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Chapter 167: The Puppet Master Behind the Scenes

Joining forces with cultists and the demon race? Just coming up with that idea is impressive enough, let alone actually crossing the Desperate Defense Line to connect with the demon race. It takes some serious skills.

The real danger lies in the enemies hiding in the dark.

Roy couldn’t shake off the ominous feeling about this aide.

“That aide, he is…”

Winter looked up, about to speak, but choked on his words, eyes glazing over, as if his mind was completely blank, having forgotten something.

In the next moment, his features contorted, his limbs shook uncontrollably, and a bizarre supernatural energy flickered across him.

Meanwhile, in Roy’s golden-flamed eyes, a strange tentacle-like form ripped open Winter’s chest!

Winter’s physical form didn’t die, but his spirit was utterly destroyed.

“Save him!”

Xue Nuo kicked the door open, but by then, Winter had already fallen to the ground, frothing at the mouth.

The Count and Countess quickly summoned a priest and a magician for treatment.

Meanwhile, inside Roy’s soul, Phoenix had already declared the verdict.

“He’s done for; his soul is ruined.”

“Is he dead? Just like that?” Roy felt a chill run down his spine.

“Um… I wouldn’t say dead, given that his soul hasn’t been completely annihilated. But, well, he’s a vegetable now.”

“What the heck just happened? A soul attack? A trick left on him by the undead?”

Roy was sure that the Necromancy School didn’t have such capabilities. At least not in the Western Continent.

And speaking of soul attacks, that’s the specialty of liches.

The Pale Empress Anisas is a big lich.

But Phoenix’s tone dripped with disdain: “Are you underestimating me?”

“With the level of those bony skeletons, even if they did pull some tricks, I could see it coming and even heal him.”

“But this aura…” Phoenix said seriously: “That disgusting smell of sea and the same old evil methods—this is the handiwork of Cthulhu.”

“Cthulhu, the Lord of the Abyss?!”

At first, Roy didn’t get it, but then remembered that Lorian’s notes mentioned this evil god.

The belief in the Deepsea Lurker, a creature said to dwell in the depths of the ocean. Legends say it caused the downfall of half of the sea creatures in the First Era, turning them into Cthulhu’s breeding ground.

Roy suspected that Leviathan got severely injured due to this deep-sea god’s influence.

But that raised a baffling question.

The Deepsea Lurker’s active domain is in the South Sea country; even if they went mad, why bother attacking an imperial prince?

Could that aide be the Deepsea Lurker?

That didn’t add up. If they had the ability to infiltrate the empire, wouldn’t they instead be causing chaos in the South Sea country?

Newspapers claimed that the sea beast scourge, which had plagued the South Sea country for years, has been quelled, allowing authorities to finally tackle the cultists.

There was no reason for the Deepsea Lurker to strike at the enemy prince; they simply didn’t have that capability.

Phoenix seemed to catch onto his doubts and said meaningfully: “It’s the power of Cthulhu, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Cthulhu is the one acting.”

“Perhaps someone is stealing His power. Looks like that aide is something special.”

“And… besides Cthulhu, I can’t shake the feeling there’s another power that seems familiar…” Phoenix pondered, confused.

Even the typically arrogant phoenix recognized the opponent’s extraordinary nature, causing Roy to be a bit more vigilant.

And if something could make a demigod feel familiar, it meant that this person wasn’t from this era.

There were no clues about this person in the original work or Lorian’s notes.

Unlike the demon race and cultists, this was the first time an enemy had thoroughly hidden themselves in the dark, with no way to see their true nature.

Seriously, why are there so many pitfalls in a yuri galgame?!

Thinking about it, Roy couldn’t even face those good endings in the original work anymore! Who knew that behind those good endings, so many pitfalls were lurking? You guys in the production team are just waiting to stab players in the back with the sequel, huh?!

Filled with resentment, Roy didn’t forget to explain the situation to Xue Nuo.

However, it wasn’t all bad news.

“Hey, let’s spare this kid for now.”

“Once my strength is restored, I can forcibly dispel Cthulhu’s power, gather some residual soul, and find leads on the caster.”

Roy conveyed Phoenix’s opinion and saved Winter’s life once more from Blannie’s axe.

But for Winter himself, becoming a mentally unstable, half-dead shell of a person might have been better than dying.

No one in the room cared about his life or death.

Only the guards in the prison might lose their sadistic fun because of Winter’s vegetative state.

Regardless, Winter’s fate was already sealed.

Just knowing that there was an aide beside the Winter Empress counted as a gain.

The long winter break was about to end, and Roy needed to start his journey back.

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Valley of the Blazing Sun.

Looking at the empty altar, the clown’s smile faltered slightly.

Then he clapped his hands vigorously, laughing so hard he could barely breathe, before suddenly changing his expression and delivering a swift kick, smashing the altar to pieces!

“I went through so much effort to act just once, and you made me lose so completely!”

“Damn it!”

After the rage, he suddenly fell to his knees, crying as if he had lost everything overnight.

“Damn it, I worked hard to save that silly bird from the Demon King’s grasp, feeding it out of kindness for so many years! Is this how I’m repaid?!”

“After one night, I’m back to square one, and not even a drop of soup is left? Is this even fair?!”

After sobbing for a short while, he suddenly changed faces like in a Sichuan opera, his expression now full of deep contemplation as he sat on the broken altar in a thinker pose.

“Honestly, how weird is this…”

“The blood of the current False King should have perished at the hands of those lizards or little treemen long ago; and yet, it grows so fast and happens to ruin my plans. But I don’t recall any flaws in the empire’s plan…”

Three seconds later, the clown gave up pondering, looking up with a beaming smile: “Eh, whatever, maybe that’s just destiny!”

“A smooth-sailing story is so boring. Even as the main character, I occasionally need to face some challenges, right?”

“The stronger the villain, the more rewarding it feels to defeat them!”

With a crack, the clown’s neck twisted a hundred eighty degrees in a humanly impossible way, flamboyantly smirking at the void.

“Don’t you all feel this is much more interesting?”

In the empty world, there was no response.

But the clown didn’t care at all, striking a pose as if bound, lying sideways as he leisurely snapped his fingers.

In midair, light and shadows manifested images of doves soaring, busy ports, and peaceful crowds praying.

White Port, the only church city in the Western Continent, was also the venue for this saint election.

At this moment, after shedding all disguise, a trace of transcendent superiority shone in the clown’s murky dark eyes.

“Too bad, you’re not quite up to the mark to be a villain yet.”

“If you can’t even deal with those hypocritical bastards in white, I’ll be disappointed, Roy Ainbrad.”

 

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