Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 358 The player in the game
The next day, Adele and her three companions came to the naval base in Port Berens.

With Gagran's ability, it would only take a little effort to enter the naval base silently, but Adele didn't want to be too direct. After all, she didn't know whether the "founder of the nation" was in the naval base. Once a conflict occurred, it might lead to unpredictable consequences.

"Lieutenant Circe? Aren't you staying in Alessar?"

The navy soldier at the door asked in surprise when he saw Adele.

"Something has happened." Adele replied vaguely, "Please inform Lieutenant General White that there is someone here who wants him to see."

"Okay, please wait a moment."

The soldier did not dare to delay and immediately ran to inform Emlyn.

"This gentleman and Miss Hall are members of the same organization. They are older than me and have considerable autonomy in many matters. They are currently in charge of the logistics support for the entire Loen Expeditionary Force."

Adele introduced Gegran in advance, "If you want to plan something in the southern continent, it's best to inform Augustus, the Founder of the Nation, through him in advance to avoid conflicts."

"It's up to you to decide on this matter."

Gagran waved his hand casually, not really paying attention to the details, believing that Adele could handle it.

The three of them waited for a while before Emlyn White, dressed in military uniform, walked in quickly from the door. After seeing Adele, he hesitated for a moment, as if he was considering how to communicate with her. Then he said to Adele:
"You did a good job. That shipload of artworks is enough to silence many people."

Before Adele and the others, the "Snow Wind" had already returned to the Port of Berens with the spoils and completed the loading and unloading work yesterday. Emlyn White was just checking the inventory report in the office.

Originally, the destruction of the supporting ironclad ships was enough to make Emlyn lose his position, but this batch of spoils was enough to shut up the majority of those who coveted Emlyn's position in the military.

Emlyn himself belongs to an ancient extraordinary race, and is also a foreign guest of the Church of Mother Earth. His identity is quite sensitive. As long as the Church of Mother Earth does not give up its support for him and what he does is not outrageous to a certain extent, he cannot be brought down by the power within the kingdom's military alone.

Even with these ironclad ships, the Kingdom’s army would not be able to win quickly; and even without these ironclad ships, the Kingdom’s military would not lose to the Rose School. The navy fleet was just icing on the cake for the Loen military, but it was far from being a life-saving help.

Besides, the sinking of the fleet actually had nothing to do with Emlyn. After all, no one could have known in advance that a planet like that would suddenly rise from the ground. The military had originally needed to find someone to take the blame, and now that Emlyn had the actual spoils of war, even the Kingdom’s military couldn’t blame him.

"More important than the value of these artworks is the significance of their presence in this place."

Adele did not emphasize her role too much, but changed the subject lightly, "They symbolize the development process of human art. Rather than being works of art, they are more like a history book. They have excellent commemorative significance and are priceless treasures of Intis."

"And now, the situation has arisen where the Intis people need to send these priceless treasures away... or rather, the Intis people and the three countries of Renburg believe that this situation has arisen."

Adele nodded, and seeing Emlyn nodded in understanding, as if he had already thought of this, she did not continue to dwell on it, but took a step back to let Gagran come forward.

"This is my teacher whom I mentioned before, the sprout of the Tree of Disaster, the symbol of destruction and rebirth, the lord of plague and natural disasters, Medea Gagran."

Adele introduced him to Emlyn, "Not long ago, he became a Sequence 2 angel."

The proud smile on Emlyn's face suddenly froze and broke. When Adele read out the honorific name of Gagran, the aura of the lady in front of him seemed to suppress him all of a sudden, causing him to tremble uncontrollably. He had only experienced this feeling when he met Full Moon Olmer.

Emlyn stretched out his hand stiffly, and the beautiful lady also walked towards him and gently held his fingertips. The warm touch was transmitted upward along Emlyn's fingers, which made him come back to his senses and quickly bowed to greet the other party.

A Sequence 2 earthly angel is a great being equivalent to the Pope in any church. Even though Emlyn’s reputation in the Earth Church is quite impressive, he still suffers a setback when facing a real angel.

Fortunately, Gagran did not do anything out of line. She just nodded to Emlyn, sat back in her seat, and then said in a soft voice:
"Zatwin has been killed by me. Now there are no demigods guarding the troops along the East Balam route. You can launch a general attack without any worries. If necessary, I will directly assist you."

Gaglan's tone was gentle and there was no murderous intent in it, as if what she had just said was not that she had killed a demigod and was about to kill more people, but that she was going to a clothing store to buy a new dress.

Before Emlyn could react, Gagran pulled out a light grey tree-shaped crystal from the pocket of his robe. There was a round eyeball in the middle, and branch-like crystal hair spread out around it.

"This is the extraordinary characteristic of Zatwin. You can confirm it."

Gagran placed the Beyonder Characteristics on the table and tried to push it towards Emlyn who was standing opposite him.

"No, no need..."

Emlyn felt his heart beating very fast. Even though the heartbeat of a vampire was slower than that of a normal person, his heart was still beating very fast. His demigod-level spiritual intuition clearly told him that this was the extraordinary characteristic of Zatwin, the demigod of the Rose School, who had been causing him trouble on the battlefield and in logistics. It was real.

"I will contact His Royal Highness Prince Augustus right now. It would be best if we could launch a counterattack immediately. We need a decisive blow to reverse the situation before word of Alese's misfortune reaches the front line of the Hagati Steppe."

Emlyn's face showed an excitement that he could not suppress. This war had lasted for more than half a year. The resistance of the Rose School was more tenacious than anyone expected. This war must be ended as soon as possible. Otherwise, this place would become a bottomless pit that devoured the believers of God, and gradually eroded the power of the Orthodox Church to fight against the Outer Gods.

"That's best." Gagran stepped forward gracefully and saluted. Looking at Emlyn's back as he hurried out the door to contact William Augustus, she whispered to Adele beside her:

"Do you feel it? Now, you are in the game."

"Join the game?" Adele was slightly stunned.

"There are two kinds of people in the world, those who are in the game and those who are out of it. You told me before that if the future is already determined, it is not the future. But deep down, you want to know what your future will be like more than anyone else."

Gegran smiled slightly and said, "And the most important point is that you just want to know. As for whether you recognize it or not, I'm afraid it depends on whether this future suits your wishes."

"I almost believed it."

Adele laughed dumbly. "From the beginning to the end, I have been acting under the arrangement of you, Miss Hall, or someone else. Do you think I am the kind of fool who would make a scene after suffering a little loss?"

Gagran smiled and did not continue to explain. He just quietly waited for the result of the communication between Emlyn and William Augustus. No matter what the result was, it meant that the situation on the battlefield of the southern continent would undergo earth-shaking changes.

……

At the same time, on a small island near the Gargas Islands, a few hundred nautical miles away from the capital Nas.

As in Constance, the whaling industry is booming here. White stone whaling houses can be seen everywhere, and huge white whales are dismembered into skin, meat, fat, bones and "gray amber" inside.

The latter two can be used to make the petticoats of long banquet dresses, and are top-grade spices. Whether used as incense or added to perfume, they are luxury goods that only the nobles and wealthy can enjoy.

However, it is now completely deserted and the whaling house is no longer in operation because someone has occupied it and used the city as a temporary settlement, leaving few residents of the island alive.

The strategic contraction of the Church of the God of War was not limited to Indo Port. The people of Feysac gave up overseas colonies far away from their homeland, such as Naas, without any regret.

Next to the island, there was an enormous, dark and eerie sailing ship anchored.

The sailboat is nearly two hundred meters long, with its front and back raised high, and the whole thing looks like a crescent moon.

Its surface is painted black, and the cannons on the side of the ship are divided into three rows, arranged in order up and down. The part protruding from the deck, excluding the mast, is also tall and huge, at least equivalent to a five-story house.

The strangest thing about the ship is that it has only one sail, on which is depicted a black tombstone.

This is the "Death Announcement", one of the most famous and legendary ships on the five seas, and the flagship of the "Immortal King" Agaritu!

Not long ago, Agaritu occupied this island for no specific reason. Just on the way, Agaritu ordered the capture of this place and caused a massacre that was not very large in scale due to the size of the island.

However, this time Agaritu was not in a hurry to leave as before, but stayed on the island, as if waiting for something.

In the inner cabin of the Death Announcement, which has never been entered by outsiders, the "Undead King" Agaritu, with a pale face and who seems to be about to rot and die at any time, is sitting on a soft sofa with blood-red stripes, and his whole body is wrapped in a sticky black mist filled with the smell of corruption and evil.

Opposite him sat a slender figure in a black robe, who was wrapped tightly from head to toe. One could only tell from his voice that he was a man. He wore a brass bird-beak mask on his face, blocking Agaritu's vague detection.

"Who are you and what do you want to do with me?"

Agaritu's voice is sharp, and it makes people feel instinctively uncomfortable, as if someone is drilling into the listeners' brains with their hands and stirring them.

"I've introduced myself. I'm the first pillar of the Moss Ascetic Order, 'Atheism'."

The man in black robe cleared his throat and said, "I came here this time to discuss cooperation with the Undead King."

"If you need pirates to do something, don't you have your own Pirate King? Why don't you go to the 'Queen of Stars' instead of coming to me?"

Agaritu did not agree rashly, but asked in a playful tone. In fact, his heart was already on high alert and he was ready to counterattack at any time.

Agaritu knew that the levels of the ten pillars of the Moss Ascetic Order varied greatly, but he also knew that Cattleya, who had broken through to Sequence Three, was only the third pillar in the Moss Ascetic Order; and the second pillar, "Dull" Albert Gnostic, was rumored to have even reached the level of Sequence Two.

Even Agaritu had to think carefully about what this suddenly emerging first pillar meant.

"'Reject' has another mission and is heading in another direction."

The black-robed Atheist spoke slowly, "The other pillars also have their own things to do, so I need you to do this."

"What's the matter?" Agaritu swallowed, "What benefits can I get?"

"It's your favorite looting mission. What you can gain depends entirely on how much you can rob." "Atheism" said softly, "The target is Indo Port. You should have noticed the abnormal movement of the Death Announcer. I don't believe that you don't want to attack there."

"If you succeed, you might be able to take control of the Death Announcement instead of being its slave."

"Why are you so sure I will agree to help you?"

Suppressing his surprise at the secret between him and the Death Announcement, Agaritu said tentatively, "I don't seem to have this obligation."

"You really don't." There was a scraping sound between the black robes of the atheists, "Just like you don't have the right to refuse."

Just as Agaritu was about to open his mouth to refute something, he saw the black-robed man opposite him slowly extend an arm made of metal from his sleeves and slowly remove the bird-beak mask on his face.

Then, Agaritu saw an invisible black void with seven spherical eyes floating in it.

Without warning, Agaritu's pale skin began to rot, chunks of flesh falling from its skeleton, covered in green mold.

The thick black mist surrounding him automatically flowed into his body and filled the missing parts. It took a long time for it to return to its original state, making Agaritu look even more haggard and thin.

Grasping the armrest of the sofa, Agaritu said angrily: "When do you want me to do it?"

Atheism put on his mask again and said in a calm tone, "Let's go now. Materialism will cooperate with you. We won't force you to die. If a saint appears on the other side that you can't deal with, you can escape at any time."

After saying this, his figure disappeared mysteriously, and his black robe turned into an invisible stream of information, leaving only Agaritu with a gloomy face sitting alone in the captain's room.

(End of this chapter)