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

Chapter 207 Bonova Gustav

Clang! Clang!

The train continued its orderly journey along the tracks, seemingly unaffected.

Inside the train, in one of the carriages that is tens or hundreds of thousands of times larger than a regular carriage, lies a vibrant underground cavern. Underfoot is a flat floor, large areas are covered by crystal-clear water, and overhead are sharp stalactites hanging upside down, yet strangely, a magnificent and beautiful starry sky is everywhere!

The crimson nebula is dotted with countless glittering 'stars', creating a dreamlike scene. The nebula seems to possess infinite magic, attracting people who come here and fascinating them.

But in the distance, at the junction of the ground beneath their feet and the 'nebula' at the top of the cave, a gigantic monster was even more eye-catching!

It has an incredibly long "body" composed of countless dazzling "stars". However, when these stars, which are individually brightly colored and incredibly dazzling, are combined together, the resulting shape is nauseating and extremely disgusting.

Its torso has six broad, withered, grayish-black arms, like the limbs of an arthropod, supporting its movement. Behind those six huge, withered arms are two pairs of enormous, transparent cicada wings, which gradually change from deep purple to transparent from the torso, becoming more vibrant in color the closer they are to the 'stars' that make up its body.

Its tail is a huge barb like a scorpion's tail, which sends chills down your spine. And its head is a 'skull' that can give people extreme mental pollution. It is a human skull magnified at least a hundred times, with four sharp, horn-shaped mouthparts 'held' in its mouth.

It seems to be a natural combination of beauty and ugliness. The "stars" that make up its body and the gradient-colored cicada wings are both incredibly beautiful, but when all of this is combined, it only gives people a terrifying feeling of mental derangement. If it were an ordinary extraordinary person, they would probably lose control on the spot just by looking at it.

That was pollution from the starry sky, an ominous sign from ancient times—the dark star 'Estelle'!

And this was exactly what Ember had targeted.

"This is what's inside the train?"

Yu Jin's eyes flickered slightly. He had originally guessed that there was a sealed artifact inside that was of great importance to the Steam Church, but he never expected that the thing inside would be a "living creature", and a living creature with the same strength as an angel.

He had seen "Estelle" above the palace two weeks ago, and that one had been destroyed by Ariana and the royal angels. But he didn't expect there to be another one in Conston, and that it was even being "imprisoned" by the Steam Church and being prepared to be transported to the Steam Church's sanctuary in Trier.

What is the Steam Church planning to do?

Roar!

Suddenly, Estelle let out a terrifying screech in the distance. Intense purple light gathered wildly from its sharp mouthparts, eventually condensing into a beam of light as dazzling as a galaxy, which shot straight toward Ember!

The dazzling beam of light traversed tens of thousands of meters in the blink of an eye, arriving almost instantaneously, as if it would completely engulf the embers in the next moment. But at the same time, the distance between them was also constantly increasing.

From tens of thousands of meters to hundreds of thousands of meters, millions of meters... until the two figures in each other's sight were almost as tiny as microorganisms in the air. And the ever-expanding beam of light finally couldn't hold on any longer, like a power outage, and slowly dissipated.

The instant the beam of light dissipated, the wildly expanding "carriage" instantly returned to its original state—

It was restored to a size that was only tens of thousands of meters long and wide.

At the same time, a tall, handsome young man with long chestnut hair suddenly appeared beside Ember. He sat on a typical hard wooden seat in the carriage, with the triangular emblem of the Steam Church in front of him, his eyes closed as if he were praying devoutly.

The young man suddenly opened his azure eyes, silently gazing at the embers, and calmly uttered a name:

Ash Black, you shouldn't be here.

"I've arrived. How should I address you?"

Ember replied to him calmly, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Estelle in the distance, who was summoning a meteor.

The young man was silent for a moment, then slowly said:

"Bonova Gustav"

Ember was somewhat surprised by the surname "Gustav" and asked:

"Who is Emperor Rosell to you?"

"He is my father."

Bonova Gustav narrated calmly.

His expression remained completely unchanged, and his attitude was extremely indifferent, as if he were not talking about his father, but about a complete stranger.

Rumble!

During the conversation, Esther summoned meteorites from the void and, under her control, they fell from the sky like a torrential downpour, covering the entire cave as if to destroy everything in sight!

But this was all in vain, because the meteorites disappeared abruptly as soon as they appeared, their whereabouts unknown.

Just to be on the safe side, Ember still politely asked:

"Do you need any help?"

"Need not."

"Should I leave?"

Bonova nodded slightly, his expression remaining unchanged, and calmly said:

"I'll take you back to your carriage."

The moment the voice rang out, the 'wall' silently moved in front of the two of them, and a large door suddenly appeared on the wall, opening automatically with a creak.

Yu Jin glanced at Esther, who had suddenly disappeared into another dimension in the distance, shook his head, and walked out the door.

tread!

As Yu Jin passed through the gate, he didn't hear it close behind him, so he turned around.

Behind him remained thick, silver-white armor, completely sealed and seamless, without any gaps.

-

boom!

Estelle's massive body slammed heavily against the wall, smashing down the stones that had "grown" there, but this was clearly not what Estelle had hoped for. Its enormous, ferocious skull turned to Bonova, its dark eye sockets staring intently at him, emitting angry hissing and roars!

Bonova remained seated quietly on the bench, seemingly indifferent to the situation.

With him around, Esther will never be able to leave this carriage.

The only thing that surprised him was Ash Black, who had just arrived.

Bonova had no idea how he got there. He knew the other man possessed the ability to teleport, allowing him to appear anywhere he wanted. However, he had altered the physical rules of this space, making it an area inaccessible by teleportation.

But the sudden appearance of the embers made Bonova realize that the 'rules' he had created had flaws he himself was unaware of...

As he was pondering this, Esther neighed and charged toward Bonova, appearing before him in the blink of an eye.

The six withered, enormous hands, each clutching several purple spheres, swung them down at Bonova below, unleashing a dazzling nebula.

Bonova calmly raised his head and looked at Estée, who was now very close to him, his expression unchanged.

Why bother?

Bonova said softly, "You should know it's all in vain."

-

Inside carriage 24, Iconsel and Bruce, along with a group of members of the Mechanical Heart, stood guard with solemn expressions.

They were unable to enter the last three carriages, had no idea what was happening inside, and knew that there was very little they could do in the face of the saint, but they did not intend to sit idly by and wait for their doom.

If things get out of control, even if it's beyond their power, as members of the Mechanical Heart, they must step up.

Suddenly, a faint blue light appeared before their eyes, immediately alerting the members of Mechanical Heart.

"Don't move!" Ikonser suddenly shouted, as if he had just thought of something.

The next moment, as the illusory blue light dissipated, a familiar figure appeared before them.

Iconsel breathed a sigh of relief, quickly stepped forward, and asked somewhat anxiously:

"Mr. Ash, what's the situation inside?"

Ember did not answer, but instead looked behind him.

This made Iconser tense again, and he stared intently at the 25th carriage behind him.

Suddenly, a 'door' appeared on the silver-white armored wall.

click!

The door slowly opened, and an elderly man dressed in a white priest's robe and wearing a clergy cap appeared before them.

"archbishop."

Ikonser breathed a sigh of relief. The person who appeared was none other than Horamik Hayden, the Archbishop of the Steam Church in the Backlund Diocese. And the fact that both Ember and the Archbishop were here meant that the situation should be under control.

Sure enough, Khoramik's next words confirmed his guess.

Khoramik had a very gentle and kind face, and at this moment he showed no anger whatsoever. He looked around and said:

"The matter has been resolved, everyone can go back now. But be careful, there may still be people with ill intentions on the train, so don't let your guard down."

"Yes, Archbishop."

Iconsel and Bruce immediately straightened up and nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Lord Ash."

Horamik then turned his gaze to Ember, his eyes gentle, and said, "Thank you for your help."

"It was nothing," Yu Jin nodded gently, offering a polite reply.

Holamick said with a smile:

"Let me take care of some things first. I'll find some time later so we can have a proper talk. I think you probably have some questions you'd like answered as well."

Ember neither confirmed nor denied the request.

Khoramik didn't exchange many pleasantries and quickly closed the "door".

The moment the doors closed, the 25th carriage returned to its original state, with no trace of the "door" visible.

The members of Mechanical Heart had already dispersed, and Ember did not linger, returning to carriage number 3.

When he returned to his private room, he immediately saw Audrey sitting by the window waiting for him.

The girl looked out the window as if she had something on her mind, her hand resting on her fair neck, holding a beautiful ruby ​​necklace.

Of course, it wasn't a real ruby ​​necklace, but a magical item. And the material used to make this magical item was the extraordinary property of the "Faceless Man" that she had purchased from the "World."

Its original form was a silver-white mask, but just like the 'extraordinary ability' granted by its extraordinary characteristics, it could also freely change form. At Audrey's request, it transformed from a mask into the ruby ​​necklace it is today.

Audrey named it: Lies.

Noticing someone open the door, Audrey turned around warily. Only after recognizing Ember did she relax slightly and ask softly:

"How is the situation?"

Ember didn't tell her the specifics, only casually explaining:

"It's nothing serious, the Steam Church can control the situation."

"I see."

Audrey breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly realized something was wrong. She took a few soft breaths and reached for the ruby ​​necklace around her neck.

The extraordinary power of this magical item is undeniably useful, but its side effects should not be underestimated. When Audrey wears it, her emotions are amplified, making it more difficult for her to maintain the demeanor of an 'audience'.

Even though she's now a psychologist with extraordinary abilities to deal with these kinds of issues, she still occasionally falls for it unintentionally, just like just now. She knew that her uncontrollable rambling thoughts weren't her normal behavior; her slight anticipation and anxiety were amplified by the 'lie'.

This made Audrey even more wary of its side effects. She was extremely grateful that she had named the magical item "Lies," which would serve as a constant reminder. Otherwise, she might have become completely dependent on it and refused to face her true self. If she lost it, she might have lost control entirely.

Yu Jin had already returned to the sofa and sat down, his brows slightly furrowed. He was still thinking about Estée, who was locked in the carriage.

Estelle has undoubtedly been "captured" by the Steam Church, which has even sent an angel to guard her, demonstrating the importance they place on her. Judging from Bonova's actions, he was fully capable of killing her, but he didn't, because the Steam Church seems to want a living Estelle. They even went to great lengths to try and bring her back to Trier.

Ember had no idea why the Steam Church would do this, nor did he know if the other two major churches in the Kingdom of Rune knew about it—it was very likely that Estelle was secretly captured by the Steam Church, and that the Church of the Night and the Church of the Storm were completely unaware of it.

As for the purpose of the Steam Church in capturing Estée, it's not hard to guess.

Sequence 2 Bonova could subdue Estelle or imprison her in the carriage, but the Steam Church's purpose was clearly not limited to that. They captured Estelle alive, at least hoping to obtain something from her, so they would inevitably conduct some experiments and research on her.

These are things that Bonova alone could not do. Only in the headquarters of the Steam Church in Trier, or even in the divine kingdom of the "God of Steam and Machinery," could he truly conduct "research" on Estelle without any worries.

The Steam Church's purpose is not hard to guess, but the question is, why would the Psychological Alchemy Society get involved? They even went so far as to send two saints to infiltrate the special train. Did they want to sabotage the Steam Church's plans?

But if that's the case, what's the point of sending out 'Gluttony' and 'Envy'?

They were facing a genuine angel, and even ten saints might not pose the slightest threat to him!

Could it be that the Psychological Alchemy Society was unaware of all the inside information, which is why they sent Gluttony and Envy to their deaths?

Or perhaps, the Psychological Alchemy's purpose was simply to send them to their deaths?

(End of this chapter)