Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 382 Divination
After a short rest, Adele felt that her spirituality had been restored to a certain extent. This was all thanks to some facilities in the office that were placed according to a specific pattern, which allowed people in the room to restore their spirituality more easily.

These are the work of a team of gardeners from the Church of Mother Earth. These diligent "farmers" are well versed in logistical support, including this kind of restoration ritual, which involves the judicious arrangement of small amounts of spiritual objects.

At this rate, I can try to divine Sothoth myself later, so that I can prevent Leila from coming into contact with the pendulum...

Adele thought to herself that after all, this pendulum might be an item related to the level of true God. Just because there was no problem when she used it didn't mean that Leila could use it normally. If she rashly handed it over to someone else to use, it might cause dissatisfaction from that person.

Adele made herself a cup of vanilla tea unique to the southern continent. Smelling the fragrance of the tea leaves as they expanded in the water, her frown gradually relaxed. It was only now that she felt fatigue surging from her body and she almost couldn't hold the cup.

Sure enough, the most painful time when spiritual energy is exhausted is not when it has just been used up, but when it begins to recover...

After a long while, Adele felt that she had recovered a little, so she found a silver-framed mirror in the drawer, skillfully arranged the ceremony, and wrapped the pendulum around the mirror.

Then, she took out the charred skull of Sothoth from her pocket and placed it in front of the mirror. In her spiritual vision, there were distorted blue-green spots of light on the skull, drilling in and out of the pores in the bones, like fly larvae growing on rotten meat.

Adele knew that it was the spirit of Sothoth that was cursed and restrained by black magic, and that this maggot-like deformed posture was caused by being forcibly collected from its scattered state.

After all, there were not many opportunities to practice, and Adele's understanding of this spell was only at the stage of "knowing how to use it". At present, Adele could not keep other people's souls for more than ten years as Geglan said when he introduced it. At most, she could store them for about a month, and the longer the storage time, the faster it would dissipate when it was broken, and the more difficult it would be to communicate with the spirit.

However, there is a Tarot meeting this afternoon, and Adele is planning to report on this matter at the meeting, so there is no need to worry about the issue of saving time.

With a thought in mind, Adele picked up the paperweight on the table and smashed Sothoth's skull. Then she immediately saw the remaining spirituality emerging from the broken bones.

Adele did not dare to delay and immediately recited the divination sentence in her mind:

“…The whole story of the Ayahuasca transaction.”

The room suddenly became dark for no apparent reason. The mirror in front of Adele began to sway like water waves, and then a series of incoherent images appeared.

At first, the images seemed to be blocked by some unknown force and were not clear. But as the yellow crystal pendant on the mirror surface flickered with a faint fluorescence, the misty obstructions disappeared.

As I expected, Sothoth indeed conducted a counter-divination on the relevant information...

Adele nodded slightly, and couldn't help but praise Mr. Fool's pendulum for its remarkable effect.

Based on the information revealed by the elder members of the Tarot Club, combined with the scriptures of the Church of Fool and the information collected from several relics related to the past, Adele could roughly guess that Mr. Fool was very likely to master the path of the "Fortune Teller".

Adele then focused her attention on the image in the mirror.

The protagonist of the first scene is the ordinary-looking Santana, who is wearing a shawl with long tassels common in the southern continent and is standing up from a coffin carried by porters.

This kind of coffin is a relic of the worship of the god of death in the southern continent. It is very popular in the Balam region. In the southern continent where there are not many horses, this means of transportation is equivalent to the rental carriage in the northern continent.

Not long after he got off the car, he suddenly stood there with a dazed look on his face. His facial expression gradually became distorted and he looked quite painful.

There were many pedestrians passing by on the road, but they were already used to it because these symptoms were almost the same as those of people who took ayahuasca. The heavy dark circles and sunken eye sockets on Santana's face further confirmed the view that he was an addict, so no one stopped to observe his abnormality.

After two minutes, the expression on Santana's face returned to calm. She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the snot and tears from her face, then continued walking towards her destination as if nothing had happened.

Apparently, this is how Santana was targeted by Sotos…

Adele gasped in shock, realizing once again how terrifying the Secret Doll Master was.

If it is on a crowded street, the Secret Doll Master does not even need any other means. He only needs to change into the appearance of someone else and get within ten meters of the target in half a minute, and the target will be initially controlled.

Adele had personally experienced the danger of preliminary control. If she could not advance to Sequence Five, she would have no way to counter similar abilities.

It was really lucky that for the purpose of the transaction, they decided to meet in an abandoned warehouse where not many people came and went. Otherwise, it would be really difficult for them to see through Sothoth's disguise, and it would be almost inevitable that he would be dragged into their rhythm.

Adele reviewed the scene in her mind as she watched the next scene.

Still from Sothoth's perspective, he was discussing issues related to Ayahuasca with a man hiding in the shadows. Adele didn't know if it was her illusion, but she always felt that Sequence 5 Sothoth was still a little timid when facing the man in the shadows, as if he was afraid of something, or in awe of something.

"Sir, someone has caused some trouble recently. The Feynapot people seem to be wary of our actions. The sale of Ayahuasca is likely to be seriously affected."

Sothoth said respectfully, "Therefore, the matter of the Kingdom of God will most likely be postponed."

As he spoke, he carefully closed his mouth, as if waiting to observe the other party's attitude and choose a suitable answer.

"The gods won't wait for us."

The figure in the shadows stood up, and his clothes were revealed to Adele, who was using Sothoth's perspective.

He was wearing a gorgeous costume with golden tassels and a red and blue background. He wore a tower-shaped golden crown on his head and something like a short-handled scepter on his waist, but Adele thought it might also be a dagger.

And that face was the one that Adele could not forget even in her nightmares these days: it was the captain of the "Nebuchadnezzar", one of the three faces of the stitched monster that Adele and Tracy killed together!
Is he involved too?
Adele frowned. Now even the mention of that strange ship would make her heart tremble subconsciously.

"Last time, the oracle of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom mentioned that the time for the end of the world has been shortened again. We have less than five years left."

The man wearing the golden tower crown said in a sad voice, "His plan has only planted seeds so far. It still has a long way to go before it can take root and sprout. The sooner we finish this work, the sooner they can be truly liberated."

Although his voice sounded like he was reading an obituary, his expression when he spoke of "true liberation" was extremely fanatical, like a crazy believer.

"Whether it's symbols or ayahuasca, they are just carriers based on the cultural differences of different regions. It's just that taking ayahuasca is more effective, while wearing symbols will only work after "He" actively activates the ceremony."

"Therefore, no matter which side we are on, we can't let our guard down. Everything is for 'North'."

"Yes, Lord Nebuchadnezzar!" Sothoth answered in a deep voice, and the picture faded away again, and the third picture appeared.

The third picture was blurry, swaying constantly, and flashing with strange lights from time to time, which was a sign that Sothoth's spirit was about to dissipate.

In the magic mirror, Adele saw Sothoth, the main perspective, walking in an alley, turning left and right for a long time before returning to his home in the dark alley.

As soon as he entered, he immediately closed the door, bolted it, and put an iron chain around it. The room was very dark and all the windows were tightly closed, but Sothoth did not open the window or turn on the light. He walked into an even darker room holding a tin box containing various herbs in his hand.

The "Magician" potion gave him the ability to see in the dark and also gave him considerable dexterity, so the clutter in the small space obviously did not prevent Sothoth from entering the dark room.

After entering the room, Sothoth closed the door once again, shutting out the remaining light, and then opened the tin box in his arms.

Apparently, the box contained more than just herbs. It actually emitted a faint blue fluorescence that shone on Sothoth's face. Even through the divination mirror, Adele could feel the icy coldness of the blue light.

The metal box can shield the spiritual light of the objects inside the box. At the same time, Sothoth also put herbs in the box as a cover.

The glowing object in the box looked like a piece of human bone or an old tree root, but it was definitely not either of these things because it was completely transparent like ice.

Sotos took the fluorescent block and opened the secret door on the floor. There was an escalator under the secret door. He walked down and the fluorescent light illuminated the space in the basement. There were rows of cabinets in the basement, with countless bottles and jars on them, and all kinds of materials piled up. It was several times larger than the space above.

After carefully placing the fluorescent bone away, Sothoth lit the candlestick, illuminating the beakers, test tubes, boilers and various equipment in the room. One wall was covered with strange-shaped knives, ranging from sickles taller than a human head to cutting knives as thin as needles.

He walked towards a large pot that could hold two or three people, looked at the things inside that were about to become ayahuasca, and then threw the remains in his hand into it. Soon the liquid in the pot began to boil, gradually turning black and sticky.

At the same time, Adele also heard Sothoth mumbling prayers, but because his spirit was almost dissipated, Adele could only hear a little bit.

"…the embodiment of knowledge and wisdom, the great being that transcends the spiritual world, the one who looks down upon the starry sky and the earth…"

Afterwards, the ripples on the mirror gradually disappeared, which also meant that Sothoth's spirit completely dissipated.

However, Adele's doubts did not disappear. After completing this divination, she had more doubts in her heart.

Leaving aside the matter of Nebuchadnezzar, the name that Sothoth recited in his final prayer was not the name of any righteous god that Adele had ever heard of!

As a believer of both the god of knowledge and wisdom and the god of steam and machinery, Wendy also mentioned the former's honorific name in her prayers.

The common name of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom among believers is "the power of knowledge, the power of reason, the embodiment of wisdom", while the name of the God of Steam and Machinery, who has similar authority, is "the embodiment of essence, the protector of craftsmen, the brilliance of technology".

Obviously, neither of them possesses the characteristics of "transcending the spiritual world, overlooking the starry sky and the earth" in the honorific name recited by Sothoth.

The evil god "Hidden Sage" who also possesses authority in the field of knowledge is honored by the name "the sage who sees into the world, the embodiment of numerology and knowledge, the eyes that spy on the truth." There are descriptions related to "peek and see," but the nature of "transcendence" is not reflected in it.

If you think about it carefully, the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom has indeed planned too many irrational actions during this period, which is completely different from the impression they gave people before. The Church of the Eternal Sun, which also belongs to Intis, has turned a blind eye to the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom's large-scale actions and is in a state of acquiescence.

What happened that caused the God of Knowledge and Wisdom to quietly change his own name, making such a big change?
Adele was puzzled and felt a strong sense of uneasiness in her heart. She felt like a moth trapped in a spider web, and now the spider was slowly crawling towards her.

Don't think about these things now, there are other things to do...

Adele forced herself to concentrate and organize her thoughts.

Today is the day of the Tarot Meeting. At the Tarot Meeting, she will present her speculations about the true purpose of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, reminding everyone to be more cautious. She will also briefly report on the current war situation in the southern continent. This war that has touched the hearts of countless people has now become the focus of the northern continent.

In addition, she also needs to find another craftsman through the channels of Mr. Hanged Man or Ms. Hermit to help her turn the "Master of Secret Arts" extraordinary characteristics into a magical item, and sell some of the obtained materials in exchange for a certain amount of cash.

However, these were not important things in Adele's mind. The most important thing was that after the craftsmen at the naval base made the "Traveler" extraordinary characteristic that Gagran gave her into a magical item, she could return to Indo Port and meet Vinata.

(End of this chapter)