...Seeing the reaction of Admiral Hell Ludwell, Klein, like the surviving crew members on the Black Tulip, could hardly believe his eyes.

He had originally envisioned two scenarios:

One is that Ludwell asked the demigods of the Spirit Cult for help to ambush German Sparrow and the strong man behind him. This is not impossible. Sequence 7 of the "Death God" path is called "Psychic", which also has the ability to predict the arrival of danger.

Secondly, this "Hell Admiral" was unprepared and put up a strong resistance, but was easily dealt with by Mr. Azik.

Klein's plan was that if it was the first case, he would let Mr. Azik deal with the demigod while he hunted the "Admiral of Hell" and got the second puppet. If it was the second case, he would ask Mr. Azik to watch while he controlled the puppet and dueled Ludwell. During this process, he would use the "Creeping Hunger" to hide in various shadows and try to stay behind the scenes in order to digest the "Master of the Puppet" potion faster.

Who would have thought that the "Admiral of Hell" would not even resist, but would just prostrate himself on the ground and kiss the deck, like the most loyal and humble servant of Azik.

How can we even start a fight... Klein stared ahead in a daze, not knowing whether he should say anything.

The entire boat was silent.

Azik raised his hand and pressed down the silk hat on his head, then walked towards Ludwell who was kneeling on the ground at a moderate pace.

One step, two steps, three steps, he stopped in front of "Admiral of Hell" Ludwell and said in a low voice:

"What progress has the Spiritual Cult's plan to create a man-made death god reached?"

Ludwell pressed his forehead against the ground and replied hoarsely:

"The artificial death god can actively influence the high-sequence ones who failed to be promoted, but it is still unable to respond to prayers and rituals..."

After finishing the description, he slightly raised his upper body, took off the square dark ring on his right hand, held it in both hands, and handed it forward.

Silently, the ring seemed to be held up by countless spirits, flew up on its own, and fell into Azik's palm.

Azik looked at it for a few seconds, then picked up the ring and put it on the index finger of his left hand.

Suddenly, an indescribable, horrifying, and superior feeling emanated from him. The zombies and skeletons, some naked and some wearing tattered leather armor, all knelt on one knee and lowered their heads, as if they only dared to look directly at his leather boots. The flying resentful souls and shadows also fell to the ground, clinging to the deck. None of them floated in the air anymore.

The rest of the pirates on the ship fell to the ground one after another, burying their faces on the deck, not daring to raise them at all.

Klein stood at the other end, looking at Mr. Azik's back and the vast scene that suddenly appeared. He opened his mouth but said nothing.

Azik took two more steps forward and came to the side of the "Admiral of Hell". Then he turned around, faced Klein, and said to Ludwell:

"You will be his secret puppet for one year. When the time limit is up, you can return to the spirit world."

Azik said this calmly, as if it did not involve the life and death and future of the "Admiral of Hell". Or, to him, this was just a trivial matter and he did not need to care about the mood and thoughts of the person being ordered.

Ludwell's body trembled violently, as if he was angry and unwilling, but in the end he did not raise his head, still pressing his forehead against the deck and said:

"Yes, the great Archon of Death."

As soon as he finished speaking, mysterious symbols in pale white and dark green appeared one after another, interweaving together to form an illusory bronze gate.

The bronze door shrank rapidly, fell to the forehead of the "Admiral of Hell" and went in.

Klein looked at him in a state of surprise and confusion until Mr. Azik nodded to him and pointed at the "Admiral of Hell". Then he moved forward woodenly, entered the 10-meter range, and manipulated Ludwell's spiritual line.

The pirate general tried to jump up and wave his arms several times, but he never put it into practice. Soon, his thoughts became stagnant and he struggled subconsciously.

After a while, the "Admiral of Hell" Ludwell, who was wearing a silver-white mask, stood up, lowered his head, and retreated to the side of Klein, with the "Winner" Enzo on his left and right.

Azik watched quietly, and finally said slowly:

"In the Path of 'Death', those in higher positions have a strong ability to suppress those in lower positions."

...It can be inferred that when I threw your copper whistle before, the Sequence 5 "Admiral of Hell" was completely unable to control his own undead creatures... Klein nodded slightly, indicating that he remembered this matter.

Then, a zombie that had rotted in several places crawled up and walked in front of Klein holding a blue cufflink.

This is his lost Murloc cufflink!

Although it is no longer of any use to me now, it is back after all... Klein sighed inexplicably and reached out to take back the item that belonged to him.

Then he saw Mr. Azik walking back and reaching out to grab his shoulder.

He quickly stretched out his hands and grabbed the shoulders of the two secret dolls, Enzo and Ludwell.

All the colors became rich, vivid, and overlapping. Klein, who had already entered the spirit world, instinctively asked:

"Mr. Azik, where are we going now?"

"The Raging Sea." Azik replied calmly.

He paused and added:

"Give me that brass whistle."

“…Okay.” Klein asked his secret puppet Enzo to take out the iron cigarette box and the antique copper whistle inside.

Azik took it and said in a low voice:

"My intuition tells me that with this ring left behind by the Grim Reaper and the copper whistle, and me, we should be able to find the place where the Grim Reaper fell in the Raging Sea."

Klein spoke subconsciously:

“My dreams told me it was dangerous there.

"Perhaps we should first find those members of the Spiritual Cult who are obsessed with the artificial death god plan and get more detailed information from them before making a decision."

Azik was silent for a few seconds and said:

“There’s a voice out there calling me.”

Klein turned his head and looked at Mr. Azik. He saw that this man with soft features, bronze skin, and weathered eyes had tightly drawn features and no extra curve at the corners of his mouth.

Blocks of color flew by quickly, and Azik led Klein quickly into the violent sea area where a dark storm was sweeping and dark lightning was streaking.

At this moment, the dark and cold square ring and the exquisite and simple brass whistle simultaneously flickered, illuminating Azik's face.

The "Archon of Death" who survived the Fourth Epoch closed his eyes, listened quietly to the cry coming from an unknown source, and then clenched his right hand violently.

All the scenes in the nearby spiritual world collapsed inwards and turned into a dark vortex with no visible edge and slowly rotating.

The vortex suddenly expanded, swallowing Azik, Klein, and the two secret dolls.

Klein felt a sudden and intense dizziness and almost vomited on the spot.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally came to his senses and found himself in a dark and cold mausoleum. All around him were open coffins filled with rotting corpses with white feathers growing on their backs.

Even though he reminded Mr. Azik, he still came here... Klein was stunned for a second, and an uncontrollable feeling of helplessness suddenly emerged in his heart.

He turned his head to look to the side and saw Azik standing nearby, staring at the steps leading to the depths of the mausoleum.

There was a thick black air spreading there, flowing slowly like haze.

“The one hiding there is most likely the man-made god of death…” Klein couldn’t help but remind him again.

The lines on Azik's face were no longer so tense, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly as he said:

“My previous slumber made me recall more things. I saw myself sitting on the Skull Throne, and I saw the Extraordinary people and ordinary people who had fallen dead in front of the throne. They had done nothing wrong, but they died suddenly. Then, one after another, they got up and turned into pale undead creatures, undead creatures that were loyal to me.

"And I just watched coldly, without any emotion, as this disaster spread to the countryside and the city.

"This makes me feel unlike myself, but I know very well that this may be the real me."

The "Death Archon" of the Balam Empire in the Fourth Epoch... Klein's lips moved, then he pursed them tightly.

Azik raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, then continued in a calm tone:

“I feel like I’m moving back in that direction.”

PS: I will update first and make changes later, and will be back to normal tomorrow. The main reason is that I got up at 6:30 yesterday morning and went out. I couldn't write and save the manuscript at night, so I went to bed early.