Lord of the Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

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The two monsters in front of Hobert were at least at Sequence 3 level, corresponding to the "Justice Mentor" of the "Sun" pathway and the "Sea King" of the "Tyrant" pathway respectively.

Monsters at this level definitely possessed intelligence, though how much rationality they had was another matter.

Hobert saw the two monsters looking at him and Archibald, and he smiled and said, "Gentlemen, actually, at this time, we can temporarily join forces to chase the injured 'Three-Headed Chapel' and definitely kill it."

Responding to Hobert was a cluster of lightning and a giant pillar of light.

Hobert used his "Distortion" ability again, and the lightning struck the "Radiant Man" monster, while the light pillar landed on the "Lightning Man" monster.

For a moment, the two monsters quickly retreated, dodging each other's attacks.

But at this time, the "Lightning Man" monster's pace slowed down just a little.

Hobert immediately understood what was happening: "Connection!"

He strengthened the spiritual connection between the "Lightning Man" monster and Archibald, and the "Lightning Man" monster's speed slowed down even more.

The "Radiant Man" monster seemed to realize something and immediately attacked Archibald.

Hobert stood in front of Archibald: "Distortion!"

A pure white "Unshadowed Spear" pierced towards him, stabbing into a shadow not far away.

For a moment, the shadows in the hall seemed to surge like waves, obviously the "Three-Headed Chapel" had not left, it was licking its wounds while waiting for an opportunity to take revenge.

Of course, Hobert deliberately let the "Unshadowed Spear" stab into the shadows, firstly to see if the "Three-Headed Chapel" was still there, and secondly to disrupt the opponent's state.

"Madness!" Hobert's primary task now was to stall the "Radiant Man" monster and buy time for Archibald.

If he could turn the "Lightning Man" monster into a marionette, then with a three-on-one situation, the "Radiant Man" would not be their opponent.

The "Radiant Man" monster's mind was affected by "Madness", and it immediately retreated, avoiding Hobert's next attack.

At this time, a violent wind suddenly blew in the hall, and the wind turned in the hall, quickly forming a huge whirlwind, engulfing the "Lightning Man" monster composed of lightning.

"Alteration!" Hobert knew that this was the dying struggle of the "Lightning Man" monster, so he "Altered" the wind speed and the intensity of the wind, and the violent wind quickly became smaller.

Archibald also stared intently at the whirlwind in front of him, his control over the enemy reached the final moment.

Just at this moment, a somewhat illusory hand suddenly stretched out from the shadows in the corner of the hall.

It was the "Three-Headed Chapel" hiding in the dark, it wanted to steal Archibald's next thought, so as to interrupt his control.

It also knew very well that Archibald must not be allowed to complete the control of the "Lightning Man" monster, otherwise it would not be able to escape either.

Hobert immediately "Distorted" the "Stealing" attack onto the "Radiant Man" monster.

This time, the "Radiant Man" monster was prepared, and its head suddenly emitted a pure white light, which allowed the "Three-Headed Chapel" to only grab a ball of light.

At the same time, the entire hall was engulfed in violent flames, and one of the violently burning fire walls crashed straight towards Archibald.

Because the attacks were carried out simultaneously, Hobert was unable to handle everything.

Archibald weighed it slightly, took a few steps back, and his control over the "Lightning Man" monster loosened.

The "Lightning Man" monster took this opportunity and immediately turned into a bolt of lightning, escaping from the hall's entrance.

Hobert made a gesture to Archibald, signaling not to continue the attack.

Almost in this instant, the "Three-Headed Chapel" seemed to sense Hobert's intention and completely disappeared into the shadows.

The "Lightning Man" monster also turned into a light and left the hall.

Sometimes the game at the Sequence 3 level is like this, the situation just now was that whoever continued to attack would easily fall into a disadvantageous position.

Whether Hobert attacked the "Radiant Man" monster or the "Three-Headed Chapel", he could not defeat the enemy with one move.

Then the attacked monster would be in a defensive posture, and the other monster would take the opportunity to attack Hobert.

Similarly, if the "Radiant Man" monster attacked Hobert, the "Three-Headed Chapel" would definitely take the opportunity to sneak attack the "Radiant Man" monster.

Although it had just saved the "Lightning Man" monster, it was only because it did not want Hobert's side to have an overwhelming advantage.

Since there was no way to instantly gain an absolute advantage, then this battle was destined to end here.

Hobert sighed in his heart: If the person behind me was a true "Scholar of Yore", without the historical projection of an angel, just two Sequence 3 historical projections, this battle would have quickly gained an advantage from the beginning, but unfortunately Archibald only has half the ability of an "Scholar of Yore".

Of course, if Archibald was an "Scholar of Yore", it was very likely that this battle would not have happened.

The two people watched everything in the hall very vigilantly, and at the same time Hobert reviewed the battle just now in his mind.

He found that the three monsters did not show any desire to possess the exquisite stone chair on the high platform.

Then can it be explained that the stone chair only works for normal creatures like Hobert and Archibald? The monsters here are basically not affected?

And the reason why there are no other monsters hiding in this hall is just because there is a monster like the "Three-Headed Chapel"!

Then Hobert wondered: Did the "Radiant Man" and "Lightning Man" just now have corresponding Beyonder characteristics in their bodies? Because they are not quite the same as the "Three-Headed Chapel" and the monster with the "Earl of the Fallen" level before.

Hobert was also not sure whether they were some creatures affected by the power of the city's gods? Or were they originally Beyonders of the corresponding pathways?

If it was the former, it was very likely that their situation was a bit like the "Bestowers", only they were given some power by the overflowing power of the gods here.

In that case, even if they were killed after hard work, they would not be able to obtain the corresponding Beyonder characteristics.

As for those so-called affected creatures, they should be the former residents of this city.

Hobert had never heard of any survivors in the city of Saint Andrea, otherwise the news of the city of Andrea sinking to the bottom of the sea would have spread long ago.

Then the tens of thousands of people in the city of Andrea at that time may be these monsters in the ruins now.

Of course, many of those angels and members of the angel families must have escaped, but a large part of them later defected to the Six Gods.

For example, the four angel families who once served the Solomon Empire and later defected to Trensesost.

Of course, they would not publicize the battles that took place during the days when they were enemies with the Six Gods.

The other angel families were defeated in the later "War of the Four Emperors", and many are still being wanted by the orthodox churches.

In order to hide secretly, they certainly would not publicize these things.

Even if they knew the current situation of the city of Andrea, it would be difficult to enter, and even difficult to find it again, after all, it is surrounded by the power of the God War.

Just like Beverly, this figure from the Fourth Epoch, only knew the approximate location of the city of Saint Andrea.

At this time, the intense sunlight outside gradually faded, and the light of dusk appeared on the horizon.

Obviously, a new round of cycle had begun.

As the scorching sun faded, the originally bare ruins were once again occupied by plants, and large trees and bushes grew out in just a few seconds.

Immediately afterwards, running water appeared in the ruins, and moss quickly covered the stones.

At this time, this ruin was relatively safe, and Hobert and Archibald did not intend to explore the stone chair on the high platform or look for the "Three-Headed Chapel".

Obviously, if a demigod-level battle occurred here and the enemy could not be quickly resolved, it would definitely attract more demigod-level monsters.

This was not the primary goal of their exploration this time.

Archibald continued to point the way for Hobert, and Hobert used "Distortion" to leave the black palace and come to a shady area outside.

Each time he "Distorted", he could accurately avoid the dusk.

Until they came to a white building, Archibald said: "It's near here, let's bypass that building."

Hobert withdrew his gaze: "Okay!"

It was a white villa with an asymmetrical style, with a lush green lawn and spacious arches.

The key was that it looked very complete, without any damage.

In the ruins of broken walls, such a building must be very unusual!

Just now when Hobert looked at it, his spirituality felt that the building was also looking at him, and the other party seemed to be able to obtain a lot of information from him just by watching.

Using "Distortion" again to avoid that villa, but after only "Distorting" twice, Hobert stopped.

Because that white villa appeared in front of them again, Hobert looked at Archibald.

This "Demonic Wolf of Fog" smiled helplessly: "The last time I came, this house didn't chase after me."

"Since the other party is so hospitable." Hobert smiled and said, "Then why don't we just kill it!"

He had just realized that this villa was only at the demigod level, but its state seemed a little strange.

Even if he couldn't kill the other party, it would be nice if he could attract other demigod-level monsters to entangle this villa.

Archibald was slightly stunned: Hospitable? Kill? Is there any cause and effect relationship in this?

Since Hobert said so, Archibald certainly had no objection, he let his marionette take a step forward and raised his hand to the white villa: Bang bang bang~

A series of "air cannons" fired out, and a window of that villa suddenly transformed into a giant bronze-colored eye.

The eye seemed to have witnessed all the prosperity and desolation of the human world, its gaze filled with vicissitudes and yet extremely sharp, as if it could see through everything.

The "air cannons," after reaching a certain distance from the villa, were simply glanced at by that eye and reverted back into air.

The probing attack immediately made Hobert realize that this was a monster corresponding to the "Reader" pathway, Sequence 3, "Cognizer."

As long as the other party "perceived" the rules or underlying logic of the target's attack, they could easily resolve it.

For example, if it saw through that the essence of the "air cannon" was a Exploit of "air," then it could revert that portion of air back to its original state, thereby ending the "air cannon's" state, and Archibald's marionette's attack would be resolved.

Hobert smiled: "This ability is quite interesting."

At this time, the distance between the two sides was still relatively far, and there was still room for mutual observation.

Hobert did bring a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, but he hadn't used it, fearing that the attack range would be too wide and attract more enemies.

At this moment, he retracted his hand that was reaching for the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact because he thought of a very good method.

"Ha!" Hobert suddenly shouted, and then "magnified" his voice, the sound immediately turning into ultrasonic waves flying towards the villa.

The eye on the villa still stared at Hobert and the others, as if not quite understanding what the enemy was trying to do, and did not pay attention to the sound waves.

This was just an experiment. Hobert quickly used the "Distort" ability to approach the white villa, reaching a range where they could attack each other.

Then he "tampered" with the villa's mechanical structure. The white villa immediately shook, as if it were about to collapse, but the bronze-colored eye blinked, resolving Hobert's attack, and its mechanical structure quickly stabilized again.

The ground beneath Hobert's feet suddenly became soft, as if stepping on jelly. The land became like a tide, surrounding Hobert, instantly swallowing him.

This was a secret technique mastered by the "White Villa." No matter how Hobert tried to escape, the soft soil would wrap around him as if it were alive.

But at the same moment that Hobert disappeared, the surrounding gravity suddenly magnified and began to exert force in the opposite direction.

After two experiments, Hobert's attack finally began.

The soil, rocks, and bricks in the villa's front yard, as well as the bricks and stones in the surrounding ruins, floated into the air and began to rotate as if drawn by some force. Even the tiles on the villa stood up one by one.

The "White Villa" once again "perceived" Hobert's attack, and the gravity that Hobert had "tampered" with quickly returned to normal.

Thump!

A stone smashed into the "White Villa." It was an ordinary stone from the ruins, a stone that had just been sucked into the air and was now falling again.

Thump thump thump!

These stones fell like a rainstorm, each hit more fierce than the last. Some stones shattered when they hit the villa's tiles.

The bronze-colored eye stared intently at the stones. It certainly "perceived" everything. The gravity of the stones suddenly became extremely great, as if they were falling from hundreds of meters in the air.

It immediately began to resolve this attack. Since the gravity was now too great, it tried to restore the normal gravity, but it found that it couldn't do it.

Because the greater kinetic energy formed by falling from a high altitude was a rule of this world.

If it restored the original gravity of the stone, it would violate the rules of mechanics, after all, the stone fell from a higher place, rather than falling downwards from the place where the gravity was restored.

The "White Villa" couldn't take into account the "acceleration" of falling downwards. If it took into account the gravity of falling from a higher altitude, it would not be able to "restore the original gravity of the stone." This would be an invalid operation for it.

It could only restore the rules of the world, but it couldn't change the rules of the world, not even a little bit.

This was the method Hobert had just thought of: exploiting a bug.

Hobert's experiment of changing the mechanical structure was to test the scope of the "White Villa's" ability. It understood the mechanical structure, so it could restore its own mechanical structure, but it only restored it and didn't make any changes.

Then Hobert designed this tactic, superimposing two forces. The "White Villa" really couldn't perform the corresponding operation.

The "White Villa" mastered the underlying logic and rules, thereby resolving the target's attack, while Hobert's pathway had always been about destroying and tampering with the underlying logic.

He quickly found the loophole in the "White Villa's" Beyonder power and exploited it.

As for the initial "sonic wave experiment," Hobert was testing the state of this "White Villa." The result of the test was that it had no hearing, it should only have vision and spiritual perception, so it ignored the ultrasonic attack.

In other words, it itself needed to follow the rules of the real world, and in terms of using the mysteries of rules and Beyonder abilities to resolve enemy attacks, it was far less flexible and versatile than the "Black Emperor" and "Judgment" pathways.

If it encountered Beyonders from other pathways, the "White Villa's" "resolution" of Beyonder power attacks would indeed be very troublesome, but in Hobert's view, its "resolution" was simply not enough.

Crash!

The roof of the "White Villa" was broken by the stones with great gravity, and it was quickly riddled with holes.

It realized that it didn't necessarily have to resolve the enemy's attack, and that it could also use its own "secret technique" to protect the roof, but it was too late.

At this time, the air around the "White Villa" was suddenly compressed, forming several pure white small marbles.

The "White Villa" "foresaw"... In fact, there was no need to "foresee" to know that this round of attack was like the previous one: unsolvable!

So, the grass in the "White Villa's" yard suddenly rose from the ground, turning into a green armor protecting the villa.

Boom!

Several explosions sounded at the same time, startling and causing many monsters and plants in the surrounding area to flee.

As the "White Villa" had predicted, if it tried to restore the original structure of the white "marbles," it would be equivalent to detonating them, because Hobert's method of detonating the air "marbles" was to quickly end his "tampering" with them.

This was different from the previous tactic of superimposing forces, and it was another loophole of the "White Villa."

Crash!

Although there was green armor, a corner of the villa still collapsed.

Because Hobert once again "tampered" with the sound waves generated by the explosion, turning them into an extremely destructive attack!

When the "White Villa's" spirituality perceived it, it immediately used the "secret technique" to protect its own structure, but it was ultimately a step too late.

The somewhat disheveled "villa" turned into a stream of light and quickly left.

The soil that had been constantly entangling Hobert also stopped attacking as if it had lost its life.

Hobert used "Distort" to come out from under the soil. There was no dirt on his body, because the space around him was in a "chaotic" state, so such physical attacks were basically ineffective.

He smiled slightly: "This is the consequence of talking about rules in front of me."

Hobert still didn't pursue, because monsters of this level not only have many unpredictable "secret techniques," but also can perform predictions within a certain range, making such opponents very difficult to deal with.

In fact, if the "White Villa" had always fought Hobert with "secret techniques," it wouldn't have been defeated so quickly.

Hobert and Archibald continued forward and came to a large tree full of fruit.

The fruits on this tree were as big as pears, with many deep wrinkles on them, somewhat like the chayote in Hobert's impression.

Behind the tree were also ruins and wilderness, which looked no different from other places.

"'Distorting' the space around this tree will reveal the habitat of the Trunsoest members," Archibald said.

Just as Hobert was about to use the power of "Distort," one side of the tree trunk suddenly seemed to drop a curtain, revealing a completely different scene.

It was as if space-time had been disordered, or the Photoshop was very abrupt. In a wilderness of ruins, a normal, inhabited town suddenly emerged.

At the entrance, there were several people wearing asymmetrical, simple robes, full of vigilance towards Hobert and Archibald.

The middle-aged man in the lead, with bronze hair, stared at Hobert: "Who are you? Did you cause the explosion just now?"

The other party used ancient Feysac language. Although the pronunciation was very simple, they could understand what the other party meant.

Hobert took out the Trunsoest family emblem he inherited, injected spirituality into it, and said in ancient Feysac language: "I heard that there is another branch of my family here?"

With the injection of spirituality, the emblem suddenly became three-dimensional again, and the crown on it emitted a faint black light, as if it were a real, small crown.

Several people showed surprised expressions. After a full seven or eight seconds, a scream from a distance awakened everyone.

Hobert didn't look back, because his spirituality sensed danger, and he found that the Trunsoest family members on the opposite side lowered their heads and dared not look directly ahead.

All of this indicated that even a glance at the source of the danger was very dangerous.

The middle-aged man in the lead softened his expression a lot: "Come in quickly!"

Using the power of "Distort," Hobert took Archibald and his marionette and immediately entered the "curtain."

Hobert found that a water-like membrane seemed to rise behind him, isolating the outside world.

And within it, there were no ruins, but complete houses. The sky held a constant dawn light, and the area was filled with trees bearing fruit that resembled chayote squash.

Between the trees were gourd vines, also laden with fruit, forming a green net in the air.

The entire town was quiet. Aside from Hobert and his companions, no one was outside, but Hobert could feel eyes watching from behind the cracks in the windows.

"You can call me Beecher," the middle-aged man in the lead said.

Hobert introduced himself as well: "Hobert."

"Hello, Hobert." Beecher asked, "How have you been these past years?"

"Not well, constantly tormented by the family curse," Hobert said truthfully. "I heard that you don't have the burden of the curse?"

"Yes, perhaps it's because our duties are different," Beecher said pointedly.

Hobert was slightly taken aback. "What are your duties?"

Beecher sized Hobert up. "Didn't your elders tell you?"

"My father passed away when I was very young," Hobert sighed. "I only learned of your existence from some notes he left behind, and from the family's inherited texts."

"I'm sorry," Beecher said, as if suddenly understanding. "I forgot about your curse."

Then he said, "It's not a secret here. You are responsible for welcoming the returning Night Emperor in the outside world, while we hide here, responsible for guarding certain things."

As he said this, Beecher glanced at Archibald behind him, clearly indicating that his statement was incomplete.

Hobert asked knowingly, "How can we welcome His Majesty the Emperor?"

"Don't know?"

Hobert nodded. They also didn't know how He was resurrected, only that the Night Emperor would be resurrected.

He took a deep breath. "I've come to you because I need your help with something else."

Hobert got straight to the point: "I need to find the 'Specter Empire' ship, and I've seen in some of my family's records that you have clues to this ship here."

"Yes," Beecher said, "We have the key to enter the 'Empire' here."

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