Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 422 Completely Digesting the "Devil's" Potion

Bayam, Roside Islands.

Matteo hurried into a small alley. He looked back somewhat anxiously, and when he saw that the pursuers were not following, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He was panting heavily, leaning against the wall, and slid down to the ground.

He pulled open his shirt and saw the bloody, mangled wound on his abdomen. He painfully pulled the shirt back up.

Matteo is a serial killer, but he was just being chased by a "demon". Luckily, he had some lucky encounters, otherwise he would not have been able to escape at all.

After resting for a while, Matteo struggled to his feet and ran towards the other end of the alley. He would only be safe once he was away from Bayam.

When I reached the middle of the alley, I was stopped at the other end by a man in his thirties with a scarred face.

Matteo felt a surge of fear; it was the very "demon" that had been chasing him earlier.

He turned and ran to the other side, but after only two steps, he seemed to suddenly hear a "boom" sound, and all the strength in his body seemed to suddenly burst forth, then vanished without a trace. Then his vision went black, and he almost fainted.

This is the ability to control one's desires!

Matteo had heard about this ability from a friend, and just now someone triggered his desires!

He knelt on the ground, trembling, and looked at himself in despair. There was a pretty woman there, and he didn't know when.

This woman is the "Apostle of Desire" who just ignited his desire.

Matteo immediately said, "I know what you want to know, it's the entrance to the abyss, right? I'll tell you the location of that 'entrance to the abyss,' please let me leave here."

"The Apostle of Desire" chuckled somewhat mockingly, "That's more like it."

"However, you're not leaving here; you have to join us."

Matteo immediately replied, "Okay, okay, no problem."

At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief; the other party's request meant that he really had a chance to survive.

The "devil" behind him stepped forward, took a nautical chart out of his pocket, and placed it in front of Matteo.

Somewhat exhausted, Matteo struggled to raise his hand and pointed to an island in the misty sea.

The female "Apostle of Desire" frowned: "I've passed by this island before; it's just an ordinary uninhabited island."

Matteo quickly explained: "The 'Abyss Entrance' only appeared there recently, and—and it appears intermittently. When my ship saw the island, the deserted island was perfectly fine."

"But in the next second, suddenly a thick, black, spring-like substance appeared, turning the entire island and the surrounding ocean black, and even the sky darkened."

"Many people on the ship—perhaps because they were pirates—instantly transformed into demons, real demons, over two meters tall, with long goat horns and bat wings."

"These demons started killing people indiscriminately, so I had no choice but to jump into the water to hide."

Matteo stared blankly as he recalled the terrifying experience: "I was dragged to the bottom of the sea by a force that was cold and evil, but I also felt a strong urge to get closer to it."

"But I was about to suffocate, so I had to try my best to swim to the surface of the sea."

"When I tried to dive back into the sea, I discovered that the entrance to the abyss had disappeared. Only six members of the entire pirate crew survived, and three of them went mad."

"The remaining three of us are all extraordinary individuals on the same path, and our abilities have all been enhanced."

The "Apostle of Desire" nodded. She had discovered this earlier when she was trying to control Matteo's desires; Matteo's resistance was stronger than that of a normal Sequence 7.

The "demon" asked, "And then?"

"I should have killed the others," Matteo said with some annoyance. "One of them must have leaked our story, otherwise no one would have known! And I wouldn't be being hunted down!"

The "demon" took two steps back and asked again, "Is that all?"

Matteo paused for a moment: "That's it—that's all."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a "magma giant sword" pierced through his chest, burning a large hole in it.

The one who made the move was the "devil" who was behind Matteo.

Matteo was somewhat surprised, but he also understood their actions; they had no intention of surviving.

On his deathbed, a scene suddenly appeared in his mind: when he encountered the "entrance to the abyss," and dived into the sea to avoid those "demons," and then returned to the surface from the seabed, a handsome young man wearing a Rune-style trench coat stood quietly on the sea and reached out his hand to him, as if leaving some kind of mark on his body.

From that moment on, Matteo became that young man's puppet.

Matteo was completely unaware of this and had completely forgotten about the young man's existence.

He was thinking of saying something to warn them, but when he saw the "demon" that killed him and the "apostle of desire" that attacked him, he suddenly realized, why should he warn them?

This is clearly a trap, so let's just let these two people fall into it.

The next instant, Matteo died completely.

After confirming Matteo's death, the "demon" asked, "Do you need a psychic summoning?"

"The Apostle of Desire" said, "No need. I've been observing his emotions, and he wasn't lying."

"The Demon" said, "Alright, I'll go and use the ritual to tell the captain this news."

"Wait a minute." The female "Apostle of Desire" suddenly smiled and said, "I think we should go back to that island and take another look. After confirming the reliability of this information, we can report back to the captain."

The "demon" took a step back, looking at the "Apostle of Desire" warily: "You—you're not planning to hide this information, are you?"

"Apostle of Desire" laughed and said, "Of course not, but you know the captain's temper. If this information is wrong, we will all be punished."

"The Demon" remained highly vigilant: "You can explain your concerns during the ceremony and let the captain make the decision."

The female "Apostle of Desire" shrugged: "Alright, then I'll report to the captain first."

The "demon" breathed a slight sigh of relief: "Let's go quickly, don't let anyone find us."

"Hmm." The "Apostle of Desire" responded, turning into a viscous liquid, and quickly left the crime scene, heading towards their base in Bayam.

The "demon" was a little slower; instead of returning to the stronghold, he went to the woods outside Bayam.

For him, there are only three possibilities: first, the "Apostle of Desire" has run away with the information; second, the "Apostle of Desire" is looking for an opportunity to kill him and keep the information for himself; and third, he is overthinking things.

But as a "demon," he knew very well that demons had no loyalty or credibility whatsoever, and he should consider the worst-case scenario.

Upon arriving in the woods, the "demon" began setting up a ritual in preparation for contacting the captain.

He was going to tell the captain this news not out of loyalty, but simply because he was about to receive the potion to advance to Sequence 5 from the captain. Before that, he didn't have the strength to compete for a place like the "Abyss Entrance".

The "demon" had just lit the candle when he suddenly sensed danger; the "Apostle of Desire" wanted to kill him.

The "demon" who was kneeling on the ground immediately stood up. At this moment, a seed of emotion seemed to suddenly sprout and erupt, and he immediately lost the ability to resist, and knelt on the ground again.

The "demon" gasped for breath: "How—how is this possible—"

Why didn't the "Demon Perception" ability give a warning in advance? He didn't even realize when the "Apostle of Desire" planted the "seed" of desire within him.

A viscous liquid flowed out from behind a large tree, forming the woman's "Apostle of Desire".

She smiled and asked, "Aren't you wondering why your 'malice perception' ability has stopped working?"

As she spoke, the "Apostle of Desire" opened her hand, and a pool of liquid, seemingly alive, formed in her palm.

This is the substance she secretly obtained from the "serial killer" they killed.

"The Apostle of Desire" exclaimed with a hint of fanaticism, "This is the power of the 'Entrance to the Abyss'! Just this little bit, yet it can conceal the perception of malice. What a magnificent power!"

She suddenly looked at the "demon": "I know what you're thinking. Right now, all you want is to advance to Sequence 5 as soon as possible."

"But our situations are different. It's relatively easier for you to advance to Sequence 5, but I have no hope of advancing to Sequence 4 at all, because I don't even know if our captain is Sequence 4. If even he isn't a Saint, do I still have any hope of advancing?"

"The entrance to the 'Abyss' is an opportunity; perhaps I can find the attributes and recipes for advancing to Sainthood there."

The "demon" sneered: "Stop dreaming. I've already foreseen your end. You will be assimilated by the 'Abyss Entrance,' ultimately falling into utter depravity and plunging into the abyss."

"You don't know, you know nothing," the female "Apostle of Desire" laughed. "The 'Entrance to the Abyss' will definitely attract some 'demons' there. Everyone wants to monopolize it, which will surely cause a battle between saints."

"The Demon" was somewhat surprised: "Are you crazy? You're just a Sequence 5, and you actually intend to get involved in the battle between the Saints? Heh, why should I warn you? You're going to die a horrible death."

The "Apostle of Desire" shook his head: "I told you, you know nothing."

The small clump of matter from the abyss entrance in my hand has already increased the strength of a Sequence 7 being by half a sequence. If I stay there longer, I will become even stronger.

"Forget it, there's no need to explain these things to a dead man."

As she spoke, she reignited the "devil's" desires. The "devil" howled in agony and collapsed to the ground, dying.

The "Apostle of Desire" smiled, retrieved its trait, and quickly headed to the port to board a ship and travel to the Misty Sea.

Inside the "Dark Hut".

Raphael witnessed it all.

The serial killer Matteo was Raphael's puppet, so Raphael could use him as a reference point to cast his gaze upon him at any time.

He then used Matteo to mark "the devil" and "the apostle of desire," thus witnessing this spectacle.

Raphael's process of digesting the potion using the "Abyss Entrance" went much more smoothly than expected.

In fact, this was all thanks to the potions from the "demon" pathway. Just like in Matto's storyline, what Matto said earlier was basically true; a total of six people survived.

These six people became Raphael's puppets and then returned to the six large cities of the Roseside Islands, spreading the news of the "Abyss Entrance" whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Raphael's original plan was to have them spread the news, attracting six groups of people to fight for the "entrance to the abyss," and then take the opportunity to consume the magic potion.

If an extraordinary individual from another source were to encounter something as appealing as this, they would most likely follow Raphael's script.

However, those extraordinary individuals using the "Demon" pathway have taken it to a whole new level.

For example, the Matteo storyline has already caused several Beyonders in the "Demon" pathway to fight and be internally recruited. In the end, he fell into the hands of the second lieutenant of the "Undead King" Agarito. Raphael originally thought he could lure the "Undead King" here, but unexpectedly, the "Undead King's" second lieutenant wanted to keep the news to himself.

However, Raphael didn't think it mattered, because their battle would also allow Raphael to digest the potion, and the extent to which he could digest the potion through their battle was greater than the extent to which he could attract the "Undead King" and kill this "Pirate King".

While digesting the potion, Raphael gained a deeper understanding of what a "devil" truly is.

If he only used Matteo and others to attract six forces, then he was just a fraud.

However, this process led to infighting among them, ultimately resulting in a battle between the six factions, with only one or two surviving in the end. Raphael didn't participate in the fighting; he merely orchestrated things from behind the scenes, yet he still caused so much chaos.

Human casualties, that's what's truly "devilish".

Of course, the effect would be even better if you could participate in the process, give it a boost, or make a few sarcastic remarks when the final winner is eliminated.

However, Raphael didn't intend to waste his energy, because the "devil's" potion had already been completely digested when the female "Apostle of Desire" killed her companion.

The fact that it was able to digest the potion so quickly is not only due to Matteo's storyline, but also to the contributions of the other five storylines. However, the storyline of "Apostle of Desire" killing his comrades was more exciting, so he was able to digest the potion completely.

The other five storylines were basically decided upon immediately after learning about the "entrance to the abyss," unlike the female "Apostle of Desire" and the "Demon," who were suspicious of each other but also trying to keep each other in check, each with their own plans.

As for Raphael, now that he had digested the potion, there was no need for him to get involved. He could let things develop as they were, and reap the rewards when the time was right.

News of the "Abyss Entrance" has only just spread, so for now it will only attract some "mid-sequence" Extraordinary Beings.

But Raphael believed that it wouldn't be long before some saints would be attracted.

Once they've fought to a near-complete end, Raphael can make his move and likely reap a considerable amount of extraordinary traits.

After fully digesting the "Devil's" potion, Raphael then focused on digesting the "Silent Disciple's" potion and...

In preparation for the promotion ceremony.