Chapter 958
Anna Moriarty
Thinking of this, Eivass suddenly recalled yesterday’s Mutiny Incident.
When he first heard someone asking him to pacify the soldiers, he didn’t think the problem would be that serious. However, upon arrival, he realized the conflict had escalated to such an extreme degree.
It was precisely because it felt too sinister—the hostility between people was too strong, far exceeding what it should have been—that Eivass temporarily added the line, “The Fallen Heavenly Envoy is interfering because he’s afraid,” into his speech.
But even then, Eivass didn’t actually believe that the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was interfering.
This was because the Marks of Great Sin held by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy were limited.
With so many soldiers, it was impossible for everyone to have a Mark of Great Sin, right?
Nor did he feel that people were cursed… Even if Eivass had leveled up too quickly and lacked skill—Saint Joan had arrived the night before. She hadn’t noticed it either, had she?
But now, Eivass truly realized something was wrong.
If only he himself was feeling strange, then it could be said that the Mark of Arrogance inherent in a Sin Scholar was acting up…
But if everyone was acting strangely, then the Fallen Heavenly Envoy must have made a move!
And the thought that flashed through Eivass’s mind at this moment startled even himself—
—He wanted to directly assault Lionheart City!
Eivass even had a complete and mature chain of logic in his mind: If all of this was a setup by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, his ritual, or his curse… it meant the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had the advantage. If they continued to delay, as the battlefield expanded, there would be more and more uncontrollable soldiers, and at that point, it could even lead to them fighting amongst themselves within Star Antinomy!
Then, it would be better to charge in and fight the Fallen Heavenly Envoy while the demons were still attacking these soldiers!
A master of all tactical shifts—controlling the Church and then forcing the demons to attack the Church through unified praying was a method to divert the demon legion; wasn’t the current landing battle also a way to “divert the demon legion”?
Such thoughts, along with the killing intent of being manipulated, swelled within Eivass.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt it made sense.
Delaying would lead to uncontrollability, and their tactical objective had already been achieved. All they needed was a surprise attack to directly fight the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
Just a surprise attack…
No need to worry about anything, just charge in—they could defeat the Fallen Heavenly Envoy anyway!
If they won the battle inside, they would win outside without a fight!
He couldn’t let them drag him down; he had to act first and seize the initiative!
Kill! Kill! Kill!
Take down that scumbag who plays with people’s hearts! How dare he control my will…
“—No!”
Eivass clenched his fists and took a sharp breath.
Six pure white wings suddenly burst from his spine—because of Gryphon Philip, Eivass immediately thought of the Winged Ones and subconsciously spread his wings.
But in that instant, he felt his extremely boiling brain instantly become clear.
Eivass had felt as if someone was arguing beside his ear, making him irritable—and now that noise had disappeared.
Like putting on noise-canceling headphones in a noisy environment, even his gaze became clear!
“…It really is…”
Eivass muttered in surprise.
It was like watching a video or listening to music and always feeling a humming noise coming from somewhere, but when the music was turned off, the noise disappeared, and the annoyance vanished—only then did he realize that the noise was actually in the video!
With a clear mind, Eivass immediately understood what the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had done.
He made Eivass’s brain dull, made the somber Mages naive, made the Grand Guardian full of malice, made the loving Saint Joan selfish, and made the soldiers who were originally united hostile towards each other. And when Eivass realized he had been manipulated, instead of becoming cautious, he became furious and aggressive…
It was because the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had distorted and degraded everyone’s thoughts!
Turning white into black, turning cautious into careless, turning gentle into cruel, turning loving into indifferent, turning righteous into evil, turning intelligent into foolish, turning diligent into lazy…
—This was the true meaning of “fallen”!
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy wasn’t subtly adjusting everyone’s thoughts, controlling what they thought or did. Instead, through an invisible mental pollution, he changed everyone’s mental state.
Now was the time of Father Snake’s “Great Transcendence,” and if people noticed something was wrong with themselves, they would only think it was due to the contamination of the Power of Transcendence. After all, people inherently didn’t have such a strong desire for transcendence, and they would naturally interpret “ruthless” and “cruel” as a form of “transcendence.”
—Thinking about it this way, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy staying in the palace and not coming out was probably not due to “Sloth” and “Arrogance.”
It was because he was preparing a ritual!
Even from the very beginning—when Eivass thought “the Fallen Heavenly Envoy would look down on me” and “the Fallen Heavenly Envoy wouldn’t make a move until the last moment,” believing that the flawed plan would be perfectly executed—he had already become abnormal.
He had initially thought, “If it doesn’t work, I’ll just resurrect again, I have resurrection armor anyway,” and had underestimated the Fallen Heavenly Envoy too much.
Fortunately, Eivass wanted to help Yulia perform the Shepherd’s Ritual and, in passing, tested his own Wings of Great Sin Redemption… It was only after Eivass spread his wings that he realized, “If it happens again, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy will be on guard, so the battle must be decided in one go,” and thus decided to form a team.
—And before that, Eivass hadn’t even seriously considered forming a team with anyone!
His realization that he could call upon the Child of the Moon, who was naturally a counter to demons, was also a “strategy” he came up with when he spread his wings. But that should have been common sense.
When did things start to go wrong?
Eivass traced back through every decision he had made in reverse chronological order. He wasn’t even sure if his current self was completely sober… because when he opened his wings before, he hadn’t been fully sober either and still underestimated the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
“…It seems to be after returning from the Sky-Piercing Tower? No, it should be after that…”
At least when the Old Lich asked Eivass, “What kind of Heavenly Envoy do you want to become?”, Eivass’s mental state was still relatively stable. During the initial rescue, the plan was also arranged very normally. And when Eivass summoned Merlin…
Thinking of this, Eivass suddenly froze.
Summoning Merlin?
“…The Red-Hilted Sword?”
He muttered in disbelief.
Emotions… becoming aggressive?
—A sword that drives people mad and out of control?
Although it shouldn’t be the same thing, the striking similarity between these two events gave Eivass a spark of inspiration.
【—I was worried someone might be tempted, so I stole it and sealed it—I embedded it in a marble rock as large as a mountain. In addition to the requirement of being the ‘most pure,’ I also added the bindings of ‘kindness’ and ‘steadfastness’ to prevent anyone from pulling it out and causing chaos in the human world.】
【—Years later… when the Round Table was formed, and we went to Avalon to hunt giants, a slab of marble suddenly floated down the river, with a sword stuck in it—and after that came the story you know.】
Who took the sword that Merlin had sealed on the mountain?
Of course, it couldn’t have been the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, because the Fallen Heavenly Envoy hadn’t descended at that time.
However, if that sword had been pulled out by someone other than Galahad, it was originally meant for Lancelot.
If Lancelot had pulled out that sword, what kind of person would he have become? What would have become of the Round Table in the end?
—The result could be seen from the current allied forces.
Who would be the one laying the conspiracy?
Eivass frowned deeply.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Although this conspiracy was discovered by Eivass in time and did not cause much loss, its existence itself represented another important fact—the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was not arrogant and lazy. This meant that the “foundation” of the operational plan from the beginning did not exist.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy who was suddenly pulled into the game was not the same person as the Fallen Heavenly Envoy who now realized his fate and was trying to actively accept and change it. Or rather, he couldn’t prepare according to his past understanding of the plot… because everything had changed.
So, if the Fallen Heavenly Envoy intended to actively change his destiny, how should Eivass break the deadlock?
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy was not an NPC without intelligence; he couldn’t just quietly wait for Eivass to make his arrangements and then fight him when the odds of victory were entirely in Eivass’s favor.
This meant the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had already realized Eivass’s existence!
When the Demon King becomes aware of the Brave’s existence, the smartest thing to do is to block the beginner village and kill him. If he didn’t do so, it meant he must have a more foolproof plan—Eivass’s previous speculation was likely correct!
If things continued to develop, he would be trapped and killed here by infighting soldiers; but if he charged in directly, it would also be a mistake, because the Fallen Heavenly Envoy must have considered this situation as well…
It didn’t matter whether Eivass made the plan or someone else did.
Because the fundamental problem was—the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s aggression and offensiveness had been completely underestimated! He already possessed overwhelming power, and if he had intelligent people around him, this power would be magnified several times.
Simply put, he was no longer a Dungeon BOSS… but a malicious player using a Dungeon BOSS’s physical performance to chase and kill people!
—Although they succeeded in landing, the situation had actually deteriorated to an almost unsolvable degree in an instant!
“You feel that the situation has become troublesome, is that correct? Your Majesty the Pope…”
But just then, a voice suddenly came from the void.
Eivass’s gaze instantly sharpened.
A purple vortex condensed out of thin air, and a half-elf with a graceful figure and dark gold long hair slowly walked out of the demon portal.
This caused a commotion—almost instantly, the Grand Guardian held his invisible blade to her neck.
And Saint Joan’s pupils emitted white light, and an Anti-demon Array instantly appeared at her feet, yet it surprisingly did not restrain her.
“Wait a moment!”
Eivass immediately stopped the Grand Guardian.
If not for this, the Grand Guardian would probably have beheaded her instantly!
“Thank you, you saved my life.”
The half-elf smiled, placing her right hand on her chest, keeping her neck still, and bowed to Eivass.
“Nice to meet you, please allow me to introduce myself…”
“—Anna Kingsford, right.”
Before she could introduce herself, Eivass interrupted her words.
The remaining experts in Star Antinomy could basically be counted on one’s fingers, and there weren’t many Transcendent beings left.
Without the other party speaking, he recognized her identity by observing her features.
He narrowed his eyes: “Or rather… Anna Sprenger? What should I call you?”
“Anna Kingsford. Please call me that. I am here to help you win your victory… My Master.”
Anna said with a smile: “Or… you can call me by another name.”
“—Anna Moriarty.”
(End of this chapter)
