The Silver Knight Ivan Shalik, as the newly appointed Archbishop of the Church of the God of Combat stationed on Sunia Island, rushed toward the naval port with a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact and a team of elite Demon Hunters the very moment the port came under attack.
Yet halfway there, he suddenly stopped. Without any visible motion, a brilliant streak of silver light burst forth to his left.
Within the shredded fragments of dreamlike illusion, a figure was revealed—
It was the Owen clone, who had been hiding nearby under Psychological Invisibility.
Owen—or rather, Ebner—was not surprised. Being detected and attacked was entirely within his expectations. After all, the Silver Knight's Demon Hunter's Eye had evolved to a higher level, and in terms of stealth and ambush, his pathway could be considered top tier. Compared to that, Ebner's own concealment was child's play.
Moreover, Owen did not possess mystic arts nor enjoy the Blessing of Secrecy. Being discovered while relying solely on Psychological Invisibility was perfectly normal.
Ebner was just about to speak, planning to stall for time, when he saw the Archbishop's body begin to be covered entirely in silver armor plates.
"So we're going all-out right from the start? You're from the Church of the God of Combat—you're not even in the same command structure as the Feysac military…" Ebner's mouth twitched at the sight, but knowing he had no choice, he activated Dragon Transformation, summoning a mythical creature of legend into reality.
…
At the same time, Iron-Blooded Knight Yegor Einhorn, who had just received orders to set sail, led his fleet into the fog—only to hear an ear-splitting shriek.
Immediately afterward, every warship came alive. Ropes, sails, glass, nails—all manner of materials turned against their own crews in a sudden, violent uprising.
Relying on his Iron-Blooded Knight senses, Yegor instantly detected the abnormality. But, lacking any prior experience fighting members of the Rose School of Thought, he couldn't discern which pathway this ability belonged to, nor from where the attacks originated. He could only use his damage-distribution ability to prevent his sailors from dying under the assault of everyday objects.
Even so, as more and more sailors were injured, the demigod himself began to struggle under the accumulated strain. He repeatedly unleashed waves of taunting aura, attempting to provoke the hidden enemy into revealing themselves for a head-on confrontation.
His demigod-level Taunt was indeed powerful—against most demigods, it could have worked. Unfortunately, his opponent was none other than a Puppet of the Temperance Faction. No matter how much of his loathsome aura he released, Miss Sharon remained utterly unmoved, silently flitting across each vessel through the reflective surfaces of the sea and shattered glass, weaving curses one after another.
Yegor tried laying traps to capture her, but they failed miserably. Having long been hunted by the Rose School, Sharon had become a master at detecting such ploys.
In short, Iron-Blooded Knight Yegor Einhorn was thoroughly suppressed by Miss Sharon, unable to seize the initiative. Finally, he was forced to request reinforcements from War Bishop Beriak Einhorn.
But Beriak himself was being held off by Daphne, who wielded the Book of Virtue and the Medal of Frenzied Hunt.
…
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the sea aboard the Trident, seeing that every front had reached a stalemate and that the enemy demigods were too occupied to notice, Klein and Ebner, under the cover of Ivans' Barrier of Secrecy, quietly infiltrated the sea monster's lair.
Before departing, Ebner had said meaningfully, "There's no need to take the sea monster by force. Just find an opportunity to collect some of its blood."
Though Klein didn't understand why, he noted the seriousness in "Mr. Tower's" tone and committed it to memory.
They cautiously entered the massive cave—large enough to swallow the Trident whole—intending to draw a little blood from the creature and retreat immediately afterward.
But just as they began, the Obninsk Sea Monster opened its enormous maw. A powerful suction force erupted, drawing in seawater, fish, and other marine life alike.
Caught off guard, both Klein and Ebner were swept toward the creature's gullet. At the last moment, Ebner was forced to use Blink, teleporting the two out of harm's way.
They had just begun to relax when a soft, alluring female voice echoed in their ears:
"Oh my, when did two little ones sneak in here?"
Ebner's body froze instantly. For someone to speak here, at this depth, while seeing through his Ivans' Barrier of Secrecy—there was only one possibility: The Golden Saintess Natalia.
She was one of the Demoness Sect's two known angels—the other being The Black Saintess.
"The Demoness of Catastrophe…" Klein muttered softly. At once, his messenger, Reinette Tinekerr, emerged from his body. Her four heads chanted simultaneously in Giant, Draconic, Elvish, and Ancient Hermes:
"Yesterday!"
Instantly, a rectangular, diamond-like talisman ignited in invisible flame and dissolved into the void.
Reinette Tinekerr's form began to swell rapidly, the four heads flying back to reattach to her neck, merging into one phantom visage.
In the next heartbeat, Reinette Tinekerr became a colossal doll the size of a castle, clad in a black Gothic dress covered with arcane symbols and writhing, sinister vines. Her crimson eyes gleamed like pools of blood.
Her gaze swept toward the Demoness of Catastrophe Natalia. Her lips parted, but no sound emerged.
In that instant, the golden-haired, blue-eyed beauty, with her curvaceous figure, flower crown, and translucent golden veil, turned into a black goat—only to shatter like glass a moment later.
"Well, that's quite the warm greeting, isn't it?" Natalia's voice came from another direction as her body reappeared there. Her golden hair lifted into the air, thickening into serpentine strands, each one slick and alive, ending either in blinking black-and-white eyes or serpent heads that hissed and flicked their tongues.
Ebner grabbed Klein and dragged him away from the angels' battlefield, quickly shouting, "Don't look! Go get some of the sea monster's blood—now! If you're too slow, it'll die!"
As for himself, he opened his Pure White Eye, remaining on guard against the other angel present—the pure-blooded giant known as The Glorious One!
Klein nodded immediately and rushed toward the terrified, motionless sea monster, whose body trembled under the angels' auras. Using a small blade, he cut into one of its tentacles, collected a few drops of blood, and wrapped them in spirituality before tossing them back to Ebner.
Ebner caught the vial one-handed and smeared the blood across the cover of a parchment-bound book.
The next instant, the mountain-sized body of the Obninsk Sea Monster vanished completely.
"We did it!" Klein blinked in surprise before breaking into a smile of relief.
Ebner then released his Yarolan clone to guard them during retreat.
But at that very moment, an undersea volcano erupted. The ground quaked violently as molten lava surged upward, sealing all exits and even severing their tenuous link to the Spirit World…
This was the power of the Authority of Catastrophe!
Before the Yarolan clone could employ Mysticism to escape, she stepped forward to shield Ebner—and was engulfed by lava imbued with the Authority of Catastrophe. Her body reverted to a tuft of fur, then ignited and turned to ash.
Though the Yarolan clone, created through Mystic Reenactment, possessed angel-level power, her physical form was fragile. Struck directly by an Authority, she was doomed to revert and burn away—hence why she was known as the weakest angel.
Ebner had no time to mourn. The surge of seawater swept him downward.
The eruption had pierced the barrier between two layers of the cavern system. The lower level, once sealed, now flooded rapidly as the sea poured in.
Ebner was about to use his powers to free himself when his instincts suddenly tingled—he had received a Passive Prophecy, showing that the path to survival lay below.
But according to Arrodes' vision, the "Glorious One" Boris Vasika is down there…
Wouldn't going down mean walking straight into his hands?
Ebner hesitated for several seconds before deciding to trust the prophecy.
After all, he still had the Spirit Angel Doll as his trump card. Even if he encountered The Glorious One, he might not be entirely without hope.
However, upon descending into the lower cavern and examining it carefully, he was shocked to find—nothing.
The place was completely empty. Arrodes' depiction of the Glorious One and the second sea monster—gone.
"What's going on? Did Arrodes make a mistake? Or did the Glorious One relocate the creature?"
By now, Klein had followed him down in a few jumps, and the same question flickered in his eyes.
Ebner attempted to Trace Back the events, but found nothing—the information here had been thoroughly erased.
"It must be the latter," Ebner concluded after a brief thought.
"That's good…" Klein exhaled. "As for the second sea monster—even if Feysac tries the same trick again, the Church of Storms won't launch another surprise attack.
"After all, the battle between angels can't be concealed. The Church will definitely reassess the difficulty of capturing such creatures.
"Heh, not everyone in their upper ranks belongs to that secret organization."
Ebner nodded, activating his Pure White Eye once again. Through its link to the Unknown Land, he summoned the Trident and simultaneously sent Daphne the signal to withdraw.
Let's hope nothing else goes wrong…
…
At that moment, Daphne, who was still engaging War Bishop Beriak Einhorn, suddenly felt a faint stirring in her spirit. Without hesitation, she opened the Book of Virtue and drew Owen and Sharon—both still fighting—into it from afar.
Beforehand, both had passed the Book's trials and been knighted, allowing them to return to its inner realm at will.
Miss Sharon had passed the trial of Temperance, while Owen's virtue was Loyalty.
Afterward, Daphne left a summoned historical projection to restrain the War Bishop and swiftly retreated, leaving him unable to give chase.
When it came to fleeing, only those from the "Three Families of Survival" could catch one another.
…
"A projection?!" Vice Admiral of Twilight's father, the Demon Hunter Peter Ivan, stared at the dissipating figure before him, his expression darkening. He could scarcely believe that the opponent who had suppressed both him and his entire fleet had been merely the Professor's historical projection.
Meanwhile, the Silver Knight Ivan Shalik and Iron-Blooded Knight Yegor, having abruptly lost sight of their adversaries, quickly converged toward the War Bishop, wary of unexpected dangers—especially since they could already sense the aura of Catastrophe from the direction of the port.
…
Above the port, a Weather Warlock from the Einhorn family was drawn by an inexplicable thread of Fate, traversing through space to arrive.
With a wave of his hand, he dispersed the thick fog blanketing the sea, shattering the illusion of Mystic Reenactment – Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats. His gaze then pierced the waters, beholding the clash between the Demoness of Catastrophe and the Ancient Evil within the cavern below.
Just as he prepared to intervene, his spirituality stirred violently. Turning sharply, he caught sight of a doll-like girl in a dress of crystalline ice—
…
Half an hour later, when the Trident finally escaped the reach of Catastrophe and reestablished a stable connection to the Spirit World, Ebner brought Daphne back aboard.
Once everyone except the angels had regrouped, Ebner exhaled deeply, murmuring to himself:
"Today's luck wasn't great—but not terrible either. The objectives are met, and we didn't suffer much loss…"
As for the angels, he wasn't concerned. Angels were not so easily killed.
Next, he retrieved Grossel's Travels and placed it on an altar prepared for a ritual—
It was a recreation of the one beneath the Sari family estate, though Ebner had simplified it using his own expertise.
When it came to ritual magic, Ebner was no less skilled than Emperor Roselle in his "Emperor of Knowledge" days.
"I'd better extract the sea monster quickly—if it stays inside too long, it might die from lack of water… or from them."
After briefly explaining to Klein, Ebner prepared to enter the book.
That was the immediate priority. As for visiting Cabas Town's nightmare later to obtain another Yarolan clone and deliver the Red Saintess' blood to Cohinem—that could wait.
Klein frowned slightly, instinct urging him to divine the outcome first. But after some thought, he dismissed the concern—after all, there was no real danger within Grossel's Travels.
Moments later, Ebner stepped through the shimmering gateway of light hovering over the book—and vanished.
…
Within the icy realm inside the book, Ebner entered the familiar lair of the Northern King—only to sense that something was wrong. The entire space was suffused with a translucent orange-red glow, as if sealed within a giant block of amber.
Not good! Ebner's heart sank as he turned to retreat—but time itself here had solidified. Though the exit seemed only a step away, it might as well have been separated by entire worlds.
"The power of Twilight?" Opening his Pure White Eye, Ebner immediately recognized the source of the radiance.
"The power of Twilight," came a deep voice in confirmation.
A four-meter-tall, one-eyed giant dragging the tail of the Northern King strode slowly into the cavern.
The Glorious One, Boris Vasika?! How is he here?!
(End of Chapter)