Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 176 It's time to set off.

Klein, with a serious expression, asked during the interview, "What kind of request?"

Ember tapped the table with his hand and slowly spoke:

"If you depart from Pulitzer Harbor, you'll pass Damir Island. On Damir Island lives a man named Danitz, who is the boatswain of Vice Admiral Iceberg, one of the pirate generals. I need you to pass on a message to him, telling him to go back and find Vice Admiral Iceberg and not to wait for me on Damir Island anymore. And if you meet Vice Admiral Iceberg, please also pass on a message to her, telling her not to wait for me anymore."

"it is good."

Klein kept Ember's request in mind and nodded solemnly.

But at the same time, Klein felt a strange mix of emotions. What did he mean by "tell her not to wait for me anymore"? What was going on between them?

Ember placed his palm on the table and gently pushed it towards Klein:

"This is the payment."

Klein looked closely and saw a whitish twig sitting on the table.

Klein asked hesitantly:

"What is this?"

He looked at the tender white branches, but he couldn't be sure.

Ember glanced at him and said:

"Sacrificing a twig has a similar effect to sacrificing a ring."

Klein's expression shifted slightly, and he pressed on:

"What do you mean by 'similar effect'?"

After a brief pause, Yu Jin explained:

"The Sacrifice Ring is made through a sacrificial ritual and can take the place of the wearer's death. The Sacrifice Branch is a branch left from the pruning of the Golden Tree, containing immense life force, and can resurrect you after your death."

Klein's eye twitched. Sacrificial twigs and golden trees were terms he had never heard of before.

These things clearly don't come from the world of Dark Souls; they should come from another power system, just like the Ember's ability to summon ashes.

but……

Anything that can bring someone back to life is a good thing, no matter what means are used.

Klein silently put away the sacrificial twig; why not take advantage of such a resurrection item!

Klein thought for a moment, then asked:

"Is there anything else you need me to do?"

Asking him to deliver just a few words is hardly worthy of such a reward.

Klein had a very clear understanding of this matter.

"have."

Yu Jin nodded slightly and swept his hand across the table again.

This time, what appeared before Klein was no longer a sacrificial twig, but a mass of 'ash'.

A lump of ash, kneaded into a long strip and bearing obvious signs of melting and casting, was covered with a layer of embers. It resembled a piece of charred charcoal taken from a recently extinguished furnace fire; though the fire was out, embers and ash remained.

This time, Ember didn't explain; he simply spoke calmly:

"Give the embers to Mr. Fool; he knows what to do."

"No, I don't know..."

Klein's eye twitched, and he suddenly felt immense pressure.

His intuition told him that this was definitely a very important prop—

And indeed, this is true. In the world of Dark Souls, these are the embers left within the bodies of heroes who linked the flame throughout history. They are items that the Ashes without a flame cannot obtain, which is why they are attracted to them.

Using it grants access to the power of fire, restoring health and increasing maximum health until death.

In other words, its function is no less than that of the Sacrifice Ring, and in some aspects it is even stronger!

For example, if you're in a one-on-one fight and get killed, even if you have a sacrifice ring that allows you to revive, your opponent, even if they don't know you can revive, will definitely collect your body, since you still possess extraordinary abilities. And if your opponent discovers you've revived, even if they don't know how, they certainly won't hesitate to kill you again. Conversely, the newly revived individual will find it difficult to react immediately; in layman's terms, this is like being pinned down and forced to get up.

Unlike other things, Ember, while not able to bring the dead back to life, can be used in a one-on-one fight. If you're low on health, using Ember can instantly revive you to full health, even stronger than before. This can completely catch your opponent off guard, or even allow you to turn the tables and kill them!

But now that Ember has handed this thing to him, it's definitely not because he wants him to just crush Ember; there must be a deeper meaning behind it.

The problem is, the 'fool' really doesn't know what to do!

Ember suddenly said:

"Oh, and one more thing, Dunn is looking for you. To be precise, he's looking for Sherlock Moriarty. Also, he told me that Benson and Melissa will arrive in Backlund tomorrow afternoon."

Klein's expression suddenly became somewhat complicated.

The captain and Ember had only met once, and even though they worked together in Backlund, they weren't familiar with each other before.

Why did you specifically tell Ember about this?

Isn't the answer obvious?

-

Inside a luxury villa in the suburbs of Backlund.

An assassin clad in black armor arrived silently and slipped into the bedroom through an open window on the second floor of the villa.

Inside the bedroom sat a tall woman with long, naturally flowing chestnut hair that reached her waist. She had a perfectly proportioned figure, neither too fat nor too thin. Her straight eyebrows extended just right, and her eyes were deep, azure, as if they contained a condensed ocean.

She wore a women's blouse with a lace floral bow tie, paired with a gray skirt that went past her knees and a pair of tall leather boots, and a soft hat with a black veil hanging down.

The black-knife assassin knelt on one knee before her, his head bowed deeply, as if he were paying homage to her king.

The woman turned slightly to the side, making way for the tall bookshelf behind her.

And a petite doll sitting atop the bookshelf, dressed in an ice-white witch's robe and a pointed hat, with four arms.

Lani murmured softly:

"Is that so? Dixi is still here, and Ashmi is still here. Even in death, their ashes will accompany the King forever. The Fire Thief's influence on the King has weakened, but it will still take time..."

She suddenly stopped muttering to herself, her eyes slightly lowered as she looked at the tall woman standing to the side, and instructed:

"Bernarde, get ready, we should leave."

With George III dead, the conspiracy that had plagued the king had vanished, and they no longer needed to remain here.

Bernadette remained silent, her eyes slightly lowered, and asked softly:

"Where are we going?"

The petite doll gazed out the window and calmly said:

"Set sail, to find the abyss."

-

Backlund, North Quarter, St. Samuel Church.

In the main prayer hall, a woman dressed in a simple linen robe sat quietly on the first bench on the right side of the aisle, her gaze devoutly fixed on the altar ahead. There were no statues there, only a huge dark emblem. Its deep black background was adorned with glittering dots, surrounding a crimson moon symbolizing the goddess.

On the wall behind the emblem, numerous holes were created. Moonlight streamed in, condensing into pure, miniature points of light. These connected with the surrounding near-darkness, transforming into the sublime starry sky.

Under the cover of darkness, the woman lowered her head slightly, her lips moving as if she were whispering:

"King George III is dead, and the murderer remains shrouded in mystery, invisible even to the power of the night..."

"The appearance of the Dark Stars was perfectly timed, but it seems to be just a coincidence, perhaps influenced by the 'audience'..."

"Only one royal angel appeared; the other did not show up, suggesting there may be other conspiracies."

"The only thing that can be confirmed is that Your Excellency was not involved, and that George III's death had nothing to do with you..."

Ariana recounted the recent events in great detail, and then sat quietly on the bench.

But for some reason, there seemed to be a deep worry in her eyes.

Because the goddess has not responded to her prayers for a long time.

Archbishop St. Anthony strode into the Great Prayer Hall, walked up to Ariana, and said in a deep voice:

"Your Highness Ariana, Delink Augustus has left Backlund. Georgina Augustus and Grove Augustus are also missing. It's highly unusual that all matters of the kingdom are being decided by the new king alone!"

Archbishop St. Anthony's expression was quite serious.

Although the royal family sometimes compromises with the nobility, the ascension of a new king is a crucial moment when the royal family must firmly grasp power. In such a situation, even the intervention of angels would not be unreasonable. However, the royal family not only did not do so, but also transferred all of its demigods away, their whereabouts unknown.

This means that the royal family has completely handed over the task of 'guiding' George IV to the nobles!

It is important to understand that the interests of the nobility and the royal family are often at odds, and once George IV, under the guidance of the nobility, transferred too much power to them, it was not an easy task to take back those powers.

This unusual phenomenon made it hard for Saint Anthony not to suspect that the royal family might be plotting something!

Ariana's eyes regained their calm as she spoke softly:

"They're busy destroying evidence; we can ignore them for now."

"Destroy evidence?"

Archbishop St. Anthony paused for a moment, but quickly realized that there must be some secret he was unaware of.

He didn't know, nor did the archbishops of the other two major orthodox churches.

But the royal family knows, the royal angels and demigods know, and Princess Ariana knows, which means that the goddess may also know.

The royal family's eagerness to destroy evidence means that such evidence is extremely detrimental to the monarchy. If the three major churches were to seize upon this evidence, the royal family would only pay a greater price. Therefore, they would rather relinquish power to the nobles than fail to cover up their misdeeds at all costs.

This matter inevitably involves a power struggle between angels, or even gods.

As for why no investigation is needed, the reason is quite simple—

Uncovering the evidence they were trying to cover up could come at a huge cost to the royal family, but it wouldn't necessarily lead to a change of dynasty in the Kingdom of Rune.

The existence of the royal family is beneficial to the stability of the Kingdom of Rune and also to the spread of faith by the church.

If the church truly wanted to completely overthrow the monarchy, it wouldn't need this evidence—

As long as the three major churches reach a consensus, whether or not there is evidence is completely unimportant.

The current royal family may have some ulterior motives, but it hasn't reached the point where the three major churches need to join forces to wipe them out.

Therefore, there's no need to openly break ties with them; finding real evidence would only complicate matters further. By then, the royal family might truly cease to exist, and the three major churches wouldn't be able to find better replacements for the Augustus family in the short term, which would only cause greater chaos.

-

Suburbs of Backlund.

Inside the hall with its broken stone pillars, a figure appeared silently accompanied by a faint blue light.

He had a long, rectangular face, a white wig, and a mustache with slightly upturned ends. He had thick eyebrows and large eyes, bearing a striking resemblance to the figures on playing cards. Dressed in a formal suit and cloak, with extremely long toes, his attire was out of step with the times, as if he lived in the last century.

And he is none other than Prince Sunia of the Kingdom of Rune, one of the few remaining demigods in the royal family, Grove Augustus!

Before long, another figure appeared silently in front of him; it was a lady in a black evening gown.

She is the only female Grand Duchess in the Kingdom of Rune, Georgina Augustus.

Grove was not surprised by Georgina's appearance and asked in a deep voice:

"Is everything resolved?"

Georgina nodded slightly and said softly:

"All traces have been completely erased. Even if angels themselves investigate afterward, they will not be able to find us."

Grove breathed a sigh of relief, but afterwards felt a deep sense of resentment.

The royal family has been planning for over a thousand years, through the efforts of countless generations of ancestors, and expending countless resources, all in order to create a true god. Only in this way can the Ruen royal family truly ensure its eternal rule.

After more than a thousand years, they finally saw hope in their generation.

But this hope came and went quickly. Right under their noses, George III was assassinated silently in his own palace, on his own throne. And to this day, they still don't know who did it!

For this project, they even spared no expense in excavating the nine secret tombs left behind by the Blood Emperor. Afterward, they invested a massive amount of manpower and resources in their restoration.

Just when it seemed like they were about to succeed, they failed at the last minute.

They had to destroy the nine mausoleums that they had personally restored, and kill the slaves and people they had sent into the mausoleums by various means, because only in this way could the royal family's past deeds be completely buried in the long river of history!

Georgina noticed Grove's complex emotions and advised him:

"Let's go, it's not safe here."

Their location has already been exposed, and that person will no longer provide them with cover.

It won't be long before the three major churches investigate.

Grove Augustus nodded silently, took one last look at the ruins before him, and then vanished without a trace.

-

East Chestershire.

Inside a secret mausoleum.

Two figures stood facing each other.

One of them was a slightly arrogant old man with a lot of silver in his black hair and hardly any beard. He was none other than the former Duke of Southville, Delink Augustus!

The other had a square face, black hair, blue eyes, a high nose, a thick beard, and a rather solemn expression. From their facial features, it was easy to see that he too possessed the blood of the Augustan family. Or rather, he was an ancestor of the Augustan family!

His appearance and image are not unfamiliar to many people in Loen, as it is printed on the front of the £10 note. Of course, even those who have never received a £10 note in their lives can see his statue or portrait in places such as Memorial Day Square.

He was the founder, protector, and first king of Rune, William Augustus I!

Even Derink Augustus, who is standing right in front of us, is one of his descendants.

Even though Delink Augustus was an angel, he still felt a deep sense of awe and reverence for his ancestors. But at this moment, the old man's anger and suppressed emotions temporarily overwhelmed that inner respect, and he asked in a deep voice:

"Our plan has completely failed. Why didn't you intervene until the very end?!"

William Augustus I remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking:

"I'm being watched."

Derink Augustus remained silent, and William Augustus I then slowly said, "And my spirituality and divinity are frantically warning me that if I leave this mausoleum, I will die."

Delink Augustus's expression changed drastically.

Not only George III and him, but even Augustus I was being watched.

But Augustus I was a Sequence 1 angel; who else could make him feel a death threat?!

Delink Augustus felt a chill run through him and managed to utter a single word:

"god."

(End of this chapter)