Chapter 589: Fooling

Hearing the young man's words, the "Bard" felt as if blood was rushing straight to his head.

Spending over a thousand years just to shape a rule that appeared valid on the surface to fool people?

What kind of boring antique con artist is this!

The "Bard" blurted out:

"Are the patterns on the altar and the surrounding layout also fake?"

The young man wearing the deep blue assistant priest robes chuckled:

"If they weren't real, would you have been fooled?

"Besides, I occasionally go out, and at those times, it takes my place to grant the power of 'Theft.' Of course, based on the spirituality generated by the surrounding worshippers, it really can only grant it once a year."

By the end, the smile on the young man's face was even more obvious.

The "Bard" felt the veins on his forehead throbbing; he felt he had been mocked.

According to the other party's claim that they could grant the power of "Theft" whenever they wanted, the "Ring of the Sea Queen" should have been complete and possessed all its functions. Then why was the success of the Sea Prayer Ceremony delayed for so long?

The "Bard" couldn't understand what the situation was anymore. He turned around and sprinted toward the exit.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered begging for mercy and surrendering on the spot, but those things could be done later. Right now, he wanted to gamble—to gamble that the other party's "occasionally go out" was a lie and that they were essentially trapped in the altar, unable to go anywhere or influence the people around them. In this situation, if he were intimidated and didn't dare to escape, he would instead fall into the other party's trap, equivalent to being cheated out of his freedom and future.

Thump, thump, thump. The "Bard" reached the stairs in a few steps and ran up.

The further he ran, the more joyful he became, because the young man wearing the monocle didn't make any attempt to stop him.

"I bet right!

"He is the core of that altar; he can't leave at all!"

Thump, thump, thump. The scene of the first floor reflecting the sunlight appeared in the "Bard's" eyes.

Amidst his wild joy, his thoughts suddenly shattered, feeling only the surrounding darkness being pierced by light, shattering into piece after piece.

The "Bard" sat up with a start, discovering with lingering fear that he was lying in that servant's room in the "Viceroy of the Sea's" mansion and hadn't left at all.

He looked around and heard the cheers and salute sounds from outside.

"Was I just dreaming? Did the dream come from a spiritual warning, letting me discover that the plan had problems?" The "Bard" had just developed these two thoughts when he immediately discarded the corresponding judgment. "No, how could I have fallen asleep when the Sea Prayer Ceremony was being held? Did I start dreaming after hearing faint footsteps in the room?"

The "Bard" flipped over and stood up, shouldered his backpack, and tentatively pushed open the bedroom door, entering the corridor.

He wasn't as smug now that he didn't have to take too much risk in the entire plan and didn't need to engage in combat with anyone, because this meant that in the distribution of items, he couldn't get special treatment; he couldn't directly "teleport" away, nor was it easy to change back to his original appearance or disguise himself as someone else.

Arriving in the corridor, the "Bard" saw the "Little Devils" all detaching from the shadows, jumping in strange dances to celebrate.

He didn't "communicate" with these sea kin, knowing their intelligence level was roughly equivalent to ordinary dogs; they could be tamed and driven but couldn't communicate directly. But miraculously, the "Little Devils" had the ability to record and reproduce human speech, only they didn't know what it meant themselves. Moreover, they could accept signals transmitted by collaborators, as long as both parties were within a hundred-meter range.

The "Little Devils" also ignored the "Bard," because the Sea Prayer Ceremony had already succeeded. According to the prior agreement, this fake "Viceroy of the Sea" could leave on his own.

The "Bard" exited the "Viceroy of the Sea's" mansion and discovered that the guards at the entrance weren't kneeling to thank for the gift like "before," and the Milo Village villagers at the pier were the same. Except for a very small number who were genuinely shouting "The Sea Prayer Ceremony is a success," others were just following the trend to shout a few times to express their joy. By comparison, they preferred setting off salutes.

Sure enough, that was a dream before; the villagers' reactions in the dream were too exaggerated... One had to know that according to the experience of past Sea Prayer Ceremonies, only the commissioners of the Fishery Guild and a few people with thick sea bloodlines could sense the arrival of the sea's gift. Other sea bloodline holders wouldn't have any substantial physical sensation, and it would only be after a period of time that they would slowly discover they had become a bit stronger, or the change was too weak to ever be noticed. If it weren't for this, the failure of last year's Sea Prayer Ceremony couldn't have been hidden from the citizens of Sangtagang and would only have circulated within the core circle... The "Bard" used the scene environment to quickly determine the essence of what he had encountered.

He didn't dare to relax, nor did he "go again" to the pier to admire the villagers being fooled, turning directly toward the road leading to the Sangtagang city area.

Just after walking out of the ancient village, the "Bard" saw a person turning out from ahead.

That person was over two meters four tall, wearing a simple and plain linen robe with an attached hood, holding a thick magic wand in his hand.

"'Gandalf'..." The "Bard's" heart tightened, and he shouted out.

With the dream just now and now being blocked, he thought he had already been exposed, so he didn't put on any performance.

The president of the "Curly-Haired Baboons Research Society," "Gandalf," paused for a moment and let out a low laugh:

"You really are a fake."

He, he isn't sure of my identity? The "Bard" froze for a moment, wishing he could slap himself.

…………

Inside the submarine, in a room like a metal honeycomb.

After Mr. K failed to catch the "Mad Woman" twice in a row, his body suddenly became massive, instantly reaching nearly three meters tall.

That is to say, he wasn't wearing actual clothing right now; the blood-colored cloak on his body was transformed from his own flesh. Otherwise, just with this sudden change, even the loosest robe would have been torn apart directly.

At the same time, Mr. K's skin became deep black and dull, as if it had turned into thick and hard armor. On his head, curved goat horns covered in evil patterns grew out, and behind him was a pair of giant bat-like wings wrapped in crimson-tinged blue flames.

A thick smell of sulfur dissipated along with it.

As a Sequence 5 "Shepherd" of the "Secrets Supplicant" pathway, Mr. K's core ability was "Herding," which allowed him to swallow the souls of others mixed with Beyonder characteristics or gifted powers into his body and drive them in a unique way, just like herding lambs for a god.

Each "Shepherd" could herd up to seven souls, but could only drive one at a time. In that state, the "Shepherd" could only use their own Beyonder abilities and three abilities of the corresponding soul—this was chosen by oneself when first "herding" and could not be changed once determined.

The most terrifying thing about "Shepherds" was that they could "herd" spirits that had reached the demigod level. Such "Shepherds" could completely fight against saints for a period of time.

Mr. K was currently using the "Demon" he was herding. He had originally chosen the three abilities: "Demon Transformation," "Sulfur Fireball," and "Magma Sword."

The reason he didn't want the "Demon's" most representative "Danger Intuition" was because Mr. K felt that it could only function when he was driving the spirit of the "Demon," and normally he couldn't keep "Herding" active all the time. Anyway, if there were any very great danger, the god would give revelations. If the god didn't give any, then it must be that he had done something wrong and needed to accept punishment.

Accompanied by the unfolding of the pair of giant bat wings behind Mr. K, masses of pale blue fireballs condensed, numbering at least a dozen or twenty.

They bombarded every corner of this metal honeycomb indiscriminately, forming a full-coverage state to deal with the "Mad Woman" who was "flashing" everywhere.

Rumble!

Explosions mixed with fire and poison raged, cracking the metal honeycomb cells and tearing apart organisms like the Batins black worms and "Little Devils" that were still gestating.

The "Mad Woman" had already stopped when the "Sulfur Fireballs" were just condensing.

Wearing a blood-colored dress, with masses of pure flesh on her face, an illusory, slowly flipping book appeared in her eyes, and faint chanting sounds rang out around her.

She pulled out a dagger, suddenly knelt on one knee, and stabbed the dagger into the metal floor of the honeycomb.

Dawn-like light floated up, forming a near-invisible wall around her.

Rumble!

The shockwaves generated by the "Sulfur Fireball" explosions and the pale blue fireballs carrying poison slapped against that invisible barrier wave after wave, making it sway, yet it remained standing.

This was the "Guardian" of the "Warrior" Sequence 5.

—"Record" was the core ability of the "Apprentice" pathway Sequence 6 "Recorder," which could "record" others' abilities to use. A record could only be used once. "Recorders" could even "record" Beyonder abilities possessing divine influence, but they were extremely rare, and the probability of a successful "record" was very low.

When the aftermath of the explosion receded, Mr. K, wearing a blood-colored cloak and looking like a giant demon, held a giant sword composed of crimson magma and pale blue flames, ran two steps to the "Mad Woman," and slashed down.

The near-invisible wall around the "Mad Woman" could no longer support itself and finally shattered completely. And as the illusory book in her eyes flipped, this woman, who wasn't very tall, had a heavy, sharp "Sword of Dawn" in her hand.

She waved her dual light swords upward with a face full of excitement.

Clang!

With only the "Sword of Dawn" and lacking the "Warrior" physique and strength, the "Mad Woman" was sent flying by Mr. K's sword.

Although Mr. K didn't expect that the other party would insist on trading blows with him despite clearly lacking sufficient melee ability, the rhythm of the battle wasn't affected at all. He took a large stride to catch up and swung the magma giant sword again.

Pfft. The "Mad Woman" he slashed suddenly thinned, degenerating into a paper figurine ignited by sulfur flames.

"Paper Figurine Substitute"!

The "Mad Woman" appeared beside a destroyed metal honeycomb cell, the illusory book in her eyes flipping again.

She then opened her arms, letting a pure, magnificent, and scorching pillar of light descend from the sky, falling toward Mr. K, who had slashed the paper figurine with one sword.

"Divine Light" of the "Priest of Light"!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 590 =====