Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 241 Encounter Battle (Bonus Chapter, 8K words)

Upon hearing the voice, the "Barbarian" immediately turned around, but before he could make a move, an invisible pressure space as thick as deep water enveloped him.

In an instant, even though the "Barbarian" had exceptional resistance and physical abilities, its extraordinary strength as a Sequence 8 was completely insufficient to withstand the "judgment" imposed by the Sequence 6 "Judge" of the "Arbitrator" pathway.

Meanwhile, the other companion of the "judge" drew a sharp, broken knife that crackled with electricity and began chanting poetry that could calm the mind and induce drowsiness.

At the same time, he was also on guard against his surroundings, preventing anyone from launching a surprise attack from the shadows.

However, the "barbarian" showed no signs of being hypnotized. He looked at the "judge," gave a strange smile, and asked in a somewhat puzzled voice:
"What did I do wrong? Why are you doing this to me?"

Upon witnessing this scene, the "judge" was now completely certain that this "barbarian" was problematic.

Even if he possesses stronger mental resistance than other extraordinary individuals of the same level, he shouldn't be completely unresponsive when faced with poetry that has a calming effect!
“Miss Jefferson is not married yet, you know that.”

Upon hearing the "judge's" forced smile, the "barbarian" finally showed an expression of sudden realization.

But at the same time, an ancient ballad, sung by an unknown person, suddenly drifted from the depths of the corridor.

This voice even overpowered the poetry of the "Midnight Poet" and possessed a kind of indescribable, powerful penetrating force:

Are you going to the Bayam market on your trip?
"It was her who awakened the blue Sunia Sea."

"And it had just been asleep all night."
"Hypnotized into a dream by the swirling of clear water..."

Although the sound of this extremely beautiful song is not loud, its vocal range is very high.

This is the "Bayam Bazaar" sung in a "high-pitched singing" style!
This piece of music is widely sung across the five seas. It is less recognizable than Roger's own compositions, and it can be enhanced with various bonuses from the "singer's" "singing" ability.

While this effect couldn't compare to the magical effects of Roger's own compositions, Roger still wanted to distance himself from the attack on the Governor's Mansion, given MI9's intelligence capabilities.

Because the governor's administrative rank is almost second only to the prime minister and the king, attacking his residence is a serious crime. If this matter is not handled properly, Roger will really have to give up his citizenship of Loen and become a pirate at sea.

The Sequence 5 level of "singing" suppressed the "Midnight Poet's" singing ability at the Sequence level. In addition, Roger himself had many "anchors," which instantly crushed the opponent's resistance.

The "Midnight Poet's" chanting abruptly stopped, and even the "Judge" lowered his hands, slumped in a state of spiritual stagnation.

Roger extended the hand adorned with the "veiled finger" and "parasite glove" and spent about a minute transforming the "judge" into his own puppet.

In this way, Roger now has a Sequence 6 Mystic Couple, plus the Sequence 8 Barbarian, which is enough to handle most situations.

Moreover, the "judge" of sequence 6 is clearly an elite force among the guards and has a high military rank. He should be able to play a significant role in this building and even give orders to some of the personnel.

As for the "Midnight Poet," Roger only glanced at him for a moment before choosing to let him go.

Roger had no conflict with the Church of the Night, and as a fellow time traveler, he had a natural alliance with the "Goddess of the Night".

The goddess had always turned a blind eye to Roger's various overstepping behaviors, so unless he was desperate, Roger naturally did not intend to exterminate the extraordinary beings associated with the Church of the Night.

This is a basic sense of alignment. As the saying goes, a crooked head doesn't necessarily mean a crooked backside, but a crooked backside certainly means a crooked head.

The attitude expressed in the table must be clear, after all, the goddess is one of the great beings Roger least wants to provoke.

However, in any case, this "midnight poet" would inevitably need to sleep for at least an hour and a half, making him almost no threat to Roger, Emily, and Ferguson's actions.

As for the Loen military, Roger didn't have a good impression of them after the series of events in Backlund.

Even with Philip, a somewhat eccentric subordinate from the Navy, he would deal with any military extraordinary individuals who stood in his way, especially those of mid-rank or higher, without hesitation.

Roger once again slipped into the shadows, controlling his two puppets to continue walking through the eastern buildings, searching for a path leading to the main building of the Governor's Mansion.

After walking a few steps, the two secret puppets encountered three patrolling guards again in a large, hall-like space.

Upon seeing the "judge," they immediately saluted, and Roger, seeing this, also manipulated his two puppets to return the salute.

After the salute, the leader of the three guards, who were clearly of lower rank, respectfully spoke:
"Major, what are your instructions?"

"You've worked hard, soldiers."

The "judge" looked around at the three people he had met, and then said:
"I've received word that someone might infiltrate the Governor's Mansion tonight, so the three of you go to the East Gate to reinforce the defenses. We'll take care of this place."

His tone was quite serious, carrying the kind of authority characteristic of a middle-ranking "arbitrator".

Upon hearing this, the three guards were startled.

"Yes, Major."

The three of them saluted again and hurried toward the gate.

With the departure of the three men, Roger had already eliminated or reassigned guards within a 200-square-meter area.

Roger, who had been hiding in the darkness, slowly emerged under the moonlight and looked towards the staircase leading up the hall.

"Come out, stop hiding."

Roger coughed softly, and after a moment, Emily and Ferguson gradually appeared.

"It startled me; I thought I had actually run into a military extraordinary individual."

Emily paused for a moment: "Our 'invisibility potion' is almost due..."

Roger's lips twitched, and he asked:
"Won't any extraordinary individuals cause you trouble along the way?"

"No, we only ran into two patrolling guards, but one of them seemed very sleepy and didn't notice us, while the other suddenly had an upset stomach and went to the washroom to use the toilet."

Ferguson shrugged.

“‘The winner’ is really a monster.”

Roger couldn't help but give a thumbs up. He had to admit that when it came to sheer luck, the "monster" extraordinary individuals were truly unparalleled.

"Who are these two people?"

At this moment, Emily looked at the "judge" and the "savage" with some confusion.

"One of our own."

Roger smiled, offered no further explanation, and then asked:

"Since you've managed to get here, the passage to the western building should be nearby."

“Yes, I can sense that we need to go up this staircase and then head west. There should be a ‘wall’ that can be opened there.”

Emily said briefly:
"But there seem to be quite a few dangers on the second floor as well, we need to be careful."

Roger nodded, then quickly disappeared into the darkness once more, and ordered the "Judge," who had been transformed into a puppet, to lead the "Barbarian" ahead of Emily and Ferguson.

The two then took out another bottle of invisibility potion, swallowed it, and vanished into nothingness.

The sound of leather boots echoed in the second-floor corridor. A moment later, the "judge" pushed open a door in the corridor and looked into what appeared to be a banquet hall.

The banquet hall was brightly lit, and the hanging crystal chandeliers and countless priceless oil paintings suggested that it was a place for entertaining guests. Further back, there was a large warehouse for storing supplies.

Conversely, there were also quite a few guards here; Roger glanced around and saw at least eight of them.

Upon seeing the "judge" and the "savage" enter, the head guard looked puzzled. He quickly stepped forward, exchanged salutes with the "judge," and then asked:

"Drake, what are you doing here?"

"There's been some trouble at the East Gate, a bit of a disturbance. I've already sent some troops there to assist with the defense, and then I came over to check on the situation here."

The "judge," named Drake, looked around and then asked:
"Is there anything unusual?"

"It's alright here."

The guard nodded and answered calmly.

"By the way, Drake, can you do me a favor?"

The guard took a document from a nearby table:
"When you change shifts later, please hand this document to them for me... Damn it, I hope those people you mentioned who caused the disturbance don't disrupt our normal rest."

After saying that, he sighed again:

"But if that's really the case, we'll probably have to stay where we are... After all, as soldiers, dealing with all sorts of emergencies is just part of our daily lives, right?"

"Okay, that's true."

Drake looked around again, took the documents, and turned to leave.

However, when he tried to open the door, he found that his hand could not touch the doorknob at all, as if an invisible barrier separated Drake from the door.

At the same time, a fireball, an arc of electricity, and a beam of intense, pure light enveloped the "Barbarian," instantly reducing him to ashes!
"What do you mean?"

Drake turned his head and looked coldly at the leading guard.

"You ask me why?"

The other party also sneered:

"Your actions just now have proven that you yourself are the intruder who caused the riot."

The guard was actually a Sequence 6 "Corrupted Baron," and he had quietly dug a pit for Drake during their conversation, which the latter had unknowingly fallen into.

The specific details of this trap are as follows: it assumes that if Drake can successfully change shifts, he can hand over the documents to the guard captain who will come to meet him, and then leave smoothly.

However, on the other hand, if those who caused the riots are still inside the building, then judging from the content of the "Corrupted Baron's" words, Drake should not be able to leave.

Furthermore, since the other party said "stay where you are," once Drake verbally agrees to the "corrupted baron's" statement and takes the documents to leave, if he is indeed involved in the riots, he will be kept in place, unable to leave, and unable to reach the doorknob that is right next to him.

That document also served as a symbolic vehicle for "bribery," which brought Drake completely into the rhetoric framework of the "Corrupted Baron" and made him subject to the control of his extraordinary abilities.

This is the power of the "Corrupted Baron," which is to construct a certain order that is beneficial to oneself by distorting the meaning of the target's language, actions, and intentions, thereby achieving the purpose of restricting or influencing the opponent.

With the "bribe" now in place, Drake is now under the control of the "Corrupted Baron" and quietly awaits the latter's further judgment.

However, just when the "Corrupted Baron" thought he had the situation under control, a tall figure wearing a cloak suddenly emerged from the darkness.

This scene put the "Corrupted Baron" on high alert, but he saw that the cloaked man ignored him completely and instead released many bullet-like pieces of flesh and blood that flew towards his subordinates in an instant.

The next instant, the entire banquet hall was filled with crackling explosions, and at least four people were hit by the flesh-and-blood bombs because they couldn't dodge in time.

Not only that, gunshots suddenly rang out in the banquet hall. The remaining extraordinary individuals quickly dodged, but they were all hit by the strange trajectory of the bullets and fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

As for the "Corrupted Baron," he was controlled in reverse by Drake's "imprisonment," becoming unable to move.

How are you able to move?

The former looked at Drake with some disbelief.

"This is not something you should be thinking about."

After Drake finished speaking, the young man who had fired the flesh-and-blood bomb seemed to have a telepathic connection with him and picked up the conversation:

"In comparison, you should be worried about yourself now, Godric Heisenberg."

Upon hearing Roger state his name directly, the "Corrupted Baron" named Godric Heisenberg's pupils constricted slightly:
"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

“I not only know your name, but I also know the shady things you did in Backlund.”

Roger shook his head:

"You were involved in the plot to arrest conservative members of parliament. It was only after the plot was exposed and MI9 was questioned by the Church of Orthodox God that you came to Bayam. Am I right?"

Godric initially thought Roger was bluffing, but after the latter said those words, he finally lost his composure.

It's not entirely his fault. When he used "bribery" to establish contact with Roger's puppet Drake, Roger had already gained insight into many of Godric's secrets through his own connection with Drake.

This includes not only why Godric was transferred to Bayam, but also how he carried out the manipulation of Drake's order distortion.

So by using the "leak," Roger easily broke the confinement created by Godric and, in turn, used Drake's "imprisonment" to trap Godric.

"It seems I was telling the truth."

Roger smiled slightly, noticing Godric's somewhat flustered expression.
“Although it’s only Sequence 6, ‘The Corrupted Baron’ is still a good choice.” Roger valued the Corrupted Baron’s ability to distort rules and order, which, combined with the “Leaksman’s” own abilities, could easily create unexpected synergies.

Previously, Mr. A had enslaved the soul of a "Corrupted Baron" and used his abilities to distort Beckron's "Do Not Disturb Me" order, turning the latter's bedroom into a forbidden area that outsiders could not enter.

After saying this, Roger used Adeline's icy spear to blow Godric's head off, who was already unable to move.

Afterwards, he activated the "Shepherd's" soul enslavement ability, successfully enslaving Godric's soul and choosing three extraordinary abilities: "bribery," "twisting," and "corruption."

As for the abilities of "Lawyer" and "Barbarian," they conflicted with Roger's current abilities of "Leaker" and "Fighting Scholar," so he decisively abandoned them without any choice.

The remaining extraordinary individuals were then dealt with one by one by Emily and Ferguson. These two "winners" even found more than one mid-series extraordinary item on them.

Roger's temples throbbed at such good fortune, but fortunately, there was nothing of interest to him. Obtaining Godric Heisenberg's soul was enough to make his trip worthwhile.

“According to the floor plan, you can reach the second floor of the Governor’s Mansion by going through the wall at the end of the warehouse in front.”

Ferguson paused:

"Hopefully there are no defense mechanisms in between."

"Don't worry."

Roger shook his head, took the lead and walked forward. Then, using the ability of "Little Duck" to control inanimate objects, he flicked open the heavy bolts of the warehouse door lock and entered.

This warehouse is quite large, storing a lot of grain, meat, and some emergency supplies, seemingly serving both as a grain reserve and a disaster relief facility.

When necessary, the warehouse can even be opened to distribute grain to help ordinary people who are affected by potential floods or crop failures.

Roger had to admit that, even if it was just to maintain economic and social stability, the Governor's Office in Bayam was quite conscious of this, at least not like George III who completely treated the lives of ordinary people as worthless and even tried to poison a large number of ordinary people.

When they reached the end of the warehouse, Emily pulled out a wad of wire from her person.

Then, under Roger's curious gaze, she tore off a piece of the wire, bent it into the shape of a "door frame" about one meter high, and then leaned it against the wall.

"As long as there is no danger, just crawl through."

The "winner" spoke first.

Roger placed his hand on the wall to feel it, then performed a simple divination to confirm that everything on the wall was normal. He then took his "Judge" puppet and went inside first.

He then knocked on the wall inside the main building of the governor's mansion, signaling that Emily and Ferguson could also come in, and the two of them then crawled in one after the other.

What should we do with that wad of wire?

Roger looked at Emily with some confusion.

"This thing is a consumable item; the less you use, the less there is left."

Emily shrugged, seemingly used to it.

"Such a waste."

Roger shook his head, put on "Benjamin's gloves," and dragged the clump of wire over the wall.

"This way we can save some money."

"..."

After saying that, he looked at Ben Ferguson in Emily's silence.

"Where to go now? Any ideas?"

Ferguson nodded, glancing around at the various exquisitely crafted items that appeared to be very luxurious:
"This place should be an art collection room... and a room for storing state gifts brought by heads of state and diplomats from various countries."

"Your judgment should be correct. Look at this."

Emily, who was standing next to him, was now standing in front of a display case and pointed to a cane inlaid with various gemstones.

"This is a congratulatory gift from the Kingdom of Feneport when the previous Governor of Bayam took office."

She frowned, continuing to look at the label, and said:
"It is inlaid with emeralds, rubies and more than seven different tourmalines, all of which are high-end and have a total value of more than £30,000."

"Tsk tsk, what a generous gift... But speaking of which, if it were the previous governor, the Kingdom of Feneport should have been negotiating tariff reductions with the Kingdom of Rune and Governor Bayam, right?"

Roger immediately realized that his grandfather Benjamin had mentioned something similar. At that time, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Feneport had a good relationship with the Governor of Bayam and the diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Rune were also relatively good. In addition, Feneport had voluntarily ceded some resources, so Rune granted Feneport about 10 years of Most Favored Nation trade. All kinds of goods entering Rune or transiting through Bayam could receive different degrees of tax reduction.

In addition, there are many other items in the room, such as Quaternary artifacts from the Southern Continent, rare amber from the Gargas Islands, rare animal specimens from Intis, ancient books from Lenburg, and even handicrafts made by the Fussac Empire.

Overall, this room is practically a mini-museum; there's almost nothing you can't imagine that it doesn't have.

"But wouldn't that create a problem?"

Roger suddenly chuckled, pointing to the heavy metal door of the room, which seemed like an impenetrable fortress:

"How do we get out?"

"How to get out?"

Emily and Ferguson were both taken aback when they heard this. They quickly walked to the metal door and tried to put the wire that Roger had just salvaged on it.

However, this had no effect whatsoever. The door was clearly sealed with some kind of special seal, which could not be opened by an apprentice seal of only Sequence 9 level.

This is easy to understand, because a museum containing so many treasures must have a seal of at least Sequence 6 level or higher.

On the other hand, this seal clearly uses multiple sealing objects working together, and the internal structure is very complex, which makes it impossible for Roger to simply use the "duck's" unlocking ability to open it directly.

"This……"

Ferguson was also stumped, because his floor plan of the main building of the governor's mansion only marked the general layout of the rooms, but did not indicate the purpose of each room.

If he had known beforehand that this was a museum, he certainly wouldn't have chosen to break in from here.

“It’s okay, I think you’re overcomplicating things.”

Roger smiled slightly and said:

"Since we can't get out, let's have someone else come and open the door."

"Have someone else open the door?"

Emily and Ferguson glanced at Roger, then looked at each other, and then ran together behind a very solid wall.

"That's quite clever."

Roger offered a compliment, and then began to produce a large amount of flesh and blood.

The flesh and blood began to scatter to every corner of the room, and then a series of explosions began!
Not only that, Roger even summoned Jason Belial's sulfur fireball, and together with the "Demon Gun" he had previously seized from Mitron Gadirs, he began firing at all corners of the room!
The violent tremors and the impact of the fireball immediately ignited the entire museum. The commotion attracted the attention of some guards, and a large number of footsteps began to come from outside.

Just as Roger had predicted, the steel gate was soon opened, and about a dozen guards filed in.

"You, you, you, go put out the fire! The rest of you, come with me to find the arsonist!"

The leader roared, but before he could give any further orders, he heard extremely faint footsteps coming from the thick smoke around him.

His eyes narrowed, and he subconsciously uttered an ancient Hermetic word:

"exile"!
But at the same time, another voice emerged from the thick smoke, speaking in the same ancient Hermetic language as his:
"exile!"

In an instant, two forces as powerful as a whirlwind collided and then exploded to the sides.

The impact not only dispersed much of the thick smoke, but also knocked several guards who had come with them off balance and onto the ground. Some of the less physically fit guards were even sent flying.

"Drake, you???"

Upon seeing the person in the thick smoke, the guard commander was horrified and blurted out.

But then he realized something and immediately exclaimed, "No...you're not Drake!"

Having said that, the guard commander instinctively rolled to the side.

No sooner had he made that move than a long spear of ice narrowly missed the spot where he had just stood, embedding itself in a painting on the wall before rapidly melting away.

But that wasn't all. The next moment, several more icy spears and sulfur fireballs shot out from the thick smoke.

These attacks were not directed at the guard commander alone, but at multiple guards!

The guard commander immediately raised his hand and recited a string of difficult characters in ancient Hermes again:

"Forbidden: Attacks with ice and fire!"

But at the same time, Drake also raised his hand and spoke to the guard commander:

"Forbidden: A ban on attacks with ice and fire!"

After the confrontation, Roger realized that Drake's digestion of the "Judge" potion was probably better than that of the guard captain, which is why he thought of reversing the situation and prohibiting the other party's ban.

Despite the double denial of the two prohibitions, the frost and fireballs did not dissipate, but only paused briefly and slowed down, but still continued to fly towards their target!

However, after being reminded by the guard commander, some of the guards came to their senses, while those who did not were instantly wounded and fell to the ground.

Roger held back somewhat when he made his move; neither the sulfur fireball nor the ice spear was very large, and their trajectories were deliberately deflected to avoid vital points.

Although he didn't have a good impression of the Rune military, there were also members of the Church of the True God mixed in among these guards. Roger didn't want to wipe them out, so he deliberately held back.

On the other hand, although Roger is now certain that the "School of Life" is indeed aiming to rescue Roy King, which aligns with the original storyline, it cannot be ruled out that some might be plotting something like the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

After all, Bayam is the political center and pillar of the Kingdom of Rune in the Sunia Sea. If the defense forces here are completely defeated and lose their fighting capacity, it is possible that something even more serious might happen.

Since becoming a "whistleblower," Roger has become more sensitive to many things related to power. He has begun to see the essence behind many things and tries not to go too far on some sensitive issues.

As Drake issued his "imprisonment" order once again, the guard captain was trapped in an invisible pressure as heavy as the deep sea, unable to move.

Afterwards, the "judge" controlled by Roger issued a new injunction, prohibiting the captain of the guard from making a sound for a short period of time. Only then did he sprinkle blue powder, which spread into waves like the ocean, extinguishing the flames on the scene and preventing a larger fire.

As the flames subsided, three extraordinary beings lay at Emily and Ferguson's feet, all seemingly unconscious with minor injuries, but generally in good health.

"Please bear with us for a moment, we'll leave as soon as we're done."

Roger pulled his cloak hood down to cover his face, then bowed to the "imprisoned" captain of the guard.

Because the other person cannot speak, he cannot find a way to escape the "imprisonment" space in the short term. He can only endure it for a while until his ability to speak is restored. At that time, whether he calls for help or uses other methods to escape, it will not be a big problem.

Of course, Roger didn't forget to search him to make sure he didn't have any extraordinary items that could release him from "imprisonment" before leaving with Emily and Ferguson through the now-open heavy metal door.

As he left, Roger closed the door once more, causing the enchantments on it to automatically activate again, temporarily imprisoning the injured extraordinary beings inside.

"Where to go next?"

Roger asked.

“Look over there, I can sense it, we are very close to the people we need to rescue.”

Emily's eyes were somewhat blank. He raised his hand and pointed to a corridor ahead that was lit by gaslights but was still somewhat dark.

In front of that corridor was a narrow two-story colonnade, through which Roger and the others had to pass to reach the area behind it.

Roger nodded and took the lead.

However, before he had taken more than a few steps, he heard a distorted voice, filled with an inexplicable sense of authority, coming from across the corridor:
"Confinement."

In an instant, even with Roger's formidable strength, he was as if frozen in amber, finding it extremely difficult to even move his arm.

This voice was clearly more powerful than the previous "judge's" voice.

Roger clearly sensed the presence of divine power within it!

But misfortune never comes singly. Before Roger could even make a move, he immediately heard another "verdict" that made him feel extremely dangerous:
"deprivation!"

(End of this chapter)