Chapter 2104: Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Mist Clears

Baseil City, Wizard Association branch.

On the ancient teleportation array, a white light suddenly flared, and Su Xiao appeared out of thin air, with Bubu Wang, Am, Bahar, and Caesar standing behind him.

Diagonally opposite the teleportation array, behind a wooden rack window set into the stone wall, a large tangle of tree roots lay coiled there.

Crack, crack~

Like the trees themselves moving, a pair of dull, lightless eyes opened from within the roots.

"You've come."

The old wizard seated in the wooden wheelchair spoke with a hoarse voice, the surrounding tree roots surged, he pushed the wheelchair forward, breaking free from the roots, his upper body was no different from an ordinary person's, only his gray-white hair was somewhat sparse, while his legs had been broken off below the thighs.

From the jagged, uneven fragments near the wound, it could be seen that the old wizard's legs were not severed by a sharp weapon, but smashed by some kind of long blunt instrument.

The old wizard's wooden wheelchair pressed down on a mechanism on the ground, the wooden railing before him rapidly rotted and shattered, including the stone wall over a meter high beneath it.

"How is it, Hunter, did the mission go smoothly?"

The old wizard pushed his wooden wheelchair forward into the interior of the Wizard Association branch.

"If I'm not mistaken, you are the previous 'Host'."

Su Xiao gestured for Am to 'help out', Am understood, came behind the old wizard, and helped push his wheelchair.

The old wizard fell silent for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face.

"'Host', a very fitting title, correct, I am the previous Host, if nothing unexpected happens, Nia is the new generation Host, she is far more perfect than I, much closer to 'Its' expectations, and even, 'It' has left ancient god blood within Nia's body, making her more suitable as a vessel, unfortunately, Laurent is too clever."

The old wizard lifted his head forward, gesturing for Am to continue pulling him ahead.

After advancing ten or so meters, the old wizard slapped his hand against the wall, and a dark door rose up.

Am looked at Su Xiao, receiving Su Xiao's approval, and pushed the old wizard into the dark door.

This was a hundred-square-meter secret room, inside were several wooden racks, the racks covered in dust, holding hundreds of crystal hearts.

Su Xiao casually picked up a crystal heart, on it could be seen fine cracks, obviously these were all failures.

Sitting on a wooden crate, Su Xiao lit a cigarette, the old wizard stared at the crystal hearts, his eyes somewhat vacant.

"How did you discover this."

The old wizard, Modus Archid, voiced the doubt in his heart, a bottle of wine suddenly flew over, his eyes lit with joy, he caught it, bit open the wooden stopper, and gulped down several large mouthfuls.

"Ah~ this is still the best."

Modus Archid exhaled a breath of wine vapor, a hint of color appeared on his face.

"I say, you make up for it, if you disagree, I'll twist your head off and use it as a stool to sit on."

Su Xiao exhaled a puff of green smoke from his mouth, Modus Archid is not the final boss, the other side is merely a Host, and moreover, a discarded Host.

"I don't currently know the name of that ancient god, but I can be certain that..."

Just as Su Xiao said this, the old wizard gestured that he had something to say, Su Xiao slightly lifted his chin, gesturing for the other to speak.

"He is Azathoth, a divine spirit from the Unknown Realm, when he first arrived in this world, he was severely wounded, nearly on the brink of death, it is said that in the vast world he originally inhabited, he was merely a 'concept', operating entirely by instinct, but that vast world collapsed, he and the other ancient gods left that vast world, due to the separation of 'realms', he degenerated from a concept god to an ancient god, the ruler Sutoth likewise."

The old wizard drank several more mouthfuls of wine, heartily satisfied.

"Now I understand."

Su Xiao this time thoroughly verified his suspicion.

"If my deduction is correct, Azathoth 'split' due to severe injury, his consciousness and body separated."

"Correct."

The old wizard drank several more mouthfuls of wine, calming down, he clearly knew in his heart, this old lecher telling him so much, he would certainly die here today.

Su Xiao did not directly kill the old wizard, mainly because the other posed no threat, he came merely to confirm where Azathoth's consciousness resided.

According to Su Xiao's speculation, Azathoth's consciousness had been stored many years ago inside a human body, that person was named Modus Alexander, while the old wizard, named Modus Archid.

"'The World's Guardians, we wish to bask in your glory……Modus Alexander (Divine Calendar Year 1157).'"

This is a line inscribed beneath the sculpture of the ancient god Sutoth, and Modus Alexander is the ancestor of the old wizard Modus Archid, he 'believed' in Sutoth, merely to numb Sutoth, not sincerely.

Moreover, the Modus family has actually continued to this day, and split into two branches, one still bearing the surname Modus, the other changed to Maure.

The Immortal Wizard Laurent Maure is a descendant of the Modus family, merely he himself is unaware of it.

The Modus family has two branches, one is Laurent's family, namely the Maure family, the other is the old wizard Archid's family, named the Modus family.

These two branches are both controlled by Azathoth's consciousness, the Modus family is responsible for 'transmitting' Azathoth's consciousness, and on the surface flattering the ruler Sutoth, in reality seeking to use him.

The Maure family is merely a pawn, all of Laurent Maure's actions, including gathering Dawn and Gus, as well as the crusade against the ruler Sutoth, are behind-the-scenes manipulations by Azathoth's consciousness.

Azathoth's purpose is simple, his body and consciousness are separated, his original body is too powerful, and has developed 'bestiality', and will not easily accept his original consciousness.

Therefore Azathoth uses the Maure family to 'oppose' the ruler Sutoth.

And the Immortal Wizard Laurent's first crusade against the ruler Sutoth must certainly fail, this is all arranged, the true focus is to let them cultivate Nia.

From beginning to end, Azathoth does not believe the Maure family can oppose the ruler Sutoth, he merely needs the Maure family to oppose the ancient god, not to win, but to let the Maure family, in the process of opposition, cultivate one who can directly oppose the ancient god, this is the key.

When such a person capable of opposing the ancient god appears, Azathoth will store himself within that person's body, to contend with his own body, needing no victory, only to fight for a time, he can then return to his true body, restoring to the strength he had when he first entered this world.

When Dawn cultivated Nia, Azathoth saw hope, Hope's Light Nia, upon hearing this title now, it carries a different meaning.

Azathoth was just preparing to occupy Nia's body, when Laurent, who had long been used, stepped forward, he had been pretending, waiting for this moment, truly deserving the title of defeated side's MVP.

The behind-the-scenes boss Azathoth overturned, Nia successfully left the Wizard Association, to go oppose the ruler Sutoth, even though she appeared due to one conspiracy after another, she fulfilled her mission battle.

Nia fought until the final moment, this clever girl also discovered something, so she left a string of small characters: 'Mission is destiny.'

Azathoth did not become angry to the point of losing composure, he chose to continue waiting, waiting for the next Nia to appear.

However, the second Nia has not yet appeared, the Anti-Mage arrived, Azathoth's mindset underwent some change, this can be judged from another matter.

It sounds complicated, but is actually simple, Azathoth, due to severe injury, had his consciousness and body split, because his body developed bestiality, so he needs to store himself in a relatively strong body, moreover one qualified to fight ancient gods, to fight his own body, thereby reclaiming it.

Or put another way, without Azathoth's consciousness protecting her, Nia could not have grown to that extent, would have long been detected by the ruler Sutoth.

The Modus family knows this secret, but they will never speak of it, the Maure family remains unaware, struggling in vain while being used.

Laurent, Dawn, and Gus were all used, their resistance was already arranged, or rather, the White Goat, Sutoth, and Bestial Azathoth are allies, while Azathoth's consciousness is another faction.

The heart of the Grieving Maiden was crafted by the old wizard Shus Archid; at that time, he was under the control of Azathoth, and that crystal heart was actually an emergency device—unfortunately, it had already been destroyed by Su Xiao.

After the Grieving Maiden had the crystal heart installed, she would lie—this was natural, for at that time, the puppet had already been controlled.

And the resistance of Laurent, Dawn, Gus, and Nia was not meaningless; this world became what it is, unrelated to Azathoth's consciousness, indeed caused by the Sovereign Sotos and the 'White Goat'.

"You actually became the guide of the Reincarnation Paradise in this world, Shus Archid."

After Su Xiao simply narrated, he looked at Shus Archid with a satisfied smile.

The old wizard Shus Archid's old face twitched, for he felt that this time, someone more terrifying than Azathoth's consciousness had arrived.

"I am now just a doddering old man; I will not violate the Reincarnation Paradise's regulations, becoming a guide is not strange, but……how does this wine have such a strange taste?"

The old wizard glanced at the empty wine bottle in his hand, then looked toward Su Xiao.

"That is not wine; I call it solution t49_37, colloquially speaking, the 'energy-based toxic manifestation solution'."

Upon hearing Su Xiao's words, the old wizard froze—he had actually previously thought Su Xiao would poison the wine, but now upon seeing, the bastard had outright not given him wine to drink, but instead gave him a bottle of deadly poison with the same mouthfeel as strong liquor.

Poisoning the wine? Efficiency too low—directly giving the enemy pure poison to drink is the sure method.