Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 298 Four-way Cooperation
Roger dared not use "Fate Swap" because St. Austin's fate was already sinking. If it weren't for the blessing of the gods still keeping him alive, "Silver Mirror" would probably have dragged him into the abyss of death long ago.

So, as a second-best option, Roger used "Fate Twist," which could achieve the same purpose in the present moment.

At this moment, St. Austin is in an incomplete mythical creature state. In a mystical sense, his true nature has been exposed to Roger, which gives him enough power to unleash an extremely powerful "fate twist" to end his opponent.

Soon, the silvery-white light dissipated, leaving behind a short sword that could be split in two, and a diamond with tens of thousands of facets, exceptionally brilliant, but opaque, only reflecting faint light from all directions.

It is like a mirror that reflects countless fates and possibilities in the world, just as its name "Silver Mirror" suggests.

Roger bowed slightly to the short sword, then put it and the "Silver Mirror" into the "Old Days Box".

A wind suddenly arose on the dark sea.

……

When the "Star Lord" reappeared on the dark sea, the other members of the "Star Fleet" breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Roger looked up at the very top of the sky, where some indescribable energy was gradually taking shape and becoming more fluid.

At this moment, Bandit, who had been avoiding the battle, finally appeared, its "Void Star Hub" emitting a purple light and rotating slightly above its head.

"It's time, Roger."

"Ah."

Roger surveyed the northern shore of the Minsk Strait, still flashing with the sounds of gunfire and explosions, and the southern shore where the conflict, ablaze with white and azure light, had reached its climax. He then looked around at Philip, Zeus, Lindsay, and the others who had arrived beside him, and addressed them:

“If I don’t return, the captain’s position will go to Philip, Zeus will take over from Philip, and Dionysius will become the second mate.”

After saying that, he looked at the tabby cat Bandit:
"If you have nowhere else to go, go find Sam and Cecilia first."

"Don't make it sound so tragic, say something auspicious."

Upon hearing this, Bandit felt a lump in his throat and began rubbing against Roger's trouser leg.

"This is the time when you shouldn't say auspicious things, little kitty, you don't understand."

Roger chuckled, crouched down, stroked Bandit's fur, and then patted Philip on the shoulder.

"give it to you."

Before Philip could speak, Roger shook his head:
"Then, I'll go."

As soon as he finished speaking, Roger's center of gravity suddenly sank.

The next second, he shot into the air like a rocket.

During this time, Roger was using the "amplification" power to enhance his speed, and a powerful updraft appeared out of nowhere, providing Roger with a second acceleration.

Beyond the barrier, the starry sky.

Those indescribable, great beings all turned their attention toward Earth, as if they sensed that some kind of power was about to break through the barrier.

Although that power was filled with a noisy and irritating aura, the energy it contained was still incredibly alluring.

In particular, the four powerful Ancients—"Superstar Overlord," "Goddess of Fate," "Ring of Destiny," and "Eternal Whisper"—were especially restless, as they all sensed the Source power that was close to their own symbol and coveted it.

Among them, the "Super Star Overlord" is relatively far away from Earth due to its extremely high density. At this moment, it is quite anxious and is trying to come from even more distant interstellar space!

On the other hand, the rapidly approaching temptation also carried a certain aura that made the old days tremble from the depths of their hearts. Although it was faint, its position was real and genuine.

However, just as Roger was about to reach the barrier, a sudden burst of darkness erupted around him, shrouding him in the night sky and causing him to disappear completely.

This state did not last long, as all the restless Old Ones immediately realized that Roger's presence had reappeared and was flying towards a certain direction in deep space.

Just as they were about to turn around and give chase, an extremely strong burst of lightning suddenly erupted from within the barrier.

The lightning was extremely dense and incredibly bright, covering the entire barrier, turning all the darkness into daylight for a moment.

That is the will of Heaven!
In that brief shift of attention, when those old friends looked in Roger's direction again, they could no longer see anything.

Even the aura that had previously stirred them seemed to have completely vanished.

……

Roger, regaining his senses, looked up at the white world before him.

This is the scenery of the North, a land of ice and snow stretching for miles.

Not far away, on an old-fashioned wooden chair, sat someone Roger knew very well, who was looking at him with a warm smile.

This person had a simple and gentle demeanor, wore a rather plain white robe, had a thick, light golden beard that covered the lower half of his face, and had clear, innocent golden eyes like a baby.

He wore a silver cross pendant around his neck, just like any ordinary priest.

However, Roger knew the other party's identity.

Adam, the eldest son of the "Imaginary Angel" and the "Ancient Sun God"!
"You knew I wanted to do this, didn't you?"

Roger looked back with a smile at the cunning and calculating King of Angels.

"Yes."

Adam nodded, acknowledging Roger's guess:
"Although Grosser's Travels has its own operating rules, it is still a product of the power of 'visionary' forces."

“Normally, I can’t perceive your state, but I can sense what you’ve tried with Grosseus’s Travels.”

"I see."

Roger nodded.

He then asked:

"How's the situation outside?"

"Those guys are looking for you like crazy, but luckily you're hiding here, and the 'Travels of Grosser' has been protected by the 'Goddess of Night' using her 'secret' authority. Now you're flying towards Jupiter at an extremely fast speed... but it's only a matter of time before they find you again."

"Jupiter... the star that governs good fortune and free will, that's what you want, isn't it?"

Adam appeared to be asking a question, but the answer was already implied in his tone.

"Maybe it is, maybe it's not."

Roger smiled, neither confirming nor denying.

Adam didn't say anything upon hearing this, but simply looked at the snowy ground beside him.

There appeared out of nowhere a crucible with flames burning underneath, and although snow was falling all around, not a single snowflake drifted into it.

"I brought my tools."

Roger chuckled at Adam's "thoughtful" behavior.

However, Adam did not speak, but simply looked at him calmly.

In the end, Roger didn't mince words; he simply stepped forward and began mixing potions using the cauldron Adam had created using the features of Grossell's Travels.

"The recipe for the 'Living Star Chart' potion."

"100 ml of evening primrose hydrosol, 5 drops of star calendula essential oil, and five kinds of meteorite core powder from different interstellar spaces."

Roger added all the auxiliary materials to the crucible one by one, and he was especially careful when adding the five hard-won star core powders.

As the liquid surface suddenly turned deep black, Roger reached out with one hand and pulled out a uniquely shaped object.

It was a silvery-white sphere, about the size of a palm, that seemed to reflect many stars and different worlds. But if you stared at it for more than three seconds, you would find that you were staring at complete darkness. Only when you looked away and then looked back would it turn back to its previous silvery-white appearance.

This is precisely the extraordinary characteristic of the "living star chart"!
Roger carefully tossed the extraordinary properties of the "Living Star Disc" into the crucible. In an instant, the previously calm liquid surface began to churn, and red, yellow, and blue mists rose into the darkness like a nebula, with countless stars twinkling within them.

He took out a small bottle, temporarily placed the "Living Star Chart" potion inside, and carried it on his person.

"Let's seize the opportunity to do what we need to do now; it's a rare chance."

Adam saw Roger had finished concocting the potion and pointed to the latter's pocket.

"it is good."

Roger nodded slightly:

"But we'll have to wait a while."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait, let the bullets fly for a while."

Adam looked at Roger, somewhat puzzled. He seemed to have heard this phrase somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.

However, since Roger said so, he didn't ask any more questions. He just looked at the snow in the distance, and for a moment his expression was somewhat dazed.

Roger calmly gazed at Adam, and after a while, he pulled a three-tiered jewelry box from his waist.

The jewelry box is adorned with rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds, giving it a rather luxurious appearance.

It is indeed "the box of yesteryear".

Roger glanced at Adam, said "please," and then let the "Old Box" swallow him whole.

This time, unlike before, although the "Old Box" at Adam's feet immediately felt the urge to vomit, it was unable to successfully make Roger vomit.

Although this state cannot be maintained for long, it is enough for Roger to do what he wants to do right now.

Guided by the "Key to the Gate" position, Roger successfully broke through the toy space of the first layer of the "Old Days Box" and the random coordinate space of the second layer.

Unlike the first layer, the second layer is nominally an independent layer, but it contains all sorts of confusing coordinates.

These coordinates are all different, each pointing to a special space; some are the starry sky, some are the abyss, and so on, each unique.

These coordinates all radiate their own gravity, trying to draw Roger in.

However, a kind of gravitational balance is formed between the "Old Box's" instinct to vomit Roger and the attraction of these coordinates. As long as Roger doesn't get too close to any of the gravitational points, he won't be guided to the corresponding coordinate.

Roger quickly located a "special" coordinate.

That coordinate is different from the others.

It points to the third level of the "Old Box"!
Roger had previously opened the "Old Box" in Grossell's Travels, and under its protection and the corruption of the "One Who Reverts to Oneness," he glimpsed the secrets of the third layer of the box.

It contains the power of an ancient force outside the "barrier".

That power represented pure gluttony, seemingly capable of swallowing everything whole, devouring it directly.

It can even devour the mind and thoughts of living beings, starting from the subconscious and the bottom of the island of the soul, eating away emotions, memories, spirit and consciousness, and finally flesh and blood, eating away night and day, eating away good and bad, kindness and evil, eating away order and disaster.

In the worst-case scenario, it can consume parts of the world's rules, making it unable to maintain stability and causing the barrier to lose its foundation.

This time, Roger was going to feed it something special.

It was a special silver plaque with two sides. One side was engraved with Gherros's "Celestial" rune mark, while the other side was engraved with the name of "The One Who Unifies All Things" and a series of special symbols that Roger learned from the reverse secret ritual, which could directly invoke the power of the "Key to the Gate".

These were originally two separate silver medals; Roger had simply glued them together, that's all.

Ever since Roger learned about the ascension ceremony of the "Living Star Chart," he had been preparing for this moment. Every now and then, he would periodically perform a prayer ritual magic for the two powerful Outer Gods, "Judgment Star" Gherros and "Key to the Gate," so that they would each inject a little power into this silver tablet.

After praying more than 22 times, the contamination on the two silver plaques completely solidified, and their mystical connection with the two Outer Gods became truly stable. Roger identified the coordinates corresponding to the third level of the "Box of the Ancients" and threw the two silver plaques, now glued together, inside.

Seemingly triggered by a craving for "binge eating," the coordinate devoured the silver medal almost without any psychological resistance.

At this moment, the "Old Box" seemed to have gained the upper hand once again and began to "vomit" Roger outwards.

Roger, on the other hand, made a decisive move and initiated a "self-destruction".

Because Roger had stored flesh and blood beforehand, the amount of flesh he exploded was enormous; even the vomiting of the "Old Box" would take quite a while to complete.

One part of the flesh was near the exit of the "Old Box," and this part was the first to be spat out. Another part was Roger's head and many other clumps of flesh that he had split off from.

These many clumps of flesh and blood rapidly differentiated and grew, each producing a mouth.

The next moment, Roger's head and one of its mouths began to chant the names of "The One Who Reunites All Things" and "The Star of Judgment" simultaneously.

Before the recitation could be completed, Roger's head was spat out by the "Old Box," while another lump of flesh with a mouth, which had not yet been spat out, took over and continued reciting the unfinished words.

For a time, within Grosser's Travels, the "Old Box" desperately vomited up clumps of flesh and blood.

When Sasriel was around, he rarely seemed to use his abilities in such a disgusting way, but Adam didn't react to it and just watched quietly.

Fortunately, after the last clump of flesh was expelled, the rather lengthy name of the "One Who Returns to Oneness of All Things" was finally recited.

Somewhere in the starry sky, outside the barrier.

An ineffable, great being dwells there. If viewed through divine eyes, it appears as a dark vortex, within which gleaming white teeth and a chaotic liquid containing all colors are faintly visible, or perhaps an abstract stomach.

This is the Ancient Ruler who peers into the source matter and other pathways within the Earth's barrier, and is one of the unique and Sequence 1 extraordinary characteristics.

"Primal Hunger"!
This Great Old One itself symbolizes the concept of "gluttony," which is never satisfied.

However, at this moment, the "primal hunger" seemed to change.

His insatiable appetite was being rapidly filled and satisfied by something, to the point that even his top-tier "vagrant" digestive abilities were unable to process that powerful force for a time.

This caused "Primal Hunger" to let out an excited roar.

He had never been so happy and joyful!
However, this happiness lasted only a fraction of a second, nearly a Planck time, before things suddenly took a turn for the worse.

From the dark vortex of "Primal Hunger" that seemed capable of devouring everything, light appeared for the first time.

Rather than light, it was more like a mixture of illusory iridescent bubbles and rust-colored halos that expanded uncontrollably as soon as they appeared.

The next second, the multicolored light exploded in the starry sky, bright and dazzling, though not as bright as the "original" sun, it was not far off.

The light spread so rapidly that even the previously "hidden" "Grossell's Travels" could not maintain its state and was revealed in the night sky.

However, the Outer Gods, including the Fates, did not pursue it at this moment; instead, they all focused their attention on the terrifying burst of light that erupted from the interior of the Primal Hunger.

At this moment, for the first time, these Great Old Ones felt a shiver and fear from the depths of their hearts.

During this brief period of tension, Grosser's Travels finally approached Jupiter's gravitational pull, and Roger quickly emerged.

However, this "Roger" is somewhat different from the previous one.

That was not the complete Roger, but a "fallen shadow" that shared the same identity with Roger in a mystical sense and possessed a part of Roger's flesh and blood!
This "fallen shadow" took out an oversized "celestial" talisman, then revealed its gleaming fangs and once again chanted the full name of "Judgment Star" Geherus.

In an instant, a shockwave as powerful as a gamma-ray burst appeared above Jupiter. The Gherus aura contained within it made the Ancients, who were filled with longing for the Source Matter and the extraordinary properties of Sequence 1, overcome their fleeting fear once again and once again chase after the direction of "The Travels of Groselle"!

Although the speed of flight in Grosser's Travels was enhanced by layers of power, in the space of the solar system, the speed of flight in the past was even faster.

Among them, the two ancient beings, "Fortune" and "Ring of Destiny," were clearly hesitant and conflicted. They only chased after it for a short distance before stopping again. They dared not approach the "Primal Hunger" that had just been almost torn apart by the explosion, nor did they immediately pursue "The Travels of Grossell."

They are waiting and watching!

As for the "Unending Whispers," it arrived next to Jupiter in just a few breaths, almost completely enveloping Grosser's Travels.

However, He soon realized that something was wrong.

Because Gherros's power was originally abundant, but it is now rapidly dissipating. With each passing millisecond, the remaining power of the "Judgment Star" is rapidly weakening.

Within the Martian sphere of influence following the near-total destruction of "Primal Hunger," Roger's figure swiftly emerged from his "hidden" state, bathed in the fiery red glow of the planet that wielded power over slaughter and aggression.

He was reborn from a larger mass of flesh!
Previously, when Roger entered the second level of the "Old Box", he did two things. The first thing he did was throw the contaminated silver medal to the entity in the third level of the "Old Box" that was strongly connected to the "Primal Hunger" and could be regarded as a branch of it, thereby triggering the "Primal Hunger" that was spying on Earth and severely damaging it.

The contamination that caused the explosion was caused by two forces: one from Yog Sothos, the "One of All Things," and the other from Geherus, the "Star of Judgment."

However, the real main force behind the explosion was Yog Sothoth's power. Although Gherros' power was also very strong, it mainly served a misleading purpose!

The second thing was to throw a large chunk of his flesh into an interstellar coordinate pointing to the vicinity of Mars. The moment it was thrown out, "Goddess of the Night" Amanisis immediately understood and, with the blessing Roger gave him before leaving the atmosphere, "hidden" the chunk of flesh!

Meanwhile, Roger's "Shadow of the Fallen," who possessed a specially made "Celestial" charm, appeared in Gloucester's Travels and, through the occult connection between the two, fully detonated the "Celestial" charm.

In this way, what is revealed to the Outer Gods are two coordinates filled with the aura of Gherros's essence.

Although the first one was much stronger than the second, it had just dealt a heavy blow to "Primal Hunger," and it was mixed with the terrifying aura of "Key to the Gate," which made them dare not approach for a moment.

As for the second coordinate, it combines the fluctuations of Roger and Geherus.

There's a rather buggy point here: logically speaking, these ancient beings should have carefully considered the relationship between these two coordinates and wondered if there was any trickery involved.

In particular, the "Goddess of Fate" and the "Ring of Destiny" capture a certain possibility in the river of fate and perceive a certain anomaly.

However, the problem is that, from a mystical perspective, even if Roger was corrupted by Outer Gods, his own fate was completely insignificant compared to these great beings.

This is especially true when these Outer God contaminants have just been used and are in the cooling-off period.

It's like a person walking on the road paying extra attention to passing carriages, but not easily noticing an ant on the roadside. Especially when there are two spheres of Gherros's essence in the night sky that are much brighter than the "hidden" Roger, and one of them even shares some mystical similarities with Roger, they are very likely to focus most of their attention on one of the two spheres.

As for whether it's the brighter or the dimmer one, they can choose for themselves.

However, the answer to this question is not in the riddle itself, nor even in the question itself.

As soon as Roger's figure appeared, he felt the unique energy of Mars locking onto him, a mystical connection between a special astral aspect and his own destiny.

Once again, the essence of Gherros emitted an indescribable melody. At this moment, even if Roger had not become an angel, he could still exist in the universe in physical form.

According to Bandit's previous calculations, among the favorable planetary aspects for advancement that will last for five hours, three planets are particularly noteworthy.

One is the moon, one is Jupiter, and one is Mars.

These three stars respectively govern emotions, fortune and free will, and aggression and killing.

According to Roger's analysis of the "Living Star Chart" ascension ceremony, which states that "the ascendant will receive different bonuses to their abilities depending on the mystical significance of the planet they ascend to," if he chooses to ascend to the moon, he may receive bonuses to his mental control related to "composition" and "singing." If it is Jupiter, he is likely to gain more special abilities in the realm of destiny.

If it were Mars, it would be much simpler and more direct.

That is to comprehensively enhance Roger's attack capabilities and even evolve special abilities unique to the symbolic meaning of "Mars"!

The Moon is clearly out of the question, because Roger knows very well how huge the sinkhole is hidden behind the Moon, so the only remaining choices are Jupiter and Mars.

However, this information is viewed entirely differently from the perspective of the "Super Star Overlord" and other Outer Gods.

First, Roger did not do anything that could have revealed the secrets of the "moon," and secondly, the "moon" was not a particularly dangerous entity for them.

In other words, Roger's mindset and focus on interests were completely different from those of the Old Ones who surrounded the Earth!

Roger has consistently strengthened his use of the "Judgment Star" Gherros pathway in the realm of "Destiny," while in offense he relies more on the power of the "Mystic" pathway. This is both a complementary approach and a form of self-protection.

However, considering that Roger could not possibly ascend to become a true god through the "Mystic" path, this was only temporary.

If Roger continues to strengthen his "Destiny" domain abilities, it will lead to a situation where he enters the higher sequences, especially Sequence 3 and beyond, where his offensive capabilities may become somewhat insufficient. For someone like him who suffers from a fear of insufficient firepower, this is undoubtedly not a wise choice.

Therefore, for him at present, choosing to strengthen the offensive capabilities of "Judgment Star" will bring greater long-term benefits than strengthening his destiny-related abilities!

However, this does not mean that Roger will give up his authority in the realm of "destiny". He has plans for this, but they will only be implemented later.

Adam had clearly seen this beforehand, which is why he asked Roger in a seemingly ambiguous tone whether he wanted to choose Jupiter.

At this moment, Roger's sudden appearance near Mars enraged the Outer Gods and the "Superstar Overlord" who was rapidly approaching from outside interstellar space, radiating terrifying pressure. However, before they could react, Roger swallowed the potion he had previously concocted in "The Travels of Groselle"!
As Roger closed his eyes, a sharp, pulsating sound instantly shot through his mind!

The sound was like a whisper from another dimension, filled with immense terror, the unknown, and the unpredictable, yet it also seemed to contain a special rhythm, sounding both melodious and noisy.

What is pleasant to some is noisy to others, and vice versa.

"Secret" is the essence of "fate," and "fate" is the living constellation.

And this is the symbolic meaning of the "Judgment Star" pathway as shown by the "Living Astrological Chart"!
However, just as Roger was immersed in his feelings about the truth of the universe and the secrets of the celestial bodies, he suddenly felt a strange sense of unease.

The rust-colored sphere, which he had seen before when he severely injured "Silver Knight" Saint Austin, divided into four indescribable "domains" with a rimmed surface in the center and tightly closed eyes, reappeared in his field of vision.

Unlike before, this time the rust-colored sphere appeared much clearer and was very, very close to Roger, almost completely obscuring his vision.

He could even feel the rhythm emanating from inside the rusty sphere; each pulse, like a "heartbeat," made Roger feel an unusual palpitation.

At the same time, because Roger had used the power of the "Key to the Gate" once before, the sealed power was being rapidly weakened by the intense impact of Gherros's will!

"..."

Roger was overwhelmed by the pressure and realized that something was wrong.

The will of Geherus is attempting to break free of its seal and revive within Roger just as he acquires His divinity!

Suddenly, Roger's body, which had appeared tiny in interstellar space, began to expand rapidly.

In almost three breaths, he swelled into a sphere with a diameter of over 100 kilometers, and the expansion showed no signs of slowing down; in fact, it continued!
Soon, the sphere turned into a rust-colored object, and on this rust-colored surface was a piece of armor made up of intermittent, writhing shadows, but this armor did not completely cover the rust-colored sphere.

Because it is still expanding!

Moreover, in the center of that sphere, there was an enormous eye, but at this moment, that eye was tightly closed.

Soon, a very faint but indescribable "melody" quickly reverberated outwards from Roger, who had transformed into Gherlos.

The "Super Star Overlord," which was rapidly approaching the Oort Cloud, seemed to be affected by this inexplicable rhythm, suddenly stopped its sprint, and revealed "emotions" of pain and irritability.

At this very moment, people in both the Northern and Southern Continents suddenly noticed a rust-colored star appearing in the sky.

Although that star was not as large as Mars, it expanded rapidly, becoming larger and brighter.

At this moment, almost everyone in the world woke up from their dreams and could no longer fall asleep.

……

Damir Port.

Klein, who was hesitating about whether to go up and take a look after feeling the intense tremors coming from the "gray fog," suddenly found himself in his hotel room with a person dressed in a simple white robe, with a gentle demeanor like an ordinary priest.

The moment that person appeared, Klein's heart skipped a beat.

Because he had seen this person's appearance before!
"Nice to meet you, Klein Moretti."

Adam laughed and slowly walked towards him:

"Introduce yourself.

My name is Adam.

(End of this chapter)