Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 365 The First Encounter with the "Shadow Saint"
Mr. C, incredulous, turned his head with difficulty and asked in a hoarse voice:
"Your Holiness...you..."

This scene also startled Connery Gabriel, Mr. C's waiter, who had no idea why Roger would suddenly use the "Blade of Soul and Flesh" to stab Mr. C.

However, Roger didn't give Mr. C a chance to explain. He directly deflected the "Spirit and Flesh Blade" and stirred Mr. C's heart!
The next second, Mr. C exploded into a cloud of blood mist with a "bang," but this blood mist was very different from the normal "Rose Bishop's" blood and flesh storm, because it quickly turned into a deep and heavy shadow the moment it appeared.

Immediately afterwards, another "Mr. C" appeared at an intersection not far ahead.

Roger immediately used his "singing" ability to stop the two horses pulling the carriage in an instant, so that they stood facing Mr. C in front of him.

"Your Excellency, why did you attack me?"

Mr. C, still looking incredulous, asked.

"Stop pretending, you're not a C."

Roger raised his deep, straight greatsword, its blade speckled with rust, and pointed it at Mr. C opposite him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, 'Saint of Shadows.' May I ask what brings you here today?"

"interesting."

Mr. C's voice suddenly changed, becoming deeper, and then he revealed a curious look:
How did you figure out I wasn't Mr. C?

"It's very simple."

Roger smiled:
"Mr. C is a very cautious person. He has never visited my home, let alone sent a waiter."

“Even when I wasn’t a Saint, he contacted me through sealed artifacts and flesh parasitism to avoid scrutiny from outsiders. Now that I am a Saint, he will naturally be more cautious in this regard.”

"On the other hand, Mr. C would never meet with Ms. D without understanding her true intentions... And according to what you just said, Mr. C not only met with Ms. D, but also didn't understand why she attacked him. This is definitely not the Mr. C I know."

In fact, there was another reason: Roger used "Secret Insight" to see through the other party's true identity. However, this factor could not be revealed, and the necessary feigned weakness had to be done properly.

Although Roger didn't know why Arexos would come to him at this time, he could guess a thing or two.

First, based on the previous communication between Roger and "Black Saint" Leomaster, although Arexos is also a Sequence 4 Saint, his overall strength and potion digestion are slightly inferior to Leomaster's.

Although Leomaster was trapped in the collective dream of the ruins of the gods for a long time, it is hard to say that Arexos was able to rise from "Black Knight" to "Tri-Headed Templar" in a short period of time without the help of "Angel of Fate" Urolius.

Roger had previously worried that his attempt to pollute a tributary of the Chaos Sea might offend Ulrich, but he was not attacked by Ulrich afterward.

This left him somewhat uncertain about Ulorus's attitude, but the fact that Arexos was willing to break the balance and try to kill him likely meant that he had already formed a substantial alliance with "Saint of Calamity" Vinera, and Arexos's attack on Roger could be seen as his pledge of allegiance to the "Angel of Fate".

"You're definitely an interesting guy."

While Roger was pondering, "Shadow Saint" Alexstrasza quickly revealed his true form. His head split into three, and the three heads were very similar to each other. They all had very neat and beautiful short golden hair and deep red eyes, and looked extremely handsome.

The only difference is that one of the three heads looks young, one is in his 20s, and the other looks close to 50.

This saint, who was originally just a "Black Knight," has actually been promoted to "Three-Headed Sanctuary"!
Roger was certain that the other party's advancement had been recent, because the "Shadow Substitute Technique" he used when he was hit earlier still had some "Flesh Storm" characteristics, which meant that his potion digestion was not very high.

At the same time, two women and a man emerged from the corner of the crossroads and stood behind Arexos, the "Saint of Shadows".

The two women were around 25 years old and a little older, while the man was even older, in his early 40s.

What they have in common is that they are all very good-looking and have no wrinkles at all, which is to say that they have perfectly exemplified the beauty theorem of the "Aurora Meeting".

"Good heavens, is this guy determined to kill me?"

Roger chuckled. He had to admit that the situation was indeed very troublesome. The three divine messengers were alright, but the most troublesome one was Arexos, the "Three-Headed Templar".

As a Sequence 3 "Hanged Man" pathway demigod, he can release three souls he has enslaved at once and unleash the full extraordinary power of those souls.

This was undoubtedly a very difficult situation for Roger. Even though he had strength close to Sequence 3, he was forced to face the awkward situation of fighting seven opponents alone.

Although Roger had previously faced dozens of enemies single-handedly when confronting the "Shepherd's Coffin," it's important to understand that the several experienced Extraordinary beings currently present are well-prepared, and they are not merely instinctively enslaved souls, but beings with complete consciousness and intelligence.

At present, the only power Roger can rely on is Connery Gabriel, a Sequence 7 "hermit".

However, Roger remained completely unfazed. With a snap of his fingers, two people and a cat emerged from the darkness behind him.

That was Cecilia, with her pale skin, wearing a long lace-embroidered dress, and exquisitely beautiful like a doll; Sam, wearing a double-breasted suit that was extremely similar to Klein's, with a half-high silk hat on his head, and looking very gentlemanly; and the cat was undoubtedly the tabby cat Bandit.

Before Roger left Worston Gardens with Connery Gabriel, he gave his brothers a coded signal, warning them that he might be in danger and that they should settle the twins in order to follow him.

Currently, Cecilia and Sam are both mid-sequence extraordinary beings, while Bandit's strength is top-tier among sequence 5 beings—this tabby cat, who has mastered two demigod-level extraordinary abilities, might even be able to kill a demigod who has just advanced to sequence 4 and is not yet proficient in mastering his own power if he prepares in advance!
"Two shepherds, and the young woman is the 'Knight of Dawn'."

Roger quickly alerted his three companions, and it seemed that the "Dawn Knight" had been specially chosen by the "Shadow Saint" Arexo to target Cecilia's undead who might appear.

The next second, Cecilia moved first.

She held her hands outstretched, and a strange mark appeared between her eyebrows. In an instant, Roger could clearly hear many distinct sobbing sounds coming from around him.

Numerous undead creatures began to appear around her, and even more undead creatures continued to descend from the darkness.

With Cecilia's soft shout, all the undead creatures pounced on "Ms. D"!
This is precisely the ability of a "gatekeeper"!

Before Roger helped Cecilia concoct the potion, he had already paid the "De La Hoya Giant Rat" three Barnet Berries to help him find a leak of Netherworld energy in the Spirit Realm. After the "Gatekeeper" potion was ready, Roger took Cecilia there and completed the ascension ceremony.

This would have been a very dangerous process, but Roger used "Fate Granting" to alter Cecilia's mystical identity to some extent, temporarily giving her some characteristics of underworld creatures. This allowed her to complete the ascension ceremony with almost no difficulty and become a Sequence 5 "Gatekeeper".

This was precisely Cecilia's strategy. Instead of fighting outnumbered, she clearly chose Ms. D, who also belonged to Sequence 5, and forcibly used numerous undead creatures to drag her into battle.

As Ms. S, the "Dawn Knight," was preparing to use her abilities to aid Ms. D, who was suddenly attacked by undead creatures, Sam launched an attack on her instead.

Many invisible bullets with the power of rifle bullets instantly blocked Ms. S's possible route to support Ms. D. The moment she stopped moving, Sam used "Flame Jump" to get in front of her and then engaged her in battle!
During this process, Sam cleverly avoided close combat with Ms. S, who was skilled in close-quarters fighting. Instead, he used a sealing artifact that Roger had never seen before to maintain a distance from her, interfering with and hindering her, and constantly depleting her stamina!
"This fighting style does seem to have inherited some of the true essence of the Gou family."

Roger thought to himself, while at the same time, Bandit, who had transformed into a black leopard with a longsword in its mouth, was also facing off against Mr. L, who was also a "shepherd"!
Compared to the other two groups, Bandit's battle seemed much easier. Its continuous "Spirit and Flesh Blade" attacks forced Mr. L to retreat and become hesitant as soon as they started.

With the help of his three teammates, Roger finally had the opportunity to focus his attention on Arexos, who was also a saint.

"Please, Lord 'Shadow Saint'."

Arexos's three heads simultaneously snorted coldly, and then three extraordinary souls appeared beside him at the same time.

Roger immediately noticed that there were two demigods and one Sequence 5 extraordinary soul among them. The two demigods were both at the Sequence 4 level, one being a "puppet" and the other a "manipulator," while the Sequence 5 one was a "chaos mentor."

This combination immediately made Roger's expression serious.

First, compared to the mind-based abilities of the "Manipulators," Roger was more wary of their "Dragonization" ability, which allowed them to enter the form of mythical creatures at a lower cost. Even the soul of a Sequence 4 "Manipulator" could unleash combat power comparable to a Sequence 3 Saint when in "Dragonization." Furthermore, their complex and ever-changing multiple "virtual personalities" could help them guard against many offensive abilities related to the mind-based domain.

Secondly, there's the "Puppet." Although Roger, with his "Black Knight" armor, would find it difficult for inanimate matter to penetrate his defenses, the "Puppet's" unpredictable "Source of Curse" ability and its ability to influence the battlefield would undoubtedly greatly hinder Roger's fight.

The selection of the "Chaos Mentor" at the Sequence 5 level is also very particular, because although this sequence is not very good at direct attacks, it is extremely good at support and various interferences. Even if his ability cannot affect Roger, who has divinity, one hundred percent, even if there is only a certain probability, it is enough to make him make mistakes in handling certain details of the battle.

Arexos chose this combination because he wanted to use the abilities of "Puppet" and "Chaos Mentor" to constantly hinder Roger, while the real main attackers were Arexos himself and the "Manipulator" who could unleash power close to Sequence 3.

In the blink of an eye, Roger's "Black Knight" armor had already covered his entire body, and the "Shadow of Corruption," wielding the "Demon Slayer" and having fully unleashed it, also appeared beside him.

Not only that, Roger also directly released the soul of Saint Katrina Pelle, who was at Sequence 3 level. In this way, Roger's side now had the combat power of three demigods.

However, this is not over yet.

Before Roger appeared three more flesh puppets. These puppets resembled Roger himself quite closely and appeared more lifelike than ordinary flesh puppets.

Most strangely, these flesh puppets each have different colored eyes: red, black, and blue, representing abilities related to offense, destiny, and music, respectively. Furthermore, the minds of these three puppets are linked to Roger's, allowing them to exchange information at any time and cooperate seamlessly in combat. This is the new ability Roger gained after corrupting the tributary of the "Chaos Sea"—a mixture of fleshly and mental authority. In addition, the "Primal Core" and the "Chaos Sea" also interacted to some extent, enabling Roger to create puppets that could use a portion of his abilities.

The more puppets there are, the more their power will be diluted.

Roger had previously tested this and found that as long as he created no more than three puppets at a time, the dilution of his own abilities by these puppets would not cause their individual abilities to differ too much from those of a demigod.

In this way, Roger would possess the combat power of three near-demigods, as well as the combat power of three demigods including himself. In addition, Roger could use some of the Sequence 3 level "Mystic" abilities, which would make Roger's combat power comparable to Arexus's, or even slightly superior.

The only problem is that Roger's spiritual energy will be depleted at an unprecedented rate. Fortunately, Roger has enough "anchors" to fully support such a high-intensity battle, and even manage to handle it with a bit of ease.

Seeing Roger summon so many combat units at once, Alexstras was slightly taken aback. However, Roger did not give him a chance to think further. The moment Katarina Pelle's figure suddenly disappeared, he pointed at Alexstras in the air and at the same time formed a strange hand seal with his left hand.

"Asteroid eruption!"

A red light suddenly flashed across Arexos's dense darkness. This attack did not cause him any damage, but only made him take a few steps back.

However, this was just a feint. As soon as Arexos stood still, he suddenly felt that the connection between himself and the "puppet" was severed. He was unable to summon the "puppet's" soul for a short period of time!

This was the result of Roger's full understanding of the "Puppet's" abilities, followed by his intervention using a demigod-level "leak."

In this way, a major threat was eliminated, and the "Shadow of Corruption," wielding the fully unleashed "Demon Slayer," appeared behind Arexos!

At the same time, two ice javelins burning with black flames shot towards Arexos's left and right. These javelins were not a direct attack method, and Roger did not intend to use them to penetrate the "Black Knight" armor of the Sequence 3 level, but rather to block Arexos's movement.

On the other hand, with Katarina Pelle as the center, the surrounding air began to petrify rapidly, and this petrification was heading straight for Arexos. In an instant, the flying dust and debris approached the opponent!

Alexstrasus instinctively tried to leap upwards to escape the attack from all sides, but he felt his weight suddenly increase several times over, and the force of the fall made it impossible for him to escape for a moment.

As the sword light of "Demon Slayer" suddenly burst forth like fine snow, Arexos once again used "Shadow Substitution Technique," attempting to have his "Corrupted Shadow" take his place and be shattered into pieces by the Dawn Sword Light.

However, the "fallen shadow" did not attempt to strike the shadow at all. Instead, halfway through the strike, it threw the "demon slayer," which was in a liberated state, toward the "chaos mentor" spirit not far away.

A bright streak of light, like the morning sun, flashed by and pinned the unsuspecting "Chaos Mentor" to the ground.

A sword light of demigod level, specifically designed to counter all kinds of evil, suddenly erupted. The "Chaos Mentor" didn't even utter a sound before turning into a wisp of smoke and disappearing.

Because the connection of souls was interrupted, Arexos, who had just completed the "Shadow Substitute", visibly paused. In that moment of distraction, Roger, wielding the "Spirit and Flesh Blade", used the forward thrust of gravity to accelerate and instantly appeared in front of Arexos, slashing down at him with his sword!
Just as Roger's slash was about to hit Arexus, he suddenly saw a flowing shadow blade appear in front of him, blocking the "Spirit and Flesh Blade" attack amplified by gravity.

Even with Roger's strong physique, he felt a slight tremor in his tiger's mouth at this moment, but he did not choose to retreat. Instead, he quickly switched the external "White Saintess" Katarina Pelle to "Fallen Earl" Chunus Korg.

With the amplified power, Roger's sword strike suddenly became incredibly heavy. Aerysor was unable to parry and almost had his hands severed by Roger's "Blade of Spirit and Flesh".

As Arexos fell into a disadvantageous position, he did not hesitate to use the "Shadow Substitute Technique" to dodge the attack again. Even at the demigod level, the spirit body was the weakness of the extraordinary beings of the "Mystic" path. Arexos did not intend to use his body to withstand the "Spirit-Flesh Blade" which had been "amplified" and empowered.

When Arexos's figure reappeared behind the layers of shadow, his expression turned quite grim.

Meanwhile, Roger's three flesh puppets approached the "manipulator".

They achieved true autonomous coordination at this moment. The flesh puppet with black eyes used "fate bestowal" to attach a misfortune to the "manipulator", while at the same time, the Roger puppet with blue eyes suddenly chanted a song that could slow down a person's spiritual function.

As Arexos and the "Manipulator" slowed their movements, the red-eyed flesh puppet formed a strange hand seal, just like Roger's original body.

In the instant before the "astronomical explosion" shone, the "manipulator" had already broken free from the state of spiritual sluggishness and switched to his virtual personality in the first instant.

This is a way to prevent Roger's "Astral Outburst". Although changing the virtual personality will not have a profound impact on the predetermined fate, it will greatly weaken and improve the damage and resistance to such attacks that manifest from the Destiny Mask when suffering "Astral Attacks"!
However, to the "manipulator's" own surprise, when the three different colored lights flashed on his body, his spirit suddenly turned pale and swayed, and his face became extremely distorted, as if he had been hit in the internal organs by some extremely strong impact!
In utter disbelief, he struggled to lift his head, only to see a fleeting glimpse of black in the depths of "Roger's" dark eyes.

In fact, this was a seamless collaboration between the three flesh puppets. The flesh puppet that controlled the power of "music" seemed to be slowing down Arexos and the "manipulator's" movements, but actually wanted to amplify his own panic in order to find a loophole and use it as a fulcrum for "secret insight".

Although "Secret Insight" cannot fully perceive the dozens of personalities possessed by the "Manipulator," it can pinpoint the type of virtual personality the "Manipulator" is attempting to switch to.

After achieving this, Roger with black eyes used "fate bestowal" to modify the "manipulator's" fate, so that the newly switched personality could be more "suitable" for the upcoming "astronomical eruption" attack, and cause the damage to the opponent to increase significantly!

Most importantly, this process was not actively intervened by Roger himself, but was actively completed by these three flesh and blood puppets who had a certain degree of independent thinking and were in sync with each other!

Seemingly realizing that continuing to fight in this mode would be extremely dangerous, the "manipulator" began to rapidly develop dragon scales around his body, and various characteristics of a flying dragon began to appear around him.

At this moment, he risked using "Mythical Creature Form" and immediately used "Mind Deprivation" on all of Roger's participants in the battle!
Roger also noticed the other party's plan, and he immediately shouted, "Don't look!"
Upon hearing this, Sam, Cecilia, and Bandit immediately turned their heads away. Because they did not possess divinity, they could not directly look at the mythical creature form of the "Manipulator," even though the latter was just a spirit without a physical body!

As for how to resist "mind deprivation", they had no time to think about it. Fortunately, Roger used the "Twisting" ability of "Fallen Earl" Chunus Colger to change the effect of the "Manipulator's" attack!

On the other hand, Roger was even worried that the "Twisting" was not enough to affect the "Manipulator" in the form of a mythical creature, but before he could take any action, the flesh puppet with the authority over "fate" altered the "Manipulator's" fate to some extent, making him more susceptible to the influence of the "Twisting" ability!

The next moment, the "mental deprivation" that should have stirred up a storm in the collective unconscious, causing collective panic and mental breakdown, turned into a less severe form of "deterrence".

Fortunately, just half a second before this "deterrence" took effect, Bandit's boyish voice rang out:
"Psychic attacks are prohibited here!"

As a result, the already weakened "deterrence" was further reduced, causing Sam, Cecilia, and Bandit to feel a noticeable shock to their minds. Although the shock was strong, it was still within their tolerance range and prevented them from losing control immediately.

But just as Roger shouted, Arexos finally seized the opportunity, and a new Beyonder's soul quickly appeared beside Roger.

She was a female "Apostle of Desire" at Sequence 5, and the moment she appeared, she used "Control Desire" on Roger.

Although the Sequence 5 level desire-type abilities did not have a significant impact on Roger, and were entirely within his ability to withstand, it was not so easy to deal with the fact that Arexos was also using the Sequence 3 level "Spirit-Flesh Blade," which could directly penetrate the life defenses of those with corrupted intentions.

Fortunately, at that very moment, Roger detonated a record of "The Four Seasons: Winter" stored somewhere in Backlund, and the rules contained within it, which could quickly calm people down, instantly dispelled the effect of the "desire for control".

Because his extraordinary abilities have become unprecedentedly abundant, Roger has rarely used the "Fate Leap" ability since he was promoted to Sequence 4. However, in fact, Roger's ability in this regard has also greatly improved with the increase of his own Sequence level and the increase of the number of "anchors" that have gradually recovered with the economic recovery after the war.

At this time, the duration and intensity of Roger's "Fate Leap" rule infusion were significantly enhanced, which meant that he did not have to worry about the "Manipulator's" mental abilities affecting his combat for a considerable period of time.

In addition, Roger had already placed a portion of his own flesh and blood on his three teammates, Sam, Cecilia, and Bendit, before the battle. Combined with the blood ties and fate that Roger already had with the two of them and the cat, the rules of "Four Seasons: Winter" were also shared with them at the same time to prevent the "manipulator" from launching another mental attack.

After eliminating the hidden danger within himself, Roger easily parried the slash of the 'Spirit and Flesh Blade'. After dissipating the force, Roger did not wait for Arexus to launch another attack before directly aiming his left hand at the "Shadow Saint".

At the same time, Chunus Korg's figure quickly appeared, and the "amplified" power suddenly appeared on Roger's body.

Just as the "Shadow Saint" was unsure of Roger's intentions, the latter smiled slightly.

The next second, "anti-gravity" was applied to Arexos, and then he was launched like a cannonball!

Because of the "magnification" effect, Arexos felt that he had no control over his body at all. In an instant, he was far away from the ground and reached an altitude of about 2000 meters, and this altitude was still rising.

With Arexos gone, the "Manipulator" and the "Apostle of Desire" also disappeared, leaving only the bodies of Ms. D, Ms. S, and Mr. L, who had been killed by Bandit, behind.

At this moment, the two women were somewhat bewildered. They had no idea that the saint who led them in battle would suddenly disappear midway through the fight, leaving only the two of them to fight Roger and his group, as well as the cat.

In fact, the reason Roger didn't choose to continue fighting Arexos was very simple: the "Tri-Headed Templar" was just too difficult to kill.

Unlike the "Black Knight" and the Sequence Beyonders below him, the "Tri-Headed Sanctuary" can be resurrected directly as long as a single cell is still alive and there is enough flesh and blood.

Arexos's choice to fight Roger at night in the outskirts of Backlund must have been based on this consideration. It's possible that he had planted cells in the sleeping civilians nearby, allowing the enemy to resurrect indefinitely no matter how he fought, and dragging Roger into a war of attrition, which would undoubtedly be very disadvantageous for him.

On the other hand, Roger also considered using the high-sequence "gate" pathway seal on his body to directly banish Arexus, but through "Secret Insight," he keenly sensed that the other party seemed to be very much looking forward to Roger doing so.

This immediately made Roger wary, because it was no secret that he possessed the "Box of the Ancients." Katarina Pelle had previously used the "Warning Bell" as a sealed artifact to counter his "Box of the Ancients" when she challenged him. Now, Arexus seemed to have the same method, and it was even possible that it was some kind of trap set by the "Angel of Fate," Ulorus.

This discovery also made Roger feel very annoyed. When did it become an "industry consensus" among these believers of evil gods that "you must have a countermeasure against the 'Box of the Old Ones' to fight Roger Abraham"?

Considering that today's battle was a pre-planned one, Roger was unsure whether Alexstrass had any other tricks up his sleeve or traps waiting for him to fall into. Therefore, the most rational course of action for Roger at the moment was to use "gravity" to forcibly end the battle, and then he would find an opportunity to take the initiative and, after making full preparations, directly eliminate Alexstrass and Vignella.

Taking a deep breath, Roger, still clad in his "Black Knight" armor, walked to Ms. D and Ms. S's side and then planted the "Spirit and Flesh Blade" directly into the ground beside them.
"Answer my questions. Whatever I ask, you answer."

(End of this chapter)