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"The one revealed in the Spirit World mist should be the legendary 'Specter Empire' that can be juxtaposed with the Death's treasure…" As this thought surfaced, Klein immediately felt his entire body relax, and the oppressive feeling, like a bone stuck in his throat, dissipated.
Behind him, a series of gasps sounded in perfect synchronicity, and the previously silent "Blue Avenger" finally gradually filled with whispers.
After listening intently for a while, Klein sighed inwardly, having gained no useful information. Looking at the shore, which was not far away, he was about to signal Danitz to leave with him when his gaze suddenly froze.
In the dense forest on the shore, at some unknown point, swings woven from pea vines appeared, and a tall woman wearing a white Intis-style shirt and a dark black jacket sat upon one of them.
She had an exceptionally uninhibited temperament, yet wore an old-fashioned black soft hat, with fine mesh gauze draped down to obscure her face, revealing only her deep blue and profound eyes.
Such a peculiar and strange outfit stood out even among pirates, whose dressing styles were unconventional, not to mention those vines that seemed to possess life.
Yet, not only the ordinary pirates of common strength, but even "Admiral of Stars" Cattleya and "King of the Five Seas" Nast, who had previously entered the depths of the island, seemed not to have noticed.
And even without seeing her face, as soon as his gaze met those eyes as deep as the ocean, a name involuntarily surfaced in Klein's mind:
"Queen Mystic Bernadette!"
His tensed body slowly relaxed, and Klein imperceptibly let out a breath. One of his purposes in attending this pirate gathering was to meet this eldest daughter of Emperor Roselle.
No matter what happened in the Sea of Ruins east of the Sonia Sea, Klein was certain that no ship would be willing to take him there at this moment.
The last hope of finding other possible mermaids could only rely on Bernadette, who had been active at sea for over a hundred years and had even established a secret organization like Oravi Island.
"Morning Star! The King of Morning Star who killed the 'King of Immortality' Agalito is also here!"
A series of exclamations interrupted Klein's thoughts. Following his spiritual intuition, Klein subconsciously looked towards the sea in the direction of Sonia Island. A massive ship, several times larger than the "Future" and only slightly smaller than the "Black Emperor," was steadily advancing through the waves.
But what truly caught Klein's attention was not the enormous hull, but the wave-like patterns carved on its surface. These were extremely similar, or rather, directly descended from, some of the patterns Klein had seen in the murals of Kalvetua's underwater palace.
Ancient Elven ghost ship… As this thought arose in his mind, Klein heard Danitz, who had walked to his side, click his tongue:
"As expected of a expert who could take the head of the 'King of Immortality' Agalito directly to Bayam and successfully claim the bounty right in front of the Church of the Lord of Storms's Sea King!"
Hearing Danitz's words, Alger's expression subtly changed, and his mood became somewhat strange, but the eyes of the crew members behind him, who secretly believed in the Lord of Storms, all turned unfriendly.
If you can't speak, then don't speak… Silently sending this thought to Danitz, Klein, maintaining the persona of a ruthless adventurer of few words, directly grabbed the still-bewildered Danitz and, using the Clown's ability, leaped from the deck to the shore.
The hostile gazes vanished. Danitz, now steady on his feet, finally realized what had happened and coughed dryly:
"Uh, the people on that ghost ship just now aren't all followers of the Storm, are they?"
Does a question from a captive need to be answered? Klein expressed his answer through his actions.
Danitz, left to the side, took a deep breath, silently recited Emperor Roselle's maxim "A moment's impatience can ruin a great plan" several times, then pretended to be busy and began to chat and exchange information with other pirates.
Scanning the forest where he had just discovered Bernadette back and forth, Klein retracted his gaze with some disappointment. In just an instant, everything he had seen seemed to have vanished like a bubble; Queen Mystic was already nowhere to be found.
"This eldest daughter of Roselle must have noticed me, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to discover her whereabouts just now…"
With this thought, Klein looked back at the sea. Due to the limited view from the island, only a portion of the originally massive Morning Star could be seen, but he still noticed two figures leaping out from it.
"That giant should be the King of Morning Star, and as for that elf, this aura… There are actually two demigods!"
Klein's pupils trembled slightly. "Rusco's Eye" had completely absorbed Kalvetua's divinity and was now dissolved within his body, making him extremely sensitive to the unique aura of beings who had obtained divinity. He instantly made his judgment inwardly.
He was silent for a moment, then looked at Danitz, who was approaching him with a surprised expression, having apparently inquired about some news, and coldly asked:
"How much was the bounty for the 'King of Immortality' Agalito, who was killed last year?"
Danitz was stunned for a moment, looking at this mad adventurer with a strange expression, and honestly replied:
"The last bounty for Agalito before he was successfully hunted down last year was 100,000 pounds…"
Then he excitedly began to recount the information he had just exchanged:
"Among the existing Pirate Kings, only Queen Mystic is absent. Among the Pirate admirals, only 'Vice Admiral Ailment,' who disappeared a few weeks ago, and my captain are not here."
"So many Pirate Kings and Pirate admirals gathered together definitely counts as the grandest pirate gathering in recent decades; there will definitely be many good things appearing!"
Queen Mystic is already here, you just don't know it… Klein glanced at the somewhat excited Danitz and estimated that he currently only had a little over 2,000 pounds that he could use. If he encountered truly good items, it would probably be difficult to purchase them.
"The Sailor Pathway should be the most common Sequence among these pirates. The mid- and low-Sequence Beyonder characteristics of the Storm Pathway precipitated from the loyal believers who died in Kalvetua's underwater palace can be sold at this opportunity…"
After some deliberation, Klein touched the human skin glove on his right hand and walked towards the depths of the island first.
-----------------
In the Astral World, composed of various abstract authorities, Aaron's figure quietly emerged. He glanced at the initial barrier, which refracted the vast Cosmos like a prism, and decisively dispelled "Wandering," returning to the real world.
The Evernight Goddess did not react much to Adam obtaining "Groselle's Travels," only reminding Aaron to restrain the Abraham family members who believed in the "Lord of Order" so that they would not become a breach for the Mother Goddess of Depravity's erosion.
As for Lilith, who was disguised as the Earth Mother, her attitude was even more obvious and direct: as long as Aaron could retrieve a certain item from the depths of the Eternal Darkness Plain, she would be willing to cooperate with Aaron to obtain the Sequence 1 Hand of Order characteristic from the Castiya family.
Returning to Osel, the capital of East Tucker County, Aaron met the complex-looking Varna Weil in the ancestral underground hall.
As the true source of the existing Trunsoest remnant bloodline, after the "Specter Empire" emerged and re-interacted with the Spirit World, this Weather Warlock almost instantly received feedback, and his anchor became even more stable.
"Except for those naturally mythical beings, a twenty-year-old Angel is unheard of, even in more ancient times!"
Looking at this junior who had just advanced and whose aura was even deeper and more terrifying than his own, Varna Weil slowly stood up from the Black Iron Throne, his tone proud yet mixed with a hint of complexity.
Aaron smiled, and in his hand appeared the strange crown, much of its rust and bloodstains having fallen off. He said softly:
"George III's ritual to advance to Black Emperor has probably been mostly completed. He is at least a King of Angels now."
"The emergence of the 'Specter Empire' at this time, who knows what changes it will bring, and even if I used the Nation of Disorder to disrupt my aura, He will certainly feel that a Balancer was born simultaneously in the Sea of Ruins."
"That Blasphemer knows my true identity, so we must quickly increase our strength and prepare for the worst."
Looking at Varna Weil, whose expression had turned serious, Aaron pushed the Conqueror characteristic in his hand over, finally adding:
"The pollution from the River of Eternal Darkness contained within this characteristic has been removed. The remaining spiritual imprint of Tudor is still very strong, but now your anchor is also more stable than before. You can try to gradually adapt to this characteristic by using that Red Priest card."
"Adam's desired future trend is a world-sweeping war, and this is also the fastest time for the Red Priest Pathway to advance."
Varna Weil took the strange crown, feeling the rich, murderous iron-blood aura and the unwilling, resentful roars of anger. Silver light flickered in his brown eyes, and he said in a deep voice:
"I will do my best to cooperate with you with the matters in the Southern Continent!"
After leaving behind the method for secretly traveling to the Sanguine holy land, "Moon Kingdom," Aaron briefly recounted everything that had happened in the Sea of Ruins and then directly teleported away.
The rich, colorful blocks faded from his eyes. Stepping out of the Spirit World, Aaron arrived in the hall of an ancient castle, simple in style and with architectural features distinctly different from the current styles of the Northern Continent countries.
Even though it was old-fashioned, it was extremely well-preserved, though the murals faintly carved on the black-based walls were indistinguishable after the erosion of time.
This was the very place where Azik had fallen into slumber to recover after being ambushed by High Priest Haiter of the Numinous Episcopate in the Backlund Spirit World region!
Unlike his previous visit, the aura of Death here had become even stronger, and thin gray mist spread from the deepest part of the hall, ebbing and flowing as if a Monster was breathing.
As a complete mythical creature, even without the boost from the Nation of Disorder, Aaron was a genuine Balancer. After sublimating his own nascent Divine Kingdom, wherever He stood, rules and order would be affected.
As if sensing danger, the various coffins of different shapes and colors placed on both sides of the hall suddenly made some sounds, like rusted joints opening one by one.
Silently, white bones emerged from each coffin, gushing like a fountain into the air, forming a dense, nearly four-meter-tall giant skeleton army.
Soul fires flickered violently in their hollow eye sockets, but these messengers nurtured by Azik did not retreat; instead, they charged fearlessly towards Aaron.
The air, permeated with thin black mist, rippled. A certain rule was quietly terminated by decree, and the hundreds of white bone messengers, each at least at the mid-sequence level, that rushed towards Aaron instantly disintegrated into individual bones, falling into the Death-filled hall.
Aaron easily controlled these undead creatures, but he did not extinguish their soul bodies, as he was here to cooperate with Azik.
Aaron walked past the hall filled with white bones, ignoring the coffins in the deeper parts that continuously made strange noises, and proceeded to the end of the hall.
There, a pure black coffin, adorned with pale feathers, was placed. This was also the source of all yin power, absorbing the rich black mist imbued with Death.
Aaron observed for a while. What was reflected in his crimson-gold pupils was not the black coffin, but abstract, complex symbols, fused with the power that connected to the Underworld, subtly forming the image of a coiled feathered serpent.
This feathered serpent's image was incomplete; even though the face resembled Azik Eggers, there was an ancient, gold-crafted ornament within it.
Its appearance was like a slender bird, surrounded by wings made of pale flames. Inside its bronze-colored eyes, light layered upon layer, forming a mysterious and illusory Door. This was the source of the black mist that permeated the entire hall!
"It seems that even if I didn't come this time, you would have awakened on your own within a month at the latest…" Aaron chuckled, and a drop of pure black liquid appeared in his hand, as if condensed from the deepest night sky.
The fundamental reason Azik had to fall into slumber under the ambush of the half-crippled High Priest of the Numinous Episcopate, Haiter, was that Haiter had invoked the power of the Artificial Death.
That half of the soul, fused with the Death Pathway's Uniqueness, interfered with the fusion of Azik's incomplete soul and the golden ornament left by Death. The drop of soul-calming power gifted by the Evernight Goddess could temporarily eliminate that influence, allowing Azik to awaken from his slumber.
Casually dispelling the thick black mist, Aaron directly flicked the drop of pure black liquid towards the feathered serpent at the deepest part of the abstract and complex symbols that formed the black coffin.
Those illusory symbols, lingering with Death, finally merged into the feathered serpent, transforming into the bronze-skinned Azik. He suddenly opened his eyes, his brown eyes deep and profound, as if connected to a silent, dark world.
The black coffin instantly shattered. Azik stood in place, grabbing at the air with his right hand. All the underdeveloped white feathers scattered throughout the hall flew out, gathered into a ball, and fell into his palm.
Azik simply squeezed gently, and these strange feathers vanished, seemingly becoming food for the desolate world in his eyes.
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