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

Chapter 420 Incompetent Teammates

Berdan, of the Sea County.

This is a typical resource-based city, which rose to prominence due to coal mining and then declined because of it.

In the recently concluded world war, the Intersea County suffered enormous losses as the only direction breached by the combined forces of Fursac and Intis. Located at the forefront of the war, and the second largest city in Loen, the Intersea County capital, Constance, was ravaged by the conflict; by the time of its fall, more than half of its buildings had collapsed or been destroyed.

As a crucial node on the route of the Fusak invasion, it's easy to imagine the fate of this city during the war.

Now, the war has only just ended, and we're already being plagued by the uniqueness of the Judge's approach.

It's not fair to say they suffered many misfortunes; it's more accurate to say their fate was full of hardships.

The journey from Trier to Beldan is thousands of kilometers long, but for Russell, the process took only a second.

For an angel, many things are just that easy.

But there are exceptions, such as the city in front of us.

Russell stood beside a railway track, one end of which connected to the city and the other to the horizon.

Bernadette frowned slightly:

"This city is refusing us entry."

Rosell gently shook his head and said:

"Not just us, but everyone."

As a unique entity that has been activated, '0-02' possesses a considerable degree of 'self,' which causes it to instinctively protect itself. Therefore, using its extraordinary abilities to create an environment favorable to it is undoubtedly the best choice.

As the Black Emperor pathway sequence 0, which was once adjacent to the Judge pathway, Rosell was no stranger to this approach. After all, the Black Emperor pathway was actually similar to the Judge pathway; the latter mainly created rules that were advantageous to itself, while the former used a rather unconventional method to fully distort existing rules in order to achieve its goal.

But in essence, they are no different; both are about 'creating' rules.

One approach is to add new rules to the existing ones, while the other is to directly distort the existing rules.

There are some differences, but not many.

Because whether you add rules or distort rules, you can achieve similar results to some extent.

For example, an extraordinary individual using the Black Emperor pathway can "exploit" the rules to prolong a certain state or end it prematurely, making the rules more favorable to themselves. For instance, after jumping into the air, they can extend the state of being away from the ground, achieving the effect of "flight".

The Judge's path allows you to directly add rules for "flight" or "float" to achieve the goal of "flight".

Therefore, these two approaches can complement each other or cancel each other out, making them each other's natural enemies.

After all, for those extraordinary individuals from other pathways, defeating those from these two pathways requires first defying the rules. And between them, the Black Emperor can distort the rules set by the Judges, while the Judges can also invalidate the rules distorted by the Black Emperor by creating new rules.

This is what love and hate can be like.

And this is the situation now. In order to protect itself, '0-02' has chosen to distort the rules of the entire Beldan.

This was done to isolate the city from the outside world, preventing people inside from getting out and people outside from getting in.

In this situation, even angels cannot enter the city unless the rules set by '0-02' are broken.

Of course, they also cannot leave.

The advantage is that it can eliminate interference to the greatest extent, but the disadvantage is that it is not discreet enough, the changes are too obvious, and it is easy to attract attention.

After all, although Beldan had declined, it was still an important railway node in the Kingdom of Rune. Its sudden disappearance from the map would be suspicious to anyone. This was also the reason why Roselle knew that '0-02' was in Beldan.

Now Roselle stands outside Beldan, facing the same dilemma as the other angels—he first needs to figure out how to get into the city.

If you can't get into the city, then everything you do will be in vain.

But how could Roselle, the King of Angels who is the Black Emperor, be blocked by a rule?

Roselle's eyes flickered slightly; in his eyes, Beldan was covered by some kind of invisible barrier.

It hinders the entry of all external things and also prevents internal things from leaving.

But when Roselle looked at the barrier, the once impenetrable barrier had been quietly 'corroded' into a large hole, because the rules had been distorted invisibly—Beldan forbade all living beings from entering, and also forbade all living beings from leaving, except for the railway line.

"Stay close to me," Russell said, turning back to give her a word of advice.

He didn't understand why Bernadette insisted on coming in person, but he knew she must have her reasons. Therefore, as her father, he had no choice but to trust his daughter.

Of course, trusting Bernadette doesn't mean he'll simply abandon her.

What kind of father acts like this?

Bernadette followed quietly behind Roselle as the two entered the city of Beldan along the railway line.

When they entered the city, the large holes corroded in the barrier had been repaired, the distorted rules had been restored, and the city had once again become isolated from the world.

Rosell did not deliberately distort the rules to maintain that 'hole,' as that would only deplete his power.

If this city can't contain him, he can always open another "hole".

If he cannot escape the constraints of the rules, then maintaining this hole will eventually require repair.

If that's the case, why is Russell still keeping it?

Following the railway line with obvious signs of repair, Russell arrived at the platform where traces of gunfire remained.

Normally, this place would be bustling with passengers preparing to board the steam train. But now it's deserted; there's neither a steam train nor passengers. The entire city is desolate and lifeless, with no sign of life on the streets. Judging from the piles of fallen leaves and dust, this has been going on for quite some time.

Bernadette said softly:

"I can sense that there are still many living beings here."

They just don't dare to come out, they don't dare to appear on the street.

Russell thoughtfully turned his gaze to the notice board standing in front of the city hall.

In the center of the notice board, a slightly yellowed white sheet of paper covered the other notices, with the following written on it in black ink and Rune script:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am your new consul."

"Now, I hereby promulgate three new decrees:"

"Firstly, no living being may leave Beldan without my permission, and no outsider may enter Beldan."

"Secondly, all beings are equal before the law; even angels can be killed by ordinary people."

Article 3. Those who commit the following crimes shall be severely punished, with a maximum penalty of death:

"1 murder; "

2. Theft;

3. Recite the full name of the deity;

4. Sacrificing to evil gods;

5. Scams;

6. Leaks;

"..."

"Oh."

Russell couldn't help but laugh out loud. Judging from the rigid style of the notice, it wasn't hard to tell that the activation level of '0-02' was not as high as he had imagined, and this 'journey' might not be as dangerous as he had thought.

-

Above the gray fog, Klein kept a close watch on Roselle's movements until the latter entered Beldan City.

This city contains a strange power, and the barrier it forms can easily block even the gaze of the gods. But with Roselle's strength, even if the disordered kingdom were to manifest itself, Roselle would have a way to break through that barrier and pray to the 'Fool'.

As long as Klein receives this prayer, he will have a way to get Russell and the others out, and there is no need to worry about their safety at all.

Of course, this is also based on the premise that the "Land of Chaos" actually appears. After all, it is only confirmed that Beldan is related to the Land of Chaos, but it is still impossible to determine where the Land of Chaos is located or the extent to which the "Land of Chaos" is active.

If it were just the '0-02' seal, Roselle could easily have solved it all by himself.

From Klein's perspective, he naturally hoped everything would go smoothly.

If all goes well, and Russell successfully obtains the uniqueness of the Judge's Path, then becoming part of the Old Ones is practically a certainty.

Of course, this takes time.

What Klein lacks most right now is time. As long as Roselle can obtain this uniqueness and become a dual-path true god, that's better than anything else. Even if his control over this uniqueness isn't strong enough, as long as he can use it, that's fine.

After all, there was only one month in total. We can't expect Rosell to become a thing of the past overnight, can we?

This is not realistic.

To be fair, Klein didn't want Roselle to become one of the Old Ones so quickly—because he had a gut feeling that if Roselle got ahead of him, it wouldn't be a good thing. While he wouldn't go so far as to announce his own becoming one of the Old Ones to the world through a megaphone, it probably wouldn't be far off.

Based on Klein's understanding of Rosell's character, he was indeed capable of doing such a thing—well, although the reference was Rosell's diary, and the current Rosell should be much more composed than when he wrote the diary.

But Klein had already formed a prejudice, and Russell's image in his mind was not so easy to change.

-

In the astral plane, a stone plaza floats in the vast, boundless void.

A magnificent and sacred church is supported by rows of black stone pillars. Every pillar, every arch, and every dome is inlaid with skulls of different races. Most of them are pale white and are densely packed together, with empty and numb eyes.

The walls, windows, and doors of the church also bear transparent, distorted, and pained faces.

In front of the huge cross, there are rows of black chairs with backrests.

From any perspective, this is a magnificent church comparable to the headquarters of major orthodox churches. The only drawback is that no believer ever comes here to pray.

Adam, dressed in a simple white robe and sporting a light gold beard, sat in the middle of the left side of the first row of benches. He held a silver cross pendant around his neck in his hand and held it to his forehead.

He bowed his head and closed his eyes, as if deep in thought or in devout prayer.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, He slowly opened His eyes, looked up at the stained glass window above, and murmured:

"A country in disarray..."

There are three portions of the source matter from the Outer Gods, accounting for one-third of the total, which is a considerable amount.

But Adam never considered the idea of ​​these three source materials, firstly because they involved the Old Ones and were too risky.

Secondly, of the six pathways corresponding to these three sources, only one belongs to Him.

And this path happens to be the Abyss Path, and its owner is a greedy, undead serpent—Rakad even wants to devour Him.

Adam was certain that if he showed even the slightest sign of weakness in the battle, Lakkad would devour him without hesitation. Even if they were allies now, even if the situation had turned against them and they were on the verge of defeat.

Therefore, Adam never trusted Laqad, nor did he ever place his hopes on Laqad.

For the "dreamer," it is customary to plan everything in advance, and ideally, everything will proceed according to plan. Even if there are occasional changes, they will be within its plan and will not exceed its expectations.

But merely predicting what will happen is useless; He also needs the ability to respond to various situations at any time. For this, He needs a sufficient number of reliable allies. The Lord of Steam and the Primordial Witch both fall into this category, but Calard is the only one whom, while powerful enough, is completely unreliable.

Adam wouldn't have chosen Lakard if he hadn't had no other choice.

In fact, He initially chose the dark side of the universe, but He did not expect that the dark side of the universe had already been devoured by Lakkad. For Adam, who had not yet become a god at that time, cooperating with Lakkad was a last resort.

Now, Karad, with only Sequence 0 strength, has become a burden, too big to handle.

The price to pay for killing Him would be too high, but continuing to cooperate with Laqad would mean being prepared to be betrayed by Him at any time.

This is truly a dilemma.

In contrast, the situation on the other side is much better.

The path of the Goddess of Night to the Old Ones is unobstructed, and while the path of the Mother Earth Goddess presents some obstacles, they no longer pose the same fatal threat as before. Now, even Roselle has embarked on the path to the Old Ones and has even begun to come into contact with the primal substance, the "Land of Chaos."

This source essence has consistently remained remarkably stable, and the pathways it corresponds to also possess immense potential. Even compared to the Perfector and Hermit of the Steam Lord, the Black Emperor and the Judge surpass it in potential.

Although Roselle is a rising star and his potion digestion is not as stable as the Lord of Steam, it is still uncertain who will win if they really fight.

To ensure absolute certainty, it is essential to prevent Roselle from acquiring the State of Chaos, and even more importantly, to prevent him from obtaining the unique path of the Judge. However, given the current situation, relying on the State of Chaos is likely futile.

The Child of Chaos is even less of a hope; it has remained silent for thousands of years and is incomparable to beings like the Fallen Mother Goddess, just as it completely disregards the lost essence.

Therefore, if we want to stop Roselle, we have no choice but to take action ourselves.

(End of this chapter)