Lord of the Mysteries

Chapter 1196 The Ugly Duckling

When opening the first level of the Box of the Great Old Ones, the long table, chairs, Fors, and the others were like dolls. They were either still or motionless. Otherwise, under the power of torsion springs, they made repeated simple movements.

Upon seeing this scene, Botis’s hair stood on end. For some baffling reason, he felt that he was about to join and become one of them.

He instinctively wanted to react to the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact in his hand, but he saw the hooded, purple-robed woman retract her right hand and hold it to her mouth, slightly clenched.

A dark color instantly formed in her palm. It was an ancient bugle with a charm that appeared very heavy and powerful.

The Horn of Magic, the Horn of Destruction!

Botis’s pupils dilated as he lacked the luxury of time to deal with the Box of the Great Old Ones. He grabbed forward with his right hand, as though he had raised an invisible screen that shielded the void.

The area he was in was distorted once again. He disappeared and was concealed.

Woo!

The horn in Cattleya’s hand let out a soft hum. It echoed in the room but didn’t extend out of its confines.

With the sound waves overlapping, the shadows shattered and the ground cracked. The space that had been concealed by the Saint of Secrets was like a thick piece of glass that had been struck by a sledgehammer. Countless cracks appeared and intertwined with each other.

Elsewhere, a towering knight in full black armor appeared out of the shadows. He held a long broadsword, and two dark red beams of light glimmered in his eye sockets—Saint Tenebrous Kisma.

Woo!

Once again, Cattleya blew the horn. Everything in the room seemed to freeze into a translucent amber.

Silently, the amber broke apart, and even the black-armored knight fell to the ground like a mirror, shattering into small shards.

The distorted region returned to the real world.

However, Botis also managed to grab the gaps between the two horn blows as he created numerous illusory doors to appear around them.

Some of them were double doors that opened outwards, some were deep and recessed, some were covered in mysterious patterns, and some were hollow in the middle, allowing one to vaguely see the boundless darkness behind them…

The illusory doors were in bountiful numbers, densely packed, and overlapped together, almost enveloping the Saint of Secrets.

Without any time to think further, Botis immediately opened a grayish-blue door with seven brass locks, and he threw the Box of the Great Old Ones that was just about to have its second layer open inside.

This was a Secrets Sorcerer’s “Exile.” It could throw a target that he had gained initial control of into a corresponding chaotic space. As for the different illusory doors, they represented different scenes—ones where danger and opportunity coexisted.

This kind of “Exile” wasn’t permanent. At Botis’s Sequence level, he was only capable of isolating the Box of the Great Old Ones from reality for twenty seconds. Once that time was up, the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact would return to the spot beside him through the “illusory door” from before.

However, by then, the “betrayal” induced by the enemy’s Beyonder powers would definitely have disappeared.

As a demigod of the Apprentice pathway, he had traveled many places, witnessed many things, and recorded many kinds of powers, Botis made the most correct decision in that split instant.

At the same time, the Black Knight that had split into pieces quickly squirmed and reformed, becoming a thin rug that flowed with flesh and blood. It covered every corner of the room.

As a cult that could only survive in the shadows of reality, the Aurora Order might have many lunatics, but they were used to doing things to conceal themselves so as to prevent themselves from attracting the official Beyonders before their goals were met.

Of course, once the matter was in its final stages, they would definitely proclaim their existence openly.

In addition, Saint Tenebrous Kisma had done so in hopes of obstructing the possible enemies that were hiding outside to a certain extent. This allowed a separation of the battlefield.

When a layer of flesh grew out from the floor, walls, and ceiling, a twisted black shadow rose up from the corner.

This was one of the souls that Saint Tenebrous Kisma had “Grazed.”

It was a powerful vampire from the Forsaken Land of the Gods, a Sequence 4 Shaman King of the Moon pathway.

If the Shepherd’s Grazed target was a demigod, he could release it directly due to the existence of its corporeal Spirit Body. However, there only one could be released at any one point in time unless the corresponding Shepherd had already become a Sequence 3 Trinity Templar.

Seizing the opportunity that the horn in the female demigod’s hand was dissipating, the twisted Shaman King reached out and dug out one of his eyes—a bright-red, illusory eye.

The eye shimmered with a bright, crimson glow as it instantly illuminated the entire room, as though the crimson moon had descended.

Its pupil reflected the woman wearing the purple-patterned black robe and a dark-colored hood.

Immediately following that, the Shaman King clasped the hand which was holding his eye, letting the crimson “moonlight” become completely devoured by darkness.

A deep darkness appeared around Cattleya as the solidified darkness bound her to the spot. It froze the scene.

Upon seeing this scene, Botis took a step forward, phasing behind his enemy instantaneously.

Performing one “Blink” followed by another as a total of eight figures dressed in black robes appeared around Cattleya!

These weren’t avatars he created, but afterimages he left behind due to his blazing “Blink.”

Some of them released “Lightning Storm,” while others condensed a blinding white spear. Some were covered in black armor as they slashed out a heavy broadsword that could appear capable of slicing through anything…

Different figures with different powers either attacked or created a form of control, but their target was one and the same—Cattleya.

There was almost no pause in between their actions. When Botis’s figure “Blinked” to another corner, he quickly turned transparent as he was on the brink of disappearing.

He had no intention of killing the enemy, as this was Backlund. Also, the commotion created from their battle couldn’t be suppressed any further. Once it affected the outside world, official angels might descend.

The reason why he had first launched a series of counterattacks before “Teleporting” away was because he wanted to suppress the enemy and prevent her from interfering with his and Saint Tenebrous Kisma’s escape. This was a very reasonable strategy.

However, a few seconds ago, in a room on an upper level of the old apartment, Xio had learned of all the changes in the venue through Miss Justice’s “mind voice.”

Although she was worried and anxious, she didn’t panic at all. She followed the plan and jumped down from the window, somersaulting in midair as she pointed at the targeted area.

“Teleportation is prohibited here!”

After doing this, she immediately distanced herself from the apartment to prevent the friendly demigods from being distracted.

With this interference, the Saint of Secrets, Botis, failed to successfully enter the spirit world. A rusty, abnormally heavy door appeared in front of him as it tightly sealed the “path.”

To Botis, an illusory door of this level wasn’t able to stop him from leaving at all. He could “open” the door once he made some adjustments.

But at this moment, something anomalous had happened over at the female demigod in the purple-patterned black robe!

Silver light appeared in Cattleya’s eyes. They connected together like a mysterious giant snake.

This was “Brief Luck,” derived from the knowledge she had obtained when analyzing the blood of a Snake of Fate.

Regardless of the terrifying lightning, burning-white spear, or the slash of the Black Knight, none of them hit the target. Cattleya seemed to be standing at the eye of the storm. No matter how dangerous the surroundings were, she was unaffected.

Those attacks and the attempts at control either narrowly passed her by or were canceled out by “friendly” forces. They were unable to achieve the desired effect, and they even helped her weaken the “dark” shackles.

Instantly, Cattleya bowed her back slightly as white and illusory feathers grew out of them. They didn’t belong to an angel, but rather, a swan.

The ugly duckling had become a swan.

As for what a swan was, to a Sequence 4 demigod, the answer was obvious. It was an incomplete Mythical Creature form.

And the ugly duckling could also become a swan!

This was a powerful magic that could allow a Mysticologist to reveal their incomplete Mythical Creature form once a day, with each instance lasting ten seconds.

The surface of Cattleya’s body immediately cracked open as flesh and blood gathered inside, forming eyeballs with clear blacks and whites.

The countless eyeballs coldly scanned their surroundings, as though they were manifestations of multifarious knowledge. As such, the figure that bore their weight turned into a black blob that was even more abstract in a higher spatial dimension.

Upon seeing the densely packed eyeballs, Saint of Secrets Botis and Saint Tenebrous Kisma felt dizzy. A knowledge storm took form in their minds.

The layer of flesh and blood that enveloped the entire room began to tremble slightly. Some dripped down, while others squirmed intermittently.

At this moment, an unimaginable aura pierced through the barrier formed from flesh and blood, pouring into the first floor of the dilapidated apartment and enveloping every corner of the apartment.

At the same time, Saint of Secrets Botis and Saint Tenebrous Kisma were shocked. Their bodies, souls, and minds were in an uncontrollable state.

This was “Dragon Might” which had undergone a qualitative change—”Mind Deprivation!”

Seizing this opportunity, the “black blob” that was covered in cracks and eyes condensed a spear in front of it.

The spear appeared ancient in style; from the tip to the handle, it was dyed in blobs of blood-red splotches.

It emitted a mighty destructive aura and a bloody feeling, as though it had once hurt a mighty existence.

With a whoosh, the terrifying spear shot out, heading straight for the Botis who stood rooted to the ground.

In the entire room, all the voices and details vanished. Even the “Dragon Might” that filled the room suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only the bloody spear tip and Botis’s body, as well as the constantly shrinking distance between them.

Spear of Longinus!