Chapter 2589 The Black Count's Odd Behaviour <TOC> Chapter 2591 Mural
Translator: SumTLMan
As the Black Count’s voice fell, the gaze that had already shifted away from Angel now refocused on him.
The fact that the Elder’s subordinates could impersonate a Demon God implied that, at the very least, they possessed power comparable to that of a Demon God. Moreover, Angel had not only encountered one of the Elder’s subordinates but had also obtained information about the Elder from them!
It was almost like hearing a fairytale about a giant who chats with an ant at his feet and then walks away without crushing it.
Such plots could only exist in fairytales.
Yet now, the fairytale had indeed stepped into reality.
The silence spread as everyone’s gaze turned towards Angel.
Angel, this time, let everyone’s gaze survey him and refused to speak any further. With Angel not initiating conversation, others found it hard to press him, especially since it involved his privacy and was entirely unrelated to today’s theme.
After about half a minute of tense silence, finally, someone broke it.
“Why would the Elder’s subordinate impersonate a Demon God? Is it just for that ‘artifact’ stolen by a ‘thief’?” asked Kael.
“To develop a group of followers for an external object, and even secretly build a church beneath an extraordinary city?” Daus shook his head: “Most importantly, is it possible for a thief to steal an artifact from a Demon God-level being from the Abyss? The more you hear, the less plausible it seems.”
“Then… why would they do this?” asked Kael, puzzled.
Daus: “Whether they’re really an Elder’s subordinate acting as one, remains a question.”
Daus’ casual remark yet caught both Angel and the Black Count’s attention.
Their previous assumption that the Demon God hailed from the Abyss and might be one of the Elder’s subordinates was entirely based on the supposed identity of “Demon God.”
But what if they weren’t a “Demon God”?
Outer gods and primitive gods generally wouldn’t dare to meddle with the Abyss, nor would they frame the Abyss, because the nature of their powers differs. And as for evil gods, they don’t even care about their kind, so why would they care about an external object?
The most likely possibilities now are twofold: First, the “Demon God of Mirrors” comes from the Abyss and has transformed into a Demon God for some purpose.
This possibility requires a premise: the Demon God of Mirrors must possess power at least equivalent to that of a Demon God, because various Demon Gods have developed followers within the Wizarding World. These followers, each with their faith, have formed a gray network of interactions among major Demon Gods. If the followers of the Demon God of Mirrors encounter followers of other Demon Gods and are not exposed, then the Demon God of Mirrors they follow must possess Demon God-level power, or have a powerful enough background that other Demon Gods dare not expose him… such as an Elder, or the Elder’s subordinate.
Meanwhile, the Demon God of Mirrors also needs to have some means of a Demon God, such as communicating with followers from afar, granting miracles with their true name, etc. After all, those who are transcendent are not fools; without seeing any benefits, they wouldn’t be swayed by an unknown Demon God.
Secondly, the other party does not hail from the Abyss but from the Wizarding World, posing as a Demon God.
Because who knows wizards better than wizards themselves?
As long as this prominent figure from the Wizarding World has sufficient power, it is easy for him to prevent his followers from coming into contact with other circles of Demon God followers. As for things like mental communication and various miracle deceptions, they can be explained… The study of Demon Gods is most thorough among wizards; haven’t wizards borrowed power from Demon Gods? Runes and inscriptions, their original prototypes, all come from the Abyss. So, creating similar abilities is not difficult for a wizard of the Wizarding World.
Both possibilities are plausible. Regardless of which might be true, flaws can be identified.
For instance, in the second possibility, if it truly was a wizard of the Wizarding World doing this, why would they pose as a Demon God to have their followers do this? If they could cover the sky with one hand, secretly constructing an underground church beneath the extraordinary city, why resort to such stealthy actions? As for blaming a Demon God… why blame a Demon God that nobody has ever heard of?
Moreover, if they wanted some “holy artifacts,” wouldn’t they just steal it themselves?
At present, both guesses are possible. There might even be a third possibility they haven’t thought of.
Angel himself was so troubled by these thoughts that he eventually sighed: “Let it be, let’s not fuss over the identity of the Demon God of Mirrors for now. Our destination this time might not even be closely related to them.”
As soon as Angel’s words fell, a familiar voice of contradiction arose: “Don’t be so sure so soon, the things you think impossible in this world are often quite possible.”
Naturally, the speaker was Daus.
Angel looked at Daus speechlessly and helplessly; after a long while, he sighed deeply: “If you hadn’t said that, I feel like it might not happen.”
Daus: “Are you subtly calling me a jinx?”
Angel: “Glad you understand.”
After finishing, Angel stood up, turned his head to look at the others: “Let’s go, let’s look elsewhere. If there are any true marks of the Demon God of Mirrors or his followers… do not overlook them.”
With that, Angel glanced at Daus, hoping that his words would not turn out to be prophetic or come true.
Invoking the “Demon God of Mirrors,” whether a true or false Demon God, is always a significant trouble.
After Angel left, Daus immediately caught up with him and began to speak of things like “Events destined to happen won’t change just because I speak of them, this isn’t being a jinx, it’s breaking through illusions.”
After finishing, Daus, somewhat proudly, whispered in Angel’s ear: “You called me a jinx earlier, were you scared by my intuition?”
Angel stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at Daus.
Daus patted Angel on the shoulder, then pounded his own chest, making a gesture of brotherhood: “Don’t worry, I didn’t have any inspiration just now. I was just sharing some theories I have, the ones I just discussed with you.”
By saying this, you make people even less reassured. Angel sighed silently in his heart, really wanting to point out the truth that Daus’ inspiration was actually at play all along, but revealing this might cause Daus to miss the opportunity.
The words that surged to his lips were ultimately swallowed back, and Angel softly called out: “Dangros.”
Dangros, sensing the bond, immediately jumped onto Angel’s shoulder, and smoked the spot where Daus had just patted with fiery heat.
“What’s this…”
“Nothing, just some dirt on the shoulder.” Angel finished speaking and walked away with large, meteoric strides.
Daus watched Angel’s retreating figure, quietly staring at his own hands, muttering: “Dirt?”
…
After exiting the transfer station, the group arrived at the “second floor” lobby.
This area, compared to the first floor, showed more obvious signs of being plundered. Even the walls bore handprints, although very shallow, likely made by later visitors probing the magic formations within the walls.
The group quickly completed their search, empty-handed as usual.
They were used to this, after all, considering the several millennia that had passed, it was nearly impossible for any treasures to have remained.
Only Kael was somewhat disheartened, the reason being that he had discovered a piece of Starshine Stone large enough to serve as a theater curtain.
Such a large piece of Starshine Stone must have been a beautiful mural in the past, and if still extant, would be a valuable historical resource.
But now, the Starshine Stone was blank, nothing visible on it.
Kael explored ruins because he enjoyed the process and uncovering the hidden and interesting events in history. Seeing murals that were once within easy reach, yet missed due to being born at the wrong time, naturally left him disheartened.
“The quality of Starshine Stones varies; perhaps we’ll come across one that hasn’t faded soon,” Daus consoled him.
The consolation from others was just that, consolation. But Daus’ consolation was blessed!
Instantly, Kael’s spirits were lifted: “Then let’s continue upwards, the higher levels are clearly of a higher class. Maybe there we’ll find a colorful Starshine Stone!”
With that, Kael walked eagerly to the staircase, looking at Angel with hopeful eyes.
Angel didn’t speak but responded with his actions. He took large steps forward and with a simple “Let’s go,” he stepped onto the staircase leading to the third floor.
Upon reaching the third floor, they felt a difference.
Instead of a corridor, they appeared directly in a large hall.
The hall on this level was much larger than the halls on the two floors below. The reason was simple: this floor consisted only of this hall, and the view from the windows looked out onto the exterior alleyways, not a corridor.
There was also a spiral staircase on one side of the hall, and a cold, damp breeze was blowing up from it.
The group immediately used their mental power to investigate and discovered that there was just one door at the top of the staircase, and beyond it was the exit. The breeze was indeed coming from outside.
“It’s truly typical of an underground labyrinth for the exit to be so uniquely isolated,” Daus remarked.
“Finding the exit is good news,” Angel said: “Let’s explore this hall before we leave.”
The hall had been ransacked, but many cabinets were left behind, scattered in disarray. The first thing the group checked was these cabinets.
They weren’t expecting to find anything good, just some information similar to the fragments of the altar found on the second floor would suffice.
However, after rummaging and sweeping the area multiple times with their mental power, they found no traces worth investigating.
Just as the group was about to give up in disappointment, Kael’s voice suddenly called out: “Over here, this way!”
They looked in the direction of Kael, who was standing beside a desk on one side of the hall. Behind the desk, a square piece of blank Starshine Stone was embedded in the wall.
“What’s up, did you find something?” Angel approached.
Kael crouched down, tilting his head to look along the edge of the stone’s frame: “Lord, look, isn’t there a bit of color here?”
Following Kael’s direction, Angel bent down and looked closely.
Indeed, in one corner of the frame, a slight streak of grayish-black was detected.
Angel touched it with his finger, no powder fell off, it wasn’t dust or a bloodstain caught in the crevice.
Angel pondered for a moment and said: “It does seem like color, but why here at the edge?”
Kael hardly hesitated before responding: “Could there be a painting hidden behind this?”
From the speed of Kael’s response and his excited tone, it was evident he had entertained this idea for a while and was now eager for confirmation.
Angel’s conversation also drew the attention of the others, but with Kael and Angel already in front of the stone, they had to rely on their mental power to see.
Through the perspective of mental power, they indeed saw the grayish-black streak. However, they couldn’t see the back of the Starshine Stone.
Though Starshine Stone wasn’t considered a particularly remarkable material, it was still extraordinary and embedded within a wall carved with a magic formation, so it was normal for mental power to not penetrate it.
“Is there a painting behind it?” Angel murmured: “Let’s dismantle it and see.”
While he spoke of dismantling, removing this piece of Starshine Stone wasn’t going to be easy. They had to avoid the magic formation behind it, so an inspection of the magic formation’s condition was necessary.
Since mental power couldn’t directly penetrate, observing the magic formation required a more circuitous approach.
Angel began to wander around the grand hall, searching for exposed runes while sensing the routes of energy transmission within each rune.
While Angel was busy cracking the magic formation, the others idly chatted nearby.
Truth be told, they couldn’t help even if they wanted to. They simply laid back and started a bet on whether there really was a painting behind the Starshine Stone or if it was all for nothing.
But the betting never kicked off because Daus was the initiator, and the only participants were Kael and Vai, both of whom bet that there was a painting.
They weren’t fools; just earlier, Daus had offhandedly mentioned that they might encounter Starshine Stones that Retained Colors.
And now, here they were.
As for the Black Count, he flew out along the staircase but didn’t go far, lingering near the doorway as if sensing something.
About five minutes later, Angel returned to the front of the Starshine Stone.
“The quality of this Starshine Stone cannot withstand most of the runes in this magic formation, so there shouldn’t be many important runes behind it. The only thing to note is that I sensed two energy conduits have been cut off; it seems the energy-transmitting runes were embedded within the Starshine Stone itself.”
After Angel finished speaking, Daus immediately asked: “Then, is there a way to bypass these two energy…”
Before Daus could finish, Angel turned around and said: “No need to bypass, I’ve already prepared an external formation disc, and now we should be able to pry this Starshine Stone out.”
Angel completed his explanation and gestured “please” to Daus.
Although prying out the Starshine Stone was a simple task, he just couldn’t stand Daus leisurely watching from the sidelines with a cold eye. So, let Daus do the physical work.
Chapter 2589 The Black Count's Odd Behaviour <TOC> Chapter 2591 Mural