Lord of the Mysteries

Panda Novel

Towards Amon, Leonard didn’t have a strong, direct impression of him. All he knew was that it was the most feared enemy of the Parasite in his body. “He” was the culprit that left this mysterious and powerful Old Man injured to this day. Therefore, he quickly calmed down and asked with a suppressed voice, “What do we do now?”

In his mind, the slightly-aged voice sounded after three seconds.

“The one that came probably isn’t Amon’s actual body but one of ‘His’ avatars.”

“He”… Indeed, Blasphemer Amon is an angel, and probably a Sequence 1 angel. After all, Old Man is suspected to be a Grounded Angel… As Leonard absorbed the information to verify his theories, he listened to Pallez Zoroast continue, “If Amon’s actual body appears in Backlund, it might very well cause a deity’s descent.”

A deity’s descent? How many years has it been since something like this happened? Since the Fifth Epoch, occurrences like these were legends that were recorded in the internal canon. They had never publicly happened before! Could this mean that, even among Sequence 1s, Amon is one of the most powerful existences? It’s no wonder “He” is called a Blasphemer… In just a few words, Leonard came to realize how terrifying the angel named Amon was.

Standing in front of the mailbox, his thoughts wandered when he suddenly had an idea. He hurriedly suppressed his voice and said, “Since Amon has such importance placed on him by the deities, shouldn’t we try to find a way to inform the Church of the news of ‘His’ appearance in Backlund…”

From Leonard’s point of view, The Church of Evernight and Storm, which was born in an earlier epoch and existed through the entire Fourth Epoch, had rich experience in resisting angels. They were the best choice at dealing with Amon.

In his mind, Pallez Zoroast chortled.

“It’s useless. It might even be something Amon wishes to accomplish.

“To ‘Him,’ it’s just a loss of an avatar. It will just waste a bit of his strength but not deal ‘Him’ any actual harm. And ‘He’ can use the death of ‘His’ avatar to see the corresponding changes in fate. From that, he will be able to see the source of the stir or the creation of the waves. Although this doesn’t allow ‘Him’ to directly lock onto you and me, he will be able to greatly reduce the circle, creating the conditions for ‘His’ actual body to deal a lethal blow.

“Besides, do you think there will only be one avatar of Amon in Backlund?

“Based on ‘His’ habits and style, ‘He’ might only have one avatar that ‘He’ doesn’t hide, but in fact, surrounding this ‘beacon’ are several, dozens, or even more than a hundred avatars.

“When we attempt to eliminate the one that’s out in the open, it might very well be the case that a few, dozens, or more than a hundred Amons will appear from every spot. ‘He’ could be a passerby, a bird on the roof, an ant on the ground, and ‘He’ could also be an insect in wooden logs, microbes in the air. One who isn’t a demigod wouldn’t notice it even if ‘His’ avatar invades their bodies…”

As he listened to Old Man’s detailed description, Leonard felt a chill run through his back. He suddenly had a feeling that the surrounding air was filled with countless Amons.

“You’re afraid now?” Pallez Zoroast chuckled. “If you understand how Amon can steal away your fate without showing any anomalies, you will be even more terrified.”

“What do you mean by stealing away my fate?” Leonard asked, feeling wary and puzzled.

Pallez’s old voice sighed.

“‘He’ will follow you back. Then, you’ll discover that your parents will be making ‘Him’ their son. Your wife will view ‘Him’ as her husband. Your child will treat ‘Him’ as their father. Your friends, everyone you know, will treat ‘Him’ as you. And you will be the unlucky one. You will lose all connection with the real world and slowly die.”

“…Would such a theft be permanent?” Leonard couldn’t help but draw a gasp.

Pallez Zoroast sniggered.

“Before a thief is caught, will he volunteer to return what he stole?

“Unless ‘He’ has had enough fun with it.”

Leonard instantly fell silent. He felt that an enemy at Amon’s level was no longer someone one could defend themselves against but was completely unfathomable.

After a few seconds, he asked, hardly being able to hide his hoarse voice, “Then what do we do?”

He didn’t share his own thoughts because they were most likely unpragmatic.

Pallez Zoroast fell silent for a moment before saying, “Let’s watch and see.”

…

Inside the Bravehearts Bar.

Maric was waiting at Billiard Room 3 according to the agreement.

Since Sherlock Moriarty had agreed to provide help, discussing the operation’s details face-to-face was necessary.

It wasn’t something that could be figured out via an exchange of letters.

Guzzling down a mouthful of beer, Maric raised his hand to comb his hair. His pale face was drained of the color of blood. The demented look on his face was a lot less than before.

At this moment, his heart stirred. He looked up to the side and saw a figure in a top hat and formal suit outlined quickly. It was none other than Sherlock Moriarty.

Teleport? Maric’s heart palpitated as his pupils constricted. He instinctively raised his level of wariness.

This wasn’t because he didn’t trust Sherlock Moriarty, but a natural reaction for a creature when facing a higher existence on the food chain.

At the same time, he noticed through the corner of his eye that Sharron’s doll-like figure had appeared on the high stool.

Klein pressed down his hat and bowed at the two. He said with a smile, “What I’m most concerned about is the amount of intel you have.

“If there’s sufficient intel, the chances of success will be higher and the risks lower.

“Let me raise a simple example. Do you believe that Tutanssess II’s mummy doesn’t have any problems? Can you confirm which coffin it is in? If you can, I can teleport over before the guards react, traveling with it through the spirit world. That way, the problem will be resolved.”

Just as Maric tried recalling, he heard Sharron say in a calm tone, “It can be confirmed which coffin it is, but we cannot confirm if there are any problems with it.”

Klein nodded and pulled a chair over to sit.

“Apart from that, what else do you know?”

Sharron’s blue eyes moved slightly.

“It might be a trap by the Rose School of Thought, or it might be a trap by the Loen military.”

You didn’t mention the second guess previously… That’s right, before obtaining any confirmation of cooperating together, even I wouldn’t divulge too much… Klein thought as he questioned, targeting the latter point.

“A trap meant for the Rose School of Thought?”

Maric answered this time. He said in detail, “In the ancient Highlands Kingdom, creating a mummy was the tradition for an esteemed person. It’s considered sacred, and the Pharaoh’s mummy is not something to be blasphemed against. Back then, before the Loen, Intis, and Feynapotter allied forces attacked this kingdom, the Pharaoh’s descendants had moved the most important batch of mummies, including the remains of the Pharaohs of past dynasties.

“This time, one of the Highlands’ rebel armies had their secret base stormed. The Loen army found the Tutanssess II mummy at the lowest level and plan on delivering it to Backlund to hand it to an unknown military organization for research.

“To the Pharaoh’s descendants, this is an insult of the greatest order. They have a sufficient motive to snatch Tutanssess II’s mummy back. And among these descendants, there’s a demigod named Mahmosi. He’s both one of the main leaders of the rebel army and is also an important member of the Rose School of Thought. He’s the student of Abomination Suah.”

Klein nodded slightly and answered, “That is to say that Tutanssess II’s mummy might be bait for the Loen army to fish out Mahmosi. Of course, this doesn’t exclude the possibility that the Rose School of Thought is deliberately sacrificing a Pharaoh’s remains to eliminate you.”

He originally wanted to say that as a Sequence 6 and 5, there was no need for the Rose School of Thought to go to such an extent. But when he recalled that the present main faction of the Rose School of Thought was “indulgence,” with them not holding back when it came to their desire for revenge, he believed that he couldn’t make a decision using an ordinary person’s point of view.

Furthermore, Miss Sharron and Maric were able to escape the Mother Tree of Desire’s restrictions and successfully escape from the Rose School of Thought. Apart from luck, they might have someone supporting them in secret… If there is such a person, that person is definitely a target the Rose School of Thought wants to be uprooted… Klein’s mind naturally formulated these thoughts, but he didn’t say it out loud.

“Yes,” Maric said as he rubbed the corners of his eyes. The large amount of words he said had made him feel perturbed both in mind and desire.

Klein thought for a moment before saying, “If it’s the former, the situation might be more troublesome than I imagined.

“To deal with a demigod, a demigod with companions, the Loen army will have at least two Beyonders at the same combat level as Mahmosi lying in ambush. Apart from that, they will definitely have some redundancies to prevent any accidents. For example, they will prepare a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact. In short, if this isn’t near Backlund or made into a joint operation with the three Churches, it might not be possible to so easily set up such a trap.”

Sharron’s chin moved slightly as she nodded in agreement with Sherlock Moriarty’s judgment.

Klein didn’t emphasize the difficulty as he said, “Therefore, we have to obtain more accurate and detailed intel. From that, we can make more targeted preparations. This will allow us to achieve our goals.”

Without waiting for Sharron and Maric to say a word, he added, “I know of a secret existence for magic mirror divination. ‘He’ strictly adheres to a principle of reciprocity. If you do not mind your privacy or actions that will bring about intense humiliation, you can obtain answers to many questions from ‘Him.’

“Are you willing to try?

“I’ll perform the summoning.”

In dark divination, whoever did the summoning typically suffered the greatest risk.

“What happens if I refuse to divulge my private matters or reject doing such actions?” Maric asked with narrowed eyes.

Klein sincerely replied, “You’ll suffer a lightning strike, causing quite significant damage.”

Lightning strike… Maric originally believed that with a Zombie’s toughness, it wasn’t too big a problem to suffer any direct damage, but he had never expected it to be lightning which was relatively strong against the dead.

He hesitated for a moment and glanced at Sharron. After receiving an affirmative nod, he exhaled and said, “Okay.”

Klein didn’t speak further. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket as he instructed, “Prepare a mirror.”

Just as he said that, a palm-sized makeup mirror appeared on the billiard table.

A regal-styled makeup mirror… Klein glanced at it and drew a symbol that was a mixture of concealment and mystery prying.