Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 317 The Seductive Voices in Oil

(Two chapters combined into one, please vote with monthly tickets at the end of the month.)

Raphael realized that this teleportation array must be inextricably linked to the "Goddess of the Night".

But he didn't intend to investigate that matter now. Instead, he asked Audrey, who had golden hair, "Did 'The Fool' say how to reverse the activation of the teleportation array to return us to Backlund?"

Audrey smiled somewhat helplessly: "I didn't ask."

Raphael said "Oh," thinking to himself, "Then let's not ask. Maybe even the Fool doesn't know. Asking would only make things awkward for everyone."

He took a deep breath and said, "The Lord of Evil Desires" has a way to send us back, but we need to pray to this deity and ask for His help.

"So, do you want us to work together to find a way back to the Northern Continent using the teleportation array? Or do you want the Lord of Evil Desire to send us back?"

Audrey replied, "If I could, I would like to see the 'Forsaken Land'."

This opportunity may only come once.

"That works too," Raphael said. "I'm quite familiar with the area, so I can be your guide."

Audrey smiled happily and said, "Thank you."

Then it suddenly occurred to her: "So, the people who went missing before were all teleported to the 'Forsaken Land'?"

"That should be true."

"Then they—"

Raphael said, "They have no chance of survival."

A normal person who comes here won't survive more than three minutes!

They had no lights, and at most a lighter on them. If they couldn't be in a light source, they could easily disappear.

Even if they disappeared at night, and happened to be carrying a lantern, they were no match for the monsters in the darkness.

Raphael and Audrey could both sense that there were many monsters watching them from the surrounding darkness, but one of them was a Sequence 4 and the other a Sequence 5, so ordinary monsters wouldn't dare to approach them.

There's really no need to look for those people who disappeared before.

Raphael said, "Let's leave from here first."

As they walked outside, Raphael said, "As far as I know, this ruin has some unknown dangers, and we might even run into Amon's clone. Let's not wander around here."

Upon hearing that she might run into Amon's doppelganger, Audrey quickened her pace.

The member of the Tarot Club, "The Sun," from the "Forsaken Land," once encountered Amon's doppelganger. Even as an observer, Audrey felt that the experience was both thrilling and exciting.

It's hard to imagine how dangerous it would be if I encountered Amon's clone!

Once out of Cherokee, Audrey glanced back and saw a group of buildings that looked unfamiliar to her.

Although Audrey had not studied urban planning, Backlund was the largest city in the Northern Continent, with the largest industrial area and the largest residential area. She lived in such a city and was very familiar with the structure of large cities.

However, she could only discern industrial structures in the building complex behind her, but she couldn't understand what type of factory it was.

So Audrey asked, "When did this ruin come from? Why would Amon's alter ego be here?"

Raphael glanced back with a complicated expression. "As far as I know, this ruin existed during the First Age. I've heard that the ancient sun god 'awakened' from here."

Upon hearing the name "Ancient Sun God," Audrey couldn't help but take a deep breath, glance back, and memorize the scene, determined to share it with the other members at the Tarot meeting when she returned.

Raphael looked away: "Take a look ahead. Actually, the 'Forsaken Land' isn't that interesting."

Audrey saw that beyond the ruins lay an endless wilderness.

She had heard "Little Sun" describe the situation here many times before, and she couldn't imagine what it would be like if there were no plants on the ground.

Now Audrey understood that this place was so desolate it was despairing.

Without plants, there is no way to obtain food through planting, so the only option is hunting. However, the problem is that the creatures that have survived to this day all have some extraordinary abilities, making them difficult to hunt, and their flesh and blood are also contaminated with special properties.

Even if it doesn't possess extraordinary abilities, it's still poisonous, mutated, or contaminated. In short, eating too much will definitely cause problems.

Silver City has held out in such a place for thousands of years, which makes Audrey feel hopeless just thinking about it.

After walking in the wilderness for a while, Raphael asked Audrey if she wanted to visit the city.

He didn't intend to appear as a divine messenger, but rather to "invisibly" go with Audrey and observe from afar how the people here lived.

Then the day trip to the Forsaken Lands can end, and Raphael might even be able to go back for lunch.

Audrey was naturally delighted, and upon learning that it wasn't far from there, she suggested walking there.

Raphael thought to himself: Well, I'll miss lunch and have to go back for dinner.

After walking around for a while, Audrey felt that she was gradually growing to like this place. Although it was desolate, it was quiet.

Walking here is like experiencing the long road of life, with no end in sight, and you can only walk alone in the darkness.

Or rather, this place may not be suitable for survival, but it is also very suitable for reflection and contemplation.

As they walked, the two stopped because in the distance ahead, a large stream of black liquid seemed to suddenly spurt out of the ground.

Raphael's first thought was oil, but isn't there oil in the world?

Because they were too far apart, even they, as extraordinary beings, could not see what was being sprayed out.

So they changed direction and decided to go around that field.

But after walking for only a few minutes, black liquid started spraying out from ahead, and this time the spray was much closer to them.

Raphael stood there for a while, his spiritual sense still failing to detect any danger in the liquids.

But just to be on the safe side, Raphael said, "Let's go through the spirit world."

But the moment Raphael had this thought, a scene suddenly appeared before his eyes: in the endless darkness, a phantom was rushing towards him!

In other words, the other party may be waiting for them in the spirit world, or the surrounding spirit world may have been affected, making it even more dangerous to enter the spirit world!

Raphael pondered for a moment and said, "Prepare for battle."

Although I don't know what we've encountered, we definitely have to break out of here.

Audrey's expression instantly turned serious, her eyes turning golden. But in that instant, she realized that the subconscious around her seemed to be experiencing a tropical storm in the ocean of collective consciousness, with huge waves sweeping over her and Raphael's mental islands.

But before this, Audrey had no idea that there was any danger here.

Just then, Raphael tentatively threw a fireball at the black liquid.

When the fireball exploded, it instantly ignited the black liquid. The two men saw that, without them noticing, a black ocean had formed around them. As if it were alive, it spewed out from the ground and then quietly circled around, slowly approaching its prey.

But for a moment, neither Raphael nor Audrey knew where to use their extraordinary abilities!

These liquids are definitely aggressive, but their main components are unclear.

The next instant, a sharp, grating sound rang in their ears, giving them splitting headaches and making it almost impossible for them to stand up straight.

In an instant, the ground slowly sank, and the surrounding black liquid flowed rapidly toward them, as if they were in a deep pit, and all the liquid was flowing toward them to drown them.

Despite the excruciating pain, Raphael infused his spirituality into "Wriggling Hunger," driving the soul of "Wind-Centered One" to fly Audrey into the air via "Short-Range Flight."

But the ground seemed to have a huge suction force, and no matter how hard he tried, he could only fly about half a meter high.

The black liquid had gathered at their feet, forming faces that were screaming, evil, laughing, angry, or terrified.

In that instant, a deep, seductive voice rang in Raphael's ears: "Fall down, just fall down, just throw yourself into our arms, and we'll make the beautiful lady beside you completely submit to you. You can make her do whatever you want. Hehehe, don't you want to taste her? It must be very sweet."

Raphael felt he was being persuaded. If it were any other woman, he might have gone through several more rounds of back and forth, but today's woman was Audrey, and he found the offer very tempting. His gaze towards Audrey instantly became fiery.

The voice continued, "Think about it, you can humiliate her at will, use her as a tool for venting your desires—"

A wicked smile appeared on Raphael's face, but the next second, he suddenly calmed down.

This doesn't mean he suddenly had a change of heart, but rather that his "main account" came online and used its surging evil power to eliminate the seductive effect of that voice.

Immediately, an image appeared in Raphael's mind: the surrounding black liquid was emitting the same colorful light as the interior of the building! This was the image from the "larger" "real vision".

These liquids were also affected by the "Chaotic Sea" —

wrong!

Raphael suddenly realized that this might be the oil from back then!

He vaguely remembered that at the end of the century AD, one of the signs of the "first" awakening was that underground oil suddenly gushed to the surface and, as if it were alive, began to devour humans.

Could all that oil still be lingering around Chernobyl?

After thinking about it for a moment, Raphael felt that it seemed quite possible, since they possessed certain extraordinary qualities and were unlikely to disappear naturally.

At this moment, Raphael noticed something was wrong. Audrey, whom he was pulling, suddenly used her "Frenzy" ability on him. At some point, the noblewoman's gaze towards Raphael turned malevolent.

Raphael hurriedly used "Adam's Gift" to block the opponent's mental attack, but in an instant, he also lost his mind. Then, he sensed that Audrey was going to continue attacking him, so he had no choice but to let Audrey go.

At the same time, Raphael realized that not only had he heard the seductive voice, but Audrey must have heard it too; she had also been seduced!

When the effects of "madness" completely wore off, Raphael discovered that Audrey had fallen into viscous, living oil.

This—this one turned out to be a little black egg too.

Raphael then realized that the oil beneath his feet was actually of a very high quality, and even the "manipulator" Audrey had been bewitched by it!

The oil quickly submerged Audrey's head, leaving only a wisp of her golden hair floating on top.

Raphael sighed. Since he had brought the person, he couldn't just stand by and watch him die.

So he immediately summoned the phantom of the "Eye of Illusion" and had it jump in to retrieve it.

Raphael himself dared not go down.

At the same time, the "Lord of Evil Desire" reappeared, sitting on a crystal high-backed chair. His evil and depravity were much purer than the surrounding "oil," causing ripples to unconsciously spread among the oil.

In an instant, they changed; the ground rapidly sank, forming a bottomless black abyss!

Raphael and his "Lord of Lust" hovered in mid-air in the center of the abyss.

The cliffs of this abyss are made of flowing black oil, looking like a writhing maw.

But Raphael breathed a slight sigh of relief, because he realized that this oil might be the entrance to one of the "abysses".

The "Abyss" pathway, or the "Demon" pathway, has a physical form in the real world; it is the "Abyss" composed of all evil, depravity, and malice.

It is said that long ago, that place was inhabited by demons.

It's not hard to understand why these oils would become one of the entrances to the abyss. They were most likely influenced by the "corruption" authority within the "Chaos Sea," or to put it more bluntly, by the corresponding authority of the "Hanged Man" pathway.

Raphael vaguely remembered that the "Hanged Man" pathway and the "Abyss" pathway seemed to be "latent," pathways that could be interchanged at higher sequences.

It's like the relationship between the three paths of "Red Priestess," "Witch," and "Darkness."

The reason they can be interchanged is probably because both paths hold the power of "corruption".

Because of the influence of this authority, over time these oils have somehow established a connection with the abyss, either by opening an entrance or by merging with an existing entrance nearby.

Raphael breathed a sigh of relief because the "Lord of Evil Desires"—more precisely, the "Dark Lodge"—had a certain degree of control over the "Abyss".

Because the malice represented by the "Abyss" is too intense to be contained by the "Demon" alone, the "Abyss" is not located directly in the "Dark Abode" like the "Source of the Curse".

However, the "Demon" pathway must control most of the authority of the "Abyss," which is why sequence 0 of this pathway is called the "Abyss."

The two sides were probably in a subordinate relationship, but not entirely under the control of "Dark Lodge".

At this moment, the "Lord of Evil Desire" slightly raised his hand, and the flowing "oil" on the cliffs around the abyss surged again. The phantom of the "Eye of Illusion" stretched out a hand from the middle, then pushed it outward, and then dragged Audrey out of it.

Audrey's face alternated between a cold smile and a wicked grin as she relentlessly attacked the phantom of the "Eye of Illusion" with her extraordinary abilities.

Raphael breathed a sigh of relief. Thanks to the timely rescue, Audrey hadn't completely fallen from grace. However, he felt that the wicked Audrey possessed a unique kind of beauty. He was even somewhat curious about what Audrey would be like after her fall from grace.

Soon, the phantom of the "Eye of Illusion" floated over with Audrey, whose skin and clothes still had some black liquid residue.

The Lord of Evil Desire waved his hand again, and the liquids seemed to come alive, quickly converging towards Audrey's feet, forming two black "droplets" beneath her feet.

Then, the "water droplet" floated away and merged into the four walls of the "abyss".

Audrey gasped, her face filled with lingering fear, and said, "By the goddess above! How could I have had so many wicked thoughts just now?"

She seemed to see Raphael transformed into a demon, defiling her, killing her, murdering her family, and destroying everything she cherished.

A seductive voice rang in her ears, and Audrey felt a surge of intense hatred welling up inside her, overwhelming her. She wanted to kill Raphael and then have Susie devour all his flesh and blood!

Even just thinking about it now, Audrey felt that these ideas were incredibly wicked.

Then, she saw the pitch-black "abyss," and a wave of pure terror washed over her. Beneath the pitch-black "abyss" lay pure evil and depravity, and she didn't want to become that kind of creature.

Audrey looked up slightly and saw the "Lord of Evil Desire" radiating an evil light in mid-air. She knew, of course, that it was this great being who had saved her, and for a moment she didn't know how to thank Him.

Finally, Audrey looked at the phantom that was pulling on her arm and floating in mid-air.

Audrey had noticed this saint during the previous battle against Erin.

Now, in close proximity, Audrey sensed a pure and powerful force emanating from it, making the phantom appear even more mysterious to her.

Raphael, seeing that the person had been rescued, was about to leave when suddenly the "Lord of Lust" sent an image into his mind: a one-eyed phantom moving on the writhing cliffs around him.

It would enter the spirit world for a while and then return to the real world. Because it kept switching between the two worlds, neither Audrey nor Raphael noticed each other.

Raphael immediately understood the meaning of "larger"—it meant "Abyssal One-Eyed Shadow"!

One of the main ingredients for Sequence 4 "Puppet" is "Heart of the Abyss Cyclops," an extraordinary creature that lives at the entrance to the "Abyss."

The other main material had already been obtained from the Ironblood Cross Society. Because the entrance to the Abyss was difficult to find, Raphael didn't have high hopes for it. It was only when faced with Erin's characteristics that Raphael was willing to offend Miss Sharon in order to obtain the "Puppet" characteristic for his advancement.

I never expected to encounter such a spiritual creature in the "forsaken land"!

Raphael then said to Audrey, "You wait for me outside the entrance to the Abyss; I'm going to hunt an extraordinary creature here!"

With the help of the "Large Size" and the "Eye of Illusion" phantoms, Raphael was quite confident that he could kill his opponent.

Upon hearing Raphael's words, Audrey immediately replied, "I'll help you hunt, as a way of thanking you for accompanying me on this investigation today."

Raphael thought for a moment before saying, "Okay."

As he spoke, the Lord of Evil Desires once again unleashed a power, allowing Audrey to remain suspended in mid-air above the entrance to the Abyss, instead of falling downwards.

At this time, the "Lord of Evil Desires" has the greatest function of ensuring that the entrance continues to exist and does not disappear on its own, while also keeping Raphael and the others in their current state and unaffected by the "Abyss".

Raphael immediately entered the state of "vengeful spirit" and "demon". As soon as this superimposed state appeared, the four walls of the "Abyss" seemed to sense the abnormality and their crawling speed increased!

However, the Lord of Evil watched them coldly and increased the intensity of his power, so they could only clung to the cliff and wriggle, unable to pounce on Raphael.

At this moment, Raphael used his spiritual vision to observe the "Abyssal Cyclops Shadow". Raphael first summoned several light blue "sulfur fireballs" and threw them at the opponent as a probing attack.

The "shadow" mixed in with the black oil glanced at Raphael with its one eye, then at the "Lord of Lust" in mid-air, and casually made the approaching fireball disappear.

It was clearly wise enough to know that it could not fight Raphael in the presence of the "Lord of Malice".

Raphael, through the attack, realized that the opponent also possessed some "demon" abilities. No wonder they lived at the entrance to the "Abyss".

To prevent the enemy from penetrating deeper into the "Abyss," Raphael gave Audrey a wink and began a full-scale attack!

Audrey, who was ready, raised her hand: Mind Deprivation!

In an instant, the "shadow" froze, the last vestiges of reason in its eyes gradually fading away.

Almost at the same time, the phantom of the "Eye of Illusion" appeared in front of the "Shadow" and reached out to tear the phantom apart!

But in the next second, the torn "shadow" merged back together, seemingly unaffected.

It was gray just now, but suddenly turned black and plummeted downwards, as if trying to escape into an "abyss." It was like a black cloth falling into a bottomless valley.

Raphael, who was observing from behind, was slightly taken aback. The phantom of the "Eye of Illusion" was at the Sequence 3 level! Even a normal Sequence 4 spirit would be seriously injured by it pulling on its body, but this guy seemed to be completely unaffected.

While contemplating, Raphael infused his spirituality into "Adam's Gift," unleashing the power of "madness."

The "Shadow" slowed down, and the phantom of the "Eye of Illusion" caught up, instantly summoning the "Magma Greatsword" to pierce into the opponent's dark body.

But in the next second, the part of the magma sword that the "Eye of Illusion" had pierced into the "Shadow" melted and turned into scattered magma that flew in all directions.

This is strange. Why does Raphael feel that this "One-Eyed Shadow" has a pretty high level of ability in the "Demon" pathway?

The phantoms of "Shadow" and "Eye of Illusion" continued to fall. Raphael noticed that the phantom of "Eye of Illusion" was beginning to resist his commands, indicating that it was being affected by the "Corruption" effect in the "Abyss" and was developing the idea of ​​betraying Raphael's control.

Just then, the falling "ghostly figure" suddenly stopped, as if it had remembered something important, and began to climb up the cliff.

Raphael turned to look at Audrey, only to see her two beautiful golden pupils staring unblinkingly at the "Shadow".

Clearly, she had used the time she had just spent to "manipulate" the "shadow," making it act against its own will.

This is the core ability of the "Manipulator," and also the most difficult to defend against. For example, right now, "Shadow" doesn't feel that there's anything wrong with what it's doing, and even thinks that it's the wisest choice made after various considerations.

>