Chapter 426: 1-42

The Desire Apostle, who had once worn Patrick Jason's skin, stopped in

his tracks and looked around in bewilderment.

Only now did he vaguely realize that danger was approaching.

He was at the edge of a garden where the grass had withered due to

winter and was revealing dark brown soil.

On the right side of the street, there weren't many pedestrians on the

weekday afternoon. At this moment, there were only a few people passing

by, but they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, a silver glint appeared in the eyes of the Desire Apostle, and

a person decked out in full body armor emerged from the other side of

the garden.

The armor was stained with congealed blood, diagonally from its left

shoulder all the way down. It exuded a bewitching beauty and appeared to

be extremely heavy. Every step it took slightly shook the ground.

Upon seeing this blood-stained silver armor, the Desire Apostle felt as

if he couldn't breathe properly, as if he had met his most terrifying

nemesis.

*How are they here so quickly? They saw through my ruse so

quickly?* The Desire Apostle regained his calm and

coldbloodedness, fully focused on sensing the emotions and desires of

the Beyonder inside the blood-stained silver armor.

However, to his despair, the silver armor completely blocked his

Beyonder powers.

It was as if he had touched a rock, a piece of cold armor which had no

one in it!

The Desire Apostle had no choice but to raise his right hand, spreading

out his giant bat wings and bringing with it some blue flames that

rapidly condensed.

At that moment, a silver light flashed from his right palm, and his

thumb fell to the ground. The wound was extremely clean.

Amidst swooshing sounds and a flash of silver light, the remaining nine

fingers of the Desire Apostle were severed. The suitcase he was carrying

also fell to the ground with a thud.

The Desire Apostle's pupils immediately contracted to a needle point,

and he flapped the pair of huge bat wings on his back to escape in

another direction.

The shadow under his feet shrank back without anyone realizing it,

hiding in one spot.

The Desire Apostle had only taken two steps when countless silver lights

burst out from his body like blooming fireworks.

The thick black liquid that covered his body splashed to the ground like

raindrops. His forearm, arm, shoulders, ribs, neck, and other parts of

his body broke off and smoothly slid downwards.

Splat. Splat. Splat. The pale, blood-stained intestines of the

Desire Apostle splashed to the ground, along with his squirming stomach

and his beating heart which had yet to cease.

The place where he stood was where the blood was the thickest. The

further he went, the more splatted it looked, which when put together,

they formed a beautiful flower of death.

A Sequence 5 expert, a Desire Apostle who had just completed an

impossible assassination, was dismembered without any resistance.

This was a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact.

This was the Sealed Artifact that had caused over a hundred thousand

people to lose their lives---Sealed Artifact 1-42!

Dressed in that terrifying-looking armor, Leonard Mitchell struggled to

take two steps forward, sized up the dismembered body on the ground, and

raised his voice.

"He's not completely dead yet!"

He paused for a moment and then added, "Different Devils have different

characteristics. This Desire Apostle is a shadow-shifter. He's just

abandoned his own body, only leaving a shadow behind."

While Soul Assurer Soest instructed a number of Nighthawks and members

of the Machinery Hivemind to "keep ordinary people at bay," he surveyed

the scene and listened to Leonard.

He took out his pocket watch and opened it. He asked with a serious

expression, "There's only ten minutes left, is it enough? Don't force

it!"

"No problem! 1-42 has locked onto him. I can sense its excitement,"

Leonard said without hesitation.

Soest spread his red-gloved fingers and said to the other Nighthawks,

"Bring hot water with you and follow Leonard closely. Once there are any

problem, switch with him immediately and dig a 'bathtub' on the spot!

"Also, leave marks. The other team members and I will quickly catch up."

Tap. Tap. Tap. The blood-stained silver armor began running in

pursuit. Despite looking heavy, it was incredulously fast.

Soest watched as the few Red Gloves left before turning to look at

Ikanser.

"Deacon Bernard, take the rest of the Machinery Hivemind members to that

house. Watch the duke's guards and anyone else that's alive at the

scene."

"Watch?" Ikanser subconsciously returned with a question.

Soest nodded seriously and said, "How can the Desire Apostle be able to

determine that the duke would be coming to this house today, to the

point of precisely pinpointing the time, and then perfectly luring the

Spellsinger of God away?"

Ikanser was instantly enlightened.

"Are you saying that a member of the Duke's guards or someone trusted by

him is a partner of the Desire Apostle?"

Otherwise, there was no way that his timing could be that perfect!

The so-called "operation" wouldn't have any chance of success otherwise!

"It can only be said that this is the most probable cause. We cannot

eliminate the assumption that the Desire Apostle has a powerful

clairvoyant." Soest didn't continue as he led a second batch of

Nighthawks and followed the marks to reinforce the teammates up ahead.

With a calm face, he led the rest of the Machinery Hivemind back to the

house of the Duke's mistress.

He looked up at the pale sun behind the thin fog and knew that the

situation in the whole of Backlund, and even the whole of the Loen

Kingdom, or even the world would change because of what had happened

today.

In the darkness of the sewers, a shadow was advancing rapidly in a

particular direction while clinging to the bottom of the stone wall.

He wanted to take advantage of the fact that the blood-stained armor was

tall and heavy, making it inconvenient for him to move around in certain

narrow areas of the sewers; thus, allowing him to shake him off his

tail!

Every time the shadow moved a certain distance forward, it would stop,

frozen in place.

His pitch-black surface continued to swell and solidify as if it was

trying to produce new flesh and blood, but due to a lack of materials,

it failed miserably.

The Desire Apostle let out a painful gasp, feeling that he could lose

control at any moment in this state.

After a short breather, he continued to run for his life, unable to

afford the time to decrease the threat of the problem he faced. He was

also afraid that the terrifying blood-stained silver armor would

silently catch up with him.

At the Quelaag Club, Klein entered the lounge and took the newspapers to

the toilet.

He was afraid that the Desire Apostle would flee in advance, leaving

potential danger for himself, Isengard Stanton, Kaslana, and the

innocent private detectives. Therefore, he planned on heading above the

gray fog to perform another divination to confirm the Desire Apostle's

present situation and, thus, adopt a targeted strategy.

After repeating the previous process of replacing himself with a paper

figurine, he sat in the seat of The Fool, conjuring Jason Beria's

handkerchief and trying to divine his current location.

In the dusky dream world, Klein saw the dark sewers. He saw a living

shadow and how his body seemingly appeared to fill itself with flesh and

blood, only to constantly fail, as well as tiny black dust that kept

being shed from his body.

The scene climbed higher and arrived aboveground, revealing a towering

cathedral.

Holy Wind Cathedral... Klein opened his closed eyes and

understood the situation of the Desire Apostle.

*He hasn't been caught yet, but he seems to be heavily injured. His

condition is in terrible shape and it's filled with

abnormalities!*

*His suitcase is gone too... It must've been dropped when he was

injured...* Klein thought for a moment. Using divination, he

recalled the map of Backlund and made it appear before his eyes.

Similarly, he came up with a rough layout of Backlund's sewers.

Having previously made full use of the sewer system, he had always been

gathering similar information such as this. The main focus was on East

Borough, the Backlund Bridge area, and the area where he was located in,

Cherwood Borough. After some hard work, he had long completed the first

stage of his plan of understanding the main layout of the sewer network.

To have a more in-depth understanding of it would require an extremely

long period of persistence. When the time came, Klein even thought of

infiltrating Backlund's municipal hall and directly sneak a peek at the

design prints.

According to the two maps and the scene seen in the dream divination,

Klein noticed that the Desire Apostle, Beria, hadn't fled in the

direction of the Tussock River. Instead, he had taken the opposite route

to Hillston Borough, as if he wanted to pass through and enter the

artificial lake in Empress Borough.

In other words, he's getting closer and closer to me...

Klein's mind stirred as he suddenly had an idea.

*Although I'm not sure which sewer he'll pass through, I can make a

judgment via divination... He's heavily injured and in a very strange

state. His interference in this aspect has turned extremely weak. At

close distances, it's not like I can't find him. After all, I've seen

what he really looks like, and I have a grasp of his aura... When it

comes to finding people, I'm a professional... I have to do something; I

can't let him escape just like that! There's still time!* After

confirming the degree of danger, Klein made up his mind and returned to

the real world.

He took out the candle, quickly set up a ritual, summoned himself, and

responded to himself.

Not long after, there was a figure in black armor, wearing a black

crown, and a cloak of the same color in the bathroom. It was Klein in

his Spirit Body state while carrying the Black Emperor card.

He also "included" mystical items such as the Sun Brooch and Biological

Poison Bottle, so as to ensure success.

Then, he disappeared into the air and left the Quelaag Club in another

direction.

The current Klein could fly, so he was very fast, but he couldn't cause

any wind, because he was a Spirit Body.

He "scraped" past a tree and took away a dead branch.

Having seen Jason Beria's actual appearance before, together with his

own memory and the handkerchief as a medium, Klein, combined with the

layout map and the dowsing rod divination, quickly determined the sewer

areas that Jason had passed.

After entering the pitch-black and fetid area, Klein used his maximum

speed to pass through a large number of narrow areas and entered a

relatively spacious area.

The dark river flowed, and a mixed smell filled the air. He would

occasionally change his direction and chase after Jason Beria.

The Desire Apostle nearly lost control again. He stopped and pressed

himself against the damp walls and cold pipes, trying hard to rein in

his bloodlust and his desire to kill.

Pant. Pant. The thin shadow started to move.

At this moment, he suddenly turned his head to look at the spot he had

just passed.

The pitch-black armor and the black crown first entered his "eyes,"

outlining an extremely imposing figure.

Behind the figure, the weightless cloak lightly swayed as he moved

forward.

"It's nearby!"

A body of heavy silver armor stained in blood went through the entrance

and climbed down to the sewers.