Chapter 876 The King’s Intention
remains?
Angel immediately thought of the ruins outside Backlund that Severia had brought her to before the Great Smog. There, she met the direct culprit of the "Great Smog," "Lady Despair" Panatia, but found nothing more.
Later, Klein's spiritual journey was disrupted by Ince Zangwill, causing the two of them to appear underground in the ruins. Azik eventually fought a demigod from the military, while Klein left upwards and eventually encountered Mr. A, who was trying to summon the "True Creator", and disrupted their ritual.
Could it be that the king's secret lies hidden deep within that ancient ruin? But Klein and I reported the ruins' location to the Church immediately after the incident. The Nighthawks must have conducted a thorough search...
Angel and Klein looked at each other, and saw deep curiosity in each other's eyes.
Fortunately, Arianna probably had the same question in her heart. She raised the hand holding Hwin's spirit slightly, making the translucent body of the deceased "manipulator" clearer, and then continued to ask:
"Where is the ruin? How do I enter? What important things are hidden inside?"
This series of questions caused Herwin to ponder for a moment. After a moment, the translucent spirit finally answered:
"Those are the ruins left behind by the Blood Emperor, Alistair Tudor. They were rediscovered and reactivated by the royal family. Located in the Stryven section of the Tussock River, they are protected against divination and prophecy, and can only be entered through point-to-point 'teleportation.' Each time I enter, I must be accompanied by a military demigod in charge. He activates the teleportation from the surface and takes me to the interior of the ruins."
"There is an item there that is extremely important to George III. He is preparing a huge sacrificial ceremony. To acquire it, he needs a large number of workers, which can only be obtained through human trafficking."
"What is that object?"
Arianna's tone turned slightly colder as she demanded.
"Yes, yes... I can't remember..."
Herwin was stunned, the seriousness on his face faded, turning into a slightly confused expression. He seemed surprised that he had forgotten this matter. His eyes wandered and he frowned from time to time, but he could not remember anything.
This is different from the "Secrecy" triggered when I channeled Judge Heras before. That would have directly damaged Hwin's spirit, preventing further questioning. But it's also possible that Ms. Arianna's "Secrecy" prevented this feedback... However, it's more likely that a higher-order "audience" erased the relevant memories, and Hwin himself didn't even know this... Angel pondered, took a step forward, and asked:
"Are there any other members of the Psychological Alchemist Society involved in this?"
If he is just a peripheral person who has been "hypnotized", then the person in charge of the core affairs must be his superior!
Hearing Angel's question, Hwin's slightly painful memories finally ended. He regained his expression and nodded to the witch who killed him.
"Our president is in charge of contacting the king and assigning me tasks. He also mentioned that he wants to make George III more talented, allowing him to break through the restrictions of the contract and his own abilities, and take a step further on the path of transcendence. Before that, he can only perform some preliminary 'acting' and does not yet have the corresponding strength."
More talented? And what does this have to do with the "contract" Hwin mentioned twice?
Angel turned his head to look at Arianna, whose bare feet were treading in a pool of blood, her feet covered in various scars and soaked in the dark red liquid. The latter clearly understood what was going on, but was not ready to explain immediately. Instead, she took advantage of the time to communicate with the spirit and continued to ask:
"Who is your guild leader?"
The familiar topic made Hewen's expression relax a little:
"He has various identities, some of which we know, and some of which are hidden in the dark. But as long as they appear before me, I can tell it's him... For example, Barros Hopkins, the 'King of the Black Throne', one of the Five Kings of the Sea, and Paulie Dellaw, the former royal advisor and president of Backlund Medical School..."
He listed four or five names in a row, only one of which Angel had heard of:
Barros Hopkins, the pirate king who is often forgotten, has been confirmed as the "King of the Black Seat" who is a demigod of the "audience" path!
It seems that he was the one who hypnotized Hvin Rambis, causing him to forget the most important item in the ruins... Angel suddenly realized something and marked this pirate king who had fought alongside him to repel the "divine evil" Suea as someone who needed to be vigilant.
Arianna also nodded and continued to ask without hesitation:
"Besides you, who else can enter the ruins?"
Since Hwin's memory has been modified, then we need to find someone else who knows. There must be someone whose memory hasn't been completely erased, or whose behavior has left some clues...
Hwin showed a thoughtful expression and replied in a slow tone:
"The interior of the ruins is divided into an outer perimeter with various functional areas and a core area where rituals are being prepared. Those permitted to enter the outer perimeter include members of the 'Witch Cult' and the 'Aurora Society.' The former was originally represented by 'Desperate Nightingale' Panatia, but after her disappearance, she was replaced by 'White Saint' Katarina. The latter was originally represented by 'Mr. A', but after his disappearance, a 'Mr. K' recently took over. There's also a military representative, including 'MI9' Deputy Director Qonas Kilger, who always brings me into the ruins.
"Only King George III and two demigods of the royal family can enter the core area. One is Prince Grove of Sonia, and the other was originally Duchess Georgina of Severas. However, she has recently stopped paying attention to matters within the ruins, and the work has been taken over by the former Duke of Southwell, Drinker. Apart from them, no one else can enter the depths of the ruins."
Georgina... she's actually involved in this? But isn't she a so-called conservative? And Prince Grove is also involved, this is all information Arrodes has confirmed... Could it be that they are ostensibly trying to win over the conservatives and oppose the king, but are actually in cahoots with them?
Angel's thoughts were a little confused. Klein beside her frowned and murmured:
"Drinker Augustus? Didn't he die over eighty years ago? The current Duke of Southwell is his great-grandson, an elderly man... If he were still alive, he would be over one hundred and fifty years old!"
"This means that he, no, 'He' is most likely an angel, or some kind of Sequence 3 Saint who can live a long life."
Angel answered subconsciously.
"He is the 'Balancer,'" Arianna, who was between the two, replied in a cold voice. "Do you have any other questions?"
Ah? Are you done asking?
Angel and Klein both had the same expression. They had originally thought that this "Secret Servant" would continue to inquire about the situation of the ruins, or focus on understanding the king's purpose. Unexpectedly, He gave the remaining precious spiritual time to them.
This means that Arianna has obtained the information she needs and has a way to go further in the follow-up operation and find the crucial relic.
The two exchanged glances. Klein gestured to Angel, the hero of this battle, to ask first. Angel nodded and looked at Hwin, whose figure had faded slightly but had been restored to its original state by Arianna's "hidden" and "reappearing" methods. He then asked:
"Has Georgina Augustus always been on the king's side? Why do you need me to approach and investigate her?"
"That's what I'm puzzled about. The Duchess initially supported George III's plan, but six months ago, when the ruins construction entered a critical period, I never saw her enter the ruins again. Duke Drinker took over everything instead... Afterwards, the president asked me to investigate her to understand the reason for her change of attitude."
Hwin replied, a confused look on his face as well.
Does it seem like Georgina and the King's faction are truly showing signs of a split? Perhaps the Golden Queen will have to talk to her personally... Angel pondered this and continued to ask:
"What are the names of the high-sequence potions for 'audience'? What are the detailed recipes?"
She was asking this on behalf of Justice Audrey. After all, the fact that Klein and Arianna were able to arrive at the scene so quickly must have been because this clever girl had awakened from hypnosis in time and prayed to the Goddess of Night and the Fool.
"From Sequence 4 onwards, they are 'Manipulator', 'Dream Weaver', 'Insight', and 'Writer'. I only know the potion formula for 'Manipulator'..."
Afterwards, Herwin completely told the formula and promotion ritual he knew, but did not mention the name of the Sequence 0 potion, which meant that he did not know it.
"I'm done asking."
Angel wrote down the recipe and turned to look at Klein.
She actually had a lot of less important questions. If she had enough time, she would have wanted to ask until the other party's spirit completely dissipated. However, although the current situation was not urgent, she could not waste time.
Klein shook his head and said:
"You asked what I wanted to ask... It's a pity that he was already dead when he left the Mirror World. Otherwise, becoming a Marionette and continuing to serve us would have been his best fate."
It turns out he also remembered the needs of Justice Audrey... Angel chuckled, took out the "Rose Necklace" from the "Mirror Space", shook it and said:
"It's not bad to herd this 'manipulator'."
"His spirit is contaminated. He cannot be herded, nor can he be used as a secret puppet."
Arianna suddenly spoke, gently loosening her grip on the spirit. Hvin Rambis's spirit, whose expression had once again become painful, slowly fell back onto the corpse of the human-headed dragon. Before completely disappearing, his skin once again glowed with that dark green luster.
Is this the pollution that my "man in the mirror" and Ms. Arianna mentioned... Angel muttered, and suddenly thought of something and asked anxiously:
"What about his Beyonder characteristics? Is it also contaminated and unusable?"
This is an extraordinary characteristic of a demigod!
Arianna shook her head and looked down at the corpse in the pool of blood. Her eyes became deep and black occupied the entire white of her eyes.
The dragon body, which was larger than the three of them combined, disappeared from the street along with the blood on the ground as if erased by an eraser, leaving only the ice-blue metal cylinder.
But the next second, a little bit of light condensed and appeared in the original place, gathering into a fist-sized ball with an outline similar to that of a heart, but its surface was covered with twisted wrinkles like a brain. Mysterious symbols kept floating out from the wrinkles, and the patterns they formed blended into the surrounding environment, as if traveling to another world.
However, the surface of this extraordinary characteristic belonging to the "Manipulator" still emitted a dark green light, exactly the same as Hwin's spirit body.
Angel's heart sank.
This means that even if it becomes an extraordinary characteristic, even if it undergoes the process of being "secretly" decomposed and re-aggregated, the pollution from the "starry sky" still cannot be stripped away.
Anyone who dares to use this property to create magical items or as the main ingredient for potions will inevitably suffer the same fate as Hvin Rambis before his death.
The only use of this extraordinary characteristic is probably to insert it into the enemy's body during battle, causing him to be contaminated and die out of control... At this moment, Angel thought of the battle process in which he used the "Scarlet Eye" to kill Ms. D.
"I shattered and reassembled the Beyonder characteristics and cleared the spiritual imprint within. This will prevent it from being tracked by the Angel King." Arianna seemed unaware of Angel's frustration and continued in a calm tone, "As for the contamination within it, I suggest you sacrifice it to the Goddess. If She allows you to keep this characteristic, it may provide some help."
You... Audrey? The Goddess Church's spokesperson among the Loen nobles, Earl Hall's daughter?
Angel was delighted, understanding Arianna's hint, and breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes looking at the ice-blue metal cylinder on the ground again.
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