Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 257 An Unexpected Discovery (Thanks to Emperor Shitian, who is not afraid of geese, for the Qidian Coins donation)
After saying this, Julius Kruger casually pointed a finger at Philip Hoover.

A blue star, more than two meters in diameter, suddenly took shape at a steady pace beneath the rain clouds summoned by Roger, radiating an extremely dazzling brilliance.

Philip's expression immediately changed, because he inexplicably flew towards the blue star above!

The baby-faced youth was terrified. He twisted his body with all his might, trying to resist the enormous suction of the blue star.

However, such efforts were completely ineffective; the star continued to rotate and twinkle, seemingly emitting a gravitational field that was directed only at Philip.

In desperation, Philip split off a large amount of flesh and blood, which hooked himself onto the railing on the side of the deck, thus preventing himself from being pulled and devoured further.

Julius snorted and released another ball of scorching starlight, which flew directly towards Philip's flesh chains and severed them almost instantly.

Fortunately, Linssaya released her spider silk in time, which allowed her to grab Philip's wrist once again.

The three of them were frozen in place for a moment, creating an extremely eerie sense of tension under the blue starlight in the sky.

But this balance was soon broken, as three stars appeared in the sky that were exactly the same as the one pulling Philip.

These blue celestial bodies rapidly approached, merged, devoured, and collapsed, eventually forming a strange, incandescent white celestial body no larger than a fingernail.

The celestial body was spinning rapidly, emitting layers of illusory white halos. If Roger hadn't known that the fundamental power level of this star would not exceed Sequence 5, he might have really mistaken it for an infinitely miniature version of a neutron star.

The appearance of this "basic version of a neutron star" immediately increased the tension on Philip.

However, at that moment, Roger, who was flying in the air, couldn't help but speak up to remind him:

"Philip, use the spell."

"Spell?"

Philip paused for a moment, recalling the strange talisman Roger had given him before the battle, which featured a rust-colored star with an inlaid eye.

Just as he finished speaking, the fine spider silk that Linssaya had been using to hold Philip's figure was finally snapped by the immense force.

"Little Philip!"

Linsaya shouted, but then she saw a strange talisman, blown by the gale, approach the bright white star in the sky that was emitting gravitational fluctuations.

The next second, a loud yet distorted ancient Hermes word rang out in the air:

"Celestial bodies!"

At the same time, Chunus Colger reappeared beside Roger, grasping the talisman in mid-air.

An indescribable explosion resounded over the "Sunset"!

All the crew members of the "Sunset" whose strength did not reach Sequence 5 immediately stopped fighting, their mouths agape and their eyes bulging, as if they had suffered a great mental shock.

Those Beyonders below Sequence 7, and those crew members who did not become Beyonders, were instantly subjected to mental piercing!

Even Julius Kruger was greatly affected. The moment the star in the sky exploded due to the explosion of the "Celestial" spell, the "astrologer" immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, and at the same time, strange wriggling began to appear on his skin.

In that instant, he showed signs of losing control!
Although this miniature neutron star is not a real star, it is still a type of celestial body in a broad sense.

And all celestial bodies will inevitably submit to the "Celestial Voice," Geherus!

In contrast, the crew of the "Star Fleet" seemed unaffected, and even their fighting became more ferocious.

This is Roger using the "distortion" and "amplification" effects simultaneously with the released soul of Chunus Korg. While amplifying the power of the "Celestial" spell, it also "distorted" the mystical significance of the crew members under the "Star Lord" into "followers of Gherros"!
The range of this distortion does not need to be large; it only needs to be applied to "celestial" talismans.

This is a semantic connection loophole. Roger's identity has a mystical connection with the "Lord of the Stars," and the people under his "Star Lord" can indeed be interpreted as believers of the "Celestial Voice" in a certain sense.

That's what makes "The Fallen Earl" so bizarre!

Roger, his body crackling with electricity, glanced at Julius Kruger, who was writhing on the ground in pain, his body occasionally flashing with starlight, and then looked at Bratov, who was still standing thanks to his powerful resistance as a half-"Demon Hunter," wielding the greatsword "Demon Slayer" that radiated holy light, and revealed a mocking smile.

Philip and Lindsay realized what was happening and immediately dragged Julius Kruger off the ground, calling to their still bewildered crew to move towards the stern of the ship.

"Then, let's see if you can withstand this move."

All the lightning suddenly converged within the enormous dragon formed from various inanimate substances, causing its lightning to intensify in an instant.

Under the "Amplification" power of the "Fallen Earl", Roger's "Lightning Arrow", which was originally only at the Sequence 5 level, was directly fused with the dragon, turning the latter into a giant, alien arrow!

As Roger threw the "Concerto of Light and Shadow" into the "Old Box," the enormous dragon, shimmering with silvery-white light, roared like thunder, and then suddenly flashed before the horrified eyes of "Twilight Admiral" Bratov.

"Boom!"

The "Sunset" ship burst into a dazzling light, like the sun, as if a giant fireball had fallen into the dark sea of ​​Sunia!

As the rain clouds, smoke, and dust dissipated once more, Roger reappeared before the astonished eyes of the "Star Fleet."

In stark contrast to these people, Roger was covered in blood, yet remained calm.

Because the deck of the "Sunset" was directly hit by Roger's dragon, which was formed from inanimate matter and lightning, at least one-third of the deck was completely shattered, revealing a huge black crater.

In contrast, Bratov was lying at the very bottom of the black pit, at least 4 meters below Roger.

This "Twilight General" had almost completely white hair, most of his clothes had disappeared, and even his level 1 sealed artifact, "Demon Slayer," had vanished.

Suddenly, Roger gasped for breath and plopped down on the edge of the pit.

That attack had consumed a great deal of his energy and spirituality. If it weren't for the anchor provided by the "composer," Roger's dual-sequence level 5 strength alone would not have been enough to support such a devastating attack.

Earlier, when he discovered that Bratov had his eye on Chunas Korg's soul, he decisively used the inanimate matter flood created by "Little Duck" to carry Chunas off the deck. Then, at the moment when the Thunder Dragon charged toward the "Sunset," he threw "Concerto of Light and Shadow" into the "Old Box" to prevent it from turning the Thunder Dragon into something unpredictable.

At the same time, because the "Thunder Dragon" descended at an extremely rapid speed, Bratov didn't even have time to use the barriers given to him by the "Guardian" or "Demon Slayer" to protect himself and the "Sunset" from the impact of the thunder's power.

After catching his breath, Roger jumped into the pit, released the "Concerto of Light and Shadow" which had been reset, and then took the dying Bratov into it.

Under the expectant gazes of Philip, Lindsay, and the others, Roger's figure rose to the deck level once again, and he nodded to them:

"solved."

Upon hearing this, everyone cheered and applauded loudly.

Even with four remaining ships lurking nearby, they felt no tension whatsoever.

Since the pirate captain "Admiral Twilight" was gone, the remaining pirates either resisted stubbornly and forcibly bombarded the "Sunset," or they had no choice but to surrender.

However, considering Roger's combat power, which was comparable to that of a demigod, these people probably wouldn't do anything irrational.

Suddenly, the sound of someone falling into the water was heard, and some escape boats were lowered from the lower decks of those warships, ready to sneak away.

He shook his head slightly and said:

"Philip, make the arrangements to properly treat the wounded crew members, give the deceased brothers a proper burial, hand over their belongings to their families, and provide them with double the standard compensation for naval officers who die in battle."

"For those who die as extraordinary beings, see if they have children or family members who are willing to inherit their status and become extraordinary beings. If none of them are willing, a supplement of 800 gold pounds will be given to those at Sequence 9, and doubled for those at Sequence 8."

Upon hearing this, Philip immediately stood up and gave Roger an excited salute:
"Yes, Captain!"

At this moment, he had finally succeeded in avenging himself, and his heart was filled with excitement and joy.

On the other hand, the injuries and sacrifices of his comrades on the Star Lord saddened Philip greatly, but Roger's generous compensation made him feel that it was all worthwhile for these brothers.

Upon hearing this, the remaining sailors also recovered somewhat from the grief of losing their comrades.

The compensation Roger just mentioned is enough for a family of three to buy a decent house in Bayam and live off the bank interest alone.

Such generous compensation would undoubtedly greatly appease people's hearts, because it is impossible to work at sea without losing lives; even ordinary cargo ships could be hijacked and slaughtered by pirates.

Roger had told them this before, but the compensation he provided completely eliminated their worries.

On the other hand, this reassurance also had a hidden meaning: only by gaining seniority in the "Star Fleet" could one be promoted to a higher rank and become a more powerful Extraordinary.

"Captain, what do we do with this guy?"

After arranging the burial and compensation, Philip looked once again at "Shadow" Julius Kruger, who was lying on the ground, his body twisted and deformed into a lump of flesh that emitted an incomprehensible blue starlight, and asked with a frown.

Roger gestured for Philip to remain silent, then crouched down and placed his hand on the out-of-control, mutated first mate of the "Sunset," using "Secret Insight."

"I see."

A moment later, he opened his eyes and muttered to himself, "Since that's how it is..."

After a moment's thought, Roger used "Chaos" directly on the lump of flesh.

The internal structure of the flesh was thus disrupted, and it rapidly devoured itself, eventually disappearing completely, leaving only an ancient blue metal astrological chart rolling out.

Although this metal astrological chart is small, it contains a great many elements, including at least twenty-two celestial bodies made up of tiny glass marbles.

Roger fiddled with them, and these celestial bodies began to move with remarkable precision, as if an extremely rigorous and precisely calculated code disk was simulating their orbits.

This is the sealed artifact held by Julius, corresponding to the "Astrologer" pathway sequence 5 "Virtual Nexus!"!
On the other hand, Roger just used the "Chaos" ability to make Julius Kruger's innate "astrologer" extraordinary characteristics merge with the "Void Star Hub". Now it is a powerful seal that is similar to "Concerto of Light and Shadow", but at a slightly lower level.

The existence of this sealed artifact also explains why Julius Kruger was able to use those strange, star-related abilities before.

The first mate of the "Sunset" must have obtained the legacy of an "astronomer" by some chance, learned some of the theories he left behind, and obtained the seal formed by the extraordinary characteristics left by the other party, namely the "Virtual Realm Nexus".

Later, Julius Kruger likely developed some new abilities based on the proximity of his "astrologer" and "astrologer" abilities.

This includes, but is not limited to, using the light of stars to obscure one's true movements, creating effects similar to a stand or intangibility, using stars to create gravity anomalies, and using stars to directly inflict damage on opponents.

The newly integrated "Virtual Realm Star Hub" does indeed possess the three abilities mentioned above. In addition, it can release a "Starlight Cage" with a burning effect, and it can also serve as an astrological chart, providing highly accurate calculation assistance to extraordinary individuals with astrological abilities.

While its side effects are severe, the conditions for avoiding them are not particularly stringent.

That is, the phase relationships of the celestial bodies on the "Virtual Realm Star Pivot" will automatically change once every six hours. Based on its internal mechanism, this phase change has a certain inherent law and cannot be subjectively interfered with by the holder.

This can bring some unpredictable consequences. When the planetary aspects show ominous signs, it can bring unforeseen disasters to the holder.

Unless the person who possesses this item is skilled in astrological calculations and periodically uses their knowledge to advance the phase relationships of celestial bodies to a less dangerous state, the negative effects of the "Virtual Realm Star Pivot" can be greatly reduced.

And this is something Roger is undoubtedly extremely good at!
If all else fails, he could simply hand this thing over to Bandit, who is a cat that has almost completely digested the "Astrologer" potion, so sealing this extraordinary item shouldn't be too difficult.

The only pity is that Julius's body has been lost, so Roger has almost no chance of getting his bounty.

After thinking it through, Roger temporarily put away the "Virtual Realm Nexus" and, together with Linsaya, led his men in two teams. One team went to deal with the people on the remaining three ships of the "Twilight Fleet" and plunder useful supplies.

Roger's team was tasked with exploring the "Sunset," searching for the "Demon Slayer," and breaking down its defensive mechanisms.

This was no easy task, so Roger brought along a team of at least Sequence 8 level members, and also called on Bandit and Philip, who possessed the "Crimson Gem of Pantax".

Fortunately, it seemed that Bratov had already used up most of the power of "Demon Slayer" earlier, so Roger and his crew did not encounter any too dangerous situations along the way, and they were able to resolve them one by one with the help of his captain's strength.

Finally, in the captain's cabin of Bratov, Roger found the silver-white broken sword "Demon Slayer" placed on a platform engraved with various mysterious runes.

To Roger's surprise, the real "Demon Slayer" was much smaller than he had seen before. It seemed that it only became much larger when projected into Bratov's hand due to the combined effect of the ship's mechanisms.

Keep in mind that at that time, it had not yet begun to drain Bratov's lifespan.

Therefore, this is also a chilling thought, because it means that the "Demon Slayer" may be nourished by some unknown energy, and it cannot be ruled out that Bratov is consuming the life force or lifespan of some crew members or slaves.

In any case, it would be best to contain the "Demon Slayer" until Roger figured out all the details.

He carefully picked up the sword, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong with it, he threw it into the "Old Box," in a place relatively far from Blatov.

After the "Demon Slayer" was transferred and sealed, Roger immediately felt that the danger on the entire "Sunset" was completely gone.

"We can start looting now."

At Roger's command, his men scattered and began searching the entire ship for any useful valuables.

He then took Bandit back to the deck and ate the nuts he had brought with him.

Several hours later, when the sun was fully up in the sky, Matteo and Lindsay finally returned to Roger's side.

"captain."

"explain."

Roger nodded, patted the hazelnut shells off his hands, and looked at Matteo.

"In terms of personnel, less than 30 people escaped, and some of the remaining people were wounded or killed by us for resisting. There are 42 people who surrendered or were taken prisoner. Lu Ping is now in charge of counting heads and interrogating them one by one."

"In addition to regular supplies and weapons, we found a total of approximately 3 pounds sterling in cash from various countries, as well as some precious metals."

Matteo paused, then spoke again:

"But these precious metals are a bit strange."

"What do you mean by 'a little strange'?"

Roger narrowed his eyes and pressed for an answer.

"Some of them have the serial number stamped by the Ministry of the Interior of Rune..."

"What did you say?"

Upon hearing Matteo's words, Roger suddenly stood up.

Matteo was also taken aback by Roger's reaction. After repeatedly confirming that Roger was not angry but just surprised, he repeated what he had said earlier.

"take me."

Roger said urgently.

Because Matteo is not a native of Rune, and the members of the "Star Fleet" have been at sea recently, they are unaware of the theft of gold from the Rune Ministry of the Interior, let alone the loss of the central bank's silver reserves.

But Roger not only knew about this, but his brother was also stuck in a stalemate while investigating it.

Therefore, it's understandable that their reaction wasn't as strong as Roger's when they learned that the gold bore the seal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Yesterday, he received the brown paper bag of documents from Sam but was too busy preparing for war to read them carefully. Now, upon hearing this news, he had a very strange premonition.

Upon hearing Roger's order, Matteo immediately complied and jogged to lead Roger to a storage room on the lower deck of the "Sunset".

The lock on the storage room door had clearly been broken into, probably by Lu Ping and his gang. Roger gave it a gentle push, and the door opened.

An oil lamp was lit inside the storage room, so he could see the situation inside quite clearly.

Besides some boxes filled with banknotes and precious gemstone jewelry, his sharp eyes quickly noticed a gleaming silver metal box in the corner that clearly did not come from the common people.

"Captain, the gold was found in that box."

Upon hearing Matteo's words, Roger nodded and walked forward.

Sure enough, he saw dozens of standard gold bars wrapped in special Ministry of the Interior envelopes. One of them had its envelope removed. Roger picked it up and weighed it briefly, estimating that it should weigh between 110 and 120 grams.

This is a standard-sized gold bar from Ruen. Such gold bars are generally not available to the general public, but only to large banks or national financial institutions.

He flipped the gold bar over and, sure enough, saw a string of code.

“LSG13452000741”.

"What does it mean?"

Roger was slightly taken aback. He could only understand that the four numbers 1345 represented that the gold bars were minted in 1345, while the meaning of the other letters and numbers was unclear.

Based on this alone, it is impossible to determine any connection between this batch of gold and the batch that was lost by the Ministry of the Interior.

He hesitated for a moment, then gave the order:

"Mathew, have the brothers move this batch of gold to the storage room with the highest defense on the 'Star Lord' first. The banknotes and gems can wait a bit."

“You’ll keep a close watch on them the whole time. If they lose even a single penny, I’ll hold you responsible.”

"Yes, Captain! Mission accomplished!"

Matteo immediately stood up straight and loudly assured Roger.

Roger himself stood up and headed straight back towards the "Star Lord"!

(End of this chapter)