Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lucien, who now looked just like an ordinary man, walked along Solna River to the slum, where many secret altars were located.
Those false gods including the God of Storm and the Mother God of the Earth were unwilling to give up this rich and prosperous source of believers just like this, thus they had left their secret preachers here. Lucien had been looking for them, in an attempt to find out how these false gods were doing, and thus he could infer how much Ell and Francis had progressed.
Lucien had been spreading out the story, half true and half fake, for over half a month. From today, Lucien was going to stop and leave the rumors to ferment on their own. The merchants and traders would carry the words to the rest of the places in this world. Those who were paying attention would notice.
Lucien planned to wait patiently from now on, waiting for a chance to get out of this dangerous situation.
Lucien felt the moist evening wind on his face coming from Solna River. At nightfall, the air had become cooler.
Suddenly, his left hand twitched uncontrollably. Lucien’s head buzzed, and he felt coldness climbing up from his lower back.
Lucien was very concerned. This had not been the first time. And it was getting more and more frequent these days.
Lucien had thought that it was because Alterna was about to wake up after the half month’s sleep or was hungry, and he was about to try to find a relevant godhood to feed Alterna. Yet after the repeated twitches today, he realized that the threatening coldness came from himself!
Lucien wondered if Alterna was trying to remind him something. Maybe Alterna had found something wrong with his body after sneaking into his left hand. Was it because there was something imbalanced between his body and soul?
No matter what, Lucien knew that the problem was from himself. He was very concerned, as he was well aware that there were countless cursing spells in the main material world!
He had to figure this out tonight.
Lucien put aside all his concerns and walked into the slum wearing his linen robe. This time, he disguised himself as a secret follower of the Mother God of earth.
“For your prayers?” Said a pauper walking past him in a low voice. The pauper cast a look at Lucien and showed him the direction.
Lucien whispered. “Yes, I’m looking for Priest Angrist.”
Following the way the pauper showed, Lucien walked down the shabby street and ran into a few more followers, who further directed him to an ordinary-looking mud hut.
Lucien touched his face, the face that did not belong to him. It felt nice to have a face that was recognized by the other followers — The first time when he came here, he had to use a series of mind spells to make his way.
Pushing open the door of the mud hut, Lucien saw a skinny old man who was kneeling on the floor and kissing the ground.
“Priest Angrist, sorry for my interrupting,” said Lucien politely.
Angrist’s wrinkled face was written with a big smile, “don’t mind it. I am very glad to hear that two false gods have fallen.”
Since the churches were now preaching secretly, the number of potential followers had been greatly reduced. As a result, the conflict between the six churches had become harsh and direct, and the relationship between local priests deteriorated quickly.
“What? Two false gods have fallen?” Lucien was truly shocked.
Angrist stood up. “When I was praying earlier this morning, the Mother God sent me the message, but I thought I misinterpreted it. Yet half an hour ago, it was finally confirmed that the statue of the God of Storm and the God of Love had cracked, and their priests had also lost the revered power.”
“The Lord of Redemption did it?” Lucien was surprised to see how fast Ell and Francis were taking actions.
Angrist nodded, grinning. “Yes.”
Seeing Angrist’s attitude, Lucien suddenly realized that some of the six false gods had betrayed Their alliance. At least, the Mother God of Earth sure had paid allegiance to Ell. The falling of the two false gods was the proof of the Mother God of Earth’s loyalty to Ell, or Ell and Francis would not have made such huge progress already.
“May the Mother bless us,” said Lucien.
Angrist drew a cross in front of his chest. “Now we should address Her as ‘the Angle of Earth.’”
Angrist’s behavior amused Lucien.
Angrist was not planning to hide the news from the followers. In such tough days, they needed good news to be exhilarated.
Lucien had expected this. He bowed again, smiling sincerely.
After leaving the slum, Lucien changed his look again in the woods beside the river. In the darkness, he returned to the same slum again from another direction. This time, his target was the secret group of Ell’s followers, and his goal was to confirm what he had just been told.
As the previous initiator, Lucien knew the several liaisons in the city of Husum. Lucien got most of his information from them after his faked death.
When he was very close to the slum, Lucien heard someone pacing back and forth in the corner. Lucien turned his sight slightly and saw through the shadow a young man wearing a long linen robe.
No, it was a woman. Lucien’s eyes slightly squinted. The woman in disguise triggered Lucien’s interest.
Lucien had been secretly looking for suspicious outsiders recently, hoping to find a night watcher to get the information he needed. Obviously, the woman was the very target that Lucien would pay special attention to.
Lucien kept walking. He did not stop until he had entered the slum and found a dark corner where no one was present. Lucien then calmed down and cast True Seeing, then he changed his look again and walked out of the slum, pretending that he was in a hurry.
When he returned to the corner where the woman stood, Lucien pretended that he was just taking a casual glance, but his pupils were now deep and dark.
True Seeing was a powerful sixth-circle Astrology spell that allowed its caster to see through illusions, invisibilities, transformations, darkness, obscurity, reflections, secret doors, and a few special dimensions, and its validity depended on the caster’s power. The woman’s rank was much lower than that of Lucien, so her disguise was easily seen through by Lucien. She turned out to be one of Lucien’s acquaintances.
She was Sophia.
Lucien instantly recognized that the woman who looked as innocent and gorgeous as a fairy was Princess Sophia of the Holy Heilz Empire. As soon as Lucien saw her, he recalled her horribly powerful father, Rudolf II, the legendary who undoubtedly had partially touched the secret of the seven ancient demons and primitive gods. It gave Lucien a headache
Thus, when Lucien first recognized Sophia, he immediately gave up the idea of capturing her and interrogating her on the information about the Congress of Magic’s whereabouts. He had learned his lesson last time in the underground palace: It was possible that the mysterious Rudolf II had projected himself on his daughter.
Lucien slightly shook his head and sped up to leave.
Having no idea that she just got lucky, Sophia was still pacing in the corner. Feeling disgusted, she did not want to step into the smelly slum at all.
It was not long before Lucien ran into his second acquaintance after he left the slum. When the man walked out of the woods, Lucien recognized him immediately.
It was Francis!
And Francis walked to the corner where Sophia was at.
Lucien wondered since when Francis and Sophia had hooked up with each other. Lucien’s wondering slowed down his pace, and Francis instantly looked over. Lucien had to restrain his thoughts and keep walking, pretending he was simply passing by. At this time, another man wearing a long linen robe walked out of the slum. He seemed to be gloomy and tyrannical.
Francis kept staring at Lucien’s back until Lucien had walked out far away. Then, he finally looked back and nodded to the man and Sophia.
“Good, both of you’re on time. Let’s go to another place.”
……
After walking for a while, Lucien turned himself into a tiny river fly and flew back to the corner. However, Francis, Sophia, and the man were all gone, and there was no clue left.
Lucien sighed and canceled his plan on visiting Ell’s follower today. He then returned to the place where he lived in the civilian zone.
Closing the windows and turning on the alert magic circles, Lucien ruled out all his thoughts on Francis and Sophia, focusing on only himself. He had to find out where this feeling of freezing coldness came from, or he would be very concerned day and night!
Since the feeling of coldness was very likely to have something to do with the power of evilness and death. Lucien decided to give it a try.
His body was instantly covered with a layer of silver moonlight, and his muscles bulked moderately, forming nice curves. The aura around him became oppressive and tense.
Sixth-circle spell, Baler’s Transformation!
The spell was produced by the sorcerers in the ancient Magic Empire reflecting on their multiple failed attempts on blood powers combination. Baler’s Transformation could transform a sorcerer into a knight of the same level in a period of time, and the power of the knight depended on the caster’s own bloodline. Right now, no matter in terms of his strength, agility, velocity, or his willpower and the ability of dematerialization into moonlight, Lucien was now a real level-six radiant knight.
He took Pale Justice out from his magic pouch, took a few deep breathes, and slowly lifted the sword. But this time, his target was himself.
The ordinary-looking sword contained dreadful power. Before it reached Lucien’s forehead, Lucien’s heart was already beating very fast, and there was a power within his body that was urging him to stop immediately.
At this time, a feeling of coldness and repression came up from Lucien’s left hand and refreshed his mind, strengthening Lucien’s willpower so that he was no longer affected by the deep fear. With great determination, Lucien put the blade against his own forehead and cut in inch by inch.
A sharp pain came from Lucien’s forehead, but he did not stop.
Suddenly, Pale Justice lit up in a metallic color. The power coming from the sword was more than warm and determined. Lucien heard a bitter scream, and his body and soul suddenly became relaxed.
Lucien instantly stopped cutting in. He could clearly feel the sharp, cold blade on his forehead.
Meanwhile, behind Lucien, a distorted pale human face vapored in the air, screaming in agony.
Someone left this in Lucien’s body!
No wonder Ramiro could track Lucien all the way here!
This was by no means a coincidence!
Although Lucien was always very gentle and reserved, he looked quite angry now. Blood dribbled down from his forehead, making him look rather hideous.
The person who did this did not modify Lucien’s memory. Maybe the person was afraid of seeing Lucien’s many weird and absurd thoughts.
After all, what “the Headcrusher” was thinking was very likely to explode other people’s heads at any time.
