Chapter 2663 Younus <TOC> Chapter 2665 The Wise One Overthinks
Translator: SumTLMan
On the other side, in front of the entrance to the Hanging Prison Stairs, everyone was gathered around the statue in the fountain.
“This little peeing boy looks a lot creepier than the one you conjured up with illusions before,” Daus remarked.
Previously, Angel had used an illusion to simulate a statue of a cute, naked little boy. He had a slightly mischievous air, as if playing a prank while holding his little bird. A stream of water sprayed from there, arcing into the crystal-clear fountain. Although the pose looked a bit strange, it was, after all, just a little boy, so even though he was naked, no one had any lewd thoughts. By virtue of the masterful carving, the child’s playfulness, innocence, and purity were presented so vividly that it could elicit a warm smile from onlookers.
However, the little peeing boy statue before them was entirely different. The skin of the boy’s face was originally fashioned from lustrous, flesh-toned glass, but most of that glass coating had peeled off, leaving behind irregular white-and-black patches. It looked like bruising left by a beating. The child’s once-playful smile had also become sinister thanks to these splotches. Formerly, it suggested innocence and mischievousness; now, it was a malicious smirk, especially with that foul, murky black water spraying out of his bird. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the statue Angel had manifested earlier.
“Time changes many things, so a little transformation is normal,” Vai observed: “Besides, we previously guessed that the woman’s statue might be some sort of Goddess of the Court of Justice, representing judgment, while the little boy’s statue represents slaughter. Now that it looks so grim, doesn’t it seem more like the embodiment of punishment?”
Daus slung an arm around Vai’s shoulders and spoke into his ear, baring his teeth: “You made a passable point about time and change, but that last bit is nonsense. You even managed to drag that angle into this, have you been influenced by Angel?”
The final words were spoken so softly it was almost a whisper, but no one here was ordinary, so all of them heard it. Angel was speechless: Influenced Vai about what? And why did I think “again”?
What in the world did Daus mean by that? Could he have figured out that I let Vai bring up the crystal ball with the Black Count? But that shouldn’t concern Daus in any way.
Vai protested: “I said it’s ‘more like a punisher,’ not that it was always meant to be like that!”
Daus scoffed: “Either way, you’re just taking his side.”
Vai was about to retort when the Black Count cut in, clearly impatient: “This conversation is pointless. There’s no need to argue.”
Daus patted Vai’s shoulder: “See that? Your ancestor is criticizing you. He says everything you said was pointless.”
Turning the stone slab so that his nostrils faced Daus, the Black Count said: “Your questions are equally pointless. How the statue changed isn’t what matters. What matters is the door below the statue.”
The base of the little peeing boy statue was very tall, and on one side of it was an obvious door handle. A thin crack was currently visible along its edge, the result of the Black Count’s scout having opened it earlier.
“There’s nothing else out here worth investigating. I’ve already searched everywhere. Let’s go inside and see…” The Black Count paused, then turned to Angel: “I’ve already told you the general situation inside. Are you prepared?”
The others had no idea what the Black Count meant. They glanced back and forth between Angel and the Black Count, but Angel, being the one directly involved, knew exactly what it was about. The Black Count was asking whether Angel had a backup plan in case the Wood Spirit wasn’t actually inside.
Angel said: “I’ve got a rough idea, but it’s not worth mentioning for now. If we can’t find the Wood Spirit, there’ll be time to discuss it then.”
“All right,” the Black Count replied tersely, ending the topic with no further ado.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Daus interjected: “I’m part of the main strength here, so it’s one thing for you to hide stuff from these two fools, but don’t hide it from me. Tell me, what’re you whispering about?”
Daus let go of Vai and in two strides drew close to Angel, intending to sling an arm around him the way he had around Vai. But Angel was quicker, slipping away to stand by the Black Count.
“Come on, you can at least tell me in private,” Daus said, unwilling to approach the Black Count, shouting from several meters away.
Angel considered a moment. He felt it would do no harm to tell them, so he said casually: “It’s not really anything special. When we were talking to Cecia and Day, we overlooked something.”
At this point, Kael suddenly spoke up: “Was that ‘something’ time?”
Angel looked deeply at Kael and gave a slight nod: “That’s right. It was time. When Day and Cecia got the information about the Wood Spirit, the news itself was already delayed. No one knows if, in the meantime, the Wood Spirit might have decided to leave on its own.”
“That’s what the Black Count and I were discussing earlier. If the Wood Spirit isn’t here, we need to have a backup plan ready.”
Everyone pieced it together with what Angel had said to the Black Count. It was indeed consistent with that meaning. In other words, Angel and the Black Count had already been planning a step further ahead. Now they also understood why the Black Count had contacted Angel alone. Even if this information were shared with them, it would only cause anxiety, accomplishing nothing. It made more sense not to say anything until now.
“Oh, so that’s it,” Daus remarked with a grin: “Relax. I bet you anything the Wood Spirit hasn’t run off!”
Angel eyed him skeptically: “How do you know? Did your inspiration return?”
Daus waved it off: “No, I just think, where would the Wood Spirit run to? It can’t go back to that alternate dimension. Even if it’s not in the Hanging Prison Stairs, it can’t be far off.”
Angel said mildly: “The sewers below have countless winding passages.”
“But there are monsters down there, and that Wood Spirit is so timid.”
“It’s also really good at hiding.”
Angel decided not to argue further with Daus, since either scenario could happen. Perhaps the Wood Spirit was still inside, or perhaps not. If it had escaped, it might have fled quite far, or maybe not so far. As of now, no one could say for sure.
Just like you can’t know whether a cat locked in a box for many days without food or water is alive or dead until you open the box and look.
“Enough chit-chat. Let’s go in and see,” the Black Count said.
He prepared to use energy to push open the door at the base of the peeing boy statue. However, at that very moment, something happened.
No sooner had the Black Count’s energy touched the base than he suddenly withdrew it. It wasn’t deflected; he had pulled it back on his own initiative.
Everyone looked over at the Black Count in confusion. Without a word, he instantly floated into the air and, with a massive burst of force, summoned a dome that encased the entire group with no gaps.
All of them found this series of maneuvers baffling. Before they could ask, the Black Count spoke quickly: “Someone is approaching, and their energy is very strange. It seems thin, yet as deep as an ocean. My foreboding spontaneously activated my innate ability.”
He did not specify exactly what that premonition was, but the Black Count’s greatest talent lay in his sense of Death Scent; if it triggered on its own, that meant The Visitor was powerful enough to envelop even him in the shadow of death.
Of course, that referred specifically to the Black Count’s nose incarnation here, not his true body.
“Angel, prepare the materials for a planar passage. If the newcomer is hostile, this dome will at least buy you time to open the passage,” the Black Count said: “If that still isn’t enough, I will stay behind.”
His words stunned everyone. A moment ago, they were merely startled to sense a mysterious powerful figure arriving. Next thing they knew, the Black Count was declaring he would cover their escape with his life. Daus and Vai were especially astonished. They were all too aware that “staying behind” essentially meant sacrificing himself.
Vai, steeped in his own suspicions, had often worried that the Black Count’s reasons for dispatching a split of himself to watch over them were not entirely benevolent. Daus, a fellow conspiracy enthusiast, concurred with Vai’s theories. But now, seeing the Black Count so ready to die for them flew in the face of all their prior assumptions. Could Vai have misjudged him?
Neither Vai nor Daus knew how to resolve this contradiction, but Angel did. He had learned much about the Black Count from Rhine and Iron Armor Granny. That the Black Count’s split consciousness traveled with his descendants certainly had its purposes, which could be good or bad, but it almost certainly did not involve simply murdering them on a whim.
At this moment, Angel also understood precisely why the Black Count was prepared to die for them. From their earlier conversation, Angel suspected the Black Count already believed that the Wood Spirit might not be in the Hanging Prison Stairs, given how badly everything inside had collapsed. That was why he had urged Angel to come up with a plan B.
There were hardly any backup plans to be had: either go directly to meet the Sovereign of Wisdom or try another path. The Black Count understood that if all went well, he would continue to follow Angel’s choice. But if something unexpected happened, he would make a new decision.
Rhine had stressed repeatedly that the Black Count’s splits did not fear death. They would even choose death proactively at times, because once they died, the true body would immediately receive their memories. Although no one knew how the Black Count managed this, that memory retrieval ability gave him an extremely broad source of information. He could gather data from all sorts of lethal domains if his projection ventured in and died, returning a portion of what it saw.
Following this logic, the Black Count’s nose split likewise had no fear of death. If it were lost here, it would serve him quite well. First, he would gain Angel’s gratitude. Second, once those memories returned, the true body would know what had occurred and would likely show up in person, circumventing the agreement he had made with Angel before.
In short, it was not actually that complicated. When death could bring benefits, sometimes it was the better option. Angel understood all this, yet if things truly came to a dire crisis, he would still owe the Black Count a debt of gratitude.
While his thoughts flashed back and forth, Angel wasted no time: he swiftly took out the materials needed for a planar passage and began constructing the passage’s mental model in his Mental Space. At the slightest thought, he could activate it.
Once ready, Angel asked the Black Count: “My lord, can you confirm the newcomer is a person, not some monster?”
If someone could trigger the Black Count’s sense of imminent death to such a degree, it had to be a being of immense power. Angel suspected that the only entity nearby of such power could be the Sovereign of Wisdom. Hence his question.
The Black Count replied: “He does have a human scent, but it’s not entirely pure. It’s a bit like the impression Dongola gives.”
Dongola, one of Angel’s potential enemies, was known as the “Grafting Lunatic,” who loved to mix and match limbs and organs, creating lifeforms of frightening appearance.
Could it be some kind of modified human?
While Angel was pondering, the Black Count’s voice suddenly sharpened: “He’s here, get ready.”
Everyone tensed, closing ranks around Angel in case they really did need to flee. Angel himself did not look so grave, confident that they could escape if worst came to worst. He was more curious about the stranger’s identity.
…
When the truth finally emerged, Angel’s face was peculiarly strange, and the reactions of the others mirrored his: shock and astonishment.
Because the newcomer was nothing like the image of a powerful being they had imagined. Instead, it was a boy who radiated a scholarly, academic faction aura. From his build, he seemed around thirteen or fourteen. He wore a newsboy cap of an ocher hue streaked with black lines, along with a matching robe. He seemed completely harmless.
Yet as soon as he tilted his head back to reveal his face beneath the brim, everyone’s expressions changed. His skin was an aquamarine hue, and he had three eyes. Despite having a humanoid form, these two features alone, and the Black Count’s wary stance, left no doubt as to who he was.
“It’s the Sovereign of Wisdom!”
They had known they might meet him, but not that it would happen so swiftly, or that he would show up so unexpectedly. It felt as though he had come straight for them.
“Good evening, everyone!” the Sovereign of Wisdom lifted his face, beaming at them as he alighted in front of them. He acted as though he did not notice the protective dome, letting his gaze roam across the group. His eyes lingered slightly on the Black Count’s nose before flicking carelessly over the rest.
“Are you the Sovereign of Wisdom?” asked the Black Count.
“Huh? How did you all know who I was?” The Sovereign of Wisdom paused, then waved dismissively: “Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”
“There’s no need to be so nervous. I’m not going to eat anyone… although I did in the past, I don’t really do that anymore,” he said. At those words, Vai instantly clapped a hand over his mouth, horror dawning on his face.
Looking at Vai, the Sovereign of Wisdom chuckled: “Just kidding. I’ve never eaten anybody.”
He stretched lazily, then leaned against the wall to one side: “Relax. I’m not here to kill anyone. I came here to find someone.”
Angel asked: “Find someone?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom nodded: “Among you, there must be someone from the Noah family lineage. Why don’t they come out and have a little chat?”
Hearing these words, everyone realized that the Sovereign of Wisdom had indeed come directly for them, and not merely by coincidence.
Chapter 2663 Younus <TOC> Chapter 2665 The Wise One Overthinks