Chapter 1368: 126. Invisible Influence

"Do not believe......who?"

Those strange whispers, that crazed behavior—there was no doubt that the current Arman had already become a madman, with absolutely no possibility of normal communication.

But the information he had just left behind was worth pondering.

"At first he said the Tower Master. Does that Tower Master refer to Douglas? Right now, the only person in the entire Origin Tower who is called Tower Master is him."

"But afterward, he suddenly started acting like he had split personalities. Was it because that information was wrong, or because for some reason......he couldn't clearly say it out loud?"

The sentence Arman had just spoken immediately surfaced in Muen's mind——"There's something in this room listening."

As a veteran Truth-Rank mage who was also suspected of colluding with an Evil God, it was perfectly reasonable that he would be monitored after being imprisoned. Arman might have deliberately acted insane and foolish precisely to avoid that surveillance.

"But if that's the case, then these words don't make sense."

Muen raised his eyes. His gaze passed through the bars and fell on the characters smeared in blood.

He could be absolutely certain that after "Do not believe," there really was a name.

But after Arman wrote that name with his own finger, he immediately smeared it away."

Writing it.

Then erasing it.

Again and again.

If he were merely trying to avoid surveillance, there would have been absolutely no need for Arman to do such a thing.

So Muen was more inclined to believe......that something truly had gone wrong with Arman's mind, causing him to do these contradictory things while drifting back and forth between madness and lucidity.

The reason was still unknown. The possibility that he really had gone insane from mental Pollution by an Evil God could not be ruled out, but the lucid version of him was definitely trying to transmit some kind of information to the outside world!

And that information—the person who could not be believed—was the key!

"Haah......this is getting more and more confusing."

Muen slowly let out a long breath.

For a veteran Truth-Rank Grand Mage to become like this, the complexity of the trouble behind it all was still somewhat beyond his imagination, even though he had prepared himself mentally beforehand.

But it was not as though there were no good developments. At the very least, he had already confirmed that there was definitely something suspicious hidden behind the matter of this cheap senior brother of his supposedly colluding with an Evil God.

This was absolutely not some simple case of Arman colluding with an Evil God and betraying humanity!

Although Muen had never had much interaction with Arman before this, the words "senior brother" naturally carried a certain sense of closeness, and that still made him instinctively unwilling to see things develop toward an absolutely irreversible conclusion."

"Human schemes may be troublesome......but they're still better than an unchangeable 'natural disaster.'"

Muen sighed inwardly and was just about to leave when something suddenly occurred to him, a flash of inspiration appearing in his mind.

He looked once again at the scarlet writing inside the prison and murmured:

"The writing was only smeared over, not erased. If I can get inside, or rather, get my consciousness inside and use the Black Book to make a rubbing of the writing, maybe I'll be able to find out exactly what was hidden underneath."

Muen only thought about it briefly before immediately calculating that the idea was feasible.

The Black Book's ability was recording. As long as his consciousness could enter this room, it would be able to completely reproduce °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° the characters written by his cheap senior brother. When the time came, with just a little effort, it would be easy to remove the smeared-over traces and see the hidden writing underneath.

......It was simply the perfect method. All he needed to do was extend his consciousness into the prison, and it could be accomplished with ease!

"Could it be that I really am a genius?"

Muen felt somewhat pleased with himself. If even such an excellent solution could occur to him, then perhaps unraveling the mystery behind this cheap senior brother of his was not actually that difficult after all.

Thinking this, he stretched out his hand. Black Flame flickered at his fingertip as he prepared to completely cross through the bars of the tiny window and extend into the prison......

Just a little farther, and his consciousness would be able to......

"No!"

Yet at that exact instant, an intense sense of danger suddenly erupted and violently dragged Muen's consciousness back.

He quickly retreated several steps, putting distance between himself and the little window. Within only a few breaths, his entire body was already drenched in cold sweat.

Wrong......

Something was very wrong......

Why would he have thought of extending his consciousness into the prison?

Using Black Flame vision merely to connect the medium was already an extremely risky action. Why would he, while fully aware that this prison might currently be under surveillance, still want to send his consciousness inside?

Was that not simply courting death?

"I was influenced......by who?"

Muen's eyes instantly deepened. Within his mental space, the pitch-black sun rumbled into motion, vast spiritual power spreading outward and forcing his consciousness completely back into clarity.

And after his mind became clear, he finally sharply sensed the strange power that had, at some unknown point, filled the entire space like a thin mist.

Go......

Go......

Go inside and take a look......

Don't you want to know the truth?

As long as you go inside, you'll know......

The "mist" drifted gently, as though some kind of voice were whispering beside Muen's ear, urging him to do things that went against reason.

Muen knew that it was not some kind of direct bewitching power. The mist merely amplified a certain thought already present within his heart.

But that was precisely what made it so dangerous.

Like the tiny light hanging above the head of a deep-sea anglerfish, it was so enticing, so difficult to notice.

"Not good......"

Realizing this, Muen's expression changed slightly. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately activated his Divine Kingdom on Earth and vanished from the spot.

Only a few seconds after he left.

A figure suddenly appeared there as well.

"Hm? Strange."

The figure looked left and right, its searching gaze sweeping everywhere, yet finding nothing.

"I clearly felt the 'mist' being disturbed. Why is there nothing here?"

Could it be......

Boom!

The prison suddenly shook. The walls made from special metal trembled continuously, causing the invisible things drifting through the space to stir slightly once again.

"Tch. So it was just you going insane again?"

The figure froze for a moment, then walked up to the prison. Through the small window, a cold gaze looked inside.

"Ah......can't believe......no......can believe......damn it......get out of my head! Get out!"

Inside the sealed prison, Arman's face was covered in blood. Perhaps he had grown tired of trying to chisel through the ground, because now he was frantically smashing his head against the wall instead.

For a physically weak mage to strike with enough force to make the entire wall tremble, one could imagine just how much strength he was using.

Yet under the instinctive healing magic restoring his body, he could not even lose consciousness. He could only remain fully awake and endure every bit of the pain with absolute clarity.

"I knew it. 'Divine Sigh' is impregnable. How could some rat possibly sneak in here? Looks like I really was being too cautious."

The figure silently watched the scene. After observing for a while, it gave a cold snort and gradually disappeared from the spot like a drop of ink dissolving into water.

The space returned to calm.

Only Arman's agonized roars and muttering continued.

As though nothing had ever happened.

......Yet several minutes later.

The figure abruptly appeared again.

It carefully looked around once more and even actively searched the surroundings, only leaving after confirming that absolutely nothing was wrong.

"There really isn't anyone?"

Only then did it depart again.

......Several more minutes passed.

The figure once again appeared without the slightest warning.

With a raise of its hand, the invisible mist around it stirred and seeped into every shadow in the vicinity, not even overlooking cracks too narrow for a rat to crawl through......

Of course, it still found nothing.

"So I really was just being too cautious."

The figure shook its head and murmured to itself:

"But that isn't my fault. This matter is simply too important. We've already arranged things to this extent. Our plan......cannot tolerate even the slightest mistake."

"No one can stop us......"