis had not fallen into their trap, if he had not consecutively suffered Mental Plague, Sleeping Beauty, Frenzy, and a fatal blow, leaving him mad and mindless, he would have had many opportunities to directly Teleport away. They would not have been able to stop him.

If that happened, Cattleya and Audrey could only wait for Botis to return to his “safe house” and release Forsi. Then, after the Eyes of Mystery Pry on Miss Magician provided feedback, they would remotely exert influence and create an opportunity for her to summon a projection from the gaps of history.

At this very moment, facing Botis, who had clearly entered an irreversible path toward losing control, and facing his mad act of attempting to fully open that Grade 0 sealed artifact, Cattleya at the center of the battlefield and Audrey hidden outside the forest both made similar movements: each took out a slightly translucent, dark charm and spoke a word in Jotun.

“Star!”

This was a Teleportation charm, one Klein had personally created using the patterns, labels, and symbols Recorded in Leymano’s Travels.

Since Sefirah Castle could mobilize the power of the Marauder pathway, there was no reason it could not answer prayers in the domain of the Apprentice!

As for what materials the charm required, both Mysticologist Cattleya and Traveler Forsi had some understanding of that. There was no need for Mr. Fool to teach them separately.

Just as Audrey and Cattleya were about to activate the charms and Teleport away, planning to return after a minute or two to confirm the situation, Botis—wearing a cruel smile, his eyes filled with madness—suddenly froze.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not open the third layer of the Box of the Great Old Ones!

It was exceedingly heavy, as though wrapped and suppressed by layer after layer of power, simply impossible to open.

It made Botis look less like he was trying to open a box, and more like he was trying to open a new world.

A moment later, he seemed to sense something. The madness in his eyes faded, replaced by extreme astonishment, extreme terror, and extreme fear.

Drop. Drop. One ball of light after another slid from Botis’s body. When they touched the ground, they transformed into insects condensed from brilliant starlight.

These insects curved their bodies into semicircles, encircling patches of wondrous light like one illusory Door after another.

Botis, who was transforming toward an incomplete mythical creature form, suddenly and uncontrollably collapsed and disintegrated.

With two soft plops, his two eyeballs fell to the ground and were stained with dust.

Those two eyeballs were frozen with indescribable terror. They remained sufficiently intact, completely unlike the rest of his body.

A Sequence 4 Secrets Sorcerer died just like that.

Thud!

The silver-black Box of the Great Old Ones, inlaid with various gemstones, fell beside Botis’s two eyeballs, looking just like a jewelry box commonly seen in noble households.

Above the gray fog, inside the ancient palace, Klein breathed a sigh of relief and, filled with confusion, lowered the Sea God Scepter in his hand.

He had just been about to mobilize the power of Sefirah Castle and use angel-level force to drive Lightning Storm, preventing Botis from opening the third layer of the Box of the Great Old Ones. In the end, the Saint of Secrets’ counterattack, meant to drag everyone down with him, had failed before it truly began, encountering a defeat completely beyond Klein’s expectations.

After Judgment Xio left the first battlefield, she had immediately followed the plan and prayed to Mr. Fool. Through that, Klein was reminded and found a chance to enter above…