Lord of the Mysteries

Panda Novel

After hearing Sherlock Moriarty’s plan, Sharron didn’t say anything apart from nod her head once in agreement.

Klein immediately took out a steel-gray metal mask and wore it, only revealing his eyes and nostrils.

Similarly, Sharron and Maric wore similar masks as well.

However, they had different reasons for the disguise. For the Wraith and Zombie, it was solely to prevent themselves from being recognized by the Loen military; thus, curtailing their ability to be active in Backlund. As for a Faceless, the act of wearing a mask hid his pathway’s trait of being able to change appearances. It was a form of misdirection for the Loen military’s and Rose School of Thought’s subsequent investigations. After all, they would follow normal logic. Since your face was fake to begin with, why would you do the unnecessary act of wearing a mask?

After waiting for a while, a dull whistle sounded as a ship cruised into the port in the darkness.

Klein returned to the vent, raised the telescope, and cast his gaze at the heavily guarded harbor.

He soon saw a hybrid sailboat with a chimney slowing down as it docked. Meanwhile, two squads of soldiers in red tops and white pants ran over in an orderly fashion with rifles in hand before standing on two sides of a path.

Before long, a gangway was lowered, and people from the ship began alighting.

First were sailors carrying wooden crates. Following that, it was a young man dressed in a major’s uniform. He held a small casket made of crystal with a heavy expression. Surrounding him were several members of the ship’s crew.

The crew were holding lanterns, illuminating the casket from various angles; thus, accentuating what was inside.

In it was a human skull without any flesh and blood left. It had a strange luster swirling under the light!

The group of people moved at a rather slow speed, as though they were constantly taking note of the angles of illumination to not leave any dark spots.

After they got off the ship, they followed the path to the nearest cargo rail where a steam locomotive was waiting there like a giant serpent. In the cabin behind, a man in a black formal suit walked out.

He was carrying a huge iron bucket, and diagonally above, one could see that it contained layers of ice blocks.

For a second, Klein nearly imagined that there was a bottle of wine inside the ice blocks, just like how alcohol was presented amongst high society and high-end restaurants. However, he soon saw what was embedded in the ice.

It was a hand made purely out of gold!

Unlike the group of people, the man carrying the bucket moved very quickly. Beads of perspiration kept dripping from his forehead as the contact between his palms and the metal surface produced mist.

He seemed to be worried that the ice would completely melt before he arrived at his destination.

The military managed to plunder quite a number of Sealed Artifacts at the Star Highlands, Paz Valley, and Haagenti Plains… Klein sighed poignantly as he patiently waited for Tutanssess II’s sarcophagus to appear.

Another ten plus minutes passed when, situated in the distance, Klein, Sharron, and Maric heard heavy footsteps.

It was like a giant walking over a hollow deck.

Right on the heels of that, the cabin’s side door opened. Four “knights” in black full-body armor carried a golden sarcophagus as they slowly walked out. Their footsteps clinked and clanked, reverberating.

The sarcophagus’s surface was engraved with symbols like strange birds, serpents, feathers, and masks. It appeared ancient and mysterious, with the rich flair of an ancient Highlands Kingdom. It was none other than the Tutanssess II mummy’s resting bed!

Sounds of metallic chains grinding against each other sounded as a pitch-black metal capstan slowly rotated, lowering the steel cables and hook down. People began securing them against the corners of Tutanssess II’s sarcophagus.

Then, a complicated gear system began operating as the heavy sarcophagus was hung up, moving towards a topless carriage outside the harbor.

The four black, full-bodied-armored “knights” had the pressure on them relieved as they sat on the deck, letting out heavy panting.

Amidst the panting, one of the “knights” suddenly grunted.

In a crevice of his armor, dark red blood streamed out in increasing amounts. Towards the end, tiny black armored worms began crawling out of it.

Thud!

The “knight” fell backward, his helmet falling off, revealing mangled flesh and a head whose eye sockets were empty. Countless black armored worms crawled out.

A hex… Tutanssess II’s mummy is a manifestation of hexes itself… Even when wearing armor with augmented blessings, it’s unable to completely avoid being cursed… Klein sighed silently as he cast his gaze to the golden sarcophagus which was being slowly lowered onto the carriage.

The carriage outside the harbor didn’t have any horses. Standing around the carriage were four “knights” in the same outfits as the ones before.

With the sarcophagus landing, they approached the carriage in preparation to pull it.

At this moment, the wheels of the carriage suddenly begun spinning as it maintained its balance and began moving towards the side.

At that moment, it seemed to come to life!

Klein’s mind tensed up as his gaze turned intense.

Pa! Pa! Pa! The wheels spun rapidly, slamming into the rocks, logs, and steps on an irregular path. The carriage without any horses dragged the golden sarcophagus as it moved towards an empty spot of the harbor.

This scene looked like a scene as described in a horror story.

Close to the harbor, a steel monster with a chimney, cannon, and machine gun turned around as a deep voice was heard from the inside without any obstacles.

“Possession is prohibited here.”

Just as this was said, the carriage which was moving by itself lost its drive. After drawing out two long tracks, it steadily came to a halt.

At the same time, a figure wearing a white robe with golden threads was outlined in midair. He had pale-yellow curled hair, with his eye sockets clearly recessed. His face was thin to the bone.

This was a middle-aged man with mixed heritage from the Southern and Northern Continent. His brown eyes had irrepressible maleficence and madness. His rather thick lips were pierced with dense, patterned golden nails that sealed his mouth. He exuded a sinister and terrifying feeling.

According to Sharron’s and Maric’s description of the characteristics and portrait, Klein instantly recognized him to be an important member of the Rose School of Thought, one of the leaders of the Highland’s rebel army, Mahmosi, who had the nickname, The Silent One.

Just as Mahmosi appeared, he cast his gaze to the steel monster that had issued the command. He completely ignored the Tutanssess II sarcophagus that was staying put diagonally beneath him.

His previous attempt was apparently to determine the location of the Loen military’s demigod!

In a snap, Mahmosi raised his right hand and pulled at the corner of his mouth.

The golden nails that pierced through his lips shot out like bullets as they no longer sealed his mouth.

Following that, Mahmosi opened his mouth.

Klein didn’t hear any sound, nor did he see any light. He discovered the gigantic steam chariot seemed to warp like it was melting. In a blink of an eye, it had transformed into a goat.

A goat with glazed eyes and messy wool!

With a spurting sound, blood spewed out of the goat’s abdomen as a blob of flesh rolled out. Embedded in it was a white glove and a golden mask.

A beam suddenly shot out from the flesh, cleaving through all the chaos and evilness. The squirming flesh and blood began forming a humanoid figure, returning to its original appearance.

It was a black-haired, golden-eyed man with a mask.

At this moment, Mahmosi raised his palm, causing all the guns and cannons that were aiming at him to rise into the sky as they shot into the air.

Then, he took out a cloth doll.

The doll seemed to be made of old cloth. There were obvious stains and specks of blood. Its eyes had been dug out, leaving two empty holes.

The moment it saw light, its face began transforming. Its target of reference was none other than the demigod from the Loen military. Its eye sockets were aimed straight at the man in the golden mask!

When the Loen military’s demigod saw this, he immediately made the ring on his right hand emit a crystalline beam of light as he vanished from his spot, phasing to the back of Mahmosi.

However, the doll’s transformation didn’t stop at all.

Meanwhile, to the side of Tutanssess II’s sarcophagus, the space around it warped as a translucent mouth spanning more than ten meters was outlined.

The mouth suddenly opened and sucked in, creating a terrifying gale that swept up the sarcophagus and the carriage together.

It was suspected to be a spirit world creature!

It was about to devour the Tutanssess II mummy’s sarcophagus!

Suddenly, the bullets and cannonballs that shot into the air turned brilliant as they gathered together, transforming into a grand sea of light that inundated everything.

Klein felt a stabbing pain in his eyes, and even though he closed them in time, tears still flowed down.

Two seconds later, he opened his eyes again and saw the spirit world creature that was only a gigantic mouth had disappeared. Tutanssess II’s golden sarcophagus remained sitting silently on the other carriage. Mahmosi’s figure had blinked away to the other end of the harbor thanks to a metallic surface. The dirty doll in his hand had been restored to its original form while the masked golden-eyed man did a short-distance teleport as he engaged in tight pursuit.

And the spot where the two were originally standing, a female figure in a black evening gown appeared. She too was wearing a golden mask, and on her head was a crown folded from thorns.

On the crown, pure light quickly swirled, amassing an “ocean”; however, it was in a dim state.

At this moment, Klein saw a hand—a hand wearing a black glove.

It was hidden in the shadows, reaching out as it grabbed at the sarcophagus where Tutanssess II’s mummy was stored.

The sarcophagus suddenly vanished, appearing right in front of the palm!

The Rose School of Thought hadn’t sent one demigod, but two. Furthermore, they brought with them a Sealed Artifact from the Marauder pathway!

Upon seeing this, Klein immediately turned his head and shouted to Maric, “Run!”

Maric had been awaiting his orders, so he leaped up the moment he heard that, rushing out of the warehouse as he dashed fervently out of the harbor.

Klein immediately turned around and yelled out to Sharron, “Begin!”

Sharron didn’t hesitate as well. Holding the iron cigar case, she flew towards the lighthouse. As a Wraith, the walls and obstacles along the way were nonexistent.

The commotion she and Maric created had probably been detected, but as it was far from the harbor and far from the battlefield, no one paid attention or bothered.

Klein quickly retracted his gaze, extended his left hand, and aimed his palm at the ventilation hole—right where Tutanssess II’s golden sarcophagus was.

In less than a second, a blurry book materialized before him as an ethereal, distant chant sounded in his ears:

“I came, I saw, I record.”

The pages flipped before landing on one page.

Hurricane!

This was a demigod-level Beyonder power that had a wide area of effect!