Chapter 259: A Shocking News

After he had been informed of the Evil Eye King"s death from Sebastian, Sila quickly left his Mansion of Secrets before the designated time. He and the remaining seven rulers stood around the crime scene. Sebastian and Julia were also there. All of them were looking at Vogue"s corpse, which had a variety of wounds including the big claw marks on its chest.

"It"s my fault, sir. I underestimated Revin"s fighting ability." Sebastian bowed his head.

Sila shook his head. "It"s not your fault. It was me who failed to realize. Montra has several Gems of Catastrophe. It wouldn"t be weird if he shares some of them with his close friends. The power each gem holds is too fraudulent to easily overcome."

"What should we do about Vogue, sir?"

"It"s fortunate that Vogue died in my territory. There may be a way for us to fix this," said Sila.

With the new episode of the game, the territory feature had been unlocked. Even though Sila wasn"t the direct conqueror of the city, the entire northern region was considered his territory since the rulers of the majority of the lands had become his followers.

The territories with rulers grant the conqueror"s friends and subordinates special benefits depending on the ruler. For example, the vampires in the Vampire Queen"s territory would regain their full strength once if they lost a lot of blood, like Ballock did when Sebastian fought him.

On the other hand, Sila was the Lord of Time. His comrades who died or those who were killed by him in his territory won"t disappear immediately upon dying but remain as a corpse, opening up the possibility to be revived or harvested for materials.

Julia stepped forward and touched Vogue"s corpse. Her eyes glowed with the power of the Ocean Heart Aquamarine. Life force was generated and flew into Vogue"s remains, returning the charred body to its normal state, including regenerating his severed parts.

Finally, Vogue"s body had returned to a perfect state, though he didn"t open his eyes. It was as if his soul was gone.

"This is the most I can do, Master. It"s like Vogue"s body is an empty vessel. Even though I have fixed his wounds, I can"t restore his health points no matter how hard I try," Julia apologized.

Sebastian added, "Vogue was killed by a wild monster, sir. The death penalty is different to the one received after being killed by humans. If a monster dies like this, its soul will be transported to h.e.l.l and can"t come back."

For the grim reaper, it wasn"t a difficult task to determine Vogue"s cause of death. Sebastian could discern that with just a glance at the corpse.

Hearing the word "h.e.l.l", all of the monster rulers fell silent. It was common knowledge that when humans die, they are sent to a "resting place," ready to be revived. However, for monsters like them, dying meant going to h.e.l.l—the place where their minds could go insane in just a few hours. It would be the worst kind of torture if they had to stay in there forever. They would rather disappear completely with no hopes of revival than endure that.

"Is there no way for us to bring his soul back? Even the Gem of Catastrophe can"t do anything?" asked Sila.

Sebastian shook his head. "h.e.l.l is a place cut off from all kinds of communication, sir. Gems of Catastrophe were created by the G.o.ddess. They hold absolute power in the New World and the Monster Realm, but are powerless in h.e.l.l. Except for Lord Yama, there is only one person who can break the rules and bring the souls of the dead back to their bodies."

"Who is that person? Where can we find them?" Sila asked hurriedly.

Sebastian pointed at Sila. "There is no need to look for him, sir. He is currently dwelling within your right arm."

Sila looked at his own right arm. "Ramiel?"

Sebastian nodded. "The Power of Rebirth is the only power that can bring a soul in h.e.l.l back to the land of the living, sir. However, as he has merged with your arm, I am not sure what we should do to call him, sir."

"Come out, Ramiel." Sila tried calling the angel"s name, but it didn"t work. That was to be expected since the system had never informed him that Ramiel had become his pet or his partner.

Recalling the situation when the white butler brooch was absorbed into Illuminus, Sila remembered he had obtained two skills at that time. They were Domain of Light and Power of Rebirth. He had never attempted to use them though.

"Domain of Light." Sila pointed his palm at Vogue and a triangular dome was created around the body. Other than that, nothing changed.

"Power of Rebirth." Sila activated the second skill, but nothing happened. Rechecking the skill"s description, he found out that it was a skill that would active automatically on its own.

Everything he had tried so far had failed. Sila was deep in thought, trying to solve the problem, while the monster rulers waited silently.

"If Ramiel is within my right arm... will it be the same as Dark Self existing within my body? Can Moon Reflecting Mirror allow us to communicate?"

Sila activated Moon Reflecting Mirror, yet the reflection on the mirror he summoned was none other than his own face.

Dark Self stared back at Sila. Since Sila had learned to use Moon Reflecting Mirror within himself, they could perform mental communication. Dark Self asked, "Having trouble with something?"

"Don"t act like you don"t know. You"re aware of everything that happens to me."

Naturally, Dark Self knew everything Sila thought. "Divine said a mirror doesn"t only reflect an enemy, it can also reflect oneself. With our current level, we can reflect the enemy"s attacks and reflect our states of existence. However, if we master the skill, we can project and form an intangible will—similar to when Divine tested us."

"That"s right!" Sila smiled at himself. The ones surrounding him were startled by this, but they didn"t break their silence. "But... it will take too long to reach that level of mastery."

Dark Self replied, "There is a shortcut, isn"t it? Just use Evil G.o.d"s Essence."

"Evil G.o.d"s Essence can only be used on normal skills though."

"We still have one Skill Awakening Right from the Essence of Psychic left. Just use it on Moon Reflecting Mirror."

Sila"s reply came out of his mouth, almost like a reflex action, "That won"t work. Skill Awakening Rights can only be used on special skills. Moon Reflecting Mirror is a racial skill."

"As a psychic-type, one must not only think inside the box. For psychic-type skills, as long as they don"t explicitly forbid you to do something, that means you are allowed. Skill Awakening Rights can change a special skill into a normal skill. Nowhere in its description does it say you can"t use it on a racial skill."

Dark Self"s words inspired Sila to test it out. He opened his system window and requested to use the remaining Skill Awakening Right, selecting Moon Reflecting Mirror as a target. A moment later, the concept of levels for Moon Reflecting Mirror was unlocked. "Level 1" was shown behind the skill"s name.

"It really worked!" Sila felt so glad that he exclaimed, making the monsters around him confused.

"What do you mean, sir?" asked Sebastian.

Others only saw Sila looking at the mirror and changing expressions from this to that, so they naturally didn"t understand what had happened.

"Please wait and see."

Evil G.o.d"s Essence — Transcendent Moon Reflecting Mirror.

Sila put his mind into his right arm, and the angel of truth soon emerged from empty air. The angel took a look around the place before stopping his gaze at Sebastian.

"You have chosen a good master, Sebastian," Ramiel said in a calm manner.

"I wasn"t the one doing the choosing. It was Mister Sila who chose me," replied Sebastian.

Ramiel looked at Vogue"s body. "I heard everything. You want me to use my ability to bring the soul of this monster back to life, correct?"

Sila was surprised by how calm Ramiel was. Truth be told, he was the one responsible for Ramiel"s current state, so he expected some resistance.

"Yes, that"s what I want. Can you do it?"

Ramiel nodded. "I can," He briefly stopped before continuing, "There will be some problems though."

"What problems?"

"The first problem is that, as I"m not in my genuine form, the most I can do is using the skill in your place. That means my use will consume the number of times you can use the skill, and you only have one use. Are you sure you want to spend it on this monster? There might be a more important event that requires it in the future."

Sila almost didn"t need time to consider. "The tasks of tomorrow are for the me of tomorrow. The most urgent matter right now is to resurrect Vogue."

Ramiel turned to Vogue as he said, "Power of Rebirth."

Vogue"s body began to accept Julia"s life force as he regained his breathing. However, he still didn"t wake up.

"The other problem is that the skill isn"t complete for the same reason—I"m not in my genuine form. It will take around four or five days until he regains consciousness."

Sila and Sebastian abruptly showed serious expressions. Vogue had an important duty to perform in the Dragon Kingdom raid the day after tomorrow. After that, Sila had an appointment with Bluebird to back him up in the Floating Magic City. He couldn"t afford to delay anything.

There would be a large number of dragons living in the Dragon Kingdom, yet Sila only needed to kill two of them—Aurora and Tiamat, the two strongest Lord Rank dragons according to his investigation. If he didn"t have someone with the ability to pinpoint their location, he would have to roam around aimlessly looking for them. In the worst-case scenario, he would end up encountering Infernee, the Dragon Empress. Thus, his original plan was to have Vogue quickly search for the two dragons.

As Sila was deep in thought, Ramiel gave him an apathetic look as he asked, "May I request something?"

Sila stopped thinking and shifted his attention to Ramiel. "Pardon?"

"I have a request. If you agree to help me, I will give you valuable information in return."

"Let"s hear your request first."

Ramiel stopped for a while before continuing. "Please bring me back to my master."

Hearing an unexpected request, Sila also stopped briefly before asking, "You mean Montra?"

Ramiel slowly shook his head. "No... I mean my true master—Master Joshua."

Once the name Joshua left Ramiel"s mouth, the monster rulers began to tremble in fear despite this being their first time hearing the name.

Sila only thought for a moment before giving Ramiel his promise, "Sure, I can do that. I plan to meet Joshua anyway, so there is no need for you to repay me with a favor."

"You should listen anyway. With Sir Montra"s information, it will help you find my master faster."

Sebastian asked with enthusiasm, "Really?"

Ramiel stated that he was unable to tell lies before continuing, "Sir Montra is currently performing a quest called "The Impossible Quest from the G.o.ddess." In order to accomplish this quest, Sir Montra has been preparing an item within his private room located beneath the Heavenly Dragon Guild"s headquarters. That item is the "Realm-Crossing Gate." It possesses the power to cross s.p.a.ce and to acquire any information happening anywhere—including the New World, the Monster Realm, and h.e.l.l."

"It can even be used to reach h.e.l.l?" Mamon"s voice came out from Sila"s armor as the boy created a Psychic Body next to Sila, expressing an interest in the current topic.

Sila thought the Realm-Crossing Gate must be an overpowered item. h.e.l.l was a place where all communication and connections were cut off, including ties to other worlds. Only G.o.ds of Death could freely come and go.

"The Demon World is just a small part of h.e.l.l. If what this angel said is the truth, that means I don"t have to look for the h.e.l.l Jade anymore," Mamon thought while showing his trademark grin.

Almost without delay, Julia processed the information she acquired from the system and provided Sila with intel.

"The Impossible Quest from the G.o.ddess. The quest clear reward is unclear. There is only an explanation that the one completing the quest can request a blessing from the G.o.ddess.

"Prerequisites for you to perform the quest are as follows: must be at Level 1,000 Emperor Rank, must possess an Emperor-Rank weapon, must have solo-killed at least one Emperor Rank monster, and must conquer all three unsealed main cities of the New World.

"To finish the quest, you must do the following: find the last gem which the G.o.ddess never created and travel to the home of the G.o.ddess with at least two other gems in your possession."

Just listening to the contents of the quest was enough for Sila to understand why the quest was described to be impossible. It was indeed impossible to achieve such a quest. Even though the contents of the quest were publicly revealed in Quest Buildings located in all cities, no player had ever minded it or even considered attempting the quest.

"Sir Montra is only lacking the prerequisites part. He said if everything went according to plan, it wouldn"t be long until he completed the quest."

Sebastian interrupted, "Your words mean Montra has already found the last gem and knows the G.o.ddess" whereabouts, correct?"

"...The Realm-Crossing Gate can be used to arrive at the place where the G.o.ddess stays... Sebastian." Ramiel suddenly stopped speaking, which prompted Sebastian to wonder.

"What?"

"The main reason I accepted Sir Montra as my new master was actually for this. The G.o.ddess is Madam—Master"s wife. Sir Montra going to meet the G.o.ddess meant I would have been able to return to Master."

Ramiel"s voice was quiet but sounded like thunder for Sebastian and Sila. Sebastian was shocked to know that the clues were so closely connected all along, while Sila instantly put the puzzle pieces together.

Sila had met Joshua for the first time in a dreamscape when he was unconscious in Colossia City. At that time, there was one woman next to the Sealed One, who was introduced as his wife, Cynthia. In fact, the name of the research inst.i.tute where Joshua was staying in real life was "Cynthia Eight." These were clues that he had known for a while. As he combined them with Ramiel"s shocking revelation,he finally acquired a direct clue that could be used to find Joshua"s whereabouts.

The G.o.ddess" name is Cynthia.

"That"s right!! There is no information about the Sealed One, but there must be clues about the G.o.ddess. Why didn"t I think of it before?" Sila turned to Julia. "Julia, please find any information related to the keywords "G.o.ddess" or "Cynthia"."

Julia processed the request in an instant. "There are 2,318 results."

"Some of them are probably unimportant. Please screen them for me. This task takes priority over all others."

"What about the impossible quest, sir? If we thwart his plans—" Sebastian suggested, but Ramiel cut him short.

"There is no point in attempting that. Finishing the quest has always been Sir Montra"s main goal, for which he has plotted and prepared for a long time. He always goes through each step of the plan with extreme caution, checking multiple times for any loopholes. He is already more than 90% of the way there. Achieving his goal is no longer a matter of "if", but "when"."

"How can that be? Montra has yet to reach Emperor Rank and his weapon is no different. More importantly, how can he kill an Emperor Rank monster by himself? Furthermore, he will have to conquer the other two main cities and find the last gem that was never created. How can someone find that kind of item?" Sila expressed his doubts.

Ramiel gently explained, "I don"t know all of the details, but Sir Montra explained to me once that "Knowledge is Power."

"For him to kill an Emperor Rank monster by himself, he only has to pick a suitable target, lay traps, and proceed with a good strategy. It is, by no means, an impossible task, especially when taking his guild"s people and resources into account.

"Finding the last gem that was never created is like answering an unspoken question. For him to answer it, he only has to figure out the questioner"s intentions. The moment Sir Montra understands the meaning behind the task, he will acquire the final gem.

"As for conquering the three main cities, for Zhongsuyuan City, he secretly made preparations when he sent people to infiltrate the Wicked Union"s gathering party. As for Grea City, Sir Montra told me that the raid was only a misdirection. His true objective was to do something in the city without anyone knowing. The time should come soon when his actions bear fruit."

It was unthinkable for Sila that Montra"s plan had started a very long time ago. While he was busy solving problems at hand, Montra had thought far ahead in the future and was already taking steps to achieve his goal. It might really be too late for him to hinder Montra"s plans now.

"Well, at the very least, Montra still doesn"t know the abilities of the Eternal Onyx and the Ocean Heart Aquamarine. It"s good that we discovered his plan before its completion. I will have to warn everyone in the Wicked Union about this," said Sila.

Sebastian was deep in thought. He smacked his fist against his palm as he exclaimed, "I finally see why I still haven"t pa.s.sed the mission I was a.s.signed by Lord Anubis! Whatever Montra did to the city, it is constantly endangering Grea City!"

Another explosion went off in the distance accompanied by roaring flames, receiving everyone"s attention while Ramiel returned to Sila"s arm.

Although Montra"s plan was a bad omen and the planned raid of the Dragon Kingdom had met with a setback, the troublemaker named Revin—who was running around in the city—was the most pressing matter.

Still, even though Sila"s path was blocked with problems and obstacles, as long as he could calmly handle them one by one, there would surely be a day when the road ahead was clear.

Sila immediately sent warnings to Lone Wolf, Cross, and Beluga. Despite this, the responses were quite disappointing. Just hearing the words "The Impossible Quest from the G.o.ddess" and knowing its contents were enough to prevent them from taking the problem seriously. Lone Wolf encouraged Sila, telling him that he was thinking too much. Cross was worse as he blatantly declared Sila"s warning as c.r.a.p. Only Beluga gave it some thought and replied that he would send Elso and Nednapha to investigate.

To be honest, Sila wanted to comfort himself as well by saying that he was overthinking it. However, even though he didn"t know Montra as well as someone close to him, he believed he knew this enemy well enough to see that this was a major issue.

The word "impossible" couldn"t be used to define Montra.

Sila thought deeply about his problems. Soon, his eyes gleamed with a flash of wisdom, before quickly dimming with guilt short after.

"I will have to use those two... This will be a cruel choice, but I have to do it in order to win. If I"m not ruthless enough, I will forever be an underdog. The martial world uses the laws of the jungle. Only cold-hearted and decisive leaders have what it takes to survive."

"Our first problem is Revin, and the next is finding someone to replace Vogue in the Dragon Kingdom raid. Fortunately, I have a way to solve both problems. I will handle them myself. You may go, everyone. Please take care of your usual duties in the restoration of the city."

Sila"s decision this time wouldn"t only be a big one for the overall situation. It would be a big decision for himself as well.