Chapter 1153 - 366: Death Eater_2

It indeed has nothing to do with the Dark Arts.

However, even recognizing this point still doesn’t lessen the sense of caution, the heart of the Dark Wizard among the Ancient Wizards is so dirty, he still remembers that the famous Black Demon King Voldemort was one of the few pure ones among the Dark Wizards even in ancient times.

"Yes, yes! The Dusk Hermit Association is a secret organization composed of Wizards from all over the world, with headquarters located in the ’Twilight Tower’ in the Land of the Far West. Our purpose is to protect world balance and stability, preventing ancient Evil Arts, forbidden experiments or abuse of Divine Authority from causing disaster. We are spread across major cities, acting secretly, unknown to the world."

The Cloaked man explained again in great detail, afraid that Ian might kill him if he wasn’t happy, Ian was afraid of him, and he was just as afraid of Ian being ruthless. For Wizards of this era, ruthlessness is not exclusive to Dark Wizards; sometimes White Wizards act even more decisively.

Especially those legends who have lived a long time.

"Now this sounds... not quite like a villain organization?" Ian touched his chin, deep in thought, but actually had already begun a mental probe in secret.

"Of course not!" Kalan almost shouted, his cheeks red from excitement, "We are Guardians! We are not creating chaos, but preventing chaos! These runes you see are the preliminary markings for the ’Exorcism Barrier’. We use specially made ink to draw them, which interfere with Low Tier Evil Spirits’ perception, preventing them from locking onto residents. Recently, disappearance cases have been frequent in the city, and we suspect some Dark Power is secretly active, while the Temple..."

He lowered his voice, "The Temple’s reaction is too abnormal. They are not seeking to catch the culprit but are covering something up. We can only do our best to protect innocent residents from becoming the next victims."

Clearly, this group of so-called righteous people also do not know what is happening at the Temple, perhaps because their magic level and manpower are inferior to that of the Temple. Ian was shocked in his heart. This faintly matched the clues he got from the woman in the black robe—the Temple is covering something up, while someone is resisting in secret.

"Show me." Ian partially lifted the Petrification Curse but still pointed his Magic Wand at the other’s heart—due to the other having some mental defense, he could only probe a little.

Now.

Ian needed the other to willingly release his mind.

The Cloaked man painstakingly took out a Bronze Badge from his pocket, engraved with the image of a Pyramid in the sunset glow. When Ian’s Magic Wand touched the badge, it immediately projected a three-dimensional image.

Numerous figures wearing similar cloaks were casting spells around the world, some reinforcing buildings against Werewolves, some guiding lost Ghosts, and some healing Muggles harmed by the Dark Arts—those were deeds recorded in the past, Ian identified them and found they were not false.

"Interesting."

Ian finally completely lifted the spell.

"So you’ve discovered something wrong in Memphis?"

He inquired.

The Cloaked man rubbed his stiff shoulders and stood up, lifting his hood to reveal a young face—not over twenty-five years old, with a lightning-shaped scar under his left eye.

"I’m Cam, a junior observer of the branch." He lowered his voice, "We’ve noticed abnormalities in Memphis three months ago, but the Temple’s defenses are too tight, we can only judge the problem lies there."

Ian noticed that while Cam was speaking, he unconsciously touched the leather pouch at his waist—a faint Magic Fluctuation emanated from inside, evidently containing many Amulets.

"You rely on these runes on door frames to protect residents?"

Ian asked in surprise.

"Not just runes." Cam took out a small bottle from his pouch, containing silver powder shimmering, "Used with the Nightmare Dispelling Agent. Those ’things’ seem to seek prey through dreams..." He suddenly shivered, "Last night we lost two companions, they attempted to approach the Temple..."

His tone was full of sorrow.

"How much do you know about the Temple?" Ian pressed on.

Kalan shook his head, a hint of helplessness and anxiety flashed in his eyes: "Not much. Our branch is just a grassroots organization, the intelligence we can access is limited. All we know is that a force is rising within the Temple, related to the ancient rituals of the ’Sun God’, possibly involving ’Divine Grafting’ or ’Soul Transformation’. We suspect the maid’s death was part of this ritual—she wasn’t killed, but ’chosen’. Yet we cannot penetrate the core of the Temple, can only report to headquarters, waiting for higher-level investigators to arrive."

"And what about the Blue Crystal Fragment?" Ian asked tentatively.

Kalan was stunned: "You... you even know about this? That’s a shard of the ’Pseudo-God’s Eye’, used in rituals to guide souls into the ’Paradise Illusion Realm’. The real ’Eye of the Ra’ can bestow light, but this imitation... only leads one to death in false joy. We are also tracing its origin, suspecting someone within the Temple is secretly crafting it."

Ian was silent. Kalan’s words completely matched what he saw in the banned books like "Divinity Grafting Technique" and "Artificial Deity Cultivation Guide" in the library. The Temple is attempting to create "Artificial Deity", and the maid was the first ’converted’ sacrifice. Her eerie smile was the illusion created by the ’Pseudo-God’s Eye’—before she died, she believed she was entering the Divine Kingdom.

"Why wait for headquarters?" Ian asked.

"Because..." Kalan’s voice was low, "The power of the Temple far exceeds our imagination. They not only have powerful priests but may have already touched real Divine Power. We branch members are at best Intermediate Mages. Reckless action is just like moths to the flame. Only the ’Night Watcher’ sent by headquarters is capable of contending with them."

Ian slowly nodded, finally understanding Kalan’s predicament. He raised his Magic Wand and softly recited a Dispel Spell. Kalan’s body gradually regained sensation, moving his stiff limbs, he looked at Ian with gratitude: "Thank you... I thought I’d meet my end here today."

"No need to thank me."

Ian said indifferently.

"I am only pursuing the truth. And your organization might be the allies I need." He spoke softly, and just as the other was preparing to be overjoyed.

A sound of slate cracking suddenly came from afar.

Cam’s expression changed drastically, and he pulled Ian into the shadows at the corner of the wall: "It’s here!"

Following his gaze, Ian looked to the end of the street under the moonlight, where three vague human outlines were slowly moving. Their steps were strange, like puppets whose joints have been bent backward, the edges of their bodies showing an unnatural blurriness. Most unsettling was that when one turned its "head", there was just a smooth piece of skin where the face should be.

"Death Eaters..." Cam’s breathing became rapid, "The Temple’s hunting hounds, they find guilty ones and take them to the Temple, this hunt has official authorization."

Clearly.

The so-called hunt is not just once, besides that mysterious embryo releasing the shadow, there is also a batch of official consented hunt, perhaps it originally used those living sacrifices.

"Are they afraid of the dark?" Ian keenly noticed that those beings would deliberately avoid the shadow areas where the moonlight did not reach as they walked; he was not surprised that official authorization was given to hunt the guilty.

After all...

Based on the information learned last night, it’s not difficult to see the whole city is facing a significant threat, so if one wants to live, the higher-ups naturally put hope in the Temple.

Just some guilty people, of course, the officials wouldn’t care, even if it’s innocent people, for the sake of survival, the seniors would also turn a blind eye to it. Looking at the activities of those shadows behind, it’s clear the upper echelon couldn’t fail to notice such things only pretending not to know.

"No, the moonlight is guiding them." Cam grabbed a handful of silver powder from his pouch, "Look."

He gently blew the powder, and under the moonlight, it formed clear paths—the invisible "pathways" connected all unmarked houses. The three Death Eaters moved along these paths, stopping at a house’s doorway.

"Bad! The marking on that house was washed away by rain!"

Cam was about to rush out, but Ian held his shoulder.

"If they are guilty, it’s okay not to save them." Ian actually didn’t feel disgusted by the Death Eater’s actions, after all, as a model student at Hogwarts he also hated heinous criminals.

"But..."

About to say something. Suddenly a sound of glass breaking came from the other end of the street—a Death Eater had already broken through a window and stormed into that household!