Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 389 The Long-Awaited Duo Team-Up

"Yes, my lord."

Sebastian Montoya was overjoyed when he heard that Roger was going to let him go.

During the few days he spent with Roger, Sebastian was mostly confined to that strange toy city where time seemed to have stopped flowing.

Both the bizarre environment and the deathly silence were extremely eerie. Even more terrifying was the toy-like "demon" standing inside, still in the incomplete form of a mythical creature, and tainted with an extremely strong aura of the "abyss".

This made Sebastian realize from the moment he was locked inside that if he stayed in the box for more than a certain period of time, he would turn into the same thing. This sent a chill down his spine, even though Sebastian was a ruthless killer who knew nothing of fear.

He also knew very well that Roger was showing him this "devil" to demonstrate his absolute control over the toy city, and that if Sebastian disobeyed him, he would make him follow in his footsteps.

Even though Sebastian was a high-ranking being at Sequence 3, he was powerless against the methods of an angel. He couldn't even find a way out, let alone resist.

At that moment, he heard Roger say that he would let him go. Although Roger had assigned him a task, this gave Sebastian a chance to survive.

Based on his "devilish" nature, the thought of running away crossed Sebastian's mind at that moment, but soon he saw Roger's dark eyes looking at him, which seemed to contain a knowing and playful gaze.

Sebastian calmed down with just that eye contact, because he noticed that Roger's previous words only mentioned that he should gather the remaining conservative members of the "Blood Cult," but did not specify a meeting place. This meant that this being, who was suspected of being favored by the "Demon King," had a way to lock onto him across distances.

Upon realizing this, Sebastian immediately lowered his head and dared not speak.

After a long silence, Roger finally spoke:
"Go."

"Yes, my lord."

Sebastian cautiously took a few steps back, and only disappeared when he had truly blended into the night.

Roger looked up at the full moon in the sky. He didn't rush to leave, but after a while, he spoke:

"Come out."

Klein Moretti, dressed in a double-breasted long suit and wearing a half-high silk hat, and whose appearance had changed, walked out of the darkness, while Bandit perched on his shoulder, squinting at Roger with his cat-like eyes.

"You not only called me here, but you also called my cat?"

Roger was somewhat helpless. In fact, as soon as he entered the botanical garden, he noticed that Bandit and Klein were under the "secret" state, and he also knew that the two of them had listened to the entire conversation between Roger and Sebastian.

Compared to Bandit's casualness, Klein's expression seemed somewhat strange.

"This... I'm not seeing things, am I? Was that Sebastian Montoya just now?"

His tone revealed surprise, and to be honest, Roger often gave him that feeling, but this time the surprise surpassed any of the previous ones.

During this time, Klein had investigated a lot of information about the "Blood Cult" and even divined a lot of information about Sebastian Montoya. However, before he could tell Roger this information, he saw Roger standing on a street corner in Trier, scolding this "demon" of Sequence 3 like he was scolding his own dog.

The scene was undoubtedly explosive, but the key point was that Roger seemed relaxed and nonchalant, as if there was nothing wrong with the scene.

"Yes, Sebastian, Montoya."

Roger nodded, acknowledging Klein's guess.

"How did you do that? If I'm not mistaken, you released him from the 'Old Box'... and he seemed to respect you a lot?"

Klein paused, then added:
"how did you do it?"

Klein wasn't curious about how Roger had bypassed Sebastian's "malicious perception"—after all, that wouldn't have been difficult for Roger, who was capable of altering fate—he was more curious about how his friend had managed to win Sebastian over.

First, Klein could tell from Sebastian's state that the other party was not under Roger's "troublemaker" skill control, because this "talker" spoke very fluently and did not show the blank expression that one would show when under the control of the "troublemaker" skill.

In contrast, this scene seemed more like a manifestation controlled by the "spectator" pathway ability—because Klein himself had the "manipulator" seal artifact that fell from Ince, he not only had a way to bypass the "malicious perception" of high-sequence demons, but also could use that "manipulator" seal artifact to make the other party reveal the information he wanted.

On the other hand, Klein also knew that Bandit was not with Roger, and that the "Manipulator" seal artifact was also carried by the cat. Therefore, in Klein's opinion, Roger should not have the means to make the other party obey his orders.

In fact, Klein's line of thinking was half right—Roger did possess the "spectator" power of Sequence 3, but he did not use it to control Sebastian.

Of course, Roger did not admit that he had used the aura of the "Abyss" to do this—in fact, after two days of reflection, Roger had fully figured out what he was doing and what he should be doing.

This is precisely why things that shouldn't be said cannot be said, which also aligns with one of the rules of the "Black Prophet" role—that is, the "Black Prophet" is a user of information, but not a revealer.

For the "Black Prophet," revealing information is merely a means of utilizing information, and should not be regarded as the direction of the role as simply "leaking" itself, as was the case during the "Leaker" period in Sequence 5.

"It was my own ability that allowed me to switch to the 'audience' pathway and become a 'dream weaver' in Sequence 3."

Roger went along with Klein's guess and didn't mention anything about the "Judgment Star" pathway.

"I see."

Klein looked enlightened and nodded slightly.

Although Klein's current level of understanding was enough to confirm that Roger possessed two different and independent paths of power, he did not actively inquire about the corresponding information.

Not only Klein, but Roger was the same.

After becoming the "Black Prophet," he gained insight into the flow of fate and risks, which made him consciously avoid discussing the details of the "Black Prophet's" abilities in front of those around him, including Klein Moretti, one of his competitors for the "Lord of Mysteries."

Simply put, the lower the sequence level, the bolder one is; the higher the sequence level, the more cautious one becomes.

The idea that cognition determines behavior is exactly this principle.

After that, the two tacitly avoided discussing the matter further, and Klein took the initiative to say to Roger:

"There's a decent hotel not far ahead with reasonable prices. I've already booked a room for you. Here's the key. Just activate 'Psychological Invisibility' and go in. I'll come to your room at 10 PM tonight."

"it is good."

Roger nodded, and a moment later, Klein disappeared from where he had been standing, transforming into a young man wearing a shirt and riding breeches.

Roger immediately recognized him as a Sequence 7 serial killer, who had now been transformed into Klein's puppet.

"Good morning sir."

The "serial killer" nodded to Roger and said something inexplicable:
"Need to fix a water pipe? I'm a professional plumber, and my prices are very reasonable."

"Need not."

Roger's lips twitched. He refused the "serial killer's" request and then looked down at his key tag.

The key tag read "Old Man's Hostel, Room 308".

"Let's go, Bandit."

After the serial killer left, and then the sound of falling into the water came from not far away, Roger took Bendit and walked towards the five-story brick-red building with a blue "Old Man's Hotel" sign hanging nearby.

Upon approaching, Roger used the power of "Fallen Earl" Chunus Colger to envelop Bandit in the influence of "psychological invisibility," then passed through the doorman sitting in the front hall restaurant, who was completely unaware of his arrival, and five or six guests who were eating and reading newspapers, and headed towards the third floor.

When they arrived at room 308, Roger looked around and, seeing that no one was there, led Bandit through the door and into the room.

"Clap."

Roger turned on the gas light in the room and looked at the spotlessly clean French windows and the soft, large bed. He couldn't help but think to himself that the hotel Klein had chosen seemed really nice.

A little while later, Roger's door was knocked. He got up to open it and found that Klein had changed into a repairman's uniform and was wearing a baseball cap. He looked exactly like the plumber from before and was standing at the door.

Why are you being so secretive?

Roger was both amused and exasperated. To be honest, although he could tell that Klein was trying to play the role of a "trickster," he had to admit that his approach was somewhat like a nested doll.

"You don't understand the situation."

Klein shook his head, walked past Roger and went into the house. Only after closing the door did he speak:

“There is a stronghold of the Belial family nearby. Someone from them noticed that I was investigating the ‘Blood Worship Cult’, so this evening they specifically found a peripheral member of Sequence 7 to disguise himself as a plumber and come to this floor to monitor me.”

"This made me realize that there should be other informants nearby, so I turned him into a secret puppet."

"So, during our meeting just now, you used my conversation with Sebastian Montoya to confirm that there were no members of the 'Blood Cult' nearby. Then, taking advantage of the 'Secret Guard' released by Bandit, you threw the body of the 'serial killer,' who had already changed clothes, into the river, and it was swept downstream."

"In this way, the extraordinary individuals with the 'criminal' pathway will have their blood perception temporarily cut off, making them unable to immediately detect the destruction of this puppet, and at the same time, you yourself will become him?"

Roger offered his own prediction of what would happen next, and sure enough, it immediately drew applause and praise from Klein:

"That's amazing, you guessed it."

"It's mainly because I know your style too well."

Roger pursed his lips; he almost blurted out the words "matryoshka doll."

It must be said that Klein's current methods of doing things are a significant improvement over when he was still a mid-sequence extraordinary being, and the ability coordination between him and Bandit, who are both demigods from adjacent pathways of the "Three Musketeers," does indeed have a slightly "mysterious" characteristic.

After finishing his internal monologue, Roger asked again:

"So what are you planning to do now? Go straight to the Belial family's stronghold to report back?"

"Yes, based on what I know so far, the Belial family has serious problems, so I plan to investigate them thoroughly."

“But before that, I need you to help me ‘falsify’ my identity.”

Klein nodded and added:

"As far as I know, in addition to believing in the 'dark side of the universe,' the Belial family has also been seeking protection from a high-ranking figure known as the 'Grand Duke of the Abyss' for many years."

“That person is suspected to be a Sequence 2 level being, so I don’t expect to be able to infiltrate the core area of ​​the Belial family, but I at least need to meet the superior of this ‘serial killer’.”

"no problem."

Roger nodded. In fact, he wasn't sure if he, tainted by the aura of the "Abyss," could deceive a Sequence 2 angel proficient in blood magic by giving Klein a corresponding false "identity," but he could certainly deceive a demigod-level extraordinary being without any problem.

On the other hand, Roger doesn't need to worry about Klein being corrupted by the aura of the "Abyss," because on the one hand, Klein is protected by the "Source Castle," and on the other hand, the essence of this simulation is based on Roger's occult connection with Fabti. In addition, the identity that Klein obtained was the result of being altered by Roger as a "firewall," so he will only have some of the aura of a demon believer, but will not be corrupted by it.

He extended his left hand toward Klein and then grasped it in mid-air.

The next second, Klein suddenly exuded an aura of "abyss," an aura filled with coldness and bloodlust, which even caused Bandit to subconsciously take two steps back.

"Sorry, that went too far."

Roger shook his head. He slightly reduced his strength and suppressed Klein's false identity aura to the Sequence 7 level before lowering his hand.

"Tsk tsk, this feeling is terrifying."

Bandit shook its head repeatedly. As an animal, it was more sensitive to bloodlust and coldness than humans. At this moment, its discomfort with Klein was even stronger than Roger's, and it couldn't help but sigh.

"That's scary, little kitty."

Roger chuckled and poked Bandit's belly with his toe, which immediately elicited a disgruntled meow from the cat.

"Then I'll go first."

Klein and Roger gave each other an address not far away, located in a secluded mansion area at the westernmost end of the botanical garden.

According to Klein's earlier divination, this mansion belonged to a viscount during the reign of Emperor Roselle, and it is currently still officially registered under the name of that viscount's descendant.

What is little known is that the viscount had long worshipped a high-ranking demon, who was none other than a high-ranking member of the Belial family.

To this day, the mansion is still controlled by the Beria family, while the viscount's descendant is active in the public eye as a spice merchant.

……

Dressed in a plumber's uniform and with an eerily pale complexion, Klein strode quickly through the shadows of the botanical garden at night. After passing through a large area planted with wisteria, he came to a rather retro residential area that looked to be at least a hundred years old.

Many of the houses here are no longer inhabited, but they have not been demolished because they are historical buildings.

In the early days, some of the houses with unclear property rights were requisitioned by the government and transformed into archives and museums. However, even so, compared to other attractions in Trier, especially the areas where people can fully express themselves, not many outsiders come here, and it is especially deserted at night.

Because of this, the area becomes a hub for underground transactions and meetings for many criminals in Trier at night. Guns and illegal drugs circulate extensively here, and gunfights sometimes break out.

Because of these phenomena, the number of normal residents in this neighborhood has become increasingly smaller, and because there are too many powerful gangs in Trier, the police tend to turn a blind eye.

Over time, this place became a no-man's-land. The police and these gangs seemed to have reached a tacit agreement: as long as the conflicts and fights between these gangs did not extend beyond this specific area or cause any major disturbances, the police would not interfere.

This environment has become a breeding ground for extraordinary individuals who have achieved "criminal" status, which is why the Belial family chose to locate their Trier branch here in recent decades—in a sense, it's akin to "great seclusion in plain sight." Along the way, Klein could feel some malicious gazes cast from the dark alleys, but he wasn't afraid at all. He immediately raised his head and returned the gazes with extremely venomous eyes.

Because Klein's aura was already terrifying, and now that he had acquired the mystical identity corresponding to the "serial killer," his gaze seemed to possess an extremely strong intimidating power.

The moment the gang members and thugs met Klein's gaze, they felt a chill run from the soles of their feet to the top of their spines. They instantly snapped back to reality and realized that this was someone they couldn't afford to mess with.

Immediately afterwards, these gazes shifted away, and some even stubbed out their cigarettes, leading the many more ill-intentioned individuals lurking in the darkness into an even darker area.

At this moment, this lawless, dark neighborhood seemed to become a concrete manifestation of the "abyss." Those with great strength could roam freely on the ground, while those who were not strong enough could only submit to power, crawl in the darkness, and wait for the next opportunity to feast on them.

Klein pursed his lips, took a few more steps, turned into a darker street, and then went down the stairs to a stone bridge.

As the lights flickered, Klein finally arrived at his destination—a somewhat heavy and old black wooden door. It looked plain and unadorned, simply embedded in the wall, and it appeared that no one had been there for a long time.

Klein's lips began to move, and he began to speak a demonic phrase he had previously learned.

Originally, Klein could only mimic the corresponding pronunciations, but now, having acquired the identity bestowed upon him by Roger, these previously dry words have acquired a true mystical significance.

"Click."

Soon, the door opened a crack, and Klein composed himself before stepping inside.

Just to be on the safe side, Klein had previously left a puppet nearby for escape, and at this moment he was also carrying a Sequence 4 sealed artifact, so he was quite confident.

Using the information he had gathered beforehand, Klein bypassed several rooms from which strange noises were coming, turned at the end of the corridor, went up the spiral staircase, and headed to the next floor.

After a while, he came to a connecting corridor suspended above the enclosed atrium. After passing through the corridor, Klein finally arrived in front of a half-open door.

"Lord Icarus, I'm back."

At this moment, Klein was speaking Intis, because the "Manipulator" seal he possessed was given to him by the Intis, and it originally contained several personalities who could speak fluent Intis. Klein was using one of them at the moment.

"Come in."

"Yes."

Hearing permission from the deep voice inside, Klein stepped inside.

As soon as he entered, Klein saw a chaise lounge with its back facing him, and someone seemed to be sitting on it. His rather pale right hand extended from the right side of the back of the chair, holding a wine glass of red liquid, as if he was admiring the moon in the sky while enjoying the contents of his glass.

"Blood……"

Klein subtly sniffed; he could tell that what the other person was holding wasn't red wine, but the blood of some extraordinary being. Heaven knows what strange illnesses the people of this demon family have.

He composed himself, walked over to the recliner, and bowed to a middle-aged man sitting in it.

The middle-aged man had a head of neat, medium-length hair and a rather thin build, but Klein could still tell from the muscle definition in his arms that he was in very good health.

Not only that, his eyes were a strange dark red, and a scar on his chin stretched upwards, across the corner of his mouth, and connected to the wing of his nose, making him look rather ferocious.

This person is named Bertron Icarus Belial, a Sequence 5 "Apostle of Desire," and is also the superior of the "serial killer" that Klein is currently playing.

"Reporting to Lord Icarus, I have thoroughly investigated the background of the Narun people."

Klein mimicked the repairman's tone as he reported.

The middle-aged man named Icarus nodded slightly, signaling Klein to continue.

"From what I've observed, that person seems to be a detective with extraordinary abilities, possibly an extraordinary individual who has mastered the 'diviner' pathway."

"He seems to be tracking the activities of the 'conservatives,' killing two members of the 'conservatives' and apparently getting some information out of them."

"This evening, I approached his room under the pretense of fixing a water pipe, hoping to find out what he was doing there. However, it seemed to have aroused his suspicion, so I had to leave the hotel and come back to report to you."

After saying that, Klein paused again:

"Lord Icarus, what should we do next?"

The middle-aged man named Icarus listened patiently to Klein's report. After a moment's thought, he spoke:

"An extraordinary individual on the path of the diviner..."

Icarus closed his eyes, then opened them again after a moment:

"In your opinion, is he connected with the 'Secret Society'?"

"Reporting to Lord Icarus, this matter is still uncertain."

Klein shook his head and added:

"However, his fighting style is very similar to the 'Secret Order' style. I watched one of his fights, and it was very similar to the fighting style of a 'magician' from the 'Secret Order' that I had seen before."

After hearing this, Icarus remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly deep in thought, before finally saying:

"Alright, I understand. You may leave now. I will summon you again when I need you."

"Yes, Lord Icarus."

Klein nodded and began to back away.

However, the moment he turned around, he suddenly felt his spiritual body being impacted, and at the same time, a cage of flames shot up from both sides of his body.

Klein felt a chill run down his spine. Fortunately, he had been using a virtual personality to simulate the Intis accent while speaking, and the mental impact was directly blocked by that virtual personality.

Just as the fiery cage was rapidly tightening, attempting to completely bind Klein, his figure had already appeared a few steps away.

"You really aren't a member of the Secret Order."

Icarus had already stood up and said in a cold voice.

"Of course I'm not."

Klein smiled and said:

How did you figure out I was an imposter?

“It’s very simple. I’m quite certain that Larry has never had any contact with anyone from the ‘Secret Society’.”

Icarus sneered and said:
"Not to mention I can sense other people's malice. I sensed your ill intentions from the moment you entered the room."

"Although you are very convincing in your disguise, both in your aura and your demeanor, you cannot deceive me about your malice."

"I see."

Klein nodded:
I take what you said as a compliment.

After saying that, he stretched out his hand and made a "please" gesture, his every move full of provocation.

"court death."

Icarus Belial was preparing to attack Klein when he suddenly felt his thoughts and movements rapidly become sluggish.

He subconsciously thought of the "Master of Puppets'" abilities and recalled the corresponding information he knew.

Icarus immediately and subconsciously used "Desire Avatar," transforming himself into a pool of illusory, viscous black liquid formed from various emotions and desires.

He was trying to use this method to obscure his ethereal body and prevent the "spiritual threads" from being exposed.

However, Klein remained calm and unhurried; in fact, Icarus's actions were exactly what he wanted.

He immediately activated the "mind deprivation" ability contained within the "manipulator" sealed artifact.

If those extraordinary individuals who follow the "Abyss" pathway are easily manipulated by desires and emotions, then Icarus at this moment is the embodiment of desires and emotions. From the perspective of the "manipulator," he is full of flaws.

At this moment, under the "shock" effect of "mind deprivation," the mass of matter, which resembled black excrement, began to twist rapidly.

With all his weaknesses exposed, Icarus suffered a severe blow and immediately began to show signs of losing control.

At that moment, Klein took the initiative to use "mind manipulation" to take over Icarus's mind, which quickly improved his loss of control symptoms, but at the same time turned him into Klein's puppet.

"nailed it."

He looked at Icarus Belial, who had reformed into human form and stood up from the ground, and nodded in satisfaction.

In fact, Klein never expected to be able to pass Icarus Belial's inspection, so he deliberately did not hide his malice, making Icarus think that he had the situation under control and therefore would not be particularly wary of abilities related to the "spectator" pathway seal.

In this situation, when Icarus realized that he was being turned into a puppet, he subconsciously chose "Desire Incarnation," which allowed Klein to successfully break his mind and take over his consciousness.

There are many benefits to doing this. The primary one is that Klein can obtain a lot of information from the other party's consciousness, including but not limited to intelligence about the "Grand Duke of the Abyss" and the power lurking in this mansion.

"Unfortunately, Maggie Lopez's puppet was destroyed in my battle with Amon..."

After a while, Klein opened his eyes with a frown, and looked up at the upstairs and downstairs with a serious expression.

Although Klein was currently in a "virtual personality" state and did not show any malice towards the lurking Belial family members, he was still somewhat overwhelmed if he had to face these people alone.

"There's no other way, let's call for reinforcements..."

Just as Klein was thinking this, a blue light suddenly appeared beside him, and Roger walked out from it a moment later.

"Yo."

Roger waved.

"What are you yooing about?"

Klein blinked:

"Where is Bandit?"

"I've arranged for him to go somewhere else."

Roger shook his head, then looked at Icarus Belial standing in front of Klein.

“I know you lost Maggie’s secret doll, and you don’t need to feel sorry for me. As long as you survive, that’s more important than anything else.”

He offered a word of comfort to Klein, then glanced upstairs and said:

"If nothing unexpected happens, you will soon have a new demigod-level marionette."

"Ah."

"But she'll be much uglier than Maggie... I'm sorry to have to put you through that."

"You bastard, stop talking nonsense and get to work."

Klein caught the sarcasm in Roger's tone and immediately started cursing.

After ten seconds, the two of them suddenly fell silent.

"It feels like it's been a long time since we've had a situation where the two of us team up alone to fight a tough battle."

Suddenly, Roger laughed, breaking the silence first.

"Ah."

Klein nodded in deep agreement.

"Don't let me leave you too far behind."

"Shit."

Klein laughed in exasperation again and couldn't help but swear in Danitz's tone.

A moment later, the two of them simultaneously pushed open the door and looked upstairs.

(End of this chapter)