Chapter 1 Midnight at Cactro Harbor

Near midnight, Suren rode his motorcycle to Cactro Harbor in the South District.

The intelligence he had received indicated that "Curator" had used her channels in the Lington Mafia, saying that a batch of goods would be arriving tonight.

Visibility at the dock was low, with a damp mist hanging in the air, and little moonlight reached the ground.

However, some shadowy figures could still be seen lurking around the dock.

During the day, this was a normal passenger and cargo port, but at night, many stowaways and smugglers were active.

Arriving at the agreed location, Suren saw Mr. Black in his golden-patterned black robe already there.

The two met and nodded in acknowledgement.

Mr. Black looked at Suren and originally wanted to get straight to business, but seeing that his complexion was different, he couldn't help but make a joke, "Young friend Suren, didn't get enough rest last night?"

Suren knew exactly what he was talking about.

Even though he was now a sixth-tier professional, strong enough to kill a magical beast with a single punch, he was still somewhat overwhelmed after spending a day and a night with Sabina and Reina.

Hearing the teasing, Suren didn't mind at all. They were old friends, so he smiled shamelessly and said, "Yes."

Mr. Black also sighed with a smile, "It's good to be young."

Suren raised an eyebrow with a smile, knowing that now was not the time for idle chat, and said, "I'm counting on you tonight, sir."

Mr. Black nodded with a smile and said nothing more.

Suren formed a warlock seal, and a spatial black hole appeared in his hand. Mr. Black stepped into it.

Tonight was a fishing expedition for both sides, to see who had the better skills.

That "Curator" must also have come prepared.

Suren wasn't confident that he could definitely win, or that there wouldn't be other changes, so he called on Mr. Black to give him more confidence.

Although his own Senior Sister was there to hold the line, she wouldn't take action unless absolutely necessary.

...

Suren looked at his pocket watch. The goods would arrive at the port at one o'clock in the morning, and there were still half an hour to go.

It was quiet all around, and occasionally he could hear the chirping of insects in the grass.

Suren quietly merged into the darkness, his eyes silently watching the distant dock, his gaze slightly diffused.

Suddenly, a person with a cloak covering their face walked out of the darkness.

Suren took a look and greeted, "Senior Sister?"

He didn't sense a soul, so obviously it wasn't her real body, but a mirror image.

"Mm."

Mirror responded, lifted the cloak, and revealed that cold and aloof face.

Suren's night vision was excellent. Originally calm, his expression flickered for a moment when he looked at this suddenly appearing pretty face.

Mirror noticed it and asked casually, "What's wrong?"

Suren shifted his gaze, not daring to look directly, "Nothing."

He felt that he had always been open and honest, and had never been so "guilty" as he was at this moment.

It was all Sabina's fault, telling her not to use her second-stage succubus abilities randomly, and now this was the result.

The scenery stirred emotions, and certain memories unconsciously popped up.

It was like some idioms in his previous life, which were obviously normal, but were used for other purposes by some authors, and could no longer be looked at directly.

Like *guang tian hua ri* (broad daylight), *tun tun tu tu* (stammering), *yi zhen jian xue* (to the point)...

They sounded like nothing, but the more you thought about them, the more the flavor changed.

The more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

Suren reined in his wandering thoughts and complained in his heart: I knew this would happen.

The conversation between the two stalled for a moment.

Mr. Black could see that Suren's complexion was different, so how could Mirror not see it?

What's more, Sabina was now an important intelligence officer in the Mirror Organization, and as the leader, how could Mirror not know about her second-stage succubus talent?

Combining it with Suren's expression just now, she could easily guess what was going on.

Mirror didn't show any emotional expression, only glanced briefly, and cursed inwardly, "Fooling around."

The tone didn't sound angry, but more like a senior sister's helpless admonishment to a mischievous junior brother.

Suren didn't dare to take up the conversation.

But he had always been full of love and respect for his senior sister, and was open and honest.

After a moment of strangeness, there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

Having been together for so long, Mirror naturally knew Suren's temperament. That's why she only said a seemingly angry "fooling around", instead of really getting angry.

Besides, when they were on the ship before, she was always teased unscrupulously by Qian Tiao, so she had gotten used to it.

The two being open and honest instantly dissolved the trace of awkwardness in the air.

Mirror shook her head slightly, as if skipping over the topic.

Her expression was as indifferent as ever, and she spoke of business again, "I came here to tell you that there may be a top expert from the Giants Hermit Society coming tonight. I may not be able to take care of you, so be careful yourself."

Suren frowned when he heard this, "Top expert?"

His eyes turned, and he thought of something, and asked, "Did Senior Sister visit that Master Pierre?"

Suren hadn't forgotten that he had arranged a visit for his senior sister with that ninth-tier royal grandmaster at the Full Moon Dance yesterday. The helmsman of military intelligence knew more about the Red Death than anyone else.

Mirror nodded and said, "I went."

Suren was curious about what wonderful conversations would take place between two great alchemists, born thousands of years apart, yet standing at the pinnacle of the field of alchemy, and what sparks of wisdom they would touch off for this era.

But before he could open his mouth, Mirror guessed what his eyes were curious about, and said directly, "We talked about some insights on later professional advancement, and exchanged alchemy techniques. Master Pierre also gave many suggestions to 'Dawn' from the perspective of someone standing in this era, talked about the current situation in Luying and some future prospects, and gave some instructions afterwards. In short, this visit benefited me a lot and was very beneficial to the organization's development..."

After a moment of silence, she added, "As for the rest, I can't say now."

Suren wasn't too surprised by the words in front.

But he immediately understood the meaning of the last sentence, "can't say."

This must have been talking about something about the "Giants Hermit Society."

The Shinto system has many strange and mysterious abilities.

Like calling out names directly, it will also be sensed by certain gods.

Now it's still uncertain what the background of the outer god behind that evil sect is, so it's naturally safer to be careful.

Suren nodded solemnly and didn't ask, "I know, Senior Sister."

Senior Sister said that a top professional was coming, and tonight's events seemed more different than expected, and the pressure was suddenly on.

The two said nothing more, as if only two shadows were standing in the darkness.

...

At exactly one o'clock in the morning, a small steamship arrived at the dock.

Several people came down from the ship. They were still wearing mottled combat gear, and looked like mercenaries who had just come down from the battlefield.

These were members of the "Iron Boots Mercenary Group", who had just returned from the Stomgaard Territory in the south. There, two lords were gathering troops to fight over a mine.

Another piece of news was that three days ago, 30,000 militiamen mysteriously disappeared in the combat zone of the Stomgaard Territory, and their whereabouts were still unknown.

Putting these pieces of information together, it was not difficult to guess that someone was reaping lives on the battlefield. Just like on the cruise ship, refining the [Blood Refinement Crystal Nucleus] needed by the evil god.

The intelligence was very directional, and anyone paying attention to the movements of the "Giants Hermit Society" would definitely guess it.

Suren knew this was bait to lure him in.

But since it was a planned part, there wasn't much to consider.

He watched those people carry a few large boxes into a car, and then teleported directly after them.

Suren predicted the route of the steam car in advance and set up a trap. When the target vehicle sped from the direction of the dock, he had already stretched a crystal-clear silk thread across the road.

The motorcycle sped past, stirring up a gust of bloody wind on the street.

Looking again, the sharp silk thread had smoothly cut the vehicle in two.

Silently, without causing too much combat noise.

The blood-stained silk thread hung suspended in mid-air, and the motorcycle with the car shell cut off crashed into a corner of the wall dozens of meters away, the front of the car deformed by the impact, and exploded with a "boom."

The fourth-tier mercenary captain in the car discovered the anomaly in advance and jumped out of the car door, but before he could escape, a gargoyle appeared in front of him.

The gargoyle used a spatial imprisonment technique with its left hand and grabbed with its right hand, instantly crushing the person's heart.

Suren teleported to the wreckage of the motorcycle, first harvested a few wisps of "gray mist," and found that, as in the intelligence, these guys had indeed come to harvest crystal nuclei from the battlefield.

He didn't pay much attention to the corpse, but looked at the few black briefcases.

One of them happened to be cut open by the silk thread, revealing a pineapple-sized crystal nucleus emitting a strange red light.

After identification, it turned out to be a [Blood Refinement Crystal Nucleus of Eight Thousand Souls].

...

Looking at this crystal nucleus, Suren's thoughts started to turn.

Fishing requires real bait, and this Blood Refinement Crystal Nucleus is an evil product of the Giants Hermit Society.

This thing is useless to ordinary people, and even Suren before advancing to the sixth tier would just consider it a broken stone.

But now, looking at this crystal nucleus, his eyes were slightly hot.

This one was two or three times larger than the one he had obtained before, and the life essence it contained was shockingly exaggerated.

After all, it was the crystallization of the lives of eight thousand people.

Seeing this thing, Suren unconsciously looked at his attribute panel again.

After absorbing the last crystal nucleus, his Strength value soared from 760 to over 1000 at one point. Then, after completely digesting it these past two days, it stabilized at a value of 925.

His Qi and Blood evaluation also changed from A+ to S-, a huge improvement.

In other words, the crystal nucleus on the previous cruise ship allowed him to soar by 165 points of Strength in a short period of time. He was now much closer to the 4300 Strength required to fuse with the [Power of Isaac the Giant].

Under normal circumstances, this was completely impossible.

If he were to improve through his own physical training, it might take several years. After encountering bottlenecks and upper limits, it would become more and more difficult.

And in front of him, there were three briefcases.

This was a shortcut to the sky.

Suren instinctively calculated the attribute improvement that the three crystal nuclei could bring him, and strongly suppressed the expectation in his heart, sighing slightly, "The evil god's side path is really a temptation that people can't refuse."

Not to mention anything else, just these few crystal nuclei made Suren feel like he had made a big profit.

...

At the same time as the thought flashed, Suren also put away the three briefcases, and his perception was constantly released, constantly paying attention to the surroundings of the block.

At this time, he suddenly heard a rustling sound in his ear. In an instant, cool raindrops fell on his body, and Suren's pupils suddenly shrank: They're here!

Having been discovered by these strange raindrops twice, Suren would be surprised if he didn't know that it was the [Ghost Bride] who had come.

The enemy had obviously come prepared.

Suren suddenly looked up and saw a terrifying wax figure wearing a plain white wedding dress standing on top of a red brick building dozens of meters away, staring straight at the scene of the car accident with cold and resentful eyes.

And not just this one, when the rain fell, strong winds blew through the streets and alleys, making terrifying sounds like wails.

Although he didn't see the entity, in his soul perception, the terrifying wax figure [Sleeping Beauty], like a ghost, was also slowly floating over.

Suren had seen these two terrifying wax figures, which had about the combat power of a sixth-tier professional, and their tricky elementalization abilities. But for someone who has mastered Haki, the threat wasn't too great.

Suren didn't take them too seriously.

His eyes were also searching for others in the darkness.

However, an accident happened!

Just at this moment, he suddenly felt the force field around his body change violently, as if the gravity suddenly increased tenfold. Like a heavy mountain pressing down, his internal organs were under a terrifying pressure and sank violently.

It was as if his soul was about to be pulled out. Suren's face changed suddenly, and he cried out in his heart: "Earth Element Mystery - Force Field Distortion!"

The advanced use of "Earth Element" magic is to change the regional force field, just like now.

If Suren's physical fitness hadn't far surpassed that of ordinary mystical professionals, some of his organs might have collapsed on the spot due to the pressure.

The key was that this technique was almost unannounced and very hidden.

Suren took a breath, and then looked up and saw a headless knight holding a greatsword and surrounded by black aura appearing at the corner of the street behind him, slowly riding towards him.

The hooves of the horse made rhythmic sounds of "de de, de", "de de, de" on the ground.

With each step, the strange force field trembled along with it.

This terrifying knight clearly had no head, but Suren felt as if it was staring at him.

Suren didn't have time to be surprised.

Not only this, but a crone wearing a witch hat with raging ghost fires on her body also appeared from the nine o'clock direction.

After identification, [Water Image - Ghost Bride], [Wind Image - Sleeping Beauty], [Earth Image - Headless Knight], [Fire Image - Grimm Witch]... all four elemental wax figures were present.

Suren wasn't too surprised to see this.

From the first time he encountered the [Ghost Bride], he had guessed that the mastermind behind the scenes had gathered these things.

The four terrifying wax figures are all well-known and eerie legends in Luying, the origins of which are unknown for many years.

The wax figures in front of him are not simply coincidences of names, but contain some kind of curse power.

It was like the incense becoming gods in the Mountain Hidden Kingdom.

People think that the eerie stories are terrifying, and that "thought" will materialize the eerie fantasies in the stories, and will also absorb resentment, fear, despair... and other mental thoughts, becoming stronger and stronger.

In other words, the manipulator was a true master of necromancy and Shinto secrets.

She had turned these eerie legends into corpse wax figures!

...

The four terrifying wax figures in front of him were connected as one, and a pressure that could only be felt when facing a seventh-tier professional instantly pressed down.

Suren narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the four terrifying wax figures that had surrounded him, and also felt a certain threat.

But it wasn't fatal.

But he was calculating in his heart, "Dean Heidmann should also be here. Otherwise, she should know that just these few terrifying wax figures can't keep me here."

Sure enough, just as this thought arose, a hooded figure slowly walked over not far away.

Although he couldn't see the face clearly, Suren's soul perception easily recognized that this was Heidmann Elpsso, the dean of the "Ancient Magic and Archeology Research Institute" of the Royal Academy.

Terrifying wax figures are also a type of puppet.

No matter how powerful they are, if the manipulator isn't nearby, their combat power will be greatly reduced.

Seeing this woman personally take action, Suren had waited for the "big fish" he was expecting tonight.

The Archeology Academy is a very unpopular major at the Royal Academy. Noble young masters and ladies don't want to deal with tombs and corpses all day, so there are very few students. This Dean Heidmann herself is also very low-key, and her reputation isn't well-known. No one thinks that she is a powerful expert, and most people would think she is a clerical dean.

But as soon as this guy appeared, the killing intent pressed down on Suren's scalp, and was no less than any seventh-tier professional he had encountered!

It wasn't just pure strength, but also evil.

This hooded woman was covered in an aura of death.

Even the black crow on her shoulder made a warning "caw".

...

"Tsk tsk... then let's see what you have to kill me!"

Suren's eyes sharpened, knowing that the enemy had come prepared.

But only one person came, which meant that Heidmann had the certainty of killing him.

Seeing that this person wasn't polite at all, he raised the Black Scythe with one hand, and slashed out a blade with a "shua".

However, an unexpected scene appeared.

Although Suren's blade was just a test, and he didn't expect to kill the person like this, the spatial crack created by the Black Scythe was still a great threat to professionals below the seventh tier.

But just as the blade was about to strike, Heidmann didn't dodge. An elemental luster flashed in front of her, and the [Headless Knight] was already blocking in front of her.

"Eh... is this elemental teleportation? There's no spatial fluctuation, how did she do it?"

Suren was slightly surprised.

The Omniscient Eye identified some things, but it still exceeded his understanding. He only knew that it was the effect of some kind of necromancy.

However, the other party had come with the purpose of killing Suren.

Just as the Black Scythe struck, Heidmann rapidly changed hand seals, and taking advantage of the [Headless Knight] blocking the attack, she successfully condensed the technique and slammed her palm on the ground, a strange smile overflowing from the corner of her mouth: "Summoning Technique - Museum of Horrors!"

In an instant, the surrounding scenery changed rapidly.

The dark street scene just now receded like a tide in an instant, turning into a dilapidated manor in the wilderness.

ps. Ah, I posted a leave note yesterday, waited for a while and no one replied, so I went to sleep. When I woke up, I found that everyone didn't agree to the leave. Okay, I'll make up for it quickly.