Chapter 1580: The Old Woman’s Scheme
After the two soldiers left, the silver-haired girl’s panicked expression vanished, replaced by an extremely cold demeanor. Her beautiful face felt vaguely familiar, and not just to one person.
“When did you discover me?” the silver-haired girl gritted out, clearly annoyed at being caught so easily.
“From the start. But why, you’re not pretending anymore?” I asked with a smile. This whole setup was orchestrated for the girl from the beginning. We had been working together to set this trap since the Grandmother saw through Karina’s disguise.
“Even if I’m not who you think, you still want to kill me. What else is there to say?” the silver-haired girl said through gritted teeth.
We frowned. She seemed to have misunderstood something. When did we say we wanted to kill her? Our only goal was to obtain her serum to save the Princess.
“I just didn’t expect you to be so ruthless, willing to sacrifice your own people to lure me in,” the silver-haired girl said, looking at the old man. But then her expression changed drastically. “The corpse, it’s gone?!”
“Heh, as expected, you could see what was happening inside the palace. I couldn’t have fooled you otherwise,” the old man said. His immensely powerful divine power, which had seemed to inflate him, suddenly deflated. It surged out of his body, forming six spheres of light around him.
Six priests emerged from the light, a beautiful woman, a young girl, a warrior, a blacksmith, the gray-clothed lady, and the lantern-carrying old woman. They were all unharmed, showing no signs of death.
“You faked your deaths? Just to trick me!” the silver-haired girl instantly understood everything. She had been duped.
“It wasn’t exactly faking death. We truly died once, at least in the sense of death,” the gray-clothed girl said.
“But, as long as not all of us are dead, we can all be resurrected,” the warrior added.
“I calculated it. We had to go to this extent,” the old woman said slowly.
This was the last thing she said to me when I killed her. Back then, I had actually asked her if it was necessary to kill them all until only one remained.
That’s right, this plan to lure out the werewolf was devised from the start by the old woman and Karina. When the old woman entered, she had already noticed something was off with Karina, but she didn’t point it out directly. Instead, she questioned her telepathically.
She did this because her true Authority allowed her to discern that Karina harbored no malice or hostility. After learning that the Princess had been infected with the werewolf virus and required a serum for treatment, she discussed this elaborate charade with us.
Her Authority of Wisdom allowed her to connect all the dots. The Seven Gods Church had once been a staunch defender against Viking invasions. The Seven Gods Priests were vaguely aware that werewolves were being kept beneath the palace.
Coupled with what we told them—that we couldn’t find the werewolf and that she would help the Duke secretly eliminate enemies—and her identity as the Duke’s daughter, the old woman concluded that the werewolf possessed some authority over the palace’s barrier, allowing her to observe events within the palace and use the barrier to evade pursuit.
This was something I hadn’t anticipated. My assumption had always been that the werewolf was confined underground. While she might not have wanted to come out, she would have had very little initiative. However, considering the design of her room, perhaps the old woman’s deduction was correct: there was more than one werewolf den underground.
The suppression from the National Stabilizing Artifact was one matter, and the palace’s magic circles were another. They were separate. While the Duke used the giant wolf killer amulet to suppress the werewolves, he provided his daughter with control over the magic circles, enabling her to assist him with assassinations and conceal herself.
Normally, she could hide in the basement and use the magic circles’ surveillance function to observe everything happening in the court and Darmstadt. When her father needed her, he would temporarily deactivate the giant wolf killer amulet’s suppression, allowing her to use the magic circles to move unseen.
Therefore, our actions while searching for the werewolf must have been fully visible to her. Naturally, we couldn’t find her, and even now, with her right in front of us, I can’t sense any werewolf aura. Her ability to conceal her presence is too strong.
To lure the werewolf out, there was only one method: first, make her feel like the time was right. Whether her goal was to transform the Princess into a werewolf or to kill her, she would inevitably seek an opportunity to get close to the Princess.
First, we had to create the foundation for her to reach the palace, which meant taking the giant wolf killer amulet. However, there had to be a valid reason and method for doing so, otherwise, she would surely become suspicious.
Thus, the best approach was for us outsiders to pretend to be trying to plunder the giant wolf killer amulet. We had to act the part convincingly and make it seem like we were genuinely fighting over it.
Secondly, we needed to put pressure and a sense of urgency on the werewolf girl. Firstly, the Archmage could to some extent control the Princess, buying us time.
The second pressure came from me. I had encountered the werewolf before, and she harbored hostility towards me. If I were to take the giant wolf killer amulet and descend to the basement with it, the suppression would force her out directly.
Therefore, she would definitely try to do something to the Princess at the height of our battle and then escape in the ensuing chaos. If either side were to achieve victory, she might lose her chance.
The latter part of this analysis and plan was jointly developed by Karina and me. We only discussed it with the old woman in the infirmary for a brief period, and she immediately understood and analyzed the feasibility of this inference, deducing the entire script.
The subsequent events did not deviate much from her predictions. This was the power of the Old Woman’s Authority, Wisdom. In fact, she was the priest I was most wary of, even more so than the old man who represented the Heavenly Father.
Consider this: cooperating directly with a group of strangers whom she had just met, who were infiltrators from the outside, and who were supposedly cult followers, was an extremely risky move.
Setting aside everything else, the giant wolf killer amulet was now in Karina’s hands. Wasn’t she truly afraid that Karina would just run off with this National Stabilizing Artifact? Or did she have confidence that even if we tried to escape, she would have a backup plan to retrieve it?
Furthermore, using murder as bait. This was something she telepathically told us only after we had started fighting and reached the Heavy Artifact Tower, saying we could deal them fatal blows.
Hearing this, we were initially shocked. Then we realized that the priests might have a means of resurrection. Of course, I only now understand how powerful their resurrection method is: seven as one, as long as one is not dead, the others can also be resurrected directly.
And with each person they lost, their strength would be divided among the remaining teammates. The last person’s combat power would reach a transformative level, making them incredibly difficult to kill. This was her confidence.
However, even so, our cooperation was temporary. Some of them couldn’t resist playing their parts too well and adding their own flair, like how the beautiful woman was still glaring at me hatefully now. She truly hated me for killing her and her daughter, and taking the organs of this mother and daughter.
And the old man’s Judgment strike was indeed intended to be fatal. If they had the opportunity to kill us, they would certainly not have held back.
